Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition Cinematic Update - Nightdive Studios.
Spot the difference...
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition Cinematic Update - Nightdive Studios.
Spot the difference...
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition Cinematic Update - Nightdive Studios.
Spot the difference...
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition Cinematic Update - Nightdive Studios.
Spot the difference...
The fact that this game has been rescued from vanishing forever is a miracle by itself. I'll be okay if it looks roughly the same as the original edition.
My copy still works.The fact that this game has been rescued from vanishing forever is a miracle by itself. I'll be okay if it looks roughly the same as the original edition.
As does the GOG version.My copy still works.
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition Cinematic Update - Nightdive Studios.
Taking old old old school FMV footage and uprezing it does not make it 4K 60fps. You could just as easily make it 16K 120fps.
It's not an "upres" though, it's an AI-interpreted upscale. They feed the original footage into the computer and it reprocesses it with machine learning algorithms to fill in the gaps, to correct blocking artifacts and color mistakes, and in this case to tween the framerate. It's a pretty significant "improvement*" in detail and framerate, and particularly in scenes of panning or zooming where the original footage and even the original rendering devices had a hard time with the full frame changes, this upscale significantly improves the jutter and haloing/macroblocking that made old video files look crunchy and blocky and CD-quality no matter how good the source material video quality was.
I don't know if this GIF embed shows it, but look for this sequence in the video (jump to 04:31), the difference is night and day.
* I say "improvement" in quotes because it is a computer making the choices for how this upscale goes, same as how a retextured "remaster" is maybe higher resolution by the numbers but might not look as good in motion or by comparison against the original creation. Every algorithm sees the images differently, and as good as AI can be at re-creating an enhanced visual (or audio) presentation, those details are just not there in the original source obviously, and everything the AI does to "restore" an image is just an educated guess.
The extreme version of this, BTW, is the 2018 documentary by Peter Jackson, They Shall Now Grow Old, which is controversial in how far it went (they not only AI-enhanced the frames and framerate, they colorized it,) but is also is illuminating for how much it brings vibrancy and vitality back to these dusty old films of a bygone era.
Classic ‘Blade Runner’ Video Game to Be Restored For Consoles, Steam (Exclusive)
Nightdive Studios, known for restoring classic video games such as System Shock and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, has partnered with production company Alcon Entertainment to restore the 1997 point-and-click adventure title Blade Runner for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, as well as a PC...www.hollywoodreporter.com
They did this for the cutscenes in Command & Conquer Remastered*I'm curious, has the AI upscaling/interpolating technique been used in a shipped game product before this?
I disagree.
Yes, there is an 'improvement' to framerate, due to interpolated frames added. There is not an improvement to detail - in fact there is a loss of detail. Everything is smooth - the upscaling process cannot add detail, because it doesn't understand what the shapes are, only that they are shapes. Some of the shading detail has even been lost - it's smoothed out, averaged.
I work in VFX and we often have to remove the noise or grain from an image and add it back again - but you need to be careful because it's destructive. Removing grain is also removing detail.
I would argue that the macroblocking and chroma compression in the source videos is part of its character like the grain in a 35mm anamorphic feature film, and this 'remaster' is an ugly machine created disaster.
Also I don't believe They Shall Grow Old used any form of machine learning or AI - but simply motion vector based retiming. ML Retiming is only just coming to professional software - although not yet to Baselight - the colourist tool used in the video you linked to.
ENHANCE (But seriously who the hell plays a late 90s game for the graphics anyway?)
This is one of a very few P&C adventure games that actually has a good story.
Most of that genre is crap- built around the puzzles.
ENHANCE (But seriously who the hell plays a late 90s game for the graphics anyway?)
This is one of a very few P&C adventure games that actually has a good story.
Most of that genre is crap- built around the puzzles.
Hey buddy! I worked in the VFX industry too for awhile. Nice to see someone else from the industry on these boards!
yeah i'd say the same for me, my memories of this game are much stronger than i thought they'd beAbsolutely this. It’s actually the first game that ever made me give a shit about it’s characters.
I imagine it will play the same as Broken Sword and Monkey Island.lol, they all smooth now.
I guess this is just a teaser. I'm more curious about the in-game models and backgrounds and how it plays -- especially on consoles, since this is a point and click.
In-development might mean there's still much work to be done.
I work in VFX
Hey buddy! I worked in the VFX industry too for awhile. Nice to see someone else from the industry on these boards!
I guess I phrased that badly.I imagine it will play the same as Broken Sword and Monkey Island.
Good point. There's a bit on the rooftops early in the game where you waste a synth who charges at you and you only have a short time to fill him with lead.I guess I phrased that badly.
Blade Runner has a few places with mouse combat and a few that you need to react quickly with the mouse. I am curious how those will translate to gamepad controls on the consoles.
And the other question is whether the remastered art and new models, if they actually make new models, will blend together as in the original. Of course, I really really would like higher quality for the character models. Most of them look terrible in the original.