So, we finally got a Wireless Router in the apartment allowing my PS3 to once again know the unbridled joys of the internet. Now, not having the money to actually download anything of use from the PS Store (read: full games), I decided to treat myself Burnout Paradise demo.
Best part of the game for me? The game tried to, without even asking if I had a camera, snap a photo of my mug for my drivers licence with the Playstation Eye that I got bundled with Eye of Judgement (which I may go back to, but I think I may hate...).
Marvellous.
Naturally, didn't want a picture of my gaunt, hairy face grimacing at me as I tore up Paradise City so I took a picture of a bundle of wires. Adding insult to (technologically impressive) injury, the game attempted to take a snapshot of my excited mug after another driver had ploughed into me online and severely dama-, sorry I mean
Wrecked my.. (ahem) Ride.
Marvellous again!
But, I have a dream. This wonderfully effortless exercise in interoperability has given me wild ideas about how future racing games could work.
(For the sake of argument I'm using my PS3 and other Sony things as an example, I'm sure the 360 and Live Camera etc. could be used similarly)
One loads up a game such as Burnout Paradise, the game asks to take your picture for your licence and allows you to fill in details about your age, weight and such. The game then maps your face onto the driving protagonist, making your character unique (In a massive online arenas such as those in Burnout, individuality is a treasured commodity). Further still, the camera allows you to capture graphics that you may have drawn, or may find in magazines, allowing you to adorn a prized car with them.
Take the PSP; it's inbuilt wireless could allow you to set it up for use as a rear-view mirror as a remote play option (as was. in part, reportedly happening with F1 Championship Edition, but never materialised). Further still, you could use the PSP's buttons to tune your engine or to change the radio station. Imagine also connecting a Sony Walkman to your PS3 and have access to your entire collection of music in-game!
This is undoubtedly the future, but with game development times seemingly becoming longer, how much impetus will the authors of these titles have to include features which may be deemed tertiary to the actual gameplay? I think all we can do is wait for the first real innovative use of the technology, and see if the others follow suit.
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The photo thing was indeed cool, but the demo left me lost and confused in ways i didn't think possible. :(
The demo of this game was pretty awful I have to admit.
The full finished product is so much better.
The camera thing?
Awesome.
i think charlie brooker described this game best - "like a delicious cream cake with the occasional drawing pin thrown in the mix"
There are too many little niggles, you end up not trusting the general quality of the game. Oh, what you could have been burnout...I blame EA of course *thinks about black and loses a little faith*
Tino is right, the game is much better than the demo.
I didn't like the demo that much, but the full game is decent. It does have one really damn annoying flaw... it seems like half of the events end at the points to the west and northwest, which requires a good 2-3 minutes of in-game driving to get back from. If you are trying a really hard race, this gets very old, very quickly, since you have to, in real-time, backtrack to where the race started. Sure, you have other races around to do, but in that area, they are very few and far between.
I love pictures of testicles as well.
Show me on this doll where burnout paradise touched you
@Pariah
Man, now you tell me. I should have taken a picture of my balls with a face drawn on them. Fuck, I'd better boot up the demo. If they want a picture, I'll give them one.
I love this game....so good...soooo goooood.
You could always just unplug the eye.