Factor 5 impressed with PlayStation 3’s CELL power

Factor 5's Lair for the PlayStation 3 - Image 1 

Often the root of many Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3 wars, the Dragonlancer-esque game Lair is in itself one amazing title that needs serious horsepower stocked under Sony‘s next-generation console’s hood. Not surprisingly, in an interview with GamePro, Factor 5‘s Julian Eggebrecht, chief creative director, said that they were impressed by the power of the PlayStation 3.

We were blown away by Cell. Not so much by the graphics chip because that was basically what was known and what we expected, but the Cell suddenly made it possible to use techniques in Lair that we had talked about before, but which we never thought a system would be fast enough to actually support. We were able to make this insane level of detail changes possible from the very, very highest point up in the sky all the way to the ground.

Eggebrecht explained that in their former flight title Rebel Strike for the GameCube, they had to “cheat around” with massive levels, making them look massive by loading the next level once the fighter landed. It wasn’t a fluid, smooth option from going all the way up to all the way down, but it worked.

Now with the PlayStation 3’s CELL processor, however, that’s a whole different story. In fact, Eggebrecht revealed that their AI uses the processing units dynamically. Instead of dedicating certain AI tasks to one of the SPUs, the game would allocate processing resources to an idle unit.

They have animations running on some of the SPUs, with a full-blown physics engine. They also have actual fluid mechanics being simulated for the first time in a game, thanks to the CELL. But perhaps the worst of it is, that for all that power and capability, the game isn’t coming with a multiplayer mode.

Instead, it will have a ranking, online mode. But if Lair becomes a success and they get to work on a sequel, Factor 5 promises to put multi-play “on the table.”

Via GamePro

Factor 5's Lair for the PlayStation 3 - Image 1 

Often the root of many Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3 wars, the Dragonlancer-esque game Lair is in itself one amazing title that needs serious horsepower stocked under Sony‘s next-generation console’s hood. Not surprisingly, in an interview with GamePro, Factor 5‘s Julian Eggebrecht, chief creative director, said that they were impressed by the power of the PlayStation 3.

We were blown away by Cell. Not so much by the graphics chip because that was basically what was known and what we expected, but the Cell suddenly made it possible to use techniques in Lair that we had talked about before, but which we never thought a system would be fast enough to actually support. We were able to make this insane level of detail changes possible from the very, very highest point up in the sky all the way to the ground.

Eggebrecht explained that in their former flight title Rebel Strike for the GameCube, they had to “cheat around” with massive levels, making them look massive by loading the next level once the fighter landed. It wasn’t a fluid, smooth option from going all the way up to all the way down, but it worked.

Now with the PlayStation 3’s CELL processor, however, that’s a whole different story. In fact, Eggebrecht revealed that their AI uses the processing units dynamically. Instead of dedicating certain AI tasks to one of the SPUs, the game would allocate processing resources to an idle unit.

They have animations running on some of the SPUs, with a full-blown physics engine. They also have actual fluid mechanics being simulated for the first time in a game, thanks to the CELL. But perhaps the worst of it is, that for all that power and capability, the game isn’t coming with a multiplayer mode.

Instead, it will have a ranking, online mode. But if Lair becomes a success and they get to work on a sequel, Factor 5 promises to put multi-play “on the table.”

Via GamePro

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