#Portrait 360

[gianlucatraina]

Portrait 360 | UnPORTRAIT | Tokyo Designers Week | Asia Awards

Portrait 360 | UnPORTRAIT | Tokyo Designers Week | Asia Awards HOME

[389]

Mussolini Bust (1933), Renato Bertelli

In 1933, the Italian Futurist artist Renato Bertelli (1900-1974) produced a series of portrait heads of Benito Mussolini in what is sometimes known as the "aereoceramica style." It is a 360-degree portrait, a "continuous profile," somewhat related in concept to stop motion photography.

[stressed-flinx]

Iykyk-

[flhoarder]

Turn back the wheel of time (aka the one political vision quest I’ll never do)

[contentoriginal]

[hnnny]

Some sketchbook Marissas (gosh I want to pet her hair so bad)

[digitaltiara]

That obscure manga profile picture from the xbox 360 days - now redepicted in a brawl stars manner!

[2t2r]

Les premiers autoportraits à 360° par Nadar et son frère

Nouvel article publié sur https://www.2tout2rien.fr/les-premiers-autoportraits-a-360-par-nadar-et-son-frere/

Les premiers autoportraits à 360° par Nadar et son frère

[landscapeexposurenetwork]

Thank you again for another great year allowing us to share original photographers with you. We will be taking a break and return January 8th. In the meantime we have set up a queue filled with photos from our past featured blogs this year. If you are looking for new blogs to follow, please have a look at the list below. We have listed a general description of the types of photos each blog posts, so it will be easier for you to find the ones you like. And of course applications are still open during our break. Hope to see you all again in 2024. Happy holidays and much love from all of us at LEN.

January 341 @cissaking (landscape) 342 @foliorumviridis (forests, landscape) 343 @rchrgd (nature, forests) 344 @marljin (forests)

February 345 @highways-are-liminal-spaces (landscape, animals) 346 @dk-thrive (landscape, quotes) 347 @fotozeiger (landscape) 348 @alyaly (landscape, flowers)

March 349 @joeswildlifephotos (animals, landscape) 350 @silver-frog (landscape, urban) 351 @bedr-focus (landscape, urban, animals) 352 @alli-takes-photos (nature, landscape, urban)

April 353 @thethingsiveseen-photography (landscape, animals, flowers) 354 @rock-cedar-mosquito (forests, landscape) 355 @zedensposts (landscape, animals) 356 @whitneybarkman (nature, forests)

May 357 @renmoldovan (landscape, animals) 358 @gettinglostisnotawasteoftime (landscape, forests) 359 @nwalthall (landscape, flowers, portrait) 360 @ivacunja (landscape) 361 @moer-koffie (flowers, animals)

June 362 @lbk-photography (landscape) 363 @stillwater67 (landscape, urban) 364 @desomnis (landscape, urban) 365 @tomo8455 (flowers, animals, landscape)

July 366 @bluebelly-sun-serpentine (nature, landscape) 367 @carmen-art (landscape) 368 @thomaswaynewolf (landscape) 369 @birdmemorandum (birds) 370 @thecorpsofrediscovery (landscape, urban)

August 371 @orofeaiel (forests, fungi, animals) 372 @sugiichi (birds) 373 @oscar-out-of-a-suitcase (landscape, urban) 374 @pela-schmidt (landscape)

September 375 @andulkaphoto (nature, urban) 376 @orendarling (landscape, urban) 377 @thomas--bombadil (birds) 378 @kiteknots (nature, forests)

October 379 @differentharmonywasteland (nature) 380 @zocher (landscape, flowers) 381 @mbhfphotos (nature, fungi, forests) 382 @wild-e-eep (nature, fungi, animals) 383 @franz-bauch-foto (forests)

November 384 @vnvnationfan (landscape, flowers) 385 @sssnapspics (nature, animals) 386 @ohlsdorf-cemetery (nature, forests, cemeteries) 387 @flippantsmeagol (landscape)

December 388 @coenderuiter (landscape, forests) 389 @opdrie (landscape, forests)

2022 Featured Blogs | 2021 Featured Blogs  2020 Featured Blogs | 2019 Featured Blogs  2018 Featured Blogs | 2017 Featured Blogs   2016 Featured Blogs

[spiritusloci]

Imaginary Portraits 360 (2024)

[ghostmothart]

July 2024 Commissions OPEN

hello everyone! happy tail end of pride month. I wanted to make another commission post to update some of my prices and feature some more recent artwork :) I'm also offering a few new things! Weapon designs will feature a full 360* turnaround of a weapon or item, and you can now get another sketch for a reduced rate, or a fully rendered background. It's also cheaper than ever to get your party portrait painted, at a flat rate of 75$ per character, no matter the base price. A fully rendered couples' portrait is now 225$!

I will be using the money raised to pay pretty much exclusively for food and rent. Even if you're unable to commission me right now, reblogs would be much appreciated so I can afford my groceries this month. There will be no limitations on the number of slots, since the workload hasn't made it historically necessary, but I would love for this to be the time I'm proven wrong.

Check the tag on my blog #ghost art for more examples of my work!

the standard rules apply: 1. Spicy content is okay, provided the commissioner and commissioned characters are both 18+. These will not be shared publicly!

2. I do not draw in a traditional furry style (obviously). That being said, I'm happy to draw anthros or mechanical designs, provided I have references to work with. I'm also happy to draw fanart!

3. No drawn references? no problem! a written description is perfectly fine. Just know that if there's a lot of back and forth about a particular design, I may have to charge more to make sure my time is adequately compensated. I may also ask for photo references, if needed.

4. Blood and minor Injury is okay. I do not draw excessive gore. I will not draw violence of any kind being done to children or to animals.

5. Commissioned art will be posted on my social media publicly, unless otherwise requested specifically by the commissioner.

Thank you for checking out my work :)

[louisupdates]

FITFWT24: MASTERPOST

FASHION [x]

LITHOGRAPHS [x]

SELFIES & PORTRAITS [x]

OUTRO SONGS [x]

TWITTER SPREE 23.1.2024

John Delf/ Sennheiser interview: FITFWT Sound Engineering

FESTIVALS

FITFWT23

LOUIS TOMLINSON LIVE - 24.4.2024: Fan videos vs Spotify canvas

ASIA

24 Jan - Bengkel Space SCBD, JAKARTA: video 1, video 2, video 3

AUSTRALIA

28 Jan - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, MELBOURNE (fitfwt24: melbourne)

30 Jan - Riverstage, BRISBANE (#fitfwt24: brisbane)

2 Feb - Qudos Bank Arena, SYDNEY (#fitfwt24: sydney)

TEKATE PAL NORTE FESTIVAL

30 Mar - MONTERREY, MEXICO (cap. 80k) (#fitfwt24: tecate) (PRESS CONFERENCE) MTY 360, Tiempo, El Ambiente, Reforma

IHEART RADIO AWARDS - 1 APR 2023: Joshua Halling wins Best Tour Photographer

PRE-TOUR PRESS RUN, LATAM

2 Apr - SÃO PAULO, Brazil: Radio Mix FM, Foquinha, MTV Brazil, CNN Brazil, Capricho, POPLine Brazil, g1, Nickelodeon, Billboard Br

4 Apr - SANTIAGO, Chile: Los 40 Chile, CNN Chile, Canal 13, Bio Bio Chile, La Cuarta, Radio Disney Chile, Radio Planeta

6 Apr - BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Los 40 Argentina, TN La Viola, HeinowPY, MTV Sur, Clarín, Sergio Aguero, TELESHOW, #velez sarafield stadium, Esto es Datta, Tu Musica Hoy, Telenoche, Canal 13, Billboard Argentina, Algos De Musica, Radio Disney LA

NORTHERN MUSIC AWARDS - 23 APR 2023: raffle (#northern music awards)

LOUIS IGTV - 27.4.2024

LATAM - IGTV with transcription 27.6.2024

2 May - Centro de Convenciones Amador, PANAMA CITY (#fitfwt24: panama)

5 May - Coliseo de Puerto Rico, SAN JUAN (#fitfwt24: san juan)

8 May - Jeunesse Arena, RIO DE JANEIRO (#fitfwt24: rio de janeiro)

11 May - Allianz Parque, SÃO PAULO (#fitfwt24: são paulo)

12 May - Ligga Arena Cap, CURITIBA (#fitfwt24: curitiba)

15 May - Antel Arena, MONTEVIDEO: (#fitfwt24: montevideo)

18 May - Velez Sarsfield, BUENOS AIRES: (#fitfwt24: buenos aires)

21 May - Jockey Club del Paraguay, ASUNCIÓN: (#fitfwt24: asuncion)

24 May - Bicentenario Stadium, SANTIAGO (#fitfwt24: santiago)

26 May - Arena 1, LIMA: (#fitfwt24: lima)

28 May - Coliseo Medplus, BOGOTÁ: (#fitfwt24: bogota)

30 May - Parque Viva, SAN JOSE: (#fitfwt24: san jose)

1 Jun - Autodrómo Hermanos Rodriguez - Curva 4, MEXICO CITY: (#fitfwt24: mexico city)

4 Jun - Auditorio Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, QUERETARO: (#fitfwt24: queretaro)

6 Jun - Arena VFG, GUADALAJARA: (#fitfwt24: guadalajara)

AWAY FROM HOME FESTIVAL

8 JUN - MERIDA, Mexico (cap. 10k+): (#afhf 2024)

EUROS 2024 (#louiseuros24)

PINKPOP FESTIVAL

22 Jun - LANDGRAAF, Netherlands (cap. 70k): 17:55 to 18:55 (#louispinkpop24)

GLASTONBURY 2024 (#louisglasto24)

MAIN SQUARE FEST

4 Jul - ARRAS, France (cap. 40k): 18:15 to 19:15 (#louismainsq24)

RUISROCK FESTIVAL

7 Jul - Ruissalo Island, TURKU, Finland (cap. 35k): 19:15 (#louisruisrock24)

MEO MARES VIVAS FESTIVAL

21 Jul - VILA NOVA DE GAIA, Portugal (cap. 30k): 21:45 (#louismaresvivas24)

MORRIÑA FESTIVAL

26 Jul- PORTO DE A CORUÑA, Spain (cap. 20k): 23:50 (#louismorrina24)

ARENAL SOUND FESTIVAL

2 Aug - BURRIANA, CASTELLO, Spain (cap. 50k): 23:20 - 00:40 (#louisarenalsound24)

SANTANDER FESTIVAL

3 Aug - SANTANDER, Spain (cap. 15k): 1:30 - 2:30 AM (#louissantander24)

UNTOLD FESTIVAL

8 Aug - CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania (main stage cap. 30k, 2023 attendance 400k): 21:45 - 23:00 (#louisuntold24)

SZIGET FESTIVAL

10 Aug - BUDAPEST, Hungary (cap. 92k): 19:15 to 20:30 (#louissziget24)

FREQUENCY FESTIVAL

16 Aug - ST. PÖLTEN, Austria (cap. 140k) (#louisfrequency24)

CABARET VERT FESTIVAL

18 AUG - CHARLEVILLE-MÉZIÈRES, France (cap. 90k): 19:10 - 20:10 (#louiscabaretvert24)

VICTORIOUS FESTIVAL

23 Aug - PORTSMOUTH, UK (cap. 65k): 16:45 - 17:30 (#louisvictorious24)

ZURICH OPENAIR FESTIVAL

24 AUG - ZURICH, Switzerland (cap. 80k): 19:40 - 20:40 (#louiszurichopenair24)

FESTNINGEN FESTIVAL

30 Aug - TRONDHEIM, Norway: 17:30 - 18:30 (#louisfestningen24)

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

31 Aug - 1 Sep - MONZA, Italy (#louismonza24)

LIVE FROM FEST ISTANBUL

6 Sep - Festival Park Yenikapı, ISTANBUL, Turkey (cap. 10k): 21:30 - (#louisfestistanbul24)

LOLLAPALOOZA BERLIN

7 Sep - Olympiastadion & Olympiapark, BERLIN, Germany (cap. 100k): 18:15 - 19:10 (#louislolla24)

SUPERBLOOM FESTIVAL

8 Sep - Olympiapark and Olympiastadion, MUNICH, Germany (cap. 50k): 17:35 - 18:35 (#louissuperbloom24)

Louis’ FAREWELL REEL

UNDER THE TONGUE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF FOOTBALL’S MOST ICONIC BOOT

11 Dec - YouTube (#louisunderthetongue) (transcript)

[izvmimi]

cw: a repost. dilf!bokuto.

Bokuto, well in his 40s, is a busy, busy man, and so is his wife. Your task is to ease their suffering, and you do so exceptionally well, as the always polite, always cheerful au-pair that manages their household tasks, whether it be cleaning, cooking or babysitting. 

It’s an incredible gig. The couple has just one darling child that’s no more than two years old and does little more than run around and jump into your arms or say short phrases, many of which warm your heart. The large house is relatively clean, so tidying is easy, and Bokuto was kind enough to give you a credit card and a vehicle to make grocery and snack shopping easy, as well as help your commute to night classes. You live in the two bedroom guest house on the property, and you couldn’t ask for more.

Well, you could, even if you shouldn’t.

As you sit together night after night at dinner, strapping the youngest Bokuto into a high chair before sitting down with her father, who digs into your meals heartily, you wonder what it would be like to fill the space Mrs. Bokuto occupies. After all, she’s been more and more absent recently, traveling for long periods of time to promote her business, and often dinner is just the three of you rather than four. Her husband is handsome, and has always been (you’ve seen the photo albums, the large family portrait at the entrance to the living room, what be it), and it’s hard to not get lost in his golden eyes, especially when they look directly at you as he makes joke after joke. He’s energetic, he’s charismatic, and he’s available. After all, all you do is prove your ability to be a good wife day after day, while his actual wife does God knows what.

Plus, you could be doing him a service. He must miss having a woman’s full attention, and you had plenty of time to provide that for him. 

Easing the burden of existing. That’s what you were for. 

Perhaps you shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you, you consider, as you hand Mrs. Bokuto her travel bag and smile widely.

“God, I can’t believe they want me across the country so soon!”

She looks frantic, checking her watch, then making a full 360 as she waddles in her high heels, making sure she hasn’t lost anything. The taxi that will take her to the airport is waiting patiently but she still looks distressed.

“I can’t find my fucking-”

Bokuto comes in behind her as she traipses at the doorway, pushing a bouquet of flowers in front of her that startles her and kissing her forehead once she turns around to look at him.

“Here’s your goodbye kiss,” he teases.

She frowns. “That’s not what I mean!” 

You giggle, and Bokuto laughs too, louder, and hands her the wallet she was missing. 

“This? You dropped it in the driveway,” he says, kissing her again. As you watch him, you wonder what it would be like for him to look at you that way. You will have a month together. It’s enough time. 

There’s always enough time. Time is on your side after all. You don’t have the laugh lines, or the dull skin or the outdated fashion the woman practically jumping inside the taxi cab does. You watch her go, and as though on cue you can hear Bokuto’s little girl wake up from her nap and start making her way down the stairs. If she saw her mother go, she’d start crying and you’d been a hero and put her to a nap before then. When she sees you, golden eyes still sleepy and half-closed, she reaches her arms out to you.

“Carry,” she asks. You scoop her up and hold her on your hip. Bokuto comes in closer, still waving his wife off then turns to you, then the little girl in your arms.

When he moves in close to her to play with her, you catch the scent of his cologne. You’ll never stop thinking about that scent.

“Awww, did you sleep well? Where’s your blanky?”

His hands brush against yours as you pass him to her. They’re warm and gentle and you wonder what they’d feel like on you. 

—

Over the next week, you put yourself on display. Men are simple, visual creatures. If he likes what he sees, he’ll chase it. 

Shorts and shirts get shorter, arms and legs get barer. You spend more time in the main room, falling asleep on the couch, the tightness of your tank tops and your yoga pants not leaving much to the imagination. Of course he finds you often in these compromising positions, shaking your ass to music as you mop the floors, reaching every high shelf, and interrupting his workout sessions in the personal gym to ask questions you could easily google. 

He looks good dripping in sweat, and you always have a towel and a bottle of water ready.

Like today. 

“Thanks!”

Bokuto is as handsome as he is earnest and possibly a little simple, you think. But he is cute, and he is loaded, and you think he’s terribly adorable. 

Plus his daughter loves you too. It won’t be a stretch for her to start calling you mama. 

Bokuto watches as you feed her tots, chicken nuggets and fresh veggies. As though coincidentally, he also seems to be home more often. Maybe he was avoiding his harpy of a wife after all. 

Two weeks pass like this and you brush closer and closer with him. 

He’s chattier than usual and he tells you all about his childhood and early days. You wonder if he’s told these stories before, as intimate as a few of them sound, listening carefully as you sit in a comfortable armchair in his office while, having crept up on him as he caught up on some bills and other paperwork.

Perhaps you lean over his shoulder while he shows you some old headlines from back in the day. You’re a good listener - a great one even. You wonder if he feels your breasts ghost over his shoulder. You are so close you can tell he chose another perfume today. 

And as he turns to look up at you, you wonder if today’s the day to broach it. 

“You’re such a good help,” he says finally, and you wonder if it’s the time he’ll finally break. After all, the door is closed and it’s just the two of you, and you’re close enough that he could very easily turn his head and kiss you. 

“Thanks for all you do,” he says finally. He glances over his shoulder at you, then turns back to the work at hand, mentioning something about a raise.

And that’s when you shoot your shot. 

“I could do more,” you insist. 

He doesn’t pause or turn. “You’re doing a great job already. You know, when ___ first suggested you, I thought it’d be a little strange to have another person in our little space, because you’re basically part of the family, but now-”

Your hand rests on his shoulder gingerly, then firmly, and you move in closer to whisper into his ear.

“I mean in other ways.”

Bokuto pauses. 

Perhaps it’s excitement, or maybe it’s concern - after all your honeyed voice is new to him, and possibly the feel of your breath so close to his ear.  

Your heart pounds as he pushes back in his chair. He gets up, and there’s a devilish expression on his face when he turns you towards you.

“Why, aren’t you the sneakiest little thing?” He croons. 

Your eyes widen as he towers over you. You’re not sure what’s going to happen next, but you swallow hard and let the moment overtake you. He’s got you by the wrists and he pulls you towards him.

“No one here to see us…”

There’s a twinkle in his eyes, and he turns you until you’re bent over his desk. 

Your hands are behind your back. Is he typically this rough when he-

“Naughty, aren’t we?”

You nod, stupidly. Is this really happening? You brace yourself and suddenly, he lets go.

“Get the fuck out.”

Your eyes widen and you turn onto your back.

“What?” you say in a small voice. Bokuto looks furious now, if you could even imagine someone like him getting this upset. But of course he’s upset. You’ve disrespected him, his marriage, his wife? You’re lucky he’s man enough not to lay a finger on you. 

“Do you think I’m stupid?” he replies.

You swallow hard.

“N-no…”

“Get the fuck out of my office, and I’m calling your parents to expect you at the airport, first thing in the morning.”

You start to stammer and cry but he points to the door.

“Grow up.”

[stearleart]

Royal portrait of Stolas

Digital illustration of Stolas from Vivziepop's, Helluva Boss. For some reason, this depiction of a demon prince looks less diabolic than the infamous king Charles portrait!

I still think that portrait looks cool though :D

If you like my work, please consider buying me a Ko-fi

Or visiting checking out my merch via my:

TeePublic

Threadless

Thank you! :)

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Yale Environment 360:

Here in Burnt Corn Valley, smack in the middle of the Navajo reservation’s vast Black Mesa region, the hilly land both craves water and is brutalized by it. The sandy Arizona soil cracks under a punishing August sun as red-striped blister beetles search for moisture across its baked surface. Cottonwood trees and sagebrush rise from deep gullies carved by floodwaters that, during the intensifying summer monsoon, sluice off surrounding mesas and wash away fragile topsoil — reminders that with climate change, even quenching rains harbor powers of destruction.

This portrait of climatic havoc belies a softer reality, though. Farming once thrived in this parched region and could once again — if the right practices are adopted. Exhibit A: The crops on Roberto Nutlouis’s 12-acre Sliding Rock Farm, in his reservation hometown of Piñon, a five-hour drive north of Phoenix. “The corn is actually pretty big and thriving,” Nutlouis says. He believes — and both Western science and the lived experience of his Native elders affirm — that the traditional rock and stick structures he’s built on his property, which help store water and prevent erosion, have a lot to do with it. These structures, similar to those used by Native peoples long before Europeans arrived on the continent, are not only delivering water to crops (the broader, 27,000-square-mile reservation has the highest reported rate of food insecurity in the U.S.). They are also restoring Nutlouis’s watershed and those of his neighbors, helping to sequester carbon, and reviving this high-desert ecosystem. It’s all part of a bigger effort among a range of local and regional grassroots organizations to build back the reservation’s fragile, depleted ecosystems and bring greater sovereignty over food, water, and health to its communities.

Diné (the Navajo name for themselves) are well aware that climate change is making the weather on their semi-arid plateau weirder, wilder, and more destructive. Depending on elevation, precipitation in Black Mesa averages 6 to 16 inches a year; recent heat extremes — the Navajo government declared a state of emergency in 2023 due to soaring temperatures —mean that the scant water evaporates more quickly. Climate models predict the region will experience increasing droughts that decimate plant life, part of a growing trend of human-caused desertification across the globe, as well as higher-intensity seasonal rainfall, which can sweep away crops and roads. The ecological health of the reservation has also been weakened by deforestation from timbering operations and from overgrazing over the years.

Still, this season, Nutlouis, 44, has been able to skip his usual two-hour roundtrip drive to a reliable well to haul water home for his corn. His crop is healthy and hydrated because his land still holds last winter’s snowmelt. Clearly, his heavy labor over the past 20 years — during which he has built woven brush dams, gabions (wirework cages filled with rocks), earthen berms, concrete spillways and trenches, limestone aprons and walls, and stone-lined “Zuni bowls,” which stabilize eroding streambeds — is paying off.

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Free Riders (Xbox 360)

They made hoverboards fun and exciting, then the fans made it actually playable.

After Zero Gravity, Sonic Team were apparently not done with the Riders series. Not done using it for motion control experiments, that is. The next and final instalment was a launch title for Microsoft's ill-fated Kinect motion sensor accessory. This camera apparatus could track a player's full body and so you needed a large, empty area to play your games in, which has never been practical for me. So I considered this game essentially lost media as far as I was concerned, until I recently learned about a mod that reworked the game for traditional controllers that I could use on an emulator. The updated version of this patch was buggy but the original release worked a treat and I was finally able to experience this title.

Compared to previous entries, the plot is very low-stakes. Eggman is hosting another racing tournament in disguise, shenanigans ensue. The cutscenes are merely static character portraits, the dialogue nothing but banter and posturing with the framing device of Omochao reporting on the racing for a TV broadcast. But the strength this has over prior Riders games is including a broader range of the cast, with Teams Rose and Dark being involved and playable in their own story modes in addition to the usual Heroes and Babylon stories. Well, Team Dark is missing Omega and substitutes a random eggbot who is more than it appears in perhaps the only notable story development. And Team Rose is Amy, Cream, and... Vector... so Team Sonic Racing wasn't the first to randomly force him in to fill out another team, or to have a weird addition to Team Rose.

As for the racing, from what I could tell from the tutorial, there's a lot of actions you need to be able to do. It seemed complex and the pace of gameplay quite fast for something you control just with various body motions to an unresponsive IR sensor grid. In other words, compared to Zero Gravity it didn't feel as compromised by the control scheme, and translated reasonably well to a controller, so it's a shame they never officially offered that as an option. The game reviewed terribly at the time on the basis of its controls, but with a pad in hand I had a fun time. Sure it was easy most of the way through, but by the very last stages it did even offer a decent challenge.

There's no drifting, but a heavy turn assist helps with cornering. There's a boost function that drains your air meter, as well as a "lean forward (tilt control stick up) to go faster" mechanic. Stunts are done in Zero Gravity style, by jumping at the right time off a ramp, although you can spin to do a better trick (not supported in the original mod release). Arm flailing is a factor, where you can lean to grab rings that are just off the course, throw items that skew a little more Mario Kart in their effects while still being unique, rub steam or splatter off your screen, or grab poles to swing around and take shortcuts. As a power character you can punch to destroy obstacles, and flight characters have to have arms outstretched to remain airborne when necessary. It sounds exhausting but all these functions are mapped pretty well to a controller in the mod, and I got to grips with them quickly. And while it may sound overloaded with gimmicks, I thought it was a better balance than the previous games of keeping up your pace while doing them, or being ignorable entirely.

It may sound like I'm being contrary but this quickly became my favourite of the Riders games. Because it expects you to be flolloping around, it's so much more forgiving and I found I wasn't constantly struggling against the game and its demands. It integrates a mission-like structure into the campaign so most of the time you're doing various objectives and single-lap runs of the courses in story mode, which moves things along at a quick pace. It also looks gorgeous, the environments varied and ultra-colourful, helped of course by being in HD for the first time. The tracks have fun setpieces like toboggan or minecart sections, jumping onto rooftops, or surfing while being pulled by a dolphin.

Free Riders kind of fulfilled the promise of what I wanted the series to be, for the first time. Fast-paced and bombastic, not overly punishing or bland. It's such a shame that that lively energy had to be locked behind an impractical peripheral gimmick. The assets were all there for a potential conversion or fourth instalment that takes the strengths but makes it play like a normal video game that people can actually play... but alas. As is often the case in the Sonic series, it was up to the fans to fix what Sega had broken, and I'm very thankful to Rei-SanTH for doing so in this case (please fix not being able to turn right on v1.1!).