Comments for "Way of the Gun"

I'm in the middle of reading the article "Way of the Gun" and it's giving me lots of ideas for my presentation on racing games.
"Explorative Linearity": The difference between FP and Third Person perspectives in gaming is crucial, because as the author says, having a FP perspective can be narrow and confining, you can never be sure where your enemies are at. I'm pretty sure that there's a toggle feature within "Burnout" that allows the player to change from FP to ThirdP and back again, although I personally prefer the ThirdP perspective.
The author also mentioned something about "Doom" and how its popularity was attributed to its simplicity, and I agree. Keep it simple and let the player find the interest and meaning. I think the same can be said for simmulated racing because if there's too much going on in the background tracks, then the player can get distracted. If there is a very busy background, it's almost preferential to have a FP perspective, sort of like putting blinders on a horse, it helps the player focus on the track.
Semi-realism is cool too. The more realistic the cars are, the crashes are, the more popular the game will be overall. And, as I've blogged before, the crash sequences within racing games are extremely important, they almost reach the cinematic level of cut-scenes because they take you out of the game for at least 10 seconds to show you something spectacular.
Music within racing is great too, it adds to a feeling of tension. Using pop music within racing is a relatively recent phenomenon, I think, and although it's fun to listen to for a while, it also has the drawback of making the game seem outdated (that is, as soon as those songs are no longer popular) within a few years.
I have to remember also, to say something about the level of AI within the rival racers. How much variation in behavior can you as the player expect from your rivals within a racing game? When I played Super Mario Brothers as a kid I memorized the pattern of movement of my enemies so that I could get through the entire game without ever having taken a hit, but that was because the bad guys moved the same way every time. However, no two races are the same in games like "Burnout" so memorizing the course isn't enough. I know that I can set the difficulty for the tracks, but is it even possible for a begginner to win their first race? No, probably not, because the player doesn't know what to expect yet. So, practice is necessary to win, not just a dependence on "stealth" (dodging the attacks of other drivers and innocent bystanders).
But "Burnout" is different once again because the game encourages you to side-slam other vehicles for Boost points, which you'll need if you want to get ahead. It's like your being encouraged to act like a bully (pushing other cars around) but you have to keep your cool at the same time (not seriously crashing your car and waisting time in an awesome cut scene).