Treyarch Defends the Lack of a “New Engine” for Black Ops 2

EA versus Activision. It’s the gaming industry’s version of a Hollywood catfight, complete with the snide attitude during press releases and insulting jabs. While EA has been trying oh so very hard to grab that title of “best-selling FPS” away from the likes of Modern Warfare and Activision, Battlefield 3 and the Crysis series has been giving us glimpses of new engines that make the eye candy enthusiast swoon.

Treyarch doesn’t quite see it that way, and studio head Mark Lamia said that he doesn’t believe Black Ops 2 needed a “new engine.” In an interview with One of Swords, Lamia said that “engines” are a “buzzword,” and also explained all the work that went into giving Black Ops 2 its aesthetics.

“I liken [the engine] to people who live in an older house that has been remodeled,” explained Lamia. “Just because you’re remodeling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don’t tear out the foundation. “There’s a lot of good still in that foundation that you wouldn’t get rid of, and we don’t.”

Treyarch has been using the same modified engine since 2007′s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This has put gamers in a position to say Treyarch simply doesn’t care, instead deciding to not push innovation to cash in on a popular title. Lamia said that the whole “let’s create a new engine” perspective in the industry is a marketing ploy.

“I think the whole thing about a new engine…sometimes that’s a great buzzword,” said Lamia. “Where does it start and stop? Elements of the code, you can trace back for a very, very long time…but whole parts of the code are entirely new. Two areas we did focus on for this game were the graphics and the lighting — a pretty significant amount of work is going into that.” So is it really a new engine, or is it just the same old thing with a few add-ons?

According to Lamia, he’d rather keep tweaking what’s already there. If he can’t get Black Ops 2 to still run at 60 frames per second, he’s not willing to update the graphics. “…we wanted to advance the graphics,” he said. “I think the questions are valid [about making a better-looking game]. The answer may not need to be an entirely new engine, but you might need to do an entire overhaul of your entire lighting system. The trick is, we’re not willing to do that if we can’t keep it running at 60 frames per second — but we did that this time.”

For the full interview, head over to One of Swords.

Via Shack News.