 Ok, bit of a rant.. WHY does everyone and everything have to be "the next big thing"????. Why is it so important for some people to feel superior or to try and sound more intelligent than they are? I am constantly hearing people "talking up" thier own abilities, or thier "new technology", like almost everyone on the planet hadnt thought about most of it before. The sad fact is, that if you THINK you have something original, then chances are, so have a billion other people, calling it another name. If you HAVE got something that original, then it WILL give you an advantage, without you having to make rediculous claims about it. Case in point: Elixir Studio's and thier "infinite polygon" engine, that has to be the biggest joke of the year. How stupid do they look to people who ARE looking at similar systems?, I mean, people regard the John Carmacks of the world like they are gods, but to me, he is just a hard working programmer (and one who learnt the benefit of rapid prototyping early on) that has learnt to USE the information available to him, and has enough intelligence to take it the step closer to what he requires than most. He IS NOT a god, he hasnt done anything significantly newer than many graphics researchers. I guess its a human trait, that in order to bolster your own position, you have to make some form of "clique?", an "in crowd" of one form or another, so that you can "belong" and feel safe in the superiority of numbers. It upsets me because everyone is always striving to do "the next big engine", and not concentrating on what they need to produce what they want. I couldnt give a rats ass who has the "best" looking engine, if it fits the game your working on, then its enough. I remember the "messiah" PR machine, boasting of dynamic LOD algorithms that were making INSANE boasts about its abilities. In the end, it didnt make up for lack of interest in the game. I admit, I am wowed by nice graphics, but not because I worship the people who do them, but because I appreciate the qualities that someone has been able to achieve with whats essentially an over-powered abacus. What REALLY annoys me most of all, is when I see young kids "emulating" thier PR induced heroes, by claiming unheard of things for "my engine", like it really matters if you can do three billion curved surface patches etc. The problem in games these days is NOT the rendering, but in the sheer boredom they often induce. If you *MUST* work on technology, do it for a purpose, have a clear goal behind it, if its just to show off how many poly's you can push, it will get relegated to the typical "yeah yeah, heard it all before" pile. I liked reading about Turbine studio's on gamasutra, it made it blazingly obvious that having loads of "wow look at that" rendering, doesnt mean anything, having an original thought, conviction to see it implemented, and the maturity to know that it wont always be "leading edge" counts for a lot. Basically, a product shipped is worth a million started and never produced. Well.. ranted enough.. some work to do :)) Phil. 
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