PS4 is so powerful it gave us a ‘chance to dream’

Ubisoft’s upcoming, highly anticipated game Watch Dogs may be finding itself in the middle of a controversy regarding its downgraded visuals right now, but the game is still a highly impressive feat by all accounts- it is a persistently online and connected open world experience unlike anything we have seen before- possibly the first true ‘next gen’ title of this console cycle.

Talking about the game on the PlayStation Blog, Ubisoft’s developers said that a lot of the game’s bold design was thanks to how powerful the PlayStation 4 is as a machine.

“PS4 has really given us the platform to build a new type of game,” Watch Dogs animation director Colin Graham said. “It gave us a chance to dream. From an animation point of view, we’re always running out of memory, especially when you start developing towards the end of a console generation, so PS4 allowed things like reduced animation compression and more variety in civilians.

“From my point of view, it’s a bit like working with an unlimited budget because we can’t fill the memory budget on PS4. It’s a really nice piece of hardware.”

He wasn’t the only one so liberal with his praise. The lead gameplay designer Danny Belanger for the title also had nice things to say about the system.

“The powerful technology helped us create a better simulation,” Belanger said. “The water effects, the amount of people in the city, the quality of the lighting… it all brings us a step forward.”

Watch Dogs is due out for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox one on May 27; a Wii U version is planned for sometime later (although Ubisoft won’t say exactly when)

Source: GamingBolt

Watch Dogs: ‘Two players won’t experience the same thing’

Watch Dogs has been priding itself on density, connectedness and freedom of expression for players ever since it was revealed at E3 2012, but this game is also going to be emphasizing unique gameplay experiences.

Recently, Alexandre Forest-Boucher, who is a production manager on Watch Dogs, talked about how no two players will experience the same thing.

“Constantly! We have so many emergent gameplay elements, a lot things can and will happen. Two players won’t experience the same thing. I have been playing A LOT and the game keeps taking me by surprise; I love it,” Forest-Boucher said.

The ability to be able to hack just about everything is going to present Watch Dogs players will quite a few options for gameplay opportunities. How they incorporate that or express that within the context of their own story will be an intriguing thing to see.

Forest-Boucher then described some of what he is currently doing to make sure Watch Dogs is ready to go, come launch on May 27th.

“We’re now at the closing stage of the game, which means debugging and polish. I basically make sure we’re fixing the right things, in the right order.

“We have to make sure that whatever we’re doing doesn’t break anything else in the game. Fortunately, since I work with such an awesome team of people, that doesn’t happen too often. They really make things easier for me,” Forest-Boucher said.

With over 6 month’s extra time to work on the game, Watch Dogs should be looking great with little bugs when it debuts in a few months.

Watch Dogs Most Anticipated Game of the Year will be Released Between May to June

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has announced that Watch Dogs will soon release for PS4 and Xbox One along with the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions of the title. According to a report by Game Informer from Feb. 10, the PS4 and Xbox One version of Watch Dogs will be released during the first quarter of 2014, though the Wii U version of Watch Dogs has been delayed to a later date.

Watch Dogs was previously scheduled to release in Nov. 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC. However, the title was delayed in order to receive extra development time and polish, though some speculate Ubisoft delayed Watch Dogs in order to avoid being overshadowed by Grand Theft Auto 5.

“Our ambition from the start with Watch Dogs has been to deliver something that embodies what we wanted to see in the next-generation of gaming,” the company explained at the time. “From the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality.

“As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune every detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.”