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True story: I caught epilepsy from Space Invaders Extreme 2!
Okay, not really. But it had me worried after playing for a while. So I Googled "epilespy" and the consensus seems to be that you can't catch it from playing an extravagantly colorful videogame with lots of wildly flashing lights and crazily moving images. But if you could catch it, Space Invaders Extreme 2 would give it to you.
A few things that set this apart from the excellent Space Invaders Extreme 1. Firstly, it's never going to work on a system that isn't a Nintendo DS. For the most part, the top screen displays scoring info. But sometimes you'll open up the arena to include invaders on the top screen that you have to shoot down while still dealing with the guys on the lower screen. Let's see a PSP do that! Secondly, there's a whole different set of bonus features you score by shooting down colored sets of invaders. This is laid out along the top of the screen where you can see it, because that's where you're shooting (previously, it was along the side of the screen). Thirdly, bingo! A bingo panel tracks which bonus features you've scored. Line up a row of three and you unlock a crazy Monty Haul scoring sessions with a pink and yellow color motif. Power users only, please. Fourth, a shield power-up. There's nothing quite like moving around with impunity behind the safety of a shield to set up your bonus features.
And last but not least, OHMYGODTHECOLORSANDLIGHTSANDFLASHINGANDI'MGOINGTO
HAVEASEIZURENOWHURRYPUTSOMETHINGUNDERMYTONGUE!
By salwon at 3:10 PM ON 10/28/09
I remember making fun of you around this time last year for going so gaga over the first one. I will not make that mistake again.
By salwon at 3:15 PM ON 10/28/09
Oh, and also:
Increase speed, drop down and reverse direction!
By WarpRattler at 3:32 PM ON 10/28/09
The first SIE had a shield power-up as well. It just looked different.
By unangbangkay at 4:23 PM ON 10/28/09
As a person with epilepsy I find your comment offensive! Fox News will hear of this!
Just kidding, though I do have it.
Actually, photosensitive epilepsy is possible, it just takes the right frequency and patterns. When a person posted some animated .gifs on the Epilepsy Foundation's forums, the patterns triggered a seizure in some folks.
By Tom Chick at 5:45 PM ON 10/28/09
"When a person posted some animated .gifs on the Epilepsy Foundation's forums, the patterns triggered a seizure in some folks."
I feel terrible that I find that funny. Just terrible.
Seriously, though, Mr. Bangkay, are there certain games you can't play because of your epilepsy? Are some genres worse than others? I remember when Sony had to issue some sort of special disclaimer for Wipeout HD because of some specific issue with folks prone to epilepsy.
By unangbangkay at 9:07 PM ON 10/28/09
It depends on the person. My type of epilepsy isn't actually photosensitive, so I can play what I please, but it comes in many forms. For some it's photosensitive, for others it happens on a regular, like-clockwork basis.
And yes, Sony (and some others) issue epilepsy safety warnings with their trippier games. I believe an episode of Pokemon was also edited in Japan after flashing red and blue effects triggered seizures.
unangbangkay:
It depends on the person. My type of epilepsy isn't actually photosensitive, so I can play what I please, but it co...More »