Heavenly Sword week continues: the tech behind the sword
by Nick Doerr 
{ Apr 11th 2007 at 12:30PM }
The week of Heavenly Sword continues over at GamePro, today gracing us with a kinda-sorta behind the scenes look at some of the story, art direction, and graphics. We'll highlight what's important and leave it to you to check out the full scoop so you can sound like the go-to guy/girl for this game.- The Cell is stressed by Heavenly Sword by handling so many enemies on screen at once: "the trick is that Cell treats entire regiments as a single unit of artificial intelligence when they are at a distance; as they draw closer, Cell gradually divides the army into smaller and smaller groups, so they eventually become individual troops with unique fighting styles and tactics." Neat!
- Graphics are gorgeous and respond to their environment or whatever: "Wind gusts swirl Nariko's hair and clothes, and bazooka blasts send out showers of dust and rubble." Yeah, but... 1080p?
- How about physics and SIXAXIS support? "When firing a cannon, Nariko can influence the trajectory of the projectile using the Sixaxis. Ninja Theory claims it needs the Cell to handle these complex calculations." They claim... so is there another way? We think back to the Nikita missile in Metal Gear Solid... that was fun.
We've still got a lot of questions -- Nariko's past is still pretty much unknown and things like 1080p support haven't been set in stone. No matter the case, this game will be something to grab come September.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wkcr @ Apr 11th 2007 12:45PM
Great! Can't wait ^^
Stef Geiger @ Apr 11th 2007 1:21PM
AT LEAST give us 1080i! For the love of God, give us 1080i!
If only developers listened.
rfom @ Apr 11th 2007 1:28PM
You know, I wonder if Sony should have left 1080p alone. To my limited understanding - as in a PC- the more resolution you have, the less graphical details and more chances of framerate slowdowns. Especially in games like Heavenly and Lair, where they are planning hugely detailed environements and enemies, maybe a slight hit in resolution is better than a low fps.
Dolla Dolla @ Apr 11th 2007 1:32PM
@rfom
I agree. 720p/1080i is a sweet spot for high quality graphics with smooth framerates. 1080p is still a niche market, so cater to the lower res, it'll make everyone happy.
mccomber @ Apr 11th 2007 2:37PM
Well, hopefully they include 1080i for all those people who's TVs don't do 720p... that's the big problem.
massive_98 @ Apr 11th 2007 4:16PM
Is there really any difference between 1080p and 1080i?
mccomber @ Apr 11th 2007 4:31PM
"Is there really any difference between 1080p and 1080i?"
Technically, it's huge, as it's the difference between interlaced and progressive. For more info, google those two words. Beyond saying that 1080p is displaying twice as much information as 1080i at any given 30th of a second, it's more than I care to try and explain here.
humpty @ Apr 11th 2007 6:14PM
1080p > 720p > 1080i
John @ Apr 13th 2007 12:20AM
I agree with humpty (1080p>720p>1080i) but ONLY if 1080p doesn't take a framerate or tearing hit.
I would much rather play a solid at-least-30-fps on 720p, over a higher resolution that had any glitches.
Some people are more sensitive to frame stutter, etc., so those folks will often prefer stable frames at lower res over slower or stuttering frame rates at higher resolution.
And some people are more sensitive to problems with interlaced displays than others. Interlaced doesn't do as well as progressive for fast-moving images. It can also present a slight flickering sensation if you're sensitive to that.
But McComber points out the biggest reason to at least have 720p/1080i: 720p for those who want progressive, and 1080i for those who are stuck with displays that won't output 720p... they only get 480. I wonder how many tv's are like this.