Neversoft Goes Wacky for Waggle
That's right, kids, motion sensing is headed to Project 8.
Published: October 19, 2006
Judging by the headline, we're guessing you're here for one of two reasons: to see if we're bitching about the fact that motion-sensing tech has been integrated into the PS3 version of Tony Hawk's Project 8, or you want to learn more about it. Sorry to disappoint, group one, but we've actually played the game with the SIXAXIS' motion sensing stuff turned on, and, well, it's rather rad. Sort of like learning how to play the game all over again, but when it all get overwhelming, you can turn it off and go back to the old school version. It's the best of new- and old-school gaming, woo hoo!
So here the basic breakdown: essentially any part of the Tony Hawk skating experience can be tweaked to include the motion sensing parts; grinds, manuals, flips, reverts and even the new Nail The Trick mode. "Motion sensing" is perhaps the wrong phrase to use here; for the most part, it's just using the gyroscopic functions of the controller for basic tasks like detecting how far left and right you're leaning, or how much you're pitching forward for flips and the NTT sections.
The good news for purists is that the mode is completely user-configurable. You can elect to turn off one or all of the modes, or slowly build them in one at a time until you're comfortable with things. All of the different functions have slider-adjustable sensitivity, since everyone will want to wave the sucker around more or less. With everything turned on and the sensitivity cranked up just so, it's actually possible to play most of the game one-handed, as we saw demonstrated by a couple of the guys at Neversoft earlier today.
Gimmicky? Sure, possibly, but with the option to go back to the old control scheme -- y'know, the one that was built around the DualShock shape -- it means the best parts of waggle and hi-def gaming are being combined in exactly the way Sony hoped they would be. If we have a chance to play the game again before it ships to stores, we'll make sure we update you.
So here the basic breakdown: essentially any part of the Tony Hawk skating experience can be tweaked to include the motion sensing parts; grinds, manuals, flips, reverts and even the new Nail The Trick mode. "Motion sensing" is perhaps the wrong phrase to use here; for the most part, it's just using the gyroscopic functions of the controller for basic tasks like detecting how far left and right you're leaning, or how much you're pitching forward for flips and the NTT sections.
The good news for purists is that the mode is completely user-configurable. You can elect to turn off one or all of the modes, or slowly build them in one at a time until you're comfortable with things. All of the different functions have slider-adjustable sensitivity, since everyone will want to wave the sucker around more or less. With everything turned on and the sensitivity cranked up just so, it's actually possible to play most of the game one-handed, as we saw demonstrated by a couple of the guys at Neversoft earlier today.
Gimmicky? Sure, possibly, but with the option to go back to the old control scheme -- y'know, the one that was built around the DualShock shape -- it means the best parts of waggle and hi-def gaming are being combined in exactly the way Sony hoped they would be. If we have a chance to play the game again before it ships to stores, we'll make sure we update you.
