First Perfect Dark 0 Screens

[Draft]

Shameful (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3140401&did=1)

Hideous. Laughably bad. GG Rare :(

[InstaPete]

I don't think they're spectacular, but "laughably bad"? what's so bad about them?

[Tricky Thumb]

Yeah I saw them and kinda laughed, so yeah.

[11thfinger]

I don't get it either. Where is the butt hurt coming from, Draft?

[crashedout]

I agree, nothing amazing but not horrible. I fear coding for this beast is very hard.

[Draft]

This is the next fucking generation? Could be a PS2 game.

Pathetic, and no way to build hype. My interest in Xbox 360 just took a severe hit.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

I agree, nothing amazing but not horrible. I fear coding for this beast is very hard.

It is.

So I've been told, anyway. Basically if you're a programmer and you can't code in parallel you may as well count yourself out of this generation.

[bapenguin]

The quality looks really bad on the shots.

[amusedtoe]

They look fine... for this generation of consoles. :p The current XBox is already pulling off stuff way better looking. I was acctually hoping it would be kind of cartoony and exagerated like the stuff that was out about maybe 2 years ago hinted it would be.

[IndependentGMR]

I agree, I'm unimpressed. Plus, the Xbox 360 debut on MTV was a total joke. They showed next to nothing, regarding the system. Wait, "Sway" did visit J Allard, where they talked about being able to switch out face plates on the system, wooh! And the "Live Market Place," where you can get items for your character, like ecko shirts, what the fuck? They didn't mention that you would probably have to pay for it. Anyway, I loved Perfect Dark, but from what they displayed of the prequel, I'd say they have some work to do.

[Draft]

http://www.1up.com/media?id=1879119&type=lg

There is no defending this. No spin, no excuses. Repugnant, wretched refuse.

[IndependentGMR]

One more point. On MTV, the guys at Rare said the characters had 5,000 polygons. Don't the characters in Resident Evil 4 have up to 10,000?

[Tricky Thumb]

I agree, I'm unimpressed. Plus, the Xbox 360 debut on MTV was a total joke. They showed next to nothing, regarding the system. Wait, "Sway" did visit J Allard, where they talked about being able to switch out face plates on the system, wooh! And the "Live Market Place," where you can get items for your character, like ecko shirts, what the fuck? They didn't mention that you would probably have to pay for it. Anyway, I loved Perfect Dark, but from what they displayed of the prequel, I'd say they have some work to do.


Did you expect MTV to be... useful? If somebody sent mail bombs to every MTV office in existence and blew them all up I wouldn't not shed a tear. If you're working for MTV you're a dreg on humanity to begin with.

[zorper]

A PS2 version of Halo 1... with jetpacks. That's what it looked like to me. Why did they push PD0? Did anyone else see the sweet ass GR3 and Q4 shots? I would have had my "first ever" match with one of those.

[Tyrant]

Straight from the article included in the link, for those of you that didn't bother reading it:

Running on alpha Xbox 360 development kits (machines that possess only two of the three CPU cores in the final spec, as well as a run-of-the-mill ATI graphics card as opposed to the final, custom GPU set), the game is still very much a work-in-progress. But even at this stage, it's enough to see where they want to go with it.

[KarmaGhost]

Not impressive. However, it is important to see this game in action. I hope Microsoft hasn't wasted our (everyone's) time with this next Xbox.

And speaking of wasting our time, don't show us screens that don't represent what final products will look like. What the fuck is the point?

[Switcher]

Nintendo pretty much made the best damn deal this generation.

[mkelehan]

Yeah, PD0 looks quite this-gen. They show all these clips of other, better looking games, like your Maddens and your Needs for Speed and your Ghost Recons, and then show them playing this trash. It had better be damn fun.

[SaintArnold]

Looks horrible to me, and I'm a Goldeneye/PD fanboy extreme.

However, you Xbox boys are too new to Rare to know how this goes. They show the game now, it looks like shit. They announce it as a lanch title for Xbox360. In October, they will announce an unspecified delay. They will show it a year later, looking pretty good. Shortly thereafter, another delay. Two years later it will emerge, shiny and awesome.

Or, maybe it will come out in November and suck. We'll see...

[taxial]

These pics look on par with Killzone. I hope it pushes the console a bit more but even if it doesn't, It is Perfect Dark, and even if it stays looking like this it may play like a dream. Lets hope the guns are super kick ass. Hopefully the controls stay nice and tight and the aftermath game report is there to tally cool things like 'Most Frantice" "Where's the armour" "Quad Kill" and junk like that, always fun.

[Plac1d]

Two year delay? I've been counting six years so far..

[Switcher]

Well at least they have the x-ray scanning gun!! Thank god, now you make sure to see if the bad guys that are shooting you..um....are carrying guns?

[Royal Fool]

They probably showed off this Xbox 360 version of PDZ very recently, a month or two back at most if we look at print magazine deadlines.

And it's only an alpha build. And the game is set for November 2005, which gives Rare an extra, oh, 6-7 months to finish the game, integrate every single fucking detail they're hyping up in that 1-UP article and generally wow early adopters of the Xbox 360, which is gonna be a huge amount of people.

Will they make it? I doubt it... some of the stuff that Botwood dude was hyping:

- "It's almost like you can play it in an entirely different way each time"
- "We were certainly interested to hear that Bungie had it [co-op mode] planned for Halo 2 and disappointed to see that they didn't make this kind of game...it's something we're very interested in"

I really wonder if they will actually manage to get it in a releasable form for the X360 launch. Botwood makes loads of vague excuses at the end of the article, saying that it's "gonna be the best game we could make", possibly implying that Microsoft are pushing hard on them to finish the game for the launch and that delays won't be permitted.

[Zeal]

Ridiculously bad. No better than current generation graphics.

Worse, actually.

[Rakael]

That looks like Anachronox, a very old game.

[amusedtoe]

Running on alpha Xbox 360 development kits (machines that possess only two of the three CPU cores in the final spec, as well as a run-of-the-mill ATI graphics card as opposed to the final, custom GPU set), the game is still very much a work-in-progress. But even at this stage, it's enough to see where they want to go with it.

So? The 360 is supposed to be launching in 6 months, if they don't try to pull it off sooner now that the PS3's rumored to launch this year, and PD0 was supposed to be a launch title. That means the game should be virtually finished and in the stages where it's gettting polished. Look at Enter the Matrix as an example of what happens when a game doesn't get enough time to get polished, ETM recieved about two weeks of testing to make the movie release. So either PD0's going to be a buggy mess or a game that's probably going to be on par with next-generations budget titles.

[bapenguin]

It did look a lot better on the MTV special.

[IndependentGMR]

Straight from the article included in the link, for those of you that didn't bother reading it:

Then why show it? No excuses.

[Draft]

It did look a lot better on the MTV special.No it didn't. Did you see that female character running down some steps? Odious.

Seriously, I'm running out of words that mean "bad."

[mister_slim]

I'd expect a Rare game to look a little more polished. The models just don't look very nice. Not up to their standards.

[Last of the Red Hot Mamas]

It did look a lot better on the MTV special.

I disagree. I don't want to base too much on the MTV special because you never got to see more than a second of the game at a time, but the canyon looked pretty awful -- a big, blocky corridor with flat walls and repetitive flat-looking rock textures. One of the other environments they showed seemed to be a remake of the villa from the first game, so that was kinda nice, but nothing else about it jumped out at me. Not to mention the stairs thing Draft mentioned, which looked like something out of the Quake 3 engine. And that's being charitable, frankly. They were so bent on cutting away from actual gameplay footage and focusing on the player's faces that I don't understand why they bothered including it in the show at all. The PMS girls apparently said earlier this week that PDZ wouldn't be shown at all, so maybe it was a last-ditch salvage operation.

[taxial]

Really? Im in Canada so thats not on up here for another hour. I doubt that 6 more months of Dev time will increase the graphics too much, usually the graphical benchmark is one of the first things you set. They would be way too much art assest to redo if you want to make everything look nicer. Id say they start writing a tool now to bump and normal everything. From the sounds of it the 360 can handle it.

[Reanimated]

HEY LET'S FORM AN OPINION FROM 4 HORRIBLE QUALITY SCREEN GRABS!

Idiot.

[Phades]

How about not looking at the graphics for now (like Reanimated said the quality of them was crap) or even the lousy stuff they showed on the MTV special (which also sucked). The stuff they said about the gameplay sounds pretty damn cool. Even if the graphics are just as good as current gen but they're able to do all the things they mentioned, I'm interested.

(That said, I do have to say I think the graphics aren't impressive at all. I really hope MS reconsiders what they call their flagship title.)

[Draft]

HEY LET'S FORM AN OPINION FROM 4 HORRIBLE QUALITY SCREEN GRABS!

Idiot.
Who loves Xbox more than me? Huh? Who? Who, if anyone, should be sitting here scraping and scrounging for one positive thing to say?

The game looks like ass. There is no two ways about it.

[*Legion*]

Watching the MTV thing on my TiVO - the outdoor canyon looks crappy but some of the interior shots looked good. Have to watch some sections over and over to see them, because crap cuts away so fast.

But at any rate, it certainly isn't a good first impression. I'm sure E3 will show off some much nicer things though. I mean, if anyone is really taking this glimpse and using it to judge the system on the whole, then those people are certified morons. Judging Perfect Dark Zero itself, though... well it sure isn't a very good first look at the game.

[Kelegacy]

Who loves Xbox more than me? Huh? Who? Who, if anyone, should be sitting here scraping and scrounging for one positive thing to say?

The game looks like ass. There is no two ways about it.

While I normally like a good piece of ass, I have to agree with ya.

Maybe they should just release it on the DS.

[Rakael]

The low quality screenies from that Danish mag looked VERY impressive. So yes, I'm forming an opinon off of those 4 putrid looking shots. That game looks absofuckinglutely horrible. Its just nasty.

[bobbler]

One more point. On MTV, the guys at Rare said the characters had 5,000 polygons. Don't the characters in Resident Evil 4 have up to 10,000?

I'd be willing to bet theres few hundred thousand poly normal maps on them though.

Poly count doesn't mean much, its the normal maps that make stuff look good.

I'm holding out for some actual video / seeing it for myself in person before I shrug off this game or any other game as junk for being next generation.

Theres so much that screenshots can't show -- normal maps, bump maps, shaders, real time shadows, etc; none of those things show up well in screenshots, but look amazing in action.

[Draft]

I'd be willing to bet theres few hundred thousand poly normal maps on them though.

Poly count doesn't mean much, its the normal maps that make stuff look good.

I'm holding out for some actual video / seeing it for myself in person before I shrug off this game or any other game as junk for being next generation.

Theres so much that screenshots can't show -- normal maps, bump maps, shaders, real time shadows, etc; none of those things show up well in screenshots, but look amazing in action.
Hahahahaha.

Seriously man, give it up.

http://img57.echo.cx/img57/7135/pd04eu.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)

Ain't enough bump maps in the world that's going to make that pretty.

[jacktion]

The footage of PD0 on the special was deceitful. When they showed the game with someone playing it the framerate was awful! Very choppy and very bland environments. When they showed full screen footage it must have been pre-rendered because all of a second it was 60 fps. This game looks really boring. The funny thing is that the fake screenshots going around the net earlier looked better than these real screenshots. Ha!

[Phades]

The character design doesn't look good either. That guy standing at the wall is just ridiculous looking.

[Draft]

The character design doesn't look good either. That guy standing at the wall is just ridiculous looking.
Yeah, that too.

[taxial]

I really hate to agree cause I love what Rare did before, and Im still counting that this game could kick ass. But really, this game looks like killzone with better lighting. (thats not a good thing if your trying to promote HD this and HD that. Look at GR3 or those new DOA4 shots. Thats what I want to put my money towards. Something that is going to come up on my projector in 1080 and floor me.

[amusedtoe]

Well the models don't even look proportioned right. Even if the gameplay in this:http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/728/728997/vids_1.html, is totally generic at least it looks like it belongs on a new console. I'm one of the biggest proponents of the XBox but I don't see how the 360's going to anything more then underwhelming unless we see some really quality launch stuff, or if it's backwards compatible which will sell it and get it played among the majority of current owners.

[bobbler]

Hahahahaha.

Seriously man, give it up.

Ain't enough bump maps in the world that's going to make that pretty.

Please forgive me for trying to soften the blow to all the xbox fanboys out there.

Personally I think the xbox1 was a piece of shit and had no games worth the price of admission.

Sorry.

[Draft]

Personally I think the xbox1 was a piece of shit and had no games worth the price of admission.

Sorry.This blow cannot be softened. The blow is in full effect.

Xbox was the best system this generation.

Oh well.

[*Legion*]

Draft - Looking at that screen shot, it looks like a portion of the rendering pipeline is not done.

There's lighting and shading that is standard for THIS generation that is absent from that.

Ever loaded up a game engine and turned off the lighting/shadows? Yeah, it looks terribly washed-out and ugly. The character leaning against the wall looks exactly like that.

Guaranteed there is a lot more coming in the graphics department. It might still not be a visual stunner, but it won't look like that.

[mkelehan]

That looks like Anachronox, a very old game.

The irony is delicious!

[bobbler]

*Legion*:

There is lighting and shading done. Look at the picture with Joanna in it... see her face?

in addition...

* Four years of development time.
* Three system switches (GC, Xbox, Xbox 360).
* The flagship launch title of a Halo-less new console.
* $375 million dollars.


Did anyone else see that?

$375million dollars into that game?

Thats absurd, its 5x any previous triple A title. Its also highly unbelievable, if it was the case microsoft just wasted about 250-300million.

[Phades]

*Legion*:

There is lighting and shading done. Look at the picture with Joanna in it... see her face?

in addition...



Did anyone else see that?

$375million dollars into that game?

Thats absurd, its 5x any previous triple A title. Its also highly unbelievable, if it was the case microsoft just wasted about 250-300million.


They were basically just saying that Microsoft bought Rare for this game, the cost was $375 million to purchase Rare. It was a stupid way to put it. The devlopment costs of this game are not that high.

[bobbler]

I was wondering about that, it seemed far too high -- but if anyone would/could throw money at a problem, its microsoft.

[AgtFox]

Well, I think Rare has the noose around their head. They have to have Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power ready to roll at Xbox 360 launch. PDZ will probably be a lot like Halo when it came out for the Xbox...it might be great, but some sections will have been cut in order to reach deadline.

Rare is infamous for never having something done on time. Look at Conker...it's been pushed back and back, now it for sure is coming out June 21st, should have been out last year. PDZ is Microsoft's Halo for the Xbox 360...they better hope Rare is up to the task of it being done by the time the system comes out.

[Royal Fool]

The devlopment costs of this game are not that high.
You're right, it was a silly way to put it.

The right way would have been to total both the purchase price of Rare ($375 million) plus the total development time spent on all of Rare's Xbox games (Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Conker, Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo) and then you get the total cost. Of course, it should really be split up for each individual game... but seeing as how Grabbed by the Ghoulies is their only released title so far over a 3 year period and it has sold less than 100K units worldwide, I don't really think that matters very much anyway.

[Pumped'Up]

looks like this next-gen title uses the Half-Life engine from 1998.

LOL 360. Doesn't look too promising....

[amusedtoe]

And why doesn't the game look like this?
http://xboxmedia.gamespy.com/xbox/image/article/613/613017/perfect-dark-zero-20050512112804801.jpg

It's not going to magically change into this though since you wouldn't show horrible looking images of it when you've got something good. It's at least got it's own style instead of looking like a lousy Halo/CS/Whatever other popular shooter clone.

[if76]

Ok who was the one that said that Rare would reuse all the resources they made for the gamecube/xbox version of this game and stick it on the 360? I believe it was me and I believe I got flamed for it.

[Savok]

I remember when I was still at the GC forums and MS bought Rare, a lot of the more cynical fanboys had a good chuckle, MS had just bought a lemon.

Looks like they were right.

[Savok]

And what is this fetish Rare has with making the out of game art COMPLETELY different from the ingame art?

[*Legion*]

*Legion*:

There is lighting and shading done. Look at the picture with Joanna in it... see her face?

"There's some done" does not equal "it's ALL done".

[Wyrm]

Site is dead now..

Must be a pretty popular screen.

I'm sad that rare decided to remake the game this way. If it aint broke, dont fucking fix it.

[Pumped'Up]

maybe the graphics look so terrible is because it's actually the Xbox version of the game under emulation on the 360.....backward compatibility!!!!???? fingers crossed.

[Adam Blue]

Okay. I was at work reading this info on my WAP phone, feeling oh-so dissapointed. Now that I'm at home and see the pics, I don't get the fuss. The graphics aren't what I was thinking as far as nex-gen goes, but by the time the game comes out, there will be a lot done to it. Oh, and the framerate will make it look better. Oh, and the 720p will make it look fucking good. Oh, and 64 players on Xbox Live!.

Until I see more, or we get closer to launch, I'm still just as excited about this game as I was yesterday.

Draft, your a silly boy. But I still like you.

[Vilderen]

You know, they say graphics don't make a game, but still...

[dr_qwandry]

well we'll see what it looks like on the MTV special that has a deathmatch game using the game

[kizke]

You know, they say graphics don't make a game, but still...

Yeah, really.

Graphics don't make the game, yes, but they sure as hell are the first obvious indication of the technology of a newly launching console.

This is NOT the game to be fronting. The few seconds of gameplay shown were granted not enough to give the game a fair shot, but what I saw was uninspired, unpolished deathmatch.

And as long as we're flaming this game and getting away with it: Joanna has gone from generic heroine to anime-esque freak of nature to generic heroine again. How disappointing.

Honestly the character models remind me of Soldier of Fortune in terms of proportions. Wonder if you can dismember limbs with a shotgun. :D

[Morrolan]

Sorry Adam. I'm all for the 'voice of reason among the storm of idiots,' but in this case, the storm is right. Those screens are repulsive. If that came out TODAY it would get, MAYBE a 7/10 for graphics, just on the technical side, and probably far less for that ugly-ass art direction.
The game isn't done, true, but games simply do not jump forward an entire generation in visual quality, over the last six months of development. They just don't. Yes, you can add shaders, you can add shadowing stuff and so on and so on. But there is simply nothing you can do to a game which looks like THAT to make it look like it belongs in the same generation as Unreal 3. This game will almost undoubtedly look better in the final version, than it does in those screens. But enough to make any appreciable difference to its overall level of butt-uglyness? I doubt it.

Also, no graphics are not everything. But when you're creating a flagship title, you usually aren't hurting for funds. If, with ample finances, they could not produce a better looking game than this, on the 360 hardware... what does that say about their overall level of competancy? If the game is fun, great. But I doubt it will be. If they can't leverage anything better than THAT out of the 360, why should I believe they have talent elsewhere? The Rare of yesteryear is a dead beast. Whether the new one has any merit remains to be seen, but I'm starting to get doubtful.

[Tyrant]

Where's the Gears of War screenshot topic to counter the obviously poorly received PDZ screenshots?

Edit: I couldn't seem to find any screenshots outside of Game Informer's site...http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Screens/ScreenShots.htm?CS_pid={A96188BB-B636-4711-A85A-5908B655C7C2}

[Adam Blue]

Just wait and see. Just wait and see....

[dr_qwandry]

actually the multiplay on the MTV thing didnt look hot, mind you THEY ONLY SHOWED IT FOR 10 SECOND INTERVALS

[outontheporch]

XBOX 1 sucks. only a handful of cool games, and it looks like a big lump of tard with green on it. at the moment looks like the 360 or whatever will suck if it's gonna have this kinda junk on it.

hey what system were those DOA4 screens for? If they were for 360 i take back what i said. not about the XBOX1 though, that still sucks like a vacuum

[outontheporch]

PS Halo 2 sucks

[Somefool]

PS Halo 2 sucks
It's nice to have an opinion, and you're welcome to voice it where it contextually makes sense, but right now you're just trolling. Shoo.

[kizke]

hey what system were those DOA4 screens for? If they were for 360 i take back what i said. not about the XBOX1 though, that still sucks like a vacuum

Better take back what you said then. :p It's an Xbox 360 title.

[Vandenh]

You guys are funny...

You know what is strange. Went to work this mornign and everybody was talking about how awesome the 360 is (and these are usually casual gamers). So maybe that MTV show did impress. remember how many people were complaining when Halo 1 was demo-ed at E3. Yeah.. that turned out really bad /sarcasm
Rare made great games 20 years ago... I am sure they can easily deliver good stuff in the future. Looks at the list of launch games (if those are of course launch games), if that is true.. NO other console has ever launched with a lineup like that.

[Orphiuchus]

Those screenshots look bad, thats all there is to it. The characters look stiff and lifeless, the world looks like something from 2002, and it simply doesn't look like a high end current generation title; much less a next gen title.

I'm sure rare will fix it up by the time the game is released, and screenshot 3 actually does look decent, but if that really is what the game looks like when it comes out... then... well, I expect it to become a running joke of a game.

[Sion]

I can tell by the screens that the game will suck

[zangster]

I don't think it looks that bad. Not quite up to specs when compared to something like Splinter Cell: CT but fairly decent looking just the same.

[PacerDawn]

What screens? I click on the article and all I see are blank boxes where the screen shots should be.

[emperordahc]

For a game that's 4 years in development and this is as far as they've gotten, they will NOT get it finished in six months.

BTW, for all the real Goldeneye/Perfect Dark fanboys (including me), I don't get your devotion to Rare; those developers aren't with Rare anymore. They're over at Free Radical working on the Timesplitters series. If you haven't played TS:Future Perfect, you're missing an awesome FPS. MATCH AWARDS, AHOY! ("AC -10 Armor", etc.)

[Cubfan]

Those screenshots aren't horrible, but not nearly as good as they should be. I'll pretty much guarantee that the finished game will look much better, though still not as good as you might expect considering this is next gen. At any rate, its not the end of the world, and all of this 'drama' here seems like a bit of an overreaction.

[ÜberJumper]

I'm not seeing anything when I go to this site to check out the pictures. All blank, all of it.

[Varsity]

They've left one, cropped screen up.

http://www.1up.com/media?id=1877998

It's not hideous at all, in fact it's far better designed than most games out there, on any platform. But it doesn't exactly make great use of the 360's power.

[Varsity]

More:

http://gameover.sapo.pt/gfx/299525.gif

http://gameover.sapo.pt/gfx/299529.gif

http://gameover.sapo.pt/gfx/299535.gif

http://gameover.sapo.pt/gfx/299542.gif

[Hellstorm]

Don't be sad.

http://twilite.free.fr/nintendo-revolution1024.jpg


is coming to save the day in 3 days.

[Tyrant]

^^
This is why image posting shouldn't be allowed.

Get your damned scrollbar inducing image out of this topic.

[Savok]

You made an account just to post some Commie propaganda?

[Roman]

Oh hey guys

http://xboxyde.com/news_1506_en.html

OH YEAH THIS GAME LOOKS HORRRRRRRRRRRIBLE :rolleyes:

[Tyrant]

It certainly looks much better in comparison to the shots in this topic. The footage in the MTV special wasn't too bad either.

[Savok]

Now THAT'S what we expect. Show that instead of shitty alpha build stuff, or hell just show nothing.