The coat of a 1000 pockets...
...and 11 other gaming conventions to enhance our lives
Shadows - the ultimate hiding place
No messing around here. Now you see us, stood in the glare of a light bulb/the sun/a nuclear blast. Now you don't, as we've nimbly stepped into the comforting shrouds of the videogame shadow, a light-repelling, super-camouflaging safety zone.
Imagine the benefits of being able to totally conceal yourself in the slightest shadowy nook or cranny. No more worrying about curfews, detentions or the like. And if you keep your kitchen suitably lit (or not lit) you'll be able to shirk cleaning duties by just pushing everything into the lightless corners.
Quick Save/Load
Urk! You knew you shouldn't have bet your month's wages on that horse, what with it being blind, drunk and three-legged. But, then, it was 1000-1. Nevermind, just hit Quickload and zip right back to the moment before you pushed your hard earned over the bookies des... What? You didn't set up a Quicksave point?! You idiot!
Yes, with a little forward planning, there's no situation in life that wouldn't be better experienced with the benefits of Quicksave and Quickload. Perhaps we'd have only a few Quicksaves to call on, like four in a lifetime, which would play havoc with the more impatient users.
While they eat up their quota on endlessly reliving transient glories (sex, promotions, winning sporting events... sex) the more thoughtful Quickloaders would wait until they hit 60 before sweeping back the years and starting all over again from 15. Only now with all their hard-earned knowledge. Er, and in a scenario much less sinister than that sounds.
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Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of 12DOVE. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.