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Mass Effect 2: The Future of Gaming

By John Scott Lewinski Posted 1.29.10 at 12:00 pm 4 Comments

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Facial Modeling and Voice Performance

Image courtesy of Bioware

Traditional modeling uses motion-capture to recreate the movement of a real-world actor. The Mass Effect 2 technology moves beyond traditional performance-capture and relies on AI to generate a character's on-screen performance for the game's cinematic cut scenes.

"Once artists design the face of a human or alien character, we move directly to the script and voice recording," says Bioware senior producer Adrien Cho. "After the actor comes in and performs his or her lines in a variety of different emotional tones (angry, urgent, scared), vocal stress and inflection readers in the AI detect the emotional flags of the given line and alter the character's facial expression in real time."

In addition, the engine generating the faces in cut scenes shows damage taken during play, as well as subtleties like realistic wrinkles and tears to convey emotion.

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Read the article: Inside the Game-Changing Features of Mass Effect 2

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4 Comments

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Abremms

02/01/10 at 11:52 am

ME2 is even more groundbreaking than the original was. The way it gets you to care about the characters is really impressive. By the end of the game I was fully invested in the story and the characters, more-so than in any book or movie. when a game can do that it is revolutionary.

the combat is fun and visceral, and the graphics (i played it on PC) are the best i've ever seen. the lighting and shadows are dynamic and well done, I'd never realized how much normal games have been lacking in that department.

if this is truly the future of video games, then the future looks good!

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Microsnake

02/02/10 at 2:28 pm

Why are there glowing lines on his face?

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rebrien42xcom

02/03/10 at 5:12 pm

The "glowing lines" are scares which the main character recieved as a result of the events during the early portion of the game.

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Cetus93

05/09/10 at 5:37 pm

More games, and movies, need to be made like the Mass Effect genre. Future worlds, peoples, and technology sells. Just look at Avatar. And hey, I bet all these futuristic alien games and movies are preparing Earth's "uneasy" populations, which is most of everyone, for first global ET contact. Think about it...

Loved the game by the way. 5/5

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