I don’t really think that’s the same thing though. When you’re going through a portal in Portal, you’re just moving around in the same area already loaded into memory. Ratchet and Clank and potentially Halo, loads in entirely new worlds in a few seconds. So you’re right that the concept of using a portal isn’t anything new, but how it’s used is a clear representation of next gen technology IMO.
In order to replicate Ratchet and Clank on a current gen system, you’d have to pre-load the next world in memory, vastly cutting down the amount of available memory for textures, animations, objects, etc. It wouldn’t be the same game. So in order to get the Ratchet and Clank we saw a couple months ago, you need a next gen system.
All of that is entirely true, but I think that because people have already seen similar things in other games (for instance, Quantum Break blew my mind with its instant changes of scenery all those years ago), it doesn’t quite make an impression that it should. Those older games didn’t look as good, and a part of the reason why is that, yes, more things needed to be pre-loaded into the main memory, but then again, people expect next gen games to look better, so it’s not exactly surprising to them. It will take some time and more ingenious designs for the SSD benefits to truly sink in, what Ratchet has shown so far seemed more like a quick and dirty utilization of the tech.
Sadly seems to be the case with Iron Galaxy, I wish Double Helix didn’t get acquired by amazon now.
I can’t imagine Microsoft working with Lab Zero, especially with all the drama around Mike Z in recent months (whilst I don’t think he was purposely being malicious, I think he is incredibly socially awkward/not good with words maybe)
Maybe they could make a brand new studio especially for killer instinct? Give Ono a call haha.
R&C looked awesome but was pretty much an in engine cutscene other than 4 seconds of shooting and dodging. Sony has a history of using smoke and mirrors so I don’t personally trust any of their " gameplay."
I haven’t been “wowed” by anything on either platform. Ratchet showed off the PS5’s SSD but you could argue that those rifts were hidden loading screens. Horizon 2 looked amazing but it wasn’t in-game. Pretty sure it was CGI. The Medium is probably the most impressive gameplay wise but my friend pointed out that Arcane did something similar using a mirror in Dishonored 2 but I only played the opening of the game so I can comment on if what he said about Dishonored 2 is true or not.
I’d personally disagree as I think Gran Turismo 7 was running with ray tracing. Also, the ability to switch between world’s in Ratchet and Clank is only possible thanks to the SSD.
I know Halo Infinite gets lots of hate but the non gameplay parts were for sure next gen looking and the gameplay was next gen as well in regards to being buttery smooth 60FPS in a massive world. 343 should show that same gameplay clip running on an OG Xbox One just so we can appreciate how good the demo actually was.
But do we know how big these worlds are? I think it’s a bit too early to say that without seeing how big the worlds are with each transition.
But I agree with the statement no games look next gen from either companies and I didn’t expect that either. Games that are year 1 aren’t usually that big of a jump except for a few and that’s when we’re not in the middle of a pandemic. I think the first next gen title we’ll see is Hellblade 2 which would be out late 2021 IMO.
You think? We do not know how big the game world really was when teleporting. You can do this with today’s very slow hdds to if you restrict what has to be loaded. You have to trust what Sony or any other platform holder tells you here. If you know where the portal leads to there and there is no other portal usable other than the one you used this is actually possible to stream it in the background. If the portal is random - means you decide on the last second, than I see it as a proof that the SSD played a major role there. But nothing in that game play session could answer that question.
I personally will judge on all the games when they are actually out. Excited for the first DF articles and videos about the topics.
But what did you expect? Forza Motorsport will also look like FM7 with raytracing added. What will set it apart from FM7 will be no agonizing loading times any more.
I’d argue Ratchet and Clank was showing off some of what the SSD can do.
The world traversal was near instant with only an extremely short “load mask” between for 1 or 2 seconds where Ratchet and Clank fall through limbo.
Series X? Not sure. Maybe the Medium? But don’t know enough to make the call yet. But I guess so many games already confirmed to have 120fps modes is at least showing the sheer power aspect of Series X.
And that’s true. It’s certainly not groundbreaking but I don’t know how racing games could introduce anything that would substantially change the current formula.
