I Can Wait.

Back in June, I wrote a piece on Spider-Man 2 for Activision, as part of a pre-interview qualification test.

I had to buy the game in order to write the piece, never having played it. I wasn't expecting much, most games based on movie tie-ins are awful. This is because the games are usually slated to come out at the same time as the movie, which gives them a very short production schedule (a year or less sometimes, instead of the 2 or 3 years other games can require for proper polish).

I enjoyed Spider-Man 2 far more than I expected to. The gameplay is repetitive, the missions don't have enough variety and there are too few of them... But it's still a great game.

The physics are very good, which gives the game world a realistic edge (suspension of disbelief comes gift-wrapped with a stylish bow) that you can feel in the pit of your stomach as you jump off The Chrysler Building and plummet towards the ground, the world blurs below you, the wind whooshes dangerously, and you wait for just...the...right...moment to sling your web and swing to safety.

I finished the game a couple of days ago - I tend to play any game for only about an hour at a sitting, so it takes me far longer than the dedicated folks. Since then, I've spent a couple of sessions just further exploring the world, swinging from building to building. It's surprisingly satisfying. Hopping from building to building feels like sweet justice, somehow - as if man were meant to jump sixty feet in a single bound.

As per usual, I got to thinking.
It would be great to actually web-sling like Spidey.

The actual appeal of slinging goes back to the early Tarzan TV show, if not before. Spidey uses a high tech version of the same type of locomotion.

Since none of us are - like Peter Parker, altered human mutants (as opposed to congenital mutants of the homo sapiens superior flavor) with radioactive spider genes in our system, slinging like Spidey - ain't likely.

But there might one day in the future be something like it, as close as normal humans can get. It would be a dangerous (and often illegal) sport, like BASE Jumping.

The Slinger (I'd say The Spidey, but There Can Be Only One) would wear a special rig, somewhere between a harness and a partial exoskeleton. The athletes would need a lot of upper body strength, but the exoskeleton rig would assist.

The swinging 'web' could be a specially engineered, tightly coiled spring (perhaps in a sort of wrist revolver) and when the user fires the spring, it remains attached to the launcher until released just before firing the next one.

The ability to be able to grab on to glass, cement, stone, and steel with the same grappling tip would be unlikely, so perhaps this sport would be enjoyed in specially prepared arena, as are motocross or other extreme sports. For this example, I'll imagine a series of New York style buildings/rooftops.

The grappler tip of the spring would have a specialized attachment, and the 'buildings' would have special texturing designed to cling to the grabber attachment.

The ground would look like a city street, but actually be a net, mat, or airbag, and through artistic perspective, it could seem as if the user were higher up than they really are.

Eventually, it'll be possible to sling with impunity (except for the falling to your death part) through an actual city. It might take 100 years, but someday there'll be people slinging from building to building in New York, Spidey style, and I hope I'm around to see it.