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HUDs up! A look at GRAW's next-gen interface
Stephen Totilo has written another excellent article for MTV, continuing his streak of wearing away at my natural, innate aversion to all things Music Television, be they neither about music or on television. This time he looked at GRAW from a unique perspective. Yup, we're talking about the Head-Up Display, or HUD. While it's something that might seem simple or inconsequential, this feature is an example of how gaming can benefit from the increased power of next-gen consoles. Totilo writes, "During the development of GRAW it turned out that one extra window wasn't enough. Another one was added to the screen's upper right corner to provide talking-head mission briefings. Like a computer desktop running a couple of programs and an IM window in the corner, the game supplies a lot to keep track of." What's impressive is how capable the 360 is of handling the added load of the picture-in-picture HUD as well as the game's praiseworthy graphics. Totilo explains, "The multi-windowing doesn't sap the 360's strength, and [Production Manager Adrian] Lacey pointed to other graphical achievements that were pulled off in the main window. Each character onscreen is rendered by 15,000 polygons, the same number of polygons used to render an entire level of 2002's PS2 Ghost Recon."Nintendo's Revolution is often singled out as a lone console carrying the torch of innovation for next-gen gaming. While we won't besmirch Nintendo's system, or their concept, the argument that increased computing power is only valuable for prettier graphics, and that graphics add nothing of substance to gameplay is erroneous. It's not a couple months in and one of the first killer apps for the 360 is already using that power to deliver real next-gen gameplay. Be sure to read Totilo's article and also check out MTV's GRAW "Peep Show."
Metareview - Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Reviews of Ubisoft and Tom Clancy's newest license to print money have finally begun to appear in some quantity and the consensus is... impressive. Team Xbox (93%) - "Ubisoft is not only kicking the door in with Advanced Warfighter, they are taking the whole damn building down along with it! Despite a few questionable decisions, such as the lack of any Southpaw support, or the ability to lean in multiplayer, the game is everything we've come to expect since it was first shown a year ago." Gamespot (92%) - "If you like shooters or action games, and you own an Xbox 360, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is a must-own for your library. A solid and challenging campaign and a unique, online-co-op mode combine with an unmatched presentation in what is arguably the best game yet on the Xbox 360." IGN (92%) - "GRAW is fundamentally the same methodically paced, squad-based sniper game of yesteryear, but the formula has been enhanced, polished, and realized in ways it's never been capable of reaching in prior generations. Of course, the online portion is vast, impressive, and deep in replay value, and it may very well be the reason to finally get on and stay on Xbox Live for the first time in this console's short history." As if you needed any more reason to get this game! The reviews are universally glowing: Gamerankings has a cumulative rating of 91% thus far, while Metacritic has 92%. The major gripe appears to be the lack of options in controller-layouts, a long standing pet peeve of gamers--especially lefties--everywhere! Come on game devs, this is like having a save-everywhere function on handheld titles--it's not an option, it's mandatory!
Where's the GR:AW?
We got an email today from a reader who was frantic... no, frenzied trying to get his hands on Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. After months of nothing much showing up in the 360 aisles, it seems gamers have descended on gaming retailers to snatch up all their copies, leaving lesser titles like Full Auto in their A completely unscientific and informal survey of local gaming stores in Philadelphia resulted in a mix of response: several reported selling out their entire stock in pre-orders, others had a handful, and others yet unsure when their shipment would be in. This is a sad song for 360 owners to hear, the wounds of 360 shortages still fresh for many of us. Shortages of the most anticipated 360 title thus far only add salt to those wounds. Who's to blame here? A marketing ploy by Ubisoft to get blogs and gaming sites all over the world to write paragraphs like the one that precedes this bullet point, where sycophantic fanboys gush nonsense like calling GR:AW "the most anticipated 360 title thus far"? An unfortunate underestimation by Ubisoft of what percentage of 360 owners would buy their title? It's unlikely they would knowingly not make enough, they're just discs! A coordinated effort on the part of specialty-game retailers to convince gamers to pre-order games when we all know there's no reason they should ever sell out. What's going on here? Who here got their mitts on GR:AW and are online right now GR:AWing it up with other GR:AWers?[Thanks, todd--who was actually pretty composed]
Rainbow Six: Vegas screens have Vegas glow
Rainbow Six: Vegas was "officially" announced today--although everyone knew about it last week. Along with the announcement comes some fancy screenshots, courtesy of Xboxyde. A couple thoughts on the screenshots: I don't trust screenshots, for two main reasons. Games invariably look better in motion and rarely look as good as early screenshots. So it's a lose-lose situation. If they do show them in motion, and they look that good, they're probably CGI (see Killzone 2 trailer). The videos of Ubisoft's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and the screenshots of Splinter Cell: Double Agent have convinced me that Ubisoft is capable of walking their talk, as it were. This bodes well for the validity of these screens. Get ready to shove more cash into Tom Clancy's bulging pockets this fall.
Splinter Cell: Double Agent screenshots
The always popular Splinter Cell series is making its way to the 360 in the form of Splinter Cell: Double Agent. These new screenshots might be just enough to whet your appetite until the next media drop. GamersReports tell us "this time around it has been revealed that the cinema sequeneces will all be real time and have a certain amount of player control. This means more than likely they are not stills from CG movie sequences." You should be able to get your neck-breaking stealth groove on this September.[Via Joystiq]
GRAW gameplay video returns, in pieces
Xboxyde posted a 17 minute video of the first level of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter last Friday. It was only up for several hours before Ubisoft politely asked them to remove it... grouches. Now it's returned, albeit in a slightly altered form: two videos, five minutes each. The game is beautiful in motion, sure would like to play it myself. There's a demo coming "soon" but, with the title launching next week, soon isn't soon enough!
