Cinnase7en

Seems like they did make the PS4, in some instances, with this in mind. I remember reading the specs when they leaked and reading analysis of them and people were surprised by the amount of ROPs (render out units turn the pixel and texel data into the final image) they have in the PS4. At first I thought it was a left-over thing they had for stereo3D. But, it seems like it's for pushing VR

Xbone's GPU is 1.31 from a TF standpoint. They've said so and we know this. Increasing performance on PC isn't an issue. A mantle like API doesn't make any sense considering console API's already are low-level. Reasons for performance issues are this: new system with bad tools. We know this. Digital Foundry talked about this in September last year and several devs have talked about it publicly. New SDK should help and patches down along the line. Another issue, lots of smoke effects and particles when the titans come out to play. Particle always kick the shit out of a GPU. Plus, it can be the CPU. Depends. You'd be surprised by the amount of times a framerate dip has occurred due to the CPU.

Improvements from Mantle are coming from the CPU end due to the fact the API is, seemingly, designed to improve CPU efficiency. Low-end chips, so you'd think it would improve the CPU stuff in the Xbone, but they are already using low-level API's on a console.

To be fair, Killzone Shadowfall's MP was clearly designed to run at the same resolution and framerate as the single player. Which was 1080p locked at 30. But. people whinged and complained about that so they unlocked the framerate for the SP and then had to do what they could in the time they had to get the framerate as high as they could for MP.

Unlikely they are using a high-level API like that on Xbone. Maybe they are? I mean, this early in the cycle and devs need to do what they need to do to get their game running as fast as possible this early on in a console cycle. We won't know unless they say.

I always play games on hard. It can be an interesting experiment to see how well balanced a games mechanics are. Mass Effect 2 is a good example of how poorly increasing the difficulty can go. It was awfully balanced. AWFUL! Zero thought was put into it. Any one who played that game on the higher 2 difficulties will tell you how bad it was.

@scaramoosh: Not usually being offended by something is ignoring the fact that you stopped enjoying South Park because of it's content and then start playing a South Park game expecting to like it? I don't understand your decision making. It sounds freaking terrible.

http://youtu.be/-YCBadIVro8

Really interesting talk. Palmer talks about stuff I didn't think about. He talks about what games to make and what not to make. He says, maybe, don't make an FPS. Which is fun to hear.

Enjoy!!

The real annoying thing is that they are selling it separately to begin with. Kinda weird. 30-40 dollar demo. No likey.

@extomar: But, the part where people say they are patenting stuff for defence isn't moronic. It's exactly what they are doing. That's from a blog post they wrote in response to the childish and ignorant outrage. This quote sums up why are they doing it and it is to stop a patent troll from knocking on the door.

Guys, we’ve been getting some questions about patents we filed a couple years ago. We have no interest in using any patents offensively. The US patent system is broken and needs reform. Many gaming companies -- including us -- are getting attacked by patent trolls.

@canteu: If there is one thing I have learned, is that no one reads patents properly. People are mind-numbingly dense when it comes to this stuff. It's hilarious.

Same with things like a Terms of Service. No one reads them properly and no one has an understanding of how they work and how every other company does the same thing. It's quite good. Remember when people thought Instagram was going to sell your photos? Because people don't know how to read properly and their comprehension skills are awful.

Same with that thing from Sony's updates ToS. How you can't "resell" something without their, or the publishers, "authorization". Something every company has in their ToS and something Sony had previous with the PS3. No one reads this shit, though. If they do, they don't read it properly.

Play Demon's Souls at some point.

I'd say the biggest issue with Dark Souls isn't the game itself, it's what modern day game design has taught people to expect. Watching noobs stand there and take hits without blocking or dodging is fucking mesmerizing. Stop thinking this is God of War. Get out of the way. They want to brute force their way through. The moment you want some of these players to learn a rule set the moment it becomes "too hard" for them.

@jim_efantis: People will happily sacrifice you for the greater cause in MOBA's. Not everyone is created equal. If you're a support and you die, it ain't a big deal. If you're a carry and you die? Big deal.

You also gotta learn when the time is right to go in. Just going in willy nilly doesn't go well.