Originally posted by Yoshi
I am not so sure. Some of Sega's internal teams got the Saturn to sing. The problem was that very few of the 3rd parties could do the same. This is very similar to the current PS2 situation. Take a look at Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on PS2. It is a gorgeous racing game. The problem is that not all developers have the resources that EA does to dig into the hardware and max it out. It's truly not a matter of raw power. It's a matter of decoding the architecture. I have complete faith that Sonic Team has both the talent and the attention to detail to accomplish that on the PS2.
Play games like Gun Griffon (First Gen Saturn) and you'll see just how much 3-D power the Saturn had. This from a 3rd party publisher called Game Arts. Scavenger could also make the Saturn Hardware sing with games like Amok and Scorcher. Scorcher had some nice lighting and smoke effects which I think, could'nt have or have'nt been done any better on the PSX. EA's Soviet Strike looked great on the Saturn and some say it actually played smoother than the PSX version.
The PS2 is just like the Saturn. It's a bitch to program, but when great developer gets ahold of the hardware, it can pull off some of the best graphics. Sonic Team, AM2 and Visual Concepts are very good programmers and I'm sure Sonic Team, with all it's knowledge can make the PS2 look like a Gamecube.
Back onto the topic. I think Sega needs a million seller title and the PS2 offers the best market for this to happen. Sure the Gamecube or Xbox would/could provide a slightly better looking game, but I feel the PS2 is more than competent enough to provide what Sonic Team needs to make a great game.





Bookmarks