Has anyone read the Gamespot article yet? It goes into a little more detail about the role-playing aspects of , and also what to expect from the lightcycle races.

The descriptions sound really cool. The way the skill and inventory system works is perfect. Jet picks up subroutines (skills) that start at an "alpha" version, that are inefficient and use up a lot of his codebase's memory (inventory slots). He'll be forced to pick and choose his subroutines, based on how much memory the system he's in affords him.

So in a PDA, there's very little memory, and Jet needs to figure out which subroutines stay, and which ones go. That will make for some really interesting gameplay. Dump the wrong subroutine, and Jet will find it difficult to move on. So there's some strategy involved, not just shoot everything that moves.

As time goes on, he finds ways to make the subroutines more efficient, so they work better and take up less memory. And his version number increases. That's a cool little touch. He probably starts out at "Jet v1.0", and the number increases every time he improves himself.

The way the lightcycle control is handled sounds interesting. You have to use both the keyboard (or joystick) and mouse. You need the mouse to look around and see what's going on, while you control the cycle. I wonder how well that's going to work out? I also read you can drive the cycles in both third and first-person perspective!

I'm glad to hear that riding the cycles won't be confined to an arena. You'll be able to use one to escape enemies and travel across the electronic world. Cool!

There's only one thing I haven't read about, that I hope is in the game. I'd like to see pools of energy, like the one Flynn, Tron, and Ram found. So far, all I've read about is that you get energy by defeating enemies. I think it would be cool if you found a sort of oasis of energy in the game, as some sort of hidden secret, that would give you an immense power-up. So you could do the kind of stuff Flynn did in the movie. Not to mention a shimmering energy pool on an electronic landscape would look awesome.

Can you tell I'm still as psyched as ever, about this game?

I need to get my hands on that article, in the Computer Games mag!

I also picked up the magazine, yesterday. Lucky enough, the mag actually had several articles I found interesting, so I ended up not spending $10 just for the story.

However, as I feared, there was no content on the CD. I mean, what the hell? They have this big feature article on the game, and it's on the front cover . . . yet they put no screenshots or trailers on the CD? (Of course, in the PREVIOUS issue they put stuff on the disc. Go figure. )

I also noticed some problems with layouts, and numerous typos throughout the mag. Their writers (or editor) need some more sleep, or a raise, I think.

The author of the article (Tom Chick) obviously is not as knowledgable about the subject as he likes to think, because he misspells Encom as Emcon constantly. He also forgets the 'e' in Thorne's name. (Okay, picky picky. )

And if he's repsonsible for the sidebars in the article, he all but TRASHES the original film!

I mean, gimme a break! Maybe the movie was a flop from a financial standpoint, and not all that many moviegoers "got it". But he doesn't emphasize the other side of the story . . . the folks that loved the film. And he leads us to believe that , not geeks, but NERDS were the only ones who loved .

Still, despite all that, I'm glad I picked this up. Though, I too, wish the article had been a bit longer. Nevertheless, it filled me in on a lot of what to expect, from the game. I was also hoping for more new or exclusive screenshots, because there were only a couple in the article that I haven't seen before.

The most interesting part, was about the road the film script travelled, before it reached the final draft. I didn't know it was such a rocky one. The early drafts were supposed to be much more techincal and scientific, explaining what was going on in the electronic world, and how it worked. The characters also would have been deeper and more complex than they turned out. I guess everyone felt that such a heavy script, together with the visuals, would have been too much for audiences to handle. So the film ended up being much more light-hearted and whimsical, I dare say.

Well, it looks like they were right, because the audience couldn't even handle the look of the film. It just zoomed over the top of their heads. Now just imagine the script had been as technical as it was going to be. Then no one would have "gotten it".

Ah well, I can't wait for to come out, dammit. It is seriously going to kick ass. But I guess the extra time is being taken to make the game even better. So I suppose the frustration of waiting another five months will be worth it.

I picked up and read the article last night as well. I was a bit annoyed at the writer with the initial Tron-bashing he dished out at the start of the article, but the last few paragraphs were a bit redeeming.
The description of the game sounds great, and it just couldn't be any more amazing. I'm looking forward to Tron more than any other game I've anticipated installing....You lucky, lucky Beta-testing beyatches!

I remember dragging my grandfather to see Tron when I was 8 years old.....I must have made him see it 6 times....He would fall asleep, and enjoy the nap while I watched the movie.....I made my parents see it, I went to see it with all of my friends.....I think I saw it 12 -13 times in the theatre. I loved that movie. It was tailor made for an 8 year old with Pac Man Fever.
I really don't care what some writer has to say about the movie. It helped shape my future career, and I used it as a yard stick with which to measure other movies.
Now that I have it on DVD, I watch it every other week or so....even if it's just 'on' in the background while I am working. Call me a dork, nerd, geek or whatever, but Tron was/is an awesome movie.

Ah man what a treat! I'm still loading the others right now. This is so cool!
Man it looks awsome! Nice reflective detail they have going there on the game grid.

Thanks for the link to the movies.

Amazing! Can't wait.

LOL, flynn!

Thanks for the links! Those little movies were great. Thanks also for the tip on how to reset the limit, redrain!

Current status:
Internet: ACCESS INTO TRON MEDIA FILES--GRANTED
MEDIA PLAYER ACCEPTED
flynn1978:"...and good times were had by all."
User: "That's for users... Hmmph. 'C is for cookie' indeed."

WOW! The newest screenshots in the updated preview article are INCREDIBLE.

The article also reveals some new details about gameplay, it's definitely worth reading.

BTW, I think the characters in the first and sixth of the new screenshots (with the X's on their heads), are the "Resource Hogs" mentioned on the site. Heh, a bike gang in cyberspace . . . that's just too funny.

The only thing that sucks, is the video clips are exclusively for Gamespot Complete members. You'll never see me subscribe though, despite how much I'd love to see them. What a rip-off. At least IGN doesn't force you to subscribe.