Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[Jeff Kleist]

Here you go Merrick, color me intrigued and it's Shigeru Miyamoto's game of show

http://trueslant.com/stephenwebster/...me-of-e3-2010/

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

They don't need us to introduce it to the sheep who bought Wiis. They'll learn about it in the same places. CNN, Today Show, QVC, Jay Leno, etc. I don't know what you were expecting out of these motion control things, and they didn't show all the stuff it'll work with at E3 because at least this year a lot of the Natal stuff will be added to the games when the core function is finished. Why aren't you just as dissapointed in Move? They didn't show anything that Natal hadn't shown the day before.

The reason Im not disappointed with Move is that Sony showed me some games I might actually want to play and mentioned some games getting updates. MS didnt even come CLOSE to doing that. Simple as that.

Does that mean MS can't change my tune REAL quick? Kinect still has the most potential out of all of them. SHow me some great uses in practical games and Im gonna be all over it.

As for you not owning a PS3 Im surprised and will say that you are missing out on a lot of great games.

I never owned a PS2 or PS1 and was an unabashed Sony hater until the PS3 came out. I always hated how the PS2 got all the exclusives when it was clearly an inferior piece of hardware next to the original Xbox.

Now my tune has changed. I love my PS3 and now feel that it is the best piece of hardware for this generation, although not dramatically so.

I do feel that the PS3 exclusives are better than the 360 exclusives, but not by a longshot. Thankfully the best games are multiplatform. Often the 360 version is better, but that is changing and most of the time they are pretty equal.

Bottomline:
Kinect has potential MS just didn't directly show me any games that I would want to play. I reserve the right to change my opinion on it at any time.

[Jeff Kleist]

Most of the games getting updates people finished up to a year ago by the time the thing comes out. Kinect does have the most potential, but it's also exponentially more difficult to get working right, especially when you have a "real" game running. So if that's what you're looking for you need to give them more time

as for exclusivess, like I said, nome of the games are worth the dollar investment to me. I bought an Xbox because that was where all the Sega games were going after Dreamcast died. I bought a ps2 for Guitar Hero, and I bought a 360 for Mass Effect. The vast majority of the non-xbla games I buy are multiplatform titles.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Most of the games getting updates people finished up to a year ago by the time the thing comes out. Kinect does have the most potential, but it's also exponentially more difficult to get working right, especially when you have a "real" game running. So if that's what you're looking for you need to give them more time

as for exclusivess, like I said, nome of the games are worth the dollar investment to me. I bought an Xbox because that was where all the Sega games were going after Dreamcast died. I bought a ps2 for Guitar Hero, and I bought a 360 for Mass Effect. The vast majority of the non-xbla games I buy are multiplatform titles.

If I had to pick Id have to say Fallout 3 is the best game I played on any system. Mass Effect 1 and 2 are clearly the best series on the 360 for me. In terms of exclusives Ill take Resistance, Infamous, Uncharted, and Ratchet and Clank over Gears of War and Halo.

As for Kinect needing more time Im sure thats true, but they've had a year and hyped this E3 up like no other as being dedicated to Kinect and they showed me nothing more than the same kind of games we see on Wii. I was more impressed with the Move since I had next to no expectations for it and it exceeded them, eventhough by all practical accounts it was a Wii HD.

I was expecting MS to show a wide variety of Kinect uses and all they showed was the games to attract the Wii audience. Obviously they want a piece of that Wii pie and I understand that, but it just would have been nice to see how it could have enhanced the hardcore gamers experience. Sony did that. MS didn't.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I was expecting MS to show a wide variety of Kinect uses and all they showed was the games to attract the Wii audience. Obviously they want a piece of that Wii pie and I understand that, but it just would have been nice to see how it could have enhanced the hardcore gamers experience. Sony did that. MS didn't.

The Kinect thing seemed ok, but the heavy duty stuff all said "2011".

Dumb in the SW game you can't walk around.

How do you do the gas pedals/brakes in Forza?

[Jeff Kleist]

The gas/brake is supposedly automatic, though hypothetically you could control it by pushing your arms in and our

The SW game is essentially a rail shooter.

This is probably a good time to explain how the two technologies work

PlayStation Move is based on the same technology that is used inthe movies for CG work in live action- motion trackers. The computer knows the exact size and shape of the ball, and the colors help it have contrast to the background. Because it knows what it's looking at, it's (relatively) easy for the computer to establish its distance and orientation to the camera.

Kinect works a lot differently. It scans you and establishes your body type and shape from its reference library. Then it maps a skeleton over you and tracks the movement of your joints in 3D space. Now this is exponentially more complex, because instead of tracking one object, we're talking well over a dozen, and without necessiarily having good contrast or clear views to them. Pulling this off is...hard, and requires a lot of interpolation by the computer. Obviously this is a work in progress thing, which is why you're not going to see the "core" natal type stuff until 2011 when they've had a lot more time to get the drivers working right. That's true on both sides.

[Jeff Kleist]

Heavy, in regards to your Predator question, yes work was done on Predator, but Fox issued strict instructions that detail was not to be sacrificed to eliminate grain. You're also looking at a modern film scan rather than one that was done about 4 generations of scanner ago which certainly helps. Movie still doesn't look great though, but from the people who have seen it, it's..."better".

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Heavy, in regards to your Predator question, yes work was done on Predator, but Fox issued strict instructions that detail was not to be sacrificed to eliminate grain. You're also looking at a modern film scan rather than one that was done about 4 generations of scanner ago which certainly helps. Movie still doesn't look great though, but from the people who have seen it, it's..."better".

I *knew* it was best not to trust screenshot obsessives around here. And that was a thread here, not on AVS. If it is a noticeable improvement from the prior disc, I have my I Told You Sos ready for those who told me it just wasn't ever gonna look any better, even though it was obviously taken from the same source as the original, non-anamorphic DVD. 4 generations of scanners alone has to make some difference, even though the conditions under which the film was made are such that it will never be pristine.

[Jeff Kleist]

Blu-ray is not anamorphic

Multiple people have told me that the actual gains are faily minor in actual practice, we're talking 5-7% if you had to assign a number

[Nick Graham]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Blu-ray is not anamorphic

Multiple people have told me that the actual gains are faily minor in actual practice, we're talking 5-7% if you had to assign a number

Sorry, meant to say "non-anamorphic DVD". 5-7% is better than nothing I guess.
So does the Kinect in its current state really have that much potential, even once they have the core down? I was excited about the possibilities, but the lack of a dedicated processor for it worries me, and that lack of anything that struck me as cool aside from the minority report style dashboard and voice commands, as well as Ubisoft's fitness demo.

[Jeff Kleist]

In my opinion, once they finish the "sitting" algorithmns, it'll have more to offer for the core because you'll be able to play RTS with it, and use it for other enhancements

If you've played "EndWar", think about that as an alpha stage proof of concept that contains elements of what might come in the future

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

The gas/brake is supposedly automatic, though hypothetically you could control it by pushing your arms in and our

The SW game is essentially a rail shooter.

This is probably a good time to explain how the two technologies work

PlayStation Move is based on the same technology that is used inthe movies for CG work in live action- motion trackers. The computer knows the exact size and shape of the ball, and the colors help it have contrast to the background. Because it knows what it's looking at, it's (relatively) easy for the computer to establish its distance and orientation to the camera.

Kinect works a lot differently. It scans you and establishes your body type and shape from its reference library. Then it maps a skeleton over you and tracks the movement of your joints in 3D space. Now this is exponentially more complex, because instead of tracking one object, we're talking well over a dozen, and without necessiarily having good contrast or clear views to them. Pulling this off is...hard, and requires a lot of interpolation by the computer. Obviously this is a work in progress thing, which is why you're not going to see the "core" natal type stuff until 2011 when they've had a lot more time to get the drivers working right. That's true on both sides.

Wasn't the Kinect originally expected to have its own CPU, but now its been dumped cuz it got too expensive?

Btw, since Arkham Asylum 2 (hate calling it that) wasn't shown at E3 isnt quite likely that game isnt getting a fall release as planned.

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes, the independant CPU would have doubled the manufacturing cost of the unit. At those prices you may as well consider a new system launch

I think WB interactive was a tad too optimistic in how long it too kto turn around a quality product

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Yes, the independant CPU would have doubled the manufacturing cost of the unit. At those prices you may as well consider a new system launch

I think WB interactive was a tad too optimistic in how long it too kto turn around a quality product

As for AA2, I do hope that they are allowing Rocksteady everything in their power to make it an excellent sequel. If that means making us wait an extra year, Im all for it. Although there are examples of games getting superior sequels that came out just a year after the first one. GTA VC being the prime example.

Eventhough I already had the PS3 version, I recently bought the PC version for sale on steam for $20 and I loved playing it again with better graphics than the PS3 or 360 could provide. I just hooked up a 360 controller and connected my PC to my HD TV and it was like playing it on console only with better graphics.

Yeah. It. Was. Badass.

[MerrickG]

Rage is another game Im looking forward to. Afterall every id software game release has always been an event in PC gaming. I can't wait to put my PC to good use for that game and Crysis 2.

[SquidPuppet]

Jeff,

HBOs Entourage season 6 releases next Tuesday, yet Netflix lists it for July. Has Netflix made a 28 day delay deal with HBO as well?

[PeterTHX]

For all fools who think screenshot science is "harmless":
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=834

[SpaceDog]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Jeff,

HBOs Entourage season 6 releases next Tuesday, yet Netflix lists it for July. Has Netflix made a 28 day delay deal with HBO as well?

HBO is WB. I think I saw that WB was part of the deal. I think it's safe to assume that eventually all content will have a 28 day window. While I'm sure they considered it might be smart at the time, I don't think so given that all the other renters have not cut the same deal.

I think delaying TV on DVD is foolish as they are putting up another obstacle to catching up with broadcast.

[Jeff Kleist]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

For all fools who think screenshot science is "harmless":
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=834

Yeah, that's pretty standard in china. There's actually some bootleg DVDs out there using our "guide to anamorphic widescreen for dummies" logo

[MerrickG]

In regard to Back to the Future

Why does bluray.com post every little single rumor now? Every little retail leak coming from a notesheet from a store in Iceland makes front page news.

So Jeff, Im asking you:

Does this hold water?