Games: linear versus open world

[Art Blade]

hehe :)

What I don't understand is people who play something they might as well do in real life. Like fishing or playing golf, or something wii players do these days, beach volleyball or tennis in their living room rather than doing sports outdoors..

What I find fascinating about vid games is that they enable you to do things you'd never do or be able to do in real life, like.. back then.. Doom! Wing Commander! Mortal Combat! Triads! And whatnot  ;D

[spaceboy]

On that point Art, I of course enjoy the ability of games to take you places and do things you can't normally do.  But the point on a golf game would be you can go "play" amazing courses around the world that you'll never get to play in real life.  And since the price of the game is less than one real life round of golf, it's a great cheap way to get your fix - not that I've ever bought a golf game, but that would be my argument.

Somewhat related to linear vs open world then is sports or motion controls (not always the same thing, I know).

I know I mentioned we bought the Move controller setup for PS3 before.  It is so incredibly fun, and challenging - the other aspect of vid games we like, the challenge.  I can play a challenging game of table tennis, shoot arrows at targets etc. in real life, but who has the time to go actually do that?  The gladiator game in that Sports Champions package you could not do in real life without actually hurting or killing someone - and that actually gets my heart pumping and me breathing heavy - a great workout.

[Art Blade]

I didn't want to sound rude, all I meant is: if you want to w@&k out, why using machines? :) You know, that doesn't go for computers alone, that also includes machines like steppers and bike "simulators" some people use for fitness. If you really want to do something indoors, buy a skipping rope for a few bucks, done. You won't believe how much energy you can waste while jumping rope  ;D Else, if possible, walk. Simply walking a lot already is nice cardio. But I don't want to go too far off topic. You're absolutely right about cost factor regarding expensive sports and I like your example of playing golf courses around the world as a game. Hehe, would a golf game be open world?  :)

[JRD]

I'm with spaceboy... it's definitely better to be at the beach playing beach volley, but if you live in, say, London...  ????

Besides, even if you live in Rio... the beach is right there, but on a wednesday, after coming back from w@&k and running some errands at the supermarket, who'd have time to actually do this? You may as well have a couple hours of fun before dinner and then that's it!  ;)

There's a golf course near my place, but I actually prefer playing Wii golf with some friends at someone's place, chatting, laughing etc.

I understand you Art, don't take me wrong. but going a bit off again, on the subject of indoors sports... at the gym I can run 5k and row 4k in about one hour and then go home... where elese would I do it? What if it's raining or snowing? Again, it's obviously more fun to cycle through a nice landscape than to be stationay at a gym, but if you want regular exercise for yourself, you have to count on a gym... you'll aways have sunny weekends to do what pleases you outdoors  ;)

And yes... Wii is a great fun... it is as open world as any of the featured games are in real life... playing golf is as outdoors as it can be and yet you are restricted by the course, same goes to frisbee... and frisbee-golf  ;D ;D ;D but those are really funny

[B33 ENN]

Well it, didn't start that way . . . one I remember in particular had you guiding around a little 2D dinosaur in an attempt to survive the Cretaceous period..

Where can I get it?  :)

::) What? Did none of you play Lemmings?  :-()

[B33 ENN]

hehe :)

What I don't understand is people who play something they might as well do in real life. Like fishing or playing golf, or something wii players do these days, beach volleyball or tennis in their living room rather than doing sports outdoors..

What I find fascinating about vid games is that they enable you to do things you'd never do or be able to do in real life, like.. back then.. Doom! Wing Commander! Mortal Combat! Triads! And whatnot  ;D

Have to admit, I'm totally with you there. Perhaps becaus I'm just notoriously bad at playing games like that. For example, I'm okay at pool down the pub, but can't for the life of me enjoy it as a video game. I used to like a round of 9 holes on a sunny day, but stare aimlessly at a screen simulating the same thing...

However, oddly, I'm at home with driving a car on track or on a simulator, the same with flying... go figure!

[mmosu]

Well it, didn't start that way . . . one I remember in particular had you guiding around a little 2D dinosaur in an attempt to survive the Cretaceous period..

Where can I get it?  :)

:-()
All I remember is that you could be a Triceratops or a T-Rex.  It kind of worked like Oregon Trail - you had to get yourself from point A to point B alive, so you had to do things like eat and avoid other dinosaurs (if you were the Triceratops you had to watch out for the T-Rex).  Very educational, you know, the food chain and everything :-D  I think it took about five minutes to play through the whole game once.

[PZ]

... Hehe, would a golf game be open world?  :)

Not too much, I guess - going from the first hole to the ninth, then back to the third would not exactly be cricket!  ^+-+

[spaceboy]

I didn't want to sound rude, all I meant is: if you want to w@&k out, why using machines? :) You know, that doesn't go for computers alone, that also includes machines like steppers and bike "simulators" some people use for fitness. If you really want to do something indoors, buy a skipping rope for a few bucks, done. You won't believe how much energy you can waste while jumping rope  ;D Else, if possible, walk. Simply walking a lot already is nice cardio. But I don't want to go too far off topic. You're absolutely right about cost factor regarding expensive sports and I like your example of playing golf courses around the world as a game. Hehe, would a golf game be open world?  :)

You didn't sound rude...I hope I didn't either, mate!  See I totally agree I'd rather bike along a beautiful path than ride a stationary bike, or do other similar outdoor activities for exercise, but along the lines of what JRD said, it comes down to time, money, and weather.  Even with good weather, between w@&k and the kids time is tight, and I feel better exercising once they're in bed so I don't take that "me" time away from time with them.

I do have a stationary bike that I ride sometimes while playing games (not bicycling games mind you).  I kind of hate riding a stationary bike, so games distracts me better than TV or movies.   There is a Move fighting/boxing game coming out next week and I am hoping it will w@&k similar to the gladiator in that I can put some wrist weights on and get a good workout, all while having a good time and a challenge.  Sure I've got some free weights at home, but this video game workout thing is a great way to mix things up!

open world golf game?  Based on my golf skills I'd imagine it would feel open world as I trudge across multiple fairways for my next shot!  ;)

[Art Blade]

those were a couple of quite amusing reads, chaps  ;D :-X

@BN: Driving cars in a game/sim is different from driving outdoors. Well, at least for me it is.. while I drive safe outdoors, I drive like a suicidal lunatic on steroids in games and tend to end many a pedestrian's life that way  ;D Hell, I've even got a force feedback wheel with three pedals and a 6-gear H-shift to make it feel real  :-() What I like about those games is that I may think something along the line of "bloody hell, that road is bumpy! Oh.. it wasn't the road. Actually I think I just ran over some random guy.. where the heck did he.. <smack!> what was that?! Another one?? My car looks like an old pizza with extra tomato topping and drives like a tank which tracks have fallen off! I need a new paint job.. and a new car."  :-()

@space: I think I might enjoy a game of golf. Didn't you mention "shot" there? Ever thought of a nice head shot on a golf course? "OI! Get off the green or I'll serve you one right in your stupid face! -- Caddy! Quick! Give me the biggest club you can find in that bag!"  ;D

[spaceboy]

Here, is this what you mean?  One of my favorite maps online playing Battlefield Bad Company...appropriately titled "Par for the Course".  ;D

Battlefield: Bad Company - "Par for the Course" (Game Trailer)

[mmosu]

 ^+-+ ^+-+ ^+-+
I would play way more golf if it was like that!!!

[Art Blade]

Nice ;D I knew there was more to that sports than meets the eye.  :-()

By the way, where did that second guy go? He was in that golf cart at the beginning and seconds later he was just not there any more. Maybe trying to find some balls..  :-D

[mmosu]

He was busy replacing his divots  :-()

[fragger]

If you ask me, they could all do with a lesson or two in golf etiquette. Not one of them asked if they could play through ;D

[JRD]

 ^+-+
:-X :-X :-X
Great vid, space...


One`s got to love when we go off topic...  ;)

[B33 ENN]

@BN: Driving cars in a game/sim is different from driving outdoors. Well, at least for me it is.. while I drive safe outdoors, I drive like a suicidal lunatic on steroids in games and tend to end many a pedestrian's life that way  ;D Hell, I've even got a force feedback wheel with three pedals and a 6-gear H-shift to make it feel real  :-() What I like about those games is that I may think something along the line of "bloody hell, that road is bumpy! Oh.. it wasn't the road. Actually I think I just ran over some random guy.. where the heck did he.. <smack!> what was that?! Another one?? My car looks like an old pizza with extra tomato topping and drives like a tank which tracks have fallen off! I need a new paint job.. and a new car."  :-()

LOL, normally I'm better behaved in simulations than I am on real roads  :-() probably because in racing you can't afford antics as they chop chunks off your lap times!  :o

However, I was known to be quite a terror on that old game Midtown Madness... not sure if you know it, but essentially you could mow down everyone and cause all sorts of traffic mayhem for the hell of it in a city.  There is a lot to be said for the therepeutic value of smashing up a simulated world :-X

[B33 ENN]

All I remember is that you could be a Triceratops or a T-Rex.  It kind of worked like Oregon Trail - you had to get yourself from point A to point B alive, so you had to do things like eat and avoid other dinosaurs (if you were the Triceratops you had to watch out for the T-Rex).  Very educational, you know, the food chain and everything :-D  I think it took about five minutes to play through the whole game once.

Might sound odd for someone fresh from sniping mercs in FC2 but I actually like games like this. The idea of saving creatures from impending disaster, for a change, rather than causing it as your goal appeals.  :-X

I don't know if there are games like this being made today, let me know if you know of anything.  :)

[fragger]

I don't recall Midtown Madness, but it reminded me of another oldie called "Road Rash". It was a two-player 3rd person affair, with both players competing on the same PC, where you were on motorcycles racing through city streets. The twist was that you could knock the other guy off his bike, either by punching him out or kicking him off, while hapless pedestrians who got in the way, such as old ladies with walking frames, were sent flying. Quite funny, in a sociopathic sort of way ;D

I don't know of any games like that dinosaur one. The nearest thing I can think of is a game called Afrika, the object of which was to try to take photographs of animals in the wild, as opposed to shooting them. There's a topic about it here:

http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1281.msg19984#msg19984

[Art Blade]

I'd much rather run over a couple of helpless elderly people with walking frames, I'd even get out the car and whack survivors with their bloody walking frames, than shooting photographs of helpless animals. Those I'd nuke. ;D

[fragger]

 ^+-+ ^+-+

An eco-friend you ain't ;D But I can relate. In FC2 I think I wreaked as much havoc on the animal population as I did the human one. The "thoongeda-choongeda" of a zebra getting rolled under an AT was almost as satisfying as the "Aargh-haargh" of a merc in the same situation :-()

[Art Blade]

Too bad we didn't have elephants in FC2, eh, mate?  ;D With me running (or driving, for that matter) around, you'd see trunks everywhere. >:D

[JRD]

I don't recall Midtown Madness, but it reminded me of another oldie called "Road Rash". It was a two-player 3rd person affair, with both players competing on the same PC, where you were on motorcycles racing through city streets. The twist was that you could knock the other guy off his bike, either by punching him out or kicking him off, while hapless pedestrians who got in the way, such as old ladies with walking frames, were sent flying. Quite funny, in a sociopathic sort of way ;D

It reminded me another motorcycle game for the old Playstation one. I can`t remember the name but you were a motorcycle gang member racing other gangs. Just like the one you mentioned, you could punch and kick the opponent off his bike. The funny thing is that they would do the same but using a pipe, chain, club or a wrench or any other kind of object like that. You could fight them and take their weapon, which would make knocking other racers easier... great fun.

To actually win some races you HAD TO knock them off before the end!  >:D >:D >:D >:D

[Art Blade]

Reminds me of Full Throttle. :)

[JRD]

No, not Full Throttle... although I also played FT back on the days

FT was more of an RPG where your character is a rider and you got lots of things to do and find. The game I`m talking about was like a racing game really. Go from A to B and smash as many opponents as possible in the way  ;)