Went to the EQ fan faire in vegas last weekend, was a pretty good show. Got to see an in-engine demo of EQ2 and a live battle with a couple hundred online players for Planetside.
Planetside:
I've heard the graphics described as 'dull'. Didnt get that impression. Very smooth and well animated for a MM game. Teams seemed roughly balanced, the vehicles rocked, and the player character selection was a no brainer. Definitly gonna pick it up on release, wish I had gotten in the Beta! =(
EQ2:
Everquest 2's graphics, especially the volumetric shadowing, look as good or better than Doom 3. Seriously.
Now, I make no predictions on how it will PLAY, but for eye candy, based on what appeared to be months old demo material (It was the same stuff that you saw in static pictures in CGW), I was completely dumbfounded.
EQ2's engine is completely state of the art, with bump mapping, self shadowing models, and at least in one scene I saw, over 18 simultaneous dynamic lights. Texture morphing from solid marble to flowing cloth. Particles out the wazoo. Lighting that evokes mood and emotion. It looked better than I could have hoped, given the VERY different goals that a MMORPG has to deal with over a FPS.
Should be VERY interesting to see how it keeps up with 70 players in close proximity. =)
Dunno if this is news or not, but Vah Shir are out, and Kerrans are back. All the Vah Shir go missing when Luclin explodes! Oh, and theres a new race, Ratmen! Ratmen are called Ratonga. Sounds like a tribe from Survivor to me.
The exploded Luclin is visible in the sky, kinda like seeing the defunct death star overhead =)
It has an estimated street date of Q4 2003, but I wouldnt bet on it. I'm guessing May 2004. You never know tho, dont think any of the EQ expansions have ever been late, and I dont think SWG would have been delayed had it not been for Lucas being so demanding (which is a good thing!)
The new Iksar model's head look too small to me.
BTW, one of the things that SOE was really showing off was the new emotes and other motion captured animations. They claimed that they had the 'Blue power ranger' as their Mocap target. =) The social animations looked amazing, didnt really get a good look at combat animations tho.
Definitly droolworthy demo, I'm glad I went.
Sam
Planetside:
I've heard the graphics described as 'dull'. Didnt get that impression. Very smooth and well animated for a MM game. Teams seemed roughly balanced, the vehicles rocked, and the player character selection was a no brainer. Definitly gonna pick it up on release, wish I had gotten in the Beta! =(
EQ2:
Everquest 2's graphics, especially the volumetric shadowing, look as good or better than Doom 3. Seriously.
Now, I make no predictions on how it will PLAY, but for eye candy, based on what appeared to be months old demo material (It was the same stuff that you saw in static pictures in CGW), I was completely dumbfounded.
EQ2's engine is completely state of the art, with bump mapping, self shadowing models, and at least in one scene I saw, over 18 simultaneous dynamic lights. Texture morphing from solid marble to flowing cloth. Particles out the wazoo. Lighting that evokes mood and emotion. It looked better than I could have hoped, given the VERY different goals that a MMORPG has to deal with over a FPS.
Should be VERY interesting to see how it keeps up with 70 players in close proximity. =)
Dunno if this is news or not, but Vah Shir are out, and Kerrans are back. All the Vah Shir go missing when Luclin explodes! Oh, and theres a new race, Ratmen! Ratmen are called Ratonga. Sounds like a tribe from Survivor to me.
The exploded Luclin is visible in the sky, kinda like seeing the defunct death star overhead =)
It has an estimated street date of Q4 2003, but I wouldnt bet on it. I'm guessing May 2004. You never know tho, dont think any of the EQ expansions have ever been late, and I dont think SWG would have been delayed had it not been for Lucas being so demanding (which is a good thing!)
The new Iksar model's head look too small to me.
BTW, one of the things that SOE was really showing off was the new emotes and other motion captured animations. They claimed that they had the 'Blue power ranger' as their Mocap target. =) The social animations looked amazing, didnt really get a good look at combat animations tho.
Definitly droolworthy demo, I'm glad I went.
Sam
