22 April 2009

Evolution of Game Graphics

Mild digression here...

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This screenshot here (not a photo) shows the lovely Wake Island portrayed in the upcoming game Battlefield 1943. Kinda feel like taking a stroll there all of a sudden ^^;

They say technologies go 一日千里, or one day thousand miles, and it is indeed the case. Below 4 sets of screenshots show how much Wake Island has changed graphically in Battlefield 1942 (released in 2002), Battlefield 2 (released in 2005), and the upcoming Battlefield 1943 (to be released this year).

Based on a real island of the same name and a real battle, this map has been very popular with the players and was remade into different games. While seeing a recurring character back in a new game is fairly common, seeing a recurring map isn't quite so ^^;

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Being a Battlefield 1942 player (albeit a poorly skilled one orz), it's impressive to see how far game graphics can evolved over these years. One can imagine how 3D graphics were just starting to take off significant just over a decade ago, and now it's getting more and more breathtaking or indistinguishable with real life stuff. I sometimes do wonder, how would games look in another 10 years' time? :o

All images are from Total Gaming Network

12 comments:

  1. wow talk about an upgrade ^^ but yah it's getting a little baffling at the technology we have nowadays. To even push the level in games,we had little blocks or something moving as if their delayed or stuck way back when but now we have water that moves fluently when something touches it(like in Bioshock)

    10 years from now I'm thinking real life simulators that we can feel the breeze of wind or the coldness of rain without actually being in those elements O.o scary xD

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  2. Damn... I can't tell which one's the real island and which one's from the game.

    I remember my brother playing NFL game on the Dreamcast in May and my dad came and saw him playing in snow condition and thought it was snowing somewhere.

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  3. @ blueplains:
    Technology really has improved quite a lot, even gaming has taken into a whole new dimension with greater demand these days :o

    To imagine how games will be like in 10 years time... I think it'd actually be scary more than breathtaking (or maybe both?).

    @ Lightning Sabre:
    Too bad none of the pictures here are of the real island XD

    Haha games can go so real that they can fool people. However some can go too real for some people to take that they find themselves feeling dizzy when playing or experiencing the in-game environment.

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  4. Its great that the graphics have improved greatly over the last years but while the graphical quality improves more and more I notice the tendency that the creators of those often dont care about the overall quality anymore and deliver mediocre games with blasting visuals.

    Sure the visuals are important to a certain extent but if the game behind it blows it isnt fun to play.
    Ive taken quite a backseat in gaming over the last 2 years.Might pick up some games now that i earn money again though

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  5. @ Blowfish:
    You have made a very good point here - we tend to see more and more titles with great visuals but mediocre with many other aspects in the game.

    While the visual stuff may the one that draws potential players to play the game, I've found it too much and perhaps too annoying having to get better and better computers to play them, and so I've ended up playing some of the more 'retro' ones, which can be equally as good or maybe even better.

    The upcoming 1943 may have stunning graphics, but what it offers as a downloadable only content has lost its appeal as a Battlefield game to many old timers. With all that trouble, I find it much better to stick with the first game of the series: Battlefield 1942 and its mods ^^;

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  6. Some games lack heavily in other aspects trying to make stunning graphics, such as heavy system requirements, in which even then the system will lag from time to time, or sometimes even poor GUI.

    I still think COD4 has one of the best graphics as of recent times, as well as having a pretty easy-to-pick-up interface, since I'm not really the FPS kind of person. (PC games only, don't really own a PS3/WII/XBOX).

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  7. @ konadora:
    Games tend to requires higher and higher system specs lately, and I personally find it a pain to keep on having to upgrade a computer to get it keep up to the latest games. Therefore I tend to stick with the old and "classics", but I find myself less time to game these days...

    COD4 surely is a great game. I have played a bit on a friend's computer before, and it was a good experience. While games are getting more and more demanding in many aspects, I'd just stick with the 2002 classic Battlefield 1942 for now ^^;

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  8. Those later images are absolutely amazing. Of course, people always argue that hyper-realism beats aiming for photorealism, which we still cannot achieve. Anyway, as long as developers remember to make the game fun, instead of just focusing on the graphics, this is a fantastic thing.

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  9. @ M12:
    Computer graphics are vastly improving at a great speed, and it seems to be more and more demanding for the latest game titles. While having lush graphics and leaning more towards realism (it's not quite there yet but it's getting closer and closer all the time) is great, it is indeed important to make the game to be fun as well, which is what a number of the latet games tend to lack recently.

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  10. Very nice post and pictures. I am looking forward to 1943, it looks really cool. They haven't shown really posted a lot of pictures for the Iwo-Jima or Guadalcanal, but I am pretty sure they both will look as great as Wake Island.

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  11. @ Jayross:
    While I have seen a bit of Iwo Jima from a preview trailer (which looks nothing like the real Iwo Jima - all so green and tropical), I have yet to see what Guadalcanal looks like at the moment.

    It's worth noting that the general response from the gamers to 1943 so far has been fairly negative. The number of restrictions and digression of gameplay from the typical Battlefield series are the main concern.

    While there's still time before the game comes out, I do hope that BF1943 will be a good game rather than being a mere eye candy and that's it, which has been the case for many games lately...

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  12. Yeah, game graphics are becoming more realistic these days. It's a little jarring to see how games have evolved since the days of Atari and Pong! It kinda makes you think about the future, and how video game graphics can evolve into something more visually stunning.

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