Playstation 2 Simulator

[terryhfs]

Hi Everyone,

I went to "Game-On", a computer games exhibition at the Barbican
on Sunday. They had a PS2 game, called something like "Drive The
Train", which is a Japan only release at the moment. I think "drive
The Train" is a literal conversion of the Japanese title.

The sim had its own controller, with a brake lever and a regulator,
looking a bit like the cab controls on the Japan commuter route. Other
controls are accessed with the "Select" and "Start" buttons.

The sim has a range of Japanese trains and lines, and graphically
looks gorgeous. The stations are amazingly detailed and there are
'real' people waiting at the platforms. There is a variety of views,
and lots of little head-ups, including icons of how comfortable your
passengers are, and mini videos of passengers legging it to the loos
if you deliberately give them a jerky ride, and the conductor ticking
you off for being late.

Alas, it's all in Japanese which makes the subtler points of gameplay
somewhat hard to fathom, but it's well worth a look. I couldn't find
any evidence of freight trains, but as I say, the menus were something
of a challenge.

I guess the game is fairly closed, being on the PS2, but there is a
development package for the PS2, includinng Linux, a hard drive.
a keyboard, mouse and a CD burner, which might make it possible
for add-ons to be produced by the pd community.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if it makes it to these shores ! I think
the friend I went with is planning to return, so I'll get him to take some
pictures and I'll post them. In the meantime, here's a link to the web site
of the company that makes it;

http://www.taito.co.jp/d3/lineup_c/ps2.html

Happy Simming,

Terry HFS...

[terryhfs]

I also found these two links to videos of another game - it looks awfully
like a cab ride video on DVD that you can actually control, either that
or the PS2 is a damned fine piece of kit.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/098/098006p1.html

Regards,

Terry HFS

[TylerDurden]

Yet another reason why PC's are better than consoles whaen it comes to sims, you cant install new anything, lol. Youd pay out £40 for a game that you cant alter, cant add new tracks, trains, etc. I bet that game is fun, lol.