Games are requiring more powerful computers every year

[mercanucaribe]

Vanguard for example: http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/storeroom/misc/vg2.jpg
http://www.vanguardguru.com/gallery/imageview.php?screenshotID=174&typeID=2

Why does that require dual cores, 2 gigs of RAM, and a top end video card? It doesn't look any better than Everquest after a few expansions!!

 

[amish]

coding. not that i have any room to talk since i've never done it.

 

[xanis]

I would guess it has something to do with other stuff, such as physics and environmental stuff?

 

[Zenmervolt]

My guess is physics.

ZV

 

[hanoverphist]

both physics and environ. as well as a healthy dose of shading. and probably a bunch of lighting effects for that shading. textures arent small either usually, so the ram will help with that. more vertices make the models look better when mapped, so that may be something too. could be a million reasons, but i think it mostly comes down to the "eye candy" effect.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Looks good to me...beta sucked tho.

There is a lot more to graphics then just the pretty sparkly stuff. Physics, interactiveness, and so on play a big role

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Vanguard for example: http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/storeroom/misc/vg2.jpg
http://www.vanguardguru.com/gallery/imageview.php?screenshotID=174&typeID=2

Why does that require dual cores, 2 gigs of RAM, and a top end video card? It doesn't look any better than Everquest after a few expansions!!

Games released 3 years ago piss all over that. Those are either alpha/beta shots or they suck. Try using screenshots of something like Oblivion or Crysis instead.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: MmmSkyscraper

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Vanguard for example: http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/storeroom/misc/vg2.jpg
http://www.vanguardguru.com/gallery/imageview.php?screenshotID=174&typeID=2

Why does that require dual cores, 2 gigs of RAM, and a top end video card? It doesn't look any better than Everquest after a few expansions!!

Games released 3 years ago piss all over that. Those are either alpha/beta shots or they suck. Try using screenshots of something like Oblivion or Crysis instead.

even as MMOs go that is week WoW is 3 yeas old and looks better then that, and has had no real graphicial update,

Warhammer looks amazing

 

[spaceman]

companies need to stay in business.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

before i even entered the thread, i thought of "Vanguard." horrible looking game for today's standards. WoW uses faar less resources, but it looks far superior since the art and everything is better than Vanguard's. Vanguard just has piss poor artists and texture people.

 

[ViviTheMage]

all about the environmental's.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

artificial intelligence also

 

[ATLien247]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
all about the environmental's.

Right. Take Crysis, for example...

 

[Cattlegod]

diminishing returns.

take into account the number of polygons in a sphere.

at 6 polygons, you have a square, not very representative.

times that by 10x the processing power and you have 60, much better for a sphere

times that by another 10 and you have 600 polygons, virtually a perfect sphere.

times that by another 10 and you have 6000 polygons, 10x the processing power, but not much better of a sphere than the one before it when compared to 6 vs. 60 where there was a huge difference.

 

[bennylong]

Vanguard just plain suck. After CTD every half hour, I deleted that 20 gigs of crap off my computer. Stay far away from this bugfest that was released 1 year too early.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Originally posted by: bennylong
Vanguard just plain suck. After CTD every half hour, I deleted that 20 gigs of crap off my computer. Stay far away from this bugfest that was released 1 year too early.

wasnt their fault..they ran out of money.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

They need the extra processing power to deal with the sloppy ports from console-first games, sadly.

 

[AndrewR]

Fire up an older game, say the original Half Life and then compare to something released recently. You'll see the difference especially if you turn on all the little things like AA, AF, highlights, etc.

Of course, I remember when RGB graphics looked incredible.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: FrontlineWarrior
artificial intelligence also

Vangard's an MMO....


Edit: wow, that game looks pretty bad for something "new". Maybe it's the draw distance and physics? Those can be murder (see Oblivion) on even modern hardware.

 

[Kelemvor]

That' why consoles beat out PCs for gaming. You never have to upgrade them to play the games made for them.

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
That' why consoles beat out PCs for gaming. You never have to upgrade them to play the games made for them.

Must...resist...console vs. PC discussion...

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Vanguard for example: http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/storeroom/misc/vg2.jpg
http://www.vanguardguru.com/gallery/imageview.php?screenshotID=174&typeID=2

Why does that require dual cores, 2 gigs of RAM, and a top end video card? It doesn't look any better than Everquest after a few expansions!!

You're using an MMO for a comparison. And if you played Vanguard, you'll know that Vanguard FAR surpasses EQ2 in field of depth.. it goes on for miles. In EQ2, i often need to stand beside the broker for 30 secs before he even 'pops' up.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Looks like sh1t (Vanguard) but I can see why it takes a beefy system. High poly counts and loads of mapping/shading/etc probably. "High end" doesn't always equate to "looks good". I personally hate the graphic style of EQ2 and Vanguard. They're fugly. Give me something like WoW, Warhammer or Darkfall. Those games have style.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
diminishing returns.

take into account the number of polygons in a sphere.

at 6 polygons, you have a square, not very representative.

times that by 10x the processing power and you have 60, much better for a sphere

times that by another 10 and you have 600 polygons, virtually a perfect sphere.

times that by another 10 and you have 6000 polygons, 10x the processing power, but not much better of a sphere than the one before it when compared to 6 vs. 60 where there was a huge difference.

except that when the MEGA-sphere goes off there will me THAT MUCH MORE SHRAPNEL

 

[StrangerGuy]

NWN2...That engine is truly a joke in terms prettiness to hardware ratio.