Defying Gravity: How Video Games Play With Gravity And Zero-g:-
Fifty years ago, a cutting-edge representation of the virtualized laws of physics premiered with Pong and its two-dimensional ball and paddles. Since then, games have reached for more of the world to subsume, abstract, and virtualize. They've iterated upon models for its physical systems to create more immersive worlds in which to play, and modern game development tools include abstracted versions of gravity as boilerplate. Clever smoke and mirrors fuse with complex computational models to render a vision of the world that is recognizable not just visually, but physically. We move in the virtual world as we would expect to move in the real one.
Even before games reached for the physics of the terrestrial world, though, they reached for the stars. Asteroids, Space Invaders, and countless other arcade cabinets drew from science fiction for their settings, and the enthusiasm for sci-fi in the medium persists today.
And while simulating gravity's behavior on Earth may be commonplace for games nowadays, the physical laws and constraints we're accustomed to are unrecognizable in the void of space. The rules are reinterpreted, and when it comes to our intuitive understanding of physics, Earth may as well exist in a vacuum.
Games are in a unique position to leverage the alienness of cosmic gravity to create something both new and educational for players. Embracing space opens up avenues for creativity in environmental design, puzzle design, combat, and traversal mechanics that demand equal creativity and adaptation. In other words: new rules can translate into novel play. We've picked out some of the best space games that do interesting things with gravity.
Novel play needs a novel playground, and the G.U.T.S. (Gravity Utility Tunnel System) of the orbital research station Talos 1 fills the role well. This winding network of microgravity tunnels is one of the more scenic routes researcher-turned-survivor Morgan Yu is forced to take in the midst of the station's alien containment breach as the protagonist in Arkane Studios' 2017 release, Prey (opens in new tab).
Most of the space station's areas resemble a blend of mid-century hotel and cutting-edge research lab; these habitable zones are complete with artificial gravity and oxygen, providing a familiar environment for the player to explore. The G.U.T.S. Serve as a kind of shadow to these areas, an industrial, spartan zone lurking just beneath the surface. The effect is a strange marriage of habitats not unlike that of a cruise liner — a veneer of luxury over the practical machinery designed to take humanity into hostile territory.
While the game's first microgravity sequence — a spacewalk on the exterior of the Talos 1 — is an impressive set piece, it's actually in the G.U.T.S. Of the Talos 1 that Prey's attention to setting becomes more apparent. Their inclusion in the game belies this care, illustrating that microgravity might serve as a convenience for certain aspects of space habitation, even if artificial gravity were to exist.
The tunnels are wide, cylindrical chambers, adhering to the reality of the space station's structure rather than human convenience. "Up" and "down" quickly become relative, thresholds are labeled to be read from any orientation, and the tunnels branch off in any direction. For such a contained environment, it's easy to get turned around and disoriented. That disorientation, though, feels appropriate for the unfamiliar, mind-bending conditions of microgravity.
The tunnel design is only one half of Prey's brilliance, however; the other half is the play itself. Morgan's environment suit is equipped with thrusters to traverse zero-g environments. Buttons to roll, ascend and descend join the control scheme, as do controls to accelerate and brake. A readout constantly tracks Morgan's speed; rather than simply starting and stopping, speed and trajectory are carefully adjusted.
These controls turn movement into a game of vectors. It's up to the player to make on-the-fly course corrections as Morgan drifts through the tunnels, accelerating and decelerating to roll and avoid dangerous collisions. The play is dizzying and fast-paced, and navigating in the extra dimension demands focus, doubly so when routes branch off in every direction and hazards like arcing electricity and alien swarms abound.
It can be frustrating and disorienting at times. Even so, Prey takes a shot at imagining spaces we might design without the constraints of gravity, and gives players complex controls to explore those spaces. That takes guts.
Play Prey (2017) on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
$14.99
(opens in new tab) View Deal (opens in new tab) Battling the first law of motion in Heavenly BodiesUnder most circumstances, drifting helplessly out into space would be a terrifying prospect.
The tiny cosmonauts of Heavenly Bodies (opens in new tab), a 2021 release from 2pt Interactive, though, don't seem to mind. Every miscalculated trajectory, fumbled tether, and explosive decompression is met with the same unconditional acceptance; the cosmonauts remain celestial buddhas, drifting out into space to a meditative soundtrack.
This ever-forgiving, relaxed atmosphere is a necessary balm to the devilish puzzles and challenges of the game. Equal parts cooperative puzzle game and simulation, Heavenly Bodies tasks players with guiding these zen cosmonauts through maintenance, assembly, and repair tasks aboard their space station. Realigning satellite dishes, fixing agricultural modules, and even mining asteroids are all on the to-do list. The real, hidden first task, though, is re-learning how to move.
The effect is satisfying, maddening and often hilarious — cosmonauts wantonly fling one another through modules and flail about in a bid to find something to cling onto as they drift past, all while calming music floats along in the background. The absurdity of it all is hard not to chuckle at, and it's at this intersection of lighthearted atmosphere and merciless physics that Heavenly Bodies' take on zero-g thrives. It drives home the strange rules of microgravity effectively and unapologetically, and demands that players learn them.
The whole game revolves around gravity — or lack thereof. The station in Heavenly Bodies, much like our modern orbital platforms, is devoid of gravity, and the game's protagonists don't have the benefit of a propulsion system. Without a way to reliably maneuver, the cosmonauts are at the mercy of microgravity; moving through the space station to reach each mission goal is a challenge in and of itself, especially on the game's most difficult mode, "Newtonian", which sticks as close to realism in its physics as possible.
To grapple with zero-g, the game provides a unique control scheme: players manipulate their avatar's arms and hands independently, grasping, swinging, and releasing to fling themselves around the station or to brace themselves against two points in order to apply force. A task as simple as opening a sliding door becomes play in this context, where bracing against a wall with one hand and flinging the door open with the other requires a new kind of dexterity and coordination.
Tools can be clipped to the 'nauts' belts, and tethers can be attached for safety and some limited maneuverability. Even so, failure to carefully plan and consider before acting will more often than not leave a player flailing helplessly on the interior of a larger room, or floating out into the void. There's some sideways thinking involved in the puzzles, too — microgravity means the ability to manipulate much larger structures and leverage physics in new ways.
Rocket launch in Kerbal Space Program. (Image credit: Squad)
If the cosmic interpretations of physics can turn something as simple as opening a door into play, what about something as complex as literal rocket science? Developer Squad's Kerbal Space Program (opens in new tab) makes a compelling case in the affirmative.
Since its release in 2015, "KSP" has garnered a rare dual endorsement from gamers and the scientific community alike. Its near-universal acclaim from critics and praise from spacefaring organizations NASA and the ESA (opens in new tab) makes it potentially the best example of a game dabbling in the physics and mechanics of space simulation and orbital mechanics. The ESA even partnered up with KSP (opens in new tab) to recreate the ESA's BepiColombo and Rosetta missions in the game.
The titular "Kerbals" are tiny green bipedal creatures with ridiculous grins and bulging eyes, and it’s these little goofs that'll be venturing into the stars in player-created rockets according to player-charted trajectories. The goal is to explore a solar system that bears resemblance to our own, overcoming all of the challenges involved in reaching out beyond the atmosphere of the Kerbal home planet, Kerbid.
KSP is notoriously — if appropriately — difficult. The game makes few abstractions, and demands a real understanding of gravity and the physics involved in escaping a planet's gravitational well - and that's just to achieve orbit. Reaching out to other celestial bodies will mean slingshotting around planets and moons to make efficient use of fuel, managing momentum through orbits, and plotting the right courses. That's the secret of the Kerbal Space Program — it's impossible not to absorb a better understanding of gravity and space while playing the game.
Mistakes are frequent and catastrophic, successes triumphant, and the whole struggle underscores the achievements of the real-world scientists and engineers who've taken us to the stars.
It's also worth noting that, while the original game remains an experience worth playing through even seven years past its original release, a sequel is scheduled to launch through Steam's Early Access program on February 24, 2023. We'll be covering Kerbal Space Program 2 in a lot more detail in the next couple of months, as it's one of our most anticipated upcoming space games.
Today's best games console deals
Reduced Price
Xbox Series S
(opens in new tab)$299.99
(opens in new tab)$274.99
(opens in new tab) View Deal (opens in new tab)Microsoft Xbox Series X
(opens in new tab)$499.99
(opens in new tab) View Deal (opens in new tab)Sony PlayStation 5
(opens in new tab)Reduced Price
Nintendo Switch
(opens in new tab)$319.99
(opens in new tab)$299.95
(opens in new tab) View Deal (opens in new tab)Games Industry Forced To Focus On Hit Titles In Response To Weak Sales:-
Receive free Games industry updates
We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Games industry news every morning.
Lacklustre video game sales are forcing publishers to rethink their 2023 release plans, as the industry responds to cash-strapped gamers’ increasing preference for familiar franchises such as Call of Duty and Fifa.
Over recent weeks, many of the world’s biggest games makers, including Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive, each released their latest quarterly statements. Most revealed underwhelming sales during the crucial Christmas holiday period.
While the industry had been bracing for a slower Christmas compared with the past two years that were boosted by Covid-19 lockdowns, some of the industry’s biggest names were caught off guard by a larger than expected drop in overall consumer spending in December.
Only Activision Blizzard bucked the trend. This week, it reported a 43 per cent jump in net bookings — a measure of customer spending which excludes revenue deferrals related to online services — for the December quarter, thanks to record sales and engagement in the latest Call of Duty launch, Modern Warfare II.
Hits such as Call of Duty are becoming more scarce as consumers choose to spend on reliable favourites rather than risk their money on unproven new titles. As a result, several games companies have cancelled or pushed back new game releases over the past month.
Ubisoft has said it would scrap three unannounced projects, while last week EA chief executive Andrew Wilson said the company was cancelling two mobile games based on its popular Apex Legends and Battlefield franchises as it was “reallocating investments to prioritise our biggest growth areas”.
Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two downgraded its outlook on Monday and announced cost-cutting measures, as chief executive Strauss Zelnick warned the company was “operating in an environment that is in many ways more challenging than we anticipated”.
“We believe that, as a result of macroeconomic conditions, consumers shifted holiday spending towards established blockbuster franchises and titles that were offered with pricing promotions,” he said. While Take-Two’s established franchises, such as GTA, continued to sell well, newer releases struggled.
Take-Two’s comments echoed similar remarks from EA, Ubisoft and Frontier Developments. Last month, Ubisoft’s stock fell 14 per cent in a single day after it warned that holiday sales had been “markedly and surprisingly slower than expected”.
Even those games titles that are performing well — EA’s Wilson noted that the latest iteration of its Fifa football game was “pacing to be the biggest title in franchise history” — have not been enough to avert a 5 to 10 per cent drop in global sales volumes of premium console games last year, according to estimates by research group Ampere Analysis.
The industry had hoped for a boost from pent-up demand for new games from new PlayStation 5 owners, as this was the first Christmas where there was a good supply of the console since its 2020 release.
The PS5 has become the most popular console of its generation despite almost two years of supply-chain shortages limiting availability. However, software sales fizzled through the final weeks of 2022.
“You have this strange dynamic, coming off the highs [of the Covid era] but also the macroeconomic backdrop,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, analyst at Ampere. “I think it’s very hard to distinguish where the differences lie in the impact of those two different background issues.”
One factor is the availability of free games such as Fortnite and Fall Guys, which generate all their revenue from in-game sales of optional extras.
Out of the ten top console games by playing time, according to Ampere, five are free to play, which in a recession might prove more appealing than purchasing a new release outright, said Harding-Rolls.
However, in-game spending on optional extras such as expansion packs or avatars fell even more than full game sales, as casual players who may have spent more than usual during Covid lockdowns drifted away from the games market.
Recommended
Tom Singlehurst, media analyst at Citigroup, said there were factors affecting games sales beyond the “obvious” culprits of the end of Covid lockdowns and the cost of living crisis.
“In those long winter evenings, for an audience that does skew a bit more male and a bit younger, the World Cup possibly sucked in time that would otherwise [have] been dedicated to video games,” he said.
The quality of the games themselves, alongside several high-profile delayed releases, may also have been a factor.
“All the games companies I talk to agree that with staff working from home, at best there are productivity issues and at worst quality issues,” said Singlehurst. “Unless it’s a real cast-iron critical hit, some of these titles have struggled to get traction.”
That has only fuelled the success of bankable franchises such as Call of Duty, which won widespread critical acclaim last year despite the previous release suffering poor reviews.
Singlehurst predicts that games publishers will imitate Hollywood’s increasingly risk-averse release strategy, relying on sequels and familiar brands, and cutting back on new intellectual property.
“I wonder whether we are about to enter a period of a slightly more mundane or even boring approach to development management,” he said. “These are big enough chunks of money that you’ve got to take the risk out of the IP.”
Olympic Team Figure Skaters Are Still Waiting For Medals A Year After Beijing Games. Why?:-
This week, the Olympic world reaches an ignominious anniversary. It has been one year since the conclusion of the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, one year since the athletes’ medal ceremony was postponed, one year since USA TODAY Sports reported that a positive drug test by Russian star Kamila Valieva was the reason for the unprecedented delay and subsequent cancellation of the ceremony.
To this day, the athletes still do not have their medals.
“I think last time we spoke, I used the word disheartening when we were on site there in Beijing and certainly have the same feeling unfortunately (one year) later,” U.S. Team co-captain Evan Bates said in a recent interview. “It’s a really difficult situation that we find ourselves in, one that we would have never guessed I think when we left Beijing.”
From NFL plays to college sports scores, all the top sports news you need to know every day.
Bates and his American teammates won the silver medal in the team figure skating event behind the gold-medal winning Russians, while Japan won the bronze. It was the early afternoon of Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing when the athletes from the three nations stood on a platform on the ice, waving in anticipation of their medal ceremony the next day.
That’s when time stood still. The past year has been marked by an infuriating blend of dithering and delays by the sole organization charged with conducting the Valieva investigation, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, the oxymoron to end all oxymorons, an organization that was suspended from 2015-2018 for helping Russian athletes cheat.
After months of doing nothing, RUSADA’s disciplinary tribunal finally announced its decision in Valieva’s case in January, unsurprisingly finding that although she had committed an anti-doping rule violation, she bore “no fault or negligence” for it. RUSADA imposed no sanction except for disqualifying Valieva’s results from the event where she tested positive, the Russian national championships on Dec. 25, 2021. In other words, she skated.
That, however, is not the end of this excruciating process. The next likely step is for the World Anti-Doping Agency and/or the International Skating Union, the worldwide governing body for figure skating, to appeal the RUSADA decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. That could take months, perhaps many more months.
So, as the athletes and everyone else watch this interminable process play out, USA TODAY Sports had four questions for all the major players one year after the drama began: RUSADA, WADA, the ISU, the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which has no jurisdiction or authority in the Valieva case but has been the most vocal in calling out the failures of Russia’s so-called investigation and speaking out for the athletes who still don’t have their medals.
Only one organization, USADA, answered each question specifically, in the form of text messages from CEO Travis Tygart. Three others sent statements from spokespeople; USA TODAY Sports has put those statements under the question where they best fit.
It will come as a shock to absolutely no one that RUSADA did not reply to the questions, nor to two subsequent emails seeking comment.
Question 1Why, in your opinion, do the athletes still not have their medals a year after the completion of the competition?
USADA: “The entire global system has failed all of the athletes including Kamila Valieva. Obviously, first and foremost the Russians are at fault for allowing this to happen but the whole system also is accountable for allowing this Russian fiasco to turn into a mockery of justice that has robbed athletes of their performances, hard work and sacrifice.”
WADA, the ISU and the IOC did not specifically answer the question. RUSADA did not reply.
Question 2Whose fault is it that they don't have their medals?
USADA: “Valieva never should have been allowed to compete with a pending positive and there was ample time for her positive case to have been reported and resolved prior to the start of the Winter Olympic Games. It was yet another fundamental flaw to allow RUSADA, which is not compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code given it was an instrument of the Russian government’s state-sponsored doping fraud, to handle her case in the first instance. The decision not to appeal the case directly to the Court of Arbitration of Sport again allowed the Russians to hijack justice and delay this relatively simple case this long which has just now resulted in a predictable, self-serving outcome, which can’t be trusted.”
WADA, the ISU and the IOC did not specifically answer the question. RUSADA did not reply.
Question 3What is your organization doing specifically to facilitate a solution so the athletes can get their medals?
USADA: “Unfortunately, we have no jurisdiction or authority in this situation because it involves RUSADA and WADA, but we hope to always support clean athletes and to advocate for fairness and justice for them. Here, in addition to speaking out on their behalf, we’ve met with and pushed the organizations that have responsibility for the case to get it done so that the athletes can finally have some semblance of justice for their hard work and sacrifice as well as to ensure, as best we can, that something as tragic as this never happens again.”
WADA: “As far as WADA's role in this case is concerned, we have now received a copy of the full reasoned decision of the disciplinary tribunal of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, as well as the case file. We have previously expressed our concern by the tribunal's finding that the athlete bore ‘no fault or negligence’ in this case. Once we have carefully reviewed the decision and case file, we will consider our right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as appropriate. Our priority is to ensure this matter is dealt with as quickly as possible and without further undue delay.”
ISU: “The ISU received a copy of the reasoned decision in Russian and English translation on January 26, 2023 and a full copy of the case file on February 2, 2023. The ISU will conduct a full review of the RUSADA decision and case file and will exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as appropriate considering its commitment to the best interests of all skaters and everyone involved.”
IOC: "The IOC welcomes the announcement by WADA to conduct a ‘full review of the RUSADA decision’ in order to ‘consider what its next steps will be so that the matter is dealt with as quickly as possible and without further undue delay.’”
RUSADA did not reply.
Question 4On what date (please be as specific as you can) do you think the athletes will get their medals?
USADA: “Presenting the medals to the athletes never should have taken this long and frankly we wish we had a crystal ball as it’s tough to even ballpark it at this stage given what has transpired so far. It seems clear the Russians are going to rope-a-dope as long as possible and, as of today, we still don’t know if WADA is going to appeal. We would hope that WADA immediately appeals and asks for a public and expedited hearing, which the rules allow for, and that the athletes would finally get their rightful medals sometime this summer. But, we are not holding our breath as it could realistically be late this year or even next before we know.”
WADA: “The decision when and whether to award medals in this situation is entirely a matter for the event organizer, the International Olympic Committee.”
ISU: “Only the finalization of the case will enable the ISU to establish the definitive results of the figure skating team competition at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the IOC to decide on the medal allocation.”
IOC: “As it concerns a test that was conducted outside the Olympic Games, but which has an impact on the results of the figure skating team and the individual competitions at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, the IOC hopes that the case will be handled as quickly as possible. This is also in the best interests of everyone involved, particularly the athletes who have not yet been able to receive their medals from Beijing 2022. Only the finalization of the case will enable the International Skating Union to establish the definitive results of the figure skating team competition at these Games and the IOC to decide on the medal allocation.”
RUSADA did not reply.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympic team figure skaters are still waiting for medals a year after Beijing Games. Why?
0 Comments
Please do not enter any spam link in the comment box.