Haze not in HD, has 4GB install Comments by Robert Purchese

Anyone running this game on a TV/monitor that runs above 720p will have a very blurry experience. I tried it at 1080i, it felt like someone had taken my glasses off, and covered my eyes with Vaseline- truly horrid. I feel they would be better off lowering some of the detail or something, that way it could perhaps at least hit 1080p (just like Sony promised).

Darren: I think the difference in MS and Sony's strategy lies in their appreciation of the market and understanding when it'll be ready for the HD online era. MS started early with the Xbox establishing the infrastructure for Live by the premature end of the original console's life. Sony opted against such a move and are now arguably playing catch up. The question is when will the market be ready. Judging by Wii's current dominance, I don't believe it's ready yet.

i actually quite liked the demo, thought it was wholey uninspiring yet quite slick and did nt notice the lower res because of all the motion blur, asuming killzone 2 is 720p, why on earth is haze 576p? but haze had such a troubled development that speaks volumes!

"the saturn was hard to develop for and was less powerfull than the ps2"

A little unfair. The Saturn was in competition with the PS1 :)

I honestly think that by the time developers have learnt how to get the most out of the PS3 to produce games that look consistently good, including multiformat ones, Microsoft will be near to releasing or will have released the 360's successor and thus the cycle will start all over again. Sony need to think long and hard about how to make the PS4 easier to code for IMO so there isn't such a steep learning curve next time round.

At least people are talking about Haze now

Wow, they must suck at development. As mentioned, Uncharted, UT3 etc all run at proper HD.

Lame. I'll wait for the 360 version, which will run at 720p as it's simpler to dev for seemingly.

@DaemonB
FRD are developing Timesplitters 4 as multiplatform - which would explain the dev kits. If the game itself has no real saving graces it would be foolish to do a 360 version, too much other competition. The PS3 hasn't had that many FPS's full stop and it fills a hole.

Personally I found the game actually plays quite well. Graphically not all that good but gameplay wise it's got very good controls for a console shooter - something a lot of better looking games get horribly wrong.

@Darren
"Sony need to think long and hard about how to make the PS4 easier to code for IMO so there isn't such a steep learning curve next time round."

You could have levelled the same criticisms at the PS2 unfortunately. Though actually getting a bit of a kicking this gen could be the best thing for them.

Darren, I agree that Sony's hardware design philosophy needs re-evaluating so it's architecture is more approachable. With Kutaragi now gone it could well be likely. With regards to the successor to 360, as PS2 continues to show the advent of the next gen doesn't instantly mean death for the previous generation.

Arbiter: I completely agree.

@Arbiter
MS have caused themselves a lot of damage with RROD issues - however I still think getting to the market much earlier has served them well. It was a calculated and accepted risk.

Getting a decent sized foothold and ensuring it is the lead dev platform for a lot of stuff is reaping benefits. Actually having stuff on the shelf which counters Sony's PR claims must have help them too. If they had launched closer to the PS3 release then we would be looking at a market where they would have done a lot worse.

No one has pointed out that this basically breaks 4-way split-screen yet? This is by far the most interesting feature of Haze, but it seems it'll be another stupid last-gen can't-see-a-damn-thing-in-multi experience.

Maybe they'll reduce the effects/textures and increase the res for split-screen?

I think it's interesting that X360 has such a strong following in spite of its flaws. Yes, it's noisy, it RRODs, peripherals are expensive etc., but it has made up for all that by delivering fantastic gaming experiences. People are willing to look past its faults and buy it regardless because of what it actually delivers.

On the other hand, the PS3 has been selling mainly on the basis of promises. Whether it's "true next gen", the supposed power of the Cell, Home, GT5, Killzone 2, what we keep hearing over and over from PS3 supporters is "just you wait until ...". The problem is that more and more of those promises are turning out to have been pretty flimsy, and the PS3 still has very little to show for itself, with one exclusive after another falling flat and the hardware turning out to not to be so great after all. Haze is just the latest nail in the coffin.

But yeah, let's wait for the in game XMB, and MGS4 and LBP and Resistance2 ...

Demo was dull. Such a shame as I have a credit note burning a hole in my pocket. Looks like it will be another two weeks of Viva Pinata and GTA 4 until Lego Indy arrives.

Haze the new game from free radical.

Blurry gaphics, no detail, PS2 like effects but wait................ its smooth (oh were so grateful).
Sub HD graphics.
A 4GB fucking install WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are free radical having a laugh? With all the delays I was expecting something with a lot of polish.
Am I gonna pay40-50- quid for this, a generic, blurry not very special FPS. In order for a FPS to stand out it ahs to look good and this seems painfully generic.

Plus take a look at the bullshit preview shots and compare them to the current vaseline-effect blurry ones now.
B U L L S H I T.

hah, cell.

I can't believe sony actually sold the same bunch of idiots crap twice.

Remember the emotion engine?

Monkie king, absolutely right. Been waiting for the PS3 to deliver for over a year now, all the while the 360's actually been delivering.

I actually loved the demo and will buy the final release. Twitchy fps gameplay always appealed to me, and it reminds me a lot of Timesplitters.

I think the headline for this article speaks volumes for the current editorial bias of Eurogamer. Yes, its worth reporting (sub-720p games are a disappointing trend) - but in the context of a review that shows both pros and cons. FR will get a rough ride critically because of the exclusive deal (as will Konami next month).

Yeah my sons COD4 wont play on his 360, and the drive scratched it too, so hes off to buy another copy!!!

360 is a great machine but I don't really think people overlook it problems because it delivers. I mean only within the last 1.5 year has all the real numbers of problems been exposed. If general population knew it had as many porblems as it its aired now would they have bought it?

I know I wouldn't have but I bought it for my kid and didn't know any better.

PLOLHAZE

The problem is that while some PS3 games are exclusive and built from the ground up for the PS3... the engines themselves are also ports from the 360 dev kit. Hense shit games. I can see now why the PS2 devasted the original xbox. Ye who can develop first, reaps ye harvest.

vercetti102 wrote: "that the 360 has a design-level fault?"

Come now vercetti102, stop pretending that's all you was talking about here. :)

To all you fanboy retards who are saying "well i'm sure it'd run at a better resolution on the 360"

WTF Are you talking about?

Do you KNOW the technical reasons why? Are you forgetting that even your beloved (gawd knows why) halo 3 didnt even run at 720p?

And he's right. If gamers werent told what res it was running at, they almost definately wouldnt know (or care) - unless it was going back to running at 480i - no-one would notice.

Hell with proper anti-aliasing most people around here probably couldnt even spot 480p compared to 720p. Personally with the drop of frame rate most games seem to get at 720p, give me 480p at 60fps compared to 720p at 30fps any day of the week. When it comes to games frame rate is more important than resolution.

Now stop pulling yer puds while telling us how GREAT your machine is.. Sheesh.. What is it you're so worried about? Well apart from the inevitable "last place" by the end of the year???

this game must be really crap, with the review scores to date (4 x reviewers from the legendary famitsu magazine) 9/10 8/10 9/10 8/10 and 9/10 from the italian Playstation magazine... So lowest score is 8/10...

This sounds like it will be the 2nd best FPS after COD 4 on the PS3, so I'm looking forward to it...

@DaemonB
Yup my 360 scratched 2 out of 3 games i put in it, allthough you can get the discs fixed at blockbuster for £2, AND THEY WORK AFTERWARDS! Send it back to microsoft just got my 3rd 360 back, and now my discs are scratch free this one does not seam to be damaging them YET!

the legendary famitsu magazine

The one that gave lair 9/7/8/9
Yep, that's legendary in my book.

@jetsetdemo

thx for the blockbuster tip.. will mention to my son, im sure he`ll be pleased.

Famitsu also scored PS3 and Xbox versions of Orange Box 36/40, which is a bit weird. I thought Japan doesn't "do" FPSes, anyway.

Anyone who recons you cant tell the difference between 480p and 1080p is basically talkign utter bolox.
I don't care how much AA you put on top that anyone can tell the diffrence. That a 1/5th of the pixel compared to a 1080p image.
Thats NTSC vs 1080p , do you actualy believe that yourself? 1080 vs 720 is different and if it meant a decent jump in frame rate i would very often choose the 720p simply because its high enough res that scaling hardware/software can do decent work interpolating it up.

NatAttack wrote: "No, they are not identical. The 360 version has much better texturing."

Hmmm, all the comparisons I've read suggests they are practically identical, where the texturing can look a little better on the 360 at times, and the old effect can look a little better on the PS3 at times, but overall, they're equal.

eg.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...

Regarding COD4, (Call me sad) but I have both versions so I can play with friends over PSN or XBL (which ever they have). Both versions really really do look as close to identical as possible imo, I slightly prefer the 360 version but this is only because it loads quite a bit faster. Other than that, there's nothing in it.

Already said, but 4GB on a 40GB machine is far from minimal.

Just give me some damn ANTIALIASING! What's the point of having a £1000 tv and console power monsters when every edge looks like a goddamn set of stairs!?

Anyway heres some new gameplay footage from gamespot with a possible spoiler warning:

http://au.gamespot.com/news/blogs/review...

Hard to tell how decent the graphics are from that video but one thing is for sure - the script sounds so shite it's unbelievable. They've tried to do some kind of Aliens/Starship Troopers banter but it just falls flat on its face.

ps3lol


Sorry, had to be done.

I wonder if people will question PS3's power when MGS4 drops?

Haze just looks rushed to me.

another 4 gig il need a new hdd at this rate! oh well its all worth it.

Vic wrote: "I wonder if people will question PS3's power when MGS4 drops?"

It's not really about questioning the PS3's power, it's about the reality that it's not as powerful as some gamers like to believe (i.e. those who still believe the PS3 will blow away the 360 in future). The 360 and PS3 are very simliar in terms of power, with the PS3 having a slight edge for those devs with the resources to get the most out of it.

Hence Haze doesn't look as it does and run at 576p because it's rushed, it's like that because currently that's the most Free Radical can get out of the PS3 for their game. :|

A big +1 to Yaz.

The sad fact is that many devs still haven't got their heads round the good old PS3 yet. For me, this doesn't matter because I bought the system almost solely for certain exclusives (and so I can play online with my PS3 only owning friends) but it's going to take a while for some devs to really get to grips with the hardware, give it a few years and I know the PS3 will shine but for now I've got MGS4 and a few other gems to play/look forward to, so it's all good in the end imo :-)

Like i've said before... Not only PS3 needs installation but also offers nothing extra graphically but the other way around. See DMC. Crossplatform and yet the ps needs instalation. GTA4 is at its worse in PS3 version and so on... Well down goes one of the so awaited tittles of PS3. Not even HD and 4Gigs installation. Well i hope they eat BR discs for breakfast. Would be more usefull there.

@davisorle

No offence, but seriously, what does it matter. There are people who enjoy their PS3's, people who own 360's and people who own both, like myself. Both systems are great in their own way. We know the 360 performs better on a lot of multi platform titles. Why do you feel the need to rub peoples faces in it? It's not just you though, so don't take this as a personal attack, it's not meant that way:-)

I'll never understand the fanboy culture here :-(

/feels like an outcast

No ta.

I expect the same of Killzone.

@Gradius

Nothing to do with fanboyism, its simple intergroup discrimination.

Some peeps need to belong :/

I'll have 21gb left of my 60gb hdd after this install. Nearly time for an upgrade me thinks.

Crikey, who gies a fuck about the resolution really, surely all that matters is if the game is enjoyable, which it appears this one is not going by the majority of comments.

And as for all that 'look at GT4, Unchartered etc. and see what you can get out of the hardware when it is done right' - someone pinch me but I think I just dropped back into 1996 and have had a blast on Saturn VF2/Sega Rally/Virtua Cop while looking at the wank PSone ports!

I have been too busy playing Boom Blox and LostWinds on the Wii in glorious 480p-shite'ovision to really care, a couple of great games that are actually fun to play (and for what it is worth, yes I do also own a PS3 and no I don't own a 360!)

I really don't like how Sony and the game developers for the PS3 are treating gamers these days. Sony simply couldn't stop talking about how the "true next generation af gaming" didn't start until they released the PS3. Well, I bought the damn thing (and lucky for me, the 360 and the Wii) AND I bought a very expensive TV that supports true HD, 1080P. After having purchased the PS3 just recently, I´m amazed at how few PS3 games actually support true HD.
And now the game developers want to tell us that the whole HD thing "really doesn't matter"!? How lazy and arrogant can you possibly get?

Sacrifice resolution for a smooth gameplay...eh ? not sure about that.

3rd party Devs need to pull them themselves together, and sony needs to help them, there is a lot of untapped power in the ps3 hardware, just watch this newest Killzone 2 video with the real-time level intro, it looks amazing:

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/18922

I don't expect 3rd parties to match this video, but the video does tell us that the power is there, its just that most developers don't want to invest the time and money to extract it, so its up to sony to help them.

*Sigh*

With every new announcement, Haze slips further and further down in my estimations. It just appears to have been a monumental fuck-up every step of the way.

Let's face it, neither the PS3 or the X360 have the grunt to render all games at "true" HD at 60fps with the graphic complexity people expect from post PS2/ Xbox standards. If there was a committee that rejected all games not running at 'HD' res @60fps than developers would be forced to consider that guideline in their design but nooooo. This is the way it is. Move on.

A few facts here:

1) CoD4: PS3 and 360 versions were absolutely indistinguishable unless examined under a powerful microscope.

2) CoD4 is the most sucessful console FPS so far and is not HD, so the market in general (NOTE: not us forum nerds) is not that bothered by resolution.

3) Halo3 used a modified Halo2 engine, not a fresh built-for-the-next-gen engine like Haze did, and was released with one hell of a lot less developement time than Haze. No comparison.

4) GT5p and Uncharted, although looking very nice and rendering at 720p, still exhibit frequent tearing and in GT5p's case frequent frame drops.

5) Burnout, CoD4 and DMC proved that talented devs can squeeze enough power from the PS3 to match the 360 versions.

6) There are only a handful (single-figure numbers) of 720p 60fps titles out there, let alone 720p 30fps titles. This is not the HD generation we were promised, from EITHER manufacturer.

From the sound of it (I've not played it yet) what makes Haze a bad game is not ONLY the poor visuals, but also a lack of identity/strong storyline. The fact that it is a PS3 exclusive is irrelevant, it's a bad game regardless of the platform.