Over the past few days, we received a ton of emails about Halo 3‘s “resolution”. Seems people had somehow deduced that, for whatever reason, Halo wasn’t actually running at 720p, it was running at “640p”. Sounded pretty… well, pathetic. Bungie agree. They’ve thus issued a statement as part of their weekly update, addressed to any and all “interweb detectives” indignant at their short-changed 80p.
One item making the interwebs rounds this week was the scandalous revelation that Halo 3 runs at “640p” which isn’t even technically a resolution. However, the interweb detectives did notice that Halo 3′s vertical resolution, when captured from a frame buffer, is indeed 640 pixels. So what gives? Did we short change you 80 pixels?
Naturally it’s more complicated than that. In fact, you could argue we gave you 1280 pixels of vertical resolution, as Halo 3 uses not one, but two frame buffers – both of which render at 1152×640 pixels. The reason we chose this slightly unorthodox resolution and this very complex use of two buffers is simple enough to see – lighting. We wanted to preserve as much dynamic range as possible – so we use one for the high dynamic range and one for the low dynamic range values. Both are combined to create the finished on screen image.
This ability to display a full range of HDR, combined with our advanced lighting, material and postprocessing engine, gives our scenes, large and small, a compelling, convincing and ultimately “real” feeling, and at a steady and smooth frame rate, which in the end was far more important to us than the ability to display a few extra pixels. Making this decision simpler still is the fact that the 360 scales the “almost-720p” image effortlessly all the way up to 1080p if you so desire.
In fact, if you do a comparison shot between the native 1152×640 image and the scaled 1280×720, it’s practically impossible to discern the difference. We would ignore it entirely were it not for the internet’s propensity for drama where none exists. In fact the reason we haven’t mentioned this before in weekly updates, is the simple fact that it would have distracted conversation away from more important aspects of the game, and given tinfoil hats some new gristle to chew on as they catalogued their toenail clippings.
I’m glad they took this tone. Like they say, internet cry-babies can really poop the party sometimes!
Bungie Weekly Update: 09/28/07 [Bungie]
In honour of my trip to Tokyo, I thought it might be interesting to do a little Japan to US comparison Arcade Flyer Art Saturday. This week’s choice was a perfect pick since it not only has different flyers for each country, but a rich history of different gameplay as well. So let’s dive right into it shall we?
In 1987, Capcom released Top Secret into Japanese arcades and simultaneously released the same game in the US under the name Bionic Commando. The game was a side scrolling platformer/fighter starring Super Joe who had formerly appeared in a previous game, Commando. This time around, Joe had a grappling hook-like bionic arm that would allow him to swing over gaps since unlike most games of the time, he could not jump. His robotic super arm could also be employed to take out various enemies, along with his gun which could be used to collect the bonuses and weapons that would arrive from the sky via parachute. Once the game moved from arcades to consoles however, things got really interesting and the games themselves became more diverse.
If the actual rubbing of said oil is done via the Wii Remote, we’re looking at game of the year here folks.
Today is the last day to enter our TGS schwag contest. We’ve got a bag full of TGS stuff to give away. To you, perhaps! (Or you or you or you.) What are we giving away? A fistful of TGS fans – including a Flynn used Metal Gear Solid 4 fan. What’s more, we’re throwing in a Japanese Halo 3 t-shirt, an Adventure Island shirt signed by Takahashi Meijin and a program on which he scribbled a pyramid describing the current market. There’s a bunch of VERY RANDOM things as well. How do you win this? Send us an email at kotakucontestATgmail.com, pick a TGS post you like (include the URL) and write a paragraph on why it stood out. Just look at what reader April has done with Sony’s Booth Babe Human Wave:
Everyone seems to have missed the real point of this exercise, which is a shame as it’s such a video game cliche. So here’s the strategy guide: One of these women is the REAL booth babe. She’s the only one that’s vulnerable to your attacks. Defeat her, and you will have beaten TGS and become the Champion of Otaku Gaming. All of the best that TGS has to offer will be yours – you get to skip to the front of the long Level 5 booth line, have first crack at the drums in Rock Band, and play the MGS4 demo for as long as you want. The rest of the women are just there just to distract you, making you waste your time and energy on things like the Lair booth and PSP ports of PS2 games. So choose wisely, TGS warrior, and may you prevail in the Sony Booth Babe Quest!
See, we aren’t looking for flattery, but rather, sharp writing. Insight, even. Deadlines for entries is this tonight, AKA soon. Sharpen those pencils!
It’s a shame that, as nice as Lair looks, it’s going to be remembered for one thing: how awful its controls are. Trying to fly a dragon using the SixAxis is like trying to wrestle a teflon bull that’s been basted in cooking grease. Which begs the question: with no old-fashioned control scheme to revert to, did Sony force Factor 5 to make it SixAxis-only? Phil Harrison says no: [It]was definitely not mandated by us. We’ve always said all along that the use of the SixAxis is something that should be decided by the developer in tune with their creative vision for the game, so it’s not something we would mandate.
Pretty clear message from big Phil, that. Wasn’t Sony’s fault! It was Factor 5′s. TGS 07 Phil Harrison Interview [Gametrailers]
Valve are super-big on PCs. They’ve made their name on the platform, and they love it to bits. But what about the Mac? Unlike other big PC names like Blizzard and EA, Valve’s titles never see official Mac releases. The reason? Apple can’t seem to get their shit together: … they seem to think that they want to do gaming, but there’s never any follow through on any of the things they say they’re going to do. That makes it hard to be excited about doing games for their platforms.
I bet it would! Mac fans, as hard as this may be for you, you’re going to have to blame great mother Apple for your platform’s Half-Life deficiency. Gabe Newell Valve Interview – Orange Box [Kikizo]
The 2007 Micromania Games Show is going down in Paris right now. Most of the stuff on-hand is old-ish, but one game there, it’s brand new. So new we’d previously only heard its very name, and knew nothing of its details or appearance. That game: Advance Wars 2 for the DS, sequel to, oh, only the best game to ever grace the system. GAF resident Sad_Panda was lucky enough to get his hands on it: AW 2DS did receive a complete overhaul in terms of design. Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew. IS went with a whole new, more realistic, miltary look, and quite frankly, it seemed like a pretty wise move. Graphically-wise, the look went with the new design, though it looked pretty much the same. New combat animations were pretty low-quality though, blurry and badly animated. Surely that’s gonna be fixed by the time it comes out. Had time to notice a new unit – bike infantry unit – and that pretty much sums it up.
A new look? New characters? It’s not like I wasn’t already interested, I was completely interested. Now? I’m looking for ways to cram a little more interest in. Advance Wars 2 playable in Paris @ MGS 2007 [Sad_Panda @ NeoGAF]
Don’t forget to enter our Halo 3 schwag contest and win, well, Halo 3 schwag. Imagine that! All you have to do is answer questions about Fahey. Regular readers, you should know this stuff! The questions are:
1. What was the nickname of the blond football player who was on hand at the launch to play Halo 3 against his teammates? 2. Who does Fahey’s body take orders from? 3. What did the upper classmen in Fahey’s high school use as an excuse to repeatedly kick the lower classmen “in the junk?” 4. Which of Snake’s special moves in Super Smash Brothers Brawl is Fahey’s favorite? 5. Whose phone number does Fahey ask for after hearing of a Wii remote mishap in Colorado? 6. What video game movie opened this past weekend and how much did it take in at the Box office? 7. What did Fahey ask us to bring him back from Japan after the night of the Kotaku Japan party? 8.What kind of fingers does Fahey have? 9. How many calculation a second would everyone in the world need to do to achieve the petaflop that the PS3′s Folding@Home project hit. 10. What is the name of Fahey’s cat?
Send your answers to kotakucontestATgmail.com with the words “Halo Schwag” in the subject field. Only one entry per a gamer. You have until Oct. 5 to enter the contest. The winner will be selected randomly from the people who correctly answer all ten questions. Good luck and no cheating, else ye be banned. No worse, we will hunt you down and fart in your general direction. Dead serious. Last date to enter is October 5th.
Yes, I’m looking forward to Rock Band‘s DLC. And its drum kit. But strangely, the thing I’m looking forward to most is its character creation utility. See, I didn’t like Guitar Hero‘s band (with the exception of the beardy bass player), because they weren’t my people. Were Brothel Fire a real band, no man in tight leather pants would be anywhere near the microphone. With this, though? We’re all good.
A Week In Comments (With Nomination/Ban Info)
Halo 3 Disc Read Errors Rampant Comment by mossberg
maybe they should have spent a little less on the ad campaign and a little more on the manufacturing of the disks
So…Why Exactly Is the DualShock 3 Coming Next Year? Comment by Grave
It’s absolutely ridiculous that they’d announce this so far in advance and not make good on it til next year in the rest of the world. I only have the Sixaxis my system came with, and money is tight at the moment. A friend of mine was going to get his own so we could at least go back to playing Tekken and SF, but after this, he doesn’t want to pick up one, and neither do I.
Of course, being a PS3 owner, I’m always wondering what kind of wacky shit Sony’s going to try to get us to put up with next. Lair and Heavenly Sword were both crushing disappointments, the PS Store is lacking a real selection of PS1 games outside of Japan, and demos still land weeks to months after they do on XBL. Oh, and Home is delayed til 2008. I heard that they cancelled Christmas, too.