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    BeatenDownBrian

    @BeatenDownBrian

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    Posts made by BeatenDownBrian

    • Why Dirt 4 has made me excited about procedural generation.

      Why Dirt 4 has made me excited about procedural generation.

      “Procedural generation” Not exactly a phrase that gets people hyped when they hear about its inclusion in a game. It’s normally quite the opposite in fact, we hear those words, and our minds tend to immediately jump to one of the many bad examples of its implementation in previous games. So when Dirt 4 announced that they would be using a form of procedural generation, in the shape of their “Your Stage” creator, I had a mixed reaction, and some immediate worry set in.

      While Dirt Rally was often criticised by many (myself included) for not having enough stages, the real world stages that were present though, were extremely well crafted. This was especially true when it came to the surface of the roads, there seemed to be an element of care present in the placement of every bump, jump, rock, ditch, and dip. This ensured that no two runs though a stage ever felt quite the same, and that they still presented a challenge to the player, even once you had gotten to know them.

      With Dirt 4 relying completely on it’s generated stages, I worried that the stages may lose a lot of that detail, and would result in somewhat flat and bland stages, that would be far less technically difficult to drive. However, the more I’ve thought about it over time, and with more information, and footage of the game having been released, many of my worries have been eased, and now I find myself thinking that this technology may be a perfect fit for the sport, let me explain why.

      “A circuit driver sees the same corner 1000 times, a rally driver sees 1000 corners, one time” - Colin McRae

      Rallying is very different from track based motorsports, it’s is about taking a step into the unknown, but a committed step. In rallying you are often seeing a stage for the very first time, and you have to completely trust in what your co-driver is telling you, you also need to be able to absorb that information, react to it, and then make a split second decision, all while traveling at high speeds.

      This is something games based on the sport have always struggled with, eventually you end up getting to a point where you begin to know all the stages, and so they become like other racing games, where you are basically doing hot laps. While games like V-Rally 2 tried to to tackle this in the past by including a track editor, the system was clunky and complex to use, you were choosing from a small set of premade straights and corners and then laying them out, similar to a scalextric track, it ultimately ended up being somewhat underdeveloped, and limited in scope.

      “Your Stage” aims to take things a step further, while also making it simple for people to use. You just select the country, and then move two sliders, one for length, and one for complexity, and then hit a button to generate a stage. The thing that’s really impressive though, is that the game is not simply picking from a selection of premade pieces to make a stage. When the game generates a straight section of road, it’s also generating how much undulation there is in the surface of that straight, whether or not there is a crest or jump on it, or if there will be ruts, or ditches lining the road, and this is happening with every single straight, and every single turn on each stage. This could be a huge leap for rallying games, one which could potentially lead to having an almost endless supply of unique, challenging and intricate stages.

      Codemasters seem not to be content to rest on their laurels with Dirt 4, which would have been easy to do after the almost universal praise Dirt Rally received. When I watched their “Dev Diaries” they seemed to speak with passion, and a true love of the sport, and they seemed intent on wanting to deliver the feeling of what it’s like to actually be in a rally car, facing a corner you’ve never seen before, with only your pace notes to guide you. Of course without getting hands on with the game, it’s hard to judge just how well the system works in practice, but from what I’ve seen the future looks very promising for rally fans, and I for one am very excited about seeing where this new, exciting step takes us.

      posted in Blogs
      BeatenDownBrian
    • RE: Tweet for EZA Rocket League Flag (Starting 11am PST 10th January)

      @Stormcrownn Good to know, thanks. :) Well hopefully we can at least let them know we want one.

      posted in Gaming Discussion
      BeatenDownBrian
    • Tweet for EZA Rocket League Flag (Starting 11am PST 10th January)

      Hey all, I had posted this on twitter and just wanted to post it here for any allies I may not know on there.

      Basically, while listening to the monthly Q&A, a commenter (sorry I forgot the name) had said they had reached out to Phyonix on twitter and asked about getting an EZA flag, which they had said they would look into.
      I was wondering if we could all maybe give this an extra little friendly push and am trying organise to get a bunch of us to all tweet the @RocketLeague Twitter account on Tuesday of this week, with just a simple message along the lines of

      "@RocketLeague I'd really love to have an Easy Allies community flag in Rocket League. Please make it happen. Love and Respect".
      (does not have to be this, whatever you want to send is fine)

      Free feel to contact me here, or on Twitter if you have any questions. Thanks in advance L&R

      posted in Gaming Discussion
      BeatenDownBrian
    • RE: New fans! What should we watch? Long time fans suggestions wanted.

      People have recommend a lot of the good shows already, not sure if BackTrack was mentioned but that is certainly worth watching and of course any and all of the Retro's. Ben's full playthrough stream of RE3 is also pretty legendary. Sorry don't have any links but there are all pretty easy to find on YT. :)

      posted in General Discussion
      BeatenDownBrian
    • RE: PS4K to be revealed September 7th

      @Alex840 Oh nice, well looks like we won't have to wait long at least.

      posted in Gaming Discussion
      BeatenDownBrian
    • RE: PS4K to be revealed September 7th

      @Alex840 Well the only thing is we do not know the specs of the Neo, we only know what rumors have said. Now that Microsoft have shown there hand, Sony could possibly push back the Neo (if it was ever in fact ever coming this year, personally I don't think it was as the want this holiday to be all about VR) and use that time to bring it more in line with the Scorpio, even if that means coming out after the Scorpio. Not quiet sure where the $399 comes it, it's whatever the Scorpio gets priced at is what they will have to compete with, unless it is in fact coming this year then I can see them trying to stick to a max $399 for sure. One things is for sure though, like you said I am definately intrigued to see what happens.

      posted in Gaming Discussion
      BeatenDownBrian
    • RE: PS4K to be revealed September 7th

      It would kind of make sense for them to have there own thing, rather than doing it at TGS considering the console market has been getting smaller there, plus they would have all eyes on them. Reguarding the Teraflops talk above even though that's true, MicroSoft have been pushing the 6TF number hard since they announced the Scorpio and people have latched onto that, so if Sony were to come along and say PS4K has 7TF etc, it would likely be seen as a "win" for them.

      posted in Gaming Discussion
      BeatenDownBrian