11/7 PS4 Tidbits - DCOU 60 fps 1080p, more The Order details

1. An article about the texture creation in Ready at Dawn's The Order 1886. They scan real period appropriate materials (which they scuff up to make them look used) into the game. Game Informer is going to post a new article today which if it contains anything juicy, I'll update the thread.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/11/05/the-next-gen-tech-of-the-order-1886-.aspx

Textile scanning is another method Ready At Dawn is employing to save time and create a more immersive world. During our visit the studio showed us a large contraption that allows developers to scan flat, real-world objects into the game. The team scans real samples of aged parchment, wallpaper, and period-accurate clothing into the game. The multiple cameras and light sources allow in-game lighting to play off these textures realistically. These samples can then be pasted onto objects and the environment.

“It adds a level of realism that’s just not possible otherwise,” Foster says. “There are imperfections in the world that you never think of. When you see cloth, there’s tons of little strand imperfections that are hard to mimic.”

2. DCOU (a launch FTP MMO) is 60 fps, 1080p and boasts crossplay with the PS3 version (they run on the same servers) and of course, PS3 characters can be imported into the PS4 version. Going forward the PS3, PS4 and PC versions will all get the same content at the same time.

Last time I tried it was early its life before it went FTP (there was a free trial or something) but I'll give it another shot. I'm not a MMO guy and that probably won't change, but screwing around and creating a superhero from scratch is kind of cool.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/06/dc-universe-online-on-ps4-your-questions-answered/

3. Interview with various high level people in Sony about the making of the PS4. Lots of interesting tidbits, including the fact that Kutaragi was not a fan of Crash Bandicoot.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/11/playstation-4/

Over those years, Cerny grew close to the company, but it wasn’t always smooth going. The book All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How 50 Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture recounts a moment at the E3 gaming conference in the ’90s when Cerny was nearly reduced to tears by a 45-minute tirade from Ken Kutaragi, the father of the PlayStation, who didn’t see much future in Crash Bandicoot. “Ken is a very intense person,” Cerny says.

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The irony here is although Sony hired an American to oversee its new console, and although it put even more trust in Japanese execs who have spent so much time in the States, the PlayStation was built in a way that’s more Japanese — at least in the traditional sense. Yoshida says that in American corporate culture, the orders come from the top of the hierarchy and move down, whereas Japan is a place where a corporation is more of a collective, where anyone can contribute a good idea, where all the individual pieces work more as a whole. Before Mark Cerny, the PlayStation team didn’t necessarily work in what Yoshida describes as a Japanese way — the orders came from the top, and people followed them — but now it does.

4 Teardown of the PS4 at the link. I'm not an engineer, but it looks cool. What's most important is that game designers are happy with it.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/11/playstation4-teardown-video/

5. More evidence Epic is going to reveal something next week at Sony's launch reveal conference.

http://www.psu.com/a021563/Epic-Games-vice-presidents-tweet-hints-at-Gears-of-War-on-PS4

Adam Boyes, Sony Computer Entertainment America Vice President of Publisher and Developer Relations, tweeted his excitement to reunite with SCE Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida at next week's PS4 press event. Rein then tweeted at both SCE executives, "you guys should play some Gears of War!"

6. Battlefield and AC sales are way down. Some of that is due to the next gen of consoles (complete with shinier versions of AC and Battlefield) hitting in a few weeks. The cynic in me thinks that some of it is due to the fact that the last AC left a lot of people disappointed.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/rough-waters-the-next-generation-transition/0123896

The sales declines posted by Assassin’s Creed IV and Battlefield 4 was severe. Sales of Creed are down 60 per cent year-on-year, while Battlefield 4’s sales are down 69 per cent compared with 2011’s Battlefield 3. Week one sales of FIFA?14 were also down 24 per cent.

But is this all because of the next-gen transition?

“It’s difficult to know how many will buy current-gen,” said Activision’s UK MD Roy Stackhouse. “There’s probably an amount of nervousness and hesitation in the marketplace with next-gen just around the corner.”

7. Sony has listed the 11 different digital entertainment apps on the PS4 at launch (stuff like Netflix and Amazon Video). Rumor has it that they thought about making the 11 apps the subject of next week's press conference but decided to focus on games (joking of course).

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/07/11-digital-entertainment-apps-on-ps4-at-launch-2/

8. Doki Doki Universe is hitting the PS4, PS3 and PSV this December. Its a game from the maker of the Genesis classic Toejam and Earl in which you play a robot who is trying to learn about humanity. The player controls him and he travels from world to world, meeting different people with different wants and needs. How he responds to them impacts how the people respond tot he him (also the game profiles players based on the choices they make).

9. Some VR patents Sony filed in May have gone into the public domain.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=710820

They fall into two categories - a few patents covering mostly the same thing, basically 'hazard detection' in the usage of immersive HMDs.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP2661097A2.pdf

Meaning, when you are immersed in VR, you may be wearing noise-cancelling headphones, and you obviously cannot see your surroundings. If there is an emergency - like an alarm going off, or an object moving quickly to your head - it would be good to alert you of it, so that patent is talking about ways of doing that, by allowing certain types of noise through, and by unobscuring your vision if there is a hazard in proximity with your head.

The second type patent deals with head motion detection and image stabilisation in a HMD:

10. Activision thinks that consoles will sell faster this generation because Sony and MS aren't relying on anything exotic (like say, the Cell) and thus can chop prices faster.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-11-06-ps4-and-xbox-one-prices-could-be-cut-sooner-in-cycle-says-activision

lol i am so sick of these Gameinformer articles on The Order that tell us absolutely nothing. Show us the fucking gameplay you dipshits.

That Cerny profile is incredible. Apparently Krazy Ken went on a 45 minute rant about Crash Bandicoot that nearly made Cerny cry. It turned out to be the biggest Sony exclusive on the PS1.

Yoshida also got a call three week before E3 2006 telling him that the Dual Shock now has Sixaxis and he needs to make a demo ready for E3. They got Warhawk working but it was still a disaster. PS3 was also made designed by a bunch of Hardware guys with little to no input from Software engineers.

With the PS4, it's the other way around. Cerny visited 30 studios in total. Both first and third party and directly got their input on what they wanted. The result is GDDR5, an awesome controller, X86 architecture, the Share button and an easy to program for graphics chip.

This is why you cant say both companies are the same. One company learned from its mistake and made a console after talking to Devs, not suits like the Xbox One and PS3.

I have to admit, I'm happy to see these games struggle at retail. The quicker this gen dies, the sooner devs start focusing solely on the next. Ideally I'd like to see 2014 fall/holiday games exclusively on next gen with no current gen versions available.

I wish there was a next gen Elder Scrolls in the works though, we only had to wait half a year to get Oblivion and it was easily the first big "welcome to next gen" game. The size and scope was mindblowing for the average console gamer.

@S0lidSnake:

Oddly, while the developers weren't fond of SixAxis flight controls and but a lot of Warhawk pilots were and they were very vocal in their disappointment when such an option wasn't included in Starhawk.

A new NBA2K trailer has hit (odd how we haven't seen an Xbone trailer for it yet).

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/06/nba-2k14s-eco-motion-engine-brings-players-to-life-on-ps4/

Also, a new Knack trailer has popped up. Looks more like an action game than a platformer, but my daughters like action games so that could work.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/07/more-ways-to-play-knack-co-op-mode-mobile-app-detailed/

In Knack, our two-player cooperative mode was designed in a way that accentuatesthe vision for the game. A second player can drop in or out at any time, and control Knack’s shiny metallic helper, Robo Knack. Robo Knack has a move set somewhat similar to Knack’s, but can donate parts to Knack and heal him with a touch of the Triangle button. If there’s a non-gamer or light gamer in the house, this is a great way to introduce them to the world of Knack – just start the game on Easy and drop in from time to time to help them through the game.

I loved DCUO. Still the most enjoyable gameplay in an MMO I've played to date. Games like TERA tried to pass themselves off as action MMOs, but they were basically the same old MMO gameplay minus tab-targeting. Neverwinter's combat is pretty interesting, but still not quite there. DCUO's combat could be something straight out of a console superhero action game, and it continued to be fun for me even up until the point I stopped. The problem was the lack of content, an open world that became pretty much useless at the level cap, a garbage dungeon queue, and persistent technical issues.

Haven't played it since it went free, so no idea how much they've corrected. Basically a really fun game managed very poorly by SOE. Would be willing to give it another shot, though. Never did get to try the Green Lantern powers, as that came out around the time I stopped, but they looked pretty cool watching other people use them.

Yup. It's funny that these guys thought prolonging a generation was a good idea. It's almost as if they dont know anything about the industry. Short term profits over long term gain. Same old story with these corporations.

It's also likely that people are finally getting sick of yearly CoD, BF and AC games. Activision did not say how many CoD copies were sold on Day 1 like they have been doing for the past four years since MW2. They only gave shipped numbers. 2014 holiday season is looking really empty right now. Hopefully we get some decent new franchises like we did in 2007 with uncharted, Mass Effect, AC. Modern Warfare and Bioshock.

Though it looks like we will be getting the next Uncharted and Mass Effect instead. :P Bioware has been teasing it on twitter today.

New trailer for Warframe and announcements of preorder bonuses. Warframe is a FTP game that can be 'reserved' on the PS3 (presumably you'll automatically download it when you connect your PS4 to the internet). The trailer has no gameplay, but I threw it in anyway.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/07/warframe-ps4-pre-order-bonuses-detailed/

So, what have we been up to? In addition to working on the game, we’ve also been coming up with ways to help PS4 players get into the game quickly. Not too long ago, we released our special Warframe: Ultimate Fan Pack — a pre-order Pack specifically for PlayStation fans that includes an exclusive PlayStation Braton Rifle weapon skin, 50 Platinum, and 20,000 Credits. With this pack you’ll be able to get a step ahead of the enemy, and take advantage of items in the Market utilizing your Credits and Platinum (and look good doing it with your PlayStation branded Braton Rifle). Oh, and did we mention the pre-order and everything in the pack are absolutely free?

To get this pack on launch day (or when you get your PS4), you’ll have to pre-order Warframe either through SEN on the web, or through PlayStation Store on your PS3 — found in the PS4 section — by November 12th.

No reveals in today's The Order podcast, though it was interesting (the guy went into great detail about all of the work they put into the lead's mustache :) ). There will be a lot of difference between the weapons and there won't be a weapon wheel, so players will have to pick and choose. They worked on the world design for years (well before they got PS4 devkits). They mention a rifle which is capable of showering enemies with thermite. Like Solid said, I want a gameplay trailer!

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/podcasts/archive/2013/11/07/special-edition-podcast-the-order-1886.aspx

@CarnageHeart: They mention a rifle which is capable of showering enemies with thermite. Like Solid said, I want a gameplay trailer!

That gun sounds really fun. There's a picture of it being used in the magazine article. Basically it fires these pellets that explode on impact into cloud of thermite. If an enemy is in engulfed by the cloud he starts choking. But then it has a secondary function - launching flares. The flare ignites the thermite but apparently there's some interesting physics here where you have the explosion, and then you have the superheated metal shards that have been floating around falling back to the ground in a fiery rain.

Sounds pretty good for flushing guys out of cover (and the article makes it sound like a cover shooter, given their walkthrough of the demo they played) - disperse cloud over the location and rain fire. Mentions a few other guns, too - a lightning gun, combo rifle with a shaped-charge secondary fire that apparently sends people flying and a potato-masher grenade with a deployable spike.

yeah, it's kinda weird that we get so many articles on the order and yet we know so little about it. for all this talk of the work they put into world building, we don't know if it will just be one big, fast wack-a-mole corridor run that doesn't let us appreciate any of it.

For all we know, there is. That or a next-gen Fallout. It's no doubt one of those two.

On the ACIV and Battlefield 4 bits: I don't know a single person that bought the current gen versions. However, all the people I know that preordered a PS4 have both those games reserved. There are several I know that decided to simply hold off until they either pick up an Xbone or PS4, especially since a lot enjoy the 64 player possibilities.

@Ish_basic:

Thanks for the info. I've got to hurry up and pick up that Game Informer.

Anyway, here's some Warframe footage (E3, so possibly an old build) I found on the GAF. For the record, the game is 1080p. Don't know the framerate, but if it were 60 I probably would know, so I'm guess 30.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=710982&page=2

So looking forward to The Order. The first PS4 exclusive I've actually stopped and thought "I'm buying the system to play that game". Hope it lives up to the hype. So far I'm loving the setting, visuals and take on the Arthurian legend.