Game Never Over: How Players Avoid Virtual Death

Mardi, 28 Juin 2011 18:00

Game Never Over: How Players Avoid Virtual Death

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By Bryan Gardiner Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.
June 28, 2011 |
12:00 pm |
Wired July 2011

Videogame characters used to have the life cycle of fruit flies. Quarter-hungry arcade machines ensured a nasty, brutish, and short existence. But now that console games with $60 price tags and multihour narratives are the norm, developers have found all sorts of ways to keep players alive longer. Here are some milestones in life extension.

Bonus Lives

Asteroids (1979)

One collision kills you, but you get an extra ship every 10,000 points. (Skilled players can rack up scores of bonus lives.)

Power-Ups

Super Mario Bros. (1985)

Salvation comes in mushroom form. Red ones let you get hit twice before dying, green ones grant an extra life.

Cheats

Contra (1988)

Popularized the cheat. This console classic has one-hit kills, but entering a secret code instantly bestows 30 new lives.

Health Gauge

Wolfenstein 3D (1992)

One-hit kills are replaced with a gradually depleting percentage (e.g., “You are at 87% capacity”) recovered by food and medkits.

Regenerative Shields

Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)

An overshield replenishes whenever you aren’t taking fire. Shot in the face? Duck behind a bush for a few seconds.

Purchasing More Life

Grand Theft Auto III (2001)

“Death” means a trip to the hospital and a stiff medical bill. Hiring hookers boosts your health. Just like in real life!

Do-Overs

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)

A time-rewind feature allows players to back up a few seconds and try again whenever they die.

Hyperrealism

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)

Wounds heal in real time, and you must hunt and eat animals to stay strong. Few have emulated this.

Immortality

Journey (2011) Death is so over. In trancelike indie games like this one, you explore endlessly, never dying. Closer to chanting a mantra than Pac-Man.

Illustration: Ilovedust

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