OrtizGames

This just in: new screenshots from the highly anticipated (at least I’m highly anticipating) Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer. Pictures can be found here.

We see a girl, a motorbike, a man, and a knife. All of them look eerily real, and yet still have that uncanny-valley sense to them. Hopefully these beta images are just a shade under the final quality–or animating them will bring lifelike spark to these digital personas.

Source: N4G

PS: Yes, I am playing Soul Cal 4. More on that and some other things later.

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Sorry I’ve been delaying my posts so much. Summer vacation’s barely been a vacation, and after lying around at home for several weeks and avoiding writing I came back to find work and no time for writing. Thankfully, I’m on top of things again, and in an environment that makes me want to write about games once more. Fancy that, eh? My immediate surroundings dictate my work ethic. I probably need to get a job immediately after graduating, else I fear my portfolio work and blogwriting might go down the drain. I need a gaming environment. Thank God, I’m back.

A while ago, months, I had been talking to my housemate and we started joking as I popped Uncharted into the Playstation 3, “What if PS3 games needed various disks? I mean, what would you fill up Blu-Ray disks with?” He mentioned textures having textures, and I laughed and replied that each molecule would be modeled in order to ensure the maximum possible true-to-life texture. At that, he mused, “It would be tight if developers could set up the code for molecules and how they behave inside a texture.”

As he said this, I suddenly remembered. They already have.

Read that article. Don’t just go past it and keep reading what I wrote. Just look at the pictures and videos if you want, but go to that site.

You did it? Good.

4D technology is essentially the use of algorithms to dictate the behavior of each pixel in a texture, affected by time and forces around the particle as if it were a regular bit of matter.

The amazing thing behind 4D technology which is slowly starting to appear in more and more PS3 games (mentioned in the article are Afrika and Killzone 2) is the way the algorithms programmed into the world allow for minimized use of textures, and yet manage visuals that far exceed most anything games have come up with so far.

That’s great when you’re doing things in High-Definition, where a low-res texture is going to look like utter crap. And if you want to fit thousands upon thousands of gorgeous upscale textures on a single Blu-Ray disc

The reason I’ve mostly used PS3 terminology is because 4D is simply not possible for the Xbox 360 and the Wii. They don’t have the power to parallel process all those behaviors. Without the core processor, there’s no way for a console to calculate the renders. So I once again wave my PS3 flag, and everyone continues to think I am a fanboy.

I really wish I could find positive things to say about other consoles for that very reason. But what do I do?

Anyway, we won’t see the use of 4D to its full potential just yet, but we will start to see games incorporating it rather soon. When this article came out, Killzone 2 was still heavy in development. Nowadays it’s scheduled for next year’s Q1 release (What? What happened to later this year? Our dear Delaystation 3) and who knows when Afrika will be released. Sometime next year.

Still, be on the lookout for this rising technology and its negative effects: soon, texture artists will not be as needed anymore, or their function will change. Get ready to no longer seek to make the greatest upscale texture possible but the most condensed, quality texture in the minimum amount of space. Be prepared to see this lose people jobs and create ones for new skillsets.

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Peter Molyneux is like my “aww” developer. Sometimes he’s so silly he makes me laugh and sometimes he says something serious and I grow more fond of him. I think it may have something to do with how much I enjoy Fable.

Recently on Gamasutra, Peter (Molyneux) talked about how the game design industry has failed in being able to open up gaming for everyone. We’ve made huge leaps, he says, but we’ve gotten stuck here. He uses a controller as an example–how hard it is for the average person to wrap his or her head around the idea of a controller. While it’s true that a ridiculous amount–how many people? There’s statistics–of people play video games, games nowhere close to matching, for example, the number of televisions in the world. The number of computers. How many consoles have we sold? Millions. But how many televisions have been sold? The average American household is bound to have at least 2.73, and 2.55 people [source]. That’s over 300 million televisions. Molyneux refers back to a time when Clive Sinclair boasted people would play the Spectrum instead of watch television in every home in Britain.

We haven’t achieved that–I don’t think the Wii will achieve it either. It may be motion-sensing technology, but it’s still a controller. We’re still making high-technological-knowledge games for the Average Joe.

We need to make the things people know how to use–their hands, their fingers, their eyes–the controllers for the worlds they wish to interact with.  In that sense, I think the Wii a step–if only one step–in the right direction.

“But Andres,” I hear you say, “you’ve always expressed your distaste for the Nintendo Wii! Surely you’re not an utter hypocrite?” I am, in a way, because I think that the Wii’s innovative pointing system is a nice idea. However, I do think visual graphics play a huge part in the advancement of interactivity and mainstream acceptance. Not everyone can identify equally with creativity and imagination. I come from a town where the majority of boys play soccer when they’re kids–not with Legos and action figures. In a way they could certainly imagine themselves as soccer stars, but all this requires very vivid imagery as seen on television and in magazines. Unless those kids, now older, can get a good visual representation of what it is they’d like to be, they’ll have a very hard time suspending their disbelief and enjoying the game because it’s just not what they actually want to do. It’s not an experience. It’s still just a game. I think that gap needs to be bridged, just as much as the innovative controls need to be.

Going back to the Wii, if you’ll notice, I never say anything bad about the Nintendo DS. This is because I have one, and I think it’s an absolutely great console. I love its touchpad and dualscreen technology. But the thing that separates it from the Wii is that it has far more visual capacity than the Game Boy Advance. The Nintendo Wii isn’t capable of a lot more than the Gamecube is. I give a nod of approval any time I see something improving the capacity for visual quality–hence why I’m so enamoured with the PS3. Sure, the Wii can have nice graphics, and we all saw Mario Galaxy and how effectively good looking that was using Nintendo’s secret recipe that nobody else seems to have. But when you compare the difference between an Advance and a DS and you try to match that up from Gamecube to Wii you fall incredibly short. As for the Wii versus the PS3, the Wii doesn’t even come close, while the Nintendo DS comes rather close to the PSP. And while the PSP has nicer graphics, it’s more of a luxurious gadget, and I didn’t get a PSP until relatively recently because I knew Sony had had no experience making portable games. They’ve started getting some rather decent and exciting titles (instead of PS2 ports), however, and that’s certainly pushing their market out.

In the end, Peter is right. We haven’t reached enough people. There’s so much more we could do. If only we could get our technology far enough to where it’s not only stunning but incredibly simple to handle.

Then we’ll be in business.

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!![Edit: This article is so old but people keep reading it. For more new news on Heavy Rain, please check my recent posts, such as this one.]!!

A while ago, it was plastered all over my Netvibes that co-founder of Quantic Dream, Guillaume de Fondaumière, announced that the uncanny valley which had so plagued the game “Heavy Rain” when it was in technical demo stages (still magnificent stages, but understandably somewhat awkward and at times unappealing) is now no more.

To recap for you readers who aren’t huge on clicking my alluding links, the Uncanny Valley is a phenomenon, predicted by the roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970, that occurs when a viewer becomes unsettled as they watch something attempt to be too human and fail. I’ve heard it being presented as a viewer interpreting something as being “too real,” but I’ve come to learn that this is a misnomer. Were game developers to make a game that looks absolutely and perfectly true to life, people would have no trouble enjoying it. The problem comes in when something is attempting to be real, and cannot attain the ultimate perfection. Humans will be thrown off by the tiniest hints–no blemishes, unnatural skin tone, perfect teeth… those things will hint to you that what you’re seeing isn’t real, and you will be not only discomforted but repulsed by it.

To illustrate, I present to you the original tech demo from way back in 2006.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9133667929405103814]

It’s beautiful, but a bit unnerving, right? The lip animations and almost too-perfect teeth and tongue are what throw people off when they watch this. The motion capture technology and the well-rendered eyes is what really makes the visuals so impressive. When the actress in the video isn’t speaking, and is simply making faces, I become entranced by how lively she looks, how full of personality. When she speaks, and her mouth and lips move irregularly, I becomes rather turned off by the visuals.

Well, French company Quantic Dream, the fellows behind a beautiful and key game dubbed Fahrenheit also known as the more-popular-titled The Indigo Prophecy, which I loved. Understandably, I was dying to see what de Fondaumière was talking about when he said that they had done what was previously expected to be, if not impossible, highly unlikely until at least two or three years have passed, but no more demos or revelations came, and I spent December in relative misery while I waited for further news on this much-anticipated game. Of course, good things come to those who wait: with the new year, we’ve received new screens.

There’s not a lot to gawk at, to be honest. There’s two close-up screenshots of a woman’s nose and eyes, with a bit of hair visible and a wonderful focus effect to the camera. Mostly what impresses me is the sheer amount of detail and realistic imperfection in the skin. I’ve always found it hilarious that many women worry so about their skin and wearing makeup in order to hide imperfections, when often those imperfections make them all the more interesting and alluring. Then again, I love skin details because I’m into game design and textures. I may just be a freak of nature.

Still, as it stands, these screenshots are frighteningly beautiful and I’m ecstatic to see in-game shots or a trailer. If Quantic Dream has indeed bridged the Uncanny Valley, Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer marks an entry into video games that had previously existed only in imagination: the perfect visual representation of life.

Virtual Reality to soon follow.

Also, this game has not yet been declared as to which consoles it will appear on. Most people seem to readily assume it’s a PS3 exclusive, as previously stated by Quantic when they released their tech demo. Later on, however, Quantic revealed they were considering releasing it for every console, including the Nintendo Wii. I’m not certain if that’s even possible, but let’s assume for now that Quantic has an idea of what they’re doing when it comes to consoles. My verdict: PS3 owners, I guarantee you this game. Xbox 360 owners, pray for ports. Wii owners, you’re getting a different game.

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Brenda Brathwaite blogged (it’s a verb now) on Scott Jon Siegel’s 9am Class game. The game sounds wonderfully hilarious, and it’s the kind of thing I would probably find wonderfully entertaining to play with my geeky friends.

She also, however, posted on the Casual Game Industry article at Gamasutra. I read over both blogs and articles, thought a little, and actually pieced them both together in an interesting way.

Brenda writes: “This got me thinking that maybe this concept of a super-fueled, polygon drunk industry is just that – a concept, and not a reality at all – and that the bigger industry is presently the non-blockbuster games industry.”

The issue here is that I, and I’m hoping I’m not alone in this, LOVE polygon-crazed games that border on breaking the bounds of reality and make the player so immersed it’s like slipping into a second skin. I want players to look into a screen and think “Wow, I can barely tell this is a game anymore.” I remember playing make-believe that I was in a game as a kid, when I was bored, and I would walk around the localpark thinking of objectives, looking around, and thinking “Wouldn’t this be an awesome first person game if everything was this real?”

Of course, it’s all aiming towards the interactive-movie end which I and so many others (like Hideo Kojima, my best-friend-if-he-only-knew) hold dear to our hearts. I guess we think a lot about the idea of not just fun but immersion, fun and drama–being impacted by what you see and experiencing the full range of emotions from joy to sorrow to anger to mirth to pain.

I guess it just comes down to the fact that I love storytelling. And what better way to tell a story than to show it? We’ve evolves such a long way from the oral tradition. We went from reciting to writing and painting to pictures and films to the internet and modern cinema and theater. Telling a story is such a huge part of human culture because that’s one of the easiest way for us to grasp ideas: when a teacher wants to illustrate a point (I call Brenda) they’ll often try an anecdote or an example to try to get kids to understand it more in context. We, as humans, are very good at roleplay–that’s why we use stories so often. It’s very easy for us to get into others’ shoes and understad their reactions when exposed to certain elements–we get a very clear idea of character and context. The funny thing is, despite how effective we are at this sort of thing, we have a very hard time employing it to identify with others.

The concept of storytelling is such a vast and exciting realm, and that’s the realm so many games want to try–but with the idea of interactivity, a player can actually experience the story, which makes it all the more giving–they can see the positive and negative aftereffects of their actions and learn from their mistakes and the experience.  It’s the same kind of deep learning experience and thematic development found in any great work of literature.

This is what brought me to Scott Siegel’s game. I recall, when I was a child, an odd sort of computer game with pixelly graphics played on my grandmother’s ancient computer of whose origin I have conventiently forgotten. I also couldn’t read English, so the name of the game escaped me, too. The whole point of the game was a kind of click and go adventure where your main character (a punkish, skateboarding superdeformed looking kid who skateboards) needs to sneak out of class, run about town and simply have fun. Particularly at the arcade. Which is as far as I ever got. But the point of it is, much like Scott Siegel’s game, the absurd task of just playing hooky and ditching school is a story in and of itself that teaches messages as I played (I would get arrested for stealing quarters out of the fountain, for example, or take so long to sneak out my main character would raise his hand, pretend he was sick and get sent to the nurse’s office, a place of which I still have bizarre erotic nightmares). Playing a game where you have to check if you’re awake and try to answer questions based on that consciousness level may seem decievingly simple but there’s a story there in every game that you can easily allude to in real life.

So how does this prove my point? Really, it doesn’t. You can say a lot in a casual game. It’s true, people don’t need fancy graphics. But getting people to play a story is one thing. Getting people experience a story is somethng far more difficult. Anyone can make a game. But making a game that pushes the limit–that’s where all the elements come in. Writing, system, graphics–the whole shebang. I would love to see that game. I would love to know its story, and know the highways and byways of the plot and choices you can make and break. And I think the Trompe l’oeil brought forth by increasingly more realistic visuals may be vital to getting players fully immersd into the world. Those are the kinds of experiences I want people to have–the ones that move your heart and change the way you react to stories in kind completely.

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http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/sony-expecting-great-deal-of-momentum-with-ps3/18568/?ncid=AOLGAM000500000000016

 There’s much good news coming from Sony recently. I’m usually excited to hear good news about the PS3, since I’m such an avid supporter of its higher performance technology. Honestly, I would have one right now if I could afford it. I’m hoping the upcoming price cut (rumored $299 USD with the release of Haze–source unavailable, but there was a video, even, so I’m convinced) will allow me to finally be able to purchase one of my own. I’d prefer an original 60gig, with the integrated backwards compatability, but if I have to settle for a cheaper 40gig version I may very well do so. I’ve wanted a PS3 for well over two years now.

To elaborate on why I support the PS3′s high-power approach to gaming:

Someone once mentioned to me that “console gaming shouldn’t end up so focused on performance and visuals and hardware, because a good console will never match up to a PC.” While I agree a great PC will be able to run Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion far better than the PS3 or Xbox 360 ever could, I have to argue that from an industry perspective this can’t possibly be true. PC games, we’re assuming, will always improve graphically, as our technology is growing exponentially at a steady rate (it was technology doubling in potency every 8 months or so, no?) so consoles, if they want to be able to host those games (ex. Bioshock, Oblivion, CoD4 and SPORE) need to raise their hardware bar every so often to keep up. PC developers want consoles to host their games. They pay a lot of money for it, and often those games that are successful on the PC (and Mac) will be successful on consoles (imagine WoW on PS3). But why would PC developers care about consoles?

Because PC gamers often download their games illegally. And most of the time, a software developer is guaranteed that if their game is released on a console, it is infinately more likely that gamers will actually buy the real copy of the game and not download or purchase a free/cheaper pirated version.

So if gaming graphics continue to increase on PC and not on consoles, trust me, the balance will tip and the scales will fall. Unless people plan on holding back on the processing power of PCs (trust me, they won’t) games will continue to grow more and more complex and detailed, and consoles will have to keep updating. They can’t afford to sit still and experiment with the same old technology (and by this I mean infra-red).

And trust me, even if I have to buy a new Playstation every seven years because of the technology increase, I won’t mind. I’d rather have that than the gaming industry crackle and break like a twig under the strain of a rapidly evolving digital world.

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