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Bone, please! Are the full-game movie replays in CMBB yet?


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Man, I thought this one was a shoe-in. I really hope it makes it, as a movie playback feature would have great potential for enhancing the enjoyment of the game.

I would urge you all at BTS to reconsider if it has been stricken from the list for CMBB, or if it's still possible, to bump it up the priority list a notch or two.

I wouldn't choose this over many other features that add to the authenticity of CMBB, but it is to me a very significant gameplay feature.

Anyone else?

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BTS, think of all the wasted bandwith that will be caused from 15,000 newbies asking whether movie playback will be included in the next update.

In order to ensure that there will be plenty of bandwith when we send you cash in return for CMBB, movie playback should be included from the start.

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I was just reflecting on how joyous it would be to rewatch a game, in sequence and continuous, in which I offed 14 of my opponents tanks in 3 turns (at a loss of a puma and a KT). Yes it was a purely gamey game where only 5000 points worth of crack/elite pieces of armor were used. But it was fun and sure was purty.

Gotta get it in. Gotta.

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Shep, as far as I know it's still on the list. But so are about a bazillion other things, out of which only a million or so went into CMBB already. Full playbacks certainly have a high coolness factor, but as much as we'd like to see this go in, there are coding issues here which mean that it's no small effort to make it work. So some other things are of higher priority (things that are not only cool but really necessary to enhance the game), and after these are completed, full movie playbacks will be evaluated based on effect vs. effort.

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I ran some new feature polls over at the Band of Brothers. We're certainly pretty hard core CMers, just thought you might be interested in the 3 top rated features of CMBB.

50% vehicle command and control

45% movie playback

38% covered afv firing arcs

Movie playback was the second most requested. Having played games (such as myth) with movie playback I can tell you it is not just chrome. It's an absolutely critical feature that helps veterans, but even more so, newbies.

This is one of the most anticipated features of CMBB. Heck even if you had to hack a separate playback application that would be better than nothing!

- marc s

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I gotta agree with xerxes on this one. Full movie playback is not just a snazzy device for entertainment value. It is a useful training tool. The ability to see not only your own troops but also your opponent's manuevers would be quite instructive -- it would allow a detailed analysis of what you did right and what you did wrong. As 'late' as CMBB might seem to be right now, I think this is a critical feature that absolutely must be in CMBB.

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  • 1 month later...

Ehm...500 - 3000 kb per turn for a medium to larger sized battle, mainly depending on the number vehicel moves, 30 turns or more... that's 15 - 90 MB or more for a whole battle.

Someone should call IBM, we need Terabyte-sized HDs soon! smile.gif

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Hey Moon! Full movie playback would be a welcome enhancement. As a programmer I understand how enhancements need to be merged into an existing framework. Also the sheer disk space or memory that such playback data could take up may be problematic, amongst other issues.

However, I do not see this as just a GEE WHIZ factor at all. It would enhance enjoyment, increase learning, and add to sales!

Add to sales Say I? Correct. Just imagine a CMer showing the game to a friend. Posibility A) "see all the cool units....here's how you give orders....then they go at it for a minute." Possibilty B) "Check out this recent game I had against a another guy"....**views a full length movie**....reaction: said friend is likely to be blown away and rushes out and buy CM:BB! :D

So there's your business case for whatever trouble it may be worth. I am sure that referal sales makes up a part of your market. At any rate, please don't consider this the old traditional whining "I WAAANT IT" but a real live request to consider this feature.

Thanks,

-Sarge

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Originally posted by Moon:

Shep, as far as I know it's still on the list. But so are about a bazillion other things, out of which only a million or so went into CMBB already. Full playbacks certainly have a high coolness factor, but as much as we'd like to see this go in, there are coding issues here which mean that it's no small effort to make it work. So some other things are of higher priority (things that are not only cool but really necessary to enhance the game), and after these are completed, full movie playbacks will be evaluated based on effect vs. effort.

Based on what Moon is saying, it sounds like the game wont even go gold until mid to late Fall. It wont ship until 2-4 weeks after that. Man, this sucks :mad:

Maybe I'm jumping the gun with my assumptions, it's not even officially summer yet.

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Originally posted by Sir Augustus:

I don't think it would be possible. It would just take up too much disk space.

Wait a minute here. Everyone assumes that full movie playback data must be stored in the same ASCII format as PBEM files. This need not be the case for local hard drive use only. Relevant binary data compressed with any choice of industry standard compression algorhithms could take the same ASCII data from an 800 KB one-minute movie and make is thousands of times smaller!

So technically I am not sure disk space is a show-stopper here. I am sure that internal game code is the big thing here. Something has gotta change to support it or they would be doing it already.

[ May 14, 2002, 05:02 PM: Message edited by: Sarge Saunders ]

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Originally posted by xerxes:

This is one of the most anticipated features of CMBB. Heck even if you had to hack a separate playback application that would be better than nothing!

- marc s

I agree with Xerxes. If it's too much trouble to be in the game, make it a seperate application that's a free download. But by all means, don't forego this feature!
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If nothing else, full playback would be one hell of a marketing tool!

Would definately attract more players. I have often wished I could send a movie to a friend or two to entice them to play. They would in a heartbeat if they saw how amazing the game is when it gets hot.

Could release them to all the Gaming web sites for publicity. Not too mention, boy, could you put out lots of tutorials.

would be great.

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