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[PATV] Extra Credits s.3 ep.16 - The Uncanny Valley
Bogey
I'm back, baby!Santa Monica, CAModerator Mod Emeritus
I'm back, baby!Santa Monica, CAModerator Mod Emeritus
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I chuckled at "lame animation, awful voice acting..."
Sadly, therefore, this episode didn't really tell me anything new.
Still interesting, though.
With all the new tech available, like how google is working on the 3D map of the world tech, I wouldn't be surprised if the industry is tempted to try and use photo-realistic characters to compete. At the moment in my opinion the cost of creating these characters might still be to high, which of course would affect the budget of developing good gameplay mechanics, and maybe the aesthetics as well.
Ultimately though I think that when the graphical limitations and cost of development are low enough the uncanny valley will be easily overcome, which will make for a wave of photo-realist games when that happens.
I'm having the same problem ><
same problem as well
I noticed.
Graphical limitations aren't really the problem at this point. The problem is processing power and read-write speeds. Huge texture maps don't really mean jack shit if you can't process them in a timely manner. Back at this year's QuakeCon, John Carmack was addressing this issue (specifically with regard to Rage). While he was talking about general graphics in the world, and not the realism of human faces, the whole thing he was discussing applies.
The other issue we need to overcome for the uncanny valley is animation, and this is the biggie. It really is something that just needs lots of time if you want to do it right, and people don't want to spend the time on it. I kinda can't blame them. Every time a new engine is made for video games, everything has to start from scratch, model animation included (and this is ANOTHER thing John Carmack talked about in that keynote).
So basically, he's figured out what we need to do, we just need the resources directed at it.
Every time someone talks about the uncanny valley, I think back to a star wars special comparing the effects in Clash of the Titans (1981) and Empire Strikes back. The documentary pointed out the the addition of motion blur and the inability to see certain parts clearly gave it a more realistic effect.
This is also why I can't stand some of the newer LED televisions since they remove this and make everything seem alien.
Add me to that list.
Is it a regional thing?
Quite. I remember preferring to play my early 360 games on my SD television rather than my mate's HD, because the HD actually brought into focus hard edges on polygons and jaggies and whatnot. The first time I brought my 360 over to his house and fired it up, I was just about baffled at how my games looked uglier on his television.
In my case it's my adbocker being a little militant. You need to wait for the ad to time out. I just hit play and switch to another tab for about two minutes. After a bit I'll switch back and the video proper has loaded with a play button over it.