Evening Reading

So my life has somehow been invaded by a fish tank. Given the strong emotional bond and all those cool tricks that you can teach fish I'm really kind of amazed that I didnt have any sooner. It's amazing... I feel like I'm... connected.

- Global warming?
- Yahoo Alpha
- Google map mashups
- Hey teens! PSP is for you! Hip cats!

Lastly, am I the only one totally bummed about the death of console gaming? I mean I totally thought that stuff was taking off. Sigh.

Steve Gibson is the cofounder of Shacknews.com. Originally known as sCary's Quakeholio back in 1996, Steve is now President of Gearbox Publishing after selling Shacknews to GameFly in 2009.

Filed Under
From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 5, 2007 6:01 PM

    D'oh. Er'd in the nick of time. :(

    Hot damn. The new Ratchet & Clank game looks gorgeous. And it's first gen..!

    http://magus.shackspace.com/Ratchet%20&%20Clank/1.jpg
    http://magus.shackspace.com/Ratchet%20&%20Clank/3.jpg

    More here:
    http://magus.shackspace.com/Ratchet%20&%20Clank

    Stolen from Insomniac's site. Supposedly it'll be out this fall. =D

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      April 5, 2007 6:03 PM

      When do games fall into the second gen catagory?

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        April 5, 2007 6:09 PM

        I'd say... games that started development after the console was released.

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      April 5, 2007 6:04 PM

      I thought it was for PS3?

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        April 5, 2007 6:04 PM

        PS3 and 360 are current gen now. such old news. I'm waiting for the next gen again.

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      April 5, 2007 6:05 PM

      its going to be on ps1?

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        April 5, 2007 6:07 PM

        [deleted]

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        April 5, 2007 6:09 PM

        By "1st gen" I was referring to the first year of games to show up on said system. Y'know, like how the first gen usually sucks compared to 3-4 years down the road? Compare Halo 2 to Halo 1, Devil May Cry 3 to DMC 1, etc etc. =]

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          April 5, 2007 6:18 PM

          Halo 1 was an amazing 1st gen game and was gorgeous for the time. Yeah, Halo 2 improved upon that but Halo 1 didn't "suck" in comparison.

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            April 5, 2007 6:22 PM

            Well, "sucks" is the wrong word, but there is a major difference in graphics quality between Halo 1 and 2, is all I'm trying to say.

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              April 5, 2007 6:45 PM

              I get what you're saying. Nitpickers.... I've only ever played a Ratchet game on the PSP, and got annoyed and quit when some stupid cheap bumper car game came along. The platforming/action was fun though. This one looks very nice. More games like this to draw my interest to the PS3 plz. There was one in Best Buy today, but I just can't justify $700+ (CDN) for something I have interest (and waning at that) in one or 2 games for.

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          April 5, 2007 6:22 PM

          but don't people call gears of war a second gen 360 game?

          i don't get this stuff

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            April 5, 2007 6:24 PM

            It is a second gen 360 game. It came out about a year after the system was released.

            First gen = first series of games up to a year after release (or so).
            Second gen = second series of games a year after release.

            After that no one seems to give a shit about what "gen" they are. I'm just using industry slang, it's not an exact science. at least, I thought it was industry slang...

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              April 5, 2007 6:30 PM

              didn't it come out in the fall of the year after the 360 came out, just like this ratchet and clank thing?

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      April 5, 2007 6:10 PM

      That does look nice, I wish there were some good platformers like this and Jak and Sly on the 360

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      April 5, 2007 6:10 PM

      looks like shit

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      April 5, 2007 6:17 PM

      How is this fall "first gen" for the PS3?

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      April 5, 2007 6:23 PM

      Since it's Insomniac's second PS3 game, I'd say it's second generation.

      Also first generation games typically mean they were released at, or near launch, or at least within the first year. This is coming a full year after launch.

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        April 5, 2007 6:27 PM

        Well when you put it that way, I suppose you're right. :) Still pretty impressive, this early in the system's supposed-10-year life cycle. Can't imagine what kind of graphics we'll see 4-5 years from now. I wonder if the difference will be far less noticeable at this level of quality as games get better.

        I kinda hope the physics/AI/sound aspect doesn't get neglected, either...

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      April 5, 2007 6:33 PM

      meh, ratchet games were never about good graphics, just awesome platform gaming.

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      April 5, 2007 6:36 PM

      [deleted]

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      April 5, 2007 6:37 PM

      That looks like they just made a mod for the Serious Sam 2 engine.

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      April 5, 2007 6:41 PM

      *cough* kameo

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        April 5, 2007 7:20 PM

        This game looks a billion times better than Kameo. Kameo sort of had a decent idea artistically but the final art direction was terrible in my opinion. Everything looked artificial and static and I felt the animation was poor. The videos and screens of this look much, much better done.

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          April 5, 2007 8:39 PM

          On a technical level though (which is probably what the op was more than likely referring to) it's not that much of a step up, or at least not to me. I was impressed with some of the effects and detail in Kameo.

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            April 5, 2007 8:42 PM

            Shackers are hilarious when it comes to PS3 screenshots. If they're perceived as being technically inferior to some arbitrary Xbox 360 game, people jump all over them for that and the PS3 is no big deal. If they're perceived as being artistically inferior to some arbitrary Xbox 360 game, then, well, that expensive hardware is useless, right?

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              April 5, 2007 8:46 PM

              its not just shackers though, all the cool kids are doing it

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              April 5, 2007 10:42 PM

              I have no idea, I just think Kameo looks really nice. Then again I have no eye for art direction.

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            April 6, 2007 12:57 AM

            You think this http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/490/490038/img_3071861.html looks as impressive as this: http://magus.shackspace.com/Ratchet%20&%20Clank/3.jpg ?

            That's the nicest picture of Kameo I could find on IGN.

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              April 6, 2007 1:00 AM

              Put AA on the Kameo shot just like the Clank shot and yes, I do think that.

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                April 6, 2007 1:01 AM

                Wow, that's some really really good AA I guess.

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                  April 6, 2007 1:04 AM

                  well they are completely different artistically but there's plenty of shaders/lighting/polygons going on in that Kameo shot. There's just a lot less boxy-ness than what you see in the Clank shot. Plus I've just seen Kameo in motion very recently so, as usual, the screenshot pales in comparison to the real thing.

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                    April 6, 2007 1:07 AM

                    If the game is good I doesn't really matter if it looks like Ratchet, Kameo or Zelda to be honest. Ratchet games are usally pretty good though.

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                      April 6, 2007 1:10 AM

                      They are, Up Your Arsenal was a blast

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          April 5, 2007 11:58 PM

          I loved Kameo (even some of its art, though I do agree with you in general) and have never really liked playing games on the Sony systems and hope to put off a PS3 as long as possible, but as much as I enjoyed it it can not and will not hold a candle to any of the big Sony-exclusive platformers, and that'll force my hand sooner than later.

          And at least with Ratchet on the system, my wife won't yell at me when I do get one. :) I'm excited for this, and like what I've seen so far.

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      April 5, 2007 6:42 PM

      [deleted]

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      April 5, 2007 6:42 PM

      I can't say I like their colors. At all.

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      April 5, 2007 6:43 PM

      needs more video .. i bet it looks excellent in motion

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      April 5, 2007 6:56 PM

      i highly doubt they will turn on FSAA. console developers love jaggies.

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      April 5, 2007 7:43 PM

      Companies really need to stop putting 'grass' in the game if they aren't going to do it well. =[

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        April 5, 2007 8:02 PM

        Preach on, very few games do it right.

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        April 5, 2007 11:40 PM

        and random doo-dads/trees/junkamabobs in the environments. I think they should go back to this rule: if the player can't interact with it don't put it in the game.

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      April 5, 2007 8:32 PM

      Techincally it's not super impressive, but I've got to give it points for art direction (which is more important to me anyway).

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      April 5, 2007 8:34 PM

      Those don't look like they're in-game.

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      April 5, 2007 10:46 PM

      i really really enjoyed all of the ratchet and clank games, but i'm gonna be really hard pressed to buy a ps3 :/

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      April 5, 2007 11:25 PM

      i'm gonna put my money on bullshots.

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      April 5, 2007 11:32 PM

      I'm looking forward to this game :)

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      April 5, 2007 11:50 PM

      Looks awesome, but I'd think that counts as a 2nd gen game, since it's out a year after the system was released.

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      April 5, 2007 11:59 PM

      looks amazing! and isn't that their 2nd PS3 game?

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      April 6, 2007 12:00 AM

      bullshots

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        April 6, 2007 12:04 AM

        i doubt the crazy AA will be in the final game, but why shouldn't it look like that?

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          April 6, 2007 12:09 AM

          did you not just answer your own question?

          this "pre renders with in-game assets" thing needs to stop. it's still bullshots, weather or not the final game will be a jaggier or blander version of those exact models.

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            April 6, 2007 12:15 AM

            why is it pre-renders, they just turned on AA. Not as if they added crazy detail to everything. For all you know, that could be the final look

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              April 6, 2007 12:20 AM

              don't get me wrong, i'd love to be pleasantly surprised. but honestly after spent a decent amount of time with the PS3 and having lived through roughly ten years of videogame marketing i'm not gonna bank on those baring too much resembelence to what we'll all see on our TVs in five months.

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                April 6, 2007 12:22 AM

                yeah, probably true. Also, Sony :)

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      April 6, 2007 12:50 AM

      The 1up show guys played it and they said it looks even better than the videos and screenshots. They said that there's a ton of stuff going on on the screen at the same time, things flying around in the background, lots of enemies, physics, simultanious effects etc.

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