I always felt with Pure online that pick ups were not completely random, and that there were probabilities attached to weapons pick-ups, depending on your situation in the race relative to the other ships. I could describe some situations that I feel make you more likely to get certain pick ups. On the other hand, we often see patterns where none exist so it could have been paranoid insanity caused by late night Kai action. I haven`t played enough Pulse to get that feeling.

As for back-quakes, I think they`re valid if you need to kill the other guy to win the tour, and occasionally they`re fine for a laugh or to make a point , but I believe in moderation and when people get more interested in blasting than racing it gets tiresome. The racers behind may be in a good fight for second, or just trying to improve their play, and a back-quake screws it up for them. Also if you beat someone because they turned and quaked you, which happens often enough, it feels kind of cheap; especially when you thought you might catch them anyway. I kind of think that in a racing game everyone should race to win, and win as fast as possible (didn`t Pascale Rouser say something similar), and when the play loses sight of that I don`t really enjoy it.