Video Game Lean
Posted by: j_john
The video game lean first came to my attention with the release of the Nintendo 64 and its showpiece, Mario64. I remember playing the game in my dorm room with spectators who would react to the 3-D world so instinctively they moved their bodies out of the way of enemies or strained to look beyond the next platform.
The video game lean is still prevalent today, despite the numerous titles with 3-D landscapes, there is something hardwired in our brains that makes us react to the game in such a manner as to move with it. It truly is a testament to the ability of game developers to envelop us in these worlds. Check out Mike as he gets into his racing experience in Burnout 3: Takedown.
Here we see Mike exhibiting a classic side lean as his car bends around a corner.
Mike is trying to "get into the driver's seat" by placing his eyes in alignment with the controller.
A different angle shows us how far away from its usual horizontal plane the controller is. I sure hope he can keep the lead!
Hideoblog
Posted by: j_john
I just found out Hideo Kojima blogs--and they publish an English translation!
A highlight from my initial reading:
The theme of the Metal Gear Solid series is: "What should we pass on to future generations?" I addressed GENE in MGS1, MEME in MGS2, and SCENE in MGS3. I have drawn a chain of lives and linked each life together with the passing of a baton: "With the foundation of history (SCENE), we are forced to accept certain GENES and MEMES."
In addition to gaming insight, he also provides the personal side of himself:
In the evening, I went to a bookstore with Kenichiro and wound up eating a lot of junk food. We ran into Mr. Kurano at the fast food spot. We ate junk food and talked a lot of junk, too. I arrived home around midnight, had a bath, and checked email.
Dragon Quest 8 demo
Posted by: j_john
One of the best ways to market a new game is the demo disc, and today I received one for the upcoming Square-Enix RPG Dragon Quest 8. I had fun for awhile, finding it somewhat challenging (I actually died!), but I had mostly already decided I would get this title before trying it out. I remember the first NA release in the series "Dragon Warrior" back in 1989 quite fondly, as it was my first exposure to the RPG genre. Having only played that title and the first NES sequel, I figured I'd waited far too long to get back into the series.
Immediately upon starting the demo I was overcome with anticipation. The artwork was beautiful, the camera options plentiful, the voice acting solid, and the overall fantasy (and less sci-fi) elements had me hooked. Even though I love the Final Fantasy series with all my years of dedication, I have always been more a fan of the more traditional knights and dragon elements. Now that the latest Zelda title is pushed back until Summer 2006, I have my rainy days lined up to play Dragon Quest VIII: Journey Of The Cursed King.
Check out this interesting info I just learned from Wikipedia's Dragon Quest page about the history of the North American market name-change:
Dragon Quest's North American name change was necessitated due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing game DragonQuest, which was published by veteran wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons until 1987. In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, signalling the end of the Dragon Warrior name.
Ape Escape
Posted by: j_john
Now that I'm in possession of a PSP (and without the ability to play via emulation) I figured I'd give one of the legitimate games a shot. Even though nothing has really jumped out at me (GTA: Liberty City Stories is still a couple weeks away), I picked out Ape Escape: On The Loose from the crowd because I had recently been exposed to these cute little monkeys in the strange child-friendly mini-game in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
The Ape Escape series began with the original PlayStation in 1999 as the first game to utilize the new Dual Shock, analog-equipped controller. I never gave it much of a look because at the time it seem derivative of the 3-D standard, Mario 64. 6 years later, and thanks to my intuition to trust Hideo Kojima for knowing a good series when he sees one I am quite enjoying this neat piece of platform gaming. It has a bunch of fun elements to recommend--cool gadgets, fast-paced gameplay, likable characters, and did I mention the monkeys?! They are undeniably super-cute.
Sure, there are some inevitable camera issues, and the loading times can be kind of long, but this game plays much better with the analog control on the PSP than say, Mario 64 DS with just the D-pad. Actually, my biggest complaint is the title--sure it's fun to rhyme, but you are not actually capturing apes, these are monkeys, and it even says so in the game. Maybe I've just been going to the zoo too much, but come on, it reminds me of those dumb people that say "Squish The Fish" at Miami Dolphins games. Oh well, I'm gonna stop and get back to the game--gotta catch 'em all (err, whatever!)
