The Trouble With Streaming

I loved DVD’s when they were a thing. The higher image quality and the ability to jump to my favourite scenes instantly were neat, but the thing I loved most about DVD’s was the extra storage space they provided, allowing studios the freedom to bundle extras like blooper reels, behind-the-scenes documentaries, commentary tracks and making-of featurettes.

I adored seeing the magic behind the curtain. It never robbed me of the beauty of cinema, but made it shine even brighter. I watched those bonus features more than the movie they came with. 

But as DVD’s and physical media transitioned into the streaming services, those bonus feature became more and more difficult to track down. Netflix never had making-of specials included with the movie for the longest time, and still doesn’t for most of it’s content. Neither Prime nor Apple TV seem to make a habit of it either. Occasionally, someone would upload such content to YouTube, and even more occasionally, it would an official source.

In their defense, Netflix does have a series called “The Movies That Made Us” that looks back at an ever increasing catalogue of classic movies and the trials and tribulations that went into making them. I find every episode fascinating, even the ones on movies I’ve never seen, like classic slasher Friday the 13th. They get wonderful stories from costume and set designers, scriptwriters, producers, and actors and more. The documentary series highlights the less often heard voices compared to studio produced making-of features, and getting far more gritty and truthful confessions on what it was like to create my favourite, and not so favourite movies. 

Most recently, Disney+ has embraced it full on though. The recent Marvel movies and series all have additional content to support them available directly on the service, and I love them! As soon as I finish the movie or show, I jump into the making-of stuff, because it’s right there! Often linked in the end screen. 

I hope this trend continues and we see a return to the overloaded content that used to be included on DVD’s. Netflix does have some great features up for it’s recent high fantasy series,  The Witcher, so, I live in hope. 

10,000G, 100% PURE Class

Not that long ago I posted about reaching 1,000G in a game for the very first time.

Today, I announce my newest gaming achievement. Minutes ago, I reached the five-digit GamerScore! 10,000G.

I gotta admit, I never thought I'd see that number under my Gamer Tag! As I said when I reached 1,000G in Burnout, I wasn't very big into GamerScore until I went online. I think it also helped that I started hitting benchmarks, like the first thousand, and I began to realize just how close I was getting to the 10,000 mark, which lent an air or excitement to each new Achievement I unlocked. Once I was within just a few short points of the big round number, I decided that I wanted to hit it exactly, and searched around for some easily reached Achievements that would give me just the right amount. Conveniently, Saints Row 2 hand a few five and ten point Achievements that I had yet to unlock.

But while Saints Row 2 might have brought me up to the magic number, most recently it was PURE*, a quad bike racing game by Disney, that added a sizable chunk of GamerScore to my tally. Having played the demo months ago, I grabbed this while it was on sale in HMV. It's an awesome racing game, that kicks things up a notch with an incredible tricks system. The tracks are stunningly beautiful, and the character models are fantastically detailed. I love how the bikes and riders start fresh and clean at the beginning of every race, but slowly get covered in a layer of mud and dirt that seems genuinely realistic. The immerse quality of the game can best be defined by revealing that this is the first game in well over a decade that I have found myself leaning side-to-side around corners, or twisting the controller in odd ways as my bike leaps off the apex of a hill into the wild blue yonder! The odd faces I make, and the little yelps of pain only add to the experience. Playing it with an audience adds a further soundtrack of cheers, howls of laughter and gasps of horror, depending on the outcome of some particularly spectacular jumps. I was particularly impressed with the veracity of the locations when a friend called over, looked at one of the loading screens for the start of a race and accurately identified the location. In fact, he had been standing roughly when the image was taken from, and had used the cable car that was visible! Nice!

The game itself is incredibly fun to play. I'd be lying if I said it was difficult, but Disney have successfully walked the thin line that separates easy from hard to create a game that remains fun right through to the end. I managed to get first place in every race fairly easily, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

One of the cooler aspects of the game is the bike creation feature. You get to build your own bikes, with an incredible ten slots to unlock and fill in your garage! Everything can be altered and customised, from performance affecting parts like the frame or engine, to purely aesthetic features, such as the grips, nerf bar or mudguards. Noel, Bob and Chris have all designed bikes for me, each with their own unique take on how I should use them. In all cases, I have gone on to use their bikes over my own! Chris designed a killer stunt track ATV, Bob's bike is great for races, proving that red truly does go faster, while Noels PaleHorse is the perfect all-rounder!

With such great gameplay, amazing graphics, beautiful locations and crystal clear commitment to fun, PURE is a game no racing enthusiast should be without. Seeing the Disney brand on the cover might turn some people off, but this is no Avatar! You earn your Achievements, and it feels great when you do. I pumped the air so often while playing this game I think I strained a shoulder muscle!

That, or I'm just having sympathetic pains for all those times I landed my onscreen rider head-first into the track.

* - I linked to a review of PURE on Xbox 360 Achievements instead of the official homepage, as the games site is entirely Flash based and immediately starts playing sound and music once it loads up. If you'd like to visit the official homepage, just click here. Just remember, you have been warned.