WarHawk Comments by Tom Bramwell

Looks awful.

I really, *really* hope they're joking. This is about the worst idea I can think of for controller input. I don't care if it works for everyone else, I'm NOT playing a game where I have to ruin my wrists in order to get the thing to respond properly.

If this style of controller input is mandatory on their overpiced system, it makes it even less attractive to me. Give me a pair of control sticks, not this contrived Nintendo ripoff.

So he says there is a rumble function afterall.

Contrived Nintendo rip-off it may be NegativeZero, but it seems like a good idea, especially if you think back to Super MarioKart, where your body tilts the controller naturally when turning hard to the left or right.

It looked pretty good in the vids foreverafternothing. Mind you, that was at 3am in a small window.

Sounds interesting. Be interested to hear how it compares to the Freestyle if any of the EG staff ever used one.

More and more, Ninty and Sony are requiring physical effort for input and mistaking it for 'realism'. Hey, we don't want to DO anything while we play games, don't make us work for it!!! Isn't that the whole point of games?

I loved Warhawk on the PS1 - I can't wait to play this version:-)

"So he says there is a rumble function afterall."

More likely he's just too busy licking sony's ass to give an objective response.

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/09/new-ps3-controller-loses-d
ualshock-vibration/

Seen some movies of Warhawk running and thought it looked great myself. Nothing original, but good flying shooting fun. I expect the tilt controller will make things even better, it's a great idea.

"Eurogamer: How do you feel that this compares to what Nintendo's doing with the Wii controller?

Dylan Jobe: You know, I've never held the Wii controller so I'm not sure. I think that one of the most exciting things about this controller is that it is completely contained. There are no additional reference points, you don't have to put up any registration marks. It's a completely contained Sony kinetic sensor. That's the whole unit - battery, rumble, kinetic sensor. Everything is in that unit."

Nintendo? Never heard of it! Let's talk real things, like, this controller is really cool. Yes, really! Just look at it! What did you ask me? Yes, this controller is really super. It's so exciting!

NegativeZero:

Did you even read the article it says the regular control will be an option in the final game. Sheesh.

Are those actual screenshots from Warhawk? The game has a very short draw distance unless that level is deliberately foggy... :?

ZeroToHero, would you rather he lied? At least he freely admits to not having used one. Makes a nice change for someone just to talk about their own product for once.

Well, yes, but it does sound a little transparent how he 'perceived' the question "is there an influence" as "is your controller cool", don't you think?

BTW, how come you're in EVERY thread I open? Do you ever sleep? :D

So ok it works for flying games and maybe even racing games.

It's still a ripoff though.

What are they playing at? Not games that's for sure. About seven years ago I remember being at Sony and playing around with such controllers, they were bloody rubbish back then too, way too much exercise, I wanna gain weight not rid myself of it. It suits people that never play games (like my dad) because they always move the controller anyway, maybe he was ahead of his time.

As for the game... saw a demo of this recently and it looked crap then! I think the only way to get ahead in this industry is to create a game that looks like it could have been made 15yrs ago and time its development for the delivery of a new console.

ZeroToHero, lol, sad isnt it? :P

Normally yes, but with the press conference finishing at 4am or so, by the time I got into bed the sun was coming up and I'm on holiday so I've pulled an all nighter.

I reckon come 11am I'll be feeling it :/

Those screenshots look terrible.

Have a close look at those screenshots, they're dire. Poor textures, low poly etc. worrying

Download the trailer, it looks much better in motion.

Did you see the press conference guy play this? I played like crap.... laggy controls. They better fix that!

"Hey, we don't want to DO anything while we play games, don't make us work for it!!! Isn't that the whole point of games?"

lool

I don't like the look of it. The only real arcade-flight-sim-shooter that was any real fun was Star Fox (and Star Fox 64). I find you just end up circling the enemy, trying to get a lock on then circling the other way once you've gone past them.

Plus "WarHawk" sounds like a 80's B-Movie, which is usually a good thing but...

IDEA! They should do a Flight of the Navigator game, I'd buy that!

I don't know why Eurogamer is claiming that this pad has different technology than the Wii.

The Sony controller has an accelerometer inside. The Wii controller has accelerometer technology and locational/spatial technology. Therefore Sony's pad had 50% of the Wii's pad gubbins.

If it does have the same technology then I'd imagine Sonys lawyers (esp. after the Immersion case) would have said no.

About 2 years ago, me and my mate said the market was screaming out for a motion sensor controller. Preferably shaped like a cylinder and with a scattering of buttons on it.
You could use it as a shotgun in an FPS and - let's face it if it were done well this would be the killer app - as a lightsabre.

Come on - who wouldn't want one of those ?

I thought this might ease my confusion on the point at which Sony decided to go motion sensor with the controller. If devs had been briefed on the technology a while ago it would suggest more premeditation. But it hasn't really helped. Jobe says "WarHawk is a game that's tailor-made for this controller" but also that they've known about the controller "officially for about a week and a half". So does he mean that the game *could* have been tailor made for it, and thus the shift was easy to implement, or that they've known unofficially for ages so the game was built for the tech?

oh whatever.

Your post reads like it should have gone in a Wii thread. Did you take a wrong turning?

Anyone with a basic knowledge of functional anatomy will tell you you're not gonna enjoy that pad for a prolonged period.

That's what sony get for last minute theft and lack of R&D.

Oh well, "teh r3al n3xt g3n" pad, here we come.

Bah, looks as functional as Power Glove, Wii remote Wiill beat that in sleap.

Well not to add any Wiiiiiiiiiiiii fuel I think it's just a natural evolution of control that anyone who plays say driving games will know in deep concentration you start giving turn gestures with the old Dual Shock ;0

>> It's still mind-blowing because the controller is so light.
guy never used a gsm before?
>>It's crazy Sony magic.
ok that's it, pukes!

game looks good

"It's crazy Sony magic. I don't know - it's a special little black box inside there"

They've just stuffed a Wario Ware Twisted cart in there, TRUTH!

I had one of the sidewinders that had similar tech to this in it years ago. Not nearly as much fun as i thought it was going to be. Fine as an option though i suppose.

I find it funny how Nintendo come up with a motion sensor and everyones like 'oh it puts you in the game', 'this is the best thing ever', Sony do the same thing and its 'what a stupid gimmick', 'motion sensors never work'

First of all Sony were obviously 'inspired' by Nintendo, but so what? When a company comes up with a good idea is it the competition's job to keel over or to come up with ways to counteract that idea? And its not entirely plagiarised, the technology is different and the application is different to the Wii.

Lets face it, worst case scenario is it doesn't work and we're left with a standard dual shock, only the most popular joypad ever created. Old? Yes. But if it's not broke don't fix it.

However, I predict this could be a really valuable addition to games that can subtly improve playability, without stripping down everything you normally expect like the Wii is. I think the tilt will basically be treated like a third, very natural, analog stick. Think an FPS where you have your two analogs for normal movement, but a quck flick of the joypad can also move your target around the screen without actually having to change the centre of where you're facing with the right analog. It doesn't have the pointy gun feeling of the Wii, but it lets you achieve similar goals without sacrificing all the buttons and precision you need for weapon switching, team orders, jumping, crouching, items, grenades etc.

There's a lot of applications for this. In gta the most annoying control mechanic is the horrible drive by shooting technique. Now you can use your analogs to drive while tilting the joypad to aim, instead of being stuck shooting at a 90 degree angle out the side of the car.

Then theres stuff like leaning into corners on a motorbike(I reckon an analog stick will still be better for actually steering a car but I could be wrong), leaning out from behind corners in a third person shooter, pulling your body around to avoid punches in a boxing game etc etc. Basically it'll do everything the PS2 does, while adding a new layer of precision that will hopefully be intuitive enough to completely integrate with all the existing controls. With two analogs and a tilt you can walk one direction, move another direction and shoot a third direction all at once and I don't think any other console allows that without contrived shoulder button control systems.

I bought a microsoft tilt sensing controller for the PC a few years back. Looked a bit like a big megadrive pad and it came with a moto-x bike game.

Worked quite well for driving/flying games.

Found a review from Jan 99, so hardly new technology!

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/freestylepro/default.asp