Radical - Original Prototype was "too huge," delay has helped "realize vision"

VG247: The bad: Radical's open-world, anti-superhero blockbuster Prototype has been heavily delayed. The good: it's now been polished to buggery and pulled back to a more manageable "vision".

"The extra dev time from last year really was a chance for us to polish, tweak and refine the missions and gameplay mechanics," executive producer Tim Bennison told VG247.

[jluth3]

Sweat!!

[gaffyh]

Lol I think you mean Sweet!

[Software_Lover]

LOL, I didn't even see that.

[SL1M DADDY]

Maybe games like this make him sweaty? ;-)

[FamilyGuy]

He couldn't mean sweet cuase that would imply that this was a good thing. They had MAJOR problems that took them MONTHS to fix.

That is not a good thing.

I hope this game does well, sales game play AND story-wise. I already know im getting infamous but this title still needs to win me over.

[stevenhiggster]

I'm really not interested in this game at all, I don't get it, the story sounds like absolute guff and the gameplay doesn't sound fresh in any way.

Sweat was right, stinky stale B.O sweat. Thats what I think of this one.

[ZuperAmazingCooKie]

They had to do some "optimizations" for it to fit on DVD9

:)

[Trebius]

You know what...before I even clicked the link I noticed by the headline that it sort of insinuates an issue by saying it was "too huge". Im guessing they had to take it down a notch and try not to compromise the game too much.

In the end InFamous is probably the one to get if you own a ps3...why buy prototype when its storyline is "guff" and the gameplay is exactly like their last game with the Hulk.

All they did was polish the engine and re release the same game with different characters.

The only thing that makes me sad is that if you think about it...ppl will get this game and probably enjoy it, but how much do you think had to be compromised for it to be equal on both consoles? How many OTHER multiplat titles have been gimped...? *sigh*

[TheRealSpy02]

"1.6 - I think we all know what this means
They had to do some "optimizations" for it to fit on DVD9 "

wow cookie, you just don't seem to have any ability to discern the difference between fact and your biased opinion.

i call you out yesterday for being a fanboy and you deny it and here you go giving further proof. and again, nobody said a thing about 360 until you started your trolling. you are pathetic

@trebius
"The only thing that makes me sad is that if you think about it...ppl will get this game and probably enjoy it, but how much do you think had to be compromised for it to be equal on both consoles? How many OTHER multiplat titles have been gimped...? *sigh*"

- another fanboy statement not based in fact. why do you ppl struggle so much with truth vs speculation? the reality is that we don't know what caused the delay, we don't know how good the final product will be, and that almost every multiplat game reviews slightly better on 360 than ps3. not that i am saying ps3 is inferior, cuz i wouldn't, but there is no proof that 360 cripples developers when the games generally look a little more polished on it.

i will agree with you that the game does have a Hulk feel to it. but then again, fallout 3 had an Oblivion feel to it and it was still a great game. i just think you should reserve your opinion for the release and not speculate because you want infamous to be the better game (which...it may very well be, but we don't know - yet).

[Nineball2112]

"Sweat was right, stinky stale B.O sweat. Thats what I think of this one."

LOL! Classic... that had me lmao.

[nycredude]

This game is pretty much the Hulk rehashed and don't try to deny it.

While it is true that Fallout 3 had an oblivion feel to it, oblivion was an excellent game, whereas the Hulk was mediocre at best. Heck even the last gen hulk was better.

[Einhander]

Sounds like both versions are being held back due to disc space limitations. Wouldn't be the first time...

[king dong2]

it's good to see that you've lost some bubbles...minus again for blind rabid fanboyism that needs to be stamped out on here and every web-site.

same for you trebius.

i'll just say, that crackdown, gta and saints row make you two look like the pathetic idiotic fanboys that you are.

idiots need to be hounded out of here. and that includes all the people that have agreed with you two.

[UltraNova]

Not that I agree with some people's take on things but here's some quick facts you've been craving for, I am sure you can find more...

http://www.1up.com/do/newsS...
http://www.computerandvideo...

Oh and dont bring up the whole ps3 is hard to develop for thing! Thats for lazy ass programmers. Its something that if some effort is put into it it can actually be solved; space issues, no standard HDD are some things you cannot solve (and no, multiple dvds is not a good$ solution for a developer, we are talking about devs here remember?).

Both consoles have limitations and issues no doubt about it. But when on ONE console the issues are eliminated while the other is undoubtly cursed to carry them until its end then there are no excuses anymore.

Thats my humble opinion.

Take it as you will.

[TheRealSpy02]

your first link didn't work.

and the second one i couldn't agree more with. MS really made a huge mistake offering a system with no built in HDD.

but the guys above are blaming game delays on DVD. not on hard drive storage.

and i'm not even defending DVD over Blu Ray. they both have their pros and cons. it's just obvious that these guys will try to find any reason to bad mouth MS because they are so in love with Sony. even if it means saying things that they have no proof of.

[Buttons]

Real reason they delayed the game:

They saw GTA4 and said "Oh, sh**".

[ZuperAmazingCooKie]

And by "shut up" up there, I meant "shot up" as in "shot through the roof". Perhaps that's why you didn't get it. I also didn't mention Xbox 360, only DVD9 which is definitely a limit for this generation of games. PS3 may have its flaws but DVD9 is an impediment for open world games.

[I did not murder him]

If you learn to read they had to be realistic about size and praticality the game was getting sloppy and not as solid as they wanted. With all due respect are you some 16 year old anime lover sitting in your room waiting to say something bad about the 360..

[Software_Lover]

I can see it now...............

what he meant to say was
"It was too huge for the 360"

or

what he meant to say was
"we had to get the ps3 version up and running in time"

[FamilyGuy]

Yeah, I choose the first answer/fanboyish statement. It was too big of an open world game to fit on a 7Gb dvd.

Seriously though, a delay of this proportion. I don't think it took them so many months just to remove/fix/problem-shoot some bugs. There had to be a serious technical problem and ONE if not BOTH of those "fanboyish statements" probably WAS the REAL reason.

[TheExecutive]

I am more worried about the vision changing too much. In an open world game if you dont keep a consistant vision you could make the mistake of not making a consistant world, which would break the immersion in the game.

Anyway, I am sure its OK. I am definitely going to wait for reviews for both InFamous and Prototype and try to guess and decide on which game I would like best since I dont feel like buying two open-world superhero games in the span of a month

[pixelsword]

...Id also said that RAGE was changed "for the better" by removing one of the races after John Carmack threatened to have a huge graphical difference between the two because it would need three discs. Id's Tim Willits then backpedaled on Carmack's comments but also inadvertently confessed that the 360 was behind the reasons for the change when he said:

"During my talk today I mentioned that we originally wanted to have around 5 or 6 smaller wasteland environments but later decided instead to have 2 larger wastelands. Mostly because we were going to be shipping on two DVDs for the 360 and felt that it would play better with one large wasteland on each disc so there would be no loading between wastelands. Not loading levels while you drive around is a much better decision regardless of platform.

There was NO CONTENT removed from RAGE because of the 360--NONE AT ALL. Moving from multiple wastelands into fewer but larger wastelands was a far better decision and is actually giving us more gameplay in the game.

We feel the 360 is a great platform and will provide a fantastic Rage experience."

[DragonWarrior_4]

Just imagine how big Rage could be if it was only on the ps3.

[Mikelarry]

have high hopes for this game and i have a feeling it might deliver but rather than listen to reviews before i make my decision i shall play it myself.

[rbluetank]

AKA rod ferguson about gears2 glitching. we are in the process of getting all the bugs OUT.... lol i will find out how much polish prototype has when i rent it in june!!!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Thats good, they can get rid of the repetitive misson types like they have in GTA IV and Saints Row.

[Jdoki]

I can live with some repetitive missions if it's as fun as Crackdown!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Crackdown gave you the freedom to do the missions however you like to mix things up. Saints Row and GTA IV it was do a driveby, make a drug deal, or do a drive by and drug deal while running over pedestrians.

[Jdoki]

I'm still trying to raise the enthusiasm to finish GTAIV! Very disappointed.

I quite liked the original Saints Row though - haven't played #2.

I liked being able to do the Crackdown missions in any order - but they were pretty much the same type of thing. It was still hugely fun though from just being able to go anwhere, do anything and cause chaos! Bounding from building to building was just awesome!

[Qdog]

Not to be a buzkill, but they probably spent the time cutting out more things, in order to charge for them via DLC. That seems to be a relevant practice in these times...Saying a game is too huge, is no excuse with storage mediums like Blu-ray, that reach the 50GB mark with just a dual-layer. If anything they pulled a Capcom and locked down a versus mode, so that they could charge for it. Maybe I'm just being cynical... Anyways, I am excited about this game, Infamous first( I cant wait to run around and throw electric snowballs at bad-guys), then this game. I'm going to wait for at least 5 reviews, so that I can pick up the better ported version( probably on the 360, seeing as how they arent a Sony first party studio). Sony's first party devs, have been doing amazing things, every generation. By the way, I absolutely loved Crackdown, the exhileration of scaling and hopping from building to sky-scraper hunting orbs, and seeing the vistas over the city. I remember actually leveling everything up first through exploration, before I even took on all the crime bosses.

[Robearboy]

Man i loved crackdown, the most underated game this Gen

[Mikelarry]

completed crackdown so many times and i still play it just for fun. all that jumping across the building and causing some major chaos whew in fact im off to play some crackdown now!!!

[caladbolg777]

I was on the QA team for Crackdown. That was a great contract and probably one of the best jobs of my adult life. I look back on that game fondly. It's easily in my Top3 favorite 360 games.

Crackdown 2, guys, keep your fingers crossed.

[FreestyleBarnacle]

Hulk was so much fun though not so well rated. I think I'll have to give this a go whatever people say about it.

[Foxgod]

Ps3 version and its crappy memory and videocard bottleneck held this game back, ofcourse they wont admit it anytime soon, as that would anger a potential customer base.

[OmarJA]

The 360's 512MB memory is shared between the cpu & the video card... :D

While the PS3 got both 256 dedicated on each one, plus the cell. :D

[Major_Tom]

Lol just ignore this guy. He goes around talking like he's knows what he saying, leave the poor 15 year old alone :D.

[ifhd]

But yet GTA IV, Saints Row 2, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Burnout Paradise fit on Ps3 memory. Whats your excuse for that one?

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I think you might want to rethunk that one.

[Foxgod]

omarJA basically confirmed what i said.
Indeed, they are shared, which allows a better flow of data, not to mention the 360 gpu is a whole lot powerful then the ps3 one.

The cell is bottlenecked by the weak GPU and the crappy memory.

[PirateThom]

PS3 RAM set up:

* 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
* 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

350 RAM set up:

*512 MB GDDR3 RAM @700MHz

Due to the PS3s set up, the RSX can use the full 512MB, including the faster XDR as needed, while the Cell is limited to 256MB.

The GPU has the same amount of memory as the 360 to pool from, and half of it is faster. Cell doesn't need the full 512MB at any point because of its set up, hence the 256 limit.

[I_am_rushin]

Crappy memory suuuure. There has yet to be any PC memory that runs even close to the PS3's XDR at 3.2ghz.

People have used this time and time again. 360 memory=laptop memory: shared and always have to fight for it. PS3 memory=desktop memory: dedicated and always available.

[PR3DAT0R]

On the thread title it says "too huge", now i know that could mean several things but what you said is totally irrelevant. from your comment you obviously know nothing about the ps3's RAM or the specs in general, there is barely any difference between the two consoles ram but they both have there own superiority's. in my own non-fanboy opinion i think this is down to dvd9 limitations actually, its hard to believe that a game like prototype surpasses ps3's blu ray 50 gig limit, especially since its a multiplat, they creating the xbox version first then porting it to ps3, so i definitely think this is actually down to the 16 gig limit.

[gersh]

"Ps3 version and its crappy memory and videocard bottleneck held this game back, ofcourse they wont admit it anytime soon, as that would anger a potential customer base."

Just like Final Fantasy 13. Oh wait, wrong console! You need to get your consoles straight.

[Robearboy]

I cant see disk space been an issue, they managed to fit Oblivion, fallout 3, gta4 on with no problems

[TheExecutive]

/argument. Seriously people, read the above.

[Tiberium]

But I'd rather have a game like COD4 that is small, but very polished, than have a game that is 50GB but is sloppy and unpolished. Quality over quantity.

[belal]

but disk space on dvd9 held this game back:) FACT.ofcourse they wont admit it anytime soon, as that would anger a potential customer base.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

But yet GTA IV, Saints Row 1/2, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Burnout Paradise fit on one DVD9. Whats your excuse for that one?

[cereal_killa]

http://www.cdfreaks.com/new...

"Team Ninja chief Tomonobu Itagaki has expressed concerns over the lack of storage space on the Xbox 360's DVD media.

Speaking to Japanese magazine, Famitsu, Itagaki has expressed concerns over the limited capacity DVD offers in the era of High Definition. He feels developers will struggle to fit High Definition pre-rendered sequences onto the 9GB format, being particularly problematic for Japanese developers who prefer to use pre-rendered over real time cut scenes."

http://www.videogamer.com/n...

"Both have their own challenges. Right now we have a big challenge on the 360 to make it fit on a DVD, to put five languages, to put all the data on eight gigs. On the Blu-ray side we're really good,"

Ubisoft Had problems on both systems with this game but disk space was the big problem on the 360

http://news.teamxbox.com/xb...

"The Xbox 360 doesn't have a built-in hard drive as the previous Xbox and for retail games it uses DVD-9, which is starting to look outdated compared to the Blu-ray Disc solution used by the PlayStation 3.

One of the problems with the 360, and it affects games like Grand Theft Auto if you think about how much content we put in the actual machine, is the fact that they don't have a significantly larger storage medium than the previous systems. It's a slightly bigger DVD disc."

[mario888]

GTA IV, Saints Row 1/2, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Burnout Paradise were all made with the lowest common denominator in Mind.

It's not they said lets see now we have 50 GB to work with so lets do it.

No, They sat down and said hmmm 7.3 to work with lets do it.

LOL.

[ULTIMATE_REVENGE]

burnout paradise is so small you idiot, you make it sound like it takes up 1000Gigs or something

Saints Row = CRAP!!!
GTA4 = MS paid $50M so RockStar got happy n downgraded the PS3 version
Oblivion = its already been proven by every site that it looks better on the PS3

[HBK619]

Delays in games don't ever fill me with confidence, sometimes it's ok if a game is still months from release and just gets pushed back to get everything out of it, but if they were seemingly ready, but found some majory flaws, then it isn't a good sign.

Haze had this issue, and still after about a 6 month delay it was a broken mess.

At the moment, inFAMOUS(Which went gold about a week ago and had a release date pushed forward) certainly looks a better (Open-World game) prospect than Prototype(Delayed due to gameplay flaws), I'm probably going to go for Red Faction over Prototype too, due to the ultimate destruction factor, as opposed to limited destruction in Prototype.

[i got the ghey]

that your post doesnt make any sense? The dev said they were over ambitious, not that there were gameplay flaws. granted the crap about it being polished is garbage as they said that the delay gave them time to add more functionality. The game had an 8 mins live demo played last summer on gamestop with most the features you see now, so they kept giving it more and more. delays with FPS's and Sandbox games mean totally different things, a sandbox delay always means more is being added and polish is being administered, but an FPS delay means they screwed up.
Haze was craptastic from the get-go and anyone could see that, too bad your judgement is so out of whack that you ended up being disappointed, is this some sort of defense mechanism youve developed against disappointment?

[HBK619]

First off, Haze didn't dissapoint me, don't know where you got that from, as I never said it did, just saying that the delay on that was to fix up many different issues and it was still a mess when released.

Different genre's don't mean anything in delays, delays come for all different reasons and the specific mentionings of polishing gameplay mechanics can't just be thrown away as you all but said, there were obviously issues here and there and because of that they have also delayed it, sure they might be adding more, but if the gameplay isn't solid in the first place, what does it matter how many features there are???

Personally I think YOU have the wrong idea, this is what is said "The extra dev time from last year really was a chance for us to polish, tweak and refine the missions and gameplay mechanics," executive producer Tim Bennison told VG247."

Nothing there about adding extra features/missions or whatever the hell your trying to tell me they've added, so I think your the one making no sense.

[The_Zeitgeist]

It's good they didn't try to do too much and scaled it back. Lets all brag about it. I heard yesterday that Prototype was delayed when Radical saw GTA 4.

[Cajun Chicken]

Pretty much happened around the same time, I believe. Seemed like Rockstar scared them.

Prototype still looks like a great game, maybe Prototype 2'll have most put back into it.
Seriously, whats the point on spending so long creating an super/anti hero sandbox title that isn't tied to any licensees but the developer and publisher? I'd be very surprised if Prototype didn't turn out to be a franchise.

[Foxgod]

You guys need a shrink, so you can finally admit that the ps3 is underwhelming compared to its specs.
You guys have been fooled into believing that blue banana's are better then yellow banana's.

[Shane Kim]

Yet, every single exclusive looks and plays 10 times better than any 360 exclusive/multiplat. Just look at the most recent InFamous. It's 10 times the game prototype is.

[360_Rules]

That game is going to need a beta on it to help it sale because even Sony knows its a flop! Hahhahahahaa

[II Necroplasm II]

I like the blue bananas

[123360]

what a fanboy comment,the devs says the game was to big which could point to the 360 only having a dvd.as a 360 owner myself ms has shot them selves in the foot by bringing out the arcade.not having a hard drive totally limits future games in terms of quality and size.it was a crazy decision,they give us the chance to play from the hardrive making 2,3,4 disc versions less game breaking,ie open world games,rpgs then bang on about a system which can,t perform this task.199 thats all they keep saying.hence why i invested in a ps3 theres no way i,m playing games of ffx111 quality on 5 discs this goes for all games genre period.developers might have struggled with the ps3 programing they do on all systems when they first come out on this game though i think its space.either way sony gets all my money this year on multiplats due to there excellent in house exclusives.

[Quadrostacker]

I wont be picking this game up cause I'll be to busy playing INfamous

[Claudinho69]

thats why infamous > protype
watch protype sells alot more on xbox360

[The_Zeitgeist]

Prototype will sell more just based on the fact that it is a multi-platform title.

[blakstarz]

I see some people already thinking the same thing...so I won't state the obvious. All I have to say is what a shame.

[N4Garbage]

Lol you guys are comical.

[The_Zeitgeist]

Gamers are never happy these days.

[Figboy]

that the delay is because the game wasn't what they originally intended, and that since then, it is much closer to their vision now, and i got slammed with disagrees.

like i said yesterday, i worked at Vivendi Games last year, i saw Prototype everyday i came into work and it was on the floor, and last year, it was NOT what the developers had in mind when you watch those preview videos they did.

the city wasn't the torn down dystopia they spoke of, and there wasn't much other than running along buildings and killing people.

NOW, though, it's come a long way, and looks so much better.

[mario888]

What he he really wanted to say was we wasted alot of time trying to squeeze this all onto one DVD . Once we realize that DVD was to small and we really couldn't put it onto 2 or 3 dvds . We had to scale the game back.

The good news is we redid the game so we could use the extra content as DLC. The bad news is we will be charging you for it.

[devilhunterx]

Why dont they simply launch the "complete" game on the PS3, and the XB2 owners can just get it through DLC. They dont mind paying anyway.

[Raoh]

or as a free dlc for the extra content. didnt they do that last year with MLB? the stadiums and uniforms didn't fit on the dvd 9 disc so they added it a free dlc.

[xionpunk]

ARGH infamous, Red Faction, Prototype. All released fairly close. gotta pick n' choose.

[Hallucinate]

yea but im leaning 2wards red faction just played the demo like 80times its awesome

[Corepred4]

do people get mad when the space limitation of the 360 is mentioned and immediately push the fanboy button. if the devs from gta iv said that the 360's space limitation was a problem why can't it be for other games? you want fact there you go... i know its not from all dev's, but gta iv being the huge game that it is, don't you think its been a problem on other games... and please dont bring that weak "multi-plat games look better on 360" sh!t around here anymore! yes it was true in the beginning the 360 was getting the more polished games, when developers were still having problems with ps3. but show me a multi-plat game today that doesn't look the same on both consoles.

[DARK WITNESS]

probably for the same reason that ps3 fanboys push the button every time ps3 is hard to develope for is talked about. There is always an instant backlash of " oh the dev's must be lazy ".

for the record though, i agree... so far i have been impressed with what they have been able to push out on DVD9, but i think its crazy not to recognize how it could be hurting the potential of some games.