I must have played the demo to Mirror's Edge 50 times.
Proprioception (wow, that's actually in the spell checker) has been up and coming in video games for some time now. One of the first games to really pursue it was Thief 3, with it's "body awareness" system. When playing in the first-person perspective your 3d avatar is still being rendered, and you see your body in motion as you try to stealth your way through dimly lit alleys and try to get the drop on guards. Assassin's Creed also had a fantastic sense of "realness" to your body motion. It was played in the 3rd-person, but the rock-solid interaction between your very acrobatic character and the environment was the major selling point of the game to me.
A good friend of mine has a very difficult time with first-person games. I remember that he would have to not watch when others were playing them. The feeling of lack of control led to him becoming very nauseous. When he was playing though he had no trouble as long as he disabled the popular "head bobbing camera" features. I personally never had any problem with either situation - but I also can read in a moving vehicle and never get motion-sick, so maybe I'm an aberration.
What blows me away about Mirror's Edge is how effective it is at simulating this sense of self. When I'm running along and leap across a 20-foot void between buildings and tuck into a roll when I land, I see my arms and legs curl up and see the perspective do a slightly off-kilter 360 as I pull my neck in. Amazingly, this is entirely non-disorienting. I know exactly where the terrain lies when I get up and keep running along at top speed. It's exhilarating. Doing a wall run into a jump kicking off vertically to land on the roof a floor up involves two 180-degree snap turns and yet I feel in control of myself the entire way up. Fantastic. Jumping off of a building into a rolling landing and then doing a flying kick to disarm a guard is an absolutely fluid motion. And my arms and legs are all in their proper place. The game developers nailed the sense of place and person in this game.
In real life I'm pretty awkward. Just... ungainly. In role-playing terms I'd have high dexterity but low agility - fine motor coordination comes much more naturally to me. I think that this imbalance is part of why Mirror's Edge appeals to me so much. It allows me to take part in actions that are otherwise unavailable to me. That's part of the allure of video games, and even all fiction. It's the opportunity to step into someone else's split-toed running shoes.
If you get the chance, try playing Mirror's Edge. I know that I will be buying a copy when it comes out on Tuesday.
Proprioception (wow, that's actually in the spell checker) has been up and coming in video games for some time now. One of the first games to really pursue it was Thief 3, with it's "body awareness" system. When playing in the first-person perspective your 3d avatar is still being rendered, and you see your body in motion as you try to stealth your way through dimly lit alleys and try to get the drop on guards. Assassin's Creed also had a fantastic sense of "realness" to your body motion. It was played in the 3rd-person, but the rock-solid interaction between your very acrobatic character and the environment was the major selling point of the game to me.
A good friend of mine has a very difficult time with first-person games. I remember that he would have to not watch when others were playing them. The feeling of lack of control led to him becoming very nauseous. When he was playing though he had no trouble as long as he disabled the popular "head bobbing camera" features. I personally never had any problem with either situation - but I also can read in a moving vehicle and never get motion-sick, so maybe I'm an aberration.
What blows me away about Mirror's Edge is how effective it is at simulating this sense of self. When I'm running along and leap across a 20-foot void between buildings and tuck into a roll when I land, I see my arms and legs curl up and see the perspective do a slightly off-kilter 360 as I pull my neck in. Amazingly, this is entirely non-disorienting. I know exactly where the terrain lies when I get up and keep running along at top speed. It's exhilarating. Doing a wall run into a jump kicking off vertically to land on the roof a floor up involves two 180-degree snap turns and yet I feel in control of myself the entire way up. Fantastic. Jumping off of a building into a rolling landing and then doing a flying kick to disarm a guard is an absolutely fluid motion. And my arms and legs are all in their proper place. The game developers nailed the sense of place and person in this game.
In real life I'm pretty awkward. Just... ungainly. In role-playing terms I'd have high dexterity but low agility - fine motor coordination comes much more naturally to me. I think that this imbalance is part of why Mirror's Edge appeals to me so much. It allows me to take part in actions that are otherwise unavailable to me. That's part of the allure of video games, and even all fiction. It's the opportunity to step into someone else's split-toed running shoes.
If you get the chance, try playing Mirror's Edge. I know that I will be buying a copy when it comes out on Tuesday.