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GTA IV drinking mini-game detailed
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 21st February 2008
Niko: Mysterious criminal and unpredictable drinker according to NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil.
The NaturalMotion team are still relatively unknown, but have supplied middleware technologies and "dynamic motion synthesis technology replicating the movement of the human body and the reaction of the nervous system" for a number of top games according to the interview. That list includes Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and GTA IV.
When asked exactly where his new technologies had been put to work in the highly anticipated GTA IV, CEO Torsten Reil slipped out a few details on one of the drinking mini-games and how the technology behind it works;
"There is a drinking mini-game in very detailed form where you can get drunk and he can actually then stumble around and you have to get home. But all of that is fully simulated. So, it is not based on animation any more. It is actually all synthesized on the CPU. Which means that it has a completely different outcome every time you play."
Sounds fun.
Of course, not everyone was a big fan of the various mini-games and so forth which popped up in San Andreas and some games in particular didn't go down too well with the law courts. How do you think the new GTA is going to turn out? Let us know in the forums.
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Comments (17)
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Also, is it really a minigame? It sounds more like when you took those pills in GTA III... or even GTA 1 and 2 if I remember correctly. That was more like a power up.
It's not the mini game itself that is the point to note here. It's the way in which the system can create the animated illusion of a drunken stumble or walk without predefined animated moves.
And to me that's pretty impressive -- it means that you don't have preset animations for running and walking -- the animated model can react to ineratia, momentum and ground cambre. It makes for a more realistic simulation.
But getting stinko and trying to get home does sound fun. At least it's risk free as opposed to a usual Friday nite :)
It's probably some kind of mini game they use in missions, you have to do a minigame to drink your opponent senseless to take them away or beat them so they'll like you/give you information. Then they'll probably have it so there are several bars to visit that you need to beat someone to get a bonus like with the ambulance missions (and need it for 100% completion).
its gta iv, it will stir up headlines of dumb mainstream media anyway, even if rockstar would have radically changed the game so you would have to feed fluffy pink bunnies the media would still jump on it and claim it would be the devils seed.
Thats what I was thinking.
I remember the ability to get drunk in Fable: the lost chapters, which was entertaining for a couple of minutes of wavy screen-ness and vomiting in the middle of a pub then assaulting people, punching a guard, kicking a chicken and running away so I didnt get stuck with a fine.
I think the alcohol simulator will be cool, im really hoping they make a marijuana smoking mini game aswell.
As for the idea of the cpu creating the illusion of drunkeness thats pretty impressive.
The possibility for the creation of un-scripted ai and animations will be something to watch out for.
Man if it`s got an 18 cert on it it`s the parents fault not the games companies that it`s inspiring youngsters to violence!!