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[manzo]

I remember seeing Gears of War kill animations, particularly the chainsaw, very frequently at the time.

The amount of hype and GIFs in nearly every fucking thread made me loathe the game. The effect still hasn't worn off. KZ2 was the goddamn messiah of the PS3, bringing joy for all the mistreated Sony fans.

GeoW was pretty much the same for the 360 side, but not in the sheer scale of the Killzone shit.

 

[Melchiah]

The amount of hype and GIFs in nearly every fucking thread made me loathe the game. The effect still hasn't worn off. KZ2 was the goddamn messiah of the PS3, bringing joy for all the mistreated Sony fans.

GeoW was pretty much the same for the 360 side, but not in the sheer scale of the Killzone shit.

That may be, but the long wait and the huge expectations perhaps contributed to the amount on KZ2's part. Anyways, people tend to remember better things that got on their nerves.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Do we know for sure there is going to be a Gears of War Kinect?

 

[JaggedSac]

I don't know. Major Nelson in his latest podcast said he is gone in the first week of January to an event where a new unannounced game will be shown. Sounds like CES to me. And MS is providing live video from their CES keynote. Last times Major Nelson just live blogged the keynote. So there must be something good.

Wasn't this for the poker game that the 1 vs 100 team is making?

 

[Sydle]

Do we know for sure there is going to be a Gears of War Kinect?

No, all we know is there is another Gears-related product coming out in the spring. The Kinect functionality has been fueled by an IGN rumor and that Cliff B. has been gabbing about Kinect quite a bit.

I believe it's just a compilation of the first two games and all DLC. I wouldn't be that surprised if there were some Kinect features layered in with the primary controller-based gameplay.

 

[Jonsoncao]

That may be, but the long wait and the huge expectations perhaps contributed to the amount on KZ2's part. Anyways, people tend to remember better things that got on their nerves.

For a PS3 only player, huge expectations, yes

For a player owning PS3/360/PC, not so much

 

[goldenpp72]

just thought i'd chime in and say, no game on gaf has been giffed as much as killzone, not even crysis :lol

 

[Owzers]

It must be nice to coast off third party support and XBL Gold subscriptions.

 

[Raide]

It must be nice to coast off third party support and XBL Gold subscriptions.

Yeah, imagine where they would be if they actually put some effort in!

 

[Melchiah]

For a PS3 only player, huge expectations, yes

For a player owning PS3/360/PC, not so much

The 360 fanboys expected the game even more than any PS3 owner, but for different reasons; they wanted the game to fail graphics wise. Too bad that didn't come to fruition.

 

[TheExecutive]

Still way to early to write off Kinect and what it can do.

Not really. We know what it is capable of and know what to expect. The only thing that has me worried is how they will ever impliment continued character movement. It will and must require a controller.

 

[TheExecutive]

Thread title is "Microsoft Exclusives" so even if it was coming to PC then it's still a Microsoft exclusive. Unless there is a Mac version I don't know about.



Just curious... what 360 game, or shit... ANY game from that point from any system ever had the retardation of gif posting that Killzone 2 had?

No, a PC game is not MS exclusive sorry.

And when the 360 first came out and gears of war was out I remember all kinds of "retardation". Now there isnt much graphically the 360 can do that we havent seen already on the system or different systems for that matter.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Fanboys will be fanboys regardless of the system; the only difference is what they have to work with. What makes the PS3 die-hards stand out more is just that there are more of them than the 360 fanboys.

Well, the PS3 diehards just stick out on GAF more because there is a big European userbase here and if you notice almost all the die hards are from that region. Also, most tend to only be one console owners so there may be a little bit more closed mindedness when it comes to discussion where as 360 "fanyboys" tend to be US owners of multiple consoles who just prefer the 360 since it's the dominate system in the region and most of the best features for the system are only available in their region. Every region has different tastes and can seem out of the norm like the Sega Master System outselling the NES in Europe. Imagine if you were posting on GAF back in the day and there was a Master System Defense force or an Amiga Defense Force.

It must be nice to coast off third party support

It's a strategy that works. Look at the PS1 it became the best selling system of it's time with minimum first party support.

No, a PC game is not MS exclusive sorry.

If it requires Microsoft software to run the game, then it's a MS exclusive. Sorry. If you run it on the MS Xbox or on MS Windows... they don't care, you are still trapped in their world in order to play the game. Again, unless there is a Linux or Mac version. Then it's a multiplatform title.

 

[TheExecutive]

If it requires Microsoft software to run the game, then it's a MS exclusive. Sorry. If you run it on the MS Xbox or on MS Windows... they don't care, you are still trapped in their world in order to play the game. Again, unless there is a Linux or Mac version. Then it's a multiplatform title.

You are stretching the definition of exclusive a little there no?

 

[TheOddOne]

I think this discussion about who's the worse fanboy is getting out of hand. This thread is meant to talk about upcoming games.

 

[Shurs]

If it requires Microsoft software to run the game, then it's a MS exclusive. Sorry. If you run it on the MS Xbox or on MS Windows... they don't care, you are still trapped in their world in order to play the game.

This is a ridiculous claim I often see you make.

If it were remotely true, all Microsoft published titles would be available on both Xbox 360 and PC.

Killing the PC release of Alan Wake, for example, shows that it very much did matter to Microsoft that you had to own a 360 to play the game.

 

[Kagari]

If it requires Microsoft software to run the game, then it's a MS exclusive. Sorry. If you run it on the MS Xbox or on MS Windows... they don't care, you are still trapped in their world in order to play the game. Again, unless there is a Linux or Mac version. Then it's a multiplatform title.

Sorry, but no. Microsoft has shown they don't care about PC gaming so I don't know why you keep spouting this nonsense.

 

[Trunchisholm]

Seeing a gif is one thing, Seeing it as much as the KZ ones is another. the GOW gifs werent spammed nearly as much as the KZ ones were, it wasnt even freaking close. :lol

Yep, pretty much this. They were very often completely out of place, shoehorned into all kinds of threads that didn't quite have to do with either the game or any graphics discussion.

I think the whole phenomenon was partly fuelled a certain inferiority complex of PS3 fanboys after the initial pricing fiasco and the lack of games that were clearly better from a graphical standpoint than the ones released on a console that had launched a year earlier.

You could argue that the inferiority complex goes both ways and that would be true, after the 360 was consistently treated by some as a poor man's PS3 of sorts. It is just that, after the graphical showcase that Gears was, there was a dire need of games that justified price and hardware superiority of the PS3. The first game to do exactly that was Killzone 2, thus the cornucopia of gifs after its reveal.

Of course, it had to do as well with the ongoing debate on whether the final release would match the render target or not. While from a technical standpoint that is an utterly moronic question, people kept arguing using minuscule gifs and, as usual with these discussions, confusing artistic merit with technical prowess.

What is sad to me is how overlooked Rare games have been this generation only because they don't look gritty enough. Banjo and Viva Piñata are among the best games this generation from a technical point of view, but they hardly got any love when they were released and now we're stuck with a, seemingly, Kinect-only Rare. It could be far worse, though, seeing that Kinect Sports is the bee's knees.

 

[mood]

It's not like the PC versions of games matter all that much since the 360 version usually outsells any PC-360 game by a fairly large margin. They are effectively 360 exclusives.

 

[Shurs]

Yep, pretty much this. They were very often completely out of place, shoehorned into all kinds of threads that didn't quite have to do with either the game or any graphics discussion.

I think the whole phenomenon was partly fuelled a certain inferiority complex of PS3 fanboys after the initial pricing fiasco and the lack of games that were clearly better from a graphical standpoint than the ones released on a console that had launched a year earlier.

You could argue that the inferiority complex goes both ways and that would be true, after the 360 was consistently treated by some as a poor man's PS3 of sorts. It is just that, after the graphical showcase that Gears was, there was a dire need of games that justified price and hardware superiority of the PS3. The first game to do exactly that was Killzone 2, thus the cornucopia of gifs after its reveal.

Of course, it had to do as well with the ongoing debate on whether the final release would match the render target or not. While from a technical standpoint that is an utterly moronic question, people kept arguing using minuscule gifs and, as usual with these discussions, confusing artistic merit with technical prowess.

Uncharted was the game that seemingly showed what the PS3 was capable of, and it came out a year and a quarter before Killzone 2.

I don't really care to elaborate further, as to do so would pull this thread even more off topic than it already is, but your post was begging for a response.

 

[Trunchisholm]

Uncharted was the game that seemingly showed what the PS3 was capable of, and it came out a year and a quarter before Killzone 2.

While it's true that Uncharted was a truly gorgeous game at the time, it wasn't head and shoulders above Gears, which had been released a year earlier. Sure, the game was quite technically proficient when it came to animation systems, lighting and textures, but it was also marred by some obvious technical flaws, such as the awful tearing.

That's not to say that KZ2 was perfect, but it was a greater departure from what the 360 had been capable of, and the expectations people had of the game where, as opposed to Uncharted, which went unnoticed for the most part, totally off the charts.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

What is sad to me is how overlooked Rare games have been this generation only because they don't look gritty enough. Banjo and Viva Piñata are among the best games this generation from a technical point of view, but they hardly got any love when they were released

Rare have a great ability to do something technically magnificent but aesthetically downright ugly.

That's not even just this gen - they've been doing Bad Art and googly eyes since they went into 3D.

 

[Shurs]

Rare have a great ability to do something technically magnificent but aesthetically downright ugly.

That's not even just this gen - they've been doing Bad Art and googly eyes since they went into 3D.

You're spot on with Perfect Dark, but I enjoyed the aesthetic of Nuts & Bolts quite a bit.

Banjo remains one of the best looking games on the 360.

 

[Trunchisholm]

You're spot on with Perfect Dark, but I enjoyed the aesthetic of Nuts & Bolts quite a bit.

Banjo remains one of the best looking games on the 360.

Yes, Perfect Dark is downright ugly. There wasn't any sense of cohesion, human models were hilariously bad, and the art style was stuck in an uncomfortable middle between cartoony and realistic. It wasn't even as technically good as Kameo (sub-HD, framerate all over the place, etc.), but the animations were quite good and the multiplayer was godly and still unsurpassed in some areas when it comes to the 360. Textures were great at the time, but they often felt out of place.

B-K N&B and both Rare Viva Piñata games were fantastic, though. The art style was really good, and technically the games pushed far more than most other exclusives on the platform. For the record, I still think that Viva Piñata, and not Gears of War, was the best-looking console game of 2006.

The only problem was that those games were aimed at hardcore gamers and yet they used what was misunderstood as a "kiddy" aesthetic, because of the cartoony look of the games. Sure, they had their flaws, but they were solid efforts that were completely overlooked, mostly because they were aimed at the wrong demographic.

 

[Sydle]

Rare have a great ability to do something technically magnificent but aesthetically downright ugly.

That's not even just this gen - they've been doing Bad Art and googly eyes since they went into 3D.

Banjo N&B and Viva Pinata are beautiful games.

 

[Brimstone]

MS certainly has a bond with their community, it's called Xbox Live. People can count on great online services across all games and gamers can count on their friends who're playing the games online as well. Something Sony and Nintendo haven't managed to do yet Sony is trying but they still fail to deliver the message.

This isn't 100% true. Microsoft broke Shadowruns voice chat with the "improved" voice codec that was released a while back. When a Vista Shadowrun player talks, 360 owners just hear digital garble.

 

[Shapingo]

Wasn't Rare making a sequel to Perfect Dark that was announced a long time ago or am imagining things. Actually what is Rare even working on?

 

[Square Triangle]

Wasn't Rare making a sequel to Perfect Dark that was announced a long time ago or am imagining things. Actually what is Rare even working on?

Kinect Sports 2.0

They've made great strides in their gaming.

 

[okenny]

This isn't 100% true. Microsoft broke Shadowruns voice chat with the "improved" voice codec that was released a while back. When a Vista Shadowrun player talks, 360 owners just hear digital garble.

Isn't it saying that the safest city in America isn't really safe because some crime still happens?

 

[Brimstone]

Isn't it saying that the safest city in America isn't really safe because some crime still happens?

Overall Microsoft does a good job with LIVE, but some issues exist. Valve has pointed out they would like to give away content for free but Microsoft forbids this. I think Epic wanted to do something similar in the past. Then there was the recent concern over Kinect collecting data.

 

[Sydle]

Wasn't Rare making a sequel to Perfect Dark that was announced a long time ago or am imagining things. Actually what is Rare even working on?

It was never officially announced. We didn't know it existed until Rare revealed that it was cancelled a couple years back.

Rare revealed that they were working on three games including Kinect Sports. While not explicitly stating it, they've made it pretty clear they're all in on Kinect development.

 

[[Nintex]]

It was never officially announced. We didn't know it existed until Rare revealed that it was cancelled a couple years back.

Rare revealed that they were working on three games including Kinect Sports. While not explicitly stating it, they've made it pretty clear they're all in on Kinect development.

That brings my total count to 0, since both their music and fitness games didn't make the cut. :lol

 

[Sydle]

That brings my total count to 0, since both their music and fitness games didn't make the cut. :lol

I don't recall reading anything that hinted they were making a music or fitness game.

 

[JaggedSac]

Overall Microsoft does a good job with LIVE, but some issues exist. Valve has pointed out they would like to give away content for free but Microsoft forbids this. I think Epic wanted to do something similar in the past. Then there was the recent concern over Kinect collecting data.

That is an opt in thing.

 

[Neuromancer]

Banjo N&B and Viva Pinata are beautiful games.

Call me a bad guy but I didn't care for N&B's art style at all. Loved Viva Pinata's though, well other than the doofy characters.

 

[diztrukted]

Call me a bad guy but I didn't care for N&B's art style at all. Loved Viva Pinata's though, well other than the doofy characters.

Viva Pinata has (had??) a lot of potential. They should've brought it down the pokemon route (western style).

hmm, o well. still a very well designed game (art style wise)

 

[TheOddOne]

I think I posted this earlier, but this seems to have been updated (or I did not notice it before).

Development Manager-IEB-MGS Job

Microsoft Game Studios is looking for a dynamic and experienced technical leader who has an undying desire to create the world’s greatest games. Our Publishing Organization, responsible for launching titles such as Gears of War, Mass Effect, Crackdown, LIPS and many others, is working on the next great MGS franchises and we help shape and deliver the future of interactive entertainment. Use your extensive experience to collaborate with the industry's best developers and join a team dedicated to excellence and teamwork.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

As Technical Director of Core gaming, you will work with multiple game development (both internal and external) teams to:

Define the game vision and execute on that vision with excellence. Owning the technical relationship with one or more external partners.

Collaborating on the technical direction of one or more franchise titles making certain reliable processes are in place to ensure quality and predictability

Solving technical problems in all areas (graphics, performance, multiplayer, etc.)

Provide technical due diligence in support of finding great developers and evaluating external talent.

Identifying and mitigating technical risks to ship date and quality


QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS

Hands on experience (from concept to release) developing multiple highly acclaimed titles

Experience leading external and internal development teams

Strong coding skills and ability to solve technical problems

Experience with multithreaded software development

Experience with middleware engines and/or tools (Unreal, Havok , Wwise, etc.)

Technical vision and the ability to turn that vision into reality

Strong communication skills

Ability to travel as necessary

Seems to fit the profile of Firebird Studios.