Portal - can't WAIT!

Posted by: FireFox31

Portal - can't WAIT! - 28/07/2006 23:04

Can I just say how excited I am for Valve's upcoming Portal (Tom's link). After Tom recently posted it, I've watched the trailer over and over, downloaded the predicessor Narbacular Drop, watched the NB speed runs, and have already begun plotting Deathmatch strategy for when the portal gun gets integrated into a future game.

It's great to see a flair of mind-numbing originality like that in a game these days. This game will bring me back into PC gaming since I quit after Half Life 1 and Deus Ex. Portal will be my only reason to upgrade to a top of the line gaming machine from my current Athlon C 1.4 GHz which serves me just fine. Heck, I actually want to get GOOD at Portal.

Just had to vent that... and watch the trailer again.
Posted by: msaeger

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 28/07/2006 23:07

I agree it looks pretty cool. I wish it wasn't first person though I can't play those maybe this will make me get used to it.

The ship sounds neat too. http://www.theshiponline.com/
Posted by: Cybjorg

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 29/07/2006 13:43

Quote:

The ship sounds neat too. http://www.theshiponline.com/


Yeah, I saw this the other day. It does look intriguing, but I just don't have much time these days to invest in online gaming.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 30/07/2006 12:30

Same here, which is why Portal will work well. Play one or two levels when I have some time. I'm already collecting and playing Narbacular Drop add on levels so I can get the feel for the system.
Posted by: loren

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 30/07/2006 14:53

Damn... that does look fun!
Posted by: RobotCaleb

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 30/07/2006 18:23

I'd only seen the versions on Google video. One thing that I noticed on the hd version of the video is that the weapon is blurry. That's actually really cool. I've never seen someone realize that the gun isn't at the same focal point as the rest of the world. Kind of neat.
Posted by: Tim

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 31/07/2006 11:51

Quote:
Quote:

The ship sounds neat too. http://www.theshiponline.com/


Yeah, I saw this the other day. It does look intriguing, but I just don't have much time these days to invest in online gaming.


Intriguing was the word I used to describe it also when I first heard about it (yesterday). I went ahead and purchased it yesterday and it was finished downloading this morning. After installing DX 9.0c (which I apparently didn't reload after my last reinstall), it gave me an exception error. I'll have to dork around with it tonight to see if I can get it working.
Posted by: Bernz

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 31/07/2006 21:09

To me, it's one of those games that completely boggles my mind to watch it being played, and yet with some practice, I think my brain would learn how to think in the "right way" to solve levels. And I usually llike those kinds of games the best. At any rate, at least it's not your bog-standard FPS.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 01/08/2006 10:41

Quote:
I agree it looks pretty cool. I wish it wasn't first person though I can't play those maybe this will make me get used to it.

So are you a motion sickness person like I am? I haven't been able to play FPS games for more than about 5 minutes since mid-high school. I tried taking two dramamine once, and that doubled my playing time. Yup, 10 minutes, then I had to do lie down for half an hour.

I saw some footage of Prey on TV, where you can walk on certain areas that let you walk around on the ceiling, and I got a little sick just watching that.

Quote:
One thing that I noticed on the hd version of the video is that the weapon is blurry. That's actually really cool. I've never seen someone realize that the gun isn't at the same focal point as the rest of the world. Kind of neat.

Maybe that would help me!
Posted by: Roger

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 01/08/2006 11:47

Quote:
So are you a motion sickness person like I am?


My cousin complains of the same problem playing FPS games.

Quote:
let you walk around on the ceiling, and I got a little sick just watching that.


...although I'll admit that various bits of Alien-vs-Predator had the same effect on me.
Posted by: loren

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 01/08/2006 15:34

Supposedly you can train yourself out of motion sickness... at least that's what I've been told about flying and being in boats on water. I certainly don't get as motion sick flying now as I did when I first started. You have to make the connection in your brain between the movements you expect and the movements you see. Not sure exactly how you'd train yourself to do that... but I for one believe it's possible. Now whether or not it's worth it to go though the amount of motion sickness you'd have to go through to train yourself out of it is another question.
Posted by: msaeger

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 01/08/2006 19:10

Quote:

So are you a motion sickness person like I am? I haven't been able to play FPS games for more than about 5 minutes since mid-high school. I tried taking two dramamine once, and that doubled my playing time. Yup, 10 minutes, then I had to do lie down for half an hour.


No not motion sickness I just can't get used to that perspective and can not move around very well. I would probably get used to it if I tried harder but most of the games that use the first person perspective are shooters and I don't like those anyway.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 02/08/2006 01:09

l0ser: I hadn't noticed that; time to watch it again. Someone somewhere mentioned motion blur being built into the engine. Maybe that's old news if Source already has that.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 02/08/2006 14:33

The blur on the weapon is depth of field blur rather than motion blur. As far as being built into the engine, I haven't seen it used in any of the other Source engine games yet, either motion blur or depth of field blur.

And honestly, if only the weapon is blurred (as opposed to other parts of the scene too), then it's not even true depth of field blur, it's just a trick they're doing with the weapon rendering.

Both kinds of blurring (motion and DOF) are fairly computationally intensive and would reduce the frame rate.

A recent World War 2 shooter game, Brothers in Arms, used blur on the weapons. That was kind of neat, but the game bored the heck out of me (and irritated me: Checkpoint system instead of save-any-time system) and I never finished it.
Posted by: Cybjorg

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 04/08/2006 08:30

I appears that the new Crytek game, Crysis (in production), has some lovely motion blur.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 04/08/2006 14:29

Yeah, since it's widescreen, I bet that's an Xbox 360 shot. I wonder if they'll actually implement that in the game, or if it's just a hype shot. I have to say, though, I really liked the Crytek engine. Far Cry is still the best looking game I've played. Sometimes I still go back and re-play the River section just because all that jungle and reflective water is awesome.

I've also got Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which does a pretty credible motion blur at times.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 05/08/2006 12:49

Quote:
Crysis

THAT'S a game?

I've been waiting for the day that a game makes me think it's reality at first glance. We'll see how Crysis plays out. I've yet to play Far Cry (which came free with each of the AMD 64 processors I bought for people). When I get my Portal machine, maybe.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 05/08/2006 15:11

Well. Seems as though that's actual ingame shots. Gameplay footage downloadable at various locations including www.incrysis.com. Impressive.

Although in the gameplay footage, there's one scene where you seem to battle a giant fucking spider. Did you know they're the fiercest predators in the insect kingdom?
Posted by: RobotCaleb

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 05/08/2006 15:59

If you turn them over it will cause massive damage.
Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 05/08/2006 16:26

Not to be overly picky, but did these guys fail high school biology? Since when did spiders become insects?

Just a pet peave of mine.

Not to mention that insect isn't a Kingdom, it's a Class. Just like Arachnid is.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 05/08/2006 22:37

Clearly that director guy was as nuts as he sounded. I mean, come on, he created "Wild Wild West". Giant spiders... robotic at that.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 06/08/2006 03:11

Quote:
Giant spiders... robotic at that.

Better than that. STEAM POWERED giant robotic spider.
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 07/08/2006 12:53

Created "Wild Wild West"?

Um, "Wild Wild West" was a great TV show from the '60s. And it already featured lots of potentially anachronistic plot devices. It was extremely cool.

The movie was a pile of crap. It might have something to do with the fact that it took six people to write it. And that's just the folks who actually got credit.

Not to defend Sonnenfeld as a director; he's made a lot of crap. But I really liked his cinematography on "Raising Arizona", "Miller's Crossing", and "Misery", so I hesitate to denigrate him completely.

Quote:
STEAM POWERED giant robotic spider

Actually, steampunk has a relatively long literary history.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 07/08/2006 13:15

Quote:
Not to defend Sonnenfeld as a director; he's made a lot of crap. But I really liked his cinematography on "Raising Arizona", "Miller's Crossing", and "Misery", so I hesitate to denigrate him completely.

I think there may be some confusion here. FireFox, when you say "that director guy," are you talking about the person in Kevin Smith's story regarding the Superman movie? In that case it's not Sonnenfeld, but "producer" Jon Peters.

By the way, has anyone seen the black hole greneade in HL2:E1? Looks pretty sweet.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Portal - can't WAIT! - 08/08/2006 12:39

Hm, I always thought it was called "gas lamp fantasy". Thanks for the link.

Dignan: Yeah, poking fun at whoever Smith was poking fun at in his lecture/standup bit. Now I forget who I forgot I was making fun of.