Konami's Lifeline Goes Voice All The Way

Mechanik writes "A new CNN article details Konami's new PlayStation 2 game LifeLine, which has a very interesting twist on control schemes. The piece explains: 'Unlike some other games, voice commands in 'LifeLine' are not optional -- they're the only way to control the action. With the help of a USB headset... you talk to characters and they respond by following your commands and/or answering your questions.' Apparently, the developers know just how we gamer geeks think too... 'Of course, if you have a virtual hottie like Rio at the center of an action game, some players will try to command her to do more than just run and shoot. 'I love you,' 'Take your clothes off,' 'What's your sign?' We have responses for most of those,' [the developer] says'." This title has only had a couple of reviews thus far, although they seem to paint it as a flawed experiment.

Comments

D&D memory

[alexjohns]

There's this clerical spell in D&D that's called 'Command'. If successfully cast on an opponent they will do whatever your command was for 1 round. The command could only be one word and it had to be a verb. The most common use was 'die', which was specifically addressed in the rules - the affected 'monster' would just fall down in a coma for one round and be able to get up the next round and re-commence beating the crap out of you.

Being able to take an opponent out of the battle for one round is a good thing, but you'd like to do more. Eventually, I came up with a better one: 'Undress!'. A fighter with plate mail: drop the sword, drop the shield, start undoing a bunch of leather straps, etc. When the round was over he had to put his armor back on or his AC wouldn't be as good as it was. So you might take him out of the fight for two rounds (or more - it often takes longer to put stuff back on than it does to take off.)

So then if you know you're gonna be fighting 'the big-breasted babe from Bouncytown' the next day, you ask for all the command spells you can remember (clerical spells are granted by your god), then sit in the back of the party and just 'Undress!' until you run out. This, of course, led to someone eventually switching to: 'Masturbate!'. The first time somebody did that we were all rolling on the floor.

Needless to say, DM interpretation of events varied widely. Points to remember: You don't ever want to tell a dragn to 'Masturbate' (depending on the DM, self-gratification to a dragon may not be exactly what you'd pictured), and you really, really don't want to lose a fight to someone who was forced to diddle themselves in public. Believe me, there are worse things to be impaled on a pike than your head, if you're still alive to... uh, 'enjoy' the experience.

Re:D&D memory

[alexjohns]

I'm not offended. Although I'm not sure what you're referring to. You don't want to hang around someone who says the word 'masturbate'? WTF are you doing on /. Word of advice: Don't ever read at -1. ;}

OK so, does that sound like I was 15 when that happened? I was a bit older than that, but so what. What should I have been doing? At 15, what are my options - go to the mall? Go to my friend's house and watch TV? Do homework?

Or, let's say I was 21. Should I have been at a bar, drinking? I did plenty of that when I was in my 20's. I've been drunk in more different countries than most people can name (US Navy). So what?

Should I perhaps have been watching a sporting event? Did plenty of that, too. About 10 years ago I stopped watching sports - right after all the baseball players went on strike. (BTW, Cal Ripken does not have an unbroken streak of playing in however many games he was supposed to have played in. He went on strike and sat on his ass at home for a year.) Right after that football or basketball went on strike and I said that's that. So when I look at the front of the Washington Post sports section and see 'indicted', '$50 million dollar contract', 'steroids', 'rape', 'self-defense', etc. I just laugh. Do I think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame? Probably not, but at this point I could give a shit. Barry Bonds - probably guilty - yes his records are probably meaningless, and again, I could care less. I keep up enough so I know what the issues are, but that's it.

Which stereotype are you talking about? Bunch of pimply-faced male teen-age geeks? We had several women/girls/females play with us. I dated several of the girls I met through D&D. Do I look back on my high school years and wish I'd been more sexually active? Sure, there are several girls whose pants I wanted to get into. Which guy doesn't have that yearning? In reality, if I'd done that I would have probably gotten someone pregnant and my whole life would have been screwed up.

What did you do on Friday and Saturday nights while in high school and college? Get drunk? Watch TV? Hang out? How is that a better way to spend your time? I'm 40 now. I'm still friends with those people. I'm not friends with anyone from my high school or the neighborhood I grew up in. But I'm still friends with a lot of the people I played D&D with. How many friendships do you have that have lasted over 20 years?

On Friday and Saturday nights we killed Dragons and Demons; forged swords of legend; rescued maidens; toppled kingdoms; fought everything in the Monster Manual (at least twice); escaped fiendish traps (well, sometimes we didn't). We laughed, we cried, we fought. We had fun. The fact that most of this happened in our heads doesn't matter. We had an amazing amount of fun.

If I could find a bunch of people around here to play with, I'd join in a night a week. I think my wife and son could spare me that.