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entergamingxp · 4 years

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The Definitive Ranking of Every Halo Story Campaign

April 9, 2020 2:30 PM EST

After playing through every mainline Halo game over the past year or so, here’s how every entry’s campaign stacks up against the rest.

For the past year and a half or so, I’ve been gearing up for the release of Halo Infinite by revisiting every mainline game in the series. Despite having played nearly all entries countless times, this was the first instance in nearly a decade that I was finally returning to some of these classic shooters. I also did this seven-game playthrough with fellow DualShockers writer Michael Ruiz, and speaking for us both, I think it ended up being some of the most fun either of us have had with video games in a hot minute.

Of course, now that I’ve finished my playthrough of the saga, there’s only one thing left to do: rank every game in order from worst to best. Using math, science, and my own objectively correct intuition, I’m going to let you know which Halo game is the cream of the crop and which ones just can’t match up. You’ve surely seen Halo game rankings, but I can promise you: this is the only one on the entire internet that is completely factual.

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Also, as the title indicates, my rankings here are only going to be based on the campaigns from each Halo entry. While I have spent a fair amount of time with each game over the years and can still recall my feelings of multiplayer, Forge, Firefight, Spartan Ops, and a variety of other features that have been present, we’re just going to be sticking to nothing but campaigns for this ranking. So before you go yell at me in the comments and tell me that I should’ve put one game higher or lower than another, keep this in mind.

7. Halo 5: Guardians

If you clicked on this article and expected to see Halo 5: Guardians in last by default, well, you weren’t wrong. Unlike a lot of other fans, I really didn’t remember strongly disliking Halo 5’s campaign before playing it again here recently. Upon finishing it up a little under a week ago, yeah, I can now reaffirm that it’s definitely not great.

Overall, there isn’t one major thing I can point to in Halo 5 that makes it a lesser experience than every other entry. Instead, it’s a death by a thousand cuts situation. Most notably to a lot of fans, myself included, playing as Locke and Osiris Team for 80% of the campaign isn’t as fun as it is to play as Master Chief. Then there’s also the fact that the squad-based gameplay that 343 tried to lean into with this entry just doesn’t work well at all. Since the game is more focused on fighting as a team, 343 littered the environments with way more enemies than in past entries, leading to me and my companions being downed in this installment way more than any other Halo campaign. Plus, I cannot begin to express how lame it is to have to fight one boss nearly ten different times over the course of the game.

There are some redeeming aspects of Halo 5, but those mainly are present in the game’s multiplayer offering, which, as I said, isn’t being taken into account here. As such, Halo 5: Guardians easily stands as the worst in the series and makes me somewhat nervous about Infinite‘s prospects later this year. If anything, I’m glad that Halo 5 at least prompted 343 to return to the drawing board and create an entirely new engine before continuing on with the development of the franchise.

6. Halo 4

This one was actually really tough for me because largely, I think Halo 4‘s campaign is pretty darn good. For 343’s first outing, Halo 4 ended up boasting a tight, concise campaign that feels excellent to play. Like, seriously, before 343 really mixed up the franchise’s control scheme with Halo 5, 4 was the best installment in the series by far with the “classic” shooting stylings. Not only that, but all the new additions to the game in the way of new enemy types, new weapons, and new vehicles all felt great to me.

I think the only reason it didn’t end up going higher on this list is just because I really cannot get invested in the new direction that Halo 4 took the series’ story. Look, I’m not a big Halo narrative guy by any means. I’ve never read any of the novels, listened to spin-off podcasts, and honestly, I don’t care if that TV show ever gets up and running. Still, I just find it hard to care about Master Chief’s current struggle with the Forerunners. DualShockers‘ own Steven Santana wrote a piece for us a few months back talking about how Halo‘s storytelling felt better when it was smaller, and I totally agree with that. For all of the qualities of Halo 4 that I like, I wish it was a bit easier to get invested in.

5. Halo 3

Despite being the game where Master Chief finishes the fight, Halo 3‘s campaign isn’t as great as I remember it. Yes, there are standout levels like The Covenant and Tsavo Highway that are excellent, but it’s the missions in between that I forgot were so straightforward and bland until this recent replay. This isn’t to say that the campaign is bad though, because it absolutely isn’t. Halo 3 has so many memorable moments, it ends on a high note, and altogether just wrapped up the initial Halo trilogy in a fantastic way.

Halo 3 is arguably the zenith of the franchise’s popularity and it’ll likely never get bigger than it was when it launched in 2007. Even though it’s my least favorite installment in Master Chief’s original three-game outing, Halo 3 is still excellent in its own right and is a game that an entire generation of players will look back fondly on for years to come.

4. Halo: Combat Evolved

It’s honestly wild how well Halo: Combat Evolved holds up. For a game that is nearing its twentieth anniversary (that’s so bizarre to even say), Combat Evolved still feels fresh to this day. Having played through the game countless times in my life already, I was really surprised in this most recent playthrough at how fun the game still is. This just speaks to how well-polished and realized Bungie’s initial outing was on the original Xbox.

Comparatively, Combat Evolved doesn’t reach the same highs as other campaigns in the series, but from front to back, it’s still a much stronger experience than a handful of other installments. As such, it slots in nicely right here in the middle of the pack.

3. Halo 2

In the opening hours of Halo 2, Master Chief prevents a bomb from blowing up his ship. He then drags that bomb with his bare hands to an airlock, jumps out into space with it, flies into the middle of a Covenant ship, and then detonates it before safely landing back aboard his own aircraft.

Halo 2 is far and away the most memorable campaign in the Master Chief line of Halo titles, which is crazy because you don’t even play as Chief in about half of the game. Bungie’s bold idea to place you in the shoes of the Arbiter, the initial antagonist of the first Halo, paid major dividends in this sequel. Not only did this decision help spice up each mission a bit and make them feel more varied, but it further fleshed out the world of Halo to great effect. The way that Master Chief and the Arbiter’s stories also end up crossing over near the conclusion of the game is also fantastic.

Halo 2 also just has so many little things that really put it over the top, too. The game’s score features the work of legendary guitarists Steve Vai and John Mayer, the ending cutscene is perhaps one of the most iconic in the history of video games, and the Anniversary edition which launched with Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a truly fantastic remaster. If Combat Evolved was the game that brought console shooters to the masses, this sequel is what made Halo a household name.

2. Halo: Reach

From the outset of Halo: Reach, you know how the campaign is going to end. Not only had Reach’s history been well-documented in Halo lore, but the campaign opening itself makes it clear that you will not be surviving this mission. And with this at the forefront of your mind, it makes Reach all the more compelling and intriguing to play.

Even though the entire Halo series is set on the backdrop of war, Reach is really the only game that captures that wartime atmosphere. Some of the missions within Reach are set on the backdrop of massive battlefields, reminding you constantly that you’re just one cog in this larger scheme. Plus, Reach is one of the few Halo entries that actually makes the Covenant feel threatening, unlike the fodder that they can sometimes be for Master Chief. Reach also makes you feel overwhelmed in the best way possible, with the epilogue mission really nailing this idea more than anything else.

Bungie really went out on a high note with Halo: Reach. Not only is the storytelling and journey of Noble Team perhaps the best single arc in the series, but some of the new ideas, guns, and mechanics that were introduced here worked incredibly well and are still present in the franchise to this day. Bungie was really starting to take the Halo saga in some interesting directions before its work on the series ended. At the very least, I’m glad that the studio gave us Reach before moving on.

1. Halo 3: ODST

I’m going to be honest: I’m shocked that Halo 3: ODST ended up reaching the top of my list here. To me, stepping into the shoes of an overpowered super soldier is half of the allure in playing each Halo campaign. For the best installment in the series to end up being the spin-off entry of Halo 3 that doesn’t have you playing as a Spartan and instead forces you to utilize a faceless, voiceless soldier shouldn’t work as well as it does, but here we are.

Compared to every other Halo entry except for maybe Reach, ODST just oozes a distinct tone and feeling that is never present in other campaigns. Backed by the best Halo soundtrack of them all, ODST‘s focus on isolation in a somber environment makes it wholly unique compared the loud, bombastic tone that is frequently found in other installments.

More than anything though, I think what I realized I loved the most about ODST was just how the campaign was constructed. Instead of just going from one mission to the next without pause, Halo 3: ODST is a semi-open world title for some brief portions. You’ll have to wander around the streets of New Mombasa and try to figure out what happened to the rest of your squad before being launched into a flashback sequence that details what they’ve been up to. It’s a simple idea on paper, but it’s one that makes ODST feel more cohesive in its storytelling than any other Halo campaign.

I’ve had a lot of ideas in recent months about how 343 Industries should look to construct Halo Infinite’s campaign and I really hope that they look to ODST for inspiration. While we don’t know what Infinite might look like just yet, if the game does go in a more open-ended direction, ODST‘s template blown up on a larger scale could potentially work out really well. If the Halo series wants to bounce back moving forward, 343 would be smart to borrow ideas from the franchise’s best campaign of them all.

April 9, 2020 2:30 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/the-definitive-ranking-of-every-halo-story-campaign/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-definitive-ranking-of-every-halo-story-campaign

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doctorwhonews · 6 years

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The Enemy Of The World - Special Edition (DVD)

Latest Review: The Enemy Of The World Starring Patrick Troughton as Doctor Who With Frazer Hines as Jamie and Deborah Watling as Victoria Written by David Whitaker Directed by Barry Letts Released by BBC Worldwide March 2018 It's out, and it's about time. Some five years after its initial release, The Enemy of the World is once again released this month, this time bursting with the features we've come to expect from a BBC Doctor Who DVD and that were notably absent from 2013. Indeed, even the DVD blurb acknowledges this: "Originally rush released shortly after its recovery, there was little time to complete the extensive Special Features typical of archive Doctor Who releases". Well, quite! So what do we get in what many would say is the "proper" release? Commentary: check. Production notes: check. Photo Gallery: check. An exhaustive making-of: check! The two-disc release also includes an interview with the man behind the rediscovery of this story, Phil Morris, a brief item on the restoration work undertaken in 2013, a tribute to the late Deborah Watling, the Jon Pertwee introduction to the then only existing episode 3 from The Troughton Years, and the original trailer from 1967 that followed The Ice Warriors. You even get a reversible cover so it can happily sit alongside the rest of your DVD collection if you prefer to maintain that consistent look and feel. However, one thing that certainly isn't consistent is the disc's opening menu! If you've been watching a number of DVDs recently like I have, the absence of the 'traditional' Davison opening accompanying the TARDIS 'arrival' into the main menu is quite a jarring shock, with the sequence being dispensed with in favour of a brief snippet of the Troughton titles leading straight to the menu. I guess I'll get used to it - at least the familiar "roundels" menu has survived! For the episodes themselves, the DVD boasts of further remastering with modern techniques by Peter Crocker and MArk Ayres - how much of an improvement in picture quality to the previous release I'm not so sure about, but the story looks and sounds very clean, and possibly as pristine as it'll ever be (and a definite improvement to the 480 line i-Tunes cash-in back in 2013...). I won't dwell over the story itself - after all if you're reading a review then you're probably familiar with the plot(!) - but it is one of those stories that features the change of direction halfway through that transforms the story into something else rather unexpected that I always like in drama. With only episode three as a visual guide for literally decades I hadn't appreciated this change of direction, and it is still a delight to savour now - it's probably no coincidence that the director, Barry Letts, becomes producer of an era full of such twists and turns. The complete serial also allows us to enjoy the characters in all their glory, and more to the point being able to watch the performance of Patrick Troughton in his dual role as hero and villain. I must admit that it still feels like a novelty being able to watch and appreciate the full story, and leaves me eager for more (something that animations can only partially sate!). But seeing Troughton smoking a cigar in episode five as though in competion with Roger Delgado in The Mind of Evil still feels out of place, even though it is of course Salamander puffing away, not the Doctor. How the perception of that enemy of the world's health has changed! The accompanying production notes provide the usual behind-the-scenes essentials, dates, figures, the development of the story from script to screen, changes to planned dialogue, action, etc., plus of course detail of the cast and crew and related observations. Insights include how several inserts made their way into later stories, how the slick action sequences in episode one were more fraught in production with both a hovercraft mishap and the helicopter very nearly following suit. During episode two it is revealed that there is a mysterious scene included featuring the Doctor and Kent that doesn't appear in the production schedules. And in episode five it is revealed how some of the more excessive blood and violence in the script were restrained in production. Though the production of the story can of course now be digested through reading Volume 11 of The Complete History, here the notes are more practical in illustrating what's currently appearing on screen - for example, In episode four, a practical example of the way in which those recording the programme worried less about the edges of the frame owing to on-screen visibility of the time is illustrated. The commentary for the story is initially taken up with a lively discussion between Frazer Hines and Mary Peach, joined by Gordon Faith for the next couple of episodes. All change for episode four with Milton Johns and Sylvia James taking up observational duty, before returning to the original duo for the finale. Discussions across the episodes included acting with helicopters, working with Patrick Troughton, actor-come-director Barry Letts, and the delightful Debbie Watling (of course!), acting in the confines of small studios and limited sets, plus Sylvia's explanation of how the crew approached the creation of 2018[1], some 50 years ahead of time. The commentary was moderated by Simon Harries, who had big shoes to step into following the mighty moderator extraordinaire Toby Hadoke; however he was more than capable of keeping the conversations going and keeping Frazer in check! The main feature on the second disc is Treasures Lost And Found. Unlike the more usual more straightforward fact-based making-ofs, here Toby Hadoke takes us on a "treasure hunt" for new information on the story in his indomitable style, uncovering "clues" along the way in a similar vein to Looking for Peter on The Sensorites - so it isn't surprising that his accomplice on this mission is researcher Richard Bignell[2]! Along the way Toby (possibly) drank his way through innumerable relaxing teas conversing informally with Mary Peach, Sylvia James, David Troughton, Frazer Hines and Sarah Lisemore, plus several inserts on the making of the story from a 2008 interview with Barry Letts and also a 2011 interview with Deborah Watling. The informal approach to the documentary meant that Toby took time to chat to his interviewees about more than just their Enemy-specific memories. Mary's extensive career was discussed, including what occured when she met Marilyn Munroe, and David reflected on life with the Doctor and his father's views of acting in theatre - which also highlighted the perceived nepotism of the time with his cameo as a guard in the story, not to mention Frazer's brother Ian, Barry Letts' nephew Andrew Staines and finally production assistant come influential producer Martin Lisemore's wife Sarah, whose interview at the end of the programme turns into its most poignant moment as the treasure is finally revealed. I did have a couple of niggly issues with the presentation, though: the archive interview of Barry Letts was interspersed with shots of Toby and Richard watching the footage on a laptop, which I found both disjointing and a distraction to hearing what Barry had to say. The other was the "pop-up" message gimmick, which reminded me more of Top Gear style antics (something perhaps not lost on Toby? grin). These were only minor quibbles though, overall the feature is highly entertaining, ably guided by Toby throughout. With this release being a celebration of its return in the anniversary year, it isn't surprising to find its recovery being featured in the extras. In Recovering The Past, Phil Morris takes us through the journey he undertook in his quest to find missing television, and in particular the trail through Nigeria to his eventual find of both Enemy and The Web of Fear in Jos. The passion he has for his job is obvious from the interview, as is his optimism for future finds He also left us with a tantalising hint of what might be in store in the future... Restoring Doctor Who is an accompanying piece which documented some of the process in restoring the story from its original off-the-shelf condition to what we can watch today. Remembering Deborah Watling is a tribute to the actress whose bubbly presence is sadly missed. Featuring Louise Jameson, Colin Baker, Sylvia James, Anneke Wills, and Frazer Hines, Debbie's life and career is followed through the memories of her sister Nicky and brother Giles, with everybody involved reminiscing on her wicked sense of humour, practical jokes, and of course her healthy scream! The package is rounded off with the brief introduction to the then single remaining episode by Jon Pertwee from The Troughton Years, a trailer for the story from 1967, and the usual photo gallery, plus PDF materials. --- So is the special edition worth buying? It does of course rather depend on whether you are interested in the extra features. If you're only interested in the story then, with this version released, if you haven't already purchased it you might well see the original 2013 version drop further in price in the coming months. If you're only after a commentary then an alternative, unoffiicial release from Fantom Films[3] may be a cheaper option (though there isn't much difference in cost between that and this entire DVD online at present!). However, if you haven't bought Enemy before then I would certainly recommend this as the version to get. It's just a shame it wasn't presented this way in the first place! Hmm, with all the extensive recovery articles on this release, what's left for the special edition of The Web of Fear ... ?!! [1] The production discussion places the setting of the story as 2017, but a newspaper clipping seen in episode five shows "last year's date" of 26th August 2017, indicating it is actually set in 2018 after all. [2] I might well be the only person who will laugh out loud at Richard's ringtone! [3] A notable absence on the DVD commentary is of course the wonderful Debbie Watling, who had left us by the time this package was put together. All is not lost, however, as she can be heard on the alternative commentary from Fantom Films (and you can also get your Toby fix as Master of Ceremonies too!). The CD is still available from Amazon etc. http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net/2018/03/the_enemy_of_the_world_special_edition_dvd.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

#BBC Worldwide #DVD #Second Doctor

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lorrainecparker · 6 years

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Looking back on 2017, ahead to 2018 – PVC Roundtable Discussion

Scott Simmons The Editblog

When I got to looking back over 2017 I’m stuck by the fact that I’m not really struck by anything particularly ground-breaking or earth-shattering that came down the line this year, at least as far as film and video post-production goes. This roundtable discussion is something PVC has done before and it’s fun to read back on them as there is a lot of diverse talent that contributes to ProVideo Coalition. Reading back on writer’s thoughts from last year, I don’t think much has changed this year. Thinking back on my year of work I know that not a ton changed for me. I probably expected a lot of clients to come in the door asking about 360 VR and HDR … but they didn’t. It feels like 360 video production hasn’t taken off like the NAB shows of the last couple of years would make you think it would (hmmm, didn’t some NAB shows of years past make you think 3D stereoscopic would take off?) but there are some companies both big and small doing it and doing it well. 360 video seems to have become a viable niche that these dedicated production companies do as a turn-key service instead of us all having to learn it. Both Adobe and Apple did add 360 video editing features into their NLEs but they added them via a technology acquisition and not building them in-house. To me that says “VR video is important but not that important.”

I was thinking that 2017 might be the year that nearly 100% of the jobs that I edit came in the door in 4K or higher resolution. I was wrong about that as there was still a LOT of 1080 footage that I sat down to edit this past year. While this was a bit surprising in the end it was a blessing as some production … shoot … a … lot … of … footage these days. But I think the reality is that reality-style shows and productions shooting multiple cameras don’t have the luxury of unlimited transfer time and unlimited drive space when it comes to moving all that footage around. The 4K work that I saw this past year was reserved to more cinematic, film-style production where the filmmakers were crafting beautiful images and not capturing everything under the sun. That’s the way is should be, and it looked beautiful. As for that claim I read a time or two that 8K is the new standard for filmmaking … hogwash. The few times that I saw footage that was larger than 4K it was instantly transcoded out of its native resolution, not just for the offline edit but for final finishing as well. I’m sure in some magical super-computer world they are cutting and finishing 8K but not most of us. And we won’t be in 2018 either. I said this for 2016 and I say it again for 2017: I even had to deliver some SD spots this past year.

One thing I did see is more projects bound for the web. That might be offshoots of bigger productions or agencies dedicating entire campaigns to YouTube and Facebook. There is no doubt that web video is huge and we’re all just producing content for it. For 2017 it feels like a lot of agencies and production companies finally realize that it takes real resources to produce good web content so they aren’t trying to spend rock-bottom-dollar on web content anymore. That’s a plus. The biggest workflow change I saw with big uptick in web content is the need for captioning since so many web videos are viewed with the sound off. This might be an unfortunate side-effect of the hated autoplay video but if the client wants captions, we give them captions. This is where cloud-based transcription tools and their editing app integration, like SpeedScriber and Transcriptive, have been God-sends. I never would have thought that transcription tools would be my BIG THING from 2017 but lo and behold … I think it is.

So that makes me wonder: what about VR and AR and HDR that was supposed to be the coming thing? I think HDR is still in its infancy as far as mass consumption goes. Better (affordable) cameras and better (affordable) monitors means HDR tools are trickling down into the affordable edit suite but it’ll still be awhile, a long while, before HDR is part of that Facebook video. AR was supposed to be a big thing but that seems more the realm of the app developer than the video producer. The zombie gunship thing that Apple demoed was fun for about 1 minute on the new iOS and maybe I’ll make better use of placing virtual IKEA furniture in a room when I move to a new house so I’m still waiting for the breakthrough AR app on my phone and in my life. Truth is I’m not looking very hard for it. As for VR, a VR arcade opened in my town last year. I haven’t been there or taken my kids there yet. One is too young but maybe I’ll take the other. It’s only a block from my office. My oldest son got a VR Christmas gift where you download a bunch of 360 video apps to go along with, gasp, real printed books! The funny thing about the 360 apps that go along with this gift: they are all rendered 360 animation and not a frame of video in any of them. Maybe app development is as important a skill to have today as video literacy. I do think it’s harder to learn.

Steve Hullfish CUT.N.COLOR

I’d agree with you, largely about 4K. But I just did an interview with Dan James who cuts Grand Tour (what used to be Top Gear), which is definitely “reality.” And they are shooting as much as 30 hours a day of material ALL IN 4K! It’s a massive amount of material and obviously TONS of data (mostly Arri Alexa), but they have the budget to do it, obviously. Dan does believe that MOST of the people shooting 4K are doing the more cinematic projects though, so he’s the exception to the rule.

My personal work that wasn’t feature films was all for the web. Last year that was about 50 projects. No broadcast. And I’ve been using a ton of SpeedScriber to get my work done this year, not just for Art of the Cut, but also for the web-projects. Clients that I never would have transcribed stuff for – because of the cost – are now getting transcripts and I’m actually seeing more work because of it. When they have the transcript, they actually see their shot footage as a resource that’s more accessible for them and therefor they’re calling saying, “Hey, could we repurpose that interview and make a quickie web video out of it?” Sure!

Personally, I’ve had no call for VR or HDR. I did do an AR project, but that was 2 years ago. That was definitely all 3D and motion capture. I shot a promotional video for the app, but I’d agree that it’s more of a boon for app developers and 3D animators and mocap companies.

As for cheap stuff, I’d point to the increase in cheap stock footage. My use of places like pond5.com and videohive.net has almost completely replaced my use of places like Getty and ArtBeats – proof of which is the notification I just got from ArtBeats that they are closing shop in February. Unfortunately I had just dropped a large sum of money on a one-year subscription to their PremiumBeat service which was supposed to give me “free” stock footage through October of next year. Just a few years ago, prices for decent stock footage would be in the hundreds of dollars a shot. Now, I can get pretty great looking footage for anywhere between $8-$40 per shot. I’ve even subscribed to places with cheaper monthly or annual subscriptions, though I’ve found the quality of those is rarely good enough for my projects, but sometimes you find some gems, and if you can even find one decent shot per month, it pays for itself.

Art Adams Stunning Good Looks

As for that claim I read a time or two that 8K is the new standard for filmmaking … hogwash.

It’s interesting to see the camera companies trying to reinvent their products by making high resolution and large format the next big thing. RED and Panavision are pushing VistaVision-sized sensors, which are interesting but require investing in very expensive glass. Not a problem for Panavision, but for others I think it’ll be a barrier to entry. Sony’s large format camera is… well… a little disappointing in that it’s slower than it should be. At a time when lighting budgets are getting cut and schedules are getting shorter, making a camera that requires more light is… an interesting choice.

For 2017 it feels like a lot of agencies and production companies finally realize that it takes real resources to produce good web content so they aren’t trying to spend rock-bottom-dollar on web content anymore. That’s a plus.

Yeah, I see a little of that. It feels like they are spending money reluctantly, but still spending it. One of my largest clients is going through a “Why are we spending so much on video?” phase, as some new executives don’t understand that their massive library of expensive but very high quality marketing videos is largely responsible for the company’s success. Overall, though, there are a lot of production companies in the Bay Area who are struggling. I walked into one the other day and the office was empty except for two people. I asked if everyone else was on vacation; he said, “No, we’ve just laid everyone off. We’re hiring only as needed now.” And they’re one of the busier companies.

I thought it would take off faster than it has. Set top boxes can handle it now, and TVs are fairly commonplace, but the standards are still all over the place but for Dolby. I heard rumors that HDR10 would be the next big thing because it was less expensive, but Dolby doesn’t seem to have an issue getting their chips into TVs.

Hollywood is mastering and remastering content like crazy, so they seem to think it’s going to happen.

AR was supposed to be a big thing but that seems more the realm of the app developer than the video producer.

Yup, that’s gonna be all about programming.

As for VR, a VR arcade opened in my town last year. I haven’t been there or taken my kids there yet.

Live action VR seems to be dead. Nokia folded Ozo and laid off the Ozo team earlier this month.

Maybe app development is as important a skill to have today as video literacy. I do think it’s harder to learn.

It does seem to be where the money is. That and IT. I just read an interesting story about how India is seeing massive IT layoffs because companies have learned that outsourcing there is a losing proposition. I remember reading a few years ago about how app development was going to be a losing proposition for Americans as all that work was going overseas, but I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.

Brian Hallett

In Focus

This year with cameras we saw some promising innovation. Sony announced the 6K Full-Frame VENICE, Panasonic released their EVA1 a VariCam LT – light style camera, Canon finally gave shooters raw recording with the C200, Blackmagic made a much more user-friendly camera in the URSA Mini Pro and RED announced their Monstro an 8K Vista Vision sensor camera. The big take away is larger and larger sensors are here to stay and the resolution to make those impactful fields of views, even more, eye-popping is right about the bend, if not already here.

If you can afford any of these cameras listed above then you will find yourself with a very capable camera with very little limiting technology. No longer should a shooter be able to say their camera is holding them back from creating wonderful images. I feel like great looking footage squarely falls on one’s craft, preparation, and willingness to learn the new technology and the confidence to apply it well.

4K is great, 6K is better and 8K seems to be best for 2018.. this, of course, is what people will say. The reality is I’m stilling shooting a small percentage of my projects in 4K with a far higher percentage of my clients requesting me to shoot in 1080. Will we see a 10K camera announcement in 2018? I think it might be a possibility. I would not bet against such an announcement, but the likelihood of shooters capturing footage at 8K, let alone 10K, will still seem pretty far off for most of us. One of the things I want to remind shooters is craft is more important than a camera choice these days when many cameras have around 15 stops of dynamic range and more than 4K sized sensor. Great cinematic footage comes not only from camera choice but also from the lenses one choose, the lighting, the movement and the composition. The camera is just part of the equation.

VR and 360 video… I will call it here. I think these two fads will lose their glimmer in 2018. It is far easier for an audience to feel emotionally moved from a well-crafted edit and story than from a 360-degree world view of a scene or setting. Maybe 180-degree footage will become a thing, but I doubt it. I always think of shot selection and editing as a visual metaphor for good writing and grammar. Good writing and grammar can strike the emotional bone in as few words as possible and great visuals and story can do the same by highlighting what we want to see in that moment.

Lenses… as the sensors grow in size so too will the lens options. This could be a huge year for anamorphic lenses. Rumor has it Sigma is developing an anamorphic line and NAB 2017 saw Atlas Lens Co. announcing their less expensive options. We will have to wait and see, but I expect NAB 2018 and Cine Gear 2018 to be especially interesting.

Adam Wilt Camera Log

I’d say the biggest camera/production trends at the turning of the year are “beyond pixels” and the birth of practical HDR. These may not be things we all deal with on a daily basis, but they’re fundamental shifts in underlying capabilities and available infrastructure that will affect how we perceive “video” in the years ahead.

Beyond pixels: 4K/UHD didn’t last long as a plateau on which camera systems could stabilize, but we’re not converging on 8K as the standard. Increasingly we’re seeing cameras liberated from the tyranny of a fixed pixel count.

Many, led by the DSLR / mirrorless crowd, supersample their images from 5K or 6K or more down to UHD or HD for recording. We’re at the somewhat awkward point where the 4K out of a lowly GH5 or EVA1 out-resolves the 4K from a Varicam35 or VaricamLT (and yes, there’s more to image quality than resolution, but the point remains).

Some cameras—RED really led this revolution—don’t restrict recording to standard frame sizes, either, offering a variety of native frame dimensions for capture. Often these are raw captures, but not always: you can shoot “6K anamorphic” on a GH5 (actually 4,992 x 3,774), and get a long-GOP HEVC file, ready to edit.

Yes, 8K as a broadcast and distribution standard is coming, with the 2020 Olympics as a driving function (never mind that it’ll be a very limited broadcast standard by that point, earlier Olympics have served as similar drivers for HD and UHD broadcast-standard milestones), but as we get beyond the point where pixels are resolvable—where vernier acuity / hyperacuity takes over from spatial acuity as the psychophysical determinant of spatial image quality—“smoothness” takes over from “sharpness” and the actual pixel count becomes less critical, less of a make-or-break number. Once you get past FHD resolution, it’s no longer as much about “is it good enough” but “it’s more better”.

Cameras and NLEs are increasingly format-agnostic: once you’re “beyond pixels” you can just pick the resolution that works for your project and not worry about output formats until it’s output time.

Practical HDR: While we’ve been looking at impressive HDR demos for several years now, it’s only at the tail end of 2017 that we’re starting to see practical HDR: high dynamic range for the rest of us, and wide color gamut along with it. HDR-capable TVs are now widely available, almost all with HD10 and an increasing number with HLG. Even comparatively low-end cameras like the Sony FS5 and A7Riii and Panasonic GH5 and EVA1 offer HLG recording alongside their existing log modes. The recent update for Final Cut Pro X makes authoring HLG and HD10 output as painless as cutting a Rec.709 show, whether your footage comes in as log or HLG. Netflix and Amazon Prime both offer HDR distribution, as does YouTube, and ATSC 3.0 will deliver it OTA for those of us who get TV via antenna (yes, some of us still do!).

The early results won’t always be pretty; heck, most of the HDR demo reels at the past couple of NABs showed that even the high-end folks haven’t yet mastered this new language. But the crucial fact is that now the workers can control the means of production, and viewers can see the results. May a thousand flowers bloom—some excessively bright, many garishly oversaturated, but flowers nonetheless. The shackles of 100-nit, Rec.709 are loosening, and our NLEs and displays are catching up to the wide dynamic ranges and wide color gamuts our cameras are capable of. Finally, there’s something to do with all those stops of highlight headroom aside from flattening them in the grade!

Woody Woodhall Sound for Picture

Professional audio for post production hasn’t seen much in the way of game changing advances in the past year. There are the usual iteration improvements in software and hardware but since the “sound barrier” was surpassed with 192K, 32 bit floating point audio files, we’ve been well beyond the realm of human hearing for some time. Somewhat ironically at that same time period the highly lossy audio type – mp3 – gained in popularity. That format died this year, but I digress….

That being said there were some things to note this year. Dolby Atmos has really started to reach critical mass. At this point there are well over 600 titles mixed in the format and the gradual implementation of the AC-4 codec will really get it into homes, cars and mobile devices. For those that don’t know, Atmos is an object based audio experience. So rather than being confined by the monitor speakers, instead, each panning of the audio is based in nodes including overhead. This system allows for the Dolby decoders to decipher how many objects are available to it and then create the mix accordingly. Atmos is created in a 7.1 surround environment, but can fold down into stereo and mono or up to its full compliment of ceiling monitors along with a full array, surrounding the viewer, in professional theatre settings. At CES this year LG announced that their OLED TV monitors will support the technology sending it out to a compatible audio receiver.

AC-4 can easily handle these multiple streams and in a very efficient, compressed manner. It is about 4 times as efficient as the now standard AC-3 codec. The other touted benefits include “personalized content delivery.” That feature sounds like a bit of a nightmare for audio master delivery, as well as for the end user. The idea is that multiple streams of the mix would be available to the end user. They could then choose to “only hear the ice” from a hockey game for instance and remove the announcers. Or they could increase the dialog level while decreasing the music and effects level. Or basically – remix the show I’ve delivered!

The other main item to note is the acquisition of Fairlight audio into the DaVinci Resolve program from Blackmagic Design. There are still kinks to be worked out in the implementation but BMD has done a great job over the years in it’s acquisitions and further improvements to those new corporate purchases. I believe that over time this will be a game changer for post production audio. It offers many of the same workflows and features of the many DAWs already in the marketplace. The main determinate factor will be the advancements to the audio module by the company BMD itself. They have proved time and time again to not only look to improve the products it acquires, but to also be keen on listening to user’s ideas, thoughts and comments and making adjustments for the better. It comes out of the box with many things that are currently only provided third party on most other DAWs. BMD also has an I/O box as well as an accelerator card in the works. Fairlight has a long history in audio and as an additional component of the DaVinci Resolve program, that is also steadily improving it’s picture editing capabilities, the future shines bright for this well received addition.

What I most look forward to in 2018 is a course correction in the computing hardware. Ever since Apple released the aptly dubbed “trash can” it’s been an uphill climb with ports, drivers and additional boxes to support the additional hardware required. Some of us long for the simplicity of the old 9600 with it’s six PCI slots. I love the increases in computing power today of course, but it would be great if there were more streamlined approaches to the ugly cable mess from the front panel of the Apple Mac Pro. It might be a well designed box from a “design concept” point of view, however, needing external drives and having no PCI slots makes its “elegance” lacking in the “real world” department. They say that professional users like us are in for a great re-imagining of the Mac Pro, fingers crossed. (As usual…)

Allan Tépper TecnoTur

At our suggestion, in 2017, more audio/video apps for mobile devices (Android and iOS) began to support 48 kHz audio sampling and to make it the default setting. I hope that the few holdouts will embrace this in 2018.

In 2017, more manufacturers started to properly label non-integer framerates in camera menus, even in consumer models. I hope that the few holdouts will embrace this in 2018.

In 2017, Apple started to offer automatic matching of framerates and type of HDR (or lack thereof) in its AppleTV 4K. I hope that in 2018, Apple will finally start supporting non-integer framerates in macOS, for hardware outputs and internal displays. I also really hope that in 2018, Apple will realize its terrible mistake and go back to offering the option of matte screens in its products, and that it will substantially update the Mac Mini.

In 2017, more digital microphones (with digital output) and audio interfaces were delivered that are focused on mobile devices (Android and iOS). Some of them specifically included monitoring to react to the lack of analog headset jacks in many of the latest mobile devices, by adding inboard monitoring, some of which are latency-free. In 2018, more of the holdouts will likely update their audio products to include built-in analog monitoring.

In 2017, HP announced the first touch matte color display. I hope that in 2018, HP and other manufacturers follow the same path with other touch matte color displays.

In 2018, more of the video sharing platforms will likely support H.265/HEVC for upload. More online services for remote interviews came out and were improved in 2017, and I expect that to expand in 2018.

In 2017, a large number of Chromebooks with matte or glossy screens started to offer official support for Android apps. Some of those apps are already optimized for a larger, sizable window on Chromebooks. In 2018, certainly many more Android apps will be optimized for a larger, sizable window on Chromebooks.

The post Looking back on 2017, ahead to 2018 – PVC Roundtable Discussion appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

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entergamingxp · 4 years

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The Wonderful 101 Kickstarter will let you get blocked on Twitter by Kamiya himself • Eurogamer.net

PlatinumGames certainly hasn’t been shy about the project’s existence, but today it finally unveiled the Kickstarter campaign for The Wonderful 101 Remastered. Crowdfunding commences today and runs through until next month with the Nintendo Switch version due this April – if the campaign is successful – with stretch goals in place for PC and PS4 versions as well as additional content. Even better, if you pledge 11,000 JPY or more Hideki Kamiya will Tweet at you and then block you forever.

The Wonderful 101 Remastered is set to be PlatinumGames’ first self-published project, and marks a return to a fan favourite that was first a Wii U exclusive published by Nintendo. “Nintendo’s kindness has allowed us to expand to other platforms,” an official statement from PlatinumGames said about the new project. Last year we took the chance to speak to Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya to talk about The Wonderful 101 Remastered, and what it means for PlatinumGames’ future.

I guess the first question would be why is now, almost 13 years into PlatinumGames’ existence, the time to start self-publishing?

Inaba: As a matter of fact, we’ve always wanted to self-publish. It’s just simply that, as a developer, we didn’t have the ability to do such a thing, so we continued making games. Thankfully those games have been quite well-received. With this particular opportunity, a lot of things came together so the timing made sense: the fact that we wanted to revisit The Wonderful 101, the fact that Nintendo gave us the okay to do this. So we’re taking it upon ourselves to self-publish, and we figured crowdfunding would be the way to do this.

You’ve not been shy about wanting to return to The Wonderful 101 – I think it’s been teased for well over a year, and it’s good to see it finally happening. Was it an option to do this with Nintendo, or did you always want to self-publish?

Inaba: The Wonderful 101 wasn’t quite the success that we wanted, or that got the success it deserved. It’s a game we’ve really got confidence in, and it’s always been something we wanted to revisit. We spoke to Nintendo and said it wasn’t a success – and Nintendo said if you don’t think it’s a success, go ahead and we’ll let you do what you want with it. So all the pieces came together and crowdfunding was the way to go – we couldn’t do it ourselves and need support from the fans. The other aspect was we were very interested in putting it on other platforms, not just the Nintendo Switch – so there will be stretch goals to put it on other platforms. As those hopefully get attained, there will be other things involved including additional content.

I love The Wonderful 101, but it was very much coupled with the Wii U hardware and the GamePad. How are you going to go about decoupling that?

Kamiya: For the newer versions, in the case of the Switch it will retain a lot of the same features such as drawing the moves on the pad, so that’s the same. On the original Wii U it was a dualscreen, and it’ll obviously be one screen now. In the original game the subscreen was fixed in the lower right hand corner – I’d like to add a feature to move that around and change the size of it. There’s a lot of detailed technical things I’d like to adjust too – I’ve got a list of the things I’ve always wanted to change that I wasn’t quite satisfied with in the original. Being able to revisit the game has allowed us to make those fine-tuned adjustments. In the case of PlayStation 4 where you can’t draw on the screen – you can do the moves on the stick like in the original, and I actually prefer the stick mode. In terms of the contents, it’s one of our larger games, so we’re happy with how it is. It’s not the case that we want to add more content – we just want to make it more user-friendly.

Another thing is that The Wonderful 101 was Nintendo published and there were lots of subtle references to Nintendo IP throughout. Is that going to have to change now this is on non-Nintendo platforms?

Kamiya: [laughs] That’s a very good question! You’re very sharp. That’s a very good point. Until the game is released you’ll have to wait and find out.

That’s fair enough! What’s the timescale on this? A lot of the content is obviously there.

Inaba: The campaign will run for a month – if it’s a success we’ll go into making the game. We’ve already been working on the planning and that’s finished. We don’t have an exact date or timeline at this point, but as the core is already there we want people to know we don’t expect it to take very long, and furthermore it’d be rude to the backers if it took too long.

In terms of how much you need to raise – is it on a smaller scale than if this was a completely new game?

Inaba: It’s not a crowdfunding effort for a completely new project so it’s not to that extreme. However I’m concerned that there’s a lot of risk involved, as a company – even though it’s not a new project, it’s a new game we have to put our time and effort into, and we don’t know if it will succeed or not. But we ourselves are interested in gauging the interest of the fans, which is why we want to do this project, so we can revisit the title and see exactly how much people like this game.

I think people like it a lot! Hopefully it’ll be a success.

Kamiya: One of the things that we’re looking forward to in this project is that through a crowdfunding effort we can interact with the fans and have everyone unite. Not only do we want to deliver the game to the fans, but as the campaign runs we’ll be doing weekly shows and things like that and be in the spotlight a bit and interacting with fans. So we’re looking forward to everyone coming together and helping make this a reality.

When it comes to self-publishing – it’s something you’ve alluded to in the past, and it’s good to see it finally happen. Where does it go from here with other PlatinumGames’ titles in the future?

Inaba: That’s an important question. The fact of the matter is we’re going a different route with this effort than we normally do. At this point we don’t know if it’ll succeed or not – we hope it will! It’ll all be dependent on the success of this project. We’re confident we’ll get the support of our fans, and if it is a success – initially we’ll focus on this project, and then depending on the success we’ll move forward and we’ll look to continue self-publishing activity in the future.

I wanted to ask Kamiya-san – The Wonderful 101 was his last project as director. Has his role evolved within the company? I know he’s taken on a tutor role to several younger directors.

Kamiya: It was the last game I directed – but my role is chief game designer, so I’m involved in all the PlatinumGames projects that have come out. One of my main roles is to look at the quality of the games in an advisory role. I understand that The Wonderful 101 was the last game I directed – but I want people to know that I haven’t retired!

When you start talking to the fans, something I’m sure that will come up a lot is Scalebound as people do still talk about that. With PlatinumGames going the self-publishing route, is that something you’ve spoken to Microsoft about that could be picked up again?

Inaba: Again that’s a good question! But that was 100 per cent a Microsoft-owned IP. Whatever happens with this project, we really can’t do anything with it – unless Microsoft gives us the go-ahead. But it’s a game that we’re passionate about and do love – and if the opportunity does arise it’s something we’d love to return to.

Are there any other games in your library you’d like to return to via self-publishing, or could it be an opportunity to build new IP?

Inaba: Moving forward we’d like to focus on newer games rather than older ones, so there’s not really any we’d like to return to.

Is crowdfunding going to be something you’d like to return to after this?

Inaba: This is an original case – it’s not so much the case that we’re saying hey we need money. It’s more saying hey everyone let’s come together and make this project a reality. So moving forward there’s no thought of needing to crowdfund and doing it again – this is just a particular case. But if in the future there’s a similar case where crowdfunding makes sense, it’s an option we’ll consider.

Okay, as we’re wrapping up this is a purely selfish question. If you do want to go via crowdfunding again in the future, could you have a word with Konami and speak to them about making a Gradius game? I know Kamiya-san’s a big fan of the series and it’s my dream to see him work on a Gradius 6 – if you make that happen I’ll personally reach into my pockets. Hey, I’d sell my house. What can we do to make this happen?

Kamiya: I love Gradius! But for me that’s the top of the top of the top – what can I do for that series? If I made it I wouldn’t be satisfied to play it! There are games I’d like to work on and if I get the opportunity to work on those I’d take the chance to be involved.

I’m sure it’d be awesome – thank you so much for your time, and thank you for the games.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/the-wonderful-101-kickstarter-will-let-you-get-blocked-on-twitter-by-kamiya-himself-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-wonderful-101-kickstarter-will-let-you-get-blocked-on-twitter-by-kamiya-himself-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

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