Cliffy B Explains The “Bald Space Marines” Phenomenon
For anyone who’s played through the likes of [shal]Resistance[/shal], [shal]Unreal Tournament[/shal], Mass Effect, [shal]inFamous[/shal], or dozens of other current-gen titles, it’s hard not to notice how many of the main characters either have very short hair or are just flat out bald. There’s a specific reason behind this, and Cliff Bleszinski from Epic Games has the answer.
“I just think that the technology of this generation just happens to be very good at rendering metals and stones and dramatic lighting, which is why you see a lot of pillars and girders and destroyed blown-out areas because that’s what the bump-mapping happens to do very well.
At the same time, in this generation the translucent effects are very hard to pull off. That’s why everybody sees a lot of these bald characters and wonder why games feature so many fucking space marines. Well, the tech is good at showing off armour and it’s not that good at doing hair. That’s why we have bald space marines. There’s your answer people.”
I have to agree with him there. Translucent effects really are a pain to pull off in-game, which is probably why [shal]Uncharted 2[/shal] got so much attention. Pretty much everyone in that game has lush, Pantene Pro-V hair.
[Source]
9 Responses to “Cliffy B Explains The “Bald Space Marines” Phenomenon”
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July 3rd, 2009 at 4:34 PM
LOL, of course Uncharted rules above Gears of War in graphics.
Very funny comment John XD
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:43 PM
LOL.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Well the bald look must be popular in Multi-platform games so that they would look the same on both PS3 and X-box consoles…. Just the more reason to have a PS3. We don’t need the Hair Club for Men rejects as our heroes!!!
Just shows that Parallel processing is better at rendering those tougher jobs…
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:15 PM
And I’ve been shaving my head this whole time to look like these guys, only to find out that it’s a processing and programming issue? Damn! I thought I was current with my fashion trends. I guess I will use GQ next time, instead of Killzone, to inform me of current hair styles.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:22 PM
lol while reading i was thinking just that, look at Drake’s kickass hair! just shows you how much cliiffy b’s team spams bump mapping everywhere, and they dont bother to work any harder, guess that explains the low poly models in GEOW
http://kineticninja.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html
July 4th, 2009 at 12:51 AM
I wonder what Cloud from the Final Fantasy VII Tech Demo would say about that. XDDD
July 4th, 2009 at 9:21 AM
Very interesting comment that the Bald Space Marines couldn’t make good hair!
July 4th, 2009 at 12:18 PM
if your in the military ,a common practice when “active” in war zone………….. is short hair. Not long hair or dread locks etc. if your playing a military game and going for realism that’s accurate.
a friend who is a petroleum specialist a.k.a handles fueling was asked to shorten his hair when he got deployed to Iraq and hes not associated with the combat aspect of the Army. i never understood why so many people care about hair when your playing a full blown war game.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:22 PM
@TheHater
HS was not a war game.