The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Yesterday I spent the night at my Ninty friend’s house to celebrate the arrival of GT3 (well, really it was so we could play on it until 5 in the morning). However, that night I experienced the phenomena of sociable gaming.
Now, many people see gaming as a very involved activity, where everyone who can join in should. Say, if you’re back from the pub on a Friday night for a blast of TimeSplitters, you don’t just do the one-player while your 3 mates sit and watch, do you. Anyway, there we were blasting across the finish line of Trial Mountain when my mate suggested, “Do you want to do an endurance race”. I was a bit sceptical of this because only one person can do an endurance race at a time, but after a quick flick through the options we decided to race the Super Speedway 100 laps in the Chevrolet Camaro Race Car, doing 10 laps each. After a few sessions of qualifying to get the gears set up right and get a lap time, we calculated the race would take 54 minutes (although it was closer to 56). It being my PS2, Jonathan (my friend) said I should do the first 10 laps and I grudgingly accepted. “God, this is going to be so boring” I thought, but I was wrong. The hour of racing that followed, on the second most boring track in the game, was the best race I’d ever had on a GT game.
The first few laps were rather uninteresting, our car being vastly more powerful than any of the others, and we started talking about stuff. I can’t remember what exactly, but suffice to say that “left, forwards, left, forward” left me more than enough concentration to have a decent conversation. I think we mainly talked about cars, TV, what we should win next and so on. Anyway, we talked. 4 minutes later I pitted in to hand over the controller to Jonathan, and then came the birth of the challenges. “See how many laps we can go without pitting,” I said. “OK then” he replied/ Just as we were coming out of the pits, I noticed the cones. “Try and hit those cones,” I said. He swerved as soon as he got control of the car and managed to know 2 cones into the track. We had a great laugh trying to keep the cones on the front of our bonnet and knocking the other cars trying to get them to spin out. On we went, and 23 laps and a couple of near misses later, we decided that our tyres had taken enough punishment. During one of Jon’s 10 laps I went to get some milk and biscuits. It was about midnight by now and we were halfway through, and snacks were definitely required. I challenged Jon to eat a bourbon in the time it takes to get from one corner to another, and much swerving, crumbs and fits of laughter ensued. About lap 70 we also had a game of I Spy. As uninspiring as the Super Speedway is, it was still a lot of fun especially when we were naming cars parts like variable differential. It’s a shame we could only do it for 30 laps.
Anyway, we came to the last lap and we held the controller together as we crossed the finish line. We were awarded with a measly 200,000 credits and a fantastic Chevrolet Corvette C5R. We were a bit miffed we didn’t get the F090/S, but we’d had a great time.
So, that was the story of a great hour with a friend, united by possibly the most boring race in all the Gran Turismo games. I think multiplayer gaming is becoming too competitive these days. Hardly ever are you encouraged to work together, and I you should. Ironically, the best co-operative game I know of is Quake 3 capture the flag. You really have to work together, and the games can get a bit frantic with shouts of “I’ve got their flag, where the hell’s ours?” I think developers should take a leaf out of Id’s book and include co-operative multiplayers in their games. With the power of today’s consoles, surely this can be easily done.
Now, many people see gaming as a very involved activity, where everyone who can join in should. Say, if you’re back from the pub on a Friday night for a blast of TimeSplitters, you don’t just do the one-player while your 3 mates sit and watch, do you. Anyway, there we were blasting across the finish line of Trial Mountain when my mate suggested, “Do you want to do an endurance race”. I was a bit sceptical of this because only one person can do an endurance race at a time, but after a quick flick through the options we decided to race the Super Speedway 100 laps in the Chevrolet Camaro Race Car, doing 10 laps each. After a few sessions of qualifying to get the gears set up right and get a lap time, we calculated the race would take 54 minutes (although it was closer to 56). It being my PS2, Jonathan (my friend) said I should do the first 10 laps and I grudgingly accepted. “God, this is going to be so boring” I thought, but I was wrong. The hour of racing that followed, on the second most boring track in the game, was the best race I’d ever had on a GT game.
The first few laps were rather uninteresting, our car being vastly more powerful than any of the others, and we started talking about stuff. I can’t remember what exactly, but suffice to say that “left, forwards, left, forward” left me more than enough concentration to have a decent conversation. I think we mainly talked about cars, TV, what we should win next and so on. Anyway, we talked. 4 minutes later I pitted in to hand over the controller to Jonathan, and then came the birth of the challenges. “See how many laps we can go without pitting,” I said. “OK then” he replied/ Just as we were coming out of the pits, I noticed the cones. “Try and hit those cones,” I said. He swerved as soon as he got control of the car and managed to know 2 cones into the track. We had a great laugh trying to keep the cones on the front of our bonnet and knocking the other cars trying to get them to spin out. On we went, and 23 laps and a couple of near misses later, we decided that our tyres had taken enough punishment. During one of Jon’s 10 laps I went to get some milk and biscuits. It was about midnight by now and we were halfway through, and snacks were definitely required. I challenged Jon to eat a bourbon in the time it takes to get from one corner to another, and much swerving, crumbs and fits of laughter ensued. About lap 70 we also had a game of I Spy. As uninspiring as the Super Speedway is, it was still a lot of fun especially when we were naming cars parts like variable differential. It’s a shame we could only do it for 30 laps.
Anyway, we came to the last lap and we held the controller together as we crossed the finish line. We were awarded with a measly 200,000 credits and a fantastic Chevrolet Corvette C5R. We were a bit miffed we didn’t get the F090/S, but we’d had a great time.
So, that was the story of a great hour with a friend, united by possibly the most boring race in all the Gran Turismo games. I think multiplayer gaming is becoming too competitive these days. Hardly ever are you encouraged to work together, and I you should. Ironically, the best co-operative game I know of is Quake 3 capture the flag. You really have to work together, and the games can get a bit frantic with shouts of “I’ve got their flag, where the hell’s ours?” I think developers should take a leaf out of Id’s book and include co-operative multiplayers in their games. With the power of today’s consoles, surely this can be easily done.
Page:
Yeah, I've already chosen it, thanks.
That was not a bad post Turbo. In fact it reminded me of when I was a t a friends with lots of others. There was about 8 of us. We took it in turns to play as teams in Goldeneye Ridge Racer etc. It was great. Mind you I did not come out of it that well. There is always someone who thinks it is a good idea to cover your favourite controller in tar. Another game that involves cooperation is Worms. When you all gang up on one team. It is a riot.
POP for that idiot Biggles.
shaneo wrote:
Was that sarcasm? Oops, I just
> pressed the button that reports this post.
Was what sarcasm?
Was that sarcasm? Oops, I just
> pressed the button that reports this post.
Was what sarcasm?
i just all 100 laps on my own! the time flew by, it wasnt as boring as i expected.
Do u get a different car evertime? i got a Renault clio sport. costs 300,000.
Do u get a different car evertime? i got a Renault clio sport. costs 300,000.
Your Honour wrote:
> Turbonutter wrote:
> Heh, thanks guys.
Notice how everyone
> says it's good AFTER it
> wins ;-)
I didn't say it was
> good.
:-)
BTW, there's a thread in Chat I'd like you to read
> Turbo. It's called "Thanks all" I think.
Was that sarcasm? Oops, I just pressed the button that reports this post.
> Turbonutter wrote:
> Heh, thanks guys.
Notice how everyone
> says it's good AFTER it
> wins ;-)
I didn't say it was
> good.
:-)
BTW, there's a thread in Chat I'd like you to read
> Turbo. It's called "Thanks all" I think.
Was that sarcasm? Oops, I just pressed the button that reports this post.
Turbonutter wrote:
> Heh, thanks guys.
Notice how everyone says it's good AFTER it
> wins ;-)
I didn't say it was good.
:-)
BTW, there's a thread in Chat I'd like you to read Turbo. It's called "Thanks all" I think.
> Heh, thanks guys.
Notice how everyone says it's good AFTER it
> wins ;-)
I didn't say it was good.
:-)
BTW, there's a thread in Chat I'd like you to read Turbo. It's called "Thanks all" I think.
Heh, thanks guys.
Notice how everyone says it's good AFTER it wins ;-)
Notice how everyone says it's good AFTER it wins ;-)
That is one good post. Well done on your Win.
Page: