Whoosh!
Posted at December 12, 2005 01:03 PM - Category: Stuff
You're all going to hate me. I got an Xbox 360. ducks
With it, I've got Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing. Both are very excellent games and are keeping me busy with the single player and the multiplayer. They also share one big thing in common: motion blur effects. So, I think I'm going to go out on a limb and declare 2006: The Year of Motion Blur.
You'll remember in past years we had such graphical wonders as Cel Shading and Bump Mapping. Well, a new year is upon us and it's time for another overused effect to be upon us. Now don't get me wrong, PDZ and PGR both use motion blue quite well. It certainly adds to the "action" feel of PDZ's gameplay and it just makes sense in a racing game like PGR. But I feel we're going to start seeing this effect used whereever and whenever it can. I've encountered a few bugs in PDZ whereby the motion blurring gets turned up a few notches and everything really gets smeared across the screen. I predict we'll see at least one game where it's turned up way too much permanently.
I think 2nd prize will go to HDR lighting. I've noticed that turning up in these games too. PGR uses it properly, but PDZ does not. In the latter, what happens is the effect whereby you eyes adjust to light when going from dark to light or light to dark is too slow. So, if you go from a light area to a dark one, you end up in a dark room for 3-4 seconds before really being able to see what's going on. I understand there's an element of realism there, but it's also really annoying to be blinded all the time. Hopefully, they'll decide to fix this or tone it down with an online patch.
