By now, all of you know that the E3 builds of most games are special vertical slices of the game, that appear to be more impressive than their final builds. But have you ever wondered how developers are able to create such amazing demos? Well, time to get a glimpse at what actually happens with the E3 builds of most – if not all – games.
YouTube’s ‘PtoPOnline’ got its hands on the E3 2010 build of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and released a video, showing why this particular build looked and played differently than the final build. The video shows how the developers were able to cut CPU and GPU cycles by scripting various events and disabling AI.
It’s a really amazing and informative video, so be sure to watch it!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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The funny thing is……….. idiots still believing in BS E3 demos. lmao
Not idiots. We just do not know. With your logic, everyone’s an idiot because everybody has things they do not know about and that includes you XD
There is a huge difference between not knowing something and believing everything.
Like how there’s a huge difference between not knowing and idiocy, right? And who said anything about us (or at least I) believe everything? that’s just assuming on your part
What is exactly what you don’t know? That big publishers will lie and screw over the consumer every single time? You actually don’t know that?
Ughh … seriously? so if a publisher wants to lie, they automatically- “automatically”- make something like this? ssssseriously? and besides not every demos are lies so you will have to judge the demos “based on experience” which game makers are going to make something like this or if a demo is too good to be true.
You must be so omnipotent that EVERY SINGLE THING you see, even though it’s the first time you’ve seen one, and you already know if it’s a lie or not —__—
Every stage demo contains scripted stuff that won’t be in the game, to ensure that everything goes according to plans.
Publishers don’t want to lie, they want to make money. Lying is a natural consequence when your customers are ignorant. Why wouldn’t they lie? I don’t think any game company has ever lost money over false advertising.
As I said, there are still truthful demos. I think there are only few game makers that do this kind of stuff “to this extent” *cough Ubicrap cough* . I’ve seen demos that turned out to be Bullshi* but not that many to make me cynic.
I’m not a cynic. I don’t prejudice just because some of the biggest names in game making is lying to their customers. I base my judgement rationally
“there are still truthful demos”
Such as? I’m not saying there aren’t any. Of course there are some games that get demo’d at a stage where the devs don’t NEED to cheat. But even when a game is released and seems to deliver everything the demo showed you can’t take that as evidence that the demo was unscripted. Once you realize that you also realize that between the demo and the release something could go wrong. So “false advertising” depends more on the developers’ success after a demo, than on the demo itself. If you release a completely fictitious target render but you manage to make a game so good-looking it blows away that target render, then noone is going to complain. Maybe noone will ever even find out. Even though you deliberately lied and advertised a product that didn’t exist (yet).
“I think there are only few game makers that do this kind of stuff”
Not true at all. Indie developers have every reason to cheat just as much if not more, and they do. Have you heard of KICKSTARTER? 🙂
Dude, this isn’t a new thing, it’s been happening for years.
You a fool to believe them. people need to understand the difference form tech demo and retail release.
they are idiots. people should be skeptic and they shouldn’t get hyped for stuff they don’t know otherwise they fell on publishers trap like idiots.
As I said, there are still truthful demos. I think there are only few game makers that do this kind of stuff to this extent *cough Ubicrap cough* . I’ve seen demos that turned out to be Bullshi* but not that many to make me cynic.
I’m not a cynic. I don’t prejudice just because some of the biggest names in game making is lying to their customers. I base my judgement rationally
well yeah but by being skeptic you won’t lose anything, it’s better for you as a consumer.
@ritsuka6666chan:disqus got rekt by @Akimikage:disqus. LoL
The vast majority of everything are clueless morons.
E3 gameplay does mean anything anymore, hell some games change so much after release that they are basically 2 different games. The only thing you can really take from an E3 presentation is the theme and atmosphere the game is aiming for.
The only true false advertisement comes when the graphical fidelity and/or gameplay of an E3 demo do not match the final release. A demonstration is a demonstration.
“graphical fidelity and/or gameplay of an E3 demo do not match the final release.” still sounds like UBI
The real vertical slices have meaning only between developers and publishers. For an ordinary gamer what really matters is how demos they show on expos look in comparison to final products. It doesn’t even matter, whether it was scripted, cut, or something else, as long as it is what was promised.
Frankly, this problem is mostly related to Ubisoft and a few other publishers, as well as pretty much every peasant exclusive.
This is nothing new. Valve did the same with the Half-life 2 E3 presentation. Years later when Missing Information mod released, which allowed you to play the E3 build, this would become evident.
What. the. fuc*. was. that 0_0
Half life 2 did it, watchdogs did it, far cry 3 did it. it is alot more standard than you think.
I’m not talking about the downgrading or vertical slices in general. I’ve seen a lot of it and have already learned the lesson the hard way. I’m talking about how very linear some of those demo builds are that unless you do things in a very specific way, things won’t even trigger.
There are videos of the hl2 demos. They work the same way.
That’s what? ages ago? I wasn’t even a gamer back then XD
I guess that explains your extreme naivety.
“Extreme naivety.” pfftt ahaha … this guy’s gold. So not knowing something makes you “EXTREMELY” naive. Oh internet superlative
At least i didn’t called you ignorant
That game is such a piece of crap, it is utterly scripted there aren’t any tactics or replayability.
Good old downgrades… This one brings back many memories.
I’m saying this for years: gameplay videos are not gameplay videos, they are scripted. and everybody (even some readers of this site) called me stupid.
well, who is the stupid now?
Guide to E3. “In engine”. Means rendered at an obscenely high resolution downsample at maybe at 1 FPS and then spliced together.
“Gameplay/Actual Gameplay” Unless stated SPECIFICALLY they are on the highest end PC you can have. Consoles will often deceive by using their console controller on a PC and you can google images of MS/Sony even going so far as to have PC’s hidden under the console at booths or demos. The game can also be downgraded from this state on PC.
No “in engine”, no “gameplay”. A fairy tale also known as a “vertical slice”. This is not a working game. It is a CGI movie to get people excited. You might as well watch Toy Story.
The only game to even come close to the original “in engine” trailer I have seen lately has been Battlefront on PC. Dice should be applauded for that. Too bad they are owned by EA and EA ruined the game, rushed the game and it had no content. Oh and Sony was deceitful (partnered with that game) because their trailer at E3? Was on a PC and they flashed the PS4 logo at the start (means nothing), never stated “this is on a PS4” (always look for that), and only on a end credit frame was it admitted it was PC footage that no one bothered to read or saw.
So that sums up E3. BS, BS and more BS.
“Means rendered at an obscenely high resolution downsample at maybe at 1 FPS and then spliced together.”
Citation needed.
If it weren’t they’d call it “in-game”. When you read “in-engine” your mind should auto-correct that to “NOT in-game”.
I quoted a specific sentence for a reason. Quit being a moron.
You want a citation for obvious hyperbole? You’re the one acting obtuse. Obviously famous actor Bruce Campbell was exaggerating for comedic effect. Some “in-engine” videos only use a super-high resolution. Others only use expensive shader effects. Yet others don’t use anything out of the ordinary at all but they’re still not recorded in real-time because the game has performance problems in its early stage. And obviously some of these videos are captured at 10 fps and others are captured at below 1 fps.
Now is that acceptable or do you still want a citation? What would satisfy you? Hundreds of developers from all over the world writing apologies, all admitting to doing this because everyone else is doing it? Are you also still waiting for Lance Armstrong to admit to doping?
Those are generally dev kits. Initial versions of the consoles sent to devs are not in final casing. Then these dev kits are just recycled and used more because there makes no sense trading in the old dev kit for a new one in the final casing when it’s the same hardware.
What most people don’t get it, is that E3 isn’t a event made to the public, it is a “shareholder circle jerk”, but it is being used to sell the product to the public (or the idea of said product, since we can clearly see the differences between their slices and the final build).
Also, that channel is great!
Y U LYIN, Y U ALWAYS LYIN…
How the hell did this guy get that build???
He slipped someone a crisp Washington.
I suppose most (if not all) of those E3 builds are scripted. They are doing a live show, so you’d expect them to prepare accordingly. This is an exciting event that can happen in the game, so let’s script it to happen on the stage and people get excited. there’s nothing dishonest about this.
What is dishonest IMO is when they CHANGE the game to show at the conference. Stuff like downgrading graphics like in Watch Dogs or Witcher… or even showing a stage that’s straight up not in the game like in that Aliens: Colonial Marines fiasco.
Your art is awesome.
Thank you! 🙂
We’re in the same business so I like to give props to fellow artists when I can. lol
I care how the game plays yes because you can’t tell for sure if the gfx are going to be the same on the final build. Hint : they won’t lol.
people are absolute idiots to believe any e3 trailers.wait till a beta.i dont feel sorry for people who are crying downgrade or disappointed.you deserve to be if you believe those trailers.
its you own fault for getting that hyped over a trailer in the first place.just wait for a beta or a twitch streamer to play it before release before you decide anything.
trailers are just for show.
so cinematic
22 FPS! That’s only 2 FPS off FULL CINEMATOGRAPHY!
Yeah.. good enough though.
I sure hope somebody leaks the Prey 2 ‘vertical slice’ as well.
worst part is when fanboys defending such things, this is why they are still doing these stuff and they will continue to do so as long as their fanboys shout and praise their actions.
I’m so envious of console gamers. They don’t play games. They play movies.
Ubisoft has been doing this for years and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more law suits against them.
Aliens: Colonial Marines. NEVER AGAIN.
Did not know about this guy he seem cool
Ghost Recon was always this mediocre festival, gradually perfecting tedium and beyond the reproach of any serious criticism by way of a sycophantic, security blanket fanbase and the lets not kick a cripple media.
It has no charisma, it’s not sexy. It’s a soggy biscuit.
I will concede that development after all these years remains consistent, so at least there’s that.