New Chrome Hounds Screen Shots

[Grumpy Old Fart]

Sega have released some screen shots of there Xbox360 game Chrome Hounds, developed by From Software on Xbox 360. Check out the thumbnails below, quite impressive

Images from xboxyde

[Glock 19]

Game looks awesome, it is almost like a mech assualt game by looking at the screen shots. The game does look awsome though great find Grumpy.

[Aquanox]

There's also an article from TeamXbox about this game, which goes like this:

SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA, Europe Ltd. today announced CHROMEHOUNDS for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. This squad-based action title puts gamers in control of giant mechanized military weapons of war. With a strong focus on cooperative and competitive online gameplay, the game is sure to satisfy players looking for a deep, involving Xbox Live experience.

Developed by Tokyo-based FROM software - the creative team responsible for the popular Armored Core and Otogi series - CHROMEHOUNDS offers an intense, photo realistic look at war from the ****pits of colossal metal vehicles. These heavily-armed weapons of war, called HOUNDS, dominate ground battles during warfare in the near-future. Squads of HOUNDs take to the field in international factions; cooperating with and complementing each other in terms of firepower, range of movement, and abilities.

Domination of the world is the prize for the mightiest army on the field. Strategic planning, snap reflexes and communication are key to winning the day in this battle-hardened action title. Players will take the role of either a Squad Member or a Tactics Commander, who is responsible for strategically guiding the team to victory with verbal commands on Xbox Live.

"From Software are world leaders in delivering truly epic games with superb graphics and I think that CHROMEHOUNDS could well be their finest game to date", commented Matt Woodley, Creative Director, SEGA Europe and SEGA of America. "The scale of the world and the action within is breathtaking - I recommend playing it with the volume turned to 11 and the phone off the hook".

Set for release in the Spring 2006, CHROMEHOUNDS represents SEGA's dedication to publishing compelling Japanese-developed content for next-generation platforms.

Key Features

* Photo realistic visuals bring the game's gritty, war-torn environments to life.
* Strategic gameplay puts the player in the role of 'tactics commander'; manage your squad while testing your reflexes on the battlefield.
* Xbox LIVE support offers cooperative and competitive campaigns for up to 12 players at once.
* Full customisation options present users with thousands of different ways to equip and personalize their mechs

[VictoryOverWar]

yup im all over this game when it comes out looks great

[citizen X]

Damn GOF u found this fist again,

Oh well I close my thread.

Looks a very detailed and innovative in the stile of the mechs as well, I am a very big mech fan as well as a RACING, FPS, and RPG fan

Hop to know more soon.

Good job GPF nice find

One last thing: is this a x360 exclusive?

[ace2cloud]

Those screens look really good- some of the best I've seen for the 360 to date.

[George]

Yeah the screens look really good

[Jacksmith28]

It looks ok. I'm shure the in game shots are better.

[Eothein]

They look nice and make for a very promising game although there are some dodgy textures and jaggies:


But the lighting rocks

[citizen X]

Yeah that’s right, and the cities look too plain, I want to see cars traffic and maybe even small people running for there lives.

The city looks to just too boring. But I love the mech designs.

But in the end this game can’t even compare to the PGR 3D screen shots. Every aspect of the graphics are just mind-boggling, this game looks next gen. Even if u don’t like racing games, u should look at the graphics if u haven’t’ seen it yet.link

This is just to shoe a person what the x360 can do with its graphics, that’s all

[Nollio]

That must be a really boring game, if all you do is walk around in you super machine and destroy other super machines......

[Cybergig1]

1up.com posted about playing this game and said it was only 30% complete. So I wouldn't take those screens as being anywhere near final gang they mentioned in that article about the online multiplayer and having 6 on 6 battles. Could be interesting have to keep an eye out on it

[VictoryOverWar]

Chromehounds Q&A


While it's far from the only mech game out there, Sega's upcoming Xbox 360 game, Chromehounds, has the double distinction of being one of the first mech combat games for Microsoft's upcoming next-generation platform and having one of the coolest-sounding titles we've heard in a long time. The game is set to storm Microsoft's Xbox 360 sometime in the spring of 06, and it will take full advantage of the console's next-generation Xbox Live features. The development team behind the game, FROM Software, is no stranger to mech games, as after a string of successes with its Armored Core series, FROM is set to take mech combat to the next level on the Xbox 360. We recently sat down with the FROM Software team to find out how this impressive-looking game is coming along in its development cycle.



Twenty tons of death. Check out an awesome trailer of this Xbox 360 mech game.




GameSpot: When did development on the game start? Was it always an Xbox 360 game, or was it just a concept FROM Software had that it felt could only be realized on the 360?

FROM Software:The development of Chromehounds began in 2003, and [it] is an original FROM Software concept. In 2004, Sega and FROM decided to cooperatively work together on this project. Since the joining of the two, the development of Chromehounds has evolved into an even larger project, which is being targeted toward the global market and Xbox 360 consumer.

GS: What was the inspiration for the game?

FS: Influences for Chromehounds came from current mech games and our own Armored Core series. In addition, the team looked to various wargames and first-person shooters for ideas. As for the graphical style, we researched modern PC games for the look and feel, and real-time strategy games for strategic elements.

GS: Could you give us an idea of the team's background?

FS: We have a very experienced team that has many veterans from the Armored Core series.

GS: What will set Chromehounds apart from other mech games?

FS: Chromehounds offers gamers full customization of their mechs (known as Hounds), and team strategy is one of the key elements to success in the game.

GS: What can you tell us about the game's story?

FS: The Chromehounds world centers on an alternate reality, which branches off during the height of the Cold War in the 1980s. In the world, there are three adjacent nations that are battling for control of the land, each backed by a world superpower. The player pilots a Hound, a cutting-edge war machine, and is dropped into the world. Once in the world, the player must decide which nation to fight for.

GS: What can you tell us about the single-player mode?

FS: The single-player mode offers more than 40 missions. In each mission, the player will experience a differing story arc depending on which role type [he or she] chose (scout, sniper, heavy gunner, and so on).

GS: What kind of multiplayer mode will the game have?

FS: Chromehounds supports 12-player simultaneous Xbox Live network battles. The squad-based multiplayer combat has a variety of online modes, allowing for quick free battles, cooperative play, or battles with other nations over control of the land. Each squad is composed of a maximum of six players, and there will be more than 100 types of battlefields to choose from.

GS: How much can you tell us about the game's customization features?

FS: Players can chose from hundreds of options and parts when creating their Hound. For instance, they can customize the ****pit, movement base, weapons, accessories, color, texture, emblems, and more.

GS: Expectations are running high for the graphical performance of 360 games. How is the Chromehounds graphics engine taking advantage of the system's power?

FS: Chromehounds takes full advantage of the system's capabilities, showcasing highly detailed polygon models and powerful vertex shaders. Also, using the system's flexible-pixel display capabilities allows for new-generation effects, such as motion blur, HDR (high dynamic range), light scattering, and shadow mapping. With these new graphic technologies, we were able to do the following: natural phenomena over large-scale battlefields--such as shadows, water simulation, and depth-of-field blur--as well as create high levels of detail on each Hound.

GS: Beyond core game content, is Chromehounds taking advantage of the other XBL features, such as microtransactions, downloadable content, leaderboards, clans, spectator mode, etc.?

FS: Leaderboards will be key for Chromehounds. We are also planning on listing scoreboards on the official Web site, and Sega is establishing an independent server for the game so players will be able to track their team members and own progress from anywhere. We are also looking at the possibility of offering special part-downloads via microtransactions.

GS: What's been the biggest challenge so far in developing the game?

FS: Our biggest challenge so far has been establishing a balance between the individual capabilities of each Hound and the abilities of the squad as a whole.

GS: When can we look for the game? Will it be exclusive to the Xbox 360?

FS: At the Tokyo Game Show 2005 (September 16) the development team will unveil the game, and there will be playable kiosks available for attendees. The title is currently in development for the Xbox 360.

[VictoryOverWar]

Chromehounds Pre-Tokyo Game Show 2005 Hands-On


TOKYO--Chromehounds is the recently announced mech game from Sega and developer From Software that was first shown in Sega's next-gen theater at this year's E3, where the trailer teased players with detailed visuals, a postapocalyptic setting, and massive mech combat. Since then the game has been officially announced for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox successor and is slated for a spring 2006 release. We recently had the chance to see the game in motion, and we got to see a teaser of what to expect from its playable debut while at this year's Tokyo Game Show today. Though our hands-on time was brief, we were still impressed by where the game is currently headed.


Official Trailer

Twenty tons of death. Check out this exclusive trailer of the Xbox 360 mech game.




Chromehounds is set in a postapocalyptic future where powerful nations arm themselves and brace for an impending war. The game's story actually impacts both the single-player and multiplayer modes, which will tell different parts of it. The single-player mode will cast you in the role of one of six fighters on a squad from one of the game's three nations, and it will follow you as you prepare for an impending conflict. The multiplayer mode finds you fighting that war after it breaks out. The demo on display at From Software's offices let us get a taste of what to expect from a simple one-on-one versus game that pit us against a foe on one of the game's massive battlefields, which can be up to 2 square miles in size.

In keeping with the game's premise, the demo let us choose a mech that was tentatively balanced in one of six ways by being of the assault, sniper, defender, scout, heavy gunner, or commander type. A stat grid on the mech selection screen lets you see how the mech of your choice was skewed, as even within the specific types you'll see some variations. Once it was picked, we were thrown into an open area. The versus game we were playing pit us against just one other player, so part of our time was spent trying to figure out where he or she was. Once you spot your foe, it's all about hammering him or her with your mech's weapons until he or she explodes. The flow of the battle will depend on the mech type you've chosen to use. Scouts are smaller and faster units that appear to be best suited to quick strikes that lean heavily on bobbing and weaving as you try to take out your target. The heavy gunners, on the other hand, are heavily armored war machines that are slow but pack devastating firepower.

The control is simple and accessible, requiring you to use the left analog stick to move, the right one to aim, and the first left-shoulder button to fire. Clicking in the right analog stick lets you switch your view, while the X and Y buttons let you toggle weapon sets. (Our demo unit had two sets, but it looks like you'll be able to slot more in.) The game will also feature one of the staples from From's previous mech games: the ability to make your own custom battlebot from a massive amount of parts, ensuring the number of mechs in the game will be absurdly high.

The visuals are looking sharp and come close to what you see in the recently released trailer. It's hard to say how close they come to what's shown, due to the settings we fought in. The massive environments didn't let us duke it out in a city setting, but we were dropped into open areas set in natural, undeveloped areas. We tried a few matches and were able to see a plain wheat field, a mountain range, and a snow-covered field. The natural environments were expansive, albeit a bit barren in spots, and they featured some nice bits of functional eye candy. It appears the areas you'll be fighting in will feature a host of destructible elements that you can interact with, whether it's using them for cover or blowing them away to prevent your foe from eluding you. In addition, you'll see impressive little touches to help sell you on the fact that you're piloting a massive fighting machine. Bullets will yield flashy sparks if they hit your foe, or they'll kick up dirt or water if they miss their mark. The same holds true for the rockets you'll fire during battle, which shoot out in a flurry of light and smoke as they launch. The trails from projectiles, such as missiles and the like, are nicely done as well.



A mech game that features 12-player squad-based online play? Yeah, go ahead, and sign us up now.
As for the mechs themselves, Chromehounds is probably one of the best opportunities for the From artists to cut loose. Whereas previous mech games from the developer, such as the Armored Core entries, have featured highly detailed mechs in the computer-generated movies in the games and less-detailed battle machines in the actual game, the mechs in Chromehounds are highly detailed creations that are on par with their CG counterparts. The game's high resolution yields a sick amount of detail that lets you make out the myriad of moving parts and unique weathering on the mechs, which is impressive considering the game's unfinished state. Better still is the animation that complements the high detail by letting you see the almost graceful movement of multilegged and treaded mechs as they move around, in addition to the jerkier strides of the two-legged mechs. The 360 hardware has also allowed From to have some fun with the game's camera system, as you'll be able to switch between third and first person on the fly during a battle, with whatever view you're not in displayed in the upper right-hand portion of the screen.

The game's frame rate, while inconsistent in a few places, is running pretty high. Finally, one of the most significant aspects of the visuals we noticed is how clean the visuals look on a normal television. To date, Microsoft and third parties have typically shown 360 games on HDTV's to highlight the insane clarity you'll get from 720p resolution, which, while eye-popping, has had us wondering just how the games would look on a standard television. Today's demo was running on two stations. One was a high-resolution PC monitor, and the other was a standard television. Though the game obviously looked sexier on the monitor, the clarity and resolution still looked pretty sharp on the standard television.



We got the extended warranty, just in case things get out of hand.
The audio in the version of the game we played is a robust extension of the chatter and weapons fire heard in From's previous mech games in the Armored Core series. There are few developers that nail the atmosphere of gritty mech combat like the seasoned pros that have been perfecting their work in the mech genre since the late '90s. You'll hear chatter from your radio, as well as a whole lot of explosions and weapons fire that are extremely satisfying.

This teaser has served as a good appetizer for the TGS demos of the game we'll see later this week. After months of just hearing talk about the Xbox 360's power, it's nice to see a small portion of those muscles flexed in our brief look at Chromehounds. The game looks very good and features some nice touches that should satisfy mech fans all over the globe. The online component of the game should also be a meaty experience that players can sink their teeth into. Chromehounds is currently slated to ship in 2006, so look for more on the game over the next few months and from this week's Tokyo Game Show. Until then, however, check out our Q&A with From Software regarding the ambitious game, and be sure to watch the first trailer for it.

all i can say about these 2 articles is wow and then i checked the VID out it looks freaking amazin in action....check out gamespot for the vid