|
PS3
Railfan: Taiwan High Speed Rail
- New Import, In Stock |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
NCS Game Synopsis
«©NCS»
Twenty
seven years after the concept of the Taiwan
High Speed Rail twinkled in its creators'
collective eyes and six years after construction
started, the new railroad system opened on January
5, 2007. Spanning eight cities across western
Taiwan from Taipei to Zuoying, service to five
additional cities is planned in the next few years
including Changhua and Yunlin.
The first Railfan game for the PS3 has sold well to a
contingent of devoted train-game fans and the
second Railfan gives players the reins of a
Shinkansen Super Express on the Taiwan HSR. The
video used in Railfan was captured with a
stationary high-definition camera mounted behind
the windshield of the Super Express which spooled
in 700 km of footage as the train ran through the
entire HSR line both ways. In other words, if
you're an aficionado of trains and Taiwan in
general, you'll get to see the geography, sights,
and landscape of Taiwan as it appears from the
vantage point of a conductor who motors along at
290 km/h.
Similar to the Densha de Go! games from Taito, players take control
of a train and manipulate the virtual levers to accelerate
between stations and decelerate when entering a
platform. The key to success in conducting a
passenger train is perfect braking so that the
train fits neatly alongside each station platform.
Once the train is sidled properly against the
platform, the passengers can step off without
falling into the tracks. That would be a bad
thing.
Jan Code: 4948872960182
|
|
|
NCS Game Notes
» Before the Taiwan HSR opened up, the press and
the public in Taiwan had fatalistic views of the
train system's debut and operations. At one point,
we heard ruminations of a 50-50 chance of a
derailment on the first day of service. There were
some ticket sale problems and little glitches at
the launch but otherwise, the fears and
malfeasance that festered in the years before the
opening were largely unfounded.
» On the game screen, the left side shows a schema
of the moving track with the train on the bottom
and on the upper right corner is the time, the
name of the next station, current speed, and
distance to the next station. The control panel is
shown on the lower portion of the screen and takes
up a good chunk of the display so that the "visor"
of the train that you peer out of is fairly
constrained and cramped. The dashboard can be
toggled off so that the full view of the oncoming
tracks and the surrounding area is shown.
» The Stations on the HSR Line are currently:
Taipel
Banciao
Taoyuan
Hsinchu
Taichung
Chiayi
Tainan
Zuoying
» The signage in the stations along the THSR, on
the backs of the chairs, and pretty much
everywhere throughout the stations is bi-lingual -
Chinese and English. To match the bilingual nature
of the actual Taiwan HSR, the interface in the
Railfan game can be played in Chinese or
English.
» In addition to the game itself, the Sony team
added a sort of digital travelogue in Railfan: HSR
which shows notable sights, neighborhoods, tourist
attractions, and landmarks along the train line as
well as examples of the local cuisine at various
eateries that may be savored if you're planning on
taking a Railfan-inspired tour of Taiwan.
» The seats in the THSR Economy Class cars are
colored blue. This may indicate the western ideal
of "blue collar" where blue uniforms denoted the
working class. The Business Class car seats are
colored red. In Chinese culture, the color red is
indicative of good fortune and luck. A little
bit of extra trivia: Contrary to the Western
stock market where losses are shown in red and
gains in green, gains in Asian stock markets are
displayed in red and losses are displayed in
green.
» The THSR uses the Japanese Shinkansen trains and
the UrEDAS earthquake detection system.
|
|
This document and photos are ©NCSX 2007. All rights
reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of
this document may be made without express written
consent of National Console Support, Inc. |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
