Hand Vagina

Sex seems to be a topic that interests men gradually earlier and earlier in generation ... -Oh heck, just watch the clip:
[click] ([~2.oo])

Big Movies Update - 2oo8/o9

 Moviewise, at least (´_` )
Look at all the good things that are about to come to the big screen. Well, mostly good things. Others .. I mean, one of them is actually so bad that it's worth mentioning again ;^p [...]
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And of course I'm talking about --oh, wait. Watch out, this is the only Spoiler Warning you'll get: I haven't seen these movies yet (except one), hence I won't tell about the movies but if you watch the trailers there might be spoilers in them!

So, the movie I was talking about is as I like to call it "Uwe Boll's latest crime": Far Cry ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]}. Can't wait to see it fail. But if you wan't to see a good movie, I mean a really good movie, then please have a look at Cloverfield ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]} - that one was fairly great, especially because of the big screen. And believe me: the less you know about the movie in advance, the better. Probably just as nice of an eye-candy as Cloverfield will be Wall-E ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]}, a Pixar movie that might conquer our hearts. Similarly nice, more asiatically oriented, and probably as funny as earlier works I am surely looking forward to CJ7 ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]} by Stephen Chow - you know him if you've seen Kung Fu Hustle ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]} and Shaolin Soccer ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]}. But there's also more sci-fi I'm looking forward to, Star Trek XI: Under Construction ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]}, and more action, too: an interesting superhero-movie called Hancock ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]} featuring Will Smith, and a gun-themed action movie named Wanted ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]} featuring Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. Also more goodness with Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman, a political comedy called Charlie Wilson's War ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]} - allegedly based on a true story. Well, let's wait and see about that. And just look at the workaholic Steven Spielberg: 12 movies or series that are yet to come from him. His work includes sexy hotties (or "interesting enough for home cinema"-sexy hotties) like: Transformers 2 (announced) ^{[IMDB] [no Trailer yet]} and Jurassic Park IV (pre-production) ^{[IMDB] [no Trailer yet]} - oh wait, those are only "his" movies as producer, but still five movies that are yet to come as director, of course including this one: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull ^{[IMDB] [Trailer]}. But still no clue of Tintin ... :^/ YESSSS!!!!
# top # partly sent by Socke, absinthOpfer

SF:The Later Years ep. 4 - 8

Have a look at this update for Street Fighter: The Later Years, a parody series that I mentioned here. Of course, do so only if the humour suited you back then. The latest episode is 2 weeks old young - and it's Ep. 8! I had five episodes in a row to catch up - woohoo! And Chun Li's sexy - woohoo!

5o Great VG Innovations

 I found a nice new Best X In Videogame History-list I wanted to share with you and this time it's all about innovations. Innovations that enabled these wonderful games that enrich our daily life today. Innovations that are so simple that you may wonder what's so special about them - but that is the great thing about it: there was a time before these innovations where the status quo was quite different, until some genius showed up and changed the world forever ... so lean back and enjoy.

Surprisingly few japanese rooted list items. I wonder how accurate this list is. I mean how it can be evolved into a more accurate state. [...]
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Updated: Thursday, 01 November 2007
50 GREATEST GAME DESIGN INNOVATIONS
By Ernest Adams
From gameplay, to presentation to input devices, videogames are a hotbed of innovation. Ernest Adams notes 50 game design innovations, some that have already made their impact, and others that will shape the future of the medium...

Fifty years ago William Higinbotham built the first videogame with an oscilloscope and some analog circuitry. While games have changed enormously since then, even today’s AAA blockbusters owe some of their success to design innovations made years earlier. In this article I’m going to look at 50 design advances that I feel were especially important, or will prove to be some day. Many of them are actually enhancements to older forms of play; sports, driving, and shooting go back to fairground games and mechanical coin-ops. Other genres, such as turn-based strategy, logic puzzles, and RPGs, began life on the dining room table. We have improved these earlier games in many ways, and the computer has allowed us to create new genres that would be impossible in any other medium.

Unfortunately the true innovator of a design idea is often forgotten, while a particularly successful later game gets the credit. For example, more people remember Pong than remember Ralph Baer’s non-computerized design for the Magnavox Odyssey, even though Baer’s work came first. To correct this tendency, I’ll list both the original inventor of the idea (if I could find it) and the best-known early example of the innovation. I don’t promise to be right all the time; corrections are welcome.

Gameplay Innovations

By gameplay I mean the challenges that the game poses to the player, and the actions that the player may take to meet the challenges. The vast majority of these actions are obvious: jumping, steering, fighting, building, trading and so on. But some challenges and actions distinctly advanced the state of the art, and provided new ways for us to play.

1. Exploration.
The earliest computer games didn’t offer exploration. Many were simulations set in one location, or afforded movement only through trivial spaces (e.g. Hunt the Wumpus, 1972). We eventually borrowed exploration from tabletop role-playing and turned it into extravaganzas like BioShock. True exploration provides ongoing novelty as you enter unfamiliar areas, and lets you make choices based on clues in the environment. It’s a different sort of challenge from combat, and attracts players who enjoy being virtual tourists. Probable first use: Colossal Cave, aka Adventure, 1975.

2. Storytelling.
Storytelling is the subject of more acrimonious debate than any other design feature of videogames, even including the save-game issue. Should we do it or not, and if so, how? What does it mean? Is it even possible to do well? —and so on. Bottom line: not every game needs a story, but they’re here to stay. Without a story, a game is just an abstraction—which can be enough to engage the player, but isn’t always. First use is often attributed to Colossal Cave, but that was really a treasure-hunt without a plot. Possible first use: Akalabeth, precursor to the Ultima series, or Mystery House, both released in 1980.

3. Stealth.
Let’s face it, most action games are about force. Even when confronted with overwhelmingly powerful enemies, your only option is to avoid their killing shots while grinding away at them or searching for their vulnerable spots. In stealth play the idea is to never even let the enemies know you’re there, and it requires a completely different approach from the usual Rambo-style mayhem. Best-known early example: Thief: The Dark Project, 1998. First use: unknown.

4. Avatars with their own personalities.
If you weren’t around in the early days this one might surprise you. The first adventure games, and most other computer games too, described the world as if you, the player, were actually in the game—not a representation of you, but you. Consequently, the games could make no assumptions about your age, sex, social position, or anything else—which meant that NPC interactions with your avatar were always rather bland. The early video games, too, mostly displayed vehicles (Asteroids, Space Invaders) or no avatar at all (Pong, Night Driver). Avatars with independent personalities required you to identify with someone different from yourself, but they increased the dramatic possibilities in games enormously. Best-known early example: Pac-Man, 1980 (if you can call that a personality; otherwise, Jumpman, aka Mario, in Donkey Kong, 1981). Possible first use: Midway’s Gun Fight coin-op, 1975.

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5. Leadership.
In most party-based RPGs and shooters like Ghost Recon, you can control any of the characters individually, but that’s not really leadership. The true challenge of leadership is delegating to others who might disobey you, especially when you have to take over an existing team without any choice about who’s in it. The strengths and weaknesses of your people determine how well they succeed at the tasks you give them, so judging their characters and abilities becomes a critical skill. A little-known but excellent example is King of Dragon Pass, 1999. Best-known early example: Close Combat, 1996. First use: unknown.

6. Diplomacy.
Not new with computer games—the board game Diplomacy was first published in 1959. The big problem for computers has always been making credible AI for computer opponents, but we’re starting to get this right. As with leadership, diplomacy is more about judgment of character than counting hit points. Best-known early example: Civilization, 1991. Probable first use: Balance of Power, 1986.

7. Mod support.
Modding is a form of gameplay; it’s creative play with the meta-game. The earliest games weren’t just moddable, they were open-source, since their source code was printed in magazines like Creative Computing. When we began to sell computer games, their code naturally became a trade secret. Opening commercial games up to modding was a brilliant move, as it extended the demand for a game engine far beyond what it would have been if players were limited to the content that came in the box. Best-known early example: Doom, 1993. Probable first use: The Arcade Machine, 1982, which was a construction set for arcade-like games. Purists may debate whether construction set products count as moddable games, but the key point is that they enlisted the player to build content—long before “Web 2.0” or indeed the Web itself.

8. Smart NPCs with brains and senses.
In an early 2D turn-based game called Chase, you were trapped in a cage filled with electric fences and some robots trying to kill you. All the robots did was move towards you. If you could get behind an electric fence, they’d walk into it and fry—and that was the sum total of NPC intelligence for about ten years. Then we began to implement characters with vision and hearing and limits to both. We also gave them rudimentary brainpower in the form of finite state machines and, eventually, the ability to cooperate. Some of the most sophisticated NPC AI is now in sports games, where athletes have to work in concert to achieve a collective goal. I consider this a design feature, as it’s something designers asked for and programmers figured out how to implement. First use: unknown.

9. Dialog tree (scripted) conversations.
Early efforts to include interactive conversation in computer games were pretty dire. The parsers in text adventures were okay for commands (“GIVE DOUGHNUT TO COP”) but not for ordinary speech (“Hey, mister, do you know anybody around here who can sell me an Amulet of Improved Dentistry+5?”). With a dialog tree the game gives you a choice of pre-written lines to say, and the character you’re talking to responds appropriately. If the game allows it, you can role-play a bit by choosing the lines that most closely match the attitude you want to express. Written well, scripted conversations read like natural dialog and can be funny, dramatic, and even moving. The hilarious insult-driven sword fights in the Monkey Island games are sterling examples of the form. First use: unknown.

10. Multi-level gameplay.
With a board game everything usually takes place on the same board, as in Monopoly or Risk. Computer games (and tabletop RPGs) often let you switch between two modes, from high-level strategy to low-level tactics. And only a computer can let you zoom in and out to any level you want—as Spore apparently will do. Are you a micromanager or a master of strategy who doesn’t sweat the small stuff? Different games demand different approaches. Best-known early example: Archon: The Light and the Dark, 1983. First use: unknown.

11. Mini-games.
A small game within a big game, usually optional, sometimes not. Not the same as multi-level gameplay; a mini-game feels very different from its parent. WarioWare consists of nothing but mini-games. Mini-games often destroy the player’s immersion, but offer a different set of challenges from those in the overall game. Sometimes the mini-game is actually better than the overall game. First use: unknown.

12. Multiple difficulty levels.
Designer John Harris has observed that older games, especially coin-ops, were intended to measure the player’s skill, while the newer approach is to provide the player with an experience regardless of his skill level. The old-fashioned school of thought is that the player is the designer’s opponent; the new school is that the player is your audience. By offering multiple difficulty levels, we make games available to larger audiences, which also includes handicapped players. First use: unknown.

13. Reversible time.
Saving and reloading is one thing, but sometimes what you really want is what as kids we used to call a "do-over"-a chance to correct an error without the hassle of a reload or going back a long way in the game world. Best-known example: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, 2003. When you made a mistake, you could reverse time for ten seconds. To prevent you from using it continually, each usage costs you a certain amount of sand, which has to be replenished by defeating enemies. The game also let the player see into the future to help with upcoming puzzles, another clever innovation. Possible first use: Blinx: The Time Sweeper, 2002, in which collecting up crystals in various combinations gives the player a variety of one-shot time control commands.

14. Coupled avatars.
In this slightly oddball innovation, you play an action or action-adventure game using two quite different avatars with complementary abilities. Sometimes they work together as one; at other times you have to choose which to use, or are required to use one or the other. Not the same as two separate avatars like Sonic and Tails. Possible first use: Banjo-Kazooie, 1998.

15. Sandbox modes.
The term refers to a mode of play in which you can fool around in a game’s world without being required to meet a particular objective. By far the best-known sandbox modes are in the later Grand Theft Auto games, contributing greatly to their popularity. Sandbox mode is normally used to describe special modes within otherwise goal-oriented games, not open-ended games like SimCity. Sandbox modes also sometimes afford emergent behavior, events arising in a game’s world that were not planned or predicted by the designer. First use: unknown.

16. Physics puzzles.
Many real-world games involve physics, but they’re usually tests of skill. The computer lets us create physics puzzles, in which you try to figure out how to accomplish a task using the physical properties of simulated objects. They’re about brainpower, not hand-eye coordination. Possible first use: The Incredible Machine, 1992.

17. Interactive drama.
There’s only one of these, but someday its descendants will change the world. Façade is a first-person 3D game released in 2005. In Façade you play the friend of a couple whose marriage is in trouble. You visit their apartment for an evening and converse with them by typing real English sentences; they respond with recorded audio. Depending on what you say, you can influence their relationship—get them to reconcile, cause one or the other to leave, or even anger them so much that they throw you out. It’s role-playing in the real meaning of the term: no stats, no combat, no treasure, just dramatic interactions—with a couple’s future happiness at stake. Many designers consider the “holonovels” from Star Trek: The Next Generation to be the holy grail of interactive storytelling; Façade is an important advance on the quest.

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Input Innovations

Interactivity is the essence of gaming, and in a videogame, some device has to translate the player’s intentions into action. We’ve always had buttons, knobs (aka spinners or paddles), joysticks, sliders, triggers, steering wheels and pedals. But recently our options for input devices have exploded, and a good designer gives careful thought to them before choosing an approach to use.

18. Independent movement and aiming.
Early games restricted the avatar to shooting in the direction that it was facing—as in Asteroids, for example. Separating movement from aiming requires a second joystick, which substantially increases the physical coordination required of the player, but offers more freedom for both player and designer. Probable first use: Robotron: 2084 coin-op, 1982.

19. Point-and-click.
The mouse changed the way players interact with spaces and the objects within them. Although now considered dated, point-and-click made adventure games much more accessible than the older “guess the verb” parser-based system. Best-known early example: Maniac Mansion, 1987; the SCUMM engine devised for it is still in use by independent developers. Probable first use: Enchanted Scepters for the Macintosh, 1984. The Mac was the first personal computer to routinely ship with a mouse.

20. Mouse+WASD keys for 3D first-person movement.
This is so much the best way to move a first-person avatar in a 3D space that, until we get virtual reality gear that really works, there is no reason to consider anything else. Dual-joystick setups on controllers can’t match it for precision. First use: unknown.

21. Speech recognition (and other microphone support).
Which is the more exciting: yelling “Company A, charge!” or drawing a box with your mouse around Company A, then clicking a menu item labeled CHARGE? I rest my case. And hollering at your buddies (or at your enemies)—or singing with them—can be a big part of the fun too. Probable first use: Echelon for Commodore 64, 1987.

22. Specialized I/O devices for music (not counting MIDI keyboards).
Part technology, part design, advancements in I/O devices have changed the way we play, especially in musical games. Making music and dancing to it is an intensely physical activity that doesn’t easily translate to joysticks and typewriter keyboards. Maracas, conga drums, the Guitar Hero controller—all great fun. Possible first use: dance mats in Dance Dance Revolution, 1998.

23. Gestural interfaces.
Many cultures imbue gestures with supernatural or symbolic power, from Catholics crossing themselves to the mudras of Hindu and Buddhist iconography. Magic is often invoked with gestures, too—that’s part of what magic wands are for. The problem with a lot of videogame magic is that clicking icons and pushing buttons feels more technical than magical. The gestural interface is a comparatively recent invention that gives us a non-verbal, non-technical way to express ourselves. Best-known example: Wii controller. Probable first use: Black & White, 2001.

24. Reconfigurable controls and other accessibility features.
When you get used to a certain controller or keyboard setup, you want to be able to use it in every analogous game. PC games now routinely allow players to remap the commands on their input devices, but this is not yet as common as it should be on console machines. For people with hand problems it can be vital. Unfortunately, game developers have almost completely ignored the needs of the handicapped—to our lasting shame. We’re finally starting to get a clue. Among the other useful innovations here are: subtitles for the hearing-impaired; separate volume controls for music and sound effects; adjustable brightness and contrast controls; alternative color palettes to help the color-blind; settable game speed. The slogan of accessible game design is there’s no such thing as “too slow.”

Presentational Innovations

Innovations in what the player sees and hears may depend heavily on technological advances, but I still consider them design innovations as well, features the designer can choose to use in their game—or not. I take static and scrolling 2D screens for granted; they already existed in mechanical coin-ops.

25. Isometric perspective, also sometimes called “three-quarters perspective.”
After years of side-view or top-view videogames, the isometric perspective provoked gasps of astonishment when it first appeared. It created a sense of three-dimensionality that had been sorely lacking from games to that point. For the first time, players could see both the tops and the sides of objects in a natural way, rather than through awkward “cheated” sprites, and could even move around objects to see them from the other side, if the designer had provided that feature. Best-known early example: Populous, 1989. Probable first use: Zaxxon coin-op, 1982.

26. First person perspective.
First person lends immediacy like no other point of view. When an enemy points a gun at you, it’s really at you—right in your face. The big tradeoff is that you don’t get to see your avatar, so visually dramatic activities such as traversing hand-over-hand along a telephone wire lose their impact. First person doesn’t have to mean true 3D; the earliest examples didn’t allow fully 3D movement or tilting up and down. Best-known early example: Battlezone coin-op, 1980. Probable first use: Maze Wars, developed at NASA on the Imlac minicomputer, 1973.

27. Third person perspective.
Controlling your avatar as seen from behind, looking over its shoulder. The camera follows wherever the avatar goes. Like first person, third person doesn’t necessarily require a true 3D space, but it has to seem like one. This innovation was important because it allowed you to watch a heroic character doing his stuff from a natural viewpoint, unlike the older side-scrolling and top-scrolling perspectives. The tradeoff is that the avatar obscures your view of part of the world, which can be awkward in shooting games. Best-known early example: Tomb Raider, 1996. First use: unknown. Viewpoints that follow vehicles as in Pole Position, 1982, are more properly defined as chase views.

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28. Cut scenes.
Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re part of the gaming landscape. They give players a rest between periods of activity, allow them to see the game world from a viewpoint that doesn’t have to be playable (and is often more attractive), and of course can tell a story. Best-known early example: Maniac Mansion, 1987. Probable first use: Pac-Man, 1979.

29. True 3D.
We used to fake 3D viewpoints a lot, usually because we didn’t have the CPU power to provide the real thing. Doom was a very clever fake. 3D doesn’t always improve gameplay—consider Lemmings versus Lemmings 3D—but its impact on gaming is incalculable. Even mobile phones are starting to get 3D accelerators. Best-known early example: Microsoft Flight Simulator v1.0, 1982. Probable first use in a game: SPASIM, a Star Trek-themed multiplayer mainframe game, 1974. These were possible only because of the extremely limited number of objects in the landscape.

30. Context-sensitive camera.
A natural advancement on the third person perspective, a context-sensitive camera moves intelligently to follow the action. This enables the designer to use a cinematographer’s skills to present the game from the best angle at every moment. Context-sensitive cameras are excellent for adventure and slower-paced action-adventure games. In fast games, however, there’s a risk that sudden camera movements will be disorienting—to control events at speed, you need a predictable viewpoint. Best-known example: ICO, 2001. First use: unknown. Pre-rendered backdrops (as in point-and-click adventures) and player-controlled cameras (as in Gabriel Knight 3) aren’t the same thing.

31. Procedural landscape generation.
This technique enables designers to create large play spaces without having to build them by hand. If it’s done on the fly, they don’t even have to store them, which was important in the early machines. Best-known early example: Seven Cities of Gold, 1984. Probable first use: River Raid, 1982.

32. Interchangeable dialog playback (aka “stitching”).
This is the practice of assembling audio clips together to produce seamless dialog with varying content. We use it to create credible play-by-play in sports games, where the names of different athletes have to be inserted into the commentary. It has done a lot to create a truly television-like experience. Best-known early example: Hardball III, 1992. Probable first use: 3rd Degree for the CD-i player, 1992.

33. Adaptive music.
Everyone recognizes the power of music to create a mood. In videogames, the trick is to change the music in response to game events, and of course the composer can’t know in advance when they might occur. One approach is simply to play a new track on demand, but the transition can be jarring if not done well. Another approach is layering—mixing harmonizing pieces of music together and changing their volumes in response to the needs of the game. Best-known early example: Wing Commander, 1990. Possible first use: Way Out for the Atari 800, 1982.

34. Bullet time.
Adjustable time has long been standard in flight simulators; it lets you speed up game-world time in order to get through dull periods quickly. Bullet time is a later innovation. It slows time down while still letting you act quickly, so it creates a feeling of super-speed to go with the more common game sensations of super-strength or super-toughness. Best-known early example: Max Payne, 2001. Possible first use: Requiem: Avenging Angel, 1999.

35. Deformable environments.
Here’s a classic game absurdity: a huge explosion destroys a tank, but does nothing to the walls and windows nearby. Deformable environments correct this and let you literally change the world. This feature poses a risk to a game’s level design because you may be able to get into places the designer didn’t expect you to; but it makes the world much more realistic and lets you solve problems in your own way. Possible first use: Magic Carpet, 1994.

36. Clever indicators for unusual attributes.
Health, speed, mana, lives, ammunition, fuel, and so on all use pretty standard screen indicators: power bars, digits, gauges, repeating small images. Many are borrowed from real-world devices. But what about other, less obvious attributes? Over the years we’ve devised a variety of clever ways to display them—too many to list, so I’m lumping them all together. Some personal favorites: the flickering light in Thief: The Dark Project that indicates how “noticeable” your avatar is; the crosshairs that grow farther apart to indicate reduced weapon accuracy while you’re moving in shooter games; blurring the screen and rendering the controls unreliable to convey that the avatar is drunk or drugged.

Genres

We borrowed many videogame genres from other game forms, but a few genres would not have been possible before the invention of the computer, and represent real design innovation.

37. Construction and management simulations.
Both LEGO blocks and business management games predate the computer, but videogames put the two ideas together for the first time. Best-known early example: SimCity, 1989. Probable first use: Utopia for the Mattel Intellivision, 1982.

38. Real-time strategy games.
Turn-based computer war games had their roots in classics like the Avalon Hill board games, and many of them looked like board games too, with square counters representing units on a hexagonal grid. The addition of real time play made strategy gaming far more accessible to the general public, although purists would complain that RTS games replace true strategy with rapid mouse clicking and resource management. Best-known early example: The Ancient Art of War, 1984. Probable first use: Stonkers for the ZX Spectrum, 1983. A related genre is real-time tactics, games that concentrate on individual battlefields (e.g. the Total War series) and eliminate the resource-manufacturing aspects of RTS games.

39. Fighting games.
Apart from real-world sports and the 1960’s toy Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots, I can’t find any examples of fighting games that predated the videogame. Many games include fighting elements, but true fighting games concentrate on mêlée combat without exploration or puzzle-solving. Fighting games have moved so far beyond real-life martial arts (incorporating magic powers, fictitious weapons, and unrealistic physics) that they constitute a major innovation of their own. There are now many sub-genres, but the common element is hand-to-hand fighting without ranged weapons. Possible first use: Heavyweight Champ coin-op, 1976. Best-known early example: Street Fighter, 1987.

40. Rhythm, dance and music games.
Timing challenges are as old as Pong, but games specifically based on rhythm arrived comparatively recently. Games about making music are increasingly popular too. By avoiding mindless repetitive violence, they also attract a larger female audience. Best-known early example: PaRappa the Rapper, 1996. Possible first use: Tempo for Sega 32X, 1995. (Music Construction Set, 1984, doesn’t count as a game.)

41. Artificial pets and people.
People love watching little critters live their lives, especially if you don’t have to feel guilty about letting them die (or if they’re immortal and can’t die at all). Training and nurturing them and buying trinkets for them are all part of the fun. The Sims is the best-selling PC game of all time; Nintendogs is a massive hit on the Nintendo DS. Possible first use: Little Computer People, 1985. Best-known early example: Dogz, 1995.

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42. God games.
This genre is a mashup of construction and management simulations, real-time strategy games, and artificial life games, with some extra qualities all its own. In a god game, you assume the role of the god of a group of people, and your job is (mostly) to help them prosper. The key features are indirect control—you can influence your worshippers through your actions, but you cannot give them explicit orders—and divine powers such as changing the landscape or causing natural disasters. God games let us make volcanoes on demand; what more need I say? Probable first use: Populous, 1989. (Some people consider Utopia, 1982, to be a god game, but I class it as a CMS because the player’s powers aren’t truly godly. The claims of the Firaxis PR department notwithstanding, Civilization is not a god game.)

43. Social and dating games (with or without sex).
I can only find one non-computerized dating game, Milton Bradley’s 1965 board game Mystery Date. Computerized dating sims are a major phenomenon in Japan. Many use dialog tree conversation, in which saying the right thing to a prospective partner leads to a closer relationship. Some have complex systems of attributes not unlike those in role-playing games, but the attributes describe a character’s romantic appeal rather than his ability to whack monsters. Possible first use: Dokyusei (Classmates), 1992.

44. Interactive movies.
This genre came and went, and good riddance to it. It’s a world-changing design innovation because it proved so clearly to be a creative dead end that everybody knows not to make interactive movies any more—although the term is still used at times to describe the cinematic quality of games in other genres. Interactive movies taught us, by negative example, that gameplay comes first, period. The CD-ROM drive first made them possible, and in their heyday, they sold tons…until the novelty of watching tiny, grainy videos wore off. Best-known early example: The 7th Guest, 1993. Probable first use: Dragon’s Lair coin-op, 1983.

45. “Games for girls” (not women).
The game industry ignored girls entirely for most of its early history. In the mid-1990s there was a short-lived vogue for making games for girls, but it was mostly marketing hype and a lot of girls got ripped off by shoddy products in pink boxes. The idea has since been revived somewhat; witness the Bratz series based on the (in)famous dolls. A degree of controversy surrounds games for girls, as some people are concerned that fulfilling girls’ shopping fantasies is not as socially responsible as fulfilling boys’ violence fantasies. Other games aimed at the girl market are less stereotypical, e.g. the Nancy Drew adventure games. Best-known early example: Barbie Fashion Designer, 1996. Probable first use: Barbie, 1991. (Although Pac-Man and Centipede, both from 1980, were popular with female players, neither was explicitly marketed to girls. Plundered Hearts, 1982, was aimed at adult women.)

Play Styles

Different ways that people play, and how designers facilitate them.

46. Brag boards (aka high score tables).
The earliest arcade games didn’t have them. You could beat your buddy if the game was multiplayer, but only you and he knew it. The brag board, which records your initials along with your score, lets you be king of the hill until someone bests you, an irresistible challenge to competitive players. First use: Asteroids, 1979.

47. Save game.
The subject of religious warfare ever since it was invented, with those who enjoy the challenge of making it through a difficult section with no safety net in one camp, and those who want to stop and start play on their own timetable in the other. For good or ill, depending on your perspective, the ability to save profoundly affects your play style. There are many ways to implement saving, however, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. I include level passwords (for machines with no storage media) and checkpoints in the same category. First use: lost in the mists of time.

48. Modem-to-modem and networked play.
Modem-to-modem games let people play together in pairs. Although an important step forward, their biggest weakness was in the lack of a matchmaking facility—you had to know someone else who owned a modem and a copy of the same game. Then we got networking, and the medium exploded. However, networked play actually existed before personal computers. Best-known early example: RabbitJack’s Casino on the Quantum Link service for Commodore 64 machines, 1986. Probable first use: Maze Wars on networked Imlac minicomputers at MIT, 1974.

49. Multiplayer dungeons.
Combine the fun of exploration in games like Zork with the fun of multiplayer play, and you get the multiplayer dungeon. MUDs are the direct precursors of today’s wildly popular MMORPGs. In South Korea, they’re a national mania. The earliest version was not networked, but played on a timesharing mainframe. First use: MUD, at the University of Essex, 1979.

50. Party games.
We’ve always had multiplayer games, but party games are different—they’re designed to provide entertainment in the context of a real party, a group of people enjoying each other’s company. Instead of immersing players deeply in a fantasy world, party games give them lots of mini-games to play and laugh about. First use: Mario Party, 1998.

Those are the fifty design innovations that I’ve selected, some that were extremely important, others that will be increasingly so in the future. Opinions will doubtless vary as to their significance, and I may have omitted something that others find essential. I look forward to further discussion!

----
Ernest Adams is a freelance game design consultant with the International Hobo design group. His professional website is at www.designersnotebook.com.
>> # top # | Q: Next-Gen.biz

As always with an article this large, please go visit the original page if you're interested in an article with pictures.

Just a fast bullet-proof tank and Viper-clone

 Few minutes ago, I watched the Pilot of this new series of "Knight Rider" and I must say it's not as bad as I expected. Sure there's bad acting, worse dialogs and a bunch of criminal decisions for a remake of a classic - like substituting a timeless Trans Am for a Mustang - but I exptected much worse. Still it would be a waste of time to watch this series if there won't be any major changes after the Pilot. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

I like the visuals, though. They're not astoundingly innovative or breath-taking but decent state-of-the-art special effects. I could watch more of that. Yet unfortunately, the other aforementioned things are just too much to ingore and watch it anyway. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like hot looking cars even if I hate to drive 'em, that is cars in general, and I certainly like Mustangs but I don't think K.I.T.T. and this whole "Knight Rider" universe are appropriate for this type of car. Too "Need For Speed"-ish. And the Viper-like car-transformation is just one tiny little bit too over-the-top.

Besides, you can't make a "Knight Rider" without "Super Pursuit Mode" and "Turbo Boost", you can't touch the classy red front light and you can't put in lots of titties and sweaty bodies in replacement, like they did. Just too sad the male lead isn't as gay as the original. Somehow it defined the series, I think ;^)
(thanks to Sprittwoch for pointing this scene out)
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Angryness & Fun with mobs

Look how some really weird guys handle their angryness. Or just gather a few friends and do some practical jokes with bystanders. Whooa!


Hardcore karate cracks
sent by Daemon

Angry cop vs. skateboarder
sent by Donatus


Frozen Grand Central
sent by Daemon

Flashmob in Japan
Measuring or leading?

DDR Songs from the Crypt

 Imagine, these were popular once! Probably ... [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Müllabfuhr Lied

sent by WartoyZ2K

Die Feuerwehr (Sendung Mit Der Maus)

Die Sendung mit der Maus - Schrotthändler (1976)

both sent by Daemon

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PS3™ Las Vegas Casemod

 The german casemodder Butterkneter did an impressive casemod for the PS3™, completely Rainbow Six: Vegas themed. Although nice to look at it might be a bit too tight space to change discs. And with a casemod like this you won't be able anymore to carry your console to friends ... but still impressive.

Why not build a whole train model site around the Playstation 3™? I mean there still are train modelers out there ... [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

<<
PS3 Rainbow Six Vegas Casemod
posted: February 6th, 2008

I don’t know what it is about the PlayStation 3, but there are very few people out there who’ve dared to attempt any sort of casemodding for the shiny black console. So I was tickled when I came across this PS3 mod which cleverly integrates the curvaceous lines of Sony’s latest gaming system.

Inspired by the game Rainbow Six Vegas, the console is disguised as a casino tower in the midst of the Vegas Strip. If you squint really hard, it’s reminiscent of the design of the Wynn.

Illuminated with bright colorful LEDs, the PS3 serves as the backdrop for the Strip, which includes a tiny Eiffel Tower (Paris), a Pyramid (Luxor), little tiny people, and even a light up S.W.A.T. van to get you in the Rainbow Six mood.

Built by German casemodder Butterkneter, the Vegas PS3 was built for a special UbiSoft promotion.
[via PCGames Hardware X]
>> # top # | Q: Technabob.com
sent by Foifur

Deckard is a Replicant

I didn't know Deckard was a replicant. I just watched Blade Runner again, with the audio commentary by Ridley Scott, the director of the movie. He explains it quite logically.

Because Gaff, the origami guy, was in Deckard's apartment at the end and because he left an origami unicorn, he obviously knows that Deckard secretly dreams of unicorns. He knows it although Deckard never told anyone about this dream, this fairly private memory, not even Rachael, at least on-screen. And because Gaff has this background of government occupant / police cop he must have read a file - or the file - about him. Which means that there is a file, probably containing all the implanted memories among other information. So Deckard, the Blade Runner who hunts replicants, is a replicant himself.

There are other hints throughout the movie, like when Deckard and Rachael meet for the first time she asks him if he has ever tried the eye-scanner on himself. And some more hints. I can understand if you don't agree with this conclusion as I'm not as convincing as Ridley Scott, but I think it's true. It makes sense. Very much. To me at least.

Btw: also interesting how Ridley connects this film's universe with the one of Alien in his head ... pretty recommendable this audio commentary. Although it is a bit lengthy at certain points. I've definitely listened to better ones.

PS3™ Impressions

 So, much happened since I was able to put my hands on this powerful machine for the first time, the one that is named Playstation 3™: I've started and finished Assassin's Creed, mastered the multiplayer-mode of Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, chilled a lot with skate. and crashed a lot more with Burnout: Paradise - not to mention the nice demos. But was this all worth 4oo€ or even the launch price of 6oo€? Let's hear what I think. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

First, there is Assassin's Creed which was the reason for my brother to buy the console before christmas in the first place. I, myself would have waited for the next price drop - I expect it in the end of March - but he couldn't wait. Well, now I probably have to buy my own, for reasons I may explain in a later psot, so again I calmly anticipate the end of March. The game itself looked spectacularly good in the first trailer it was announced with and it still looks good with its actual gameplay graphics. But that's how it is nowadays: the games look good. Damn good. There's more effort put into visuals than any other part of a game. And with lots of games you can not only see but "feel" it, too. When the gameplay's bad or dull, I mean, et cetera. At least that's what I think with most of today's games. Especially those that are released for the PS3™. Only few bring challenging gameplay and even less are exclusive to Sony's wonder machine.

That's the case with Assassin's Creed. It sure is fun to play in the first 3o to 6o minutes, a very satisfying mix of innovative and prooven-to-be-good, well tried game mechanics (a little bit of Metroid, a little bit of Metal Gear Solid ...), until you assassinated your first victim for the first time - some people might have needed less time for that which is something to discuss in one of the next paragraphs - but then it just keeps repeating itself. I mean, the story progresses of course but the gameplay is just this in a for(i=1; i<=9; i++)-loop, if you know what I mean. I missed some variation here.

The obligatory parts of the game are quite thin, examined per iteration, but the optional stuff is huge. I mean this world of Jerusalem, Damascus, Acre and the kingdom connecting these towns is an open world, gigantic in its extent and there are several things hidden in and scattered over it, flags to collect, Templars to assassinate, towers and therefore view points to overmaster. Personally I spent most of my time playing this game with looking for these things. That's why I described it as an Exploration-Game when asked by my brother and his girlfriend - total strangers to this sheer phenomenal videogame world I live in - because if you want to achieve 1oo% of the game you'll search flags majorly. Which is quite thin in terms of game motivation. Thin enough though to catch my full attention and seize and squeeze the life out of me - but that's another story ... ;^p

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

The controls were quite powerful giving the player the options to sneak around or burst into the action, but was it simple? I don't think so. I mean, in terms of climbing there was no problem at all, you just had to push up or down to climb up or down. As easy as a jump in real-life. And very well animated, too. Like in Uncharted which I've seen only in trailers and in a demo yet, very fluid changes between the different states of the character. But in order to run I had to hold not only the direction but also the R1 button to activate the conspicuous "action"-stance/mode and the X button to sprint. Three buttons/sticks just to run! It took me some serious convincing skills to keep ignoring that.

The music and overall atmosphere really worked well though, for both the "in"-in-game scenes and the "meta"-scenes that connect the levels. Also wonderful convincing voice acting, of key figures and less important merchants, bystanders, guards, townspeople alike. Although a bit repetitive. But still, it all metaphorically through me into this region. At least I think so. Obviously, I have no idea how they talk over there in this region and how they talked back then but judging by the movies you can see from that time and place ... okay, Hollywood movies are not to be taken too seriously, but ... you know ... I think it worked well. Just the gameplay stinks. Sort of.

And especially the ending. I mean, of course, it's supposed to be part of a trilogy, of course, it ends with a cliffhanger and so on - I really have no problems with the ending storywise. But from a gameplay perspective? After letting the protagonist say "What does this all mean?" the game just ends. Without really ending. Let me explain what I mean. No spoilers, rest assured.

There's this weird stuff happening that creates suspense and curiosity, followed by this abrupt aforementioned ending accompanied by the credits roll. And after the credits roll you return to the last room and can continue walking around and reading eMails. But that's it. No "Thank you for playing the game!"-screen, no status screen showing the achieved targets and secrets - not even a teaser or screen advertising the upcoming sequel this game relies on. The story just ends without finishing the game properly.

No rewards for collecting flags and stuff. At least, there could have been some artworks, making of videos or video interviews ... or something! I mean, what purpose do the flags have anyway?! You can't unlock a secret alternative ending by finding them all (at least, that's what all the FAQs write about this game), you can't unlock bonus content, you don't even get a pat on the shoulder! You get nothing! What did I waste my time for hunting this shit?! You know what, actually this really pisses me off right now as I'm thinking and writing about it. Playing the game with the aim to finish it and to find the most secret stuff possible was completely unnecessary. I should have done other things instead. Like finishing Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, for instance. The final endboss is still waiting.

I could have done only the obligatory part: climb one view point, get three pieces of information, kill the target. Repeat. But then it would be so unsatisfyingly few gameplay content. And that is why this game sort-of-sucks. For this length it should have cost only half of its price, in retrospect.

Anyway, this game gets a 3.8 out of 1o from me. That's a really bad rating, I know, but it was a really bad game, kinda.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]


Now, with Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare I was completely blown away. I obtained it for my birthday and played it almost ever since for the next two or three weeks or so without an interruptive change of game. I saw some trailers of it beforehand and was anxious to try different stuff - like the perks - but I would have never imagined that it all would have this huge impact on me. This is by far the best videogame I've played for this console. Almost the best game of the year, personally. Not because it just looked good but because it satisfied me.

The visuals were something very status quo, probably better, I don't know. Maybe I didn't honor the visuals as much as I should. The animations of the characters and so on. They're really colorful but I wasn't taken aback by them and the rest of the visuals. Not as much as the people around me were, friends, my brother, et cetera. But that's okay: they just don't need to be astounding for this kind of game, multiplayer first-person-shooters (M1PS) as I categorize them or "Killerspiele" as german politicians and other ignorants probably categorize them.

The controls are just right. Well, almost. I needed to get a little bit accustomed to the placement of crouching, proning, knifing, zooming with sniper and holding breath but after this phase it just slid off my hands into the game. I liked the given possibility to customize the sensitivity of the sticks. Although I think there are few 1st-person-shooters that don't let the player regulate this. Most of the games just work fine in terms of movement-sensibility, I think, but this one I had to alter.

Besides the little tune played during gameplay intermisisons which gets a little annoying just like any other music that you hear repetitively about 1.ooo to 2.ooo times, roughly and truthfully estimated, the sound is great. But what do I speak of: the sound of guns? The shotgun sounds like a shotgun and the single-bolt firing sniper rifle has a nice whoom - what else could you want from a M1PS? I'm fine with the game's audio. Multiplayer has no music obviously so there's nothing to talk about. Just like the story. There's nothing to talk about either in multiplayer.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

Now, the gameplay is what makes this game interesting, if you ask me. Firstly there are classes with the possibility to create your own classes, then there are the perks which let you create classes with various abilites, like planting C4, more health and lots of more cool stuff. But you have only three perk slots and perks of "group 1" don't "fit" in slot 2, for instance. Which is interesting as you can't create a class carrying, i.e., claymore mines and a RPG launcher at the same time. So you have to create different classes before the matches begin during the intermissions if you want to use both in a match. Not at the same time but in regard to a certain situation. Which brings me to another cool yet less innovative, less spectacular thing: you can change classes during a match, as to say between spawns. This can be very handy. And I must say those perks are really well balanced. I rarely felt being in disadvantage because of the perks my enemies had. At most because of their skill level ;^p

About multiplayer-modes I must say some were bad and useless IMHO, like Oldcore - well, not exactly useless, just .. not my type - but the good thing is that with the now standardized iNet-connectivity of the NextGen-consoles the developers can easily change modes if they want. And that's what they actually did. They seem to have had a look at some fan-based feedback which made them change the selection of gameplay-modes. Nice.

The multiplayer is so thrillingly addictive - I didn't even had the urge to try the single-player-mode at all. Like I didn't know there was one, hehe. But then I tried it because friends recommended them and .. well, I like the multiplayer. Somehow the single-player-mode was rather boring for me. That's why I have next to nothing to say about story and music of the game at all. What I can say is that the story wasn't exciting enough in the first two or three lvls to keep me coming for that.

Which brings us to the rating: Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare get's a solid 9.4 out of 1o from me. Sad thing about the single-player-mode. I guess there is no videogame in the world that succeeds with the hard task of delivering both SP- and MP-modes. Except Goldeneye 007.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]


Let's talk about skate.: this game is really cool in a way although it is not much more of a real game than flOw. I mean there's a "career mode" and actually that's the mode that I play most but .. you just skate around and complete challenges. Or you don't. It's simply so much fun to cruise around and just chill with the game that it pretty much succeeds in transferring the calmness, the flow of the world and all of its parts, the unimportance of your individuality in the constantly moving and changing universe, the feeling of zen as I like to call it that surrounds me when I go to skate for real.

Furthermore the tricks and stunts you can perform with your skateboard are accessable right from the start which adds to that calmness. As this is what it's like in real life. You can do the tricks if you can do the tricks. There's no videogame barrier that hinders you. There's a trick book that helps you learn some basic moves but you don't have to look into it. You can just learn for your own. Look into your inner self and do something intuitive. That's why it adds to the calmness. The only things that are locked at the beginning are clothings, skateboard decks, wheels and things like that, so technically things that don't matter much. Besides, why is it that almost all the cappies and t-shirts not only look all alike but also look horrible? The cappies look raised as if they had the same protective rubber / plastic interior as the helmets from construction sites do. Well, certainly not my taste.

As with the challenges you either have to skate yourself a high score on a certain spot on the map, fulfill small tasks in one set, follow another skater to a then unlocked areal or race through a parcours and become first. These are all decorated as all sorts of occasions like photo shootings, trick tournaments, one-on-one confrontations with so-called pro-skaters and so on. Or videos of yourself to advance your carreer for a skater magazine that you can start and anywhere you want and end anytime you want which is cool. Adds to the freedom of the game.

A little bit unrealistic is how you only need to push three times off the ground to achieve maximal speed and roll on and roll and roll and roll ... in real life it's more like push and push and push and ... but it's just a videogame. It has to be fun so .. whatever. Apart from that the controls are really nice. Flicking tricks with the right analog stick, tricks that correspond to what you do with your board when you're doing the trick, needs some getting used to but is definitely nicer than memorizing button schemes and button combos for tricks. The more complex the trick the more complex the combo and sadly with Tony Hawk's games it was always a bit too complex, for my taste.

The music is pretty much what you expect from an EA game except that it's less rock and more chill. Which suits the game in any way. Just like the replay function. You can view the replay of what you just did ANYtime, edit your replays and upload them for others to view and rate. Sweet. I've seen some different online function, too, where you skate a spot taking turns. Whoever makes the highest score which means best trick without a face-plant wins. I didn't dig too deep though. Sounds interesting enough from a distance ... ;^p

Last but not least the visuals. They look good. I'd say as good as possible at the moment. Sure, it looks merely like twice or third as good as the PS2™ could do; sure, the PS3™ could probably do better; but for this early state of the NextGen I'm pretty satisfied with the given visual treat. It's no Assassin's Creed, no Killzone 2, no Crysis - but it doesn't need to be. This game is not about visuals, it's about skating. And in this regard it's a fairly good game.

My rating: 7.2 out of 1o. Have fun doing whatever with this opinion.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]


And to give this much too long article (ooh, for the first time I've called the psoting "article" - starting to feel a little bit professional now, huh?) a nice conclusive touch let me say a word or two about Burnout: Paradise. It pwnz.

The whole series of Burnout games has been widely known for its realization of speedy car races, tight chases, thrilling avoidance of crashes - short: the mere feeling of speed, especially with its later installments, but with this new game developer Criterion Games (who can also do great 1st-person-shooters) pushed action-themed car races into a whole new lvl. And at the same time it fails with fulfilling some simple standards.

First of all, the world is seamless which means that there is not much of a menu to guide you through all the "lvls" or races. You just drive around, stop at a traffic light and start an event with a button combination. Each (or almost each) traffic light has an event and most events have a goal which is to be reached first, "unwrecked" or in time. There are other events without a spatial goal like "Road Rage" or "Stunt Races" that demand to defeat an increasing number of opponents or score by driving all crazy. Huge jumps, barrel rolls, drifts, oncoming lane, etc. - not much too new for Burnout veterans.

What is new is that you can set time or crash records for all the single streets in Paradise City. Just turn into the street at one of its ends and reach the other one - which is kind of hard and unforgiving if you stay on track and ignore short cuts. I mean, one crash and the record's puffed into thin air. Which is good: I like it hard ;^) And for the crashes - called "Showtime" - you simply push another button combination (L1 + R1) to blow up your car and start rolling into others. Hit buses for a multiplicator. This is actually where the game and its crashes get a bit irrealistic but better an irrealistic cresh mode than no crash mode, if you ask me. I'm deliberately mentioning the actual PS3™-button combination because I spent ages searching the iNet for it. There is no tutorial at all to tell you this kind of things - but there is an annoying DJ who doesn't mention it although he/she could. Maybe I should have looked at the booklet. But still. Other games display these infos on loading screens to make them seem shorter as you are busy while waiting, and to avoid nasty tutorials but as a developer you can't just conceal information on how to play the game, IMHO.

Anyway, I've mentioned the DJ, DJ Attomica, who is .. well ... I have to start with another annoyance of the game: the language. I've purchased the german version and I can't play it in english. If I set the console to english and start the game (no in-game language select) it starts in french ... hello?!? What weird shit is that? After googling around I've found out that this is no new thing for the Burnout series: the exact same corruption (yes, that's a major game corruption in my eyes) could be found in Burnout: Takedown. Irresponsible. I don't think that this has something to do with the developer so I assume it's the fault of the publisher. Listen well, I blame you EA! Oh look, it's not only the german version of the game but also the italian one - this will reduce my rating for sure:

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

Users brainbird on EuroGamer.net and TTP on neoGAF.com:
<<
On a related note, my german (multilingual) version of Burnout 3 Takedown played in french when my Xbox was set to english. What the...?

[//]

Just got the EU (Italian) version of the game and WTF it doesn't have English language option?!?

My XMB is set to English so that games defaut to that language (I HATE playing games in any other language other than the original one since localization sucks ass) but with Burnout Pradise it starts in French cos there is no English! I can play it in Italian by switching system language accordingly but FUCK ME if I'm ever going to do that. NOT. A. CHANCE.

Gesus fucking christ. First COD4 (only language available: Italian). Now Burnout Paradise. With all the space on the Blu-Ray disc they c&p the language choices of the DVD/360 versions. WHY?! WHY?!?!

Now I have to sell this and order the UK version from play.com.

Thank you idiots.

/rant
>>

So, I did not exchange it with a US version of the game just to have it in english. That would have been too much circumstances for me. I just played it in german. And I wish I could have played it in english. How I wish I could have played it in english. I've played the demo. That one was english. But the demo was downloaded from the US store so ... too bad. I liked the english DJ Attomica. I've read how others don't but I did. But the german one is realized by a woman who obviously isn't into car races and action games. She seems to have read her stuff as if this would have been a game for children. From ages 6 to 12. Also with very few emotions, more emphasis put to pronounciation, less to emotions, almost like an amateur. ("Schiesse ihn von der Strecke um ihn zu deiner Flotte hinzuzufuegen.") I'd like to believe that she gets better at the later utterings but the sad thing is that she does not get better but instead you get used to her lack of talent. This is damn sad. Lower rating.

But apart from that the music is rocking like we're used to with EA's selections. Yet mysteriously there's much of the old music from the earlier Burnout games. Not enough money or time at the end of the developing process? Sad again. And while we're at the sad things: due to the world being seamless you can't restart a race "by menu" - you have to actually drive back to the start of the event. And I thought that you can't give up early on, too, at first but I've found out that you can just stop your car and wait. Another unmentioned thing. Besides, the car selection in the junkyard which is used like your personal garage is damn slow due to the long loading time. About an estimated same length as in Motorstorm. Just for a cool "hey, the car is dropped by a crane and lacquered in the same color you left it"-effect I could have easily done without.

But hey, the game has great sides, too. Just look at the visuals, especially the crashes. Oh boy the crashes. They already got me with their first trailer that showed the deforming of the chassis (I don't actually remember if this trailer is the first one I'm talking about but you should see there what I mean). With crashes like that you don't want to avoid spinning around your own axis, tumbling into other cars, letting the glass shatter, crumbling into tiny bits, compressing the interior, losing tires, chassis parts and the whole heck - you want to crash! ... but there are no drivers to steer the cars. Which is only a negative point on first thought but actually I'm happy not to see rag dolls getting smashed and probably dismembered all the time in these very realistic looking car accidents. The developers either would had to lose some reality or make the 'rag doll damage' realistic, too - and that would have made a very bloody brutal game out of Burnout: Paradise. And imagine how unlikely and therefore irrealistic it would have looked like if every car would have been occupied by single male drivers. As this is a city you would expect to eventually encounter families with little children and senior state ancestors, babies, pets, etc. - oh, the horror!

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

The controls of this game are pretty awkward because they have been drastically changed in comparison to its predecessors. Instead of the control scheme every developer has used for their games and every player has steered their cars with for ages, with the acceleration/brake on the right stick and a mere possibility to look behind you, now the acceleration and brakes are set on the lower shoulder buttons and the camera control is realized via the right analog stick. Which gives it some enormous freedom as you can rotate the camera around the car freely in any direction and angle (without zoom) - but who needs this? Good luck trying to get a better orientation by rotating the camera while driving at high speed through a living city navigating your way past the traffic and at the same time taking down opponents to reach or keep the pole position.

Besides that, you control the right stick with your right thumb - so how do you reach these fundamental functions like handbrake and Burnout boost that are placed on the Square and X button respectively? Regarding this, it is just impossible to look ahead for turns and then turn them with the use of the handbrake while boosting - or to boost. How do you boost and change the camera angle at the same time? The answer is simple. I know it because I had to do it when driving over small hills because the camera is set too low behind your car sometimes: you have to do finger acrobatics. And this drastically reduces the accessability of the game. Sad once more. The thing with the low camera, too. Apart from that there are really great camera angles in Burnout: Paradise. And awkard or not - you'll surely get used to the controls after your first twenty or thirty percent of the game.

Next to the aforementioned things there are other small things that make the game worth-wile like "Power Parking" or the wide mass of collectibles. I actually managed to find all shortcuts of the game, without a walkthrough. Things like that really make me proud. And I choose not to mention the sometimes irritating navigational aid at crossings during events. Which leaves me with one final but big portion of the game I haven't mentioned yet before the rating: the online mode.

The online mode is just as seamless as the whole game itself. Well almost. You simply flip in an on-screen menu with a quick D-Pad button press and select your mode of choice. After a few seconds of freezing, I mean loading with a stoppage of all motions on screen, you're there. The game "unfreezes" and you continue driving where you were before. If you look on the map though you can see that there are other players now so go ahead, drive to them and see them racing and crashing like a so-called A.I. could never do. Although I don't know how to connect with Playstation Friends who have purchased the game, too. It's somehow random who you connect with. This seamless integration of the online mode looks innovative on the one hand but this randomness on the other hand rather ... "it didn't work otherwise". Sad.

Now, several "words or two" and "sads" later here it is, my final rating of this incredible psoting: Burnout: Paradise gets a 7.6 out of 1o from me. It could have been above 8 but too much things were off-track. Still an enjoyable game. Comment if you like.


The console itself freezed in every single game except skate. and Burnout: Paradise at least once which is more often than the PS2™ used to do but that's just another indication that Sony tries more and more to develop a multimedia center with this rather than just a "toy". Live with it.

Well, the PS3 was some fun so far but compared to other consoles I must say it was not as claim-fulfilling as its predecessor yet, the Playstation 2™, it was surely not as much worth its price as the Wii™ was so far and it most definitely was not as much fun as the SNES™ yet. So, with my expectations still high and my hopes lowered hugely at first, then raised back little by little, I still wait for Sony to bring the blockbuster-titles - exclusives! - like Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots, that would convince me to buy my own console for my new single home. If Sony actually still tries to do so ...
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