Planetside: The Game that will Redefine FPS!

[HeresJohnny]

imagine this:

13 continents each 64miles squared of flawless photorealistic terrain that even have individual blades of grass.

3500 people online at the same time, fighting a war. 3 factions, and every time you login you continue the war as it is currently progressing. each victory or loss you have when you logon directly affects the outcome of the war which may take months to actually finish!

the maps are so huge, that vehicles are a necessity!

Here's a screenie to make you wet your pants:
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/screens/0,11105,437493-16,00.html

this is the first and only game where you could literally recreate a scene such as the Omaha beach landing with hundreds of online players being slaughtered!

i can't wait for a WW2 mod for this game. imagine recreating the awesome battles of WW2, and actually deciding the outcome of the war each time you login!


JohnnyT <-- that's me --

[HeresJohnny]

check this screenie of the terrain!
<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010306/planet_screen003.jpg">

URL:
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/screens/0,11105,437493-13,00.html

[BlueSniper]

sounds and looks like smuglers run w/ guns.

IOW it sounds good.

[HeresJohnny]

the great thing about this game, is that is not meaningless gameplay. in inf or any other FPS, once you finish a round, you just replay the same map again! there is no goal! no meaning! with Planetside, you are continually fighting a war in order to win the war for your side! Your character will continually improve and increase in rank (should you survive). It's like being in a real-life army! WOW


<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010206/planetside_screen003.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/e3_2001/pc/planetside/planetside_screen001.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/e3_2001/pc/planetside/planetside_screen002.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/e3_2001/pc/planetside/planetside_screen009.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/e3_2001/pc/planetside/planetside_screen010.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/e3_2001/pc/planetside/planetside_screen019.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010306/planet_screen005.jpg">

[HeresJohnny]

apologies for all the screenshots, but this game is worth it! i'm sure you'll agree there is NOTHING that comes close to this game!


<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010404/plante_screen003.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010404/plante_screen002.jpg">

<img src="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010404/plante_screen004.jpg">

[HeresJohnny]

you can download a movie from E3 showing the game being played:

http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?section=645&file=60329

[Kisen_K]

I really like the looks of...........Unreal 2 !!!

[Morgoroth]

i can't wait for a WW2 mod for this game. imagine recreating the awesome battles of WW2

I'm still waiting to see someone develop a mod for a MMORPG. Even if this appens, who will host the server(s) and who will pay for it ?

Anyway, by reading the Kevin McCann's interview, even if it stated that there will be 3500 players on the world, he never said anything about reproducing a big battle with lots of players in the same region...

Speeking on the game PlanetSide it self, I want to see how they can kill the players and please those who spent so much time building their equipment :

(...) we want the new player to be able to kill the higher-level player and pick the bigger gun up and use it freely.

Now, if Infiltration ends on this system, since Infiltration aims to be realistic, when you die it's over. With this in mind, there is no much point in developping your character (this is war, there is no place for individualism here).
So, what will happen when you die ? Since there is no rounds to restart the battle, you will have to restart in the town eventually recreating a new character. After that, you will have to go to the front for some action. You will end playing 5-10 mins (average Infiltration round) and then spend 20-30 mins to find a new mission, reach the place etc...

[Trak]

Is that you have to pay a server maintenence fee to play. Usually around ten bucks a month, that's what it is for Evercrack. Personally when I pay 50-70 bucks for a game, I don't feel like having to shell out another 10 bucks a month just to play. That is 120 bucks a year, just to play a game that you already own. If there was some kind of way to play offline or setup your own non massively multiplayer server then I would probably get into it, but then you would just basically have Tribes II or Halo or ....... UNREAL II. ( The last two of those three are the games I am really excited about )

[HeresJohnny]

no-one talks about the unbelievable graphics?

[Aequi]

I hafta agree with Morgoroth and say that expecting a mod for a MMO(RPG) game is kinda well just forget about it - lol kinda funny you crossposted to say that...

sorry :)

i think what your looking for is:
http://www.playnet.com/bv/wwiiol/index.jsp

[Trak]

Originally posted by HeresJohnny
no-one talks about the unbelievable graphics?

Actually I could care less about graphics. Great graphics does not make a great game. Project IGI has some great graphics but average gameplay ( although I still enjoyed it ). One of my favorite games to load up and play every now and then is Battlezone. The graphics on that game are outdated but the game is still a blast to play. Heck the sequel to battlezone had better graphics but sold worse because they dumbed down the gameplay. Kinda proves my point.

[poaw]

13 continents each 64miles squared of flawless photorealistic terrain that even have individual blades of grass.

Try all of Europe at 1/2 scale.

3500 people online at the same time, fighting a war. 3 factions, and every time you login you continue the war as it is currently progressing. each victory or loss you have when you logon directly affects the outcome of the war which may take months to actually finish!

WW2OL will be able to support 10000 players at the same time.

this is the first and only game where you could literally recreate a scene such as the Omaha beach landing with hundreds of online players being slaughtered!

WHOOPS. Looks like you're wrong again.


i can't wait for a WW2 mod for this game. imagine recreating the awesome battles of WW2, and actually deciding the outcome of the war each time you login!


Neither can I, but I won't be logging into Planetside when I do. :)

In conclusion: Uncle Sam, Winston Churchill, Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler all want You! (http://www.wwiionline.com/)

But I still think planetside is worth checking out.

[HeresJohnny]

didn't know wwiionline was a FPS!

but the graphics don't look anywhere near as real as planetside.

check out these early 90s style graphics:
<img src="http://www.playnet.com/screens/GAME/14862/wwiiol13.jpg">

can you really compare to the perfect terrain of planetside?

i'd be interested in seeing what fighting in a ruined city would be like!

[Mad_Dog]

want a fix of world domination while playing INF? go here and sign up as a merc, or get your clan into it... www.infwar.f2s.com.

[JaFO]

I wonder what the system-requirements are for planetside ?

WW2-online mentions :

Windows 95/98/Me/2000 (minimum system requirements)
Pentium II 400, 128MB RAM, 16MB 3D Video Card, DirectSound Compatible Audio Card, 8X CD ROM, 56K Modem w/Internet Access

Windows 95/98/Me/2000 (recommended system requirements)
Pentium III 600, 256MB RAM, 32MB 3D Video Card, DirectSound Compatible Audio Card, 40X CD ROM, 56K Modem w/Internet Access

Recommended Video Cards
3dfx Voodoo3
ATI Rage Pro
Matrox MGA G400
NVidia Riva 128
NVidia Riva TNT2

Recommended Audio Cards
Creative Soundblaster
EAX Chipsets
Auriel Chipsets

So it's never going to have 'photorealistic' graphics of any kind, because they need to keep the system-specs down for the players.

What kind of internet-connection is useful ?
Unless those servers are near to you a 56k-modem is useless. Or did you forget about Europe & Asia ...
We don't have a flat-fee highspeed internet here.
So not only do you pay $9.99 a month (according to the WW2-site) to some far away company, you spend a lot more per month just to have an internet-connection. I pay fl 30,- (= +/- 13 EURO) for my telephone-connection, I'm not even using it for internet ...
PlanetSide isn't going to be that different once it's released.

The graphics already look dated compared to the new shots from the Unreal-engine / Medal of Honor / Return to Wolfenstein ...
Those trees in your fist picture use sprites, and as Kisen_K said : the landscape looks exactly like the Unreal-terrain we've seen.

And although the future for on-line games seems to be some kind of 'pay for play'-plan. At least Unreal 2 and the likes can be run at home. No need for any big server with a super internetconnection if all you want is to play with a few friends ...

I don't even want to mention the potential damage a cheater can cause in these kinds of games ...
(Phantasy Star On-line for the DC had problems with this stuff)
Or the fact that ppl seem to offer on-line 'characters' for sale ...

[BlueSniper]

and I thought hyrule feild was big...

[RogueLeader]

I think the recommended video card field is a typo for Geforce 3 64mb DDR.

[Ballistophobia]

I've been watching PS for a while now. The screens and movie I saw are nice, but I don't think it will be that great of a game. Don't get me wrong, it will be amazing and all, but the fact that the game itself will cost a good amount and that you have to pay a fee for online gameplay pisses me off. Plus it's not due out till Q1 2002. We all know how these dates get fux0red by the time it actually comes out, so we'll probably playing this game more than a year from now and who knows what other companies are keeping hush hush at the moment.

My $.02

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<small><i>Today a young man at NASA realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness and the universe itself, subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're just an imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather...</i></small>

[HanD_of_DarKNesS]

It'll be a LONG time before you see a private mod for an Massively Multiplayer Online game (I refrain from using "MMORPG", as several of the MMO games in the works like PlanetSide don't really seem like RPGs). The server requirements, and incredibly high maintenace cost are ths big problems.

If you are paying $9.99 US/month to play a game online, do you want that game to lack features and be in a constant beta phase (as many mods are)?

I have yet to read or hear about any MMO games (in existence, or in development) that even have any developer tools planned for public availability. It's just too much for any freeware developers to handle.

I think the real draw of MMO games is the RPG and Strategy genres. Games like EverQuest and WWII Online. FPS games really don't have enough to offer to require a persistent world.

----------

SIDE NOTE:
-For anyone interested in the MMORPG genre, and loving traditional fantasy RPGs, take a look at the upcoming title:

Shadowbane (http://www.shadowbane.com)

[-agunzagun-]

Originally Posted by Poaw: In conclusion: Uncle Sam, Winston Churchill, Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler all want you!

Hey, What about Hideki Tojo? :mad: :mad:

Yes. You heard me, you capitalist swine. What about Mr. Tojo?!?!?
You just forgot to add the greatest military mind in all of the earth's history, just because he was japanese? Is that it?

:y5: :y5: :y5:

[ShakKen]

Originally posted by HeresJohnny
no-one talks about the unbelievable graphics?

After seeing Unreal 2, Id's new engine and Max Payne, it's awfully difficult to be excited by such things.

Besides, the design of the armor and such looks pretty horrendous.

[HeresJohnny]

i've seen those games you mentioned, and no where do the graphics come near planetside. for one thing, planetside landscape is huge, for another the landscape just looks real in planetside, whereas they still look small, limited and lacking the real-life textures in the other games you mentioned. it's the scale and the vibrant textures that set planetside graphics apart.

and what do you mean by the trees in the first pics are sprites? there is no terrain that you can see in planetside that you cannot go to (eg. mountains in distance can be climbed), and all trees are 3d objects - just check out the video!

JohnnyT <-- that's me --

[Ballistophobia]

Actually Johnny, Max Payne is much more realistic graphically. Go dl the HR E3 vid. The game is almost photo-realistic. The larger enviroments aren't as big, but still, the game looks more realistic and PS still has a cut-off, like T2. What I want from a game like that is a completely realistic viewing distance, and you need a much more powerful engine for it.

All in all, I'm still interested in PS, but after I heard the release date I got much less interested.

I understand why you have to pay for MMOGs, but still. It's extra money coming out of my pocket for something I might not like in a month, or at all. So it's just frustrating.

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<small><i>Today a young man at NASA realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness and the universe itself, subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're just an imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather...</i></small>

[Trak]

Have you seen the screens from Unreal2? The terrain in Unreal2 ( not to mention the models and skins ) blow Planetside out of the water. How about Halo? Halo is going to stream level data off of the harddrive to create its level. That's right level, as in Halo is going to be one massive, persistent level without interruption. I just don't see anything in Planetside that is going to make me shell out 120+ dollars a year just to play a game.

[HeresJohnny]

about U2 - yes seen it, and it looks good but the terrain is still not as realistic because of the smaller scale, and the trees all look the same, unlike the many trees and bushes and rocks of planetside. like i said, what sets planetside apart is the scale - it looks so real because there's so much vegetation and variation and the textures are vibrant, and the scale - the scale of the terrain makes it realistic, it's so huge, and you can keep walking for miles!

about halo - no trees, no grass; and planetside also loads terrain on the fly.

about max payne - haven't seen it yet.

[Ballistophobia]

LOL, not only does Halo have trees, but they sway in the wind. :p

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<small><i>Today a young man at NASA realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness and the universe itself, subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're just an imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather...</i></small>

[ElectricSheep]

Halo does have trees. Yes. Yes it does.

You can tell that the engine still needs a bit of work. There are clipping issues with the hands on the steering wheel in the first-person view, and none of the actors seem to be casting any shadows....who knows, maybe they have yet to put in dynamic lighting.

So when is this game coming out? Looks like they have a pretty solid terrain engine but need to put more work into the rest of the game engine. I hope there will be some indoor areas as well. War just aint war if you can't infiltrate the enemy base with all that cool-looking motorized gear.

[Ballistophobia]

Sheep, if you read my initial response you would have seen I said that it's date is currently Q1 2002. :p

Also, there are shadows....nice circles under the player. :D
The indoor enviroments seem to be the only screenshots that show this. Two with one stone. :)

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<small><i>Today a young man at NASA realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness and the universe itself, subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're just an imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather...</i></small>

[HeresJohnny]

obviously there are trees in halo. i mean that statement in exaggeration. in planetside, it's the first time i see a decent huge forest. halo still looks like a desert - and no grass!

swaying trees? cool!

[ShakKen]

You call sprite clumps 'grass'?

Unreal Warfare can do those just as well.

[HeresJohnny]

what I understand is that the grass is a 3d object. it's not like doom where you could only view the object at certain angles, and if you were to move, the object appeared to "jump" sideways or one side of the object always faced you. all objects in planetside, like unreal are true 3d objects.

as for unreal 2, the terrain still looks sparse. it looks nice and all, but it still is missing the volume of vegetation and the vibrant textures required to make it look perfect. just compare their forest screenshot with planetside forest. planetside forest looks real, with real volume. u2 forest still looks sparsely populated and bare. let's give planetside credit where credit is due.

[JaFO]

The '3d-sprite' effect is something which was used in Duke3D (and others), so PS probably uses the same effect ...

And speaking of 'forests', that's no forest that's a bunch of trees.
Look at the x-isle demo for the GeForce (don't know the exact name at the moment, but it ran even on my pc and it had these great looking dinosaurs). Now that was closer to what I'd call a forest. It even had the different vegitation you talk about.

And speaking of another massive multi-player on-line game :
"Dark Sector" from Digital Extremes is based on the unreal-engine IIRC ...
http://www.digitalextremes.com/main.html

[ShakKen]

HeresJohnny: They don't need to turn the sprite to face the camera all the time. What Planetscape does is paste the grass texture on a static polygon and stick it into the game world. Look closely, some of the blades have alpha blending around the edges. Indicating they are a texture. Not a mesh. Observe,

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/010306/planet_screen005.jpg

Add a lot of them and it gives the illusion of highly detailed grass. Bus as you can see, up close to the camera it's nothing but engine trickery. Something that can be done with some effort in existing engines.

The trees in the game are prefabs too. You can spot identical trees without too much trouble.

Planetside merely uses this in conjuction with a visability zone that only draws the clumps of sprites within a certain radius around the camera. Note how the grassy area ends quite abruptly.

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/e3_2001/pc/planetside/planetside_screen009.jpg

This is nothing new, it's been used in games like Tekken Tag.

[poaw]

Hey, What about Hideki Tojo?

I didn't add some of the other national figures because I couldn't speel their names, and/or remember what they were. :)

It would have looked really silly to say that "Highdeikey Toejoe and Da Gaul want you too":D

[Ballistophobia]

Johnny, if you have a decent card, go dl 3Dmark2001. Run the demo and watch the last one, it's a tribute to Deus Ex/The Matrix using the Max Payne engine. It's probably the coolest thing I've seen on my 'puter. :)

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<small><i>Today a young man at NASA realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness and the universe itself, subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're just an imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather...</i></small>