Wednesday, September 22, 2004

PStwo, Quake 4, Elder Scrolls IV screenshots

I got awesome news I’m going to an Xbox party at school. That’s going to be something. I think their going to play Halo. I wonder if I’m going to be any good at it. I haven’t played my copy for so long. I’ve been more into those rally games. In my opinion – they are much more fun since you play all those cars over rough terrain. It’s harder than you think. But I’m almost mastered it already. I’ve placed 1st or 2nd in almost all the races.

Sony announces the PStwo and it’s about 1/3 the size of the PS2 height wise but it’s black like PS2. Its logo is going to be the PS2’s font and color, but spelled “PStwo.” It can obviously be set on its side like a PS2. Only thing bad about it is the fact I couldn’t hook a hard drive up to it to play SOCOM II or Final Fantasy XI. I’m guessing it’ll cost 99 dollars as a final price.



Game Informer Magazine showed a copy of Elder Scrolls IV – Oblivion. Elder Scrolls III was the first to go high-resolution. Although it has a state-of-the-art graphics engine, it fails to impress me who thought Elder Scrolls 3 had a very good graphics engine – it succeeded in being Xbox’s most beautiful games. I’m seeing round faces this time! There’s an improvement! Another improvement is improved candle lighting. Candle shadows that haven’t been done before. It’s been done with a blur but not actual candle flickering. Other than that I don’t see much difference between Elder Scrolls 4 and Elder Scrolls 3. Websites are getting too hyped about higher high resolution images. I’m not that hyped about it. I think I’ll buy it – if that’s what you’re asking? Is it just me or is the competition fierce. Ever since Final Fantasy 7 was a blockbuster hit – there has been at least 3 or 4 good RPGs out for PC or PS2. I mean not just good – but the ones you want to play this year.

PC

1. Dungeon Siege 2
2. Dungeons and Dragons Online
3. Everquest II (I’m not getting this one)
4. Final Fantasy XI new expansion

PS2

1. Kingdom Hearts II
2. Phantasy Star Collection
3. Phantom Brave
4. Star Ocean 3 – Till the Ends of Time

Anyway, to get back to Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion – this game will use hyper threading and I bet my computer can anti-analyze it at a 1200x960 resolution. The game looks very shiny! It seems that the water is actually shining off the walls – never done before. When all said and done – this game looks photo-realistic. Did I mention it looks kinda like Doom 3 which has twice as much polygons compared to Elder Scrolls 3 – Morrowind. The grass – especially doesn’t look painted onto the ground like it was in Morrowind. It’s a little hard to imagine, but Bethesda is aiming for a larger game than Morrowind. Morrowind has more out doors than any other game around. Just think in 6 years if some developer is working on a MMORPG so vast that it’ll be the size of a 4 Morrowinds, 4 Tribunals and 4 Bloodmoons put together! I expect Oblivion (word fixed - hate to confuse readers) to be the size of two Morrowinds. I’m afraid Morrowind was a great of difference between it and Daggerfall. Oblivion shares Morrowind’s game play with improved graphics. This is definitely on my highly anticipated wish list this year even though this game is coming out next year .

Quake IV looks so much like Doom 3. I think they both are using the same engine. Quake IV is being made by Raven Software – developers of blockbuster games, Star Wars Jedi Academy and Soldier of Fortune. Both take place in the future and both look darker than most games – I try not to say the “H” word on here to often. It gives a bad example. I think it’ll play like Doom except it’ll play exactly like Quake 3 Arena. And that’s nothing to complain about either.

Quake IV and Elder Scrolls IV screenshots
Real Quake IV screens!

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