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[Kittonwy]

I've watched this like 4 times now. Why the FUCK isn't this game being made? I mean, I am going on just the animation and CG video from 2 years ago, but I dig what I see so far...and by so far I mean ever. Bastards.

Because a game is more than just a duck and cover system, you need AI design, scenario design, story, dialogue, maybe the overall polish just wasn't there and it was costing a lot of money to keep the project going. I would love another cover-based shooter and would have loved to see this project come together but it was not meant to be, maybe they just had more promising projects going on that needed the resources this game was taking away from the team.

 

[Vustadumas]

Uncharted's animation system is already capable of replicating something similar to what's in this ED video. Here's a post mortem video that ND showed off at GDC. Skip to 1:32.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/180700.html

So the engine is already capable of doing it. So are you willing to allow the developer to sacrifice your controls to allow these animations to take place? That's something ND talked about with Uncharted. They were constantly tweaking the animation, because while it had to look smooth it also had to be very responsive because of the style of game Uncharted is.

Wow, I wish the game would have been more like that vid. Great game, but definitely wasn't any where near as smooth as I'd like to have seen.

 

[Kittonwy]

Wow, I wish the game would have been more like that vid. Great game, but definitely wasn't any where near as smooth as I'd like to have seen.

It would have controlled like shit had they stayed with more elaborate animations, sacrifices had to be made, and they ended up with a BETTER GAME. JFC people.

 

[AmMortal]

Wow, I wish the game would have been more like that vid. Great game, but definitely wasn't any where near as smooth as I'd like to have seen.

I'm betting they kept that for part Uncharted 2 .

 

[M°°nblade]

Ugh.

*spits on wii fit*

Kind of frustrating they cancelled this for 'social games' like eyepet. That's not the kind of entertainment current PS3 owners are waiting for.

Come on sony, the PS3 will need it's next big profile title after the release of Killzone 2. Give us something to look forward too end 2009 or 2010 besides GoW3.

Gaf is clear: get the project out of the fridge and continue development, now.

 

[kenta]

Eight Days' lateral movement under cover is SLOW while sliding over, something that would NOT work well during actual gameplay, and I would NOT want to have a cover system play like that. It looks nice but when you're actually getting flushed with grenades and getting flanked by AI, it gets annoying. The point is UNCHARTED!!!111!!! sacrificed some animation smoothness and realism for better controls which was their number one priority, and it's ALWAYS better to have on-the-dime controls.

I don't know why you're being antagonistic when I basically said the same thing you said. I wouldn't call the lateral movement in this video "SLOW", though, it doesn't look as fast as Uncharted's but for crying out loud this was obviously pre-alpha footage which would have been tweaked around and polished until it felt right. But yes, precise and responsive controls should always trump fluid animation, which it appeared to do in several points during this video. Give credit where it's due, this is impressive as crap and Uncharted 2 would do well to take some cues from what we just saw

 

[Kittonwy]

I don't know why you're being antagonistic when I basically said the same thing you said. I wouldn't call the lateral movement in this video "SLOW", though, it doesn't look as fast as Uncharted's but for crying out loud this was obviously pre-alpha footage which would have been tweaked around and polished until it felt right. But yes, precise and responsive controls should always trump fluid animation, which it appeared to do in several points during this video. Give credit where it's due, this ain't Uncharted but it's still impressive as crap and Uncharted 2 would do well to take some cues from what we just saw

It's 4am in the morning and I'm a little cranky rawr.

It certainly looks good but I'm not sure if they can afford to spend another year on the project. Eight Days debuted back in 2006 and by 2008 it still wasn't in playable form, maybe someday we might all be able to look back on this and get a better perspective on why it was canned, I just wonder if they give them a couple of years, the project keeps ballooning out proportions and if this doesn't sell what would happen to the team.

 

[Private Hoffman]

I think SOny made the decision to scrap the game because it simply wasn't a necessary component in their lineup.

I think Uncharted does everything 8 days does, and has a much richer atmosphere/story/presentation to it. Despite the awesome animation in 8 days, everything else about it looked...blah. Kinda plain, you know? Not a fan of the theme or setting.

I'm pretty sure Uncharted 2 will have online co-op this time around, and maybe even some multiplayer thrown in for good measure. So this will be Sony's main third person shooter/adventure title.

Not to mention, Sony already has a lot of shooters on the market like Killzone 2, Resistance 2, SOCOM, and now MAG. I think they've got that genre pretty much down pat...8 days was really, really redundant. Better to allocate those resources on making new experiences. As much as I love shooters, I'd rather diversify that lineup with breakthrough, interesting, never-been-done-before games like LittleBigPlanet.

 

[KevinCow]

That's pretty cool. I always love seeing things like this from canned projects.

 

[makingmusic476]

Ugh.

*spits on wii fit*

Kind of frustrating they cancelled this for 'social games' like eyepet. That's not the kind of entertainment current PS3 owners are waiting for.

Come on sony, the PS3 will need it's next big profile title after the release of Killzone 2. Give us something to look forward too end 2009 or 2010 besides GoW3.

Gaf is clear: get the project out of the fridge and continue development, now.

Trico? Uncharted 2? GT5? Ratchet & Clank?

Whatever the hell Sony Liverpool's working on in addition to WipEout?

etc. etc.

 

[JasonUresti]

I think Uncharted does everything 8 days does, and has a much richer atmosphere/story/presentation to it. Despite the awesome animation in 8 days, everything else about it looked...blah. Kinda plain, you know? Not a fan of the theme or setting.

Be fair, the environment and story of Uncharted is just as well worn as what was known about Eight Days.

 

[Private Hoffman]

Be fair, the environment and story of Uncharted is just as well worn as what was known about Eight Days.

Just as well worn?

Erm. I dunno about that. Hardly any games are featuring organic, jungle settings anymore...especially in the third person shooter arena.

How many Indiana Jones games exist out there now? I can only think of Uncharted. Has it been played out in film and cinema? Maybe, but I love it. Can't get enough of it in games.

8 Days just looked bland and uninteresting in terms of theme and setting. Some dusty, western town? Shootout at a gas station? Zzz....I dunno, but that doesn't excite me. Exotic natural environments do.

Trico? Uncharted 2? GT5? Ratchet & Clank?

Whatever the hell Sony Liverpool's working on in addition to WipEout?

etc. etc.

Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, GoW3, Ratchet and Clank, Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIII, Team ICO game, iNFamous, MAG?

Shit, you gonna have time for all those games? That's the real question.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Can someone post a working link to the video?

 

[M°°nblade]

Trico? Uncharted 2? GT5? Ratchet & Clank?

New IP's?

 

[Darkpen]

Have you read my entire post?
I'm saying Sony shouldn't focus on making those by appointing an entire studio to create social games. I'm not talking about the origin, mentality of these games or whatever. The PS3 is too expensive for that. At this moment the PS3 needs more hardcore games and not eyepets.

Eyetoy said hi when the PS2 was $149.

Well, we don't know what the London studio might do next, or just how expansive Eyepet will be. Personally, I'm all for an expansion of the library, and that's exactly what Eyepet is. If the PS3 turns into a shooterbox by trying to follow the 360's lead, then I don't want a PS3.

While Eight Days is clearly a huge loss, I'm looking forward to what the studio will pump out next, regardless. As to the ethical issue of appointing an entire studio to make a social game, why is that such a problem? That's like tossing aside the value of The Sims, because its not Unreal Tourney, because its not "hardcore enough."

The PS3 has plenty of hardcore games. What exactly is your point? Do you really want more hardcore games?

 

[antiloop]

New IP's?

Wardevil? Heavy Rain?

I guess more will be announced. Same for MS and Nintendo.


Edit: Twisted Metal also.

 

[Igo]

The London guys are the ones that get shipped off to other studios to give tech assistance and other aid right. Maybe thats where the resources went instead of Getaway and Eight Days. Honestly the little tidbits I saw of the Getaway and now this have looked amazing and it's really disappointing that I won't get to play these games in the future.

Also I don't think the animations are slow. They look great to me. The first Getaway was the same in that movement was "slow" but very fluid and real. I always liked the way the Getaway played and honestly that game could have really done with a cover system like this.

 

[Mr. Smith]

ahh the vid has gone friends only on youtube, i wanna see. can someone post a new link?

 

[davepoobond]

now people care? lawl

 

[-viper-]

Wardevil? Heavy Rain?

I guess more will be announced. Same for MS and Nintendo.


Edit: Twisted Metal also.

Wardevil is vaporware.

 

[Station42]

ahh the vid has gone friends only on youtube, i wanna see. can someone post a new link?

was it this one? http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/267924.html haven't seen the one on youtube, just guessing.

 

[Metalmurphy]

Wardevil is vaporware.

Wat? It already has a publisher and they've recently sent out a new images and info.

 

[Lord Error]

So then we can imagine 8 Days would have survived that also eh?

And bullshit about the speed. People always say that, but if the game is built around this realism of motion everything's fine.

It could play well for sure, but that wouldn't change the fact that the controls are unresponsive because you have to wait too long for the animations to finish. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to play it and wouldn't mind even if unresponsiveness was there (I can name another famously well animated game that suffers from the same problem to some degree, but I didn't mind) it's just that I don't think this is somehow revolutionary just because it moves slower and smoother, that's all. That approach looks good but it results in some drawbacks.

I've always wanted a cover system where your character ducks according to the height of the cover instead of

He does that in Uncharted...

The only difference I saw was sliding to cover

You can do this too (roll into cover).

 

[Callibretto]

New IP's?

we've already got a wave of new IP at the start of this generation. now is the time to let those IP explore their full potential with sequels. it's not realistic to expect new IP every one or two years.

even if Wii doesn't exist, I doubt we'll get many new IP at this time of console lifecycle

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

how about Sony London lending its 8 days graphics engine & animation to SCEA for who ever ends up developing Syphon Filter for the PS3.....game could be ready by late next year or early 2010.....

this cover system would work great with Syphon Filter.....

You just blew my mind! EEK!

Oh and supposively SP for PS3 is already in development.

 

[iceatcs]

Wardevil is vaporware.

Grown up!

 

[KZObsessed]

Kotaku picked up the story, Lead Animator took the video down.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Fuckin Kotaku, i wanted to watch it again and share it round to some other forums

 

[Xater]

Kataku is why we can't have nice things...

 

[Nemo]

I want to see it too

 

[-viper-]

Wat? It already has a publisher and they've recently sent out a new images and info.

It was a joke.

But seriously though, we've not seen any news on it for such a long time.

 

[Haunted]

Did you consider that maybe the game sucked? Hasn't Sony funded enough pretty next-gen stinkers at this point?

So very true.


Then again, the animation system in the vid didn't look half-bad. Reminded me of Stranglehold.

 

[rollingstart]

Because a game is more than just a duck and cover system, you need AI design, scenario design, story, dialogue, maybe the overall polish just wasn't there and it was costing a lot of money to keep the project going. I would love another cover-based shooter and would have loved to see this project come together but it was not meant to be, maybe they just had more promising projects going on that needed the resources this game was taking away from the team.

If you look at the early 'tech demo' footage of Uncharated, it is probably in the same place. If the game wasn't given time to develop and actually become more a game, then that is what I have a problem with. The way it seems is that this and Getaway were canned because Sony wanted to focus on things like home or eyepet.

I'm just basing this on the old CG trailer and this impressive cover tech demo, but this could have been a potentially cool game. Problem is that we will never know if it was good or not. This isn't really a situation like with Project Hammer or the Pandemnic Dark Knight game where it sucked and was shit bin because of it.

 

[A Human Becoming]

Lame I missed the video.

 

[faberpach]

any other source for the video?

 

[slider]

If you look at the early 'tech demo' footage of Uncharated, it is probably in the same place. If the game wasn't given time to develop and actually become more a game, then that is what I have a problem with. The way it seems is that this and Getaway were canned because Sony wanted to focus on things like home or eyepet.

I'm just basing this on the old CG trailer and this impressive cover tech demo, but this could have been a potentially cool game. Problem is that we will never know if it was good or not. This isn't really a situation like with Project Hammer or the Pandemnic Dark Knight game where it sucked and was shit bin because of it.

There must've been something lacking in Eight Days early make-up that meant it was canned. Maybe the presentation lacked in plot, game mechanics... something.

Don't get me wrong - I'm intrigued by this. But I'm sure concepts are cancelled a lot more than we know about. The decision has to be made at some point, and from Sony's perspective it's better if they do it early rather than later. Of course when juggling finite resources some things, unfortunately, will get kicked to the curb.

The thing that's getting at people is the is the refocus on casual projects as a justification for binning this.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I think 8 Days would've turned well, even if the animators tried improving the responsiveness as best as they could while still having that fluidity. Just work around it. Create a dynamic environment that allows for a lot of cover to progress further, like in the video in the OP. That would help alleviate the problems with the A.I. without the fear of the enemies easily killing you due to the slow animations. As for the A.I., again, work around it that would allow you to better take cover.

Anyway, I really do hope the tech wasn't wasted, but after watching the video of the making of Uncharted, I have a feeling you're not going to see that kind of animation in Uncharted 2 considering why Naughty Dog ended up ditching it for a more responsive system.

 

[Dever]

any other source for the video?

Yeah someone uploaded it on GT

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/267924.html?playlist=featured

 

[JB1981]

The people bemoaning the posthumous praise were either involved with the game, involved with Sony in some capacity or are just simply here to put out fires.

There was no 'hype' for the game because the only footage released was a tech demo from about 3 E3's ago. It's impossible to get hyped for something that was clouded in mystery for 3 years.

 

[Madman]

Wardevil? Heavy Rain?

I guess more will be announced. Same for MS and Nintendo.


Edit: Twisted Metal also.

Twisted Metal is not confirmed for 09. It seems like it will be a '10 game.

I understand the various criticisms of this game, but we are seeing early work and we can't be sure how the game would have been designed. From the little we have here, the cover system looks like it is very dynamic and would have made for very interesting gameplay. Even if the first game was a straight up cover based shooter like Army of Two, the cover system alone would have made things interesting and a sequal could have fixed any of the mistakes of the original. The fact that this game was outright canceled when EyePet was announced not too long later plain sucks. Even if EyePet is great, it doesn't appeal to the main userbase of the PS3. Ratchet and Clank's performance last year should have made it very clear that the casual audience is just not there for the PS3.

In conclusion, whoever was behind canceling this really must not know the audience the PS3 has picked up, and must still be thinking this is still the PS2 era where EyePet would have sold decent numbers and appealed to a good part of the userbase.

 

[CHRP718]

The Protector is probably using this tech.
I think its a secret project being developed by Sony Liverpool.

 

[MorisUkunRasik]

The Protector is probably using this tech.
I think its a secret project being developed by Sony Liverpool.

source?

 

[SolidSnakex]

source?

EGM, which means it probably doesn't exist.

 

[Kittonwy]

The people bemoaning the posthumous praise were either involved with the game, involved with Sony in some capacity or are just simply here to put out fires.

There was no 'hype' for the game because the only footage released was a tech demo from about 3 E3's ago. It's impossible to get hyped for something that was clouded in mystery for 3 years.

I already said the animations look good, not sure if it's conducive to responsive controls though, things like sitting and sliding along cover tends to be slow.

The problem was that it debuted back at E3 2006 and was never again seen, was there enough progress on the game? UNCHARTED!!!111!!!

also debuted back at E3 2006 but by November 2007 it was extremely polished and ready to come out. It's been almost a year since last holiday season and with an additional year still we haven't seen jack from Sony London.

Eight Days was completely missing from E3 2007, and every subsequent show since, why did they not show it? Was it in a bad state? How many internal milestones did they miss? When you have a game in development for almost 3 years and basically nothing was ever shown, it just kind of makes me wonder whether it was viable or not, and whether they're having trouble getting things to work.

It's not like you can just throw some AI in there and you have a game, you need to have a whole bunch of gameplay scenario, then you have to tune aiming, movement, enemy AI, then you have to put art on the environments, make sure the game runs at a good clip, then you got to market it.

It's great that we get a glimpse of the animations through the youtube video, but it's not like someone like Yoshida would make a callous decision when it comes to canning titles, especially when he's never had a history of callously canning titles, we don't know how much they have poured into the project and we don't know how much more they would have to keep putting into the project both in terms of additional development as well as additional marketing, sometimes the math just doesn't quite work out to keep it going.