E3 '07: Assassin's Creed delivers next-gen thrills
by Nick Doerr 
{ Jul 10th 2007 at 5:00PM }
- You can climb nearly every building in three gigantic cities
- There's no "movement" grid -- by that we mean if there's a crack in a building, it's not for design. You can grab it. Everything has meaning.
- Still needs a little touching up, as clipping occurs and Altair would get stuck every now and then. We're not worried, though.
- Guards don't come after you because you're just "the player of the game", they actively seek people disturbing the peace. Bump into someone, guards will give you an awkward glance, but do it a lot and you'll get a little more attention than you'd like!
- Good targeting system, smooth and simple controls.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gullum @ Jul 10th 2007 5:12PM
I'v always wanted to play a game where the world truly felt "real". This game is looking sweet.
OrganicShadow @ Jul 10th 2007 5:14PM
I think she has beat the next-gen dead horse pretty thoroughly here. Instead of telling us straight up how she thinks the game is innovative she just blabbers about this being "next-gen" and how it's the first "true next-gen game".
IT IS CURRENT GEN. QUIT WITH THE NEXT-GEN BUZZ WORD.
Seriously....im excited for this game and all but I thought we had all gotten over that buzz word by now...
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 5:34PM
Impressions of the engine and graphics etc are rather useless, since she was almost definitely playing the 360 build.
Jldowning @ Jul 10th 2007 5:56PM
This game started on the PS3, so it should run fine if not best on the PS3.
If im wrong?
Oblivion showed us a good dev can make a 360 port run better on the ps3. So I'm not worried!
pete @ Jul 10th 2007 6:09PM
@4 thank you for your assumption, but you dont know, so dont pretend to know. thank you
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 6:12PM
I actually completely forgot about that whole "losing exclusivity" fiasco. Hmm. I guess this'll be another of the... two third party multiplatform games that'll run better on the PS3. What are the third party PS3 lead platform games?
MGS
DMC
Burnout 5
Assassin's Creed
Haze
Dark Sector (?)
Alright, I count six. Any more that I'm missing?
Yeah, I know, a little off topic, but I figured today is as good a day as any to get into this.
Jldowning @ Jul 10th 2007 6:41PM
Thats a good list, there will be more to come now that sony has given the devs software to help make games for the PS3. I suspect more PS3 exclusives like haze when devs learn the powerhouse of a game they made for the ps3 would break any 360 they tossed it at! ;)
alexy @ Jul 10th 2007 7:09PM
@5...Actually no. The Ps3 version isn't better than the Xbox360s current version
You see people think oblivion looks better on Ps3 than of 360 is because of GameTrailers comparison.
But!! like about a week or so later they updated the Xbox360 version to look as good as the Ps3 version(but it ended up with much better framerate)...there..
Jldowning @ Jul 10th 2007 7:17PM
@9 Yeah your wrong....
I own and have played both side by side. The problem is people like you think "Shinny" is better. The 360 gives you way to much Bloom effect, while the PS3 makes it look Gritty. Yeah Shinny looks cooler, but a rock doesn't shine, its gritty!
Framerate/Loadtimes/Draw Distance/Visuals (for someone who doesn't think shinny = good) are all better on the PS3 to this date.
Just because you say so doesn't make it true ;) And that was a Port to the PS3! Imagin if the game was made on it!
Jldowning @ Jul 10th 2007 7:24PM
To be fair though #9 about half the 360's have shitty frame rates for all thier games due to overheating issues. So maybe you just have one of the few working 360's ;)
And I do have the patch, which add'd the changes they made on the PS3 version to the 360, so its a fair view on my part.
I can see buildings on my PS3 before my 360, Grass goes out further, Trees looker realer for a greater distance. (Draw Distance)
Never have noticed any Framerate issues on the PS3, however about once an hour get a lil hick up....
Constant frame rate issues on the 360 when im out in the open, or during weather. (Framerate)
Load times on the PS3 are Shorter (load times)
My PS3 looks worse then my PC, my 360 copy looks worse then my PS3. Why does that old rock on the floor reflect light back at me? Its a old rock!!!!
Also I can Dupe about 250-300 lockpicks on the PS3 with no issues, it freezes my 360.
pete @ Jul 10th 2007 7:34PM
question, why do you own 3 copys of the same game?? to compare and contrast? do you do this with all your game purchases?
Bored @ Jul 10th 2007 7:36PM
On a note regarding gametrailers comparisons, they also showed Darkness recently, and I for one could not see any difference whatsoever between the 360 and PS3 versions. If you only listen to naysayers and fanboys, you'd think the PS3 version is much inferior, when it clearly is nearly identical.
I trust gametrailers much more for graphical comparisons than the XBox fanboy squad over at gamespot.
Bored @ Jul 10th 2007 7:36PM
@ 12: Maybe he reviews games?
pete @ Jul 10th 2007 7:56PM
maybe, its a legit question.
johnxmzzhang @ Jul 10th 2007 8:14PM
LOL dont worry AC will look better and play better on the ps3 :) The director used to work on sony! Shes one of us Muhahaha, well anyways in one of the interviews she was talking about the controlls and mentuoned the triangle x circle and square, not the a b thing on a xbox so i duno, but i mean there wont be too much of a difference so dont stress and enjoy the game. Its gona be amazing :P
ill trooper @ Jul 10th 2007 8:23PM
Looking forward to this even more now.
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 9:21PM
@16: I admire your optimism, but the fact that she worked for Sony at one point doesn't mean anything. I once worked for McDonalds, you know what that means? That's right. Nothing.
Anyway, in today's IGN preview, there's no indication of which build is being played, so I'm going to bet that it's the 360 build. Dark Sector is also a PS3 lead project, yet it's always only demoed on the 360. The fact is that developers have a much easier time making the game look pretty on the 360, so until that changes we'll probably only ever see 360 build screens and footage.
Matt B @ Jul 10th 2007 9:44PM
But Stef, if we were talking about nuking burgers, I'd take your opinion as gospel. ;)
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 9:52PM
You sure will when I finish my degree at Bovine University.
Bangbang... @ Jul 10th 2007 10:27PM
Jldowning
why do you own 3 copies of the same game? Im not being a smart ass,im just curious.
Tim @ Jul 10th 2007 10:30PM
God this sounds bitchn. Sounds like it will be a freakn sweet arse medieval Hitman style game. Awesome.
Lp47 @ Jul 11th 2007 5:03PM
I watched the gameplay video and wow this game looks awesome the gameplay is sweet, especially the amount of stuff you can do. Also the graphics look as good as the trailers.
Sam @ Jul 12th 2007 8:43AM
Yeah, I agree. The Playstation 3 video of games at the end, after Haze was shown was very disappointing.
It provided ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to buy a Playstation 3 in the year 2007, because EVERY one of those 16 games shown is also on the Xbox 360.
What's worse is that the Xbox 360 versions of those multi-platform games are BETTER!
For example, the Xbox 360 version of Assassins Creed and Virtua Fighter 5 both have better Artificial Intelligence than the Playstation 3 versons.
In addition to having better graphics, the Xbox 360 version of Virtua Fighter 5 even has Online play not included in the PS3 version.
And Virtua Fighter 5 was originally designed for the Playstation 3. The fact that the Xbox 360 version ended up so much better makes me wonder just what would have happened if Virtua Fighter 5 would have been made for the Xbox 360 from the beginning!
All of the Football games shown on Sony's video will be better on the Xbox 360, too.
Madden Football 2008, NCAA College Football 2008, and All-Pro Football 2K8 will all run at 60 frames per second at resolution upconverted to 1080p on the Xbox 360, while the PS3 versions will only run at 30 frames per second. THAT SUCKS for the PS3!
Xbox 360 even gets "The Complete" version of Grand Theft Auto 4 with 20 extra hours of gameplay that comes from two extra episodes.
And the Call of Duty 4 beta will only be available on Xbox 360.
If I was Sony, I would not have shown that video at the end, because the Xbox 360 has such a big advantage in terms of the way third-party games end up better with better performance and more features on Xbox 360.
Oblivion @ Jul 12th 2007 9:53AM
@ 10
The game called "Oblivion" was in fact rated higher on the Xbox 360.
The editors from 1up.com specifically point out during the review that they have played Oblivion for over 200 hours, and they said if you have an Xbox 360, a PC, and a PS3, the least desirable version is the PS3 version.
The reason why the PS3 version of Oblivion is the worst one is because it doesn't have all of the extra features, content, and expansion stuff that the Xbox 360 and PC versions do. On the PS3 there is no such thing as the 30 hour expansion called Shivering Isles, and there is no such thing as the Thieves Den, or even Horse Armor. All those things are missing from the PS3 version.
As far as load times go, the PS3 version does have faster load times when you enter cities; it takes like 4 seconds instead of 9 seconds. Xbox 360 games almost always have way faster load-times than Playstation 3 games because the Xbox 360 transfers data at a rate of 16MB per second compared to only 9MB per second with the Playstation 3. Oblivion is literally only one of two PS3 games that are programmed in a way where the hard drive helps the PS3 with load times like that. Games like Oblivion take up a lot of space on the PS3 hard drive, that's why.
The other PS3 game where the hard drive helps out with load times is the newly released Rainbow Six: Vegas, which was released seven months after the Xbox 360 version. Even though the hard drive helps in the PS3 version, the Xbox 360 version still has slightly faster load times. The reason for that is because Rainbow Six: Vegas on the Xbox 360 was programmed on the Final Version of the Xbox 360 Development Kits that were completed in the summer of 2006, just like the PS3 Final Development Kits.
Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion for the Xbox 360 was programmed using a Pre-Alpha Development Kit for the Xbox 360 that only gave the developers the ability to use One-Sixth of the General Purpose CPU power of the Xbox 360! The developers only had the ability to use ONE of the six CPU Threads of the Xbox 360. That is why the PS3 version of Oblivion has faster load times thanks to the hard drive advantage.
But with Rainbow Six: Vegas, both systems were able to use Development Kits that gave the programmers the ability to use 100% of the General Purpose CPU power of the consoles. In that situation, even when the PS3 is using the hard drive to help, the Xbox 360 still has slightly faster load times.
The graphics of Oblivion are nearly identical on both systems; they each have pluses and minuses. Xbox 360 has better looking dungeons and better lighting, but the PS3 version has some of the outdoor environments that look a little better. One thing that is for sure is the fact that the Playstation 3 version of the game is VERY glitchy! In the PS3 version you can walk through walls and walk upside down at times! And that means the PS3 version is GLITCHY!
It was very nice the way the Xbox 360 version of the game received the EXACT same graphics update the PS3 did with the Shaders, when the Xbox 360 expansion was released. The only difference in graphics that people saw in some of those outdoor environments where you can see further into the distance is because of the SOFTWARE Shader improvements Oblivion made over the course of time. Bethesda said it was originally their intention to make those improvements in the Xbox 360 and PC versions all along. Thankfully, with the release of the Shivering Isles expansion for the Xbox 360, Bethesda released that Shader update that made the improvements to the Xbox 360 version. It was never a matter of hardware; it was always a matter of a software improvement in terms of the shading technology.
Oblivion is a great game on any system; it's just that the Xbox 360 version is better for fundamental reasons related to gameplay. The memory bandwidth hardware bottleneck of the Playstation 3 prevents the entire world of Oblivion from simultaneously existing in the game. You can not have all of the elements of the game functioning at the same time, like you can in the Xbox 360 version.
Ironically, there are only two PS3 games that have won the Editor’s Choice Aware from Gamespot. Ironically, those two games are Oblivion, and Rainbow Six: Vegas—the only two games that use the Playstation 3 hard drive to help with loading times. But it is important to remember that both of those games are on the Xbox 360. Both of those games were released nearly a year earlier on the Xbox 360. Both of those games are rated higher on the Xbox 360.
Rainbow Six: Vegas was rated lower because the PS3 version has less polygon detail in the faces, since the Playstation 3 can only display 275,000,000 polygons per second compared to 500,000,000 polygons per second on the Xbox 360. That’s the same reason why this years three Football games run at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360, but only 30 frames per second on the Playstation 3.
That lack of polygon power, along with less RAM than the Xbox 360, and less General Purpose CPU power are the reasons why the PS3 has such a bad reputation for having problems with framerates.
PS3 has 512MB of Non-Unified RAM, compared to 512MB of Unified RAM for the Xbox 360. The PS3 CPU can never access more than 256MB at a time. This means there are times when not all 256MB of Video RAM are being used, but the CPU still cannot access it, which means it is wasted. But with the Xbox 360, the Unified RAM allows the developers to use all 512MB of the RAM wherever they need it at any time! That is very developer friendly and helps with framerates a LOT!
The second RAM advantage the Xbox 360 has over the PS3 is the way the Xbox 360 Operating System is designed in an excellent way that is very efficient and uses only 32MB of RAM. The PS3 Operating System is poorly designed in a way that is not efficient, because it wastes 96MB of RAM. This means the Xbox 360 will have 480MB of RAM, compared to only 416MB of RAM for the Playstation 3. This gives the Xbox 360 a 64MB RAM technical advantage.
Xbox 360 actually has a third RAM advantage over the Playstation 3. Xbox 360 has 10MB of eDRAM, which is a technology never before used in a console. This is a special form of RAM that supports the General Purpose CPU power of the Xbox 360 and improves framerates. Developers greatly appreciate this feature, and we see the performance advantages in games currently being released for both systems, because the Xbox 360 games offer such a performance advantage, especially in the area of framerates.
It isn't an exaggeration that games like F.E.A.R., MLB 2K7, and Splinter Cell: Double Agent have framerate problems so low that they go into slow motion when it drops below 20 frames per second. That is why Ubisoft said Splinter Cell: Conviction could only be done on PC and Xbox 360, but not Playstation 3.
Rainbow Six: Vegas was also rated lower on the PS3 because it doesn’t include features like Face-Mapping, the texture quality wasn’t as sharp, the lighting wasn’t as good, the sixaxis feature was poorly used, the controller doesn’t rumble and feels fake, the PS3 controller isn’t as good for First-Person Shooters because of the button arrangement…ect…But perhaps most importantly is the way the PS3 version of the game has such terrible problems with displaying high-definition resolution. You can read all about that at IGN: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/799/799830p2.html
Here is the link to what 1up had to say about how the Xbox 360 version of Oblivion is the one you should get, rather than the PS3 version. http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3158125
Just remember, the 1up Editors have over 200 hours of experience, and they said that if you own a PC, an Xbox 360, and a Playstation 3, the LEAST DESIRABLE version of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the Playstation 3 version.