First Killzone 2 screen nabbed by USA Today [update]
by Justin McElroy 
{ Jul 10th 2007 at 9:00AM }
After a particularly long engagement, this is the first real, really real, actual screen of Killzone 2 gameplay. It appeared in a USA Today story in which the game was described by Sony's Ron Eagle as "a hardware mover." Hey! It's going to be good too? We were just happy it existed.
We know how you're feeling, we had a hard time believing it too. Finally? Afterall both these years? But when someone from the dev team hops on to the official PlayStation forums to vouch for it, we take notice. Seb Downie, QA Manager for Guerrilla Games, does say that it's "a bit early" though, so keep that in mind. We'll hopefully see more of the game tonight (remember this invite?), so we'll keep you posted.
Update: According to BitFood, a brightness adjustment to the image reveals a brick wall in the background, indicating that the enemy posed is just a poster. We'll leave the speculation up to you.
We know how you're feeling, we had a hard time believing it too. Finally? After
Update: According to BitFood, a brightness adjustment to the image reveals a brick wall in the background, indicating that the enemy posed is just a poster. We'll leave the speculation up to you.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Intentless @ Jul 10th 2007 9:09AM
Halo fan that I am I loved Killzone and can't wait till this comes out so I can buy it and play it at my one friend's house that bought a PS3...
Phranctoast @ Jul 10th 2007 9:13AM
with so many people and so much money spent on this game, it better be a hardware mover.
schlomo @ Jul 10th 2007 9:29AM
looks like every other UE3-based game to me... 'cept for that shadow - that just looks like ass! the textures look a bit weak, too (I'm looking at you, 256mb RAM!)
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 9:33AM
The system and video ram in the PS3 can be pooled just like the 360's. Sony didn't make a huge deal about it because, well, it's not exactly a feature (despite what MS apparently wants you to believe). As with pretty much any setup, you can use the ram to supplement the video ram. It's not like the system ram is going to say "Oh no, textures, that's the video ram's job, get that away from me!"
Digi Smalls @ Jul 10th 2007 2:00PM
Stef,
you're not being fully forthcoming. yes the PS3 can technically use system ram as video ram, but just like "any setup", there's a significant performance hit when this happens (different ram bandwidth speeds), unlike with the 360.
.
MosquitoControl @ Jul 10th 2007 9:17AM
I still don't get the excitement.
Killzone was an awful game. Awful single player, awful mutliplayer. The only thing it did right was the text input (which blows other games away.) I was pretty damn excited for this, but my roommates and I put about 8 hours into it, combined, and got rid of it. No one I know outside of this website's comments enjoyed it. At best you get people echoing most reviews - it was the best FPS on the PS2 at the time, but a very shoddy FPS overall.
After its arrival the PS2 started getting more FPS games, each significantly better. So why care about one game that was, at best, a 6 out of 10? At best.
I know some Sony fans will jump out of the woodwork to defend this game, but think carefully for a second: what did it do well? The levels were mostly just walking forward. Things looked good, but at the expense of the frame rate (the game was absolutely designed to sell via screenshots.) Weapons were ok, but grenades took forever to throw making them useless in multiplayer where you'd be shot in the face before getting them off.
Yeah, many people might remember it fondly if it was the only FPS game they had access to. But it was so far behind everything else.
Why expect the developer to be able to suddenly leap ahead of even R:FOM?
hexix @ Jul 10th 2007 10:26AM
I believe most of the excitement comes from the pre-rendered trailer from like 2 years ago. The game will most likely not come close to that trailer, but the silence of the dev team has made a lot of people curious about the progress.
I've never actually played Killzone 1, but from what I heard it was bad just like you said. I've heard the sentiment that Killzone 1 was crappy because it was trying to do too much with the PS2 hardware, if that's true then the excitement over a PS3 version is somewhat understandable.
kmo @ Jul 10th 2007 9:18AM
Finally, i cant wait to see the game in motion, the screen looks good and screens never do games any justice, so in game should look even better.
sheppy @ Jul 10th 2007 9:18AM
Dynamic lighting but shadows have some pixelation. I want to seem more of the environment because that wall, outside of the textures, seems fairly meh.
dpad @ Jul 10th 2007 9:25AM
To be fair, almost every game running DX9 hardware has those infamous pixelated shadows. We'll see how it looks when it's motion.
Anonim @ Jul 10th 2007 9:21AM
720p
http://www.n4g.com/M/8/Images//50000/50695.jpg
LOOKS HORRIBLE.
Gun in model.
BLURRED textures - N64 strikes again.
Laughable shadow.
KZ 1.5 on PS 2.5 ! FTW!
sheppy @ Jul 10th 2007 9:32AM
Want to host that on photobucket so I can see if it's a direct pull 720p grab or if it's an upscaled shot and you're just being a fantard?
Travis @ Jul 10th 2007 10:30AM
I agree, it really doesn't look that good when you view the high resolution version.
I wouldn't rule out it looking good in motion though. Some games seem to skimp on things like antialiasing and textures to put the memory and processing power elsewhere. Motorstorm impresses everyone who comes over to see it, yet if you just find a screenshot of the game there's a lot of these same problems, but they never are a problem when playing the game in motion.
kmo @ Jul 10th 2007 9:21AM
Control, you forget that sony has put so much resources into this game, yeah killzone wasnt that good, but sony bought guerilla and added like 30 or so more devs from their own studios to help with the game, and more money to, they are pushing this game to be number 1, thats why hopes are high, and i for one want it to be awesome.
manic @ Jul 10th 2007 9:24AM
This game looks worse than Uncharted, Heavenly Sword and Lair from the upscaled picture.
The lighting effect looks cool though.
It looks pretty good from the small pic.
WHAT I'D SAY? WAIT UNTIL THE E3 TRAILER.
DBX00 @ Jul 10th 2007 9:25AM
Keep in mind that this picture was optimized for newspaper print. Therefore the quality of the screenshot isn't going to hold up to scrutiny. At any rate, there's no point of putting the focus on one game; it will look great when it finally comes out but it won't be the end all game for FPS. Socom will always be the number one in the shooter category for the PS3. Everything else is just a plus for the system.
Car2oon @ Jul 10th 2007 9:26AM
Looks too dark to really make judgement. But can't wait to see the full unveiling. Hopefully the PS3 will now have it's own Gears.
synce @ Jul 10th 2007 9:28AM
Looks shitty.
Babel @ Jul 14th 2007 5:22PM
That's the spirit!
manic @ Jul 10th 2007 9:33AM
THIS IS THE RESPONSE BY SEB AFTER SOMEONE COMMENTED HOW HE WAS DISAPPOINTED BY THE LOW QUALITY SCREENSHOT:
"I suggest waiting till more content is released over the next couple of days."
Seb Downie - QA Manager - Guerrilla Games
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 9:29AM
Yeah, so Killzone 1 sucked, but how stupid are people? This game is coming out more than three years after, with a larger development team, and a ton of money thrown at it. It's not like the game has to be "held down" by all the things that made KZ1 bad. So many ignorant 360 fanboys.
Yes, that shadow looks a little jagged but when the game is in motion I'm sure most people would be hard pressed to care. And again, this is a pre-alpha build, so how about all the people who have nothing better to do than bash an entire corporation based on one screenshot wait till we get to see the final build?
strictnein @ Jul 10th 2007 9:56AM
Because, as we all know, a movie sequel with a larger budget than the original ALWAYS ends up as a better movie.
sheppy @ Jul 10th 2007 9:29AM
You know, I was one of those people who loved the look of the game and the story but hated dying via framerate. Since I waited until it was $10, I had pretty much nothing to lose and kept it on my rack. Shortly after a friend bought a PS3 (had mine since launch), he asked to borrow my copy since it saw it on the rack. I told him the performance issues and such and he still wanted to borrow it. A week later, he comes back telling me how the game never once slowed down and how great it was. I enjoyed the story and world but I was aghast that it had zero performance issues for him. And so I put it in my PS3 and amazingly, he was right. Once my biggest bitch about the game was fixed via PS3, I found myself enjoying the game.
Ironically enough, it was this revelation that lead to my mission of "breaking the framerate" of PS2 games. Only GTA, 6 stars, and a road full of enemies has broken the framerate. And yes, that includes four player Twisted Metal Black... smooth as butter.
The grenades, I felt, handled realistically. Which made them strategy based, not Plan B. As for being pushed forward... what FPS games are you playing? Because the only FPS in YEARS that I've played which wasn't linear was Oblivion. Even The Darkness pretty much held your hand.
Travis @ Jul 10th 2007 10:40AM
Sheppy, do you have a PS3 with the emotion chip for PS2 backward compatibility (All American PS3s had this), or do you have a European PS3 that uses software emulation for PS2 backward compatibility?
I have a PS3 with the emotion chip, and GTA San Andreas has the same crappy framerate that it had on a normal PS2.
sheppy @ Jul 10th 2007 11:40AM
I have the EE equipped system. Never tested SA. Prefered the original. Maybe I should test sometime tonight.
Jake @ Jul 10th 2007 2:12PM
sheppy,
I think he meant that you were literally traveling in a straight line for much of Killzone. Sugar coat it all you want, Killzone was a mediocre game overall.
That doesn't mean K2 won't be good. It has a big budget and Sony's full 1st party support. Since acquiring Guerrilla, Liberation on PSP was a solid game.
Just don't expect top tier 360 graphics and revolutionary single or multiplayer. That would be nice, but we haven't seen anything to make us believe this should be better than, say, Haze. Like most PS3 subjects, the hype is based on the enigmatic and always present "potential" of the PS3 in general and the need to be excited for something on this system. It is the only console exclusive shooter coming.
As for the screenshot, we need to reserve judgement for a trailer. That screenshot doesn't say anything. The fake video didn't say anything. We know absolutely nothing about this game except that it has a big budget. If you own a PS3 and want a kickass shooter, be excited about Unreal III and Haze for christ's sake. Those are big budget titles made by devs that are responsible for some of the greatest shooters of all time.
Guerilla has done a crappy fps and a solid overhead PSP shooter. Woopidy frakin doo. Unreal-f'ing-III is coming out in September. It will pwn K2's graphics, gameplay, and definately online multi. For reals, yo. Don't hate it cause it's multiplatform.
TheGuy @ Jul 10th 2007 9:30AM
This isn't a high quality picture, and most of the pictures of this have been enlarged from the original so it isn't showing the true quality of the game. But from what I can see in the picture, I like the details in the suit of the Helghast. I don't think I've ever seen that well detailed folding in pants lol. Just like the Halo campaign pictures, we wont get a true idea of how the graphics hold-up until we see actual in-game video.
Martez @ Jul 10th 2007 9:31AM
Bad screenshot. Love the Killzone series, so I'm still looking forward to this. It would be so great if it was... well, great. I've got my fingers crossed.
DBX00 @ Jul 10th 2007 9:32AM
Killzone 1 wasn't the greatest game in the world compared to Halo on the Xbox, but Killzone Liberation on the PSP got excellent reviews and is a great game. The most recent game is a more relevant example of the existing teams ability and the reason people expect a great game.
Jake @ Jul 10th 2007 2:22PM
But Liberation wasn't an fps, and Killzone and K2 are. If Killzone2 is only as good as Liberation, it will be a good game, yet considered a disappointment.
Sony chooses time and time again to build impossible hype for their shit. They must be held accountable.
Poisoned Al @ Jul 10th 2007 9:34AM
When I've seen shots of Crysis, it's a little hard to get excited about this shot. It's hard to tell from just one shot, but how much better is this over Gears or Bioshock?
Evan @ Jul 10th 2007 9:35AM
"the game was described by Sony's Ron Eagle as "a hardware mover.""
Relatively few hardcore gamers buy systems for one game. Most gamers buy systems based on the overall catalog of current and future games. If you are an FPS fan, then the 360 still has the better catalog of FPS games.
Matt B @ Jul 10th 2007 9:50AM
Not for long.
ZenGaijin @ Jul 10th 2007 9:44AM
Ok you people are insane. That screen looks amazing, and there is some people that got alot of crow to eat.
Jason @ Jul 10th 2007 9:46AM
Killzone's got nothing on MGS4, which is almost certainly headed to Xbox 360 (from Kotaku):
Kazumi Kitaue, Konami's European and North American boss, has told Reuters that despite cutting its price by $100, the PS3 is still way super-expensive:
"I wonder if Sony can win back user support by the price cut of just $100...I don't expect a substantial impact ... With $500, you can buy a personal computer"
Tough talker, this Kitaue. No mincing of words. Which could explain why he decided, on the eve of e3, to cast some doubt on Metal Gear Solid 4's PS3 exclusivity.
"Since Metal Gear Solid was born for the PlayStation, we would like to keep it a PlayStation game. But we might have to take some steps"
Oh man!
Martez @ Jul 10th 2007 9:51AM
PS3 runs Linux. It IS a personal computer, in theory. I've yet to see any stories on how it actually operates with Linux, though...
LOL @ Jul 10th 2007 9:47AM
LOL @ HALO KILLER!!!
That has to be the Funniest thing Ever!!!
MosquitoControl @ Jul 10th 2007 9:49AM
Killzone on the PSP was a different genre.
Stef, stop whipping out "fanboy." You're the one dying for a game by a developer with a less-than-desireable track record.
Yes, Sony is pushing this title hard and has thrown resources at it. But that's no reason to get your hopes and expectations up. The first title still sucked. How often have sequels to bad games been good?
It can happen, sure, but why sit around expecting it? It'll just lead to disappointment.
Stef, the thing that made KZ1 bad was the developer and only the developer. Even if it has learned from its mistakes it still has never put anything out on par with R:TFOM.
The only reason I can see people getting excited is because Sony is telling them they should. But Sony is just trying to get attention. Ignore the hype, look at the facts, and you'll see they're pointing to a less-than-stellar game. Could prove wrong, but why waste time drooling over it?
Stef Geiger @ Jul 10th 2007 10:09AM
I... actually probably won't end up picking KZ2 up, so I'm really not dying for this game. I AM, however really sick of the trolls who come online and start bashing the game despite the fact that if it came out on their system they'd praise it. The same goes for the trolls who are so eager to bash Sony that they start bringing up QUOTES from other developers about completely unrelated things (like price drops).
manic @ Jul 10th 2007 9:54AM
Guerilla Games was bought out by Sony in December 2005.
THATS BEFORE THE FIRST GAME WAS RELEASED.
One of the main reasons Killzone 1 got negative reviews was because of the huge number of graphical glitches. The PS2 couldn't simply handle it.
Noshino @ Jul 10th 2007 10:03AM
like sheppy pointed out, the PS3 can handle it flawlessly
Anonim @ Jul 10th 2007 10:00AM
For all talking about scalled/streached images:
NO IT IS NOT STREATCHED IMAGE.
Get it?
It simply looks shitty.
This IS official 1280x720 screenshot.
NO IT IS NOT STREATCHED IMAGE.
Get it?
It simply looks shitty.
This IS official 1280x720 screenshot.
http://www.n4g.com/M/8/Images//50000/50695.jpg
O here (click on picture for 1280x720)
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_4553_en.html
TheGuy @ Jul 10th 2007 10:01AM
You people need to stop casting judgment so quickly. Here are the facts:
1. This has been confirmed to be shot from a pre-alpha build.
2. This picture of Killzone is enlarged from the original and hasn't been confirmed whether or not that's an HD shot, so the picture could be suffering from both those factors.
3. Considering the darkness of the shot, it's hard to give a full graphical assessment.
Relax people, more information will come. Then you all can make your judgments.
Anonim @ Jul 10th 2007 10:22AM
#2
No it's NOT enlarged
#1,#3 - Yes so what?
It looks bad. Lets hope that when the game comes out in 2008! (christmas 2008 probably LOL)
They fix *everything*
TheGuy @ Jul 10th 2007 10:52AM
@Anonim
The resizing of the picture does effect the quality. One of the Killzone devs said the resizing didn't make the picture look as good as they are.
Noshino @ Jul 10th 2007 10:04AM
http://uk.media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748475/img_4692210.html
mmm, not a big fan of FPS's but this might be the time to beging liking them
Ben @ Jul 10th 2007 10:03AM
Already looks better than Halo 3, oh yes, I went there.
But seriously there's no point judging this screen just yet. The best thing about Killzone is it has a great visual style, it's gritty and dark and I love it. I never played Killzone 1 but Liberation for the PSP was awesome, is everyone chosing to forget that? I think Killzone has the potential to be a great game if people give it a chance.
faceless coward @ Jul 10th 2007 12:29PM
You went where? To the land of Sony PR where everything is just perfect? The graphics from this screenshot come nowhere near Halo 3 in terms of quality.
tituspullo @ Jul 10th 2007 10:02AM
killzone 1 was just okay, why so much hype over a game that was just mediocre?
manic @ Jul 10th 2007 10:13AM
This is Pre-Pre Alpha picture
From the official Playstation.com US Boards:
-----------------------------------------------------
EdgeUK wrote:
Here we go...analysis paralysis!
Can you coment on what sort of build this is..like pre-alpha or beta?
Will there be opportunities for improvements for things like self-shadowing and shadow aliasing etc...?
If I am going of topic/thread just bang me into the right place...
Thanks
------------------------------------------------
1. Pre-pre alpha.
2. Please wait to see more content before judging it.
Seb Downie - QA Manager - Guerrilla Games
- Killzone Dev. Team Motherh