Lights, Camera - Action! (Motion Capture)

Are we always in the need for top quality gaming? Is it true that we are all so demanding? Yes and YES!! Here we have a nice kit of technology which has pushed the gaming industry forward so much in realism when it comes to movement in living creatures including our selves! This is called Motion Capture, for short Mo-Cap.

Now you’re wondering since when, well I can say definitely since Acclaims PC title Alien Trilogy and then in a higher profile game which you may recognise was Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. This technology was mainly used in movies and animation before then; Acclaim brought it into the world of Sports gaming with their NFL Quarterback Club 96 on the N64. And the sports gaming industry has never looked back, now almost all sports video games are made with motion capture to give it the more realistic look.

I have to tell you that this kind of operation isn’t cheap either, it may cost around £30K-£70K depending on the scale of the project. For a successful mo-cap session you need a determined team, with a leader to conduct rigorous planning, as the company is paying so much money u need to take use of all the time you have. If there are celebrities involved it can get tricky as they can easily get bored and de-motivated, you want to get the most out of them! The money isn’t too important anymore, when the industry’s revenue is at equal amount to a movie industry then developers can afford such luxuries, unless you’re a small time company working in a garage – then you have no hope to compete against their quality. So you can imagine the pressures on the directors or producers for the mo-cap sessions. All this aside it can become a joyful experience for the people involved, think about it you get to meet celebrities and some eye candy computer effects at the end of it.

The technology varies from studio to studio, but they all have the same concept which is recognition of movement of light attached to a skeleton or graphical figure. This is reproduced in real time so you can see the effects as you do the motion takes (this process is called Post-Production). It is especially very good for sports games. In sports it’s all about individual movement, that is what makes some one better than another, it’s their skills and final touches. The use of extensive cameras pick up these beams which is then sent via a connection to the super computers, I know that EA uses 86 flexible cameras in their in-house studios. Their motion capture is so thorough that it picks up face expressions by the athletes, which means they have little sticky dots on their lips which reflect light. Guess we are going to get all of Ronaldinho in Fifa 08!

Here is a little video clip of Y2K having a night time out-door mo-cap video shoot for their basketball game, what I like about this is the fact that its open to public so people get to see their stars. It is also a great marketing idea for promotion and building hype, but I would like to say it is a prime example of RIGOROUS PLANNING!!

Lewis Hamilton gone crazy??

Lewis Hamilton uses the Playstation 3 F1 game to get used to the Brazil track Interlagos before the weekend. Hamilton claimed that Ron Dennis advised he should use the simulation program which has three screens and a real F1 cockpit but Hamilton said he is familiar with the track as he has completed full races several times on his Playstation, I wonder what car he chose hey.... well this shows that we are ever getting to the real thing, we can enjoy racing in the comfort of our own homes and we don’t need a tremendously expensive simulation machine to experience it like the real thing. But I don’t recall his race going well the other day.lol Only kidding Lewis, it wasn’t his fault that the gear box messed up. He did race well though, maybe one day we can challenge his electronic ghost by downloading it from an online-live service?? There’s a thought.

Either way two thumbs up to Lewis for choosing computer games over million'$ of R&D!

Ras

EA Sports has the name But Konami have the Game.... Soccer video games, which one?

There hasn’t been anywhere in the world I’ve been that the locals didn’t love football (soccer for my American readers), except in the USA the average person do not share the same enthusiasm, except for the Latinos and ethnics. We have two titles at it again as usual every year which is Konami’s Pro Evolution (Winning Eleven in some countries) and EA’s Fifa, for me PES wins hands down every time. But why do we love the computer game so much?? I think it’s because were addicted to the sport and re-living the passion and excitement is what gets us going. Or is it we like saying to our best friend “I’m gonna give you beat downs on Pro Evo!” either way it is pure fun.

When I was thinking I came across different reasons why we like the simulation so much, I was in deep thought and realised who I love to play within a football game, which is Newcastle Utd, then I asked myself why?? The bird in my head came back and told me it’s the feeling of belonging. Just like anything else in life. So does this mean we now have an extraordinary power in the influence of people through marketing of a game, you guessed it - YES IT DOES! This brought me back to why people like EA’s Fifa which is all about branding and licensing, giving out official kits and names. They gain their customers through those channels, as I have to say the game compared to PES is dog poo, well maybe that’s extreme but it’s not as good. My point here is that people sacrifice game play to achieve loyalty points to their clubs, as Fifa has its pluses including better commentary. But for the hardcore it doesn’t matter! For me Newcastle’s kit on PES 6 is rank, but I still love the game as it’s as real as it gets at the moment. I spoke to George, a semi-pro football player and asked which he prefers and he told me “obviously Pro Evs, it’s just a proper game, don’t get me wrong Fifa looks good but that’s about it, my nephews like it. Pro-eey (PES) is more realistic and plays like the real sport. Kids don’t have the capacity to play the game on the high level, that’s why they like Fifa and it has all the names and that and better graphics. I play Pro Evo and so does all my team mates at the football club” Personally I agree with George that Fifa is like playing a cartoon compared. Again some people like that but that’s not what this blog is all about.

I think that Fifa is targeting a different group sector as they know they can’t compete with PES in terms of game play, so they have shifted their attention to a younger generation. This can again be a very smart move as they can hope for brand loyalty for when those kids get older they will keep buying Fifa, well that’s the plan. I don’t think it will work as Konami have realised this and they too are slowly every year extending their licences and having bigger name endorsements such as Thierry Henry and John Terry. But they will always be behind EA’s Fifa as Fifa holds almost all licences in the world relating to football i.e. Fifa World Cup, which is the biggest sporting event in the world. You can say it’s a kind of monopoly as Fifa bosses the rights and cripples Konami from not having as many licences which in affect makes EA’s Fifa unique. I feel EA’s Fifa is no better than Microsoft by making it unfair competition in the gaming industry.

Fifa 08 is out now and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008/Winning Eleven 2008 will be coming out soon. This will be the biggest battle yet as they will both be on 3^rd gen games machines, as well as others. Will Konami once and for all take the top spot or will Fifa fool people into their game once again? I’ll have a look at both side by side in the future and give you my verdict! EA has the name But Konami have the Game....

Ras

Why a Blog about Sports Video Games

Hi there to all sports game lovers. My name is Ras and love simulation sports games. The more real it gets the more I enjoy! And I know there are many like me, ones who prefer topspin rather than Mario Tennis, or even Forza 2 over Need For Speed any day!

To be honest I would like to define what I mean, when I say simulation that can include a arcade style game such as Virtual Tennis which I appreciate but are lower down the pecking order. But when it is so far off like Mario Striker Charged, forget about it, fun for a week. You might think I’m picking on the Nintendo games but common their not exactly professional are they.

I demand Graphics, Game Play, Sound and Functionality! These are sections I feel all games need focus on and for sport games game play is most important. Are Nintendo using the Wii’s functionality to its best, well the only sports game I like playing on it is the bowling game on Wii Sport. But let’s cut this intro short and focus on future writings, which could be anything to do with sports related gaming.

Ras