If a picture is worth a thousand words, then can a movie render us speechless? Movies (motion pictures) have captivated the world. The way ideas and action can be communicated in a dynamic, visual, framed perspective is quite remarkable. At the theater we can find stories of the most epic proportions unfold before our very eyes. And now, personal video recorders are common place in consumer America. Why just take a picture, when I can capture the moment in sound and motion? If I’m going to capture a moment in life, then why not in my games too?
<p align="center"> <img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/brawl-video-mode.jpg" height="398" width="405" /></p>
Halo 3 has taken a revolutionary approach to capturing matches. But instead of sparing more words on the matter, I’ll just let you watch it for yourself. <a href="http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/14942">WATCH</a>.
If you’re thinking that Halo 3’s Vidoc is next gen, and there’s no way Brawl would be able to do something like that especially considering it’s on the Wii, then I invite you reflect on this list…. <!--more-->
<ul>
<li>Tony Hawk DS (Save Score attack runs and share them on the internet)</li>
<li>The Mokey Ball Series: GC, Wii (After any single player level, hit pause and save a replay)</li>
<li>The Mario Kart Series: N64, GBA, GC, DS(Time Trial ghost saves. Share with friends and they can compete against your memories, or rather, your dust trail.)</li>
<li>Forza Motorsport: 360(Race and Watch. This game even saves multiplayer matches)</li>
<li>Boogie Wii (Music video editor that allows you to add effects, text, and make cuts to jazz things up. And we all know, with gameplay like this, everything needs some jazzing.)</li>
<li>Skate: 360/PS3 (Edit video clips of your Skate runs, and upload it to the web)</li>
</ul>
Each of these games has some kind of video save feature. Some of them are GBA games, some N64, some Gamecube, some Wii, some 360, and some PS3. Clearly, this feature has been done (at least in part) in previous generations. This feature is not about processing power.Basically, if the little GBA Mario Kart (which is personally one of my favorites) can save game videos, then Brawl can surely do the same.
<ol>
<li>Halo3’s Vidoc was difficult to implement because game is played in expansive 3D environments that have many layers and players running around trying to kill each other. Unlike Halo3, Brawl has a maximum of four players that must fight in a relatively limited space.</li>
<li>The file sizes for Halo3 matches that range from 7-15 minutes are about 8mb. This isn’t too large even for Wii’s paltry memory capabilities. Further more, Smash matches don’t typically run as long.</li>
<li>Smash seems to have a lot less data to be accounted for. Halo3’s Vidoc records every rotation of every dropped grenade, every collision of every rag doll animation, every dead body, and every bird that flies by in the entire match. Even if Smash needed to save such detailed data, we already know Sakurai has cleverly allowed for information to be saved directly onto the SD card, so file size wouldn’t be a problem.</li>
<li>All the camera features are already implemented into Brawl’s pause and screen shot functions. It’s like everything is already set up.</li>
</ol>
We all know that Brawl is online. For those of you who aren’t technically savvy, allow me to break down how games communicate online. Whenever you do something to affect the game (ie, manipulating your character) your system quickly organizes the data into a packet. This packet is then sent across the internet. The other system reads the packet and makes the change accordingly. In other words it’s like playing Chess with your Dad from another room. Dad can move your pieces for you as long as you send him the right information regarding what pieces to move where. In this case the packet would be something like like “Pawn to D4.” The person sitting at the chess board is like the host system/computer in an online game. He’s in charge of making sure that all the right moves are set at the right times.The reason I explained how systems communicate online is, because Brawl is online, the game is already built to communicate in little efficient packets of information that can be easily transported. So my reasoning is, if these packets can be easily transported, then perhaps they can be easily saved and replayed. Honestly, if Brawl can send the data all around the world, then why can’t it send the data into the flash memory or the SD card. The extra processing power needed to do this would be minimal because the data for each packet is small and efficient. Remember my Pawn to D4 packet? You can simplify this packet even further to just D4. Check out this <a href="http://www.logicalchess.com/resources/lc/logical01frameset.html">entire Chess game</a>.
As my final point, I’d like to suggest a feature that not even Halo3 could implement. Let’s say you’re watching a Brawl save video of you versus your brother. You’re both down to your last stock and somehow, he scrapes away with the win. As you’re reviewing the video, you find that critical moment when you should have shield-grabbed, and, because you didn’t, the tables were turned against you. You pause the video and think, “I wish I would have shield-grabbed.”
What if you could go back and change the outcome? I’m not talking about time travel. As you replay the video in Brawl, the game would actually run the match in real time. The only difference is, you’re watching it instead of playing it. What if you could pause the video, take up your controller, and play from any part. I call this feature <strong>Second Chance.</strong> With this feature, you can not only view your mistakes, but learn from them by playing through those moments over again. If you don’t have anyone else to play with at the moment, you can plug computer AI for the other players. Ideally, you’ll be able to call your brother over, start up the match from that critical point, shield-grab and gain the win over your brother…. that is… until he goes back in the footage to over throw you.
Seems too futuristic? Or are you just speechless? I know I’m holding my breath for features like these. And if we get them, then words will not be able to express my joy.
<p align="center"> <img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/brawl-video-mode.jpg" height="398" width="405" /></p>
Halo 3 has taken a revolutionary approach to capturing matches. But instead of sparing more words on the matter, I’ll just let you watch it for yourself. <a href="http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/14942">WATCH</a>.
If you’re thinking that Halo 3’s Vidoc is next gen, and there’s no way Brawl would be able to do something like that especially considering it’s on the Wii, then I invite you reflect on this list…. <!--more-->
<ul>
<li>Tony Hawk DS (Save Score attack runs and share them on the internet)</li>
<li>The Mokey Ball Series: GC, Wii (After any single player level, hit pause and save a replay)</li>
<li>The Mario Kart Series: N64, GBA, GC, DS(Time Trial ghost saves. Share with friends and they can compete against your memories, or rather, your dust trail.)</li>
<li>Forza Motorsport: 360(Race and Watch. This game even saves multiplayer matches)</li>
<li>Boogie Wii (Music video editor that allows you to add effects, text, and make cuts to jazz things up. And we all know, with gameplay like this, everything needs some jazzing.)</li>
<li>Skate: 360/PS3 (Edit video clips of your Skate runs, and upload it to the web)</li>
</ul>
Each of these games has some kind of video save feature. Some of them are GBA games, some N64, some Gamecube, some Wii, some 360, and some PS3. Clearly, this feature has been done (at least in part) in previous generations. This feature is not about processing power.Basically, if the little GBA Mario Kart (which is personally one of my favorites) can save game videos, then Brawl can surely do the same.
<ol>
<li>Halo3’s Vidoc was difficult to implement because game is played in expansive 3D environments that have many layers and players running around trying to kill each other. Unlike Halo3, Brawl has a maximum of four players that must fight in a relatively limited space.</li>
<li>The file sizes for Halo3 matches that range from 7-15 minutes are about 8mb. This isn’t too large even for Wii’s paltry memory capabilities. Further more, Smash matches don’t typically run as long.</li>
<li>Smash seems to have a lot less data to be accounted for. Halo3’s Vidoc records every rotation of every dropped grenade, every collision of every rag doll animation, every dead body, and every bird that flies by in the entire match. Even if Smash needed to save such detailed data, we already know Sakurai has cleverly allowed for information to be saved directly onto the SD card, so file size wouldn’t be a problem.</li>
<li>All the camera features are already implemented into Brawl’s pause and screen shot functions. It’s like everything is already set up.</li>
</ol>
We all know that Brawl is online. For those of you who aren’t technically savvy, allow me to break down how games communicate online. Whenever you do something to affect the game (ie, manipulating your character) your system quickly organizes the data into a packet. This packet is then sent across the internet. The other system reads the packet and makes the change accordingly. In other words it’s like playing Chess with your Dad from another room. Dad can move your pieces for you as long as you send him the right information regarding what pieces to move where. In this case the packet would be something like like “Pawn to D4.” The person sitting at the chess board is like the host system/computer in an online game. He’s in charge of making sure that all the right moves are set at the right times.The reason I explained how systems communicate online is, because Brawl is online, the game is already built to communicate in little efficient packets of information that can be easily transported. So my reasoning is, if these packets can be easily transported, then perhaps they can be easily saved and replayed. Honestly, if Brawl can send the data all around the world, then why can’t it send the data into the flash memory or the SD card. The extra processing power needed to do this would be minimal because the data for each packet is small and efficient. Remember my Pawn to D4 packet? You can simplify this packet even further to just D4. Check out this <a href="http://www.logicalchess.com/resources/lc/logical01frameset.html">entire Chess game</a>.
As my final point, I’d like to suggest a feature that not even Halo3 could implement. Let’s say you’re watching a Brawl save video of you versus your brother. You’re both down to your last stock and somehow, he scrapes away with the win. As you’re reviewing the video, you find that critical moment when you should have shield-grabbed, and, because you didn’t, the tables were turned against you. You pause the video and think, “I wish I would have shield-grabbed.”
What if you could go back and change the outcome? I’m not talking about time travel. As you replay the video in Brawl, the game would actually run the match in real time. The only difference is, you’re watching it instead of playing it. What if you could pause the video, take up your controller, and play from any part. I call this feature <strong>Second Chance.</strong> With this feature, you can not only view your mistakes, but learn from them by playing through those moments over again. If you don’t have anyone else to play with at the moment, you can plug computer AI for the other players. Ideally, you’ll be able to call your brother over, start up the match from that critical point, shield-grab and gain the win over your brother…. that is… until he goes back in the footage to over throw you.
Seems too futuristic? Or are you just speechless? I know I’m holding my breath for features like these. And if we get them, then words will not be able to express my joy.
