Game:  Tomb Raider II Demo
Controller:  MS Sidewinder Game Pad
Resolution:  1024 x 768 x 32
Aides:  None
Length of Play:  Approximately 20 minutes
 
The good news is that Lara doesn't seem to be making me sick.  The bad news is that I keep getting her killed, so I can't play for very long at a stretch.  I can get past the first doberman, but then I go around the corner and get my butt kicked by some guy and another doberman.
 
The graphics were very good (except that Lara looked like she had hinges instead of knees, but oh well).  No perceptable flicker or phosphor lag.
 
At first, the turning-around thing (the camera kind of *whooshes* by the side of lara's head) made me say - out loud, even - "Woah!"  But as soon as I figured out that that was going to happen when I turned around, it wasn't such a big deal.  Also, the 'rolling' move (she does kind of a somersault & the camera follows the movement, for those who haven't played), which I thought would make me queasy, did not.
 
I wish I could get past this second group of bad guys; I would like to play a little longer and on a few different terrains to see if it was just luck that she didn't make me sick... or if she really and truly is okay.
 
You can't know how thrilled I am that she doesn't make me sick.  That means I will likely be able to play U9.  :)
 
 
 
Game:  N.I.C.E. 2
Controller:  Keyboard
Resolution:  640x480?  (looks like maybe 16 bit color?)
Aides:  None
Length of Play:  Approximately 4 minutes

NICE 2 is a car racing game, but is 1st person. you can't see any of the gauges, or a rear-view mirror, or other things you can see in some car games.  There are other cars that you race against, but they all left me in the dust in about the first 10 seconds of play, so it was just me on the road.  It felt kind of like that game by Accolade - Test Drive... I used to play that back when it was CGA.  In this game, I chose the Mercedes Benz.
 
I was totally fine, keeping my eyes front-and-center on the road, like I would if I was really driving.  I was going 80 miles an hour, around twisty turns, through tunnels, crashing into guardrails... it was actually kind of fun - lol...
 
And then ... (bum-bum-bum-bummmmmmm) ... the road dipped, my car kind of 'flew' up and then settled down into the dip and then went over the other side of the dip (this is happening a lot faster than I'm saying it, of course) ... and that was all it took.  My face flashed hot & a little clammy, I felt dizzy, my stomach felt queazy... I had to quit.
 
The Graphics in NICE2 were not nearly as nice as the ones in Tomb Raider. I hated that I could only play it in 640x480, which looks like crap on my 19" Monitor.  If I could play it in 1024x768x32, I wonder if I would have still gotten sick.
 
 
 
I think what it is is that maybe I need something to stare at.  In Tomb Raider, Lara was always there for me to look at ... she was a 'fixed point on the horizon.'  In NICE, my fixed point was the road, but the road dipped (extremely unexpectedly), so I lost my fixed point, so that's maybe what made me sick?  I don't know.
 
I'm still going to try Rage, Incoming, and Forsaken (and any other Demos anyone can suggest) without Aides.  Then I will try all the games wearing a baseball cap ... then I will try playing all the games having taken 2 ginger tablets... etc.  If anyone can think of a better way to do this... please let me know.