Console version of DMC: Devil May Cry to run at 30fps

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   November 6th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

The console version of the highly-anticipated DMC: Devil May Cry will run at 30 frames per second (fps) instead of 60fps that have become a norm in recent years, though the feel would just be the same.

The game’s director Hideaki Itsuno conceded during an interview with Eurogamer that keeping various factors in mind, the decision to make the game at 30fps on consoles was made.

He did, however, assert that while playing the game, players would hardly notice the fps to be anything below the smooth 60fps that they have grown accustomed to over the years.

Itsuno explained that his team at the Cambridge-based studio Ninja Theory had learnt a number of tricks and techniques during the development of Dragon’s Dogma using the Unreal Engine 3.

These newly-discovered tricks and techniques allowed them to make a game running at 30fps seem as if it still running at double the speed, thus keeping everything smooth.

Ever since learning that the studio developing the latest title in the Devil May Cry franchise in collaboration with Capcom Japan had opted for 30fps, the fans have been questioning the decision and even beginning to doubt the very quality of the console version of the game, which included both Xbox 360 and as well PlayStation.

Itsuno, however, believes the quality of the game will be just as good, if not better, because of the way the Unreal Engine is being used and thus the fans will find the experience both smooth and pleasing.

Even though the director did not reveal the secret behind achieving the 60fps effect despite developing the game to be 30fps, he did explain the logic behind it.

“60 frames per second is the speed the brain and the eye can catch up with and understand, Itsuno said, “but at 30 frames per second there’s a technique where you take advantage of the brain’s ability to fill in the blanks.”

He further went on to add that, “So even though you have it running at 30 frames per second, you create the motions and poses in such a way that the brain will naturally fill in what would have been the extra frames. Also, on the players’ side we made some adjustments to the button response and when its reflected on screen.”

Making the game run on 30fps while aiming to give off an impression that it is running on 60fps leads to a very obvious question, one that Ninja Theory and Capcom should expect to come across a lot in coming days, why even go for 30fps in the first place instead of 60fps?

Hopefully, the console version of DMC: Devil May Cry turns out to be good enough to satisfy the fans who have been anxiously waiting for the next title in the franchise.