Riddle me this...Tribes Aerial Assault

#1 The development team of TAA claims they are using almost none of the original code from Tribes 2, but every screenshot I see looks nearly identical to Tribes 2.

It's Playstation 2. Therefore I Don't care about it.

#2 The T:AA Engine is the Tribes 2 engine reworked for the Play Station gaming console.

#3 By the way, how difficult is it to port torque to a new platform that has a different processor?(assuming you have some opengl + openal wrapper in place)

#4 I have to admit, I'm not a PC fanboy. Actually, I'm more of a hardcore gamer. I own all 3 Major Consoles and a PC (obviously). There's alot to be said about consoles, such as the games ALLWAYS work. You don't have to patch 13 times, update every driver, replace keyboards after smashing them in frustration, etc. And, some of the best games I've played have been console games.

I agree about the screenshots, which is why I posed the questions. It would be quite awesome if indies could break into consoles. Torque could be a nice platform to jump from also.

Admittedly, it is the toughest nut to crack and I'm not sure how GG could even publish console games under their current license agreement since you can't download console games.

#5 platform games DO have their charm, but they're usually a lot more passive than PC games. PC gamers usually like more interactivity and control in their games. massive immersive universes, etc. are what PC games are sposed to be all about (anyone remember SUNDOG: Frozen Legacy on the Atari ST or Amiga ??)

but IMHO this has really been lost on recent PC titles.

they've already said that Tribes: Aerial Assault is using the Tribes 2 "assets" including player models, interiors (buildings), vehicles, even some maps (in the demo vid it sure looks like Katabatic).

Tribes: Fast Attack is gonna be a PORT of the PSX2 game to PC. we all know what that means.

but... each T:FA box will contain a Tribes 2 CD incorporating the new patch. with UEs reduced significantly, players can actually enjoy the intensity and immersion of T2 mods like my Rev mod, and Sierra is even adding the "Classic" T1 remake maps and the Base++ "Competition" mod to the core package to increase its appeal to T1 fans.

Never in my memory has a game received such a second chance, so late after its initial release. Tribes PC fans should all be very excited about the re-launch, I only hope the T:FA port is ready in the fall and not postponed...

#6 Concerning indies breaking into consoles: I'd have to say that one of the big hurdles to overcome is, for instance, getting through the Sony submission. Both the concept approval at the front end and final approval at the end. Sony has gotten much more particular about what they pass for the PS2. I think they've been feeling the pressure from Gamecube etc. and are even making life tough for the big publishers with whom they have a relationship.

#7 @Alex - Agreed on the PC depth thing. However, I'm beginning to believe that depth is starting to bite dev companies a bit. I bought Morrowind and I have to say that it was too deep. A major complaint on the boards was that the game was so open ended that killing the bad guy in the final big quest was anti-climactic. I know that Morrowind is an extreme example of what you are talking about, but it's an example none-the-less.

Oh and I'm pulling for Tribes all the way. I will buy the PS2 version upon it's release.

@Shawn - Agreed. This is the biggest hurdle of all with any of the consoles. Microsoft and Nintendo are not interested in taking risks with indies and Sony is trying to improve it's image. Not only that, but I hear the dev tools are expensive, very expensive.

The benefits are huge though. Stable hardware where an indie can focus on gameplay rather than compatibility and financial returns are potentially substantial.

Bah, I'm just dreamin. I'm not interested in joining a game company like EA. I would love to start my own small company and maybe sell out, lol, who knows! Sell out, do it again, sell out, blah blah blah $$$ you get the drift.

#8 Tribes: Fast Attack is *NOT* a port of T:AA to the pc. It does use the same engine (which means...no scripting), but will not have the auto-aim crap the ps2 version has. It is my understand it will be geared towards about teams of 8 v 8. 1 person bombers, etc.

#9 I haven't read much about the relationship between FA and AA but auto aiming most certainly does not count as a factor in whether something can be considered a port or not.

#10 9 times out of 10 I would venture to say that auto-aiming is used to compensate for the limited control of consoles.

#11 >Tribes: Fast Attack is *NOT* a port of T:AA to the pc.

seems Geoff is right after all.

Fast Attack wasn't a port of T:AA at all. it was just a marketing plan, now in a recycle bin.

Tribes: Fast Attack Cancelled
http://www.planettribes.com/

#12

Quote:The T:AA Engine is the Tribes 2 engine reworked for the Play Station gaming console.

I just picked up this game tonight used for like $5-10 and it is a trip to see TGE on PS2. It is the first Tribes game I've played so it was an interesting sensation -- I kept feeling like I was playing starter fps instead of Tribes. Except starter fps looks better, actually.

I love the back cover to T:AA -- it says in all caps "GOODBYE HALO." Hah.

Quote:Microsoft and Nintendo are not interested in taking risks with indies...

This was from a poster above in 2002. And now we see Microsoft X-box Live Arcade with 3 TGE indie games, and Nintendo apparently starting to change its tune too...