E3 Aftermath

by Eddie Turner on July 25, 2008 2:00 AM EST

If you're a fan of the Ratchet & Clank series like me, chances are you snagged Tools of Destruction when it was released for the PlayStation 3 last year. And if you played it through, you also knew that a follow up game was inevitable due to its cliff-hanger ending. Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, however, is not the full-blown sequel. Rather, Insomniac Games is releasing this four-hour episode for download via the PlayStation Network. The story in Booty picks up where Tools left off as Ratchet attempts to recover his little lost buddy, Clank. Little is known as this point as to whether or not more episodes can be expected in the future, but as history has shown, episodic content of this nature usually points toward multiple segments. Hopefully we'll see future installments of Ratchet & Clank released closer together than... uh... what's the name of that game? I think it's called Half- something. It'll come to me….

Alright folks, time for another heavy hitter. These days, in certain circles, the mere mention of Resident Evil 5 prompts gamers to start foaming at the mouth, much like the zombies you're about to see. There is no doubt that this will be one of the top three games released this year. So, without further delay, feast your eyes and ears on Resident Evil 5.

While currently slated for release this fall on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, history suggests a PC version can be expected. Let's hope history repeats itself - and preferably in a more timely manner.

The Tomb Raider series has withstood [Ed: or at least weathered…] the test of time with game releases spanning more than a decade. The years have also been kind to heroine Lara Croft as she just keeps getting better and better looking. The latest installment in the series, titled Tomb Raider Underworld, is expected this holiday season on PC, along with the usual suspect consoles. While details on the story remain sketchy, one aspect of the game that is being heavily touted is that, for the first time, Lara's in-game movements will be based on human motion capturing. Sound good? It does to me too. Here's the teaser trailer for Tomb Raider Underworld.

Mirror, mirror on the wall Here there be dragons
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  • yyrkoon - Friday, July 25, 2008 - link

    " Rage has been announced as a DX9 game with no plans for DX10 support. Here's to hoping the developers have a change of heart. [Ed: Interesting to note is that Rage for the PC will apparently not use OpenGL as is standard for id Software; however, the Mac version will use OpenGL. Perhaps DirectX has reached the point where Carmack no longer feels it's a handicap, or maybe he's just throwing in the towel as one of the few remaining holdouts.]"

    Or Maybe idsoft wants to port the title to the xbox360 ?
  • JarredWalton - Friday, July 25, 2008 - link

    I've had a few debates/conversations with people online lately about the state of DX10 games. With no DX10 hardware on consoles, and with a huge installed base of DX9 hardware... plus with the Vista requirement for DX10... basically, I don't think we're coming anywhere near to utilizing what DX10 really can do. Everything so far is a DX9 game with DX10 stuff added, because no one is willing to ditch support for all the XP and DX9 user base. It's almost as bad as the state of 64-bit applications. Almost. Still, the fact that id is releasing an OpenGL version on Mac makes the use of DirectX on the PC interesting.
  • yyrkoon - Friday, July 25, 2008 - link

    Actually Jarred, what I meant was that I'm nearly positive that the xbox360 uses Direct3D 9, and there is a development kit for Directx that can be used for PC, or xbox360 titles(sorry, I do not recall the resource kit name). What I was trying to get at here was that IF IDSoft has any hopes of releasing said title for the xbox360, Directx9 *would* be the only way to go, and since this resource kit can be used for xbox360 AND PC titles . . .
  • JarredWalton - Friday, July 25, 2008 - link

    But since they're doing a Mac version, they've already got OpenGL. There's some confusion on the subject of whether or not it's really using DX9, or if it's a DX9-class OpenGL solution. Not that important in the grand scheme of things, of course, as the final game and gameplay is what matters.
  • phideo - Friday, July 25, 2008 - link

    The PC/Windows version still uses OpenGL according to John Carmack. It's a D3D9-class renderer, not a D3D9 renderer.

    "The PC version is still OpenGL, but it is possible that could change before release...I am going to at least consider OpenGL 3.0 as a target, if Nvidia, ATI, and Intel all have decent support."

    'Course, this was way back in September of 2007...

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