Dead Space may provide scares without pause
by Justin McElroy 
{ Feb 11th 2008 at 5:55PM }
But are we the only ones who don't normally use the pause button to catch our breath but rather when life gets in the way of gaming? Is EA telling us we shouldn't interrupt our play to enjoy a refreshing soda or answer a creditor's phone call? Either way, the decision to remove pause is theirs, but if their pauseless game scares the crap out of us, we're sending them the cleaning bill.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Urza @ Feb 11th 2008 6:01PM
Forget answering the phone. What about when you're so scared you need to use the toilet? :P
Stupid idea.
They should put a Pause ON/OFF feature in the title screen's menu options, off by default if that's how they decide the game is intended to be played. Then we can play either way.
Heck, make an achievement for playing with Pause off if they really want to promote that type of game play.
NeverSage @ Feb 11th 2008 6:07PM
I totally agree. If they're doing it for immersion, like rumble, there should be the option to turn it on and off, like rumble.
DWells55 @ Feb 11th 2008 6:44PM
I understand where they're coming from, but this is like releasing a DVD with pause locked out. Sometimes it's necessary to pause. Leave it up to the gamer to figure out how they want to play the game instead of forcing them to play a specific way.
W. Brent Latta @ Feb 11th 2008 6:01PM
Just pop into the 360 Dashboard instead. Microsoft requires the game to pause when the Dashboard blade is opened...
riggs @ Feb 11th 2008 8:59PM
really? cause i keep getting 8 second violations everytime i do that in NBA2k8
bobartig @ Feb 11th 2008 11:21PM
Or pull the controller of the currently logged in gamertag. It is a TCR (technical certification requirement) that the game pause in the even of a controller pull as well. I mean, a game without pauses would never get through CQC anyways. (Yes, I worked in EA's QA department)
But seriously, unless they're making the single player scenario around hour and a half tops, they've got to put in some suspend mode for sure. I just don't get that long to game at a time anymore.
Shignami @ Feb 11th 2008 6:03PM
This is a brilliant idea, i see no way in witch it can go wrong.
NeverSage @ Feb 11th 2008 6:07PM
I like the cut of your jib, Shignami.
HighFiveJesus @ Feb 11th 2008 6:51PM
Whats a jib?
....
Promote that man!
ViagraFiend @ Feb 12th 2008 10:31AM
*cackles like witch
Neil O. @ Feb 11th 2008 6:08PM
They had the same thing in steel battalion for the xbox, people quickly discovered you could easily pause by unplugging the controller, or in this case, popping out the batteries.
koehler83 @ Feb 11th 2008 6:09PM
Another stupid move from EA.
ComicShaman @ Feb 11th 2008 6:28PM
Well, it's not actually a "move" yet. The article says they're just considering it, not that they've decided to actually do it. So it's just a bad concept at this point.
Blazur @ Feb 11th 2008 6:15PM
I've not been following this game, but hearing this has suddenly raised my interest level considerably.
Will this be out for the PC?
Void Munashii @ Feb 11th 2008 6:15PM
It's not just the wimp's way out, it's also the wife-has-picked-right-now-to-try-and-talk-to-me way out, the someone's-at-the-door button, the phone's-ringing button, and the I've-drank-too-many-Java-Monsters-and-have-to-take-a-leak button.
I would be hesitant to plunk down $60 for a game that was going to tell me I cannot pause it to go get a drink.
JangoGod @ Feb 11th 2008 6:21PM
Wimps! Hold it like a man! (Unless your a women. Then don't get this game)
Ian Murray @ Feb 11th 2008 9:19PM
You, sir, have just won the lifetime achievement award.
Seriously, someone get this guy a plaque.
Vegnagun bwf @ Feb 11th 2008 6:28PM
What if a crazed meth addict breaks into my house and tries to kill me and steal my loot, but I'm at a really good part in Dead Space? Your move EA.
343 Guilty Fart @ Feb 11th 2008 8:12PM
That comment made my day, kudos to you sir.
Starstew @ Feb 11th 2008 6:42PM
That's "tried and true".
Flakundenga @ Feb 11th 2008 6:41PM
What a retarded idea. I do accept I sometimes pause when I'm scared, but most of the time is because I have to take out the dog, answer the phone, ect. EA should know that besides playing their games a have a life o tend to!
ComicShaman @ Feb 11th 2008 6:42PM
If you want to immerse people in your game, give it a good story, atmosphere, and controls. Don't rely on gimmicks.
To me, there comes a point where a developer has to stop trying to force the player to experience a game EXACTLY as they want it to and let the players have their way. This idea reminds me of games where you can't skip the cutscenes. Yes, the developers put a lot of work into them and they want you to see them, by God, and you're missing the full experience if you don't, etc. and so forth. But some players don't dig cutscenes, and to force them to watch all the way through will just piss them off.
For a really egregious example of pushy developer philosophy, see Factor 5 with "Lair." They could have included analog controls, but chose to inflict awful motion-sensing controls on players instead, because that was "their vision" for the game.
I hope EA dumps this idea.
matt @ Feb 11th 2008 6:46PM
Just started playing Assassins creed, and was very pleased when I found out I could pause during a cinematic instead of skipping it. You know, cause the real world takes precedence over the virtual one.
I hope this winds up like the Turok "Grab Bag" thing and the pure hate changes their mind.
WedgeTalon @ Feb 11th 2008 8:13PM
+1
Too few games allow pausing during cinematics. I'm especially looking at you, JRPGS.
Nothing is worse, though, than trying to pause an awesome cinematic to go do whatever just to end up irrevocably skipping it. :(
Noshino @ Feb 12th 2008 8:06AM
WedgeTalon,
which JRPG's are you talking about? nowadays most of them do allow you to stop the cutscenes...
Phinehas @ Feb 11th 2008 6:48PM
This seems misguided to me. I mean, I can sorta understand having it in for trivially saved games. Being able to easily roll back to a previously saved game subverts temporal irreversibility and lessens the importance of game decisions. But it seems to me that taking out the pause function could make the game so improbably inconvenient to play that--even if someone actually buys the game--most people will be loathe to put the disk in because of the incredible commitment required in doing so.
Corbo @ Feb 11th 2008 6:50PM
Reading the article, it seems that they're more interested in stopping players pausing to use items like power-ups and health packs selected from an inventory. That all has to be done in real time.
Doesn't explain how they're going to handle other normal pause menu functions like save, load, options or quit though.
It's an interesting idea but I doubt it'll actually happen and if it does, there'll be a lot of people who don't like it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was only brought up during the interview to see how gamers would react.
Yourself @ Feb 11th 2008 7:12PM
That's odd, I had this exact same idea when I sat down and played some Eternal Darkness the other night. Then my girlfriend called, and the beast known as "impracticality" reared its ugly head.
Lucky @ Feb 11th 2008 7:20PM
I use the pause button to take a crap. You telling me EA doesn't want me to crap?
ComicShaman @ Feb 11th 2008 8:15PM
I'm afraid it's true.
EA is trying to establish a monopoly on crap, you see. They don't want the competition.
Deozaan @ Feb 11th 2008 7:29PM
The only game (series) I can think of that I've paused for a break from the game is WarioWare. If you're doing the same microgame 999 times in a row, you need a pause to rest your wrist.
The only other time I pause games is when life gets in the way, not because I'm scared or enthralled or whatever and just need to be reminded of how much real life actually sucks. The point of gaming is to break from reality.
But the fact is that life is often more important and you do need to be able to stop gaming to get back to things that matter.
Arturo @ Feb 11th 2008 7:33PM
Some games don't pause actually when the guide comes up for 360. If all else fails, disconnect or take the batteries out of the controller, then it HAS to pause.
koehler83 @ Feb 11th 2008 8:13PM
Batteries.. out of the controller...? What?
Lekko @ Feb 12th 2008 3:56AM
PS3 gamer, meet 360 gamer.
(360 controllers don't have batteries built into them)
caiaphas @ Feb 11th 2008 8:03PM
Just use the XBox Dashboard button. Problem Solved.
Arturo @ Feb 11th 2008 8:28PM
Some games don't pause actually when the guide comes up for 360.
BIGGEN @ Feb 11th 2008 8:11PM
i agree with the one guy, have it an option like rumble. tell you what tho, if EA or anyone for that matter can actually make a game that scares the shit out of me, i'll play it their way. condemned has come the closest to even giving me a shiver down my spine and i would plunk down $60 for some actual immersion like that. werd
Ian Murray @ Feb 11th 2008 9:24PM
I'm all for companies innovating, and changing the way we as gamers perceive what is "conventional", but a pause screen isn't something you can merely toss.
It's not an afterthought, it's a requirement. You need to be able to STOP the GAME.
Microswirl @ Feb 11th 2008 10:28PM
Maybe time slows down (or stops altogether) if you're idle? Technically you didn't pause the game, it's just that you're not moving/switching weapons/etc.
Another way this would work would be if there was no loading after dying. Much like in Halo 3, the game could instantly start you back at the last checkpoint... also there would have to be a checkpoint every couple minutes.
Or maybe the game could go all Slaughterhouse 5 on you and just randomly place the player in different points in the timeline, instead following a linear plot, thus rendering useless any concept of progress or continuity.
But that's just me. I'm sure EA is too stupid to justify this dumbass design choice.
Grimmus @ Feb 11th 2008 11:33PM
Congratulations everyone, you've proven you can all come up with some inane or repeated example of what you need to use the pause button for. Now, the next question on the "I've got the creativity level of a chimpanzee" test is...
BIGGEN @ Feb 12th 2008 6:10AM
"Now, the next question on the "I've got the creativity level of a chimpanzee" test is..."
How to leave a douchebag comment about how everyone has proven we can all come up with some inane or repeated example of what you need to use the pause button for.
see, i can do it too. only i got an A.
Jerk Face @ Feb 11th 2008 11:46PM
There are so many awful grammar and spelling errors in these comments that my brain just tried to escape from my skull.
ThinkingOf @ Feb 12th 2008 1:13AM
i bet that waste of time made you feel slightly superior. although, you do have a point, if you were an english teacher and this was a class room and we were students. in fact, this was the stupidest waste of reading time when compared to the comment i just made about yours.
Lekko @ Feb 12th 2008 3:51AM
I'm sorry, but if you take out pause, you end out missing more of the game than you gain.
People show up and instead of just pausing and getting rid of them or dealing with things so you can get back to the game, you have to just let it run and miss out on whatever, or leave it in gameplay and die so you have to re-re-replay the same thing again and again, which discourages you from playing.
I can see what they are getting at, but I think removing pause just doesn't really work. Pausing in general could use retooling, yes, but not removing it altogether.
valentine @ Feb 12th 2008 7:22AM
How about this? For all the people who are so "hardcore" that they think pausing a game is the wimp's way out. How about they just leave pausing in as normal and YOU just don't have to press that button instead of forcing something so silly on the rest of us. No one's forcing you to press pause.
iCarrumba @ Feb 12th 2008 9:19AM
Looking at the comments, there was apparently only one person that read the entire story.
They are talking about using the Pause feature to stop time in order to use inventory items such as health packs or change weapons. I can see this as a good thing to keep you from pausing to fill up on health packs in order to defeat the enemy.
There was no mention that I could see of not being able to pause the game.
The Doctor @ Feb 12th 2008 7:28PM
Actually,
"this system keeps you in the game all the time and looks bloody cool.
The development version we played had a pause function assigned to the start button, like every other game. But EA says it's unsure whether that will make it to the final game."
What YOU describe would be great, what the article describes (which is complete removal of the pause button) would prevent midcore gamers from playing the game.
iCarrumba @ Feb 13th 2008 10:16AM
Good point Doc.
I was basing my interpretation on the following info from the article...
"you could hit pause, calmly cycle through your inventory and ram a few health packs down your throat...developers talking about omitting that option completely so you won't be able to pause the game, revive, and take a breather."
Looking further towards the end, there was the mention of removing the pause altogether. They would get so much flak for doing something like that - I hope they have someone there with a bit of common sense.
J @ Feb 13th 2008 11:15PM
If there was no pause, how would you save/load/quit? There must be those basic options, so I think iCarrumba is right. There's no pause "menu," for inventory/equipment changes, but there must be some way to put the game on hold.
On the other hand, it might be kind of interesting. You have to find a safe corner somewhere before you can get up and leave the game for an extended amount of time XD
BBM @ Feb 15th 2008 11:20AM
Just have back/select handle your inventory and health kits, and have that in real time or half time or whatever, and have start handle saving/loading, options, quitting, and actually pausing the game.