Console port of Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy

[JungleGoutte01]

I was wondering why the XBOX version of Jedi Academy looks much more like the PC version whereas the XBOX version of Jedi Outcast does.

I have a few theories about that.

The original XBOX was the most powerful console back in 2002-2003. The XBOX version of Jedi Outcast features downgraded textures and slightly redesigned levels as well as cutscenes not being run by the game, as opposed to Jedi Academy, who despite having improved graphics, doesn't feature the same level of downgrade and the cutscenes play like they do in the PC version.

One explanation is that Vicarious Visions (the studio that ported the game on XBOX and GameCube) created a single console build in order to save time, so they had to take the GameCube's limited power into account, so it's why they downgraded the graphics and redesigned some levels, and then they ported the build on XBOX. For Jedi Academy, since the GameCube was left behind, they could fully use the XBOX potential despite the XBOX port of Jedi Academy only releasing 2 months after the PC version as opposed to the 9 months between the PC and console port of Jedi Outcast.

Another hypothesis is that because they had to work on 2 platforms at the same time, the devs at Vicarious Visions were focused on making the game run properly on GameCube so they had little time to craft a proper build for the XBOX.

 

They might also have become used to the ID tech 3 so they manage to create a better console port for Jedi Academy in less time than the last game.

 

Let me know what you think.

[mrwonko]

The Jedi Academy player model has fewer bones than the one in JK2, which I think was a compromise they made so it would run better on XBOX.