I get fed a fair bit of video games news. I like to at least know what's out there, even if I don't care to play some of it. But I like super heroes, and I like kicking super villian ass. So checking out the gallery of screens, and the trailer, for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (via Flicker Gaming) was pretty much a no-brainer.
As I watched the trailer, these thoughts flashed across my brain:
The next generation of gaming really is plastic
I'm sure that someone else has made mention of this, but for some reason, most of the next-gen games available suffer from Plastic People Syndrome. I understand that they are super heroes, but can't someone write a shader that looks like skin? Or cloth?
Does any of this really look better than the current gen?
Seriously, I can't tell. Maybe it's the rapid cut technique. Maybe it's the physics simulations and environmental effects. Perhaps it's just really high polycount that I can't see when looking at it via my movie codec. I just can't see that much difference in play between what we could do a couple of years ago and what we can do after the revolution comes.
Oh, God! Is Marvel seriously trying to uphold its trademark claim to "Super Hero"?
Watch the video. That little TM after Super Hero near the end of the trailer made me cringe. Did you miss it? It's hiding in the phrase "The largest Super Hero Alliance Ever!". What has the world come to? It's bad enough that we are being forced to upgrade to get our gaming fix, but now our efforts are going to help solidify the position of a blatantly stupid trademark fight.
What thoughts crossed you mind?
We need to stop trying to leap over the uncanny valley in a single bound.
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