Rumor: Multitasking coming to iPhone OS 4.0
Actually, the bigger surprise would be if Apple didn't add this long-awaited feature to the new OS. But now we have an official "unofficial" rumor that it's happening.Originally posted at iPhone Atlas
Sic semper tyrannis: motion control in video games
Let the record show: I think motion controllers, like the Wii, Sony Move, or Microsoft’s Project Natal, are sorta dumb. They simply don’t seem to be precise enough for my tastes—I’m far too used to a mouse and keyboard to give that up for the “thrill” of flailing my arms in the arm like the robot from Lost In Space. But it wasn’t always like that.
Like many of you, my first experience with a motion-esque controller was in Duck Hunt for the NES. Granted, a light gun isn’t the same as the Wii remote, but it’s the closest thing I get to being “down” with all that jazz.
I asked the two fine gentlemen in the chat room right now, Matt and Doug, the simple question: motion control, yea or nay? Of course they couldn’t me a simple, Fox News-friendly soundbite, but instead chose to nuance their way out of the question. “I like it for sports and shooting games,” said Doug. Meanwhile, Matt also echoed my nostalgia for Duck Hunt. I’ll also add the orignial Time Crisis as a “motion control” game I enjoyed. And I played House of the Dead once in a bowling alley—that was neat.
But things like painting a wall by slinging globs of paint at it? Eh, I could do without it. Motion control seems to devolve into silliness quite rapidly. Remember this?
Oh, look, we’re curling! Woo!
That’s not nearly as fun as cranking up the DPI on a fancy Logitech mouse, then sniping a dumb Heavy in Team Fortress 2 with millimeter precision. Is the Sony Move going to be as accurate? I doubt it. Even if it were, holding my arm in the air for any length of time is far too much to ask. I have little girl arms, and they tire very quickly. It’s far easier to rest my hands on a comfy keyboard, or sitting on the couch playing the rubbish Xbox 360 port of Final Fantasy XIII. (I’m very seriously considering buying a PS3 in the next few months simply to play the “real” version of the game. Getting God of War III and Heavy Rain won’t hurt, either.)
So I don’t know, clearly Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo see motion controllers as a viable option. As an old man afraid of change and inconvenience, I don’t know that I’m too high on it.
The 404 Podcast 535: Where we’re raising money for Sex.com
Natali Del Conte is back from a quick trip to Europe and will be on the show every Thursday to get down with the nerdy dirty.Originally posted at The 404 Podcast
Nintendo’s creator of Metroid Other M explains how he creates both serious and comic games
It’s a little funny that the producer of the serious game Metroid Other M is also behind the comic expression of Nintendo’s WarioWare series of handheld games.
In a talk before hundreds of game developers today at the Game Developers Conference, Yoshi Sakamoto talked about his career making Metroid games for Nintendo since 1986. The games, which star the heroine Samus with a signature “arm cannon,” are known for their serious dramatic style and shooting action. But Sakamoto said he also loves to make people laugh with the goofy WarioWare games. That diversity of games has helped Sakamoto stay creative over the decades.
The room was crowded, of course, because Sakamoto’s games have been great commercial successes, selling millions upon millions of games on both handheld and home console platforms over the years. His latest Metroid Other M game ships in May, while WarioWare D.I.Y. ships on the Nintendo DSi on March 28. Both are expected to be high-profile Nintendo titles. The Metroid title in particular is crucial for Nintendo to hang on to its hardcore fans; and its emotional storyline with a female protaginist also offers the hope of a much broader audience than usual.
Sakamoto aid found his serious stylistic inspration in the horror films of Dario Argento, creator of the Italian films Suspiria and Deep Red. Argento was great at controlling the mood, timing, foreshadowing and contrast. He used music and sound effects to create the emotions of fear in the audience. He invoked fear through mastery of foreshadowing and increased the felling of tension by contrasting both storylines and scenes.
Sakamoto said he shared these same techniques in the creation of the scary scenes in Metroid Other M. He was also inspired by films of Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional), John Woo (A Better Tomorrow), and Brian De Palma (Carrie). He particularly liked the last scene of Carrie. At the same time, he loves making audiences laugh. Even in comedy, he still uses mood, timing, foreshadowing and contrast. He likes to steer a conversation to set up great one liners.
Sakamoto picks up creative thoughts anywhere he can and then stores them away until he needs them. Then he integrates them into games as the ideas become fully baked. Some of his ideas led to the creation of Nintendo’s iconic Mii characters, which were fully developed by Nintendo’s design chief, Shigeru Miyamoto. Sakamoto said he was proud of the goofy game, Tomodachi Collection, a DS game that launched in Japan in June, 2009. In that game, the story is driven by the player, who can create more of their own story elements. While designing that game, he said to one team member, “You have to take off your underwear!” The idea was that guy needed to loosen up.
With Metroid Other M, he wrote a story that takes place between the time of the games Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion in the early 1990s. He brought in a male character to co-star with Samus, creating tension between main characters. Then he found a partner, Team Ninja, an outside game developer, to work on the game itself. The goal was to make the ultimate Metroid game. When planning, Sakamoto wanted to be able to control the game using only the Wii remote. That meant the character would have to move along a pre-determined path. Then Team Ninja wanted to add use of the Nunchuk attachment, and then introduced the idea of controlling character movement in a 3-D space using just the control pad on the Wii remote. So the control scheme includes both 3-D and 2-D movement styles.
Two movie production companies, Taiyo Kiakaku and D-Rockets, created the movie-like video scenes that take place in between the game play. For those scenes, the team used comic book storyboards to plan video sequences. Sakamoto’s take-away thought: Combine the techniques that work for both horror and comedy into a game, and you can create something that reaches the emotional core of your audience. Imagine, he said, what you see or want to see on the faces of people as they play your game, and then explore how you can create something that produces those results.
“What we create touches the hearts and feelings of people and can move them,” he said. “We often don’t realize it.”
Richard Lemarchand, lead designer of Sony’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, said the talk resonated with him about the commonality between horror and comedy.
“You have to set it up, and then you have to have a pay off,” he said.
Companies: nintendo
People: Yoshi Sakamoto
