Topic: Wolfenstein (2009) - Update: Patch 1.11 Released (Reply 68)

[MysterD]

I wonder if there'll be a PC port, some day....right now, next Wolfenstein's for the X360, only...for now, at least...

Id's Kevin Cloud said in an interview that the company and Raven "are working together to take advantage of all the graphic capabilities that the Xbox 360 has to offer, and what we're doing with Wolfenstein is creating this one, large empire that is seamlessly loaded to the player as he explores his world."

This will mark the first time that Id will develop a Wolfenstein away from the PC, but developer John Carmack is keen to put gamers at ease, claiming that "the Xbox 360 is the first console that I've ever worked with that actually has development tools that are better for games than what we've got for the PC."

Cloud added that the new Wolfenstein "is really a way of redefining the way first person games are experienced." Bold words, but with the release date of the game on the distant horizon we'll have to wait to see if Wolfenstein can truly evolve this over-populated genre.

[scottws]

Okay, this blows........

[Quemaqua]

And sucks.  Fucking hate people moving franchises like that.  There is no greater sin in the gaming world to me.

[scottws]

The bread and butter of Wolfenstein is the multiplayer.  Sure, they can have multiplayer on the 360, but it won't be the same at all. 

This is terrible news.

[iPPi]

Hehe... I only liked Wolfenstein 3D, didn't really care about RTCW, or the MP ET.

[scottws]

You're crazy.

[PyroMenace]

I concur.

[Pugnate]

W T F?

Well I guess it was a matter of time, since MS had been trying to woo id for a while. I remember during the development of Doom III there were plenty of rumors about MS trying to make it a 360 exclusive.

[idolminds]

Christ...and this is fucking id software! id software practically *made* PC gaming what it is today.

[Quemaqua]

But as we've seen, their integrity is often a bit less than fans might hope.  Doom movie anyone?

[Pugnate]

It wasn't so much the Doom movie as the justification of it. Now how did that infamous line go? As long as the movie has horror elements it is a Doom movie... Something stupid like that.

[Quemaqua]

Well, yeah, that's exactly what I mean.

[MysterD]

Here's what Raven been up to w/ their next Wolfenstein game for the consoles...

Fri May 11, 5:16 PM ET

Video gaming is a fast-growing industry with even faster-moving technology that has become more popular with the advent of "next-generation" gaming systems that can use almost film-realistic environments.

A Middleton company is on the cutting edge of video gaming's future with the technology it's been using to create new games.

Raven Software is one workplace where you can say the employees are literally playing games all day. However, the ones that they're creating usually end up flying off the shelves and into game consoles like the XBox 360 or the PlayStation 3. The technology that they're using to make these games is at the cutting edge of the "next-gen" revolution, WISC-TV reported.

The company is currently working on a new game based on the "Wolfenstein" series, and with newer motion-capture technology, it is working with a local actress to be the character in its movie.

Actress Carrie Coon is put in a spandex suit that has 63 reflective markers at strategic places on her body. Twenty-four infrared cameras in Raven's studios track Coon's every move as she replicates movements that her character will perform in the game. Information will then go into a computer to create a virtual character based on her body, WISC-TV reported.

Coon, an actress who has been involved in Madison Repertory Theatre and American Players Theatre, said that she got involved with Raven after an audition process through the UW Theatre program.

"They had me kind of bust through doors with big guns and pretend I was an assassin being that didn't have a spine and club a body of something on the ground and sniff it," she said. "You know, it was one of the most bizarre audition experiences I've ever had in my life."

Coon's character will have a skin and costumes created in the computer on top of her virtual body.

"You recognize yourself in it a little bit, but then, there's this fantasy element that's so fascinating," she said.

Raven is even giving her character -- an elite force assassin -- Coon's face. A state-of-the-art face scanner takes a 3-D image that will be attached to her computer-captured body and will make her a living character in the game, WISC-TV reported.

The company has used this technology before, like in its 2006 released game "Marvel Ultimate Alliance." Raven designers said that the new technology is invaluable.

"Animation used to be a couple hundred motions for an entire game; now it's a couple hundred motions per character," said David Peng, art services coordinator for Raven.

Raven's team can create hundreds of movements in a day with a performer that from scratch could take an animator days or even weeks.

"This has really helped us as far as just churning out massive amounts of data," said Peng.

The designers said that it doesn't bother anyone that their months or years of work on a game can really go unnoticed by gamers.

"Part of our job is to hide that from them. We want to make an immersive environment that the player can feel they're a part of the experience," said Mike Crowns, director of Product Development.

The work to create the experience for its newest game is definitely not done yet.

"Even my grandmother is looking forward to it, and she's never played a game in her life," said Coon.

"There's a huge demand for these games right now, and it's just growing," said Peng.

The game won't come out until sometime in 2008, but the name and many other details about it are being kept secret, which is just one clue at how competitive this industry has become.

That competition spills over into the job market for gaming. Raven officials said that they can have a hard time hiring because of the amount of skills that they're expecting their employees to have, either computer- or animation-related.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison does offer a computer science program where students can learn those skills. Courses are offered on computer animation and game technologies. Associate professor Mike Gleicher teaches them and does research on things like motion capture, WISC-TV reported.

"I think if you wanted to look at what games (we) would be doing in five years you could look to the kind of things we're doing here," said Gleicher.

There's enough interest in the program to offer the game technology class every year, to mainly to undergraduate seniors and graduate students who are getting ready to enter the industry.

[Xessive]

Damn, I'm too late! We shoulda stopped this before Scott heard!

[Pugnate]

I forgot about this and am pissed off all over again. This is fucking insane... it is blasphemy.

[idolminds]

You know, I dont think this is console only at all. At least when Carmack clarified a while back that they are developing on the 360 because the development tools are so nice. Of course any gameplay choices made to suit the console might be a bad thing for PC gamers...

[Pugnate]

You are right...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6145003.html

You were right Feb 28th!

Long considered one of the last bastions of hardcore PC gaming, id Software appears to have jumped on the next-gen console wagon with both feet. In an interview with Worthplaying, id CEO Todd Hollenshead said that the developer's next in-house project is being prepped for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, as well as the PC.

"We're looking at PS3, 360, and PC for our internal project," he told the site, "but it's too early to guess on whether we'll have all of those ready to go at the same time. It would be nice if it works out where the launch is simultaneous, but I don't know if that's feasible."

No release window for the unnamed game, which remains top secret, has been announced. However, Hollenshead said that it "is the main focus of the development team at id...I'm not sure when we'll begin discussing details of the new IP, but it will be the next game developed entirely by id, and it WILL be cool." (Emphasis in the original.)

As for other games based on id properties, Hollenshead told Worthplaying that the upcoming Return to Castle Wolfenstein game is being designed with the Xbox 360 foremost in mind. "The next Wolf[enstein] game is using the 360 as its primary development platform but will be released on the PC as well." Revealed at last year's X05 event, the game is currently in development at Raven Software, which developed Quake 4 for the Xbox 360 and the PC under id's supervision.

Hollenshead also said that id was pleased with the critically-drubbed film version of its best-selling Doom series. He also chimed in on what he thought the next id-inspired big-screen offering should be. "The next movie deal that I want to focus on is Wolfenstein," he said. "I think it could make a great film. It's been optioned previously, but now we have the rights back again. I'm hoping that once the game development gets some exposure that interest in Hollywood will perk up."

[MysterD]

At least it will be eventually coming to the PC, from what Todd H. says....that's good news there....

As for other games based on id properties, Hollenshead told Worthplaying that the upcoming Return to Castle Wolfenstein game is being designed with the Xbox 360 foremost in mind. "The next Wolf[enstein] game is using the 360 as its primary development platform but will be released on the PC as well."

[scottws]

I forgot about this and am pissed off all over again. This is fucking insane... it is blasphemy.

Yeah, me too.  I completely forgot it was console-only.  Did they not see how popular RTCW and W:ET multiplayer was on PCs?  And how unpopular RTCW was for the Xbox?

Edit:  That's good to hear that it is actually coming to PC.  But I always think of Deus Ex: Invisible War when I think of games developed for the console first and the PC second.

[Quemaqua]

See D's above post.

[MysterD]

Yeah, me too.  I completely forgot it was console-only.  Did they not see how popular RTCW and W:ET multiplayer was on PCs? 

And how unpopular RTCW was for the Xbox?

Maybe they're trying to find a way to make it popular on the console....
Who knows....

I just hope they don't alienate PC gamers, once the PC port of Next-Gen Wolf is coming.
It better be "ported correctly", or else Id and Raven will be prepared for some nasty backlash....

Edit:  That's good to hear that it is actually coming to PC.  But I always think of Deus Ex: Invisible War when I think of games developed for the console first and the PC second.

I think of games like Bioware's ports of KOTOR and Jade Empire from console-to-PC, when I think of ports done right. More need to follow that route, if you ask me.

When I think of games like DX: IW were co-developered for two platforms at once (and failed), I think of other games that were developed for multi-platforms at once and done right -- such as Oblivion, Hitman: Blood Money and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. We need more games developed for mutli-platforms at once done like that.

[sirean_syan]

From what I heard, all the ports of Bioware's newer works were far less than stellar. It's not as bad as Deus Ex, but they certainly shouldn't be the poster child of what PC people want out of ports.

[Pugnate]

Yea Jade Empire wasn't a simple port. It was a rework, and that's why it worked beautifully straight out of the box.

The KOTOR games were fairly well ported, but they gave massive issues for ATi users.

Apparently Mass Effect will take full advantage of the PC platform.

We need more games developed for mutli-platforms at once done like that.

I think multiplatforming is the problem. More than a few developers have mentioned that it is a lot of pressure to develop a title for more than one platform at once. I think that was the problem with Rainbow Six Vegas and Double Agent. I would much rather have developers develop a game for a console and then release the PC version a few months later, like Bioware did with KOTOR and are doing with Mass Effect. Something coming much later like Jade Empire is insanity though.

But almost always, simultaneous cross platform releases seem to spell trouble.

[MysterD]

Yea Jade Empire wasn't a simple port. It was a rework, and that's why it worked beautifully straight out of the box.

The KOTOR games were fairly well ported, but they gave massive issues for ATi users.

Apparently Mass Effect will take full advantage of the PC platform.

Yeah, but who cares about ATI users? j/k.

Yeah, but didn't they hot-fix most of those issues w/ ATI users in no time for KOTOR PC???

Regardless, it shouldn't have shipped w/ issues for ATI users straight out the box, since the vid card users are pretty even b/t NVidia users and ATI users, back then.

I think multiplatforming is the problem. More than a few developers have mentioned that it is a lot of pressure to develop a title for more than one platform at once. I think that was the problem with Rainbow Six Vegas and Double Agent

And the same problem w/ DX: IW, as well -- it definitely showed on that one.

I would much rather have developers develop a game for a console and then release the PC version a few months later, like Bioware did with KOTOR and are doing with Mass Effect.

Agreed.

Something coming much later like Jade Empire is insanity though.

At least we got Jade Empire, which was a masterpiece.
It was worth the wait, if you ask me.

But almost always, simultaneous cross platform releases seem to spell trouble.

Agreed.

[Pugnate]

Yeah, but didn't they hot-fix most of those issues w/ ATI users in no time for KOTOR PC???

No. I was an ATi user and it was quite frustrating. It was a simple fix and I ended up getting help from the forums. The bug was still there in KOTOR2. Basically the game would drop frames to single digits in certain areas for no reason and only with ATi cards. 

[MysterD]

No. I was an ATi user and it was quite frustrating. It was a simple fix and I ended up getting help from the forums.

Bah!

The bug was still there in KOTOR2. Basically the game would drop frames to single digits in certain areas for no reason and only with ATi cards. 

You'd think for the sequel, a main concern would be preventing the SAME issues from REOCCURING....

Of course, then again, Obsidian is known for bugs, right out the box...

[Jedi]

HAHAHA I read half of the thread (up until D posted that the game would come to PC at some stage)... Come on guys this is just typical stuff you should expect this by now, a game on the 360 is an exclusive up until they release it on the PC some months later!
I read the title and I knew it would come to the PC eventually, I just enjoyed read the emotionally charged responses  But the general feelngs towards PC ports is well founded though.

Any the last Wolf' game wasn't too bad but... better than Doom 3 but (to me) that's not hard 

[MysterD]

HAHAHA I read half of the thread (up until D posted that the game would come to PC at some stage)... Come on guys this is just typical stuff you should expect this by now, a game on the 360 is an exclusive up until they release it on the PC some months later!

Or in some cases, like Halo 2 and Jade Empire, some YEARS later.
But, at least it comes over here -- especially for when I want something to play, when it hits the Bargain Bin.

I read the title and I knew it would come to the PC eventually, I just enjoyed read the emotionally charged responses  But the general feelngs towards PC ports is well founded though.

Any the last Wolf' game wasn't too bad but... better than Doom 3 but (to me) that's not hard 

I liked RTCW: Original. The SP was good, though the MP was great.

Actually, I liked RTCW better than Doom 3 -- which I figured would've never happened, in a million years, myself. I never could really get into Doom 3's MP.....I've yet to begin the Doom 3 expansion.

Though, I'll take Quake 2 and Quake 4 over all those.

Now, let's get to RTCW: ET....

RTCW: ET was great -- how could you go wrong for free download to play some kick-ass MP??? I'm sure many gamers would've paid for that, since that was going to be in the original RTCW: Expansion Pack anyways -- until they realized the SP part for the expansion just wasn't coming together too well...I'm sure if it was just a MP and was going to sell that component for a reduced price (since it wouldn't have a SP piece), gamers would've ate that up.

[Jedi]

Or in some cases, like Halo 2 and Jade Empire, some YEARS later.

I would point out that if you want a good port you should be ready to wait more than a few weeks - though halo 2 is not covered by this statement. But years is just too long!

[MysterD]

More details on the Next Wolfenstein game that will be by Raven, powered by Id Tech 5.

Wolfenstein details  (12.7.2008 01:01 - levis)
This month's Game Informer contains first details about id/Raven's upcoming next-gen Wolfenstein game, running on id Tech 5 engine and set to release on PC, Xbox360 and PS3:

    * Set in World War II among Nazis experimenting with occult powers once again.
    * B.J. Blazkowicz making comeback, this time also having supernatural powers of his own.
    * Set in one large city, which will open itself up as you progress through given missions and quests.
    * Randomly generated content blocking your path at times.
    * AI controlled local resistance, assisting you in fight at times.
    * An alternative reality called "The Shroud", some sort of a parallel dimension fueling Nazi powers.

Wolfenstein is set to hit PC, Xbox360 and PS3 "when it's done".

[scottws]

Hopefully it's cool.  You guys know me and Wolf....

[Xessive]

Wolfenstein is set to hit PC, Xbox360 and PS3 "when it's done".

Well that's good news! It's coming to PC after all!

I'm curious about what they're doing with game and how the open-world will be.

[MysterD]

I'm curious too -- about the open-world and whatnot.

I like Raven. Sure, they ain't the best game designer out there and all -- but I'll be damned if I find a Raven game that is actually below "good."

They're very consistent, as far as I'm concerned.

[MysterD]

Screenies from Tiscali

[Quemaqua]

How should I say this... I *used* to like Raven.  That isn't to say I don't like them now, but they just haven't done an awful lot lately.  They really need to work on something compelling before long, and it'd be nice to see them work on something original for a change.  Back in the day they had Mageslayer, Take No Prisoners, some other fun little games... though what I'd really like to see is another Heretic game.  Heretic II is still one of my all-time favorites.  That game kicked so much ass.

[Xessive]

How should I say this... I *used* to like Raven.  That isn't to say I don't like them now, but they just haven't done an awful lot lately.  They really need to work on something compelling before long, and it'd be nice to see them work on something original for a change.  Back in the day they had Mageslayer, Take No Prisoners, some other fun little games... though what I'd really like to see is another Heretic game.  Heretic II is still one of my all-time favorites.  That game kicked so much ass.

Oh man, a new Heretic game would kick ass! I loved that they made the decision to go with 3rd person action. Imagine the possibilities with today's technology!

[MysterD]

Oh man, a new Heretic game would kick ass! I loved that they made the decision to go with 3rd person action. Imagine the possibilities with today's technology!

Wow....Heretic, Heretic 2, and Hexen...
There's some old school thoughts.
I have none of those.
GOG should add those to its catalogue...

[MysterD]

TWO page interview with Wolfenstein's Creative Director Eric Biessman of Raven.

[Pugnate]

Where are the interview highlights D? What am I paying you for dammit?

[MysterD]

Here ya go, Puggy.

1UP: In past demonstrations of the game, Raven personnel have discussed the idea of the "expansive environment" as one of the things that Wolfenstein is pushing; can you elaborate on what that means, and how does that affect the level design?

EB: ... The idea behind the expansive environment is that as BJ [progresses] through the game and the story, new areas and missions open up, offering him the choice of exploration and how he approaches obstacles and combat within the city. If BJ is under heavy fire from an emplaced gun, he may decide to rush the weapon in a straight assault. If he doesn't think that'll work, he could take to the rooftops and drop down behind the emplacement. Or, perhaps he wants to avoid the situation entirely, dropping through a nearby manhole to bypass the emplacement altogether. Really, the main goal of the game is to offer the player enough choice to suit his needs while still driving an immersive and exciting story and world.

...

UP: Where did the idea for the Veil come from? What was the specific "a-ha!" moment for the Veil -- did you happen to watch or read something that provided the creative spark for it?

EB: That's really a tough question. As a quick explanation, the Veil's an alternate dimension that rests on top of reality. Early in the game, BJ finds an ancient item that allows him to enter the Veil, gaining new abilities and powers that he can use against the Nazi threat as they work on their evil deeds. Primarily, the Veil was born out of gameplay. We'd created a set of gameplay options for the player that allowed him to grab glowing runes in the world that activated short-lived powers. While we loved the idea of giving BJ access to the powers that the Nazis were using against him, we felt that it ended up giving the player more of a "multiplayer power-up" feeling and really took away a lot of player choice when the runes were set in the world. With that in mind, we set out to allow the player to choose when and how he used his powers, while keeping it streamlined and fast for players.

One of the things that the team at Raven has always loved about Wolfenstein was the "what if?" possibility of reality. What if the Nazis' research in the occult really paid off? What if the Black Sun, which is based on historical past and is the basis for the Nazi SS logo, really was a real item? We asked ourselves questions like this. As we were brainstorming ideas for how to allow the player to have control over the powers, the Veil came into being. Essentially, it's the perfect tie-in between the gameplay concept and the story conceit. The Nazis have discovered that the Black Sun is real. Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for our hero, they're blocked from direct access to it by the Veil. BJ discovers he can use the Veil to control the small amount of Black Sun energy that's leaking into the Veil against the Nazis. It really was an "a-ha!" moment that tied it all together.

Screens: