June 14th, 2005
The Game Room: Gamers Get Off Their Butts
Sr. Assoc. Ed. Andrew Brandt
After a frenetic couple of days racing from meeting to meeting at the
annual E3 Expo trade show and free-for-all in Los Angeles last month,
I'm still exhausted. But there was a lot of interesting stuff to see,
and thousands of gamers flooded the halls in anticipation of playing
the games they may not see in stores for a year or more. For an
overview, check out the E3 coverage at our Digital Entertainment Info
Center:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/971448/0/
I saw some very interesting trends at the show. The most significant
trend seems to be the incorporation of movement into gaming. Game
companies, aware of the spreading size of their customers' rear ends,
seem to be building more games that involve the player standing up and
doing something.
I wrote about a few of these so-called fitness gaming accessories last
year:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972350/0/
This year, there are more games--and more game controllers--that
demand more than twitchy thumbs to get a high score.
Among the new, physically demanding games are Konami's latest
additions to its incredibly popular Dance Dance Revolution series, in
which you have to hop or stomp on a dance pad controller in sync with
a rolling set of instructions on your TV screen. Konami also makes
Karaoke Revolution, which requires you to sing along with a virtual
band, and awards you points based on whether you sing on key and in
the appropriate places.
The new game, Karaoke Revolution Party (available this fall for Sony's
PlayStation 2), combines the footwork from Dance Dance Revolution with
the singing of Karaoke Revolution. No longer will gamers merely be
able to zone out in dance mode. Now they'll be forced to concentrate
on two activities at once, and it looks like the hardest game I've
ever watched someone else fail at.
Fitness Controllers Abound
But these new games aren't the only things that make you get up and
move. More companies are selling "full motion" game controllers that
you can use with games you already have. These controllers require you
to use your whole body in ways that a game pad never could.
The first versions of these controllers are designed with a single
type of game in mind. Electric Spin makes the $229 Golf Launchpad,
which is a USB peripheral designed to work with PC golf games (and it
ships with EA's Tiger Woods 2004). The controller is a golf ball
tethered to a freely spinning hub. Using your own golf clubs, you
swing at the ball to drive or putt your way through the game. Here's
what it looks like:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972351/0/
Embedded in the base of the unit are several sensors that measure the
angle at which you swing. Combined with the force of the swing
measured by the speed of the spinning hub, the Launchpad can
accurately represent the distance and direction of travel of the ball,
and it sends that information into the game.
Another company, Qmotions, showed off its own golf-swing device, the
$150 Qmotions-Golf. Similar to the Launchpad, the Qmotions-Golf
employs a tethered ball that you hit with your own clubs; unlike the
more elaborate Launchpad, the Qmotions device does not have sensors
embedded below the ball. That lowers the price, but it may not
translate to as accurate a representation of the ball's trajectory.
But Qmotions doesn't limit itself to golf games. The company also
showed off its Qmotions-Baseball controller, which lets you use your
own bat to swing at virtual pitches. The device, which isn't available
yet, works with both console and PC baseball games. It includes a
sensor sleeve that fits over your bat and a "home plate" receiver that
doubles as a controller you'd use to direct your base runners.
Qmotions also plans to market a sensor that you can hook up to an
existing stationary bicycle or elliptical trainer, which will allow
you to use those pieces of exercise equipment to control PC or console
games. I look forward to the day when I can use my elliptical trainer
to play Katamari Damacy, but don't expect me to use it to play Halo 2.
One of the more interesting full-motion controllers is the Dream
Machine, a prototype being shown by Australian Simulation Control
Systems. The device is a lightweight framework that you assemble
yourself; it takes up about as much space as a dining-room table. Onto
the framework you attach seats or other controllers, which hang
suspended from the framework. You control various games by pulling
your weight, literally--by grabbing a metal rod and shifting the seat
around.
While the prototype looked a little clunky, the Dream Machine's
inventor promised that future models would use carbon-fiber tubing for
the framework, which would lighten and strengthen the frame. Who
knows, maybe someday we'll all use a Dream Machine-like device hooked
up to a PC, instead of a mouse--or maybe not.
For more info on these products, go to the companies' Web sites:
Electric Spin
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972352/0/
Qmotions
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972353/0/
Virtual Reality Comeback?
Remember when in the early 90s everyone thought that by the year 2000
we'd all be strapped into virtual reality goggles? Well, at least one
company wants that to happen in 2005. EMagin showed off its Z800 3D
Gaming Visor, which uses a lightweight, high-resolution Organic LED
display built into a headset to create immersive 3D environments for
console games. The Visor includes a head tracking element, so as you
turn your head, your view through the eyes of the character within the
game also rotates, or pitches up or down. Here's what it looks like:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972354/0/
It was disconcerting at first to use the headset while seated. I could
see the Visor being most useful when you stand up in front of your
gaming device, so you have some freedom of movement. The device
delivers 1024 by 768 resolution and a flicker-free display--but the
high cost ($900) might put all but the most dedicated gamers off.
I also saw the new Gizmondo handheld gaming system, which had its own
form of virtual reality system built into it. The device has a built
in Global Positioning System receiver and a 640-by-480 resolution
digital camera; it uses both to enhance several games. One of the uses
of the camera in games is to create a sort of enhanced reality, where
the gamer points the camera at objects in their environment in order
to get help or progress through the game--a sort of virtual scavenger
hunt.
One maze game lets you control the direction you travel by reading the
motion as you spin your body left or right while holding the camera in
front of you. In another game demo, the player must point the
Gizmondo's camera at a symbol in order to make a Genie appear, who can
provide assistance during the game. While the player keeps the symbol
on the screen, the Genie swoops into view and appears to stand on the
symbol; As soon as you aim the device away from the symbol, the Genie
flies off.
For more info on these products, go to the companies' Web sites:
EMagin
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972355/0/
Gizmondo
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/972356/0/
Old Movies Make New Games Shine
In what must be the most bizarre trend in gaming, Hollywood has begun
to dig through its vaults and has licensed classic films for use in
games.
At the show I saw demos of two classic movies that will be in the game
sections of stores either late this year or sometime next year:
Scarface and Taxi Driver are coming soon to a console and/or PC near
you. Both movie-themed games build upon the original film storyline by
following the characters after the credits roll. Taxi Driver's main
character searches for his girlfriend's killer, while Scarface returns
to a life of drug dealing on the streets of Miami after he loses his
empire.
But the film-themed game that really had my heart racing was Peter
Jackson's reinterpretation of the classic King Kong, which should
launch around the time the movie is released. The game seems like
Jurassic Park meets Monster Island, with you beginning the game at the
bottom of the food chain playing as a man and ending the game playing
as the great big ape himself. While no screen shots were released, I
can say the game literally took my breath away as I watched a scene
where the player has to run for his life from dinosaurs, a giant
millipede, and Kong.
The one movie-game that had me scratching my head was The Godfather. I
can see how the movie could translate into a capable first-person or
third-person shooter, but I wondered what the key combination would be
that allowed you to place the head of a dead horse into the bed of
your enemy, and whether that would have the same impact on the small
screen. I guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out.
Have a question or comment? Write to Andrew Brandt:
gameroom*pcworld.com
Read Andrew Brandt's regularly published "Game Room" columns:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/498786/15377831/364542/0/
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"In the future, my private life will be expressed solely through art."
-- Britney Spears
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