Split Second: Velocity
The game also has a multiplayer mode, with both 8-player online and 2-player split-screen offline available. There are 15 tracks in the standard game, most of which are located in a lifesize set of a city (shown under construction in the tutorial). Two tracks could be acquired as downloadable content.
Split Second: Velocity
There are other tiny issues. Though there are a large number of courses, these are all plotted out in the same 4 or 5 environments. The multiplayer is a recipe for profanity laced good times with friends, but take note: you can only race with the cars you've unlocked in the singleplayer mode. The PC version of Split/Second features full split screen support for two players locally though, which works very well (but 4 players would have been nice, as unrealistic as it might have been). The PC version does include some minor issues with controllers that bear mentioning. Keep in mind a controller must be plugged in before starting the game up for it to be recognized, and more annoyingly, the in-game prompts for triggering powerplays and route changes don't adapt to reflect a wired 360 controller. This is a small issue, but it would have been nice to see an acknowledgement of a controller in a PC game in 2010.
During the course of the campaign the player earns credits depending on which place he finished an event. By earning credits, the player automatically unlocks access to the final event of each episode, an elite race, and new cars. In addition the player unlocks special decals by doing crazy stuff like winning a race by a split-second. Each episode also features a bonus event which needs to be unlocked first by wrecking a certain amount of cars in the other events.
It is powered by a new cutting-edge selfwinding movement, Calibre 4407, which notably features a highly contemporary split-seconds flyback chronograph, whose complicated micro-mechanics takes centre stage on the caseback side.
Since its launch in 2002, the Royal Oak Concept has pushed the limits of Haute Horlogerie craftsmanship by blending high technology mechanisms with avant-garde designs. This year, the new Royal Oak Concept explores new high-tech horizons with a cutting-edge take on the classic split-seconds complication.
In 1996, the split-seconds chronograph made its come back at Audemars Piguet, this time miniaturised to equip the Manufacture's first Grande Complication wristwatch alongside the minute repeater and the perpetual calendar, presented in the Jules Audemars collection. This watch was followed in 1997 by the first Royal Oak Grande Complication and in 2013 by the Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication.
Racers will be situated and gridded on top of a two-story roadway, with the Terminal's entry in the distance. Travelling along a small straight will lead the racers into a right turn, followed by a long left curve as they drive within the properties of the airport. the road straightens out slightly before approaching a section of the track where the road splits into two, where there are taxis waiting slightly out of view as the player's first powerplay to trigger if necessary.
The road merges into one again and a small left turn is followed before racers approach a helicopter bomber hovering over the road. Going forwards, racers will face a sharp left turn before going deep within the airport. This is followed by a long right turn that curves against one of the airport's main building. This building is the racer's first Level 2 Power-play. When triggered, a series of large explosives will cripple the building and in turn, wreck any racer in the vicinity of the building. After passing by, the road splits into two again momentarily, with one of them being led through a gas station, before merging into one again. The airport's control tower will be visible in the distance, while two buses and a cargo truck rest by roadside at the Departure Section of the airport. This is where the player can do one of two things:
If racers chose to trigger the Road Route Changer, they will approach an underground car park, with cars that are rigged with explosives that will jolt racers side to side if caught near the middle of detonation. The road splits into two again, with the right lane having a small tank that will explode if triggered. This is followed by both lanes taking a very sharp right, along with the second car park powerplay that if triggered, will jolt racers back and forth for a few seconds. Just ahead will be a jump that will take racers onto the stretch of road where the Departure station is.
Continuing onto the final lap will also grant racers to trigger another route changer before reaching the start/finish line. Whether triggered or not is up to the player's preference but if triggered, it will destroy another section of road that will warp and lean into the terminal's loading bay. With the road being split in two again, racers can go the small hairpin path or risk going under a passenger plane's fuselage that when triggered, will result in a fatal wreck if right under it. Racers will continue straight where they will be met with two more gasoline trucks before going onto the tarmac again and continuing the route that the near-by control tower has set for them.
In all other departments, however, Split/Second is every bit as good as Blur, and provides an exhilarating experience which is the very epitome of the pick-up-and-play arcade racer, particularly when played online or in split-screen mode against human opponents, where the competitive air of the Elimination mode reaches fever pitch.
Starting up Split/Second is a bit like taking a wonderful stroll down memory lane, back to a simpler time when racing games were about sliding around corners to impress your girlfriend, or driving as fast as possible through traffic without smashing yourself into next Wednesday. As they demonstrated with Pure, developers Black Rock know exactly how to tap into the core of the gamer-gene; in this case, taking a load of sexy sports cars, sticking them in some of the most beautiful environments to date, and making them speed around at maximum velocity. Oh, and have everything blow up.
I recently spent time with the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Honeygold. You might have read about it, or even watched as I nervously slaughtered the company's German name a few different times, during my A Week On The Wrist. My review of that watch marked the first time I ever truly dove deep into the realm of wearing a split-seconds chronograph (boy, are they fun).
Sure, I had handled the watches during press trips and at trade shows, but I had never really lived with one of my wrist for a while. It sparked a fascination in me that went far beyond the realm of what typically goes into an A Week On The Wrist, so my editor suggested I split the more technical aspects of my review into a second article so it had its own room to breathe.
A rattrapante chronograph, also known as a split-seconds complication, enables the timing of two separate intervals of elapsed time via a pair of central chronograph seconds hands that are mounted together. They start at the same time but can be stopped individually in order to track exact split time. The most commonly cited real-life benefit? Tracking lap time in a race.
On the 1815 Rattrapante Honeygold, you start and stop the pair of seconds hands through the pusher at two o'clock, reset both hands to zero through the pusher at four o'clock, and utilize the split-seconds functionality through the button at 10 o'clock. Inside the watch, there's one column wheel that engages the normal running of the chronograph at nine o'clock, and then a secondary column wheel manages the stop/start of the split-seconds hand in the center of the movement, placed on top of the escapement.
This secondary column wheel is connected to an additional wheel that is above the central chronograph wheel. When the chronograph first starts, both of these center wheels turn in sync; but once the split-seconds functionality is engaged through the 10 o'clock crown, a pair of clamps snap down on the split-seconds wheel, stopping the rattrapante seconds hand in its tracks on the dial. The chronograph seconds hand continues its advance, but if you press the split-seconds button again, the clamps release their grip on the upper wheel, and the rattrapante seconds hand snaps back into position perfectly alongside its partner as it continues around the dial.
A. Lange & Söhne achieves this through two separate approaches for its rattrapante chronographs. When the complication is executed in the Double and Triple Split, the brand uses an isolating mechanism that reduces the friction that builds up when the split-seconds wheel is stopped. In watches like the Tourbograph and the 1815 Rattrapante (both the Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar and the Rattrapante Honeygold), Lange uses a more classical solution involving a heart-shaped cam underneath the split-seconds wheel and a tiny steel coil that Haas refers to as the "pull string."
The pull spring is not the only unique attribute of the caliber L101.2. There's also the semi-symmetrical heart-shaped cam placed underneath the split-seconds wheel. What's interesting here is that, in the Rattrapante Honeygold, the point of most resistance for the split-seconds mechanism is not at 30 seconds like you might expect. If you stop the rattrapante at 32 seconds, for instance, the seconds hand will travel counterclockwise when it's reset, just as it would at 15 seconds. The turning point for the cam is actually located at approximately 36 seconds.
That is partly a result of the energy that builds up when the split-second wheel is paused. The primary chronograph wheel, placed underneath it, continues its rotation, generating excess drag that can, if paused for too long, negatively impact the amplitude of the balance. (Kinetic energy has to go somewhere, after all.)
A single ruby, positioned near the lowest point of the reset cam, helps keep the split hand turning with the main hand; when the rattrapante is split, the ruby becomes stationary because it's attached by a pivot to the split-hand wheel, which is held in place by the clamps. The ruby is a touchpoint between the split-seconds wheel and pull spring and the primary chronograph wheel and cam. When the hands are split, the cam continues to turn and the ruby rides up and down the edge of it, held in place by the spring pressure. Once the rattrapante is reset, the pressure of the pull spring has a direct impact, pushing the ruby back to its place on the lowest point of the cam, resetting the split wheel and indicating to the split-seconds hand where exactly to go to catch up with the chronograph seconds hand. 041b061a72
