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Take a peek at graphical updates for SWTOR update 1.5
It's time to start getting excited for Star Wars: The Old Republic's upcoming 1.5 update. In order to whet your appetite for change, Senior Technical Artist Ben Cloward has graced fans with a glimpse of one of the big graphical changes that'll be coming in with the patch. Foliage is going to be a lot more beautiful and realistic. Instead of looking solid and therefore unnaturally dark when viewed against the sun, players with their Shader Complexity set to High will notice that leaves and grass will be moderately translucent, allowing sunlight to filter through them. While this may be but one small step for graphics, it's joined by "some even better improvements in the pipe," according to Cloward. Head on over to the official post to preview the change.
Perpetuum upgrading to shader 3.0
Avatar Creations has posted a new Perpetuum dev blog that heralds the coming of shader 3.0. This is either great news or irritating news depending on what kind of gaming rig you run, but either way, change is coming. The sci-fi sandbox game launched with model 2.0 shaders because Avatar wanted to make it as accessible as possible for as many people as possible, and because the team initially lacked DirectX experience. Now, though, Avatar has "reached the limits of shader model 2.0," and needs to upgrade the game in a visual sense without "going through significant hacks that reduce client performance and mess up the codebase." Shader 3.0 is the answer, and the dev blog serves as a warning that the game's minimum hardware requirements will be changing. "As the vast majority of you have hardware that supports SM3, the change will only affect a handful of players," Avatar states.
CCP working on EVE ship spinning patch
Incarna haters rejoice! OK, maybe rejoice is too strong a word, but surely the return of ship spinning is worth a smile or two, amirite? Today's second piece of EVE Online news comes courtesy of Torfi Frans Olafsson's latest blog post. In it, he mentions how CCP is rethinking its captain's quarters design and working toward reimplementing the ability for bored pod pilots to rotate their cameras around their active ship while docked. The ability disappeared with the introduction of full-body avatars in last summer's Incarna expansion, and Olafsson says that soon "you will simply be able to board and unboard your ship, toggling between captain's quarters and ship spinning mode." Incarna's hefty graphical requirements have also inconvenienced players logging in via "craptop" portable computers that lack gaming-quality hardware, and the post says that fixes for this are on the way as well. Finally, there are a few blurbs about improvements to captain's quarters shaders and new turret graphics. Read all about it at the official EVE website.
World of Warcraft's graphics engine to be upgraded incrementally
In the wake of a series of comments by Blizzard reps hinting at an eventual overhaul of World of Warcraft's graphics engine, Worldofwar.net contacted Lead Producer J. Allen Brack for clarification. Brack responded by describing specific changes to the engine that will be in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and then by making a pretty major revelation about the nature of the overhaul.According to Brack, Blizzard will be making the changes bit-by-bit rather than all at once. "We're taking an iterative, organic approach to graphics upgrades," he said, "going feature by feature as opposed to thinking in terms of an overall new graphics engine."As for the WotLK changes: those will include a new shadow engine, some new shaders for "even better looking terrain, as well as cool ice effects," and an increased view distance to make those expansive Northrend wastelands look, well ... expansive. He also noted that new water effects will be coming in "a future content update or expansion."[Via WoW Insider] One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Video of CCP artist's Ambulation presentation available
CCP character artist Ben Mathis gave a 30 minute presentation at the New York Comic Con last month. He talked mostly about the forthcoming Ambulation expansion, which will allow EVE Online players to leave their cockpits and walk around the interiors of space stations with customizable, 3D avatars. Ten Ton Hammer has a Flash video of the entire session.We saw some of the presented content at GDC earlier this year, but there's some new stuff in this video, too. As we've noted before, CCP isn't holding back; Ambulation is very technically impressive. It's ironic that EVE -- a game focused almost entirely on spaceships instead of face-to-face interactions -- might soon carry the most advanced avatar creation tools on the market.Players will be able to customize every thing from body fat to the materials from which their clothes are made. Female avatars will have makeup customization options so powerful that the differentiation between lip gloss and lip stick will be noticeable. New animation blending technology will enable realistic transitions between disparate facial expressions. Infinite morph points will be available when faces are molded, thanks to creative use of shaders. CCP's ambition is astonishing -- let's hope the reality lives up to the promise in the end.
New Trinity trailer makes Sci-Fi geeks gasp in awe [Updated]
CCP just released this two-minute trailer for EVE Online's upcoming Trinity expansion. It's a longer and cooler trailer than the one that was shown at the Fanfest in Reykjavik. Trinity is adding a lot of things, but one of the most significant is a major graphics update, and that's what this trailer focuses on.The new shader effects are very impressive, especially when they're exhibited with such epic music. It looks like EVE is reclaiming its crown as the best-looking MMO on the market. While it's easier to make spaceships and planets look realistic and amazing than it is to make humanoids look convincing, the new EVE visuals are still awesome.Assuming nothing goes wrong, Trinity will go live next week.[EDIT: GameTrailers has posted the trailer in HD. Commence drooling.]
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Beyond Patch 2.2: Schwick's compilation of verified info
Patch 2.2, currently in testing on the PTR, has some great improvements like voice chat and reporting AFK'ers in Battlegrounds. What it doesn't have is any new, big, sexy chunk of playable content. So when are we going to see the post-Karazhan 10-main raid zone, Zul'Aman? New Heroic Badge rewards? Guild banks? Oh, we already know that last one.Forum MVP Schwick on the WoW European forums has compiled a list of known updates in Patch 2.3 and beyond. He often provide reference links to his sources form many of his future patch notes, which makes him an information god in my book.He also goes on to list all the verified information about the WotLK expansion. I thought I had read all the info that was out already, but on Schwick's list I found items I didn't know, like the fact that Blizzard has a plan to deal with the fact that the Horde doesn't have a fear ward. Or that Naxxramas, the last raid zone introduced before TBC launched, will be repurposed in the new expansion. Or that new shaders will be introduced for shinier graphics. Mmm, sparkles.Check out Schwick's post if you want to get a look ahead about what's known for future patches.Screenshot of Zul'Aman boss models courtesy of MMO-Champion.com.
