4/7/2007 8:32AM PDT
FF13 to Exceed Hollywood Level Graphics?
Final
Fantasy XIII’s visuals are set to redefine what we can
expect in a game
Inarguably one of the
best producers of computer generated
graphics in the world, Square Enix has been flooring gamers with
dazzling CG
since FF7. The company eventually tried to expand into traditional film
by
releasing Final Fantasy Spirits Within in theaters. With a plot that
was
perhaps too cerebral for mass audience at the time, the movie actually
made its
mark in history with its visuals.
Like
nothing before its time, the digital actors in the movie were leaps and
bounds
beyond anything anyone had ever seen. The main character, Dr. Aki Ross,
was even
featured in a bikini in 2001 issue of Maxim magazine. To produce the
visuals at
the time, hours upon hours were needed just to render one frame of
animation
featuring the doctor due to her tens of thousands of individuals hair
strands –
and this was using huge network of cutting edge computers all working
in parallel,
commonly referred to as a render farm.
Now just
six years later, SE’s FF13 is well into development for PS3. Besides
the
inherent thrill of another game in the series being made, the graphical
quality
is simply stunning. In fact, we’d say
its, at worst, on par with The Spirits
Within. Think about that for a second. Sometimes in the next
year or two, you’ll
be playing a game on home console that’s, so far, visually superior to a Hollywood
movie that required hundreds of computers to make. This fact
alone validates
the capabilities of both SE and PS3 as both being world class. Just
think what
another six years down the road could bring us. Crazy isn’t it?
-Kaiser
Hwang of PSM April Issue.
Scan 1
Scan
2
Source: PSM
More PS3 News
