Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode Fourteen

Super Columbine RPG, Lost Planet, Tech With GameGuru!, The State of The FPS, Your Emails and more!

In a special Conference Call this week, we sit down with GameGuru to discuss the 4X4 Athlon chip set. Just what you should be looking for as a gamer? The whole crew is back, talking the Columbine RPG, Lost Planet, the state of the FPS genre, your emails and the Thread of the Week.

Want to support the show? Hit the Digg link just above (it's fast and easy to register) or review us on iTunes! Read on for show notes.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind. You can even send a 30 second audio question or comment (MP3 format please) if you're so inclined.

The Links
Super Columbine Massacre RPG
Lost Planet
GameGuru.com
Parallax's Xbox Live Page

Thread of the Week: Actual December NPD Numbers (Podunk)

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Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro/Outro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"One Big Holiday" My Morning Jacket - The Wired CD - 0:21:56
"Small Comfort" - Apoplexia (Benoit Casey) - 0:30:33
"Terra" - Chico Correa & Electronic Band - 0:48:23
"Impeller" - Ian Dorsch - 0:58:32

Comments

The one leg-up that 3rd Person Shooters have over 1st Person Shooters (for now) is the ability to know where your body is at all times, something that the immersion factor of FPS' lacks and will probably lack for the foreseeable future. Take for example the sneaking missions in the earlier Rainbow Six games versuse Splinter Cell. I recall in the first R6 where sometimes I though I was completely behind cover when apparently just a foot was sticking out too far for the enemy to see. The use of cover in GRAW is far superior to anything you'd find in a FPS.

rabbit wrote:

Danjo...

Yeah, I'd forgotten -- I think so much more is possible though -- in terms of really blending the strategic genres.

You will elaborate or face the consequences.

Good point Ratboy, I have to agree that third person is optimum for sneaking around for that very reason. I'd kind of like to see someone try to implement an RTS style fog of war so that even with a third person camera the player could not magically see around corners. I suppose another alternative would be to force the camera into only looking where the character should be able to see, but I don't like it when they mess with where I'm looking in general.

As for the immersion factor and knowing where your body is at all times I still prefer first person. Lunging for a fallen tree trunk that provides just barely enough cover in Call of Duty 2 is exhilarating. Learning just how to judge just how small of a nook will adequately profide cover is a part of the game, and part of the fun.

rabbit - I could freak myself out with anticipation about what the MMOs of the future should hold. I really think that BF2 was a big step forward towards a good FPS MMO (I know, I know) - you have all these people playing different roles, in different kinds of vehicles or on foot, and then you've got other players who aren't really playing an FPS at all - they are playing a (rudimentary) strategy game as the commander, although the appropriately have actual bodies that can be killed.

I'd like to see something like that meets Deus Ex meets and MMO. Now we're talking.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:
rabbit wrote:

Danjo...

Yeah, I'd forgotten -- I think so much more is possible though -- in terms of really blending the strategic genres.

You will elaborate or face the consequences.

Good point Ratboy, I have to agree that third person is optimum for sneaking around for that very reason. I'd kind of like to see someone try to implement an RTS style fog of war so that even with a third person camera the player could not magically see around corners. I suppose another alternative would be to force the camera into only looking where the character should be able to see, but I don't like it when they mess with where I'm looking in general.

Problem is that monitors are a lot smaller than a human field of view.

wordsmythe wrote:

Problem is that monitors are a lot smaller than a human field of view.

You just need a bigger monitor.

Try something this size:

IMAGE(http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/2972/img8893tk0.jpg)

Quite handy in GoW or GRAW.

Rat Boy wrote:

Try something this size:

IMAGE(http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/2972/img8893tk0.jpg)

Reminds me of screenshots showing MTW2 at 2600x1950 or something alike. Mind-blowing.

the camera into only looking where the character should be able to see

Not gonna happen. Isn't it better to accept this as a genre convention?

UCRC wrote:
the camera into only looking where the character should be able to see

Not gonna happen. Isn't it easier to accept this as a genre convention?

Fixinator

I'd say leave it, unless you can really justify putting in the field of view restrictions. If you're going to lock the camera to what's visible strictly from the character's point of view, it might as well be in first person.

My simple solution as seen from above. The player is yellow.

IMAGE(http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/9338/cameravv1.jpg)

You don't need to mess with the FOV. Just turn the camera a little bit to the left, in this example, such that the red area that should not be visible isn't. The range of positions a camera can be in is left the same, only the direction that the camera is pointing changes. The player had no direct control over that variable anyway, so it wouldn't be any more intrusive than current camera systems.

That looks like a WoW strategy graphic for a raid boss fight

gah! I need help.

wordsmythe wrote:
UCRC wrote:
the camera into only looking where the character should be able to see

Not gonna happen. Isn't it easier to accept this as a genre convention?

Fixinator

Naah. I feel that we're just getting to classical "fun vs realism" thing.

The problem isn't that it is unrealistic, which it is, but that it is nonintuitive. For example, in Gears if I charge towards a doorway there is always the possibility that I am being watched by someone just inside the doorframe. I have no way of knowing if an enemy is there or not, but they get to see everything I do. This is not intuitive.

If someone can see me then I should be able to see them. There are some exceptions. Someone should be able to see me from really far away with a pair of binoculars, through a one way mirror, or from a dark vantage point; but not while hiding behind a completely opaque obstruction.

I don't know while Gears does offer plenty of opportunity to take cover behind objects there are very few places where someone can completely hide behind them, and I find when you are able to your view does get obstructed considerably. It isn't perfect but I think the developers behind Gears did a pretty good job of it.

Sorry to come so late to this party, but I really loved the rock guitar when Certis was introducing GameGuru. I pictured him standing on a mountain, Excalibur held over his head, women clinging to his feet...