Blu-ray/DVD, standard HDD and struggling with PS3, the id/RAGE circus

[BRisJesus]

New id FPS needs two discs on 360, one Blu-ray on PS3

Posted Aug 3rd 2007 8:49PM by Andrew Yoon
Filed under: Blu-ray, News

idTech is real ... and it will finally arrive in a brand new game, Rage. Simultaneously developed for PC, Mac, PS3, and 360, Rage will use the second generation of id's "Megatexture" technology. What does that mean? 20GB worth of texture information will be squeezed through the engine's technology to deliver visually stunning scenes. Regardless of the compression, the game will require two DVDs for all platforms ... but the PS3.

The need for added space in the HD-era of games is clear. Blu-ray's added storage allows the game to run on a single disc. The game itself is a departure for id, where it will try to combine "60 percent shooting and 40 percent driving." After a comet smashes into the Earth, players will have to fight the monsters that roam the wasteland.

id plans to make Rage a 20 hour single player experience, and plans to offer co-op. Also, in a surprising change of pace, their aiming for a suspiciously safe Teen rating. The game will ship "when it's done."

[jermwhl]

This once again confirms Sonys' vision of the future.

[Shin-Ra]

Changing disks in a FPS? Crazy stuff.

[JonD7]

*slaps knee while laughing* ah man, even a PC funny crap.

[joeorc]

more about this game..it looks like fall out will have some challenge for the throne ....

QuakeCon 07: id Rage-ing on PC, Mac, 360, PS3
Doom-maker crafting all-new driving-shooting actioner set in open-world, post-apocalyptic wasteland; Activision to publish with a T-for-Teen rating in mind.
By Tor Thorsen, Jason Ocampo, GameSpot
Posted Aug 3, 2007 5:00 pm PT


In June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), id Software cofounder and chief technical officer John Carmack took the stage alongside Apple CEO Steve Jobs to show off a technology demo. Cryptically titled "id Tech 5," the clip showed a scene reminiscent of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Dune buggies raced through a canyon dotted by what looked like post-apocalyptic settlements, and then the camera zoomed inside a hut for a first-person conversation with a merchant straight out of Bartertown.

At the WWDC, Carmack promised to have the same demo--which features over 20GB of texture information--running in real time on the PC, Macintosh, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 at the E3 Media & Business Summit in July. However, by the time the scaled-down expo was done, there was no sign of the demonstration anywhere.

Today, though, id Tech 5 surfaced. Behind closed doors at QuakeCon 2007 in Dallas, id CEO Todd Hollenshead revealed the demo was actually the first look at Rage, an all-new IP. As mentioned at WWDC, the game is in simultaneous development for the PC, Mac, PS3, and 360, and will use the second generation of id's "Megatexture" technology. The game will be come on a single Blu-ray disc for PS3 owners, while all other versions will require two DVDs.

Speaking to a small collection of game journalists, Hollenshead explained that Rage was a deliberate departure from the corridor shooters that made id famous. Its gameplay will be "60 percent shooting and 40 percent driving" between villages in a postapocalyptic wasteland. Its setting will be a far future which has seen civilization decimated after a comet smashes into the Earth. Players will aid the villages' inhabitants in fighting both an oppressive regime and various mutants and monsters roaming the wasteland.

According to Rage lead designer Tim Willits, the game's title has a threefold meaning. "You're fighting against a post-apocalyptic goverment, so you're raging against the machine," he said. "Then there's driving combat, so there's road rage." Willits also said that "you can't spell garage without 'rage,'" and then revealed the game will have shops where players can extensively customize their vehicles.

Rage will have open-world elements, allowing players to exit their vehicles and explore caves and other parts of the landscape. The game will feature a single-player campaign that will clock in around 20 hours, but will allow individual missions to be played in co-op mode. No other multiplayer details were announced.

In another major departure from the infamously gory Doom and Quake games, id is developing rage with a T-for-Teen rating in mind. As with all games from the famously reclusive studio, it will ship "when it's done" and will be published by Activision.

During a presentation at the QuakeCon keynote, Carmack quashed hopes of a Wii version of the game, saying that the id Tech 5 engine could not be ported to Nintendo's latest system. Nintendo fans needn't be too crestfallen, however, as Carmack told reporters earlier in the day he'd be happy to make Wii games, and has toyed with the idea of making a Quake Arena-themed game for the DS. There's nothing official about such a project yet, but Carmack said he likes the machine's Wi-Fi and game-sharing capabilities.

Carmack also described his "inverted" approach to developing new intellectual properties to reporters, saying id started Orcs and Elves on a cell phone, and then moved it up to the DS. If it works there, Carmack said he'd like to bring it to the Wii as well. Such an approach to building new properties makes sense, Carmack said, because the initial investment put at risk is much smaller.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6176188...stnews;title;0

[mischa316]

Since it's a driver shooter I'll definitely get this for my PS3!! I wonder when it's going to be comming out!!
Mischa.

[joeorc]

Originally Posted by mischa316

Since it's a driver shooter I'll definitely get this for my PS3!! I wonder when it's going to be comming out!!
Mischa.

i am thinking 2008...but that's just a guess

[JTK]

Originally Posted by JonD7

*slaps knee while laughing* ah man, even a PC funny crap.

A PC is different, though.

You install the ENTIRE game and either keep a disc in there for the drive to know you're aren't playing a pirated copy or you employ some other method for convenience.

No, you don't swap discs to play on the PC and that will include this game.

Perhaps this is where the 360 and PS3's hard drives will have to come into play as well, like a PC's does. Certainly that's the only way I can see 360 people getting around "swapping discs." It won't happen to PC folks one way or the other nor PS3 folks obviously.

It's high time we started seeing the hard drives get employed on all of the game consoles for something past just downloading stuff off the Internet.

Overall, yes: Sony's long term vision for BD is already starting to see justification with news like this.

[movies3]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Changing disks in a FPS? Crazy stuff.

haha couldnt have said it better myself

[Dadds]

Sucks for them.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by JTK

Perhaps this is where the 360 and PS3's hard drives will have to come into play as well, like a PC's does. Certainly that's the only way I can see 360 people getting around "swapping discs." It won't happen to PC folks one way or the other nor PS3 folks obviously.

Obviously it is possible to do on Xbox 360. But, Microsoft insists on perpetuating a HDD-less version and the HDD on these consoles are relatively small compared to PCs. TWO discs is up to 15GB.

Any space taken from the console HDD just to run a game well is that much less space to hold something purchased from Xbox Live.

I find it interesting that the claim DVD is enough fell apart so early. Even those that stated Microsoft made a mistake and Sony was thinking ahead probably didn't expect it to come to be true in 18 months of Xbox 360 launch.

Once the game designers start opening their minds to the possibilities, you have to wonder if it will become primarily a PC + PS/3 title world, with scaled down versions for Xbox 360.

I'm sure PC and PS/3 folk hope it isn't yet another least common denominator situation.

Gary

[JTK]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Obviously it is possible to do on Xbox 360. But, Microsoft insists on perpetuating a HDD-less version and the HDD on these consoles are relatively small compared to PCs. TWO discs is up to 15GB.

Any space taken from the console HDD just to run a game well is that much less space to hold something purchased from Xbox Live.

I find it interesting that the claim DVD is enough fell apart so early. Even those that stated Microsoft made a mistake and Sony was thinking ahead probably didn't expect it to come to be true in 18 months of Xbox 360 launch.

Once the game designers start opening their minds to the possibilities, you have to wonder if it will become primarily a PC + PS/3 title world, with scaled down versions for Xbox 360.

I'm sure PC and PS/3 folk hope it isn't yet another least common denominator situation.

Gary

Indeed.

[kindredwolf]

Originally Posted by JTK

A PC is different, though.

Perhaps this is where the 360 and PS3's hard drives will have to come into play as well, like a PC's does. Certainly that's the only way I can see 360 people getting around "swapping discs." It won't happen to PC folks one way or the other nor PS3 folks obviously.

It's high time we started seeing the hard drives get employed on all of the game consoles for something past just downloading stuff off the Internet.

Overall, yes: Sony's long term vision for BD is already starting to see justification with news like this.

Check this article from Gamepro:
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=127148

Seems like the 20-30% of Xbox owners without HDD's are in danger of being screwed.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by kindredwolf

Check this article from Gamepro:
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=127148

Seems like the 20-30% of Xbox owners without HDD's are in danger of being screwed.

That I can believe.

You need to have a hard drive in this day and age, regardless of platform.

[j_rocca42]

Looking forward to both of these games... Definetaly a s***e load of FPS coming out lately.

[blu_world]

woot,love the first person shooters

[partridge]

I expect MS to drop the price of the 20Gb hard drive and then release the 120Gb drive. They will never admit it but clearly MS have messed up seriously with the specs of their console, and it will never resolve itself. They can never 100% be sure that their user base all has a hard drive. So yeah, these people will be dumped on when games are released that require a hard drive.

As time goes on and drives get cheaper I expect Sony to periodically increase the size of the drive in new PS3's

[Sylin]

Chances are likely there won't be any disc swapping required on any platform, provided there is some type of HDD element involved. Based on what I've seen, the game and its engine and required files will all be on 1 disc. The additional disc is textures, which are probably compressed on the disc until install.

At WWDC, Carmack told us the demo we saw was over 24gb of textures--that's a helluva lot. For a PC, yes, but even more so for a console. And since you can't put 24gb of textures in RAM, then most of that will have to be on the HDD, whether it's PS3 or Xbox 360 or PC/Mac.

But I like where this is headed. Expect in the next 12-24 months to see PC mfr's start to put Blu drives in their systems (please, Apple... I beg you) because game developers will finally start to take advantage of this tech. All of the heightened awareness that Blu is good for gaming should also, by proxy, help bolster it as a winning home theater format. This is good strategy on Sony's part.

I'm also glad id is producing more family-friendly games. Anyone who has experience in the industry knows this is the Golden Goose.

[ra1024]

Originally Posted by kindredwolf

Check this article from Gamepro:
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=127148

Seems like the 20-30% of Xbox owners without HDD's are in danger of being screwed.

lol, great comments from artsaber

[mischa316]

Here is a link for a video with John Carmac!! This game looks kick ass I will definitely pick this up!!

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/id-tech-5-p.../810525p1.html

Mischa.