Prey Release Date Bumped to July (360 & PC)

[Everlost_MI]

PC.IGN (http://pc.ign.com/) is reporting (http://pc.ign.com/articles/703/703253p1.html) that the 360 and PC versions of Prey have been bumped to a July release date.

UPDATE: Worthplaying (http://www.worthplaying.com/) is reporting (http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=33715&mode=thread&order=0) that July 10th is now the official release date.

I have nothing witty to say about this.

[bapenguin]

I still remember back in the day when I had AOL and reading about Prey on their gaming section in there. What's next, Duke Nukem Forever coming out? bwahahahahaha....I kid...I kid.

[Serapth]

Yeah, figuring the game is about 9 years late... whats a few more months.

I still dont know why so many people are jazzed about this game. It looks like a fairly runofthemill FPS to me.

[Lizard Dude]

Runofthemill? Not really - what with all the crazy gravity fields, portals, spirit walking, and death walking.

[lockwoodx]

Maby the delay is to announce it's new title . "Prey Forever"

[Serapth]

Portals is old hat.

Spirit and death walking has been done before. Some reason im thinking it was either Blood or Blood2, but it may have been a different game from that era.

As to crazy gravity, thats been pretty much the first mod for every FPS game since Quake.

[SuperMonkeyFighter2]

Portals is old hat.

Spirit and death walking has been done before. Some reason im thinking it was either Blood or Blood2, but it may have been a different game from that era.

As to crazy gravity, thats been pretty much the first mod for every FPS game since Quake.

I'm with you man ... on top of that, the story is just plain stupid.

[gzsfrk]

Man... if it weren't for Duke Nukem Forever, this game would certainly be the cliched vaporware joke. It's good to see that it's coming out, but I do recall first reading about the game in PC Gamer about 10 years ago. There's simply no excuse for timelines like that.

[Deadend]

So, you would like another dose of Counter Strike?

I am hoping Prey is good, as doing something useful with Crazy Gravity and Spirit Walking, well that is new and diffrent.

[joruussuun]

How come nobody makes fun of Too Human like Duke Nukem Forever and Prey? It was originally supposed to come out on the original Playstation. It's had a near 10 year development cycle too.

[Serapth]

How come nobody makes fun of Too Human like Duke Nukem Forever and Prey? It was originally supposed to come out on the original Playstation. It's had a near 10 year development cycle too.

Because its nowhere near as high profiled or hyped. Much like Diakatana wouldnt have been ridiculed for sucking had it not been surrounded by so much hype.

[Klade]

I'm interested to see if this game will be consoled. If there are a million loading screens and small cramped levels, then I'm going to pretty annoyed with the xbox 360.

[ddbrown30]

Portals is old hat.

What games have done portals? I mean, I don't know of any, so it can't be that old hat.

[Serapth]

What games have done portals? I mean, I don't know of any, so it can't be that old hat.

The very first that comes to mind was either Hexen or Heretic, I forget which. Both are very old by FPS standards. Then there was another about that time called Bloodwitch, or BloodHaven, something like that.

[Schnoogs]

What games have done portals? I mean, I don't know of any, so it can't be that old hat.

Portal has two meanings in gaming...

1) a portal that allows the player to teleport from one area to another

2) Portal rendering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_%28computer_graphics%29) which is a technique for PVS and HSR.

Definition 1 has been done many times since Unreal, etc.

In terms of definition 2 I don't know many pure portal based games off hand but the technology is pretty old.

Either way portals in general, regardless of what definition you use, is somewhat old news.

[Serapth]

I'm interested to see if this game will be consoled. If there are a million loading screens and small cramped levels, then I'm going to pretty annoyed with the xbox 360.

I dont think I would worry too much about that. PDZ has HUGE levels, they are just poorly designed. Again, GRAW levels are bigger then most PC levels I can think of aswell, and they are both well designed and purdy as all heck. Small cramped levels kinda went the way of the dodo when system RAM was jacked from 64mb to 512. The Rev is the only system I can think of in the next gen that will have this constrant given its limited ram.

[Paranoia]

I remember reading Prey in a Voodoo 2 game catalogue.

[Klade]

I dont think I would worry too much about that. PDZ has HUGE levels, they are just poorly designed. Again, GRAW levels are bigger then most PC levels I can think of aswell, and they are both well designed and purdy as all heck. Small cramped levels kinda went the way of the dodo when system RAM was jacked from 64mb to 512. The Rev is the only system I can think of in the next gen that will have this constrant given its limited ram.

I would have thought so as well, then I look at oblivion and I have to wonder. I think what does it are the textures. If they can get away with using the same ones over and over again its pretty easy to make large levels. But if they have to change things quickly (say by walking through a portal) then I worry.

[SuperMonkeyFighter2]

How come nobody makes fun of Too Human like Duke Nukem Forever and Prey? It was originally supposed to come out on the original Playstation. It's had a near 10 year development cycle too.

Few reasons:

1) You never hear Silicon Knights running their mouths in every forum and news article dissing other people's games (George B), or talking about how their game will be the best in their genre (Scott M)

2) Silicon Knights have put out games since they announced Too Human for PS1 (Eternal Darkness for example). 3DR has NEVER made a Windows based title (While they did "produce" Max Payne, they did not develop it). Once again, they need to stop yapping and just put up.

3) They simply make themselves targets. See the above 2. There are high profile game makers who show class in their interviews (Nintendo and Sega for example), and there are those who are just crass for no real reason (3DR, Tecmo, Ion Storm (well, Romero anyway)).

Point is, I doubt anyone would be all over 3DR if they just kept their collective mouths shut and simply worked on their little game.

[Serapth]

I would have thought so as well, then I look at oblivion and I have to wonder. I think what does it are the textures. If they can get away with using the same ones over and over again its pretty easy to make large levels. But if they have to change things quickly (say by walking through a portal) then I worry.

I wouldnt look at Oblivion as an example. Simply put, Oblivions graphics dont start to falter until you start traveling fast. The game simply wasnt optimized towards a FPS. If you think of the level size in oblivion, its actually staggeringly HUGE, so the trade off is, as you move across the world it has to page in the next area. Whereas in most FPS's, this isnt so much an issue. Not to mention, if Oblivion dropped Speed Tree ( tree/plant rendering ) and took out the ability to see buildings hundreds of miles away, the engine could easily have been optimized to support fast FPS style gaming.

[Taco]

If it's not WW2 it's crap.

And do we still really need to remind people that the original Prey was cancelled and these are two different games?

/assuming this is Serapth's line of thought on both counts?

[farley2k]

I'm with you man ... on top of that, the story is just plain stupid.


Yeah because other FPS have such great stories. I love the unique and interesting story of Quake 4. Get this, a solider fights waves of enemies!

[The-Builder]

1) a portal that allows the player to teleport from one area to another
No game has done portals like Prey before. The closest would be Duke3d that actually allowed your bullets to go through the teleporters, and not just you.

Portals in Prey are more like... doorways, leading to completly new areas. And like a door you can see what's on the other side, and they can see you. Likewise you can shoot through the portals.

And the portals can twist and turn without affecting the portal at the other end.


Would be really interesting to see how a a portal in front of the player, leading to a portal behind the player would work... Would be an infinite tunnel of portals, with you showing up in front of everyone.

[Taco]

The orginal Unreal let you see through portals, I can't remember if you could shoot through them.

I'm still looking forward to the game.

[Serapth]

If it's not WW2 it's crap.

And do we still really need to remind people that the original Prey was cancelled and these are two different games?

/assuming this is Serapth's line of thought on both counts?

Actually, I dont much like WW2 shooters that much either, the only one I really got into was CoD2 and thats because its just a damned immersive game. Beside run and gun sci/fi shooters are probrably the next most cliched subset. Then again, im kinda getting sick of FPS's in general. Damn I want System Shock 3 or DeusEx 3.

As to the Prey cancellation, yeah thats true, its not much different then Duke Nukem was. That game basically restarted 3 times at this point... and the dev team behind it is almost completely different from when it started. Frankly, if its a new game, with a new team (Prey im talking), they should have been smart about it and switched names.

[TheBrainKills]

I thought Serious Sam had portals.

Edit: yup, the Serious Engine has portal tech, plus multidirectional gravity.
http://www.seriousengine.com/wiki/Engine_Features_%281.x%29

"The Rev is the only system I can think of in the next gen that will have this constrant given its limited ram."

But if you look at Metroid Prime, it turns out to be one huge world because of the way the loading was hidden behind doors opening.

[DaedalusFolly]

Would be really interesting to see how a a portal in front of the player, leading to a portal behind the player would work... Would be an infinite tunnel of portals, with you showing up in front of everyone.

Even more interestingly, could you pull out a magnum and shoot yourself multiple times with a single shot?

[51|RandoM]

Yeah because other FPS have such great stories. I love the unique and interesting story of Quake 4. Get this, a solider fights waves of enemies!

Just because most FPS stories are crap doesn't mean we should lower our gaming standards to the point where we are perfectly happy with a crappy story.

[StoneGut]

Whenever it's out I'll be picking it up. Looks great!

[Serapth]

I thought Serious Sam had portals.

"The Rev is the only system I can think of in the next gen that will have this constrant given its limited ram."

But if you look at Metroid Prime, it turns out to be one huge world because of the way the loading was hidden behind doors opening.

Yeah, but that was the origonal posters comment. He said something like "I hope this game isnt consolized. I dont want a level to be split up with a bunch of doors and areas". Im not saying it cant be done, but with major RAM constraints they will have to do alot of trickery in the level design.

[Schnoogs]

I was amped about this game when it was first announced like 10 years ago and I still am.

Plus my new rig needs something to challange it.

[ddbrown30]

Portal has two meanings in gaming...

1) a portal that allows the player to teleport from one area to another

2) Portal rendering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_%28computer_graphics%29) which is a technique for PVS and HSR.

Definition 1 has been done many times since Unreal, etc.

In terms of definition 2 I don't know many pure portal based games off hand but the technology is pretty old.

Either way portals in general, regardless of what definition you use, is somewhat old news.

Portals in terms of rendering isn't part of a game, as far as I'm concerned. It will improve frame rates and render times, granted, but it doesn't affect the gameplay.

I have yet to see a game that uses portals in the same way that Prey is going to. Being able to actually look through a portal into another area as if it was just a door, especially with all the gravity shit that it does, is something that I've never seen and I'm really excited for. I mean, you can throw grenades through the portals and see the effect. Very cool stuff.

Have any games actually made portals in the same way?

[TheBrainKills]

... Im not saying it cant be done, but with major RAM constraints they will have to do alot of trickery in the level design.

Very true, but I like trickery ;)

[ddbrown30]

Even more interestingly, could you pull out a magnum and shoot yourself multiple times with a single shot?

Nope, the bullet wouldn't loop if it hit you.

[Schnoogs]

Portals in terms of rendering isn't part of a game, as far as I'm concerned. It will improve frame rates and render times, granted, but it doesn't affect the gameplay.

I have yet to see a game that uses portals in the same way that Prey is going to. Being able to actually look through a portal into another area as if it was just a door, especially with all the gravity shit that it does, is something that I've never seen and I'm really excited for. I mean, you can throw grenades through the portals and see the effect. Very cool stuff.

Have any games actually made portals in the same way?


The point of my post was to address some confusion about the term portal...back in the day when Prey was first announced it was supposed to be the poster child of Portal Rendering.

Obviously since it now uses the Doom 3 engine any mention of the term portal is referring to the in game portals that allow the player to move from one environment to another.

I posted the definitions because one of the other posts seemed to be confused as to what type of portals were being referenced.

[DaedalusFolly]

Nope, the bullet wouldn't loop if it hit you.

Ah. But then again, I quite obviously used a high powered gun in my little theoretical construct under the premise that, if the game physics allowed, you could pass bullets through soft targets (players).

I imagine it's common these days in games that have said weapons, though I havent specifically noticed. I do remember it being possible in the original Perfect Dark.

[ddbrown30]

Ah. But then again, I quite obviously used a high powered gun in my little theoretical construct under the premise that, if the game physics allowed, you could pass bullets through soft targets (players).

I imagine it's common these days in games that have said weapons, though I havent specifically noticed. I do remember it being possible in the original Perfect Dark.

Assuming the game didn't put physics on the bullet to slow it down, yeah, you could probably shoot yourself an infinite number of times.

[gzsfrk]

And do we still really need to remind people that the original Prey was cancelled and these are two different games?

They're not two completely different games--they're both based on the same original design specs. That would be like saying that the current in-development DNF is a different game from the one that was in development 10 years ago. They're the same games, at least from a design perspective (even if the design itself has evolved considerably during the stupidly-long development cycle).

[Taco]

Development was scrapped and stopped for years. When it was started it was started anew with a different developer. The idea of portals and the native american main character are hardly enough to sustain the argument that it's been in development since the 90's.

[ddbrown30]

Development was scrapped and stopped for years. When it was started it was started anew with a different developer. The idea of portals and the native american main character are hardly enough to sustain the argument that it's been in development since the 90's.

Not to mention the fact that it simply hasn't been in development for that long. It's not like they've been working on it all this time. It was cancelled shortly after it began and the restarted again years later.

[Worldcrafter]

No game has done portals like Prey before. The closest would be Duke3d that actually allowed your bullets to go through the teleporters, and not just you.

Portals in Prey are more like... doorways, leading to completly new areas. And like a door you can see what's on the other side, and they can see you. Likewise you can shoot through the portals.

And the portals can twist and turn without affecting the portal at the other end.
QFT
Lots of games have portals, but most are static doorways that just warp you to another part of the level. In Prey, the portals themselves can be at weird orientations, and the portal's destination doesn't have to be on the same plane as the one you're on. Previous games have had portals, and previous games have had changable gravity, but I've never seen a game built around both of those ideas.

Would be really interesting to see how a a portal in front of the player, leading to a portal behind the player would work... Would be an infinite tunnel of portals, with you showing up in front of everyone.
I suspect it would work the same way it did in Duke3D with facing mirrors. You just ended up with a hall of mirrors effect. Infinity is a hard thing for a computer to render.

As a side effect with Duke3D, if you walked between those facing mirrors, you'd die instantly, and I believe crash the game. I'll bet the level designers of Prey won't allow any HOM situations to pop up. Then again, I would be impressed if Prey's engine could handle that intelligently.

[Wyrm]

Sounds like a novel little gameplay gimmick. I'll probably give it a try whenever it does come out. I like an FPS with a slightly different take on the norm, and this one looks like it will do just that.

[Schnoogs]

3D renderers handle the hall of mirror problem by placing a "recursion" limit on the number of reflections deep it will go. The developers of Prey can use proven methods for doing this.

[Worldcrafter]

3D renderers handle the hall of mirror problem by placing a "recursion" limit on the number of reflections deep it will go.

Oh yeah, forgot about that. I'm interested to play Prey, but I'm not going to rush out to the store until I've played a demo. I hope it's fun, because I do enjoy a good FPS with a gameplay twist.

[BabyJesus]

No game has done portals like Prey before. The closest would be Duke3d that actually allowed your bullets to go through the teleporters, and not just you.

Portals in Prey are more like... doorways, leading to completly new areas. And like a door you can see what's on the other side, and they can see you. Likewise you can shoot through the portals.

And the portals can twist and turn without affecting the portal at the other end.


Would be really interesting to see how a a portal in front of the player, leading to a portal behind the player would work... Would be an infinite tunnel of portals, with you showing up in front of everyone.

Quake 4 lets you shoot thru portals, granted they are portals that just take you to another part of the map.

[shnastybiznastic]

I mean, you can throw grenades through the portals and see the effect. Very cool stuff.
I don't care too much for seeing a grenade explode, but if you were to throw a grenade into a portal that comes out upside down in another room, it would be cool to see the grenade arc invert itself and fall up.

I'm more excited about the wall walking that was shown off a few years ago. It would be neat to have to look all around when you enter a new room as opposed to just do a sweep of the area in front of you.

[Royal Fool]

If you haven't seen the latest trailer, I suggest you do: http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=290&s=l