T he Dance, Dance Revolution series, which challenges energetic dancers to tap their toes on a dance mat to the beat of popular music, has been solid gold for Konami. Numerous DDR titles exist and a new one with a different array of tunes seems to come out every few months.
Newest on the scene is Hottest Party, the first DDR game to boogie onto the Nintendo Wii's virtual dance floor. Unlike other versions of the game, the Wii waltz requires players to move their hands as well as their feet to match the visual clues that pop up on the screen. But it doesn't add much to the experience because the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers are used to capture only basic left and right movements.
The single-player Groove Circuit mode plops a competitor in a series of discos where they must outperform computer dancers to advance. Workout mode encourages gamers to - horror of horrors - break a sweat by dancing until a certain number of calories are burned.
R acing games typically fall in three camps - arcade, simulation and those like the Project Gotham series that try to straddle the line between the two.
Unlike strict sims, which only reward speed, PG races typically encourage style points (called kudos). Sliding around a corner, for example, can pause the clock during a time trial. Kudos points can also be used to unlock more vehicles and tracks.
The most noticeable addition to PGR4 is motorcycles, which race side-by-side with cars and are tough to beat. Though initially a bit more difficult to control, the combination of instant acceleration and easy kudos from popping wheelies make them feel a bit overpowered, especially since they aren't as easy to send careening into a wall when they go buzzing by.
Also new are four beautifully rendered cities - St Petersburg, Quebec City, Shanghai and Macau. These cities feature more hills than the five locations returning from 2005's PGR3 - London, Las Vegas, Tokyo, New York and Germany's tricky Nurburgring track.
Weather - rain, sleet, snow - can affect traction, forcing a more cautious approach. Fog is particularly nasty when it obscures turns and other drivers. Graphically, there's not a slicker looking racing title. It's not just the fantastic cars - the meticulously crafted cities and adoring roadside fans are equally impressive.
Dungeons & Dragons fans speak in reverent tones when discussing the critically acclaimed role-playing titles Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.
Mask of the Betrayer, an expansion pack for 2006's Neverwinter Nights 2, is more of the same, and that's a good thing. Instead of beginning the adventure as a combat dummy, players can start a new character at level 18 or import their high-level character from NWN 2.
The level cap has been increased to 30, meaning players will eventually have godlike powers at their disposal as they go toe-to-toe with an evil sect known as the Red Wizards of Thay. This is not a game for the uninitiated as the addition of numerous spells, feats, races and classes have the potential to bewilder anyone unaccustomed to the D&D rule set. Familiar annoyances remain, including the camera angle, which, despite new options, feels awkward. And the graphics, while often glorious, can be so blinding when spells start exploding it's hard to keep track of the action. The darker tone of "Betrayer" is realized through a new game mechanic - a spirit meter, which forces players to choose between suppressing a hunger for souls or feasting on them.
A compilation featuring the three-part Half-Life 2 canon, The Orange Box should be called The Orange Treasure Chest by first-person shooter fans.
Half-Life 2, released in 2004 and named Game of the Year by more than 30 publications, was far enough ahead of its time that it's still one of the better action games available. Also stuffed on the single disc is Episode One, a relatively short sequel; and, for the first time on the Xbox 360, Episode Two, an expansion pack as extensive as many stand-alone games. If that's not enough, The Orange Box also includes Portal, a mind-bending puzzle game that could double as an IQ test, and Team Fortress 2, an online multiplayer fragfest that is the addiction of thousands. For the uninitiated, the award-winning series pits crowbar-wielding research scientist Gordon Freeman against a race of beings from another dimension that has enslaved humanity.- NY Times news service
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50