How VR Roller Coasters Recreate a Lost Joy

“I adore tech, even if progress can be terrifying. The Wii’s motion controls were first to elicit a scare, requiring physicality beyond what was usually comfortable. Microsoft’s Kinect was too frequently unplayable for me. I’ve watched the creation of more active VR like the Virtuix Omni, allowing people to run in place as they play first-person games. Seeing videos of that almost becomes like an out-of-body projection. You envision yourself trying (and failing) to keep pace with the runner playing a military simulation. There is a fear tech will outpace what I can do.”

Read my full piece on UploadVR

Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour’s Expected Blunders

“EA’s bungling of NBA Live is even more remarkable, a stop-and-restart, cross-generational saga of stumbling releases leading to the late cancellation of a hyped rebranding—NBA Elite 11 was recalled days before fully shipping to stores. The full NBA fiasco, finally sorted by 2014, eventually led to an apology from the developers. “We fell short,” wrote Executive Producer Sean O’Brien—this after promotional teasers sold the next-gen basketball rebirth as “ultimate” because “science.” Falling short—and realizing it only in preparation to sell the following year’s iteration—has become EA Sports’ most enduring tradition, and Rory’s debut on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is just upholding it.”

Read my full piece on Rory McIlroy’s PGA Tour on Playboy.com

 

Editorial: Gears of War Ultimate Edition Beta

“Gears of War is messy. Messy is what the series does best. Pacing, too, only not in an attempt to mold the once revolutionary (ignoring the N64’s Winback) duck & cover systems to traditional deathmatch forms. Comparatively, Gears is not interesting in this space. Cooperatively or alone, the steroidal-injected veins flowing under Gears’ skin better suits a narrative – namely the planet Sera’s saga of an invasive species at war against men, maybe a woman or two as well. But not here, not in multiplayer. Men and “things” just shoot one another aimlessly. With shotguns.”

Read my full editorial on the Gears of War Ultimate Edition beta on GameZone (Note: Possible auto-play video embedded)

Editorial: Shenmue III and Kickstarter

“Games ceased being $60 products ages ago; they’re now hundreds-of-dollars investments across a multitude of ever-thinning digitally downloaded expansions and merchandise. Loyalty is measured in dollars spent and games owned. How many games have you pre-ordered this week? How much did you spend on the last Steam sale? You have all the expansions for Destiny, right?

And now Sony is asking fans to front the costs for a major (albeit niche) game that will almost certainly wind up being a PS4 exclusive. Suzuki’s project has broken Kickstarter records on the backs of people willing to pay money for a product that doesn’t yet exist, because a company knew how to market emotions. The barrier between consumer and corporations is dwindling. Maybe there isn’t one at all anymore. This is not capitalism—it’s a twisted and disfigured form of commerce, and it worked, and it will work again, when the next company tries it.”

Read my full editorial concerning Shenmue III on Playboy