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Did you ever think...[Graphics]
Posts
"Holy crap! You can see the stitching on Mario's overalls!"
True Facts: Starfox had an awesome art style which is still great today.
How do you invent a monster which has a really predatory, menacing personality... Without enough graphical power to give it a face, or even eyes? Answer: awesome design.
In terms of art style, I think the original Starfox is closer to stuff like Wipeout and Rez than to its own sequels. The game used 3D rendering in a purely imaginative way..... not simply to represent reality. It would be great if more games attempted that approach right now.
Personally, I'm hoping that the modern trend for retro-cool design and remakes hasn't bypassed Nintendo's offices. The series is in need of a reboot anyway... why not throw us retroheads a bone Nintendo?
Because I'm a cheap bastard.
And as far as I know, I don't actually own a console I could play it on.
PS2, PSP, Wii, 360, Nintendo DS?
The first three have the Anthology, the 360 has some digitally distro games iirc, and the NDS has Metal Slug 7.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
That's an excellent way to describe it. I've always liked the SF SNES artstyle and always thought it still looked cool but I couldn't think of any good analogies.
Indeed, I've always wanted a modern update of SF SNES. If it were just the exact same game, except full screen, 60 frames per second, and higher resolution than the original, and with widescreen support, it would be one of the most awesome remakes I could ever hope for.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
http://www.gametap.com/video-games/Metal-Slug-20000914-13.html
And film CGI quality has a ways to go before it matches photorealism.
So there's still a long way to go, I guess.
Not all that long. I've seen estimates from developers saying anything from next generation till about five six years.
It's mostly cost, rather than ability; lots of parts of movies are digital without you even knowing. Sustaining that kind of realism over an entire movie is difficult when you're on a budget, though.
Fucking mindblowing.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
We're talking graphics Robin Williams compared to a beautiful woman's ass.
I dunno, Avatar doesn't look photorealistic. Matrix Reloaded and King Kong sure as hell didn't.
A Boy and his Blob Wii would like to have a word with you.
Huh, I didn't know it was out on the wii.
Yeah, that's because those are giant special effects blowout masterpieces with a million effects in every single frame. Lots of movies do more subtle CGI stuff that you never even know about because you think it's all real.
IMHO Jurassic Park still holds the crown for best CGI in "giant special effects blowout masterpieces". Maybe that is because they blended CGI with animatronics. Which I think is something movies just don't do anymore. You are right though in that a lot of CGI in most movies are subtle things. Take muzzle flashes from guns for instance.
Isn't Shadows of Lylat.. kind of.. not at all play like a Starfox game though? It's more like... FreeSpace but with some starfox-like battles? Honestly as a fan of strictly on-rails starfox games, it doesn't sound that appealing to me.
I would be one of the happiest men in the world if someone just took StarFox SNES, exactly as it is, gave it high def resolution, 60 frame/second, full widescreen support, and that was all they did. That's all it needs. It's such an aweasome game, but I think Nintendo is embarrased by it for some reason, like it hasn't aged well enough or something.
Back in the GBA's heyday I was praying that Nintendo re-released StarFox for the GBA the way they re-released so many SNES games for it. But alas the closest thing we ever got was a third party knockoff called "Star-X", adn that game sucked.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
And of course a lot depends on what exactly is getting rendered in CGI. By now we all know about the uncanny valley and that sort of thing, but it bears repeating: people are hardwired to know what certain things should look like. A static background, a giant robot, a dinosaur, or an amorphous alien all can fly under our radar so long as they get the basics right, but rendering a guy doing kung fu, or just an entire scene for that matter, and the chances that something is going to start setting off our alarms grows higher.
The facial animation in games like HL2 or Mass Effect is capable, but it helps that nothing in the entire world in those games is rendered with perfect photorealism. HL2 gets away by being a bit cartoonish about it and exaggerating it, ME just deals with a bunch of fantastic alien stuff that we'd have no idea what to expect in the first place.
Also the problem with the original Starfox is that it's not actually a 3D world.. it's extremely faked. You would just have to remake the game from the ground up in the first place.
Yea, I totally agree with you on Jurassic Park, it's probably the gold standard for believable CGI. But uh... muzzle flashes on guns? Really? They CGI those on? Why would they need to do this? Don't the guns produce muzzle flashes on their own? I'm profoundly intrigued.
Speaking of, is there any reason why Nintendo have been refusing to make a proper StarFox game since Lylat Wars? Were the older games only like that because of technical limitations or something? Seriously, people have been bitching at them to make another one since 1997.
That's the only Nintendo Starfox game. Every single Starfox has been done by a different developer.
Starfox SNES - Argonaut
Starfox 64 - Nintendo
Starfox Adventures - Rare
Starfox Assault - Namco
Starfox Command - Q-Games
Oh. I just didn't know buying blanks was gonna be so cost prohibitive for large Hollywood tentpole releases.
whereas with CGI you just have to film the scene once and tweak the muzzle flashes after the fact
Movie magic. Sometimes if things were presented as they really are, it wouldn't be enough. Not all guns produce a huge fireball when they are fired, and nothing would really be visible in daylight - so they add in some flame. It can also help distinguish who is firing at any given time.
Same with sound effects. Gunshots don't register emphatically on mics, so it's all added in after. Gotta love those Michael Mann movies.
Perhaps. And a remake would be fine, the whole design is there, my only hope is that a theoretical remake would retain the same beautiful abstract graphical presentation of the original. Just smoother, more resolute, and fullscreen.
I don't fucking get it. I think Nintendo is like Sega in this regard - like they seem to think that since technology has evolved and allowed them to do more things with StarFox, that they should do more things with it. Instead of just sticking to the classic formula that people actually want. Now I enjoyed SF64, but I still get a tinge of disappointment when I run into those stupid submarine levels, and even the landmaster levels, while I still enjoy, I always prefer the arwwing. And I never truly enjoyed the stupid "all range mode" battles. They bore me, what can I say. Subsequent starfoxes just got worse. Although I still like them, they just aren't as good as StarFox SNES.
Nothing has been as good or as pure as StarFox SNES. It's a classic and it's better than any subsequent starfox since. The series has been on a downhill sicne and I think the reason is that the relative developers behind each game think they "need" to add certain elements to differentiate each version and/or to keep things "fresh," when all people really want is to fly an arwing on rails throughout the game.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I was under the impression that Q-Games are the same developer that made the original Star Fox.
But maybe the only common denominator between Argonaut and Q games is the founder? I thought he brought along his team but I dunno.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
If someone's firing a gun that shoots 900 rounds per minute, and they have to do five takes, for 30 seconds of film using real bullets would cost about $1,125. I'm not sure if blanks are more or less expensive, but I'm sure CG for 30 seconds of muzzle flash is less expensive, more if the number of takes needed increases, which it could when you're dealing with guns. And since they'd probably have to touch up the muzzle flashes anyways in post.
And remember that they don't just have to deal with "Cost-prohibitive", as much as "Cheapest"
Khavall's Beginner's Guide to Music Everything(Theory Blog)
Command was a massive kick to the balls.
"You spend the whole game in an Arwing!"
"
"The entire game's All-Range Mode!"
"D:"
Only the founder is the same.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Fortunately, then, we didn't get Star Fox 2 so as to stain our memories of 16-bit starfox
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
It wasn't just the fact that the graphics were amazing - it was the fact that I didn't know graphics could be that great, on top of the fact that I had no idea that my computer (Which couldn't run other games on "High") was capable of rendering such a scene at that framerate. Now that I don't play on my PC, I always hope for Episode 3 to come out for the PS3, but I know Valve has said they aren't even touching the PS3.
I've read that while everything looks real in still images, animation still has a very, very long way to come.
Am I the only one that liked Starfox Command?
No, I liked it fine. I just didn't absolutely love it the way I absolutely love SNES StarFox. And I just don't see why Nintendo or the developers it contracts can't just make another solid on-rails flight combat game. Or why, despite pillaging their NES and SNES classic back catalog in re-releases and remakes, they refuse to acknowledge the existence of one of their very best SNES games.
edit: Also the multiplayer in Command was great fun.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games