Lair Dev On Cheat Code, Motion Control Defense
Stephen Totilo ran a story this morning detailing his interview with Lair director Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5. They discuss the haunting of Lair's development, which was plagued by a bizarre amount of catastrophes - from deaths-in-family to sudden surgeries to power outages. They also discuss the game's motion controls, which have been catching some flack - especially the 180-degree turn, which requires jerking the SIXAXIS up. Like, toward your face. (It's only a matter of time until somebody makes a face-guard...)
"Don't buy [Lair] if you want a dragon that does what it's damn well told," said a reviewer at EGM.
Totilo got the goods when he asked Eggebrecht how often the 180 turn works for him:
"About eight out of 10, which is the same ratio that I get in 'Wii Sports' tennis when I try to do a backspin."
Now, to my atavistic sensibilities that says less about Wii Sports and Lair and more about motion control being, perhaps, not always the most reliable (or fun) technology to cram into a game. I think I'd be happy flying a dragon with thumbsticks, but that's neither here nor there.
Make the jump to read about the super-secret-mega-awesome cheat code that the vocally anti-censorship Eggebrecht wanted to call "Hot Coffee."
Lair almost had a cheat referring to the infamous overblown "Hot Coffee" incident from GTA: San Andreas - a code revealing a video of a coffee maker. Eggebrecht begged off on the decency tip, like his mama would have wanted, I'm sure:
"[The code was pulled] jointly between Sony and us. Of course I don't want to put my publisher into a political mess. I am very concerned about an atmosphere of fear having the potential for self-censorship by game makers, and I truly hope we will move past the ratings."
Reading between the lines, it's no small wonder that Eggebrecht revealed a certain series of numbers and capital letters, perhaps resembling a cheat code that Lair owners could, conceivably, input:
686F7420636F66666565
So there you have it, gang. Lair may or may not be rocking the gaming box office, but it's definitely hot (coffee).
'Lair' Struggles To Overcome Curse; Plus 'Guitar Hero' For Wii, 'Halo 3' & More, In GameFile [GameFile]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany, Video Games on 5 September 2007
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: hot coffee, julian eggebrecht, lair, stephen totilo
The impression I've gotten from reviews is that Eggebrecht is being VERY generous with that ratio. If it were really 80%, I don't think the controls would be getting slammed as much as they are in the press and the gaming community at large.
Additionally, the dig at Wii Sports is pathetic. Congratulations Mr. Eggebrecht. In the several years and millions of years it took your company to make Lair, you achieved the same level of gameplay as something which looks like Nintendo quickly put together to introduce the Wii to casual gamers. Except from all the reports on the net, it sounds like you couldn't even do that. Real stellar.
I've read the interview. Mr. Eggebrecht doesn't sound that bad in the review itself and it seems honest. Is motion-sensing controls the way to go forward? - hard to tell but it is true we strive for more interactivity than just immersive visuals.
It's unfortunate that Factor 5 has fallen so far though. Maybe it's just not the right time.
Personally I feel that, although the controls on Lair are difficult to master and not always spot-on, this game is getting way more bad press than it deserves. While the complaints about the iffy controls and not-so-solid framerate are warranted, this game is still a gorgeous, epic, and most importantly FUN game to play.
Motion controls are probably not the best control implementation for this game, and not everyone will be able to get past this, but knocking this game down to a 4 or 5 because of these issues seems to be borne more out of anger and dashed expectations than out of objectivitiy. The game is by no means a perfect 10 (or even a perfect 9) but people seem to be eager to drag this one down when it's actually a pretty stunning game.
Just my 2 cents.
Even if it's a matter of dashed expectations, that doesn't change the fact that the motion controls are horrid and sap any fun that might have been had with this game. Giving an option for analog-stick control would have been remarkably appreciated.
I played through Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, I think I can handle a drunk dragon after dragging all that silicone around.