Double Fine Debuts Weird Motion Rhythm Game Thing
I wish I could live my life as eclectically as Double Fine develops games. If that were the case, they'd call me Nathan Grayson, bull-fighting harmonica fencer astronaut crocheter cowboy hat pterodactyl extraordinaire. And I'd be like, "Oh you guys" while tightrope tapdancing over the mouth of an active volcano. But alas, that's not the case, so I must instead live vicariously through Double Fine, brain exploring heavy metal demigod mech walker of Russian dolls on Sesame Street. Such is my lot in life. Oh well. That said, I can't complain about a lack of variety, and Double Fine's latest may be the furthest outside its increasingly amorphous box yet. In short, Dropchord's a psychedelic rhythm visualizer thing that's controlled by a motion device said to be "200 times" more accurate than Kinect. Wait, that wasn't very short at all.
Hooray! That trailer explained precisely nothing about how the game will actually work by utilizing a series of confusing rapid-fire cuts. I love it when trailers do that. If nothing else, however, we at least know that a) PC is one of its main platforms and b) it's coming from the team behind Kinect Party and Double Fine Happy Action Theater. Also, there are circles.
Leap, on the other hand, looks to be a fairly standard but (at least, if its grandiose claims are true) incredibly accurate motion sensor that rests at the base of your monitor. I'm faaaaaaaar from sold on motion control, but I do have to admit that it does - at least, in theory - wave away my objections to Kinect and its flaily, faily ilk. Give me enough precision to track my individual cells and take away the requirement that my gaming space be the size of a regulation elephant pen, and I might at least consider.
Regardless, it's Double Fine dreaming up a rhythm game. Say what you will about Tim Schafer's ragtag band of rabble-rousing rapscallions, but they don't often do things the "normal" way. So color me intrigued, if not overly enthused. I suppose we shall, as the kids of these technomagic times are putting it in their strange new parlance, see.