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To: Bob Howarth who wrote (9323)	12/1/1998 9:29:00 AM
From: Michael Linov	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

IMHO, Speed is FAR more important than quality when it comes to games in motion. This will become especially true when games start to represent people realistically (this is not far off, but the north-american developer is quite far behind the japanese in this field). The subtlety of human expression that we're so used to in real life, can only be reprsented at high frame rates. Remember, the human eye is designed to sense FINE movement, and jerky motions (like those found in motion pictures), are not convincing to the human eye. Of course, games like quake (and it's numerous clones, good or bad), do not have any semblance of realistic human animation, and so, would hardly benefit from higher frame rates. Un-natural, linear motion, no matter how fast, still looks wrong. If games are to evolve to the next level, realism is key, and that means working on what is important to the human eye/brain. That means higher resolution, realistic, natural motions, and good edging, and a wide field of view . Image quality only matters if you're standing still. Adaptive algorithms which increase LOD for still images can be used to get the best of both worlds.

To: Bob Howarth who wrote (9323)	12/1/1998 1:18:00 PM
From: Chip Anderson	Respond to of 16960

Re: 60 v. 30 For intense first-person-shooters like Quake2, Sin, and Half-Life, there is a noticeable impact on gameplay at 30 fps, especially in multiplayer mode. Against good players, it can render the game unplayable. Your opponents can use "instant-kill" weapons (like the Q2 rail gun) _much_ more effectively than you can. Personally, I find that the "gray-area" for playable/unplayable Q2 multiplayer framerates is between 40 and 50. Anything below 40 and I will notice it immediately. Of course, the faster the better but above 50 I don't really care. Two other things to keep in mind however are: 1.) Internet latency (ping) may be a bigger performance factor depending on your connection. 2.) Framerates vary tremendously from moment to moment. When I say "40 fps" I'm refering to the average fps during an "empty" Q2 level. During the height of a battle with 3 people running around with hyperblasters blazing, framerates will drop 50% or more. _That_ is where the V2 horsepower really shines. Re: 32-bit Color - I've been using the TNT card in addition to my Voodoo2 SLI setup for about a month now. As I mentioned before, there are substantial improvements in picture quality with 32-bit color for Quake2 and Shogo. Sin and Half-Life don't show a lot of change between cards. The reality however is that the improved image _doesn't_ change the multiplayer gaming experience at all - except that it lowers the framerate! When you are running for your life, you don't stop to notice the improved details in the shadows! ;-) Right now, my TNT is noticably slower than my Voodoo2's and so I'm continuing to use the Voodoo2 for all of my Multiplayer gaming. Chip "#11 with a bullet!" Anderson 206.163.12.50