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[jko]

http://www.thewiire.com/features/149/1/The_Uncanny_Valley_and_Wii

Humans find realistic-looking puppets creepy and unappealing.

Very interesting article, talks about how Wii having the least amount of horsepower could be a good thing...for us. They brought up an interesting example of the 2 pics here:

"The time when horsepower alone made an important difference is over."

But what if I told you Wii was better off graphically than the competitor machines? Don't believe me? Look to the Uncanny Valley.

Take this still image from a PlayStation 3 game titled Heavy Rain. The woman character is called Mary Smith (quite the original name); the screen is produced in real time. This picture displays just how utterly powerful Sony's next-generation console is, with an almost lifelike woman aiming a cinematically out-of-focus gun before our eyes. The problem is she's a puppet without soul. Her tears, they seem so metallic; her eyes, too firm and unmoving, even for a still image; her face, too clean and without fearful scrunch. Some indescribable quality escapes this woman that makes her not entirely human; she is trapped in the Uncanny Valley.

For comparison's sake, let's contrast Mary Smith with Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Both Mary Smith and Link seem to be in a state of shock. Human tears flow on Mary's face; nature's tears engulf Link's figure.

Mary is very photo-realistic; Link is not. My subconscious mind is not attached to the woman, since she is not an extension of me, but another person entirely. Link, on the other hand, is not me, yet we are one and the same; I shoot the arrow as he does, I swing the sword as he does, I travel the world as he does.

Mary is a puppet trying to find her own soul; Link is a puppet that takes on mine. Link's fantasy nature prevents my mind from over-scrutinizing his realism, which works to make him more an extension of myself.

All in all, Mary's realism creeps me out too much to notice her emotions. But Link's lack of total photo-realism allows me to focus on his emotional response, which heightens my own emotional response, which enforces the bond between player and character.

My take on this is if the power of the play station three is unable to create realistic life-like models, what the article touched on makes alot of sense...lifeless manikins ARE pretty creepy...

 

[Andy787]

Ugghhh.

 

[Kittonwy]

I see what you did there.

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

The first pic isn't in uncanny valley for me, and will be even less so once it's in motion.

 

[CajoleJuice]

You son of a bitch.

 

[soundwave05]

:lol at the article.

This will be a fun thread.

 

[BigBoss]

Talk about damage control, more power is never a bad thing.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

I don't watch real filmed movies either. They're creepy, what with their emotions and shit. I'd rather Spongebob movie anyday. Give me some animated Mortal Kombat. **** that creepy-ass Jet Li.

I also would rather sit at home and talk to my plushies. People are too creepy, like real dolls or something, and not the real dolls that are $300 and orderable off the internet.

 

[davepoobond]

this is like saying a .486 is good for video editing.

 

[Trident]

you can just consider this thread my suicide note

 

[jko]

The first pic isn't in uncanny valley for me, and will be even less so once it's in motion.

lol well if thats the case, then i stand corrected

 

[Y2Kev]

That's ****ing bullshit. She's without a soul?

They know this how?

 

[Zombie James]

Mary is very photo-realistic; Link is not. My subconscious mind is not attached to the woman, since she is not an extension of me, but another person entirely. Link, on the other hand, is not me, yet we are one and the same.

Get help, buddy.

 

[Ponn]

Denial is not just a river in egypt...

 

[Smiles and Cries]

\/\/ii is better off graphically than the competitor machines??

you could not type a W? how do we search for this?

 

[Speevy]

I think a Mario which looks like Snake in that picture would be wrong and freaky, so really, Nintendo made the decision which fits their company (and not necessarily others).

 

[davepoobond]

this article is a masturbation gone wrong

 

[echoshifting]

While it's true that some people don't care that much about graphics (like me), and therefore won't really be taking it into account when purchasing next-gen systems, saying Wii is better off in that department is just silly and dumb.

\/\/ii is better off graphically than the competitor machines??

you could not type a W? how do we search for this?

I also thought that was pretty damn annoying, please change.

 

[Stitchy]

At a glance, I felt more emotionally entwined with the first picture than the second. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Zelda series.

I just can't agree with the writer of that article.

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

\/\/ii is better off graphically than the competitor machines??

you could not type a W? how do we search for this?

This never needs to be found.

 

[Mejilan]

you could not type a W? how do we search for this?

Who the **** is gonna be searching for this? Ever?

Edit - Hmmm, it might just turn into the next big funny photoshop/image competition thread...

 

[pr0cs]

talk about grasping for straws.

why don't we all go back to 8 bit sprites and 2 channel sound because anything more is still just too far from reality.

sheesh, will the nintendo zealots ever stop.

 

[jGuru]

Wow, it's been a while since I read this kind of BS :lol

 

[Zombie James]

I think a Mario which looks like Snake in that picture would be wrong and freaky, so really, Nintendo made the decision which fits their company (and not necessarily others).

Because no one will be able to create unrealistic, cartoony characters on the PS3 or 360.

 

[drohne]

Mary is very photo-realistic; Link is not. My subconscious mind is not attached to the woman, since she is not an extension of me, but another person entirely. Link, on the other hand, is not me, yet we are one and the same; I shoot the arrow as he does, I swing the sword as he does, I travel the world as he does.

the uncanny valley is real, and game developers should keep it in mind, but i think this guy's identification with link is something else entirely :lol

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Who the **** is gonna be searching for this? Ever?

Edit - Hmmm, it might just turn into the next big funny photoshop/image competition thread...

true on both counts

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

Wow, I just read the article now... what utter shit. hahahha.

 

[CajoleJuice]

I think a Mario which looks like Snake in that picture would be wrong and freaky

 

[Infernal Monkey]

 

[Mejilan]

true on both counts

MAKE IT HAPPEN GAF

 

[Stitchy]

I smurfed what you smurfed there.

 

[echoshifting]

It has no soul and must be destroyed

 

[Pimpbaa]

Just because some are not skilled enough in animation and/or modeling doesn't mean we should trying to achieve more realism with graphics. Alyx in HL2: EP1 never seemed creepy for example. This is some serious grasping at straws.

 

[Fresh Prince]

I think this has been said before in one of the animation threads etc.
Basicaly caricatures work since we look for similarities but realism does not since we look at differences. Or something.

Anyway this is a question of design not really horse power.

 

[Suburban Cowboy]

i think his point is videogames have no more need to be real than cartoons do.

 

[Ponn]

the uncanny valley is real, and game developers should keep it in mind, but i think this guy's identification with link is something else entirely :lol

It's the link pajamas he wears while playing.

 

[Andy787]

Run! It's the uncanny valley!

It's trying to steal our soul!

 

[Aaron]

And Advent Children would have looked so much better if it had used the original FFVII poly models. Right.

the uncanny valley is real, and game developers should keep it in mind, but i think this guy's identification with link is something else entirely :lol

Talked to a Crystal Dynamics guy about this very issue concerning the redesign of Laura Croft, where they made here appear too realistic and it came out creepy, but that's an established character on last gen hardware. I think devs do need to shift things in the slightly stylized range so people don't automatically compare these things to real life, but this article is really just missing the point.

 

[CajoleJuice]

It has no soul and must be destroyed

 

[Akia]

Propaganda to keep the hope alive.

 

[Mallrat83]

No, this is an actual theory. One which makes sense. The more real things get, the more we are likely to dissect them instead of taking them at face value. Look at what Pixar is doing. You know damn well they could be churning out stuff that rivals and even surpasses The Spirits Within by Square. Why don't they? Because it takes away some of the magic. With TSW, the focus wasn't on the story or the characters (which sucked anyways), but on how real it looked. And when you start to focus on the realism, it's only natural to start to nitpick and begin to build back up the barrier that Square was trying so hard to tear down. There is more character in on the Incredible characters than there is in any character from TSW.

 

[echoshifting]

Gives a whole new meaning to horsepower

lolamirite

 

[Speevy]

Because no one will be able to create unrealistic, cartoony characters on the PS3 or 360.

Uhhh...no. I'm saying the decision makes sense for Nintendo, and not the third parties. Nintendo hasn't been able to keep up with the top companies technically for a while, and the emergence of Factor 5 and Capcom at the top of the Gamecube's list of technical showcases illustrates that. Really, Nintendo was fighting a losing battle and said "Do we really want to keep this up?" And the answer was no. I suspect that the things Nintendo sees as important from a graphics perspective are not the things which underpin Metal Gear Solid 4 or Gears of War. Would I prefer a more powerful Nintendo console for next gen? Sure. But as someone who has owned every Nintendo console and played almost all their console games, I see the evolution of their thinking.

 

[Clever Pun]

How can anyone argue with such powerful logic? honestly, we should just sticky this thread, and lock it up. There's just no way anyone can try and argue with that article. They should start offering this article as a major in college.

 

[PhoenixDark]

http://www.thewiire.com/features/149/1/The_Uncanny_Valley_and_Wii

Very interesting article, talks about how Wii having the least amount of horsepower could be a good thing...for us. They brought up an interesting example of the 2 pics here:


My take on this is if the power of the play station three is unable to create realistic life-like models, what the article touched on makes alot of sense...lifeless manikins ARE pretty creepy...

What an utterly stupid article. Gears of War/Heavenly Sword/GRAW/etc must mean nothing to this guy.

That game is going to bomb just like Indigo Prophesy. It's not setting any trends, and it doesn't deserve this attention. UE3 is setting trends in the next gen, and it looks freaking amazing.

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

The Heavy Rain trailer was the epitome of Uncanny Valley for me, mostly due to the chick's awkward-as-**** mouth.

 

[ccbfan]

I love Nintendo Fanboy damage controls.

You think its can't get any worse but here we are talking about the worst damage control ever.

I mean the Sony and Microsoft crap is always the same.

Now Nintendo ones. Boy are they special. We might need two short buses to carry them around.

 

[Fresh Prince]

No, this is an actual theory. One which makes sense. The more real things get, the more we are likely to dissect them instead of taking them at face value. Look at what Pixar is doing. You know damn well they could be churning out stuff that rivals and even surpasses The Spirits Within by Square. Why don't they? Because it takes away some of the magic. With TSW, the focus wasn't on the story or the characters (which sucked anyways), but on how real it looked. And when you start to focus on the realism, it's only natural to start to nitpick and begin to build back up the barrier that Square was trying so hard to tear down. There is more character in on the Incredible characters than there is in any character from TSW.

Yeah what I said but better.

 

[Mallrat83]

Nintendo hasn't been able to keep up with the top companies technically for a while, and the emergence of Factor 5 and Capcom at the top of the Gamecube's list of technical showcases illustrates that.

Uhh...No Holden McNeil...

 

[arne]

oh no not again.