100°

Killzone 2 - Developer Q&A - Part 1

A summary of interesting Q&As from Seb Downie, the QA manager of Guerilla Games.

"This is 'Part 1' of our (GamersDigest's) Q&A summary, this article focuses more on the offline and singleplayer aspects.

'Part 2' will be out later today for the online and multiplayer focused questions."

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gamersdigest.net
MasFlowKiller5575d ago

do any of you guys think that GG had a system install feature and was taken off because the media would probably have taken some mayor points off?

I mean i wouldn't care about a small install if it could make such and amazing game even better

Hallucinate5575d ago

nope installs arent needed if you not a lazy dev but i hope theres an optinal install to spead up load times

Cronnie5575d ago

It will not have an install at all, optional or not.

Lifendz5575d ago

Waiving the install or mandating an install is no good. Give the gamer the option. I have a large HDD. I don't mind installing a game. But hey, KZ2 is a graphical monster. Props to GG for doing what the fanboys said they couldn't, and props to SOny for showing us all that blu-ray matters for gaming.

Mr Tretton5575d ago

"do any of you guys think that GG had a system install feature and was taken off because the media would probably have taken some mayor points off?"

The funny thing is I've seen reviewers now complain that they wish there was an install to help with the 1 second checkpoint loading hitches.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Kleptic5575d ago (Edited 5575d ago )

I can't find the thread anymore...as it was another 'ask the dev' thread setup before phase 3 of the beta...and was over 300 pages...

that was where the 'no install, optional, or otherwise' as confirmed...in the question list...Seb answered it...however this is not verbatum...

he stated that killzone 2 was using some new texture streaming tech...in which texture banks where stored on the disc in an uncompressed format...and a single SPE of the CPU was used to pull those uncompressed textures off the disc, and get them to the GPU...it was all done in the background...and overall saved significant ram and processing power otherwise needed for 'unpacking' textures off the disc or from the HDD...

the side effect of this though is that it makes a texture based HDD install moot...normally...texture banks are placed compressed on the HDD...the CPU can pull from an HDD MUCH faster than from any optical format (DVD or BD)...but even being able to pull the textures faster, they would still be wasting valuable processing and memory on unpacking those textures...while they could put the textures in an uncompressed format on the HDD, it would have involved a MASSIVE footprint...something that would make the 5gb for RE5 a joke in comparison...

so it simply wasn't an option...he did say that this is a major reason on how killzone 2's engine has so much more tech compared to other console games...as this process allows processing and memory to be used in other areas...and also stated that it will be used on A LOT more game for the PS3...heavy rain and GoW III being 2 examples confirmed elsewhere...

its a process that Sony and GG, as well as other internal developers, purposely focused on...and is something simply can't be done without BD...this is the exact same process that Carmack commented on with Rage...and how BD allowed room for uncompressed textures on the disc, which frees up significant memory compared to the traditional method...a method of which is usually used on multiplat games because of the 360's DVD drive (the 360 can not do this...at all...yet game code has to be built for this from the ground up...so we'll likely never see it in multiplatform games)...the only 3rd party title I have read about that used something similar to this was MGS4...

MGS4 did it quite differently though...MGS4 had an allocated mandatory install put on the HDD at start up...but would then add uncompressed texture banks for only the 'act' you were playing...every act invloved deleting the 'old' bank, and installing a new...each act was nearly 4gb of data in terms of uncompressed textures...so KP instead had only one act at a time put on the drive...that is another way to do basically the same thing...

great articles though...interesting stuff...great to see the medic thing was addressed...but wish Seb would have finally addressed the Home questions...it was always 'more on that closer to release'...so something is definitely coming...just hope its in time for the game' release...

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5575d ago
Ryangp5575d ago

In-Game music! I hope they add in screen shots and video upload, that would really be cool, I would love to make a montage video. I don't want to have to buy a video card.

Kleptic5575d ago

many rumors have been circulating the killzone.com forums on video uploading to Home...and that it will be integrated into the Home space for killzone 2...no devs have given feedback for that though...other than 'more on that later', or 'its being looked into'...

the only thing that gave a clue towards a much more robust home space for killzone 2 than other games was the issue of the party system...killzone 2 does not have any real party system in game like R2 or CoD...only way to play with friends from the game lobby is 'follow player' options in your friends list...

this is just like Warhawk...but Warhawk put the party system into Home instead...where players can launch party based games from the home space or their apartment...Sony also stated that Home will eventually turn into the PSN's unified party/invite system...where when playing with friends, and switching games, your party relocates to home before launching the next game or whatever...

the only thing confirmed was a small blog post on the ps blog a few weeks ago...saying 'that every 2009 PS3 game is to have trophies, Home integration, and in game music'...'home integration', or to what degree at least, is whats unknown...as we were not given a full feature list of what every game must have for home...it may just be launching games from home...it may be just having a useless game space like Far Cry 2...with nothing to do other than walk around in it...or it may be both...not sure yet...

Sheddi5575d ago

Can someone explain this one to me please.

Question: "Can nearby enemies hear you on proximity chat, similar to SOCOM?"
Answer: "Yes"

Does that mean that if ur talking through ur mic nearby an enemy, can he hear u? If so.....thats real cool!

Kleptic5575d ago (Edited 5575d ago )

yep...it was in the beta too...

if it goes unchanged from the beta...which it probably will...it works like this:

the whole game is open mic...based on proximity only...you can hear enemies close to you...and they can hear you...makes it great for kills, as trash talking is everywhere haha...

you can mute any player on either team you want...both in the pre-game lobby or during the game...

there is also dedicated chat channels for your squad...the squad can hear each other no matter where you are on the map and no matter what is going on...its not proximity based...

there were requests for that to be expanded in terms of squads...where a squad leader could have a push to talk option to request back up from other squad leaders...by pressing up on the dpad or something...and that way a different squad leader could hear you (assuming you are a squad leader) no matter where you and your squad was...and would further help squad tactics throughout the team...you can have up to 4 different squads per 16 player teams (or more, but you can have 4 'full' squads I mean)...this would be completely awesome for killzone 2 because of the dynamic objective system...you could be playing body count, where everyone was spread out...then instantly switch to capture and hold...where squad leaders could tell each other which objective they were heading for no matter where they were on the map...most of you probably already know...some maps in this game are massive...being able to operate as several small groups would be much more effective...

but its still unknown if that last part will be put in...it did get a lot of dev feedback...and they seemed to like the idea...it was more a matter of how complicated it would be to put in...so its not known yet, no reviews have put much time into MP yet anyway...so it may already be there, just no one said anything about it...

METtAL-GAMER5575d ago

ALRIGHT!!!
In-game music, time to thrash it up.

350°

PlayStation 3 Games That Desperately Need a PS5 Remaster

The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.

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wealthofgeeks.com
OtterX63d ago (Edited 63d ago )

Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!

Rude-ro63d ago

I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.

darthv7263d ago

Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.

_SilverHawk_63d ago

resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword

Cacabunga63d ago

Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2

Profchaos62d ago (Edited 62d ago )

Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.

There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.

Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence

seanpitt2362d ago

The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!

Iceball200063d ago

YEAAASSSSS! I miss this franchise and wanna play it so bad again.

Father__Merrin63d ago

The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer

InUrFoxHole63d ago

The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.

Marcus Fenix63d ago

A Resistance reboot will be awesome

Michiel198963d ago

That's what Bungie should make, Ill keep saying it until it happens

1Victor63d ago (Edited 63d ago )

Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱

63d ago
Michiel198963d ago

Resistance was the best co-op fps I ever played after L4D2

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230°

20 Years of Guerrilla: The Story of a PlayStation Studio

The Amsterdam-based studio reflects on its humble beginnings, beloved franchises, and growth through the years.

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blog.playstation.com
SullysCigar367d ago

Up there with the top tier in the industry. Love Guerrilla Games - Horizon Burning Shores is simply STUNNING.

1Victor367d ago

Can’t wait for their next franchise

SullysCigar367d ago

Same. They nailed it with Horizon. The trouble is I also want a new Killzone! Can't I just have it all?!

jznrpg366d ago

I’m with you I want Horizon 3 , Killzone and new IPs

badz149366d ago

I have yet to play Burning Shores as I just started Forbidden West (bought at launch, just unwrapped last weekend LOL) and playing on PS5.

man...I still can't believe the graphics especially now I'm playing it on my LG OLED. that graphics and with stable performance backing it up, GG really is the master of their craft!

Vengeance1138367d ago

32.7M sales in the Horizon franchise! With 8.4M coming from Forbidden West alone! Truly a hugely successful game and franchise as a whole. Looking forward to Horizon III

Shane Kim367d ago

That's kind of a huge drop though. It's only been two games.

VersusDMC367d ago

One year after realease HZD sold 7.6 million.

https://www.noobfeed.com/ne...

So not a drop off.

Unless you're saying a HFW should have sold as much now as HZD sold in 5 years?

Vengeance1138367d ago

It's been 3 games, this includes Call of the Mountain. Also no, its a great improvement over HZD.

solideagle367d ago

lol you are comparing:

HZD: 28 February 2017 - May 2023 (6 years+)

HFW: 18 February 2022 - May 2023 (1 year+)

We will see if it surpass original number.

Phoenix76367d ago

@shane, 2 full main games, 2 DLC add ons, 1 VR spin off game, oh and a an official LEGO set.
Not too bad for an ip that's only been on market for 6 years

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 367d ago
REDGUM366d ago

Wow, very impressive. I didn't know the numbers were so high for Forbidden West. Still playing through it myself

thesoftware730367d ago (Edited 367d ago )

Yooo, when I first saw that Killzone 1 footage at E3, my friends my brothers and I were like, Holy shit! When it came out, it didn't look exactly like it, but we sunk so many hours into 1 & 2.

I even liked Killzone: SF, it was a spectacle to look at, and even today it looks good. I hope they make a new one. Can you imagine how that will look, and they can get some modern FPS pointers from Bungie.

blacktiger366d ago

thank you fps lover, I'm with you

talocaca367d ago

Such a wonderful studio. They deserve all their success.

The Decima Engine is absolute 🔥 I'm just mad they have abandoned Killzone.

OzzY-waZZy367d ago (Edited 367d ago )

Kinda wish they move on from Horizon tbh.

potatoseal367d ago

They are probably working on mutiple projects. One of them is Horizon 3, but another is a multiplaer game and probably somehting else.

Imalwaysright367d ago

There were rumours that they were working on a Socom reboot.

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70°

Top 20 Best PlayStation 3 Games (20-11)

Alex DS. from Link Cable Gaming writes: "Is the PlayStation 3 retro? This is a surprisingly hard question to answer as the system definitely has the age to be considered retro, having launched in 2006, over 15 years ago now. But with it being home to so many massive games, many of which still hold up today and in fact were released for the PlayStation 4 when that console was released, make the PS3 a retro console that doesn’t feel retro."

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linkcablegaming.com
shinoff2183738d ago

No ps3 is not retro. I dont even consider ps2 era retro. All imo.

shinoff2183738d ago

Typically, the term retro is given to items which are at least 20 years old (but not yet 40 years old).

Quick google search

badz149738d ago

No the PS3 is not yet a retro console. But if you're gonna put 1 game from a series in this list, then LBP2 should be there instead of the original, Motorstorm PR is also an overall better game than the 1st game and to put Tools of Destruction over A Crack in Time is a blasphemy when ACiT is the best game in the series.