Will Amnesia be available for consoles? No!

[Mjarr]

I think you're really underestimating what analog sticks can do these days. If it was a PS1 style controller where there wasn't any analog sticks, sure. But with the way any modern controllers are set up, it could be every bit as accurate as the PC. The limitations you experience are your own.

Turning speed can be addressed with sensitivity. Increase or decrease to the users delight.

What makes you think I underestimate them? I am perfectly aware what they are capable of doing, but rarely the controller itself is at fault and what can be done does not always mean it's the best idea to do. Why I am highly skeptic of console version of Amnesia is a combination of certain things and here's what I consider to be the main culprit: The console FoV.

Now, of course the game could be shipped with far more wider FoV than people are usually used to on consoles, but this is related with the turning issue. The more narrow the FoV is, the slower overall turning rate as obvious as it sounds, but it also means what we could refer as tunnel vision. Since your average console player sits 2-3m away from the TV the FoV must be adjusted accordingly, and based on my personal experience with Borderlands PC version and some googling, I made a test in Amnesia. The first screenshot is taken with the default FoV in the game, which is 70 in the .cfg files. The second one has 55 as I used +\-15 as sort of basis as common modification I've need to done with some console -> PC ports to get rid of the tunnelvision. Of course it depends on the game itself, but it does give you some rough idea about it:

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8098/defaultfov.png

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9030/...d55fov.png

I tried to play the game for a while with the 55 FoV and it took only 30 seconds before my head started to hurt. Now of course that's expected, but here's some other things that popped up: I was incapable of keeping the control of my mouse. I am the sort of person who already uses relatively low sensitivity (when it comes to typical comparasion) and I had no trouble even doing quick 180 in Amnesia, but with the 55 FoV I had trouble even moving and turning without having to use the mouse if I were some old granny. Now, simply modifying sensitivity for gamepad is really difficult for similiar reason. Yes, it is entirely possible to carefully use the analog stick with great precision but it takes time to get used to. 52¨ TV screen from two yards away shows less to you than 19¨ PC screen in front of your face. You'll see less and in a game where lightning is already what it is (aka most of the time, it's pretty dark obviously), a person may have trouble already seeing or spotting things on TV than he (or she) would have on PC. This would give theoretically speaking a reason to narrow the FoV further, which makes the problem of turning properly and the precision a problem. Making fast acceleration so you can turn fast makes interacting with objects a huge mess because you would need to use the stick very, very carefully. This becomes also apparent during chase sequences, slow acceleration -> slow turning -> higher potential for becoming a kebabdish, while fast acceleration -> fast turning -> makes interacting with objects problematic as everything feels oversensitive. Yes, the middle ground exists but it would require that the game allows careful calibration with the sensitivity with the FoV which is rare in console games and considering that one of the bigger advatanges of a console to a more casual person is that you can just pick it up and use, it would be sort of 50-50.

Yes, I would be glad that Frictional Games would get more profit and even media coverage, but it's not that "zomg niche games for console kiddies" joke, rather on pragmatic scale trying to get it to work WITHOUT having to greatly alter\redesign the game to be console friendly would probably not be worth it, as in their own ways console would recheive inferior version which is more likely to be noticed when it comes to media coverage. It's same with PC reviews vs console reviews of the same game, which one has more "importance" in coverage?

Fine, allow a USB mouse on the 360

And since when your typical console player would be willing to buy extra accessories just to play more niche genre game?

(Re-added the 2nd link, gave 404)

[martinstatic]

Fine, allow a USB mouse on the 360

And since when your typical console player would be willing to buy extra accessories just to play more niche genre game?

Heh, they're out there. People are forking out ridiculous amounts for controller accessories (Motion Plus, PS move motion controller, PS move navigation controller, PS eye, mini keyboard for 360 controller), they'd be stupid to not use a mouse if it's supported on a console for FPS'.

Then again perhaps I shouldn't overestimate console FPS players...

[CHANCEPHOENIX]

yeah good idea ...

bring it too ps move , xbox360-kinetic , and the wii ...

that way everyone is happy

Excuse me.

I would like an Amnesia DS port, if you don't mind.

Thank you.

I hope you mean 3DS.

[CHANCEPHOENIX]

I think the UI system friction uses would totality own with kenetic.. imaging literally reaching in though your HD tv screen with surround sound and the lights out ... reaching through the screen... no controllers and "touching" objects, turning by turning your head.. ....... awesome. (up to the devs to work out how to walk and run)

Well Sega is coming with a first-person Survival Horror game using the Kinetic in 2011 ...

I"m very curious how it will unfold ...

lol , the outlay of the title reminds me of Amnesia (at 0:28) :

RISE OF NIGHTMARES by Sega :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYsOXSsIwTY

[Sexbad]

Am I the only person who thinks these motion controllers are just gimmicky shit? What needs to be invested in are feedback controllers like the Novint Falcon. You can grab onto things with Kinect and Move, but you don't feel the world, you don't feel the weight of the object you're carrying, etm etm etm.

[Casey]

fuck to the no.

[hollowleviathan]

One day soon, the motion control tech will be up to snuff. Doesn't look like it's there yet to my satisfaction, though.

[Eligos]

Amnesia on the Xbox 360 is completely possible, especially creating the game as a community game with XNA framework which Frictional could configure to run their engine. Running away is a non-issue because like PC's, console joysticks also make it easier to transition through the "Run backward while turning then run forward" move.

Left trigger + right joystick = Grab + move
Left trigger + left bumper + right joystick = Grab + rotate
Right trigger/bumper or left joystick click = Run
A = Jump
B = Use/Pickup
X = Lantern
Y = Tinderbox

[PrinceCola]

Woud love it

[Mjarr]

Running away is a non-issue because like PC's, console joysticks also make it easier to transition through the "Run backward while turning then run forward" move.

Yes it's not that big issue until you take console FoV into account which might complicate things to a whole new level. Now if someone is too scared to read that one holywalloftext I wrote some time ago, depending on the game and some other things usually if a console game has been ported to PC that retains its console FoV it's usually atleast console FoV + 15 to make it so your eyes does not hurt while watching your PC screen, in some cases as much as 20.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/8098/defaultfov.png <--- that is the default Amnesia FoV.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9030/...d55fov.png <--- Amnesia default FoV -15.

Now considering you'll see less on 52¨ TV that is 2m (or even 3m) away than you'll see on 19¨ screen in front of your face, Amnesia's lowish lightning and plenty of places with tight corridors, combination of several factors would require major redesign to the game and it could easily mean the loss of the original 'vision' and experience of Amnesia. Sure it's meant to be a horror game but the fact the enviroment is highly immersive (kinda like that very steep spiral staircase in that one place, I've been into few old houses with those) is one thing that enhances the experience.

Sure it would be nice thing for Frictional Games to gain more money, but considering that console media is more important than PC is when it comes to news coverage and other things (while not directly part of media, including word of mouth etc), if a PC game is great but the console port\version is not as great, it's gonna get big stick for it. That's one very big risk Amnesia would be facing if it were released in its current state, yet if they were to do major redesign they would face plethora of other issues and possibly even borderline the point is it really worth it.