WipEout 60 FPS: You're Doing It Right
I'm going to have to ask you all to hold your rolling eyes for just a bit and hear me out. Yes, I'm once again talking about WipEout HD. You know what? I love the game and I think it is worth mentioning what it does right! Yes the game is limited on tracks, and the online connectivity has some hiccups but everywhere else the game shines through. Most specifically, maintaining 60 FPS at full 1080p with near zero slowdown.
Up until recently, this was pretty much considered a pipe dream, it takes a lot of horse power to produce that many pixels. The real question is: how did they do it? The long and short of it? Dynamic horizontal resolution.
The folks over at Digital Foundary did some sluthing, and determined that rather than upscaling a smaller frame buffer, or simply eat skipping frames, WipEout HD relies on a dynamic horizontal resolution. During normal game play, the game runs at 1080p (1920 x 1080px). Occasionally, this is simply too much for the system to handle. Instead, the system reduces the horizontal resolution of the game until the action calms down a bit.
The result? Game play which is fast and smooth like butter, and your mom. Oooh, burn. Now if only we could convince the makers of GTA IV, Halo 3, and Haze to employ these methods.
[via PS3 Fanboy]
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 29 September 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: 60 fps, fast game, playstation 3, wipeout hd
As someone who works in a professional industry where "crappy" just doesn't cut it, I have to say it warms my heart to see developers using their brains to figure out solutions to tough problems instead of just saying "uh, we didn't know how to use the technology".
Creative solutions to challenging problems - that's what sets the men apart from the boys, so to speak.
Nice work, devs, you earned your $20. And you made a frankly kick-ass game.