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General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: Drule on September 06, 2009, 08:35:16 am

Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Drule on September 06, 2009, 08:35:16 am
I've always thought it was cool when games used peripherals to interact with real life objects or aspects and somehow use it in a gameplay context. I thought I should list some cool examples and maybe hear if you know of any as well.

Barcode Boy (http://superfami.com/barcodeboy.html)
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/3/569813_6898_front.jpg)

Barcode Boy was this Game Boy RPG that came with a barcode reader and would allow you to translate the barcodes of products you've purchased - like food and toys - into in-game equipment, stats and items. Apparently there was a big problem in Japan with kids going into stores and ripping off the barcodes of food products so they could convert it to in-game stuff. I wish there was a YouTube of this game.

Treasure World DS

This is sort of a Pokémon-esque game that looks up nearby WiFi connections and store unique data that, in the same way as Barcode Boy, is translated into in-game objects. These objects can be used to decorate your character or your personal space, also known as your "Garden", which also doubles as a step sequencer that can play music based on the arrangement of your objects. There is no real gameplay, so I think the main draw of this is sitting on the bus and seeing what kind of cool stuff nearby WiFi connections will generate, and sharing the best spots with your friends.

Ghostwire

This is a collection and adventure game where you use your handheld's camera (mobile or Nintendo DS) to find ghosts in your surroundings. The objective is to communicate with them via your DS and help them with their ghastly problems so that they can finally find peace.


I also found this cool iPhone 3GS game some time ago which was basically a zombie shooter where you were able to rotate your phone in a horizontal 360 degree in order to shoot incoming enemies. I can't remember what it was called though.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Jester on September 06, 2009, 09:50:13 am
The only times I notice these is when it's really annoying because the peripheral is usually not for sale outside of Japan, or is just a pain in the ass to get.

FF8 had a whole bunch of Chocobo related stuff, enabling you to transfer exclusive items back to FF8, but you needed one of those Pocket Playstation things, and I'd never even seen one for sale in the UK.

The original Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast allowed you to transfer a Chao to the little LCD screen'd thing you slot into your controller. Not sure what benefits that gave, though, I'd only ever seen it in adverts.

The new DS Pokemon games, Heartgold and Soulsilver will come with a little Pokeball shaped pedometer you can transfer any Pokemon to, and walking around with it increases it's strength. It battles Pokemon randomly on it, too, and can win items you get when you transfer it back. Gues what? Japan only.

Those are the only ones I can think of right now, but there are tons of these things and most of them seem like bad ideas.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: DDay on September 06, 2009, 10:24:06 am
Tap for the Wii.... you have to put the wiimote on top of the box and tap the box.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 06, 2009, 11:48:06 am
I was just talking to someone on IRC about Robopon, which is essentially a Pokemon clone for the Gameboy.  BUT, the cartridge has an infrared reader on it, and so you could point TV remotes and things at it to cause items to appear or cause stats to change or things like that.  Unfortunately I never figured out how to make this work as a kid (i'm sure the instructions said it but I lost it).  I can't find the cartridge anymore either so maybe I'll never know...
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Drule on September 06, 2009, 12:50:22 pm
Wow, Robopon is not even just a Pokémon clone, it's a complete knock-off down to the name, gameplay, menus, sprites and game tagline.

(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/i15.photobucket.com/albums/a357/darkelf2110/CaratulaRobopon2CrossVersion.webp)
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Verne on September 06, 2009, 01:49:52 pm
I still have my Barcode Battler. It was similar to that first game in original post where you scan barcodes for battlers and items. It worked badly though so I didn't play it much. :(
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Eltee on September 06, 2009, 02:00:34 pm
I don't think these gimmick peripheral games ever look even mildly interesting,

but eh
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: fishingmachine on September 06, 2009, 08:32:50 pm
lt, you dont remember duckhunt?
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Evangel on September 06, 2009, 08:59:51 pm
I have a GBC Mission: Impossible game.  It has a feature that allows you to mimic remote control signals with your IR port.  Once you copied some signals, you could really fuck with people, turning off their TV, etc.  This was really the best part about the game.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Mateui on September 06, 2009, 09:36:28 pm
Wasn't there a rhythm game called Rez that came with a vibrator? Does that count?
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: SupremeWarrior on September 06, 2009, 09:50:22 pm
I have a GBC Mission: Impossible game.  It has a feature that allows you to mimic remote control signals with your IR port.  Once you copied some signals, you could really fuck with people, turning off their TV, etc.  This was really the best part about the game.
That is pretty awesome!
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Eltee on September 06, 2009, 10:08:00 pm
lt, you dont remember duckhunt?

you're right

i suppose when i thought peripheral i didn't look far enough since they were talking about barcodes and shit

and all that came to mind was that ps3 card game that worked with a camera or some pokemon game on psp that works on camera aswell


HEY REMEMBER THAT GAME WITH THE PERIPHERAL???

GUITAR HERO/ROCKBAND LOOOL
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 06, 2009, 11:13:16 pm
shut up lt augmented reality is awesome it just needs to not be used in gay ways

that is the problem with ALL of these peripheral games, the ideas with the peripheral are awesome they just need to be used in actual good games
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: unusualgamer on September 07, 2009, 01:24:18 am
this thread is missing boktai. it uses the sun
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Brad on September 07, 2009, 03:08:48 am
Games where in a puzzle they make you write down numbers or letters or some kind of password.

THOSE ARE OHHHHHH so much FUN!
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Ghost_Aspergers on September 07, 2009, 04:28:32 am
The only one I've played was Monster Rancher. While breeding (or whatever it is you did to summon/spawn a new creature) you are prompted to insert a disc and whatever you put in decides what you will end up getting. I'm pretty sure there are still some sites out there that lists what CDs you are supposed to use in order to find specific breeds.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Evangel on September 07, 2009, 04:41:40 am
The only one I've played was Monster Rancher. While breeding (or whatever it is you did to summon/spawn a new creature) you are prompted to insert a disc and whatever you put in decides what you will end up getting. I'm pretty sure there are still some sites out there that lists what CDs you are supposed to use in order to find specific breeds.

My cousin had this.  Apparently a certain Garth Brooks CD we inserted gave us the most powerful of all Ranch Monsters.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Mongoloid on September 07, 2009, 05:53:02 am
Damn I was going to say monster rancher.

I just bought #3 for ps2 a few weeks ago and have been trying out some cds but the best I got was a purebreed Hare from a Mad Caddies cd.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Eltee on September 07, 2009, 06:01:56 am
World Class Track Meet, International Track & Field.

:)
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Ragnar on September 07, 2009, 06:24:12 am
That barcode game is pretty much the same idea as Monster Rancher but I like it better because it involves vandalism

any screens of the game because I seem to remember it from some Nintendo Power way off in the past, when they still talked about stuff like that, and showed all these screens of games that never came out, like Simcity NES and Earthbound Zero of course

I think EB Zero confused me as a kid because they showed a lot of indoor shots and the roofs were really high maybe (haven't played the game in a while) so I thought the game was just this one HUGE house - maybe I was thinking of that Spy vs. Spy game at the time it was like just walking around generic palette-swapped rooms and I think the game depressed me a little
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Evangel on September 07, 2009, 06:42:02 am
That barcode game is pretty much the same idea as Monster Rancher but I like it better because it involves vandalism

Uh, hey man, Monster Rancher involved a lot of vandalism, too.  Didn't have a lot of CD-Roms lying around at the time.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Ragnar on September 07, 2009, 06:55:25 am
what? Well Monster Rancher you could just raid somebody's CD collection and try everything, that barcode game actually required you to deface random cereal boxes and things like that so I think it's awesome

Edit: Monster Rancher accepted everything right? CDs, other PS games,  CD-roms, and DVDs with the ones on PS2?
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: hobomasterxxx on September 07, 2009, 07:14:11 am
There's some game on Steam where you actually print puzzles, solve them, then put them infront of a webcam to put them in the game. Seems gimmicky.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Evangel on September 07, 2009, 07:17:54 am
Yeah, I used CDs and other games.  DVDs weren't around at the time, so I never tried that with the PSX Monster Rancher.

I swear I got a pretty crazy monster from my bro's Garth Brooks CD, though.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 07, 2009, 12:36:27 pm
You probably did, I got playstation magazine as a kid and they had a list of the discs that gave you special monsters, most of them were discs that were some sort of play on what the monster was.  i always wanted the dances with wolves soundtrack as a kid just to get a special tiger :(
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: DDay on September 07, 2009, 01:01:02 pm
what? Well Monster Rancher you could just raid somebody's CD collection and try everything, that barcode game actually required you to deface random cereal boxes and things like that so I think it's awesome

Edit: Monster Rancher accepted everything right? CDs, other PS games,  CD-roms, and DVDs with the ones on PS2?

Monster Rancher 2 was my favorite game of all time and yes it will take any thing but let's say I put in a blueray CD in... all the blueray will give me the same thing as default. Also I remember Diablo gave you a good Dracohoper ironically it looked like a demon.

I'm mad at the newer Monster Rancher games (I do own all of them) after the second game they got rid of my favorite monster.... Worms.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 07, 2009, 01:50:01 pm
Monster Rancher 2 was my favorite game of all time and yes it will take any thing but let's say I put in a blueray CD in... all the blueray will give me the same thing as default.

That's because it can't even tell there's a disc in the drive :/
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: DDay on September 07, 2009, 02:16:47 pm
That's because it can't even tell there's a disc in the drive :/


Yes you are right it gives you the default one because it can't read it but it will also do the same for DVD up to Monster Rancher 2. But 3 and up will read DVD.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Trash Head 2 on September 07, 2009, 05:16:15 pm
I can only imagine how many childhoods besides mine were ruined by a used copy of StarTropics that came without the secret password letter in the manual.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Kezay on September 08, 2009, 04:06:41 pm
this thread is missing boktai. it uses the sun

Indeed, and that was a fine game too; not really gimmicky or anything.

Anyway, kind of cool though probably more of an inconvenience than just using the built in wifi for trading like every other game that has it, but Bangai O spirits lets you trade custom maps/levels by way of sound.  Basically, you can record the sound process that plays back when you want to upload a map to like youtube or an MP3 or something.  Then if someone wants to download your map (or you download theirs) you simply hold the earpiece of your headphones to a speaker, then playback the sound and it will download to your DS.  Problems being that if your headphones suck it won't work and it takes some adjusting to get the sweet spot to download flawlessly without the game constantly telling you it's too loud, turn down volume or too soft turn up volume.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Rowain on September 08, 2009, 06:15:44 pm
Haha early copy protection was funny. I had some Mickey Mouse party game (edutainment) on my Dad's old PC. Came on a 5 1/2 Floppy I think. And there was a big sheet of paper with a bunch of Mickeys that came with it, each Mickey corresponding to a number or letter and doing a different pose. When you started the game, it would randomly display one of the Mickey poses, and you had to search the sheet to find the corresponding letter and pose, then enter the letter into the game in order to play.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Eltee on September 09, 2009, 12:14:41 am
Stunts has something similiar. before starting a race, it asks you to complete a sentence from some random driving manual segment included in the manual.

If you fail to input the right phrase, the game starts, but your car breaks down right after starting.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 09, 2009, 01:16:28 am
Stunts has something similiar. before starting a race, it asks you to complete a sentence from some random driving manual segment included in the manual.

If you fail to input the right phrase, the game starts, but your car breaks down right after starting.

ahahaha this is so much better than just not letting you play, i love this idea
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: otomon on September 09, 2009, 01:49:39 am
Dance Dance revolution (ps2) with an Eyetoy....

Nuff said.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Mongoloid on September 09, 2009, 10:38:24 am
The arachnaphobia game had chart like that too.

It had a big chart of maybe 30 different spiders and the game would show you one on launch, and then you had to type the number or something in in order to play.


btw what is this point of that? to stop game pirating? man things sure were complicated back then.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: DDay on September 09, 2009, 01:37:05 pm
Dance Dance revolution (ps2) with an Eyetoy....

Nuff said.

Dose the eye toy allow the tentacles to rape you on screen when your close to losing?

wii fit is another one
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Dale Gobbler on September 09, 2009, 02:13:22 pm

a good one. Just watch it.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 09, 2009, 02:18:28 pm
man you do not understand augmented reality is one of my favorite things in technology that vid is so good :(
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Kaempfer on September 09, 2009, 03:42:40 pm
I don't really understand what Aztec's video is supposed to be. Like, I know what it's supposed to be, but are they trying to show us a device or an idea for a game? Because it seems like they are trying to show us a device in use, except it's just a box that they are applying images to digitally, so I am not sure which element is the proof of concept!
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 09, 2009, 03:55:54 pm
It's the game, the device is just the box with markers for the AR software to use.  There's nothing special about the box, they're showing off the software that makes it happen.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Kaempfer on September 09, 2009, 04:00:23 pm
So is the game presented on my screen as it reads AR markers, like on the box? My screen being a DS or something? The whole concept is confusing to me!
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: datamanc3r on September 09, 2009, 04:05:39 pm
My dad's first video game system (I think it was a Bally) required transparencies that you would fit onto the screen of your TV for base graphics.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Dale Gobbler on September 09, 2009, 04:56:24 pm
Later on in the video it kind of shows you. He has a webcam recording the box and the computer interprets each image to be a different room. So what you see in the video is what it looks like if you were watching the computer screen while physically moving the box. There are other youtube videos with people using symbols and webcams to do different things.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 09, 2009, 05:27:33 pm
Yeah, you just use the cube and a webcam, if you want to play with this kind of stuff you can either download the AR Toolkit (if you're into programming or want to just run the demos) or BuildAR (if you just want to see static 3D models show up, but it's easy to use) and do it, you just print out the patterns and glue them to some cardboard to keep them sturdy.  It's really cool even if you're just HOLDING A SQUARE.  If you're really accurate you can draw the symbol on your hand and have it work but it's harder to get it right (but I saw some Japanese kid on youtube do this and it was kind of cool and kind of lame at the same time)

My dad's first video game system (I think it was a Bally) required transparencies that you would fit onto the screen of your TV for base graphics.

I think Vectrex had this but idk.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Mateui on September 09, 2009, 10:01:37 pm
Monster Rancher seems interesting. I can see myself scavenging for all the CDs and DVDs in my home and trying them all out.. plus I remember watching the cartoon when I was little. Should I get this game, and if so, is Monster Rancher 3 or 4 better to start out with?
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 09, 2009, 10:29:47 pm
if you have a choice, just get monster rancher 2.  but, it's kinda pricey for a psx game.  i've only played a few minutes of 3 and i hated it, 4 seems a lot closer to the originals so try that i guess.  the gba ones are p. good too, but they use a password system instead of discs or anything so that kind of defeats the purpose


i really wish we'd get monster rancher ds because it uses the gba slot, touch screen (you just draw shit), and mic i think to create monsters
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Bumblebee man on September 09, 2009, 10:34:42 pm
If I owned Monster Rancher I'd probably only make monsters using sludge metal band's CDs. This is a fact.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 09, 2009, 10:51:49 pm
man i collected aol sign up cds as a kid just for monster rancher, except they usually just gave me shitty monsters i didn't want
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Ragnar on September 09, 2009, 11:53:04 pm
also Coldplay

and they were pretty much palette-swaps of the Radiohead monsters
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Frisky SKeleton on September 09, 2009, 11:59:27 pm
radiohead monsters? you mean thom yorke?
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: DDay on September 10, 2009, 12:46:16 am
if you have a choice, just get monster rancher 2.  but, it's kinda pricey for a psx game.  i've only played a few minutes of 3 and i hated it, 4 seems a lot closer to the originals so try that i guess.  the gba ones are p. good too, but they use a password system instead of discs or anything so that kind of defeats the purpose


i really wish we'd get monster rancher ds because it uses the gba slot, touch screen (you just draw shit), and mic i think to create monsters

Here I thought you can only draw them speaking of which I need to get that rom... I played it before but never on my acekard.

Just found out there was Number 2 Monster Farm DS and you know whats sad that it may never come out why did they have to release Monster Rancher Evo witch bombed in the US witch made tecmo stop releasing anymore Monster Rancher games. Truth is 3,4 and evo where all ok games but they never compared to the first and second Monster Rancher. Are best hope is if someone comes around and say lets Translat that game and then we would be in business.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: otomon on September 10, 2009, 12:55:31 am
Dose the eye toy allow the tentacles to rape you on screen when your close to losing?


No that would make it a good game.. thats why I dont play DDR on ps2, my sister does and she told me you can use the Eyetoy instead of the mat to hit the arrows on the screen.

Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Kaempfer on September 10, 2009, 02:52:43 am
I have seen AR games (or maybe it was just a concept) that was effectively just what you would see if you were taking a picture with your phone, only there was information about where to go and things to avoid (in the AR game) that would help keep you alive (in the game again). I think someone was using an iPhone and was just looking out at a hill and the camera recognized shapes and was like "BEWARE THIS STUMP".

Pretty neat stuff, although it's going to lead to people walking around staring into their phones and having crazy people reactions when something happens to them.

edit: Like not still pictures, just what you see when you are in the "camera mode" of a phone, like a feed of what the camera lens is seeing. Also, thanks aztec. The only thing I wasn't sure about is where the actual image would appear, like, projected on the cube or on a screen or what. I figured it would be on the screen but the angle of the arm messed me up, since it doesn't look like the non-existent person who is looking at the screen is turning the cube.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Rowain on September 22, 2009, 07:54:54 pm
Stunts has something similiar. before starting a race, it asks you to complete a sentence from some random driving manual segment included in the manual.

If you fail to input the right phrase, the game starts, but your car breaks down right after starting.

Haha, I read something awhile ago that the early cracks of Batman Arkham Asylum:

Quote
As reported by Afterdawn, a deliberate glitch in the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum intended on fighting piracy has left pirates looking for answers on the official Eidos forums.

User Cheshirec_the_cat posted a thread on September 4th in the official Eidos forums for Batman: Arkham Asylum, requesting help with a peculiar problem with the PC version of the game.

"I've got a problem when it's time to use Batman's glide in the game. When I hold , like it's said to jump from one platform to another, Batman tries to open his wings again and again instead of gliding. So he fels down in a poisoning gas. If somebody could tel me, what should I do there."

As another forum poster points out, the game hasn't been released publicly for the PC yet, so how the user managed to get a copy of the game is a question in itself. Eidos admin Keir responded to the thread before closing it, explaining that the glitch wasn't so much of a glitch:

"The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free. It's not a bug in the game's code, it's a bug in your moral code."

From neowin: http://www.neowin.net/news/gamers/09/09/15/deliberate-glitch-foils-batman-arkham-asylum-pirates
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: goat on September 24, 2009, 09:25:30 pm
The original Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast allowed you to transfer a Chao to the little LCD screen'd thing you slot into your controller. Not sure what benefits that gave, though, I'd only ever seen it in adverts.

It allowed you to then take care of the chao portably in a tamagotchi-like fashion. Seemed pretty impractical to me considering how quickly those damn things burnt through their batteries.

Speaking of dramcast, anyone remember that strange game with the freaky-fish where you would talk to him on a microphone? I think "hey you pikachu" was a clone of it?
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Jester on September 24, 2009, 10:18:04 pm
Speaking of dramcast, anyone remember that strange game with the freaky-fish where you would talk to him on a microphone? I think "hey you pikachu" was a clone of it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaman_%28video_game%29

I always wanted to try that, but have never had the opportunity.
Title: Cool games that make use of peripherals in interesting ways
Post by: Vellfire on September 25, 2009, 01:18:46 am
I have Seaman but I haven't gotten around to buying a Dreamcast mic yet.  I just found it really cheap and decided to pick it up so that when I eventually bought a mic I wouldn't have to pay as much for the game.