Treyarch Defends Black Ops' Ageing Engine

Treyarch has defended using the seven-year-old IW engine to power Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

In an interview with OXM, game design director David Vondehaar explained that modifications had been made to ensure the game ran robustly, and admitted he was baffled that anyone would criticise the title's technical performance.

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To me, it's like I never really understood. It runs at 60 and it's gorgeous. What exactly is there to be upset about with the engine?

"Anybody who comes at the engine needs to remember it's the 60 frames they love in the first place," he asserted. "And we can make it beautiful - that's through years and years of working with the engine, improving upon it and improving the pipeline and improving our approach, our lighting rendering.

"People like to talk about the engine, but the truth of the matter is that this isn't like something that was invented six years ago. At this point that engine doesn't resemble anything like any engine - we've ripped out the UI system, the rendering and the lighting are all new, the core gameplay systems are all new.

"To me, it's like I never really understood," Vondehaar concluded. "It runs at 60 and it's gorgeous. What exactly is there to be upset about with the engine?"

The IW Engine has been used by both Infinity Ward and Treyarch for the companies' work on the Call of Duty games. It was first used for Call of Duty 2 back in 2005, and the exact engine being used for Black Ops II is a modified version of the IW 3.0 engine that was used for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as well as the original Black Ops. The PC version of the game is also confirmed to take advantage of DirectX 11 video cards.

The first image of the Nuketown 2025 pre-order bonus map for Call of Duty: Black Ops II was unveiled yesterday, and the game itself is due to release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on November 13, and on the Wii U on its respective launch dates.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and a meleeing ninja when it comes to COD. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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Dragon Age 3: Inquisition Announced

BioWare has announced Dragon Age 3: Inquisition. Set to arrive in late 2013, Dragon Age 3 will be built on a new RPG engine using DICE's Frostbite 2 technology as a foundation. According to a post from executive producer Mark Darrah on the game's official site, the development team contains many of the same people that have been working on the franchise since Dragon Age: Origins.

“The Dragon Age team has been working on Dragon Age 3: Inquisition for almost two years now,” said BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn. “We’ve been poring over player feedback from past games and connecting directly with our fans. They haven’t held back, so we’re not either. With Dragon Age 3: Inquisition, we want to give fans what they’re asking for – a great story with choices that matter, a massive world to explore, deep customization and combat that is both tactical and visceral.”

“At the same time,” Flynn added, “we know we need new technology to truly make this vision become fully realized. And we’ve been working with DICE to make Frostbite 2 the foundation for the engine that is going to power Dragon Age 3.”

The title appears to confirm a leaked questionnaire that emerged last month, with details suggesting “The empire of Orlais is riven by civil war; the Chantry is divided; the Templar order has broken away; the Mage circles have rebelled. Some unseen force is manipulating events, bringing about disorder and destruction. Out of this confusion emerges The Inquisition.” According to that leak, players will take the role as the leader of the Inquisition and can make their player “a rogue, warrior or mage and set up your crew from up to ten complex companions to lead them against those who attack you by systematically spying on, revealing and destroying them."

Prior to that, BioWare said back in March that it had “fully moved onto the next thing” in the Dragon Age franchise. Earlier, BioWare mentioned Dragon Age 3 on Twitter back in May of 2011, advertising that it was looking for environment artists. In a later interview at Gamescom 2011, BioWare’s Ray Muzyka discussed taking fan feedback from Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Origins to heart as it looked toward the sequel.

For now, few details have been officially announced, including which platforms Dragon Age 3 will be coming to. "There's much more to talk about, of course, but it will have to wait until it's ready for the prime time," Darrah said. "We are going to be as open as we can. We will continue to have a dialogue with you and answer what questions we can. Keep providing us with your feedback. I'm excited about what we are working on and I hope that you will be too. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but it is just as hard for me not to tell you stuff as it is for you to wait."

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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