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Itagaki: Realistic Military Details Will Elevate Devil's Third
by Staff [Console/PC, Exclusive, Art, Design]
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December 2, 2011
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Valhalla Games' Tomonobu Itagaki, a self-described "military nut," sees a way in which he can stand out from the competition in the shooter genre -- a genre he hopes to top with his upcoming game, Devil's Third.
As an example, the former Ninja Gaiden series director told Gamasutra that in Modern Warfare 3's submarine mission, "There are two propellers, on the submarine, and they're rotating in the same direction. That's impossible, though, because it wouldn't work to propel the craft; that can't exist in real life. That's the truth, and I speak as a major fan of Modern Warfare who really respects what they've done."
"That's why I don't think everyone who makes war games like that has a full knowledge of war technology, or the physics and weapons involved. Maybe it's all little details, but it's a big surprise to me that that incorrect detail went unnoticed by anyone -- as they put it in their E3 trailer."
On the other hand, he sees DICE making decisions against realism simply to please players, with Battlefield 3.
"In Battlefield 3, for example, you have a scene with a Main Battle Tank firing away with its cannon while running along in the middle of the desert. The speed of sound is about 340 meters per second, but it fires really quickly, so the fire can reach targets several kilometers away very quickly. Battlefield runs at 30 frames per second on consoles, so it's not possible to actually show it at that frame rate."
"That's reality, but in the world of entertainment, there's more of an emphasis on making things easier to understand. It's like how you can hear the explosions in outer space during Star Wars. So, when something explodes, you just hear the sound, and when a 120mm gun fires, you can see it in action."
Seeing an "ample opportunity to really break into this genre," Itagaki, who describes himself as a "military nut," plans to bring a new style that blends his attention to detail with his signature over-the-top style -- but he is tight-lipped about what that means.
"There are good shooters out there, of course, but the genre hasn't been perfected yet," he says. But when asked what will do that, he says, "Well, if I told you that, I'd be disclosing some of our ideas before their time."
When pressed, Itagaki replies, "Well, if you look at military-themed games, do you really feel like it's a battlefield you're seeing? That's my answer."
The full interview, in which he talks about his development technology, the reason he's attracting Westerners to his development team, and why working with publisher THQ has been surprisingly easy, is live now on Gamasutra.
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There's a trailer at http://www.devilsthird.com/
Seriously though I'm really curious on how Japanese developers will handle shooters.
He just doesn't want to.
However, on the other hand like having tracers on a sniper rifle, it's simply a game conceit. During WW2, 80% of all American injuries came from Knee Mortars, not much a level if the player had to dodge mortar fire the majority of the time. Or the flashless/smokeless rifle tech the Japanese had, again the player would not get a telegraph. But that information could be used to produce a battlefield that requires deconstruction and thus a much more interesting scenario.
"That's reality, but in the world of entertainment, there's more of an emphasis on making things easier to understand. " Just called the gaming public dumb in my understanding, but he makes it sound so deep.
Where would we be without you Itagaki?
Just tell us you're doing an Itagaki Metal Gear meets Modern Warfare with swords and a coherent story and we all get excited.
I hadn't heard of this game until this article, and I thought "Oh I guess it's supposed to be a simulation type of deal like ARMA".
Then I watched the trailer, and it was like what's the point of making claims about realistic shell velocities when you're literally making a game about ninjas with miniguns?
as trashy as Saints Row 2 is, the gameplay and character mods make for some surreal visuals.
Someone needs a mirror. Complaining about a graphic detail in a game and then claiming the high ground with a game about physics defying mini-gun wielding bullet sponging samurai. Nitpicking someone's trailer? Maybe take a look at yours. First five seconds and the movie slomos and freeze frames to show off the gun being slung on the side of the character (who carries a rifle like that?) going through her leg.
Sweet irony.
On a side note.
Want a realistic FPS?
ArmA series.
Want a fun game with bullet physics and realistic guns?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.
I did read the interview which is hilarious btw because Itagaki just believes in himself a lot to the point of grandeur. I think what he was meaning to imply is that if you are going to go after the realism of a authentic look you should really consider your set pieces, because the more you push into that realm, the more people are going to notice your blemishes, from both a technical and authentic standpoint. I think the interviewer did not follow his lead and instead thought more about the game Itagaki was marketing to the tune of that comment. So Itagaki ends up explaining his answer more so than relating it to his reasoning about that sort of style. In all my years of studying and watching Anime the one thing they do the best is to get the look, feel, and symbols down to convey the realism of the fantasy. I think most of the time western philosophy is based on continuing an old idea and making it seem more real than the last iteration rather than playing around with the elements and creating totally new ideas. That's why we get Dragons Age one year and Skyrim the next few years and we wonder what is so different in the arc structure of these two games.
Here's the tale of the tape since Danny Bilson took over as EVP and started adding his own special brand of magic to the projects.
Metacritic scores:
Homefront – 70
Red Faction: Armageddon – 71
Space Marine – 77
THQ’s stock price when Danny Bilson was hired – $18-19.00
THQ’s stock price now – 1 to 3 - about a 92% drop
Stock price today - http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=THQI ($1.44)
Wake. Up. People.
Winning!