New beginning for Call of Duty? Activision revealed next-gen visuals

At the Game Developers Conference today, Activision technical director Jorge Jimenez has revealed their photorealistic next-gen engine.

[a_bro]

well, with all that money they made, they better get to it, before battlefield kills it

[aCasualGamer]

It seems, lately, every developer wants to show their nextgen muscles. Question is, will we actually see this level of fidelity in characters come PS4 and next Xbox launch?

The main character model in the latest Infamous Second Son trailer looked really amazing, but nothing compared to these pictures. Hope we get to this level of detail sooner rather than later.

[CGI-Quality]

inFAMOUS is also an open world franchise. You can't expect this level of fidelity.

[WUTCHUGUNNADO]

Their showing off the engine capabilities... there's no way that would translate to in game visuals outside of cutscenes. If it does... well damn.

[Gazondaily]

Those pics are amazing!

[MaxXAttaxX]

Not even on PC. Sorry.

[BitbyDeath]

If the Killzone devs didn't know about the full PS4 specs when making Shadow Fall then you can expect Sucker Punch to be in the same boat.

Both engines are likely only using around the 2gb mark.

[PLASTICA-MAN]

Did anyone watch the tech-demo : http://youtu.be/l6R6N4Vy0nE ?

[irepbtown]

I cannot get enough of the eyes!!!
They look very realistic.

I skipped MW3/Black Ops 2 (though I borrowed MW3 and I'm playing it now) so the next COD will hopefully be a big change like COD4 was (one of my favourite FPS).

[TopDudeMan]

Well, that's cutscene quality (It's pre-rendered), though. Realistically, their character models won't be able to touch that level of quality during gameplay.

Activision are really gonna have to push the boat out (gameplay-wise) to get me on board for the next one. I'm pretty much spent on those games.

[Insomnia_84]

It clearly says in the picture "not actual gameplay". Cut scenes might look like this but not gameplay.

[jcornish]

I imagine Battlefield shall kill it anyway. Bf3 was so much better than MW3

[secretcode]

To be fair, a lot of games were better than MW3.

Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16 Licensed to Drive for instance.

[nypifisel]

There are no other franchise more in need of a new engine than COD, they've been using the same one since 2005 (with minor tweaks), though not sure it could save a COD game anyway^^

[artdafoo]

U are 100% correct but as long 15 year olds line up to buy it every year they see no need to change the formula.

[vZeppelin]

Elder scrolls games have been using the same engine since Morrorwind. Just with minor tweaks but people still lined up for Skyrim and no one complained about it. Double standards FTW.

[Mustang300C2012]

Source engine as well but omg it is wrong that Activision found so much success with COD using a successful engine. Just proves they don't listen to N4G and Neogaf armchair analyst vs their own business expertise.

[negative]

Not a huge COD fan but they've been using the same engine since 2005 because IT LOOKS GREAT!!!

Quit your bitching you're ruining gaming for everyone!!!!

[nypifisel]

@vZeppelin
There's a noticeable difference and upgrade with each iteration of the engine used in TES games. That's more than you can say about the Cod one, each game has felt the same, played the same and looked the same.

@Mustang
Good business doesn't automatically means a good game. There's nothing so lacking in fantasy than COD, why is that? Cause they milk it, there's not enough time between releases to actually come up with something new and fresh.

@Negative
If you think the COD engine looks great you got glaucoma.. -_- It's horrendously outdated in every aspect - compare it to BF3 (I'm not a huge fan of that game either but at least they put in the effort to create a great new engine to imagine their game

[vZeppelin]

@nypifisel
The graphic difference between Oblivion and Skyrim are the same as the difference between COD 2 and Black ops 2. During the same amount of years, I'm not saying COD doesn't need a new engine, it does. But I find it to be massively hypocritical of the game community top throw out" COD sux and is for kids, am I cool now guys?" then give Skyrim a pass even though the engine held back the game and caused all the problems for the PS3 version.
Which is the real outdated engine. The one that gives you the same thing over and over again or sorry we can't make DLC for the game.

[Gaming_Guru]

Halo has been using the same engine for years and people never complained. With the new Halo 4, graphics finally updated with less features and bugs (especially with Swat matches).

If the consumers still buy the product, why change something that is not in demand? When a company does become more radical they get shunned because it's too new or people think they lost their focus.

It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

[nypifisel]

@vZeppelin
I agree with you on Skyrim, I don't give it a pass, I'm still disappointed at that. So I'm not hypocritical, but you still have to agree that the leap from Morrowind to Oblivion was a substantial one so brining that game into the equation isn't feasible.

[GraveLord]

BF3 released, didn't kill anything. What makes you think BF4 will be any different?

[HammadTheBeast]

Actually, it did dent CoD's sales a bit, and it wasn't made to kill, it was made to begin the process.

[RememberThe357]

Because thats how people talk between games. BF4 looks mind blowing to BF fans so of course we're going to think it's gonna kill it. And honestly, "kill it" could mean a whole lot of things. I think of it as "BF4 will be better than the next Duty" more than a sales statement, but I guess on N4G you never really know what people are talking about.

[nukeitall]

I thought BF3 was at least going to make a small dent, but instead there wasn't even a scratch.

That is actually good news, because there is at least a competitor to CoD, yet they both live on despite me not really liking BF series. I traded BF3 within days of getting it and never looked back.

BF3 wasn't my cup of tea, but maybe BF4 is?

However, this just illustrates what is wrong with the community. It seems actual sales is opposite of what the community thinks will happen.

[irokster]

Wow. The possibility of CoD maybe running on an engine with capabilities like these? Maybe it can stick around for 2-3 more years...

[caperjim]

Battlefield wont be "killing" anything if it is still stuck at 720p for next generation like it is rumored to be. If Call of Duty can give us native 1920 X 1080 resolution (1080p) then COD will be better graphically.

No amount of destruction, high res textures, better lighting and tessellation will help Battlefield 4 if you are looking through a dirty window. ( 720p )

I love Battlefield games so i really hope this rumor isnt true.

On topic.....I look forward to seeing what next generation COD has to offer. These images look great.

[fatstarr]

I mean, it should be about time

cod4 modern warfare was revolutionary and it changed everything.

since then its been 6 games on that aging engine and people have been eating it up.

i doubt we will see a new engine tho, im expecting some hybrid engine. ex think wiigames ported up with hd textures and better resolutions.

I dont see Activision Making MW4 4 different times.
1 time for the handhelds vita/3ds
1 time for the ps3/360/wiiu? with the same stale engine
and 1 time for the next generation twins with some sort of brand new engine.

I dont see it. especially not in 1 years worth of time. unless the 4 studios are actually doing what I just listed.

[Mustang300C2012]

Right because that is the same thing that was said for Battlefield 3

[ZombieKiller]

Whatever....ps will still get a shitty port and this game will still lag. Despite graphics

[Ashunderfire86]

If this is how Call of Duty will look like next gen I will scream!!!! I would say man Activision you made a massive leap from the old Call of Duty engine to this. But I won't believe it, until I see it for myself.

[codename13]

and I bet they're gonna use this same tech for next 10 years without making any update xD

[SkyCrawler]

For some reason I cant get over how creepy next gen faces look(to me)....As impressive as they are theyre so freaky looking. Even if they show some kindve emotion. Its especially hard when the pictures are med-large sized and I have my fingers across my eyes. Im excited for next gen but I gotta get rid of my fear. :/

[Lone_Man]

dude do u have some issues??

[Hydrolex]

SkyCrawler I know you in person and you look creepy too bro ! no offense

[Chapulin]

Amazing. Actors start looking for a real job.

[RememberThe357]

Yeah... No. Someone still has to read those lines someone still needs to act so the animators have a reference.

But those were impressive, I'm not as skeptical as other people are, I think characters will look like that. Just look at Crysis 3 on consoles, or at Beyond, or the new God of War. We're already seeing some really cool stuff and all of that is only gonna get better as developers move to this new hardware. I'm pumped.

[Eldyraen]

Personally I think it looks great but there is still a certain amount of glassiness to the eyes here and there. To be fair though the detail is insane and looks great from a distance (well looks great at all angles, just some are more 'fake' than others) and is always hardest to get right no matter the medium. The video (don't remember where I saw it) looked better although it also highlighted flaws like they usually do (eyes again being main issue). The video wasn't quite as impressive as some of the other tech demos due to less realistic animation but they might had been intentionally exaggerating it at times to show wider range of motion (which would be great for non-human characters in other games).

I love all the tech and gameplay videos we've seen so far though as just looks fantastic and a significant boost from this generation all around (and in many cases better than what we've seen on PC which only makes sense--half of it is running on PC but designed with next gen in mind so ups the ante compared to games of today).

This next year and onwards should just be great all around for console and PC gamers both especially since the architecture is more familiar for all platforms (according to rumors for Xbox naturally) and probably easier to port to PC (easy=less money to do it) so we might see even more new games than we did this generation.

I can't wait for new consoles to be released although there's still quite a few games between now and then to hold me over. Plus a backlog that's only growing longer as time goes by.

[hesido]

I think they have done an extremely good job, the eyes hold even when zoomed, tho I haven't seen it in action.

(Comparing the eyes to the Nvidia faceworks demo, they trump the Nvidia demo)

[hesido]

I've just seen it in action and they use the faceworks tech :)

[fermcr]

Looks great.

[ijust2good]

Why is it they always show these tech demos with heads only and mostly of bald people? Im guessing most of the hardware power is being used to render the face only in real time and incapable of rendering entire body let alone the ingame world. These stupid tech demos need to stop. Its been done back in 2008. Nothing new. Its obvious these tech demos are not capable in real world scenarios in real time. What a joke. Tech demos to promote video games should be banned.

[hesido]

These provide the ground-work for the next generation visuals with fully interactive worlds. So I think they do serve a purpose.

[tigertron]

For once I could barely tell if it was real life. Incredible, but I'm sceptical that these will be the graphics that we'll be seeing in the COD series next-gen. It won't be 120fps that's for sure.

[EffectO]

Yogurt is the future.

[DigitalSmoke]

Activision has no place in a graphics discussion, they released a ton of shooters that didnt evolve, and they can't have a third party CGI studio render a few awesome faces for them and expect to be taken seriously.

ps

Nvidia what ?

[FlyingFoxy]

More looking forward to Source 2, at least Valve update their engine on new game releases with extra effects and better visuals.

[unchartedxplorer]

"New" and "Call of Duty" should never appear in the same sentence

[badz149]

Because if you're not born yesterday, you should have known that the term "new Call of Duty" comes out every year right after a "new Call of Duty" is released since 2006!

[sandman224]

ps4 only? i highly doudt it.

[DeadlyFire]

I am thinking more like PS4 exclusive DLC while Microsoft has Battlefield exclusive DLC or some crap like that. OMG a gun with a green or blue x on it or some other BS timed exclusive DLC.

[Shacojin]

I sense the conversion of many Call of Duty fans to Battlefield with the impending next gen.

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

Looks really nice. I know it's a different lighting scenario but it looks better than the Nvidia demo. (prolly due the models actually looking human)

[Tapani]

If that is the indicative level of detail in the next Call of Duty game(s), I don't think I have the heart to pull the trigger anymore.

[NatureOfLogic]

I know I'll buy the next COD day 1. I'll get BF4 at some point for the single player though. BF3 was just too slow for my liking. COD with these graphics, 60fps > BF4, 30fps. I'm talking about consoles btw. We all know gaming PCs are robot tanks from the future/s

imo, BF will always be chasing COD.

[Saleem101]

Great another aim assist scrub...

[trenso1]

Great another battlefield elitist...

[WUTCHUGUNNADO]

Great two FPS fans calling each other out for something they have common ground in.

[Themba76]

it's been confirmed BF4 will be 60 fps on next gen consol's so COD better come up
with another gimmick

[ISNeko]

I was perfectly fine with how this gen looked already. Its nice that things are getting better visually, but I want more innovation. More pushing of the envelope and idea stretching, immersion. I don't need shooty gun game 200.

[guitar_nerd_23]

Those faces look like great shaders on slightly funky models.

[HeavenlySnipes]

Looks amazing but will any of their games actually ustilize this? Or are they just showing off?

[T3MPL3TON]

This is their idea of next gen?

[josephayal]

Call of Duty is absolutely maxing out the consoles

[sourav93]

Wow...wasn't expecting that. If Activision brings this kind of graphical fidelity to their next gen CoD games, and with the new gameplay of BF4 that was revealed yesterday, its gonna be a hell of a battle between the two franchises. Though the only thing sthat battlefield might have over CoD are the larger maps, vehicular warfare, dedicated servers (consoles) and the higher player count. If all these issues can be addressed for CoD, next gen will be really interesting.

[OmniSlashPT]

Its not even real-time gameplay, just a nice looking tech demo to try to fool people that they're working hard for next gen after seeing BF4 reveal.

[AdventurelessHero]

now they have to fix the problems with all the trash talking 12 year olds on the servers.

[Fil101]

Activision don't give a shit about the ages of the (kids) playing cod, money money money and if the ps4 is going to be as cheep as speculation says it is then well have a shit load of kids on ps4 from day 1.

[theWB27]

Or it could be you can't guad against a kid playing the game. How do you regulate this? Age restriction does nothing...someone can log in for you...so they can't really give a sh!t about something they have no way of controlling.

[DeadlyFire]

They just need a mute button. Click it and problem solved.

[pissed999]

The game will still involve walking in a straight line playing wack-a-mole and a multiplayer consisting of throwing peanutes at the player to reward them even for losing. It's the cancer of gaming.

[Anonagrog]

They're putting Jimenez' (iryoku.com) years of skin shading research/experience to good use I see.

[GABRIEL1030]

Since MW2 I don't buy COD games. But if the next COD is only for next generation I'll buy it. I don't want to buy more current gen games becuase Im tired of the same textures and effects.

[e-p-ayeaH]

On PC there´s no limits if you care so much about graphics.

[kB0]

Quake 3 engine not good enough anymore? :S

[cyclindk]

Nice eyelash tech... Mascara game anyone!!!

[shodaime]

That graphics more impressed me than battlefield 4

[kB0]

ofc it did, this is a tech demo in a controlled environments that renders only the head, while BF 4 actually renders a whole environment, action and effects...

Seriously did IQs drop all of a sudden?

Let's see this put in reality, then we'll talk. Nvidia did this good looking heads 5 years ago in tech demos, no games have seen that detail yet.

pfft.

[TheLeapist]

Hopefully they upgrade the engine at least once during this next gen.

[Modestmex]

Too bad it's just a tech demo.

[oof46]

I'm more of a fan of Battlefield than Call of Duty, but I play both. The concern with Call of Duty is not the graphics, it's the gameplay. I prefer Battlefield because there are more variables that can determine the outcome of every single engagement compared to Call of Duty. Let's see what IW and Treyarch do to shake things up.

[WUTCHUGUNNADO]

Yep... turning around a corner to see the barrel of a tank is one of those "OH FUUUUU" moments you won't get in COD unless your still playing World At War and even then hiding behind a wall won't save you in BF.

[artdafoo]

Yea sure ahuh, right Activision and COD is fresh and new every year you poop it out. Anybody thinking the next gen Call It Doodie will look like this on crack.

[BuLLDoG909]

its funny how the best selling franchise of this gen, done so little innovation. It will be no different next gen.
All of dice's games from the bad company series to BF have all been better then any cod.

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

They no way the graphics gonna look this good on the next gen COD I believe it when I see it

[HarryB]

It says not actual gameplay. That could be the engine. Theres a lot of games with modified engines what's the big deal. The only dev team that can compete with dice is crytek. Not activision. These pictures don't mean anything. So they are developing it. Great. They got the platform now they have to build it according to the set rules of the engine. And who knows if its going to be ported or not.

Either way not buying shit from Activision since mw3.

[Twinzclipz]

Call Of Duty Should die already , i don't understand why people continue to buy this kind of shit....
a lot of games ruined to get more people from COD , there's a lot of people claiming they are Pro gamers only because they play Call of Duty , but the fact is U AREN'T PRO GAMER ,because CALL OF DUTY is made FOR NOOBS
so for the NEXT GEN NO MORE CALL OF DUTY give your money to other games who deserve it more than CALL OF DUTY

[0neShot]

You are seriously fcked up, this is just a game, if you dont like it, just leave it alone.

[granthinds]

Incredible.

[blakstarz]

Damn...them some thick ass eye brows!

[broli4000]

I really do hate when they show these random 1 off shots. It makes stupid people think that this is how the final game will look when its clearly everything the engine can do at 1 time to just render a head.

Show us some in-game renders and I'll be impressed if this is how it looks. Since it absolutely will not look like this, I think we can just leave this one alone for now.

[rezzah]

Be amazed all you want, the moment you start to see that head in motion I bet it would be disappointing.

[annus]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Motion has been fine for years now. LA Noire's tech was pretty much spot on and facial animation will only improve from here on out. The main thing stopping realism now is lighting/shading, and hair.

[rezzah]

I dislike the fact that they used the head that nVdia provided. Also in comparison to the original, the inner side of the mouth is bad.

What I want to see is activision reveal the female and the old man's head in motion.

[Banok]

Funny how each generation claims its photorealistic.

While these do seem impressive now its only a matter of time before we will laugh at that terminology.

[IK IR Y IP T]

After them making billions of dollars I would expect them to have the best money can offer, but no they wanna fuck people and keep it consistent every year and people keep buying the shit every year including me! They need to just not make a game this year, develop the new engine and let treyarch rebrand the franchise and please im sick of seeing tech demos .

[ninjahunter]

This takes me back to BF3.

[KillrateOmega]

Cool. I can't imagine that this level of fidelity will be seen in actual gameplay, but cool nonetheless. I must say that they did a very good job with the eyes.

[ninjahunter]

Since heads are popular, heres some heads from games within the past 6 years:

http://www.abload.de/img/cr...

http://meta.filesmelt.com/d...

http://blogs.battlefield.co...

http://yuiphone.com/wp-cont...

http://evilgmr.net/wp-conte...

[YoungKingDoran]

cant shoot... head shot... too... realistic
*bang!*
whoa-hooooo!!
:D
.......
:(

[Dj7FairyTail]

Sad Nintendo Tech-Demo are more of what can be produce in games not faces.
Zelda Tech Demo and Bird Garden Tech Demo from Nintendo

[fsfsxii]

OMG!! NEW ENGINE, but, is there a NEW IDEA behind COD or BF?? they're just mindless shooting games

[DanielForth]

Now those are good Graphics !

[tubers]

In a few more decades today's CGI level short movies (avatar-like) are gonna be made by our descendants on their tablets.

I was born in the wrong decade. :P

[dangerousjo33]

looks beautiful

[Codeman420]

oh kool the engine they will use for the next 10 years with little to no upgrades along the way. until the next generation of consoles ,if there are more, come out.

[SOM3ROiD]

I want.. no, I demand porn games with these graphics.

[Mkai28]

Pretty good looking, seeing as that they are not using IDs Tech 5 engine.