REZ Custom Arcade Machine Concept

LeeB99

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OK, so my son is just CRAZY about the Sega game "Rez", and to a lesser extent "Panzer Dragoon: Orta". If you are not familiar with "Rez", it is a hybrid Music/Shooter and has been released on several platforms. It was originally released on Dreamcast and PS2, but has recently gained a lot of recognition as "Rez HD" as downloadable content on Xbox Live.

This got me to thinking. What if someone wired up one of these console's controls to a Star Wars flight yoke? Here is a link to a youtube video of the game, so you can get an idea about what I am talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJFDHz581ko

During the last Christmas break, we built a pedestal arcade based PS3 system. The following video shows my son playing Afterburner: Climax on it. The "lock on" targeting system is similar to what is used in Rez...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_scIh508pE

The quality of the video leaves a lot to be desired, as it was taken by my Iphone...
 
I love this game.

It would be better with a space harrier type flight stick imo.

The key would be having really good speakers and also a headphone jack (game is godly with good headphones, big screen, no lights).

Also remember the game supports that auxiliary vibration pack. It would be awesome to make the flight stick have force feedback but might be hard to implement.
 
Cool looking game - I've never played it, but I wonder if a trackball would be a good control to use?

Difficult for a console, I know, but just saying...
 
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Cool looking game - I've never played it, but I wonder if a trackball would be a good control to use?

Difficult for a console, I know, but just saying...

It might be interesting, but I think a flight stick would keep the original feel better.

Maybe a Food Fight joystick could work? I don't really have that great of an idea how the food fight stick works but I am under the impression it is like a slightly elongated joystick that doesn't recenter itself. Might be cool.

Im 100% sure a flightstick would be fun for the game though.
 
A flight stick would be EASY to implement, as there are some made for the PS2 that SHOULD work to handle the interface side of things. The "body ("trance") vibration" vest was released in Japan (as only the Japanese are crazy enough to make such a device a viable sales item), and I THINK that it was only released for the Dreamcast. I'm not totally sold on the flight stick versus the yoke controller, BUT if you think about it, Planet Harriers used the same stick arrangmenet as Star Wars Trilogy, so that should give us an idea as to what SEGA would do. The problem that I personally have with the flight stick idea is that I would have a real hard time determining if the Y axis would need to be inverted or not, and I think that might effect gameplay for people. With the Star Wars Yoke (as used in the old original Atari vector machine), I think the inverted Y axis would feel much more natural.

Edit: After doing a quick search, the "Trance Vibration" feature is actually implemented into "Rez HD" on the Xbox360, making this platform the ideal choice for such a project. If you read the following article, it explains how it is implemented:

http://kotaku.com/349342/three-vibe-hands+on-with-rez-hd

Perhaps a cockpit cabinet with full surround high-end speakers and a heavy-duty vibration transducer wired into the seat back and floor (each driven by a separate controller's vibration function) and some sort of flight stick arrangement would indeed be the ultimate setup. With some custom artwork and proper execution (side curtains would be a definite plus), you could end up with a truly unique experience...
 
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