Metroid Database.com

Michael Kelbaugh, CEO of Retro Studios, along with the lead designers on Killzone 2 and Mirror's Edge, were interviewed recently by Gamasutra on immersive design in games. The article is very interesting and contains a lot of nice design tidbits, with a good focus on how a game's details, including a strong audio design, can help create a very immersive play experience. It's not so much the graphics as it is the fine details that are noticeable but not overpowering. For instance, the water droplets and other visual effects used on Samus' helmet contributed greatly to the feel of Metroid Prime:

"We wanted the player to feel as if they were actually inside Samus' helmet. Our first idea was that beads of water could appear on the faceplate when Samus moved into and out of water or steam. When this test worked so well, we began to look for more opportunities to use this function, like enemy goo, Samus' reflection, and so on."

Until next time...
Captain Commando