Thursday, February 16th 2017
Arkane's New IP is Prey to AMD's Vega - Possible Hint at Launch Window
It all seems to go back to AMD these days, doesn't it? If it isn't the company's upcoming Ryzen CPUs that stand in the limelight (a rare thing nowadays, with a seemingly neverending amount of leaks around them and the accompanying AM4 platform), it's the company's Vega graphics architecture that makes waves with new info or new leaks.
Now, reports are coming in (with solid imagery at that) regarding a collaboration between Arkane and AMD, marrying Arkane's promising new IP, Prey, and AMD's upcoming Vega architecture. This may sound like an interesting, if not at all important, piece of information. But digging deeper, this is probably indication of Vega's expected launch window. Considering that AMD's woman of the moment, Lisa Su, has previously placed Vega's launch in Q2 2017 (spanning April, May, and June), and adding 1+1, this places AMD's Vega launch before Prey's - after all, it wouldn't make much sense to market a game as being optimized for a given architecture.... If users can't actually use it.
As an avid reader and story addict, I admit that Arkane's take on the world of Dishonored in its second iteration left me a little underwhelmed (though the worldbuilding, gameplay and art direction were simply sublime). However, judging from Prey's trailers and some hands-on impressions running the world wide web, it looks as if Arkane has again hit the proverbial nail in the head. And from what AMD promises, Vega will be here to power it when it launches on May 5th.
Source:
PCGameshardware.de
Now, reports are coming in (with solid imagery at that) regarding a collaboration between Arkane and AMD, marrying Arkane's promising new IP, Prey, and AMD's upcoming Vega architecture. This may sound like an interesting, if not at all important, piece of information. But digging deeper, this is probably indication of Vega's expected launch window. Considering that AMD's woman of the moment, Lisa Su, has previously placed Vega's launch in Q2 2017 (spanning April, May, and June), and adding 1+1, this places AMD's Vega launch before Prey's - after all, it wouldn't make much sense to market a game as being optimized for a given architecture.... If users can't actually use it.
As an avid reader and story addict, I admit that Arkane's take on the world of Dishonored in its second iteration left me a little underwhelmed (though the worldbuilding, gameplay and art direction were simply sublime). However, judging from Prey's trailers and some hands-on impressions running the world wide web, it looks as if Arkane has again hit the proverbial nail in the head. And from what AMD promises, Vega will be here to power it when it launches on May 5th.
19 Comments on Arkane's New IP is Prey to AMD's Vega - Possible Hint at Launch Window
Bonus: it's not using the same engine that Dishonored 2 used.
and hopefully by the time it arrives it'll have the best Vulcan support to show off what AMD cards can do. I'm also expecting nothing less than 4K@60 fps on Vega
Everyone else had a back story because you could do little to change it but for Emily, that was a chance to redeem her flat, soulless life and make something better of the young ruler.
As for Prey, it will be interesting to see how much story they can create and how linked to the character you can become.
I have no problem with that, mind you - but the whole "disconnected from subjects-sees reality and hardships - decides to become a better empress" is so overly done by now that excellency must be achieved through writing. And the "only" good writing I saw, that showed me something from Emily's character, was on the Dust District mission, when you decide to either ship, kill or let overseer Byrne live. That's when she ponders the consequences of her actions, and the little travel log she writes after that mission was one of the most memorable pieces of character development for Emily. Also when she considers whether killing Jindosh wouldn't have been kinder than to destroy his mind. The rest... I have to say, really wasn't all that good or original.
Compare it with Billy's story arc, however, which I think is the most well thought-out and written one in the entire game, or even, at a limit, Sokolov's.
As for Prey, there is a definite parallel between Dishonored's void powers and Prey's alien infusions. I have high hopes for the game and I really hope we'll both feel vindicated by the game's quality...
Heck, even 5th of May is sooner that I expect it.