Ninja Theory's Tameem Antoniades Clarifies Uncharted 2 Comments

SPOnG: "Earlier today we ran a story regarding Ninja Theory main-man Tameem Antoniades' presentation at BAFTA last night. In the interest of transparency and clarity, we are now running a follow-up that clarifies what Tameem said about Uncharted 2's animations."

[Stuart5756]

More like Platinum standard, Naughty Dog are the best, you better prove shit if you think you're better.

[Keith Olbermann]

we will see...
how enslaved performs....who knows..he may have a leg to stand on..maybe.

[westy552]

Well going by the ps3 demo of enslaved, its not great on a graphical standard, mind you the game is fun but aint breaking any records in the looks department. And @ number47 defiantly agree.

[inveni0]

Naughty Dog's animations are top notch. I've played the Enslaved demo, and the animations weren't even close to Uncharted quality. So now we know that the lighting, texturing and animations are all sub-Uncharted.

Someone needs to tell the guys at NT that there's no shame in being sub-Uncharted. They aren't alone.

[number47]

NT needs to stfu.
Their game is rubbish, and even mentioning UC2 has nothing to do with them. They are trying to get some sort of association with greatness as if animation alone -- is why UC2 was epic. No, story/score/gameplay/visuals. In this climate of media dumbastedness, they are well aware of how things are taken out of context. It doesn't even need to be mentioned imo since lots of game devs do motion & face capture, watching the behind the scenes of UC2 you can see they also do face..

NT isn't raising any bars with the unreal engine, or the scope of enslaved.

Another case of a developer with PS3exclusivitus.

[Redempteur]

i agree that's damage control

[Pennywise]

Looks like V-Neck is doing some back peddling!

[Dnied]

Ok can somebody clarify for me:

"However, I am a firm believer in performance capture (capturing face, body and voice simultaneously for multiple actors). It is a technique we pioneered in games with Heavenly Sword working alongside Weta Digital and gives, in my opinion, the most honest representation of human drama."

I thought this IS exactly what ND does? lol this si the second time hes said that, am I crazy? I coulda sworn i watched the making of videos and they were recording voice, acting, animation etc all at once...

[DemiseofPandas]

Yeah the proof is on the blu-ray, I guess he just needs his ego stroked to think he is pioneering something, or to have an iconic character remodeled after himself.

[cgoodno]

There's no proof of who pioneered what, but it's highly unlikely that one had any effect on the other. I really hate that they're talking all high and mighty, it's just annoying.

Heavenly Sword began development in 2002 and Uncharted in 2004, but that says nothing about when they began recording motion captured scenes.

Personally, I say shut up and prove that you're the best.

@Demise: My response wasn't directed at you. Just to the comment made by Tameem in the article.

[DemiseofPandas]

I wasn't saying one pioneered it or the other, just agreeing that he went out of his way to clarify an ill informed statement. The fact is that ND does MoCap with all the actors together, and he claims they do not. I've read many statements by this man, and I do say his ego is showing. The Mocap and facial in Heavenly Sword were great and hold up even to today, but NT has a lot more they need to prove, before making such arrogant statements without knowing all the facts.

@cgoodno I can tell you are well informed poster and I enjoy your comment, I guess I felt my post may have been ambiguous and needed to clarify my own statement further.

[Triella]

They're right with one thing Ninja Theory does actually motion caputres movements but also faces expression at the same time, ND only track movements (and dialogues). But it doesn't necessarily mean what they do is better than what ND did in Uncharted2 by applying faces expressions in postproduction. I think the latter actually gives developper more freedom because they are not bound by the actor's play and can adapt the face expression at will.

Sometimes in Heavenly Sword you got a weird impression the face is affixed separately, I've seen that in the Enslaved demo too when Trip is in the pod, looking at Monkey.

[nycredude]

Whatever happened they must be on a budget cause teh facial expressions in Enslaved doesn't even beat out Heaven Sword's facial expressions.

[Lombax]

@Dnied
Actually ND only does body Mo-Cap. They animate all the facial movements by hand.

[solidjun5]

Well, the previous article had a sensationalist headline. I mean, once you read the whole article, he was talking about different techniques used for motion capture and he used Uncharted as a reference point. I really don't see the point of clarifying.

[Rinkuchal]

unfortunately, this is the internet...
everything needs to be crystal clear, and even with that, it is the idiots calling themselves "bloggers" or "journalists" that do the misconstruing...

[Cloudberry]

Could be...
.
But the net sometimes (if not, most) taken things out of the context (misleading, or fake even, etc).

So, it's not surprising if the source subject clarified it.

And yes, I agree with your quote:

"he was talking about different techniques used for motion capture and he used Uncharted as a reference point."

[SPOnG]

From SPOnG
Hi there, Tim from SPOnG here.

The point of clarifying was the make sure that our readers and the people we write about are treated fairly. Tameem took the time to contact us - politely. We responded to him. He was happy to provide a quote. We were able to process the audio and run that so that the readership could have the actual detail there.

I thought it was a better all concerned to run a right of reply for reasons of clarity and fairness. Especially given Tameem's final comment in this story.

Cheers
Tim

[Baka-akaB]

The problem is more than the headline . Like said above , he is insistent and adamant that they use a technique naughty dog doesnt , when it has been stated and proven via documentaries , that naughty dog did in fact use it .

Even with a clarification , that still make little sense

[CoxMulder]

ND didn't capture facial expressions (& hands) though, check this vid:

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

relevant part at 3:30 min

Regarding Enslaved, I think it's pretty disappointing that the Heavenly Sword cutscenes still have the edge over Enslaved. The game being 3 years old and all..

[ActionBastard]

Why does he look like Dante? And he's the game director. Hmmm...

[solidjun5]

LOL!
I thought the exact same thing when I saw the video in the other article that defended the change. I was like, "you know...he looks like Dante. Did they really have a 100 concept arts or just took a picture of this guy and said, 'let's do this!'."

[ActionBastard]

It's between him and K.D Lang as the inspiration for the new Dante.

[andron666]

Yep...
i have also noticed the similarities. They sure took their time designing the new Dante, he just took his own face and made it younger..

[Baka-akaB]

Bottom line anyway is , ND can still do great animation AND great gameplay .

I'm still waiting for great gameplay from NT .

[jack_burt0n]

best thing about heavenly sword is Anna Torv

best thing about enslaved is Andy Serkis

thats all good and well if ur making movies but not games lmao

[xg-ei8ht]

is kd.lang that bird who looks a man

[OpiZA]

When did game journalism become like watching E entertainment.

OMG he didn't JUST say that?!?!

[FriedGoat]

Rediculous
Who is that woman asking questions saying UC2's animation was overdone! it was epic. Judging by the first 15 minutes of the game i just watched, This doesnt even compare to UC2.

http://www.softsailor.com/n...

silly woman.

[jneul]

it comes nowhere near played on the enslaved demo, sorry but there was a few amazing things that happened but it has nothing on UC2

[SiteNblog Defender]

Get bent Ninja Theory.

[tiamat5]

Translation: Oops! shouldn't have said that better think of something.

[Makidian]

Ninja Theory needs to put up or shut up. I loved Heavenly Sword but it was tragically short. The Enslaved demo was pretty great in terms of gameplay but the jumping felt like Uncharted, the combat like Jak and Daxter melee. They clearly have a hard-on for Naughty Dog and it's very clear in Enslaved gameplay videos.