WRUP: One million polygons per second edition

by Ross Miller { Jul 11th 2008 at 7:55PM }

Do you remember this pitch for the 3DO. "Over 1 million polygons per second ... it renders over 100 billion pixels per second." We won't fault you if you're thinking about Austin Powers. We won't even fault you if you're angry at us for name-dropping 3DO twice in this still-young weekly feature. Here's what we'll be playing this weekend before our big E3 week. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!

Alexander Sliwinski: Must finish MGS4 before getting on the plane, but it looks like there won't be enough time. Hoping Civ Rev finally arrives today.
Andrew Yoon: Because I'll be playing PS3 and PSP games all week at E3, I'm going to spend some quality time with a few games from my 360 backlog: Army of Two, Bourne Conspiracy, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Universe at War.
Christopher Grant: Afraid I'll be saving most of my weekend gaming for Sunday's flight out to LA for a little thing we call E3. Tonight and tomorrow will be spent clearing out a mountain of email, finalizing schedules, packing, getting this new iPhone thingie to work, getting a haircut, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera ...
Griffin McElroy: After finally managing to get my hands on a Wii via a pact with The Author of All Lies, I imagine I'll be spending most of my time playing Smash Bros. Brawl, and wondering if it was worth my eternal soul.
Kevin Kelly: I'm playing the Television Critics Association's "Stay Awake During a Day of Panels" mmo game which is really challenging.
Kyle Orland: I'm playing Go-to-a-friend's-wedding-in-Philly-then-drive-home-and-pack-frantically-before-E3 II Turbo Championship Edition.
James Ransom-Wiley: ... must ... get ... iPhone ...
Jason Dobson: Besides playing a little game called "frantically fix the air conditioner before I leave," I'm putting a few last laps around the GRID track before putting the old girl in the garage.
Justin McElroy: I'm going to try to slide in some Battlefield: Bad Company in between my E3 preparations and iPhone-playing-with.
Ludwig Kietzmann: is too cool for school. And too cool to respond.
Randy Nelson: Now that the Cagney update is up, it's back to Paradise City for some fine (like cherry wine) Burnout racing action. Then there's a little game I like to call "Pack, Man!," which involves trying to fit a computer, camera, clothes, and various doodads into as few pieces of luggage as possible. I always lose at that one.
Ross Miller: Polling everyone on which is the better in-flight DS game: World Ends with You, Final Fantasy Tactics A2, FF Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates or banging my head against the seat in front of me.

Tags: what-are-you-playing, wrup

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 11th 2008 8:02PM

I will be playing UNO... I just need one achievement. And Mario Kart Wii online.

And tomorrow I will to cut my hair (just the tips), go to the movies, and in the night, playing guitar in the bar.

Sunday I will go and buy Lost Planet. Never played that game =(

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 11th 2008 8:03PM

And Monday: E3!

Mr Khan @ Jul 11th 2008 8:38PM

I'm kinda mad Nintendo's conference is at 12:00 pm, my job that day has very flexible hours, but 12 - 12.5 (or 12 - 1) is still a hard time frame to schedule around

Cuz there's no way in hell i'm missing this year's

Sora267 @ Jul 11th 2008 8:52PM

G4 and DVR are your friends when it comes to E3 press conferences, I learned that last year.

Shagittarius @ Jul 12th 2008 1:49AM

I hope you like Lost Planet Fernando. I've expressed my joy with that game on these boards before. In fact I said that I liked it better than Gears...but thats just crazy talk....or is it?

bigsofty @ Jul 12th 2008 11:32AM

Wow, so many shit game choices...!

Residentevil72501 @ Jul 12th 2008 4:02PM

Lost planet is actually a pretty neat game.

Mr Khan @ Jul 11th 2008 8:09PM

moar ffta2

Nobody warned me. The game's like crack, though i've read that the actual story is ridiculously short

pow-pow-pow @ Jul 11th 2008 8:13PM

The M2 tech demo in your video may not be impressive by today's standards, but I'm pretty sure that was prerendered lies. Dreamcast never had graphics that good, and Dreamcast had way better specs than M2 had. I remember seeing screenshots in GameFan of the M2, it looked amazing, but I'm pretty sure it was all BS now.

J.Goodwin @ Jul 11th 2008 8:23PM

M2 was supposed to be post-Dreamcast.

The guys who worked on M2, for the most part, moved over to Microsoft to build the Xbox360. They did a good job.

thebird @ Jul 11th 2008 9:02PM

Actually the M2 was pre-Dreamcast, and that demonstration was indeed pre-rendered lies.

As one of the few people alive who has actually seen and played a real-live M2 (in fact, I have a dev board in a closet somewhere), I can say that it was a pretty impressive piece of hardware, but not anywhere close to the quality of that video. It was greatly superior to N64 but not quite up to the Dreamcast's level. It would have predated the Dreamcast by a couple years had it gone to market.

One of the neatest things about it was the controller--surrounding the d-pad was a little analog wheel that you could steer with your thumbs, for driving games.

Hala Madrid!! (Madrileno hasta la muerte!) @ Jul 11th 2008 8:16PM

Unfortunately my Xbox360s DVD drive is broke.=(
I guess that I'm go finish MGS4.

Hala Madrid!! (Madrileno hasta la muerte!) @ Jul 11th 2008 8:20PM

**I guess that I'm gonna have to finish MGS4.

there, fixed.

Sora267 @ Jul 11th 2008 8:53PM

You make it sound like a chore. =O

Orionsaint @ Jul 11th 2008 8:20PM

I'd post more often at Joystiq, but the whole email confirmation to post thing, just really turns me off. I'm just too lazy.

Fernando Rocker @ Jul 11th 2008 8:23PM

Why don't you create a password?

By the way, I'm still waiting the payment for the bet.

Will @ Jul 11th 2008 8:50PM

I have a password and I still have to click a link in a conformation email every time. Am I missing something?

J.Goodwin @ Jul 11th 2008 9:31PM

You're probably missing putting your password and email address in the boxes above the comment box, but below the title "Current Users"

TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 11th 2008 9:40PM

You probably are using the wrong password.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Jul 11th 2008 8:25PM

GTA IV. Also borrowed GHII and Orange Box so I've got my time full :P

Chris @ Jul 11th 2008 8:25PM

how many polygons per second can the 360 do? or do we not measure in those standards any more what with all the advances in shading tech?

Chris @ Jul 11th 2008 8:27PM

Oh and I'll be playing through the Phoenix Wright games on the DS. (well technically on my computer with an emulator, but I own the games so that's ok)

pow-pow-pow @ Jul 11th 2008 8:33PM

Polygons per second is hardly relevant these days with normal mapping and tons of other effects, but Dead Rising does up to about 120 million polygons per second according to Capcom's tech papers. That's probably one of the higher poly/sec games there is.

J.Goodwin @ Jul 11th 2008 9:27PM

Untextured, unfiltered, and unlit, about 500 million.

PS3 about 275 million, but you can deal with the limit better by doing work on your polygon set with the SPUs first.

soccerdrew17 @ Jul 11th 2008 11:12PM

just remember that the ps3 doesnt sacrifice filters, lighting, and textures to get that number. ps3 has two sets of pipelines, one dedicated to polygons, while 360 has only one set of pipelines dedicated to what ever.

not saying who wins that battle, but saying 500-275 is just plain wrong.

Envoy X @ Jul 11th 2008 8:35PM

E3 is going to be awesome!

Titanium_Orchid @ Jul 11th 2008 8:55PM

I'll be playing ULTIMA ONLINE!!!

OooOOOOOoOOooOoOOOooOOoooooooooooooo..........

Sora267 @ Jul 11th 2008 9:02PM

Well I recently quit Guild Wars to free up all of my time (I could have spent 2,000 hours in two years doing better things) so, right now, it's between finishing up challenges in God of War:Chains of Olympus, getting better at Halo 3, and Rock Band, and maybe some Spore Creature Creator once I get the full version.

Donald @ Jul 11th 2008 9:09PM

Griffin: "After finally managing to get my hands on a Wii via a pact with The Author of All Lies, I imagine I'll be spending most of my time playing Smash Bros. Brawl, and wondering if it was worth my eternal soul."

Oh, come on. Ondore is not THAT much of a prick.

Mike @ Jul 11th 2008 9:11PM

RE: the Bird said:

As one of the few people alive who has actually seen and played a real-live M2 (in fact, I have a dev board in a closet somewhere), I can say that it was a pretty impressive piece of hardware, but not anywhere close to the quality of that video. It was greatly superior to N64 but not quite up to the Dreamcast's level. It would have predated the Dreamcast by a couple years had it gone to market.

I worked as a test engineer for the M2 project. I was testing the texture system by building models for it to render onto. It was a big deal that it could stream moving video on a texture...ha!

In fact I know the guy who created that car video demo. If I remember correctly that was real time and not a pre-render.

thebird @ Jul 12th 2008 10:16PM

Trust me on this, that footage is FMV.

There was an actual real-time racing game/demo that was completed for the system, but it didn't look anything like that video. It was more of a Formula-1 style racer, not futuristic. It looked pretty good, but not that good.

ogvor @ Jul 11th 2008 9:19PM

Picked up DiRT with a coupon I had and after loving the Demo last year, I'm finally getting to play it (and it is a fantastic racing game). Also got Ticket to Ride on the XBLA and really enjoy that (though a few design choices in that game infuriate me, like accidently using the wrong cards and having no undo button).

Next week I intend to steal my younger brothers Wii while their on a camping trip so I can finally play Metroid Prime: Corruption, another game I really wanted to play last summer.

Mr.ESC @ Jul 11th 2008 9:35PM

I got all the achievements in Alone in the Dark (Awesome game BTW) so I'll be playing Bad Company,Super Smash brothers Brawl and maybe Loco Roco,Condemned or I'll try to get the 2 last achievements in the Orange Box.

Aperture Science and Lambda Locator are the ones left.

kataztrophy @ Jul 11th 2008 9:46PM

I'll be playing NES games all weekend. Why? because I want to, that's why.

paragraph @ Jul 11th 2008 9:57PM

Road Rash on my 3DO

ok, so not quite that old, but i'm rocking MDK2 on my PC this weekend, close, but not quite 1 million poly's per second close.

Will @ Jul 11th 2008 10:35PM

Hopefully, Halo 3, Lost Odyssey, and Crackdown

colin @ Jul 11th 2008 10:52PM

I bought Civilization 4 for the pc today. I have never played any of the Civ games and people keep telling me that I must.

Jhongerkong @ Jul 11th 2008 11:15PM

Someone beat my AA on Butterfly on the local DDR cab. Im already searching the couch for quarters.

j.howlett @ Jul 12th 2008 12:36AM

i'm probably lying to myself and everyone else but the plan is to play some ff12 and mgs4. maybe i'll steal the ds from my niece and play some dolphinz or mario party mini games. rise to honor needs a sequel or something like it, the fighting was unconventional but fun.

TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 12th 2008 12:42AM

Randy Nelson: ...Then there's a little game I like to call "Pack, Man!"...

I see what you did there.

TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Jul 12th 2008 3:00AM

My Schedule:
Friday: I've spent all day on LoZ:PH. Using internet walkthroughs FTW!
Saturday: Long car ride to (undisclosed state) so i'll probably be playing a bunch of DS games.
Sunday: My dad lets me play M-rated games at his house so I started Resident Evil 4 last time I was there...I'm hoping to complete it this day or finish it on Monday

Extra Credit
Mon.: Finish RE4 if I don't on Sunday, then I'll be curious of what Microsoft has in store for the 360 users(i'm not one of 'em though) at 1 and will watch their press conference on G4.
Tuesday: BIG DAY! Nintendo Press Conference at 12!! I'll probably be drooling over what Nintendo reveals for the next few hours...then I might play a little Guitar Hero.