Saturday, August 13, 2005

Madden: Attention to Detail

I have to conclude after taking a quick look at Madden that everyone who works on the game spends day after day totally stoned. At least I hope that's what they're doing, because I'd hate to think that people who aren't stoned are this stupid.

Here's the thing. Last year, in addition to having the quarterback frequently face in the wrong direction on the Xbox version (one of the most amateurish, embarrassing errors in sports game history), there was a problem with LOD. Most games have different levels of detail for the same texture depending on the camera's distance from the object. As you get closer, more detail is shown. As you pull back, detail is removed (ideally, though, you can't tell because you're farther away). In Madden last year, LOD was changing pre-snap without the camera moving, so you'd see levels of detail blinking in and out of jerseys. It was an incredible oversight.

I thought.

NCAA this year? Same problem. Unbelievable! Surely they fixed it for Madden, I thought. So I pop it in today (thanks Gamefly) and guess what? Still there. You can see LOD change on three or four different players before the snap, particularly with certain camera angles. It looks like, well, complete shit.

So what I'm hoping is that the Madden guys are stoned all day long, and watching the level of detail change like that is the funniest thing they've ever seen (because they're all baked), and so they decided to leave it in. Because if people who aren't high approved that for shipping, they should all be taken out in a field and shot.

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