Call of Duty 2 Preview - Oh Dear

[Artis]

ok so this just seems awesome.


"Take Call of Duty, and add in all the graphical effects that were seen in games such as Half-Life 2. And then multiply the sheer amount of chaos onscreen by a factor of two or three, and that's what you're dealing with in Call of Duty 2."

http://www.gamespot.com/x360/action/callofduty2/preview_6125568.html

[Artis]

also if you check gamespot's e3 coverage you will see battlefield 2 described as having hl2 like graphics as well. im very excited.

[shanKs]

so Kevin, when you gonna get your copy to check out and write a review?

[BuddhaMan]

I downloaded a bunch of BF2 videos the other day to include e3 footage and a few 'sitdown and answer question to the developer' type of interviews. The gameplay looks awesome as hell and the interview was reely cool IMHO opinion becuase it shows you the thinking of the developer when they give two points for a kill, one for an assist, 4 for capping a flag, etc.

Commander mode is just like in that other game that came out (name escapes me right now) where the commander looks at the game from above like in Command & Conquor and tells his troops what to do...and those troops are his teamates actually fighting the other team.

I'm going to zip or rar up all ths vidz into one file and upload it to my site so y'all can check 'em out.

[Artis]

the other game you are referring to is savage: the battle for newerth which is an awesome game.

[Czechmate]

I will get beta code for COD2 as early as QuakeCon (early August). If not then, I usually get it about a month before it releases. I don't know the official release date (really, I don't!), so it could be at any time.

However, Mike at Activision knows I'm a COD nut. I had UO betas a full 6 weeks before it released, and I had UO (a full version) a week before it hit the stores. If that happens with COD2, I'll be sure to go on voice and be an asshole about it. And, of course, I'll post some pics.

I've already got the review for COD2 for Computer Games Mag.

~Czech

[BuddhaMan]

"got the review" means you were picked to do the review by the editor (or whomever) I'm guessing?

[Czechmate]

It means that I told Steve (the EIC), "I'm doing anything COD related, including COD2" and he said ok... same thing I did with Tribes: Vengeance. :)

~Czech

[Artis]

thats hot. ill expect my copy of cod2 shortly after you recieve yours.
thanks and good day.

j/k :)

[BuddhaMan]

Czech: look into this please (meaning find out if it'll come out on the PC). I assume what they mean is it'll be exclusive to the xbox360 meaning it won't be on the PS3 or Nintendo's console.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/614/614879p1.html


Call of Duty 2 from Activision was the next game to the demoed. The war shooter displayed a number of visual improvements over previous entries in the series. Moore said that Call of Duty 2 would come exclusively to Microsoft's next-generation console.

[BuddhaMan]

I just read the Gamespot preview and they mention it coming out on the PC also.


Call of Duty 2 looks like it will uphold the intense, cinematic World War II action of the series, and we can expect it to ship for the PC and Xbox 360 this fall

[Czechmate]

That's correct. They aren't making it for PS2 or Game Cube. It'll definitely be on the PC. Really, though, who the hell wants to play an FPS on a console? Control with a gamepad? Please. You may as well tie one hand behind your back.

~Czech

[Regulator]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=abde1e02-b529-469e-ae6a-7417fcde9e12&displaylang=en

[=DBA=Ronin]

sweet reg...im d/ling the cod2 e3 thingy now. You always got the sweet hookup. Armee` is a fuck!!

[Czechmate]

It could just be my bias against FPS games on consoles, but did that video for COD2 on Xbox 360 look choppy as hell? There were a few smooth parts, but for the most part, it looked like it was trying to induce epilepsy.

Regardless, we'll be playing this one in early August at QuakeCon. :)

~Czech

Ps -- Quake 4 will be playable at QuakeCon as well. WOO!

[BuddhaMan]

I think the choppiness in the Quake video was due to Windows Media format sucking ass due to the voice-over was choppy too.

The game doesn't look very good to me. I don't like the Doom3 engine. The HL2 engine is so much better IMHO.

[Artis]

quake 4 and cod 2 = life is good.

[BuddhaMan]

The Quake 4, Cod2, and two others were choppy for me. Two of the driving games and Ghost Recon were not (played smooth) so I'm still blaming the format used, not the game engine.

[Regulator]

yeah those 720p wmvhd encodes are hosses and require a lot of resources. the ghost recon 3 game looks the best imo for the xbox360

I watched both the xbox and ps3 e3 conferences and the one game that looked like it will totally kick ass was Killzone (with motorstorm in 2nd) for the ps3. Looks like it's based of the HL2 engine (at least the faces do).

the ps3 is impressive. i'll host the trailer somwhere for you guys to see.

http://www.hgibentonville.com/ps3_trailers.rar ~84MB

The file only containes the two trailers i mentioned [Killzone and Motorstorm (motorstorm was encoded incorrectly but is watchable)] and is currently being uploaded to the server. Try downloading it around 11:40 pm CST 6/1/05 when it's finished.

[BuddhaMan]

Dude! Killzone looks tight and it does look like the HL2 engine.

Motorstorm looks good also, but the video is fkd up which distracted me from the action.

From what I've read so far, the PS3 will be > XBox360 since the XBox developers are complaining that the amount of CPU resources given to AI, physics, etc is not much so the games ae going to suck more in those areas.

Reference: http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/xbox360-2.ars/7


Rumors and some game developer comments (on the record and off the record) have Xenon's performance on branch-intensive game control, AI, and physics code as ranging from mediocre to downright bad. Xenon will be a streaming media monster, but the parts of the game engine that have to do with making the game fun to play (and not just pretty to look at) are probably going to suffer. Even if the PPE's branch prediction is significantly better than I think it is, the relatively meager 1MB L2 cache that the game control, AI, and physics code will have to share with procedural synthesis and other graphics code will ensure that programmers have a hard time getting good performance out of non-graphics parts of the game.

'Xenon' is the codename given to the XBox's CPU. There are somewhere between 24 to 26 letters in the alphabet ;), why did they have to name it 'XEON' with an "N" in the middle. This makes for some comfusion with Intel's Xeon chip. Stupid people.

[Regulator]

killzone might be one of the major reasons that could persuade me to get a ps3--just like halo was for the xbox. i want to see a halo 3 teaser/trailer for the 360. they have to be developing that game as a priority right now since the 360 release date is in a few months.

[Czechmate]

I've actually had to turn down reviewing a few console FPS games because of control issues. I can do it just fine, but when you're used to the keyboard/mouse setup, the gamepad is a freakin' joke. I'll still end up with all the new consoles, but I get them for things consoles do better than most PC games: platformers/action-adventure games (Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank, etc.) racing games (Burnout 3, GT4), and fighting games (Soul Calibur, Tekken, etc.)

While there's definitely a push for more PC style games -- namely FPS games -- on consoles, I won't ever do it that way until they come out with something that comes very close to the mouse/keyboard setup and is comfortable on a couch. Strangely, at the 2004 E3, the guys at Infinium showed what their setup was, and it was brilliant. It was a keyboard with a hinge on both ends, allowing it to tilt left or right about 30 degrees. Under that, there was a flat area for a mouse. However, I don't think Infinium will ever make it to market.

[Artis]

that mouse/keyboard is pretty tight.

[BuddhaMan]

Yeah, that's fkn money. I'd buy one along with the PS3. :D

From what I've seen/read so far, the PS3 is the console for me if I ever get one.

If the hackers out there successfully get Linux on either of these machines along with a cool PVR setup, I reserve the right to change my mind. :D

[Regulator]

a PVR setup will be difficult with a console. but once you mod one and some people develop a player, then you can stream or copy over movies and have them playback.

What you might be interested in is the Xbox360 since it is officially a MCE extender. So you will be able to watch recorded TV from an MCE box on your network including HD streams. I am not sure if it will support live streaming TV (but I think I read somewhere that it will. correct me if i'm wrong). All this is out of the box without modding mind you.

Now when the xbox 360 comes out, the xbox price should drop or you will see a bunch for sale on ebay for cheap. snag one, a modchip, a larger hdd, and install xbox media center and you can stream everything flawlessly except drm-ed material from an mce box and HD transport streams. My modded xbox is priceless, all you need is a small amount of soldering skill.

[BuddhaMan]

Xbox PVR has already been done, and I assume it'll be done for the next generation of consoles...well, maybe not for the PS3.

http://bit.blkbk.com/

[Regulator]

haha nice! must use some usb capture device to work with myth

on the other hand, myth is a bitch to setup.

[RuKuS]

I will get beta code for COD2 as early as QuakeCon (early August). If not then, I usually get it about a month before it releases. I don't know the official release date (really, I don't!), so it could be at any time.

However, Mike at Activision knows I'm a COD nut. I had UO betas a full 6 weeks before it released, and I had UO (a full version) a week before it hit the stores. If that happens with COD2, I'll be sure to go on voice and be an asshole about it. And, of course, I'll post some pics.

I've already got the review for COD2 for Computer Games Mag.

~Czech


Cod2 fucking better not suck shit, if its anything like UO we're fuckin doomed.

Most likely cod2 will kill off cod1 for cal, and take over. A lot of people are riding on this being playable.

[BuddhaMan]

Well, from the video, it looks even more "UO-like"...more people, bodies, smoke, details, etc.

[Artis]

the huge maps and vehicles didnt really add to the game though IMO. i hope ladders, etc. are withOUT the above.

[BuddhaMan]

I agree, the game shouldn't be about who can see you moving thru all the clutter. Although, this is more "real" I suppose...

[Artis]

are we complaining about better graphics in a game? what planet am i on and who are you people?

[BuddhaMan]

lol artis...i remember back in that day @ a LAN tourney in Alaska...the best player there had tweeked his Quake 3 settings so severly to speed up gameplay and get rid of clutter that the explosions from the rocket launcher were actually 3D squares...not explosions.

UT example: ever play UT99 and are on D on Rainbase (remember that map?) your on the flagstand and looking down the hallway toward the green sludge pit. There was a light down there that if you had 'coronas' turned on, you couldn't see the characters as well because the corona light flooded them out and masked them and basicallt fucked things up. Turning off coronas in the game config helped gameplay (it might not have looked as pretty...).

[Artis]

ya i hear you but we are talking hl2 graphics and that IMO is something to be excited about even if you turn off the extra lighting and effects you still have the basic environment and character skins, etc. that will be very pretty to look at. i played ut99 and ut2k3 and now ut2k4 on the most basic settings. coronas have been an issue in ut since the beginning as you said.

[BuddhaMan]

Another thing is I like games where part of the game isn't about spotting peeps all camoflaged up and hiding. In your face shooting is what I prefer. This is why I liked the idea of UTComp where you could give the enemy a glow color you picked so you could see them. That type of game is about shooting/timing/accuracy instead of being the most stealthy and listening for footsteps and whatnot.

It's all about what you prefer.

I do have to say I think I can see discerne characters further away in HL2 than I can in CoD. Might have something to do with the engine combined with the quality of the textures and the resolution played at.

BTW: I play single player games with the details all the way up and multiplayer games with them turned down.