Lockwood PODI Revealed
by BONZO, HSM team writer
The teaser for Lockwood’s PODI fireworks system had us speculating what they meant by “High Definition Fireworks System.” Personally, I didn’t anticipate a system we would own — rather a system we would be privileged to see in public display. The last thing I anticipated was such a cool innovative system.
This month, has just begun and already it is full of surprises. Lockwood was the first to give us fireworks, if you recall last year’s release of the Midnight Glade serene space, and the fireworks pack. If you look closely, the fireworks were pre-animated so they are consistent, and the only room for innovation and improvisation in fireworks display is how you lay out each of the variation of fireworks launchers.
The PODI system is something completely different, unique, innovative and unlike anything we have seen in Home. This amazing little interactive robot gives you control to create a custom fireworks display, use randomly generated displays based on emotes, or randomly generate a display system on command. Yes, you too can now be Gandalf and wow the crowd at your next party. As with the previous fireworks displays, you buy different colors ans star patterns from bundles.
The interactive involvement with the robot is what sets it apart from anything out there. There have been very few active items you could interact with through emotes, but we have yet to see this level of interactivity with any item we could purchase. You can trigger randomly generated fireworks display through emotes, but if you take a loot at the graphic user interface, this cute little robot has an emotion meter. The more you interact with it the happier it is, and the happier it is the more rewards you unlock.
Yes, there are rewards: eleven free rewards with this awesome little gadget.
What really sets off the fireworks is the creative aspect of creating a custom display off the star patterns you own. The more display patterns you buy the more options you have to get incredibly creative with your own designed fireworks display. You even have options between fuse lengths, which alter how long it takes for the fireworks to go off. That gives you control of what sequence the fireworks go off in.
The best feature of this creative element is the ability to save your designs to your PlayStation 3 hard drive which you can load at any time — however you can only save one sequence per PODI placed in a personal space. You can buy the sparkle patterns in bundles or individually; the cheapest bundle comes with the starter pack of two boxes. According to Lockwood each box contains about six different types of patterns. So even with the starter pack of two boxes you have twelve patterns to get started with, and a free unlockable bonus box. The ultimate bundle pack will include four boxes, plus the bonus box you can unlock. Just imagine the number of possibilities with thirty different patterns. Not to mention that in the future Lockwood may introduce expansion packs to add to the possibilities.
Creating your own fireworks display is awesome enough, and while I liked the previous fireworks system Lockwood had introduced, each launcher took up one memory block in the limited budget of memory you have per personal space. The PODI is an active item, but ONE active item with an incredible creative element that is limited by your imagination alone. If that doesn’t blow your mind, the sound will. Yes, sound. What are fireworks without the sounds, but just flashing colors? The Midnight Glade fireworks were a good fix, but Lockwood has improved on that innovation by leaps. According to Lockwood, the fireworks launch with amazing audio effects. I am expecting a whistle, and a loud bang, and pops.
If you look at the history of virtual item pricing, we can already venture a guess that the starter pack price tag of 4.99 will probably set some people off. Maybe you’ve missed the last six hundred words, so let me repeat: it is an interactive ROBOT that launches fireworks out of its butt.
I love the Pyrotechnic Overhead Display Interface acronym, but Lockwood could have called this the Exploding Flatulent Robot and it wouldn’t take away from the epic coolness of this design.
The robot itself is somewhat of a conception between Wall-E, Short Circuit, Jetsons’ Rosy, and something Dyson would have conceptualized with Apple. In other words, PODI is beautifully designed, and they gave this little automaton some personality. It interacts and responds to the owner and guests. I am loathe to call it an IT, because it has a programmed personality — but without biased genderizing I am at a loss for pronouns.
So. What makes the fireworks “High Definition” as opposed to what we already have?
The fireworks are based on sprites. Sprites in computer graphics are two-dimensional images or animations that are called upon from a library of assets. The nature of sprites is that they always face the camera, so it doesn’t matter what angle you see them from, you always see them as if they were right in front of you. This alters the perception of the parallax and gives the illusion of dimensional space. Sprites are sometimes limited to memory space. Remember 8-bit? The little character you controlled was a sprite. Particle systems use sprites, but the quality of the particles is based on the size of sprites it uses.
The sprites in the first fireworks were obviously larger, and you could probably count each one if you tried. In the PODI system, the sprites are smaller and there are more of them, giving them a more dynamic and impressive look. The price is very reasonable for such an interactive, dynamic item you can place in any personal space. The PODI robot is modern, and well designed, and to top it off it has an added element of personality for you to interact with. Celebrate any occasion with PODI and make this little bot the life of the party.
July 3rd, 2012 by BONZO | 3 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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Great article and I can’t wait to purchase this and try it out! I just bought a PSN card, so I will be buying it asap. Hope its as cool as it sounds!
I have to say Lockwood really made a beautiful display that will continue giving.
I had a great fourth of July party!
The interaction with PODI was very interesting.
I will be trying my own personal displays soon.
A very rich and satisfiying experience!
Exploding Flatulent Robot…I love it!!..