Reticulating Splines

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2011-07-23T22:55:00.002+01:00

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The Reticule

2008-11-08T08:00:00.003Z

Yay! There's a new PC gaming blog in town, and I just happen to write for it. Please check it out, I think it will be rather good.

Don't consider Splines dead, but rather an inquiry into the effects of prolonged inactivity and solitude on the bloggy brain. I hope to resuscitate Splines after the tenure of generic time-sinks has passed me by. Until then, Colin, you should probably remove me from your RSS feed. See you on the other side!

Interview with Asi Burak - Co-Founder of Impact Games

2008-07-06T07:10:00.030+01:00

After the ambiguity of my last article accidentally insulted a member of Impact Games' community, I reluctantly reasoned that my chances of attaining an interview with co-founder Asi Burak were somewhat diminished. Although I welcome any effort to expand the remit of games, I think I'd been mistaken for someone who's content and conservative of the retirement home diet of drip-fed grey gruel and extreme violence upon which most gamers are currently sustained. Luckily for me, Asi's the forgiving and resilient sort - perhaps he has to be - he explains, "[I'm] actually used to harsh criticism from hard core gamers".

After a bit of apologetic email bouncing, Asi and I's relationship had recovered to the extent that an interview seemed possible. Intimidatingly, Asi'd only recently been siphoned for words by The Guardian, yet I think the Splines interview is special (not only in length and garish appearance) because Asi's unguarded and contemplative words reflect on his character and motivation to deliver the experience, knowledge, and stimulation required to think for oneself. From speaking with Asi, it's clear that a shared culture of thought and understanding will become the means to improve life on this conflicted Earth, and he's making quite the impact.

This dialogue is formatted oddly and it's full of spelling mistakes because it was birthed in cyberspace - like the orbital foetus at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey - so please understand that it's been hard to make the kid presentable.

[17:37:15] Sean Garland says: Peacemaker was originally due to reward its players with the Nobel Peace Prize once they'd met the goal of bringing peace to the Middle East. Shortly before Peacemaker's release, the Nobel Foundation issued a cease and desist letter to Impact Games, demanding that the prize be removed from the game. Were you surprised by this order? How did you react?

Asi Burak says: yeah

completely surprised

in fact, i even think that we were approaching them at some point letting them know about PeaceMaker.

it was opposed to all the support we got in media outlets, the community

if the guys at the foundation had stopped to play the game, they would have seen it adhere to the kind of values they propagate, right!

instead of them being glad we are using the prize their lawyers came at us

yeah

the irony is

that we actually got a lot of criticism when we used the nobel prize

especially from the israeli/jewish side

why do you think that was?

since arafat recieved the prize, it is somewhat tainted for some people

as Oslo was controversial and never really resolved the conflict

and some israelis never fully trusted araft as a diplomat

and someone who can take it to the end

but thats politics

our response by the way was to fully comply

best to avoid the lawyers eh!

it was def something you could argue as fair use but we didnt have the resources nor the energies to deal with it

and end of the day- if they dont see the merit, let it be

after we removed all mentions we actually realized that the loss is minor

do you think perhaps a new generation of nobel employees will see things in a more sympathetic light?

i hope so

like u said- probably they never played the game

if it was a book or an essay i am sure they would have investigated it

but they have no capacity to deal with interactive media and understand it

Play The News' concept is lofty and unconventional in that it raises awareness of real world events and entertains while doing so. Can you describe the creative process your team followed to produce the outlandish phenomenon we know as Play The News?

heh

u cant separate it from peacemaker

peacemaker is the father

its an evolution

when we presented PM around the globe, spoke with users and read their emails there were 3 core issues coming up all the time:

(1) can you do it about my conflict? or about my domestic issue that keeps me awake at night?

(2) can you update it according to the headlines? on a daily basis?

(3) can the community participate?

all were impossible with the PM model, to deal with another subject matter would take us at least a year

and it had no community, streaming capabilites

adding those was feasible but not justified in business terms

so we said- why instead of going deeper we'll go wider / shorter?

lastly-

the main feedback that came from people who liked PeaceMaker was a lot about engagement and understanding of news events

less the peace message, much more about context in interactive environment

like: i learned in one or two hours more than i understood in years

an...

don't say edutainment!

no no

we are very much opposed to the "education" or "edutainment" label

would you call a documentary "an educational movie"?

or a non-fiction book "an educational book"?

well, i suppose not

the educational value is incidental

why any game that smells of infromation and meaning we push to the classroom?

do you think a relexed learning environment is superior in some way to the classroom?

hard to say

i also dont feel i have enough expertise in education

i have a feeling that interactivity can do things that traditional methods cannot do

but i also have a feeling that games cannot answer everything

([by the way], fascinating how the community practically demanded PTN from you!)

yeah- thats the power of the internet

the immidiate feedback

does Impact Games have any plans to introduce their games to the classroom?

not solely for the classroom

we had some interesting discussions with educational publishers

big ones in the US

that were interested in PtN junior

a version for education

that is fine, as it is an incarnation

but doing something solely for the classroom is against everything we believe in and advocate :)

why's that? why take a principled stance against entering the classroom?

no no

many teachers use our products in the classroom

thats terrific

we get emails all the time, and they are usually by their intiative

we didnt really market there

what im saying is that as an additional distribution channel

one more segment it is terrific

but not as the core thing

its a kiss of death in my opinion

do you mean the label 'educational' [is the kiss of death]?

yeah

the fact that games that are positive have to be "educational"

as i mentioned - u dont have that in mature media

discovery channel is main stream

CNN investigates is a prime time show

Al Gore's movie won the oscar

thats [where] positive games [or games about current events] should be...

games should be in a situation where they're not rendered special by being informative

right

and also not segregated

again going to other media, and this is what the guardian piece is talking about:

there are no movie-goers or radio listeners or Tv-watchers

everybody is one

with mature media everybody finds his favorite flavor

with games were still in the trap

who is a gamer and who is not

mature mediums are broad enough to accomodate all sorts

and i feel its a matter of time

right- we need to diversify

luckily, the world is not waiting only on impactgames :)

check what happens on Facebook, phenomena like the Nintendo Wii

games for brain training on the DS

breaking the boundaries of traditional perceptions about who is a gamer

and what a game is

but i think you've carved yourself a rather interesting niche

and i believe that PtN can get much much larger than what it does now

there's no other games company attempting a similar task to Impact Games, as far as i know

not on a commercial level

some have tried

but its not their sole mission

and a lot is done on the non-profit side

u can check "Games for Change" and their community

How do you envision Impact Games' future? Will Play The News continue as Impact Games sole project, or could there be another game on the horizon?

def we could do other stuff

but i think that we didnt scratch the potential of PtN

a few directions were going:

(1) signing up partners

we never intended to create a new desitnation site but partner with media channels

so imagine news games on CNN, the New York Times or BBC

that's a brilliant idea

(2) other platforms: like mobile or other social networks beyond what we did with facebook

(3) user generated games

(4) other verticals

what else could you predict beyond news?

TV shows?

stock markets?

again. if we build it right and with the right partners we can make it big

TV is actually interesting as it is all around episodic content

if you think about it, just like in the news, events open and close, open and close

so its easy to structure ptn around TV shows

except with the news, it's sometimes hard to predict when the closure will come

thats the fascinating thing about it

that its not a TV writer who structured it

An awful lot of events happen in the real world, and the Play The News team can only report on a few of them. Do you worry about bias in the stories selected for Play The News?

before i address bias

as for quantity- again, going back to the partners

imagine that they support the creation

so instead of one game a day we create 10 or 20

so then we could be less biased

and ideally we could present the NYT game next to Al-Jazeera

it could be even on the same subject but the way you design it will make all the difference in the world

which roles and actions you chose?

which event is the one you focus on?

ideally, once again, i'd think that the broader spectrum of choices will represent the game coming into maturity

more choices, more user input, more stories told from more perspectives

agreed

and ultimately the users creating the games themselves

after all, the platform is made exactly for that

that's what i'd love to see

Currently the choices offered to your players are decided upon by Impact Games. Is there a chance that users could submit their own options in a future iteration of the game?

yeah- im talking about the next step:

make a game about your town

let other people rate it and the best games will get up in the rating

top of the pile

but as you say- letting people add actions would be a nice step

nice first step

ah, the Reddit mechanic

very democratic

yeah, like [Digg]

there are many directions

but limited time :)

i have to admit, i assumed that PtN was going to be a short-term project

it's great to be proven wrong!

not at all

internet apps are full of potential

its like coming to YouTube at the very beginning and ask them- so your whole business is video upload?

those ideas that take off are pretty simple

and unlike "titles" they evolve

yeah, if there's a demand

so people who judge internet apps as "titles" look at them as "frozen"

sure-

its more than about demand

execution, the right timing, viral growth

after all for every successful app there are dozens of clones

and only few make it

but demand would be the cornerstone of success, right?

mmm...

not sure :)

i mean, no matter the finesse of the operation, it cant succeed unless someone has a use for it

we know that people out there are interested in news events

we know the traditional media is losing custoemrs to more sophisticated engines

like - digg

like - google news

and RSS feeds

so if we design the right stuff for them and do the right marketing we should capture some of that market

but it all takes time to reach the tipping point

i've not seen any of your marketing

where can it be found?

there is none really

we have a lot of publicity

and our approach to media channels

is all about using their channels and user base

so imaging someone sitting on a story and he can just click "play it"

and its a win win

i get exposure to their audience, they add engagmenet to their passive content

that's a superb plan, i can imagine it working brilliantly

hopefully

Is the Impact Games team a diverse one? do you think you'll need to diversify further to broaden the scope of your reporting?

sure

we are now only seven

one writer

i imagine that if we succeed in our plans

and expand

we will need more writers and content experts

build a small newsroom 2.0

gosh!

i wish you all the luck in the world

in business terms its challenging

[because] the growth is expensive

but satisfying?

more than that!

we already created some change

and impact

small as it is

where have you seen the impact?

well, with peacemaker

the peres center distributed 100,000 copies in one day in israel and palestine

it was the talk of the day, after all its a small community

(relative to the US)

but also...

again- on a small scale

when people read the guardian

or see our stuff elsewhere in the news

it gets more traction to the message

the message i got out of peacemaker was that the two sides are not adversaries but working to accomplish the same goal

right

excellent idea to get out into the community

yeah we were lucky to have such exposure

but its only one portion of what one needs to do

in a world with so much information

its like a few pings, weak signals

and u can get a larger signal only with customers

like u said-

real people who enjoy it and use it

and it fills something missing for them

im off man- have a great weekend over there

[18:25:26] Sean Garland says: you too - dont brainstorm yourself into oblivion!

24/7 Ticker Tape Parade

2008-07-03T03:59:00.004+01:00

I want to tell you about a game called Play The News. It's made by Impact Games - the most hypocritical of game developers - for whilst Peacemaker emerged from their offices, their seemingly innocuous production process continues to churn out ammunition for debate with the 'games are mindless' clan. As critics fall, clutching their garlic, into conveniently placed prison colony furnaces, the power generated by Impact Games' minimal input (a website, a news story, and a decision for players) is highly efficient because it's the community which drives the brain-whirring mechanism of Play The News.

I'm uncertain whether Play The News ultimately qualifies as a game - it bears all the hallmarks of a modern news website, replete with reader's comments and the option for you to 'yay' or 'nay' the words of another person depending on whether they rung true or struck you as tone-deaf; yet the archetypes of gaming will swiftly be evidenced to you after the topsoil is unearthed. You'll be wooed by Play The News' achievements - become a Charismatic Debater by posting 10 comments and earning a yay or nay for each, or achieve Presidency of the USA by establishing principles then abandoning them for electoral gain (this last example may not be part of the game) - but the most woosome way Play The News flaunts its gaming credentials is by ensuring your interactions are meaningful by asking you to opine and predict upon the outcomes of ongoing events, and emailing you when the results are out. In my opinion, readers disgustingly transform into gamers when their interactions result in an emotion. People can experience pleasure through their sucessful interactions with a technology, and it's in this way that I believe Impact Games are encouraging people who'd normally not find an interest in the news to Play The News.

Play The News is free, follow the link on the top line of this article for more.

You know the corporate behemoth's shields are down when...

2008-06-30T05:42:00.003+01:00

Iron Sky Trailer

2008-06-25T18:16:00.001+01:00

Iron Sky Details

2008-06-25T02:20:00.000+01:00

In 1945 the nazis went to the moon, in 2018 they are coming back - that's the magnificent premise of Iron Sky. The film is bound to be of educational value to us all, come the inevitable uprising of comfortably distant extremist ideologies. With its visuals and fascinatingly ridiculous subject matter seemingly designed to tractor in the grazing geek, Iron Sky instantly sucked me in, despite furtive attempts to avert my gaze and attention by using tabbed-browsing. If you're a member of the gaming tribe, Iron Sky will probably spark pangs of familiarity within you. I've spotted the callsigns of some of my favourite games - Fallout, X-com, Wolfenstein - and I'm sure you'll develop a list of abductions you think Iron Sky has committed upon our culture. So it's with an entirely failed effort to create tension that I remark that it's a shame Iron Sky isn't going to be made into a computer game... oh but it is!

Details regarding the Iron Sky game are sparse. Unusually for a game developer, rather than throwing a few crumbs for the internet to swoop on and speculate over, Energia are inviting the winged community to the dinner table where their foul manners and rancid input are appreciated. Energia are the Finnish creators of Iron Sky (their previous project was Star Wreck), so perhaps their nationality serves to explain the unfamiliar and alien way they've chosen to respect and value the opinions of their fans. Whatever the explaination, Energia's exotic culture deserves an entire refrigerator dedicated to it at the supermarket. Shame there's no more details.

Tension sucessfully created! If you goose-step this way, we have an interview with the director of Iron Sky - Timo Vuorensola.

Splines: I love how you're encouraging community input on Iron Sky, and you seem to have created a culture of sharing on your forums, your blog and on Wreck a Movie in which the importance and impact of the individual is upped. How do you feel, as director of Iron Sky, about relinquishing control over the creative process?

Vuorensola: I'm not worried about that, because eventually I still have the control. More than handing out creative control, I'm extending my brain and using the community as an extended hive mind to ponder matters I need ideas for. But eventually, it's my decision on which stuff ends up on the film.

I think that Iron Sky's visual imagery is its strongest dimension. I'm a little concerned because the images on your website are restricted in that they only portray Nazi space technologies. Jarmo Puskala writes on his blog, "we want to create a whole world- with history, future and unlimited posibilities", do you think Iron Sky will be able to grow to meet this aspiration? For example, could you tell our readers how the history of Earth in Iron Sky differs from our own timeline - are the world's governments prepared for the lunar orbitskrieg?

What Jarmo there means is that we want Iron Sky to be not just a movie, but more of a sandbox where people can in the future start building on the things we throw in the air with Iron Sky. Therefore we build Iron Sky in a very open-ended model, paying a lot of attention to details and reasons, much more than we would if we were just making a film - we want to have a working universe for people to build on, and think that our film will hopefully just be a kickoff for a landslide of hundreds of stories that can be told in this world. We haven't yet revealed anything more about the history timeline of Earth.

Do you intend for Iron Sky to extend its space flight of fancy beyond UFOs and into the realm of other outlandish Nazi mythologies such as the reich's meddlings with the occult?

We haven't revealed these details either.

Discussion then veered towards the Iron Sky computer game:

You've crafted a pen-and-paper roleplaying game for Star Wreck, and now Jarmo Puskala says that he's hoping there will be a full-blown computer game to accompany and extend the Iron Sky universe. What stage of development is the game in right now?

We started to work on the Iron Sky game about a year ago in a very conceptual level, finding a good partner to do it and finding out funding sources.

Puskala states as fact that the best game ever made is UFO: Enemy Unknown (I can provide evidence that this is indeed the case) -can we expect the Iron Sky game to bare any similarity to UFO?

I don't want to rule out that possibility, but more than that we are looking into the world of good old adventure games, which all of us as Energia seem to love so much.

The Iron Sky movie will be distributed to theatres and directly to your fans via the internet. Would you consider a purely digital distribution method for your game? In your opinion, can film or game creators earn a greater reward for their efforts if they neglect traditional retail methods?

Nowadays the media depends on the traditional distributors and their valuechain, and breaking that chain is always hard, and should be led by those responsible for the distribution, and not so much by those responsible for the content itself. We took the whole chain in our hands with Star Wreck, and it led us to a success, but it's not to say that it could work again, since handling those chains is an art itself, and we've seen many more failures there than successes. Therefore, anything about Iron Sky or Iron Sky game distribution hasn't been decided. We care now only about producing the quality content, and keep on looking for the most intelligent distribution options and possibilities.

Thankyou for your time and sincere responses, Timo, and best of luck with Iron Sky!

Review: Mass Effect

2008-06-21T22:40:00.003+01:00

Mass Effect could benefit from more corridor combat. The shooter - a genre with which Mass Effect clumsily flirts - is oft criticised for its use of corridors to channel the player from one point to another. Bioware's new-found territory has people-funnels in abundance, yet, like the oilfields of Nigeria, Mass Effect's resources are misused by those who have taken charge of development. For example, rather than coupling claustrophobic corridors with the shock-value of a wall-bursting insect warrior, Bioware have chosen to relegate the man-shafts to the role of safe zone, and conversely every (disfunctionally common) lobby area predictably becomes an arena. Safe zones provide a welcome respite and a chance to save progress - there's no saving during combat, or even if there's a faint whiff of enemy - yet as only the deranged would deem Mass Effect a linear game, I would have expected Bioware to take advantage of the immediate quality-of-life benefits a modern corridor can offer.

With all major travel-tube related gripes out of the way, it's time introduce those unfamiliar with the game to its premise. It's a lot like Spore's creature creator, in that you take into your hands a lump of un-loveable clay (that's the guy on the box art, by the way) and mould him into an irreplaceable urn of great unfurling depth, history, and insight, or even into a girl. Soon, your evolutionarily triumphant Adonis will be in space, dominating lesser species (if you chose to be a carnivore/Renegade) or helping them out, perhaps by dancing (as a herbivore/Paragon). I ended up as somewhat of an omnivore, and Mass Effect excels in that it allows you to be both a Paragon and a Renegade - there's no arbitrary dichotomy between good and evil to be found here - and you might even find yourself sympathising or disagreeing with your friend over what constitutes Mass Effect's 'baddies'.

An online friend and myself reached consensus on the issue of AI teammate pathfinding when Steve remarked, "I wanted to summarily execute them quite a lot". Your buddies will both get stuck on objects and on occasion they'll refuse to budge from an unobstructed spot, seemingly disillusioned by the realities of space war. Perhaps Wrex - the token Klingon-alike character - expected blood, guts, and the horror (the horror), rather than the clinical character of this resurrections all round future fracas. Frustratingly, friendly fire is disabled.

Frustration was not the only emotion Mass Effect evoked in me. Melancholic moments froze me - Wrex like - with dejection. I'll reveal a minor (easily-missed) experience to you, but the most heart-wrenching hinge on your own decisions and will act as great engineering works on the flow of Mass Effect's Mississipi. I found myself on a planet under siege, ack-ack wounding the sky as synthetic troops assailed barely entrenched colonists. The dead lay underfoot, so it was to my surprise that I noticed one fallen fellow's gaze tracking my movements. I approached him and at that moment he was extinguished. I didn't realise this immediately, I'd assumed he was placed there to set up a 'fetch me 7 pints of blood' mission, so I did a silly dance, circumnavigating his cooling corpse in an effort to see his neck spring into swivelly action once more. Then, the event I'd just witnessed sunk in. I moved on, my resolve to thwart the siege hardened. Conversely, I felt a pang of anger directed at Bioware when an opportunity to free indentured torture victims was stolen from me as a single jail cell was unopenable, dooming the aliens within - this is not acceptable in a game you're claiming to be superior to a console port, Bioware! And while I remain full of ire: there isn't enough of a visual impact as a result of player decisions - when I restore a colony's desperately-needed water supply, I want to see the colonists quenching their thirsts when I return to town, Bioware! BIOWARE!

Because we don't yet live in The Future, Mass Effect's facial animation and general graphics wondrousness remain only close-to-perfect. Though generally 'awesome' is both an applicable and mandatory description for many of the game's panoramas and bleepy-bloopy Star Trek Original Series deco interiors, facial animation can't quite escape the ugly Scottish ravine. Disturbingly, the transition between characters' facial animations is handled rather haphazardly, the result being what appears to be a cast of incredibly nervous people who suffer from anxious tics whenever you speak to them.

It's a shame that this is one of those games which refuses to cooperate with 'return to Windows' commands, because the music is just terrible - the tracks are short but unfortunately they repeat. I prematurely ended each of my visits to Normandy (an Earth Alliance frigate and one of Mass Effects' hub areas) because my cochlea couldn't cope with another plinky-plonky soundwave collision.

The game has been played, the plinks, plonks, bleeps and bloops have been tallied, and we have a verdict. Mass Effect isn't the groundbreaking game I'd hoped it would be - it remains a accomplished RPG with a terrible inventory and fantastic graphics. The graphics and the inventory cancel each other out, leaving gamers with a good RPG that almost any gamer will enjoy.

The Mux of the Issue

2008-06-12T14:24:00.003+01:00

I've muddled through making myself a Muxtape, maybe you'll make one too? I wonder what the Muxchief does with all those uploaded mp3s - perhaps he's the supreme overseer of the newly DMCA-enabled corporate colony of Canada. We'll know for sure when the lawyers take flight on subpeona wings and a hot air current rather than foresight. Muxtape's lovely, if a little slow, rather like me.

Squeeze Mass Effect Through Your Blocked Ports

2008-06-08T14:44:00.009+01:00

On Friday, Mass Effect was released for PC. This weekend, I've wailed at my monitor in anger, grief, and because I heard the sound of wailsong could have a calming effect. The source of my angst, besides the fact that there's never anything to eat in this house, was this response from EA regarding my activation woes - devoid of empathy or comprehension:

I wonder how Glenn supposed I was talking to him without an internet connection.

Refusing to accept defeatist Glenn's assessment of the situation, I had a poke around on the ever-wonderful internet and found a solution, which I'll now share with you.

A disclaimer: This solution will only work with legitimate copies of Mass Effect, so it's only a useful technique if you're having trouble activating the game because of overzealous port blocking at your university or army base.

We're going to create a proxy, which will bounce your vital bits all over the place - at some point they'll probably enter Sweden - eventually they'll end up activated and wiser for the experience, over at Mass Effect HQ. First thing's first - you'll need to go here and also here, so that you can download the latest versions of Your Freedom and Freecap. You might need to register Your Freedom, but it's free and easy. Next, configure your proxy settings - use port 8080 and ask your friend who knows the correct spelling of orc what you should put in the 'proxy address' box (sorry, I can't help you, it's unique to your location). For server connection options, have a gander at this:

For Freecap, use port 1080 and the default proxy which, for me, is set to 127.0.0.1, and then click File> New Application and find Mass Effect.exe in your 'binaries' folder in the game's installation directory - once this is added, right click the icon, click 'Run'. Well done! You have now earned the right to play the game you bought!

It's good to be back, Colin!

Not At All Busy

2008-06-08T14:11:00.003+01:00

It took a little longer than expected, but now life has finally got its act together!

Reticulating Splines: Act 2 will commence shortly, please check under your seats for the special brew and emergency eye wash - together, we'll get through this.

Really Busy

2007-10-01T17:04:00.000+01:00

Normal service will resume when life gets its act together.

Black and White and Seaman all over

2007-09-20T14:09:00.001+01:00

Review: Global Conflicts: Palestine

2007-09-15T14:15:00.000+01:00

Format: PC
Developer: Serious Games Interactive
Publisher: Serious Games Interactive

I liken my experience of Global Conflicts: Palestine to the average Palestinian's right to freedom of movement within the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza: it's fractured and unreliable, yet impossible to give up on. I digitally downloaded my copy of GC:P from the Serious Games website, expecting an experience that would be more 'serious' than 'game', but thinking the price of twenty Euros a meager one considering that I'd be throwing a few crumbs to a small political fish in the main stream. I was surprised to discover a game that is challenging in three ways: to fickle human preconceptions, to intellectual and emotional disengagement, and to the calm temperament of those who expect a game to be finished before it's put on sale.

Character selection took a broom and rattled it around the recesses of my mind, clearing out cobwebs of comprehension and my assumptions about what defines someone as 'Palestinian', 'Israeli', or indeed 'Impartial'. The player can be represented by either a chap who identifies himself as having a Palestinian heritage or as an Israeli lady. Both characters share in common that they've lived most of their lives in America, they're both established journalists in their mid-thirtees, and they each have a personal interest in returning to a perceived homeland in the Middle East. Don't fret, choice of character doesn't affect much - the player will be thrust into the employ of a balding, bespectacled editor-man either way - and I suspect Serious Games' intention for character choice was to engage the player's imagination rather than to significantly affect the gameplay. The aim of each mission is to collect noteworthy quotes by engaging in conversation with local residents. The player's purpose being the piecing together of an appropriate article for one of three newspapers which each cater to a divergent demographic.

Errands are the currency of friendship, and the desert's denizens won't feel confident enough to confide in the player until their journalist has run a marathon - delivering messages and gifts throughout the domain - and, back in the real world, the player has begun to contemplate the risks of repetitive strain injury after countless clicks, unaided by an autorun. Coaxing a juicy quote out of an Abrahimic esophagus won't be easy even once you've successfully established an American Express franchise in Jerusalem: you'll need to maintain a polite veneer over your mighty pen before directing it towards a pointed question. My experience of GC:P has taught me that, by commencing dialogue with a query about my subject's health or about the status of their family, I'd find myself facing a much easier task and a more malleable interviewee. GC:P's citizens are fickle folk, and they'll quickly void their opinion of you from one day to the next, so you'll need to persuade them to like you all over again if you happen to want their opinion for the next story you write.

GC:P is a game about perspective. The player, as a freelance journalist, must consider the culture, daily life, attitudes, and expectations of the people they'll be interacting with, both individually and as a collective readership for each of the newspapers. A quote that I've collected may have a high news value (reflected by an on-screen display, frustratingly present only after the quote-collection section of the game is over), but if it's been sourced from an Israeli settler claiming a right to land because of the Palestinians' ineptitude to grow or build on it, then the quote is unlikely to generate interest amongst the editors of Palestine Today. I began the game thinking that I'd write for the international press in an effort to maintain impartiality as I strolled boldly between two decisively partisan communities. In actuality, I stumbled upon Hard Mode. Serious Games seem keen to stress an attitude of 'With us or against us' and they show this with their character's aversion to the international press: framed to be both biased and unconcerned with the humanity of the conflict. Intentional or not, I developed an opinion that writing for an Israeli or Palestinian paper would lead to wider recognition for my stories because the conflict is so intensely immediate to the people who live in the occupied territories that they couldn't become apathetic in the way that we 'Others' have the privilege of being able to.

If you wander from the café to the market in GC:P's Jerusalem, you'll be gifted with a bunch of bugs for free. People crossing the street will, for comic effect, adhere themselves to seemingly sticky sides of passing cars, and then proceed to thrash violently until another zombie-like pedestrian bumps them free. A quick flick through your notebook will result in a stuttering effect on the (criminally limited) sound samples of city life. You'll find that important people (who you'll frequently find standing on the pavement, staring at the traffic) won't talk to you - "Sorry, I'm too busy right now" - if you've already talked to them once during the mission. And may your god bless you if you'd like to ring the phone and complete the final mission, because it was impossible for me. I've done a fair bit of forum browsing in an effort to find a solution to this game-ruining bug and found two sources that attest to there being a patch to fix the problem next week.

I've enjoyed playing Global Conflicts: Palestine, to the extent that I felt a pang of sorrow when the game abruptly ended on me without a proper conclusion. Yet, I can't recommend it to you unless you'd like to use the game as a teaching aid instead of for fun. There's a lot to be learned from the conversations you'll have with the well-developed characters of GC:P, and each mission begins with a helpful list of points to consider as you play. If Serious Games patch their creation to a level of reliable functionality then GC:P would be perfect for schools and I'm sure it would provide a wonderfully vivid teaching-aid for the classroom environment.

Playing Columbine

2007-09-15T07:33:00.001+01:00

Snake Seeker

2007-09-12T09:30:00.000+01:00

I had intended to write something a little more substantial than what you're soon going to regret reading. That was, until I was approached by a Greek friend and persuaded into proof-reading his 86 page computing dissertation, placing a rather downpour-like dampener on my aspirations to stimulate my readers both intellectually and spiritually. Honestly, this impromptu-essayship is awfully convenient: I enjoy the silly stories.

What more can I say? Click on the thing. Tell me what you think for a change.

It'll be like this only Capcom..ier

Splines Flames Lair

2007-09-10T13:30:00.000+01:00

I'm quite certain that Sony's mission won't be complete until a day in the life of a game reviewer goes like this:

Awaiting Instructions. Connecting to Sony ... ... ...
Connection Established.
Commencing Review.

Undue Sony-bashing? No. They've only gone and issued a Lair Reviewer's Guide, for flip's sake.

One Frustrated Consumer, To Go

2007-09-09T01:34:00.000+01:00

If I don't intend to buy a game, is it OK to pirate it? The God and/or EULA-fearing mind would deliver a firm, 'Certainly not, infidel' to a query of this kind, yet I'll persist for the sake of madness, heathens, and blog posts greater than one sentence in length. Let's lay a framework for what will surely earn us rigorous flagellation in the afterlife: my question specifically regards Medieval 2: Total War, which is an ace game and the receiver of hearty compliments across the known world when it came to review-time, yet in using Rome's engine and Medieval 1's source material, it's hardly pushing the boundaries of what The Creative Assembly can achieve. I'll concede that I've made a value-judgement: that Medieval 2's full-price is not worth the samey entertainment I'll receive in playing it. My logic is based on an assumption and could therefore be incorrect.

Through acts of digital piracy, we circumvent the monetary reward-giving that our economy relies upon to drive creativity. The Creative Assembly is thus aptly named because it consists of a group that have come to be united through their profession and the knowledge that their efforts in developing games will provide them with an income and livelihood, stability of existence and intellectual stimulation. I ask you: do we need a games industry for games innovation? A misnomer of a suggestion would be that mod teams excel at applying their skills for creativity, and at no cost to the end-user, framing their serious hobby in a loftier light than those of career-professionals. I say 'misnomer' because the modder's existence is reactive - the act of modification is applied to another group's product - and therefore the foundation of games modding lies upon the software-ceiling defined by a (not necessarily, but often) financially incentivized group.

Piracy is wrong, according to the publishers of games, because the act of creation requires resources (in terms of necessary hardware and software, talented people and their wages), and that these resources were applied under the knowledge that, as in a car factory, the final product would be of greater monetary worth than the combined expenditure. I think that there's something sadly remiss with the computer game industry of today. Whilst a game's demo and many reviews could be analogous to the 'test drive' of a new car - both serve to be testament to the quality of the product and an aid to the consumer's certainty that they'd be correct to make a purchase - cars tend to vary in quality depending on the price a customer is willing to pay, yet computer game prices remain static (according to their system) and only the age rating fluctuates. Game publishers encourage their developers to produce their games at regular and frequent intervals, knowing that they will sell regardless of quality. A game therefore requires itself to be on the shelf and ready for sale before it risks becoming a financial liability. It is thus wrong for publishers to claim that piracy stifles creativity because, I suggest, piracy is a reflection of a game's lack of innovation and, additionally, a game's quality is dictated by market forces long before a publisher could be aware of the harm piracy may do to their game's sales.

I'd like gaming to be placed back at the fingertips of the enthusiast. If energy and curiosity were the driving force behind game creation, and donations were the method of revenue being earned, then I'm sure we'd see a return to technically simple but terrifically original games being in the majority. I believe that the capitalist market-system produces little of worth (see the military-industrial complex), that it engages its consumers in a downward spiral of lowering expectations and rising prices.

So, back to my original question: If I don't intend to buy a game, is it OK to pirate it? I'm sure that it is not. The fact stands that Medieval 2: Total War was produced with economic venture in mind and that I'd be abusing my power as a net-savvy irate individual if I were to obtain a copy against the will of its developers. Instead of swallowing this grey goo that trails all over the face of modern gaming, thinking that we've achieved a sly victory because we've eaten a shallow meal for free, we should be producing our own artefacts of worth: sumptuous everlasting cascades that we can each banquet upon together, rather than queue for yet another McDonalds to be eaten hurriedly amongst greasy, slouched figures in an endless cycle of fast-food life. I, for one, will make a point to create alongside my consumption. In fact, I'll model my life upon the Kinder Egg :)

Obliterate Homes, Help the Homeless

2007-09-08T13:38:00.000+01:00

It's not often that e-philanthropy takes the form of swooping TIE-Fighters 'sploding up the place, so we should be grateful that SOE have gifted Star Wars: Galaxies' players with the opportunity to take wrathful revenge on the derelict housing that (assumedly) has blighted the past few years of their online existence, offering both maniacal satisfaction and the knowledge that a charitable donation will be made for each galactic-emigrant's home destroyed. A department of Sony's Online division is located in Austin (Texas) and so perhaps they've monkeysphered their way to choosing Austin Habitat for Humanity as the charity that will receive the proceeds that result from each of Star Wars Galaxies' ex-resident's living spaces becoming Jawa jewels.

I think that Sony have made the best of a bad situation. Clearly, a plethora of players no longer consider SWG their home, yet their homes still remain in virtual existence on the surface of one of SWG's many planets. SWG's new subscribers now find that living space is at a premium on Tatooine, and they're reasonably disgruntled that most of the existing sandy-coloured shacks lie abandoned and unclaimed. Now, considering SWG's relatively low player base (relative to you know what), server-expansion no longer presents itself as a viable option, making the deletion of accounts and destruction of long-abandoned virtual property a transient 'out with the old and in with the new' necessity. The fact that SOE chooses to contribute to charity (when they could simply edit the residences out of existence) is, to me, evidence of businesses' necessity to retain good public relations becoming a positive force for humanity.

The Sentiment is Shared

2007-09-08T10:25:00.000+01:00

I had to rejigger this post because of some copyright issue over at YouTube. Fortunately, Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw remains someone for whom I'd gladly donate ten pints of my blood ... and I'd wash out my own milk bottles so he could carry it home to use in case of emergency.

Review: Bioshock

2007-09-03T19:55:00.000+01:00

Format: PC
Developer: 2K/Irrational
Publisher: 2K

I'm awash with disappointment. Bioshock is not the exceptional game that I'd been told (and sincerely hoped) it would be. High production values and a no-doubt talented development team have combined to found an exhibit of the most paradoxically ocean-deep yet Serious Sam-shallow soggy mush of storytelling and saline gaming. I summon Sam because Bioshock all too often betrays its simple-shooter essence. The truth is, despite its sprawling cityscape, voice-recorded backstory, and literary-inspiration, Bioshock herds the player along a pre-defined path in a manner akin to a headless kamikaze. Once the basic rules have been defined (hack the cameras, electrify the water, exploit the Daddies), Bioshock is a tiresome and repetitive trawl, although it is trawl through some eye-searing and ear-arousing locales.

Ken Levine - Bioshock's project director -once worked as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures. I find Mr. Levine fascinating because he opines that a player must retain freedom of control throughout the telling of a game's story, yet I think that Bioshock has failed to bring this premise to fruition. Rapture is introduced through a torrent of set-pieces that revolve like a whirlpool around the player. I think that the first fifteen minutes of Bioshock may be one of choreographed-gaming's greatest achievements. Then, like a hurricane, Bioshock's energy dissipates upon dry land, and tiresome convention sets in. Bioshock's story is largely told through the discovery of superbly voice-acted tape recordings that are scattered like jetsam throughout the city. The recordings serve to permeate ripples from Rapture's past, describing one man's impractical ideology and the dystopian implications of remaining doubtless when reality's tide erodes a ruler's fantasy. One could argue that this system gifts the player with a freedom to continue their game whilst revelling in Rapture's past, yet I felt that the recordings necessitated my standing still in order to avoid triggering combat, or any other such noisy distraction, until the playback ceased. There are a few pipette-drops of genius dispersed within this inverted fish-tank of disembodied storytelling - Brechtian acknowledgments of gaming's similarity with theatre - but they remain sadly infrequent tips to an iceberg that remains largely submerged below the high tide defined by Deus Ex.

Almost every room in Rapture contains a few bad guys and represents an equipment-expending battle. I'm the kind of person who likes to thoroughly explore the games I play, so I felt unduly punished when I found that areas I'd previously cleared of enemies had become re-populated with another happy-go-lucky set of spritely psychopaths. An internal conflict emerged: should I continue to explore this level and risk the loss of my best ammunition or should I continue to the next in the hope that I'll get to appreciate the city's intricacies without suffering through the wasteful chore of combat? There was a solution: play the game like an online shooter and treat the ability to re-spawn upon death as advantageous excuse to skimp on using med-kits. By half way through Bioshock, I'd even grown accustomed to teasing the baddies with telekenetically-thrown scraps of rubbish to the face so that I could be fatally flung as a shortcut to the nearest re-spawn point. When I'd completed the game, I felt as though I'd failed to fully understand Bioshock, yet I'd loathe to live another few hours playing it.

The bloody ballet of Bioshock's combat is renditioned through use of plasmids (think Jedi force powers) and conventional weaponry. Together they fuse to become complimentary methods of mass maiming. An early example of the plasmid and weapon's symbiosis comes in the form of Atlas' 'one-two punch': the sadist's catatonic coupling of the lighting plasmid's stunning shock and the wrench for good old fashioned bludgeoning. I fumbled around in the settings to find the button I should press to lean - to no avail - there isn't one! Merely entering a room is usually enough to alert all of its inhabitants to your presence, signaling the development team's departure from common sense and a welcome to Rapture. Later in the game, two separate tonics (subtle plasmids) negate this problem, imbuing the player with silent footsteps and Predator-style camouflage. Oddly, the player's enemies seem to have their own set of poor-man's plasmids (and, in some cases, no special powers at all) even though their character as 'splicers' hinges on their overuse of super-human augmentation.

If the player wants to save themselves a bit of dosh (and blood), they'll have to learn to plumb. That's because a vital component of Bioshock comes in the form of tubes, which need to be neatly arranged to form a channel so that liquid may flow from one point to another. You see, the organisation of pipes acts as a 'fun' metaphor that represents the hacking of equipment such as turrets and vending machines. I'd previously had a wholly unrealistic and romanticised opinion about the excitement of hacking, but after playing Bioshock I realise that the life of a hacker is simple and brimming with mild stimulations. Hackers are no risk to the US government because their role can be simply outlined using the 'series of tubes' language that senators are able to understand.

Without spoiling anything, I can say that I'd expect to be granted a degree of freedom after a major event that takes place during Bioshock. Perhaps the player's avatar has a chain tattooed on his wrists for a reason: to signify total adherence to each order he will be given during the game. Bioshock's publishers framed their game as an intellectual stimulation, so it's sadly ironic that the only choices to face the player regard violence and occasionally the choice to refrain from killing someone.

Perhaps I've been too harsh on Bioshock. Perhaps it deserves the uproar that it has provoked through its commercial and critical success. I remain firmly unimpressed. I expected so much more. If you've yet to play Bioshock then I recommend you think twice before you make a purchase.

The Value of Games

2007-08-30T16:49:00.000+01:00

Ian Bogost is a sage amongst milder herbs. According to Bogost (and contrary to Splines' previous reports), we're all a little to blame for the failure of the original Manhunt 2, Carmageddon, Fahrenheit, and every other game deemed too 'adult' for retail acceptability. Bogost, who is the founder of Persuasive Games, conceives a need to critically assess the ramifications of the label 'Adults Only' (AO): the decisively fatalistic rating which the US' ESRB deemed appropriate for Manhunt 2 last June.

Reading this statement, I think that Bogost is outlining a failure of duty (and the existence of a duty!) on the behalf of those that produce, distribute, and enable the playing of games:

"A number of commenters… are calling for… an AO version for PC sold outside the traditional videogame retail channels… I suspect such a move is financially unimaginable in contemporary videogames […] But game devs and publishers are going to have to start making moves like this if they also want to continue making calls for the protection of games as speech. Who will take this argument seriously if game creators are so willing to compromise their intentions?"

To use a civil rights analogy (why not): I think that we as gamers should consider the example of Dr. King, who successfully displayed that a valid and effective strategy to bring an end to discrimination is to avoid an adversarial mentality and instead to persuade those who would discriminate (against games as a worthy medium) that we should be recognized as members of the community with a valuable contribution to make.

We can achieve the respect of doubters in a number of ways. We as gamers can take it as our duty to show our favorite games to our friends, relatives, and people who would really prefer we didn't. We can tell people why we love games, how the media tends to report only on the negative aspects of gaming, and that 'Adults Only' should not be demonized because a lot of gamers are just that: adults. We can praise the efforts of the many developers that strive to exceed expectations and to produce something truly exceptional. We can reject the studio that fails to defend its creation when it comes under criticism for being 'too extreme'. Games are a creative vision. Developers: for you to submit to outside interference is like poking yourself in the eye, suddenly that vision becomes blurry and indistinct.

Decades of Decadence, Decimated?

2007-08-27T20:55:00.000+01:00

The United Kingdom plays venue to past glory and modern mediocrity. This statement could never resound with greater poignancy than with respect to the UK's history of games development. This sceptered isle once hosted a plethora of innovators and instigators: pioneers that led the world's first virtual revolution. Today, talented British developers leave their native shores in multiples of 56, heading for a warmer reception within cultures that view gaming as a valid contributor rather than incidental childs'-play.

Bearing our temperamentally transitional history in mind, I'm mindfully skeptical yet tinted with a pang of glee when a prominent Conservative MP announces an ambition towards, "Tax breaks for the games industry similar to those experienced by the film industry".

I'll write more on this issue should the ambition become a promise. Until then, I'll be remaining cautiously optimistic.

No Tricks or Treats, Only Manhunt 2

2007-08-25T01:57:00.000+01:00

Hi. Just a quickie to update you with news that Manhunt 2 has undergone an ordeal as Rockstar's psychotic staffers hurriedly applied the surgical blade to modify their game's body in time for a Halloween release date. No anesthetic was used due to the game already being knocked out by a severe blow to the freedoms of game developers when the BBFC refused to certify the game (in its original form) earlier this year.

In other noteworthy news, I have Bioshock, and it's good. Unfortunately I have to go to some stupid partnering of husband and wife in legal matrimony this weekend, guaranteeing the whole forty-eight hours to be a total wash-out. A few frustrating rotations of my clock's big daddy hand occurred before Securom replied to my e-mail and kindly allowed me to manually activate the game I'd paid for.

Although I would never advocate piracy, I think this form of mockery is objectively quite justified:

Massive Damage

2007-08-23T16:41:00.000+01:00

The ever clever Gamasutra today begins a new feature - Game Design Essentials: 20 Difficult Games - providing informed insight into the 'skill-test' philosophy of early video games (as opposed to the modern focus on narrative and thus the requirement that players reach the 'end' of the game). John Harris, the article's author, shoots my weak-spot:

"[D]ifficulty in a video game must be handled carefully. Nothing attracts the ire of those fickle game bloggers quite like them getting their asses handed to them by a game."

I'll concede this is fair criticism, especially regarding this rambling rejection of the English language. I'll contemplate Harris' sentiment and ideally become a better writer because of it.

Frau Chancellor, Tear Down This Wall!

2007-08-22T21:35:00.000+01:00

Tonight, as conference-goers settle into their hotel rooms in Leipzig, news filters through the binary-vine that Crytek's Avni Yerli cannot envision a future for his development team in Germany should the state enact proposed legislation against violent games. A tougher law is needed, according to the German government, because of the (disputed) risk that the playing of violent games may lead increased aggressiveness in a gamer's behaviour.

I have sympathy for the German people. I think the state is acting out of concern for the individuals under its charge, yet I fear it may have 'set up the bomb' on this one: somebody's going to get hurt before the round is over, no matter where the truth lies in the video games violence debate. If the legislation does not come to fruition, the government will disappoint the 59% of German people who feel that a ban on violent gaming is appropriate (see 'proposed legislation', above). Yet, if a ban is enacted, the economy is guaranteed to suffer. The existence of Crytek and the Leipzig conference within Germany provides onlookers with strong evidence that the German people value gaming in their lives and with their wallets.

I think that I've yet to reach the core of the issue: should the state halt their proposal at draft, this will happen because of coercion. The German people are in majority consensus that violent games are bad for society, so a decision to halt legislation would be a demonstration of the state putting economy above welfare in its priorities. My ideal solution would be for everyone involved to have a stein of bier and an academically-supported chit-chat which would (of course) result in all the skeptics agreeing that they were wrong and that Manhunt 2 and all its companions should become part of the school syllabus. Failing that, I'd simply like the German state to agree that, due to insufficient evidence either way, video games are not a risk to peoples' sanity and should therefore not be restricted any further. The ratings system is, after all, a restriction, and it should be tailored to meet the opinions and sensibilities of the people.

Acting Matters

2007-08-21T14:48:00.001+01:00

Olympus Yawns

2007-08-20T21:39:00.000+01:00

Note: This post is written about God of War 1, I've yet to play its sequel. Apologies that this blog's material is often archaic. I have a lot of catching up to do with my playing of console games and learning how to write good.

I don't like God of War. Let's get this promptly out of the way: I'm not very good at it, I got up to the part with a wooden floor that, if you battle too long on top of it, drops you to the detriment of your continued existence, and then (after several replays with accompanying new plans) I quit.

As I played God of War, early as the first locked door on the assailed ship, I realised that GoW's developers had one simple rule for their players: 'Do it our way, or fail'. 'Don't bother thinking about bashing that wooden door down with your brutish oaks of arms, gamer', the developers would say to me, 'just follow our chore-list and you'll have lots of fun, we promise'. And so I carried out my tasks like a good demi-god. It wasn't long until Kratos was directed into another room of the house, this time hoovering in Athens, then dusting in the desert. I was already tired by the point I was ordered to polish that wooden floor within a strict time limit, my meager skills and withered frame were simply not up to the task. 'Yet you must persist', said the developers, 'There's a key in that room, and you can't progress until we let the red barriers down, and we won't do that until all the enemies are dead'. So I hurried and all the enemies died along with me when we fell madly into the dark room below.

'Oh, another job', confessed the developers as they speedily reassembled Kratos' corpse, 'We couldn't put you back together in that room because of, you know, the floorboards being the way they are and all, and we couldn't begin the procedure in the room before that either, you see, the enemy AI is as crooked as Atlas' back and, you know, it couldn't be helped but, sometimes they keep on spawning and jam into that room and - oh, I expect you noticed the evil-flavoured jam when you tried to get into the floorboard-trap area, is that why you're cut as well as smushed? So anyway, the job, well, we need you to run across this contraption of giant saw-blades and then along a conveyor-belt with crushing spiked blocks that move unpredictably and then climb a wall. You probably remember doing this before your death, right? Well, all we need you to do is keep repeating this perilous run until you've worked out how to kill all those enemies in a cruel rigid time limit. See you soon!'
'You've properly stitched me up this time', I thought.

My complaint isn't simply that GoW is linear, I think it's lacking even the most spartan smidgen of ambition. The enemies, for example (barring their AI, which is basic yet functional), are reminiscent of Robotron: the player knows exactly how they're going to behave based on their appearance, they're incapable of evoking surprise or projecting a sense of individual character, they're drones. The difference between Robotron and GoW (besides the volume of memory that their respective developers had to play with) being that Robotron placed the player in combat with entities that we'd expect to display drone-like behaviour (being that they were, in fact, drones), yet GoW's beasts, such as the Cyclops, should be inherently selfish and individualistic. When I see a young Minotaur throw its youth away as a slave to such uninspired development, I weep.

Another thing, developers, if you're going to develop such a limited set of rules and situations and call them a game, at least make them consistent. If I try to jump over a ledge to reach some goodies and find that I can't, I don't expect that I then will fall to my doom when I try it over some foreboding precipice. The opposite is true, if you prevent me from callously throwing myself off a cliff I might well assume I can't take an aerial root towards nearby goodies. That, and Kratos looks like he's found footing on an invisible Mario-block each time he performs the double-jump upon which so much of GoW's platforming depends.

GoW is definitely the worst game I've played since Armed Assault.

A Visceral Update

2007-08-20T19:24:00.000+01:00

"Bookmark it, RSS to it, marry it. It’s a big, new, and exciting thing that will be updated every day with comment and thoughts on PC gaming news, games and esoterica."

I'll bet Kieron Gillen has already made a gag about cocking the gun, innu-ending any prospect of humour in this post before it's even begun. If you like gaming, click the link.

TF2: Meet the Heavy

2007-08-18T18:00:00.001+01:00

A Case of History Deleting

2007-08-16T17:45:00.000+01:00

If you were to click this link right now, it probably wouldn't work. Why am I providing you with a dead link? Well, perusers of the internet have palpitated their quivering left-clicking fingers with such rapidity over the Wikipedia Scanner that the website has been, "Disabled until the onslaught of traffic wanes".

I'm telling you about this because, beside offering the amateur sleuth an opportunity to raise aloft the torch of transparency, Wikipedia Scanner's skilful deployment has led to a conglomeration of shamed corporate employees, including an Electronic Arts staffer who would prefer public ignorance about Trip Hawkins or EA Spouse.

I have nothing but contempt for these corporate representatives. Their actions are as despicable as they are futile. Wikipedia takes stock of earlier versions of each entry, placing the painless process of healing an ignoramus' incursion in contrast with the cruel and unusual punishments these poor human specimens will endure at the behest of their embarrassed employers.

Review: Colin McRae: DiRT

2007-08-16T00:07:00.000+01:00

Format: PC
Developer: Codemasters
Publisher: Codemasters

Not since the original TOCA Touring Car on the PS1 had I played a racing game, or even felt compelled to do so. It was therefore with a lumbering weight of apprehension that I picked up my newly-purchased XBox 360 controller after double-clicking DiRT's desktop icon. I felt like a stranger in a sensuous new land, the foreign sound of a lady groaning in pleasure was to greet me like an aroused ambassador, and then, the most sumptuous menu screen ever. Gliding through the available play modes - Career, Championship and Rally World - I began to feel at home as I pondered on which option tempted me most. A defining characteristic of the rally is that drivers rarely undertake a challenge without a co-driver and pacenotes, this ethos extends to most aspects of DiRT. If the player finds themselves in a fix, the Y button on the 360 controller (or up-arrow on the keyboard) provokes a knowledgeable chap to chirp up, furnishing the player with usually useful information in specific regard to whatever currently holds the game's attention. Because of a decade of suspended knowledge, DiRT is to me a simulation game because what it lacks in missile launchers it makes up for in potential to tinker with technobits before the race. Codemasters have thoughtfully provided an explanation at the precipice of every pitfall, instructing newcomers on how to handle themselves when approaching such hazardous questions as, 'Should my rear toe-angle be negatively aligned for best performance?', simplifying the issue for genre-cretins.

Goatherds will kindly move aside

The developers of DiRT have done a darn-fine job. Before playing, I would have insisted that racing is a pure and emotionally-detached event, closer to a science of angles and traction than a whole-hearted adventure, now I know better. I know that the car in the above screenshot is a Mitsubishi Evo IX Lancer, what's more, it's my Lancer, and we've been through a lot together. In each of DiRT's modes, courses are unlocked and thus the player is materially rewarded for their accomplishments. Many games, notably MMOs, use a similar 'new stuff after strife' system because it achieves a heightened sense of ownership. I don't think it's sensible to use a system such as this in a game like DiRT because it typically shrouds the best bits. DiRT goes so far as to reveal the events' name, the type of course and car involved, yet demands that the player earn the privilege to play most of the game . Codemasters ascend a steep incline of success once the better content is unlocked. As I conquered the Career Mode's tiers I was able to choose from a worthy roster of motors, learning for myself the nuances of torque and track alike.

Codemasters developed a new engine before spraying DiRT onto our screens, and its performance to annoyance ratio is top-notch. It's clear that the publishing/development duo have acquired a brimming toolbox during McRae's many trials (DiRT being the seventh iteration of the series), the rally cars' handling, the fidelity of the scenery, the camera-angles available to the player in-game and the playback features present in the action-replay, they're all marvellous. What's absent from this list of pure-gold gameplay? Well, I say that the rally cars handle well because the buggies (that are much flaunted in DiRT's publicity) handle like soap in a bath: they're slippery and you'll ultimately face frustration. The in-race camera-angles are both functional and attractive, so it's a shameful revelation that Codemaster's positioning of most of their track-side cameras is dire, dire like the kind of Bugbear that would pulverise a lesser game into the damp gravel of obscurity.

DiRT lets you take trucks off-road. That's not 'arcade', that's American.

The majority of gaming PCs won't have the horsepower to handle this game at its most maximised detail levels. If you own a 360 and a PC that hasn't had its components churned-over in more than two years, I'd definitely recommend that you purchase the 360 version of DiRT. Aptly enough, only the beginning of each race has performed at a poor speed on my PC, with far smoother acceleration accompanying the majority of races. DiRT remains, under its embossed bonnet, a rally fanatic. As such, the contours of the road will supplant other cars as the abundant challenge for the player's speeding chassis.

DiRT's audio is its disability, its crutch rather than a well-oiled clutch. Once I'd recovered from the startling onset of the stupendously sub-woofed title music, I found DiRT to be wiped clean of any music of merit. There's little audible mettle to the motors, either. The game is proudly loud, but rarely does the audio suit the atmosphere or does the terrain's visual virtuosity risk succumbing to the enunciation of the engine.

In conclusion, DiRT is a game that's well worthy of your time, even if you're not keen on the genre. I'd highly recommend that you purchase an apt controller with rumble and anaglog-stick capabilities, without which you simply won't experience this game as the developers intended. DiRT has left a persistent smudge upon my psyche.

Brining Shock

2007-08-15T13:55:00.000+01:00

In a manoeuvre that should be regarded as suspiciously similar to poaching other, better sourced blogs' material, rather than actively engaging in research or any other behaviour with a semblance of professionalism, Splines has a story to report which will flood your chambers with passion, angry passion. Prepare yourself for an imminent jealous rage.

Some normal people have Bioshock early, they have it now, and they got it from Toys R Us. These people simply sauntered in and asked for Irrational Games' unreleased sunken treasure, and they got it. This makes me mad because I want to count myself amongst this gallant few. Sadly, there's no Toys 'R' Us in Lancaster, and I suspect their management may already be wise to the breach in their company's starboard stocks. I'm bitter and twisted, like the salt-water that naive checkout staff have poured into an arm still writhing from a gaping drill-bit wound.

Thanks to Kotaku for this story. Your blog is infinitesimally better than my own, but sadly lacking in grotesque similes. Also, they'll be a review of Bioshock on Splines as soon as my pre-order arrives (must...fight....swelling tide of fury). Also also, I promised a review of DiRT about a week ago and I've yet to deliver, if all goes well then it will be done and dusted by late today or early tomorrow, I can't tell for sure because I've yet to start writing it!

Edit: I don't mean when I say, "they'll be a review of Bioshock on Splines as soon as my pre-order arrives", that I'll begin writing immediately after viewing the case. There will be a certain length of time between Bioshock's arrival and my preparedness to assemble thoughts on the matter (and then I'll play the game - tee hee).

GoHansBlix

2007-08-13T21:56:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Game Politics I've discovered Erik Bethke and the impressive premise of an online avatar's bill of rights. Erik is CEO of GoPets and developer of a game that goes by the same name. The theoretical possibility of an avatar's judiciously protected properties was hailed by Ralph Koster a chronological chasm of seven years ago, yet the materialisation of habeus corpus remains as removed from existence as a habitual corpse. This despotic state of affairs seems placed to topple as Erik has both the mind and the platform of GoPets by which to virtuously campaign and effect both expectations and reality.

Erik's proposal of action could likely lead to a re-evaluation of reality for other online content producers/hosters such as Blizzard, YouTube, and even bloggers such as myself. We'll need to enquire of ourselves: 'To what extent is this venue a public space? At what point is intervention justfied and do I, as an administrator, possess greater privilege over my visitors?'. The establishment of a tribunal - in which a public panel contemplates evidence and passes judgement - has been put forth by Erik; this system has an inherent advantage in its existence within an MMO, being that a presumedly impartial power (the game's administrator) has access to reliable logging data (such as that of both party's conversations) that can be utilised to ascertain truth when presented to a judicial organisation. Even still, is this kind of logging to be permitted in a surveillance-sensitive society? These are the kind of questions that should (and I'm confident, will) be asked before Erik's formative deadline regarding GoPets' EULA.

Ubisoft Baby Bottoms

2007-08-12T16:03:00.001+01:00

Hmm... an odd one, this. The question that begs to be asked being: do girls truly relish the prospect of looking after a baby, or is this assumption a result of the demands placed on young women by our society? I can't answer this question, although my experience of life has taught me that truth (a tricky prospect in itself) lies in a compromise between polar notions. Ubisoft's Imagine Babies could be the latest artefact in a lengthy succession of technologies which aim to socially engineer people with the aim to morph them into cooperative and cohesive tools of the state, it could be simple fun.

A definite positive aspect of this creation is that it represents Ubisoft's perception of 'the girl' as a marketable demographic, and the DS as a medium for introducing to the under-represented sex a form of entertainment that they've neglected for the past few decades.

Sumotori Dreams: Drunk Guy Simulator

2007-08-07T18:27:00.001+01:00

Review: Shadow of the Colossus

2007-08-07T16:38:00.000+01:00

Format: PS2
Developer: SCEI Production Team 1
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment International

Urgh, 'SCEI Production Team 1', such a jarring juxtaposition of clinical corporate regimen against the wide-eyed realisation that this team has not been doped or bonded by their employers, but left free to create something truly majestic. In harmony with Cory Barlog's observation (he's the director of God of War I and II), this game drapes a silken subtlety over the themes it elegantly addresses. SotC aptly avoids the temptations of Hollywood-style, testosterone and napalm-fuelled plot progression - eerily - as though this game were developed is an alternate Proto-Hollywood hegemonic yet digitally capable universe. Wonderment at Japan's cultural isolationism aside, SotC features giant freakin' monsters: the colossi. As the protagonist, Wander, you'll be responsible for the felling of the gargantuan inhabitants of this strikingly radiant game-world. So, how can SotC be subtle? The big chap on the game's box wouldn't do so well at a game of hide and seek in and around your grandparents' living room, would he now? Well, it's in the methods used to tell SotC's story, in the way that Wander and Agro (his horse) develop a character and motivation despite the minimum of dialogue (actually, Agro hardly talks at all), but rather through the player's identification and empathy with a duo clearly suffering through adversity. My understanding of SotC was borne through being compelled to supplant my own worldly experience in lieu of any definite knowledge of Wander's world, and, in doing so, to accept the symbiosis of my own personality with that of the protagonist. The colossi are strong characters in the most obvious of ways, however, playing SotC you'll marvel at the many nuances and intricacies that amaze precisely because they don't take up the entire screen with a toenail or attempt to model your avatar on a pancake.

The colossi sport Reactions lenses.

Now that I'm forced to unceremoniously disassemble SotC's gameplay, it's clear that there are three distinct segments, to be named, 'The Briefing', 'The Hunt' and 'The Battle'. The Battle is inverted in upon The Briefing, meaning that once you've killed the Big Bad, you'll find yourself (almost) instantly back in The Temple of Briefing (I'm so glad Sony didn't call it that).

Briefings live up to their name because your boss issues instructions whilst standing before you in his underwear. Although I just lied to you, my reviews are to be trusted. What actually happens is a heavenly light shines down from the roof of the temple, accompanied by succinct orders, furnishing the player with ambiguous and perfectly unhelpful clues about the next colossus. The Briefing is the weakest section of the game and mercifully brief. My ire is raised because I'm no fan of the voice acting, the fictitious in-game language's semiotics, or the content or font present in the subtitled translation. After every fourth colossus is toppled, the player is granted a cutscene of such marvellous quality it almost, almost, dispels the lacklustre quality of The Briefing.

Moving on: The Hunt. In the above picture you'll see Wander holding his sword aloft, beaming radiant sunlight against the matted chest of a hideous beast. This sword-and-sunlight dynamic forms a crucial element of SotC. Holding the controller's circle button whilst manipulating the left analog stick allows the player to harness and reflect any light source towards a target. This technique has two major applications: the cone of light will focus and become more intense when pointed in the direction of the next colossus on Wander's death-list, the second application regards battles, I'll cover that in a moment. I like SotC's reflective navigation because, as well as being beautiful (along with the rest of the game), the mechanic remains embedded in the world - it's feasible - I find this preferential to a jarring radar-display, HUD-based or otherwise 'artificial' mechanic. I call this segment 'The Hunt' because of the distance you'll travel before encountering your mark. The environment is diverse in setting and rendered in a remarkable style that I find reminiscent of high-exposure photography. Distance travelled in SotC should be measured in pleasure.

The battles are mostly great. From the walkthrough I consulted (I have no shame!), I've garnered that people's opinions vary widely as to which colossi are rubbish and those that are the most difficult to beat. For example, I read that people had a lot of trouble dealing with the sand-worm, but I found that if you allowed Agro to take charge of whatever direction he cared to carry you, killing the beast was simple. Aptly demonstrated by Blockhead, computer games have a talent for exposing our strengths and humiliating inadequacies. I fell off the last boss so much I had to quit the game before my head exploded. To describe how a colossus is reduced to an inert hill or small mountain, it's best that I attempt to tackle a summary of how SotC's platforming is handled. The use of L1, to grab, is paramount. It's possible for Wander to grab and then shimmy (or pull himself up, or jump away from) almost any ledge, mossed or hairy (yes, hairy) surface in the game. Hair comes into the equation via the follicles of our big-hearted chums (they're not big-hearted because they love you, sorry), who are often covered in the stuff, allowing you to grasp the intricacies of stabbing your sword deep into the places they'd rather you didn't. Oh, yes! The sword, I said I'd mention the sword's light once more: it's very helpful to shine a beam, caressing the colossus with the glow, because the points at which the rays focus will aid you in identifying the important parts of your adversary's body, this equates to the parts you should stab or fire an arrow at. Alternately, if you clamber close enough to one of these points when your sword is unsheathed then the magic of exploitation will cause a symbol on the colossus to glow. Fighting a colossus is a lot better than I've made it appear. You won't be thinking about ledges or even hair during the battle, you'll be screaming 'Dios mio!' (this article is pending localisation).

Wander represents the proverbial David to the colossi's Goliath, as such, his life often dangles on the line depending on the dangling ability of the player. Health rarely presents a problem until the later colossi, but stamina is an ever-present hazard. Handily, gauges accurately plot the decline of both attributes, allowing the player to remedy Wander's imminent cessation of wandering. I particularly enjoy the moments when Wander runs out of stamina and regains just enough during his fall to manage a desperate grasp onto an obscure invert of the colossus - I've actually discovered weak points using this, ahem, 'method'.

"Hi, I came for the gymkhana"

I adore the audio. The orchestral accompaniment serves as a suitable incense to the chambers of sacred sites and long-forgotten halls of worship that comprise much of SotC. The game makes use of a central musical score which is then modulated according to the moment's theme and place, perhaps a knowing tip of the hat to the player's discovery of the unknown amidst the familiar: the unforeseen swell of a viola set against the rebellious nature of a game that goes beyond expectations, a world without restraint, an orchestra loosed into this setting lacking a conductor.

I want to believe that SotC exists as a grand design which, like the ancient monuments of its world, stand in defiance of reason or regulation. This can't be true, SotC has been developed, as all PS2 games, through a series of staff meetings, bosses, underlings, compromises and amendments. Yet, what I love most about this game is that not a hint of sacrifice taints the purity of vision that radiates to the depths of this holy font of gaming.

A-Life of Drink

2007-08-05T16:03:00.000+01:00

Having just learned that Stalker's 'A-Life' system (the AI routine whereby NPCs would act with intelligent, situationally-concious autonomy within the Zone, behaving like this without the need for a player to trigger their actions or to even be present during their performance) was not simplified, as I'd assumed, but rather deactivated until the player had completed the main objectives in an area ... well, I'm not exactly sure what to think. I desperately wanted to be impressed by Stalker, yet I was dismayed after years of hype by GDC's seeming deviation from their ambitious mantra, so much so that I need a drink. Now I discover that the Ukrainian developer's unstable AI script lies dormant in the sarcophagus of a mutated oddity in the vast vault of gaming. I'm intoxicated with joy because the script was unleashed upon the public, yet I won't forget my troubles for long: GDC's bartenders have poured me a weak substitute for the shot of pure meths I'd hoped to ingest. As I stumble back to my hovel, half-unconscious, I dream to myself of how good it would have been for GDC to include a sandbox 'Zone Experience Mode' whereby I could discover for myself just how competently the A-Life system is able to screw up the plot. I trip over and a dog urinates on my shoe. I think to myself, 'nice programming'.

Under Pressure

2007-08-03T00:36:00.000+01:00

As the weather becomes a whole lot less soggy, I'm reminded of an archaic term that the indigenous peoples of England would use when referring to this time of year. As late as AD2006, the racially diverse natives of the realm would celebrate the coming of fair weather as the 'some-uur'. They would cast away their ceremonial garb - the cagoule - instead, parading with a red chest and peeling nose to the local shrine of Bir-Gaadon. Every year, a drought was expected by those who work and play in the field of gaming; presumedly because the marketing executives - whose job it was to maximise sales of computer games - were all overcome with the duties of looking after their kids during the school holidays: when younglings had a lot of free time and very little to do. The drought signalled low yields in the seasonal harvest. The year's Big Brother game would herald a lull in quality that would persist until proper gaming weather (that's sleet and gales) resumed around October, or sometimes mid-June.

Summer need not be a drought. There's a rollicking repertoire of rich gaming heritage, fertile furrows in which your interest and talent may take root. I've only recently come into ownership of a PS2. It's wonderful to approach my local games store and to look upon the shelves with the wisdom that is conferred upon oneself through being a long-time gamer. I know exactly which games I'd like to buy and I can weigh my opinions against those held by the community. I can be assured that my purchases won't disappoint, and, what's more, the select plucking and purchase of great games from an older format is the embodiment of choosing gameplay over graphics. A flashy game will likely cause tremors when it explodes into the public's attention, but only a truly classic game will emit ripples of pleasure with permanence. So I encourage you: try something new this Summer, buy something old!

This is all not to say that there's nothing new worth playing right now, in fact, this is one of the best Summers of gaming in living memory. With only a minor whiff of favouritism, I'll gladly declare my viewpoint of PC gaming to be on the precipice of the Gobi desert, staving off the arid expanse with the rejuvenating aquatic Bioshock (released later this month) and relocating vast quantities of sand with Colin McRae DiRT (Splines review very soon - promise); I can't think of anything equally olympian on the consoles besides the PS2's God of War 2 - so there's another reason to go out and buy yourself a seven year old artefact of awesome.

Determinance's Reward

2007-08-01T23:15:00.000+01:00

Paul from Mode 7 will be presiding over this year's GDC. Representing the contribution that indie games can make to 'big development', he'll be engaged in discussion alongside a panel of fellow games creators. Paul remarks:

"This is obviously a big deal for us [...] hopefully people will appreciate my ideas on paying attention to the community which builds up around a game: something to which mainstream devs should be taking a more “indie” approach."

Good luck dude!

Coming This Fall...

2007-07-30T20:08:00.001+01:00

Bounding Blockhead

2007-07-28T16:45:00.000+01:00

Oh, if you hate Okami's Blockheads as much as I do, then check this out. You only have to break the resolve (or, just break) two Blockheads in Okami and the first is a pushover. This link will definitely help you out with the infuriating second obligatory Blockhead on Oni Island.

On a side note, it's odd: I've trawled forums searching for a solution to the Blockhead issue that faces this nation and it seems that there are two distinct groups of people out there - some overcome the obstacle with ease, others find only failure, suffering, and a diminishing sense of self-worth, worsening with each passing moment in Blockhead's stony presence. I'm quite sure this has something to do with mental ability, speciality, lobes and what-not.

If you'd like to know more about this affliction that many morons cope with daily, check out this video - would memorising the location and order of those dotty flashes be difficult for you?

Review: Okami

2007-07-27T20:40:00.000+01:00

As this is my first review that stretches beyond the realm of the PC, I've decided to make an amendment to all my future reviews, like so:

Format: PS2
Developer: Clover Studios
Publisher: Capcom

Should I have toiled for the now dearly-departed Clover, Okami would be the game for which I'd wish my team's life, and strife, to be remembered by. Okami Amaterasu's Adventure strides a century of history for the people of Nippon - a charming yet tormented land, depicted in the artistic style and baring the traditional hallmarks of Japanese society. In discovering Nippon, you'll be embodied by the lupine sun-goddess Amaterasu. Okami's lengthy and satisfying tale is a rejuvenation and concoction of several Japanese folkloric yarns, it's also a platform game - as such, Clover gladly and knowingly embrace cliché, resulting in a clever game for culturally astute gamers.

Clover's efforts are boundlessly distinguished through imagination, variety, and quality that even the most earthly mutt could sense. Epic character radiates from the bright, warm heart of Okami. A simple mechanic permeates the game: the celestial brush technique - the means by which Amaterasu's power is expressed - utilising the analog stick, thick black paint may be daubed upon the player's world; paint may conjure a gust of wind, snap lofty vines to serve your ascent, or slash an enemy clean in half. There are thirteen brush techniques in all, each represented by a unique gesture that is (usually) evoked during the press of R1 to pause the action. It was quite frightening the first time my karmic serenity was shattered when an enemy failed to freeze as I drew, even more so when later bosses raced me in finishing their own gestures!

Amaterasu draws the circle of Rejuvination - the show-off.

Now, about those clichés: Amaterasu quests to recover the lost brush techniques in order that she might have the power to win the battle against the evil that blights the land. Yes. The tale is generic, yet the telling of the tale is spectacular. Amaterasu can't speak, she gets her point across through barks and emotive facial expressions. For a strongly narrative-led game, a subdued protagonist could be harmful (contrary to this, Final Fantasy VII may have benefited from a 'blank-slate' main character), and so it was thoughtful of Clover to provide Issun as a vocal companion whose diminutive stature grants him an easy ride on Amaterasu's snout. Issun and Amaterasu together provide a complex symbiotic duet, providing resolve to one another and to you, the player. Resolve is a central and recurrent theme of Okami: it's suggested to be the driving-force of Good's defence against Evil; the 'happy-go-lucky, full-throttle, leap-before-you-think Ammy' is Issun's perception of the sun-goddess, and the source of much of Okami's humour. Death, betrayal, and the absence of cherry cakes will each take their tragic toll on the player's psyche before Okami concludes.

Okami refuses to be leashed by any pre-supposed limitation of the platforming genre. The camera (which, I hasten to add, is far from infallible), provides zest to stale perspectives - shifting from a close, following viewpoint, to wide-pan encompassments of the landscape and side-on Streets of Rage-style deep, faux-3D avenues. Clover's aversion to dogmatic depictions of avatar and arena credit Okami with a flexible and appropriate angle for every situation and challenge.

Amaterasu: not above howling during appropriate moments.

Okami's world is painted in a lusciously vivid manner. Clover's palette of textures perfectly compliments the PS2, being both simple and elegant, they're truly beautiful. I'd often find myself stop, just to appreciate - I can't often say that about a computer game. The Celestial Envoys (they're the gods' representatives within Nippon) are tasked with spreading the good word using their skills with paint and brush, so it's appropriate that Nippon should be seen as a canvas from the eyes of a goddess. Although loading screens are frequent, their duration is brief, and my PS2 never strained at the rendition of a sight.

Although the musical score is of a high quality, I almost lost my composure with irritation at the odd track's fleeting length and repetition - the worst offenders are the accompaniments to dungeons; with the outdoor ambiance lengthier than the sun's rays and just as bright. I noticed the occasional re-use of sound effects for different situations (such as the noise of the spider boss being identical to the wailing of a ghost later in the game), but this is hardly damning criticism. I like the use of audio cues to let the player know when a certain brush technique is appropriate - this was of special merit during the final, protracted, boss fight - without which I'd have probably taken forty hours to finish off the blasted swine. By coincidence, forty hours was the duration of my playtime. I enjoyed every second.

A Tale to Inhale

2007-07-25T15:31:00.000+01:00

It's an odd tale today, folks. Fragments of this story have been broken gratuitously like the crockery at a Greek wedding, so you may have already picked up a remnant of the ruckus. Here, thanks to Medialoper's skills with super-glue and dexterity of knee shuffling, I can present to you an account which may resemble the truth:

Second Life is home to many weirdos -this is the tale of one of them. The above picture displays what once was the distastefully verbose home and place of business to a certain Mr Legoean Ferraris (Lego for short). Lego's business (prior to designing obtuse Kirby-slandering public monuments) was as a consultant providing a service to US electoral campaigners in need of advice when setting up their virtual campaign headquarters within Second Life. You could say that, despite his eagerness to embrace this new era of politically integrated virtual worlds, Lego remained a traditionalist: he thought of his profession as serious one, extending this ethos to the decorum-void that is Second Life. His offices were to be a sombre place. Then, tragedy:

The Kirby Emporium set up shop directly across the street. On its roof - a bulbous pink creature - the friendly visage of a rotating giant Kirby. By Lego's thinking, the Kirby sign represented a threat to the serenity of business, it had to go. Quite how Lego's lobes concocted the, 'Kirby hates our troops juxtaposition with Adolf Hitler' ideological message, perhaps we'll never know, but we can be certain that Lego was assured: if he renovated his business to reflect this daring motif, passers-by would stop then collapse down to their knees in sudden overbearing empathy with Lego's plight.

The conclusion to this tale was quite unexpected to Lego. Perhaps our creatively-minded consultant was unaware, but a silent partner in The Kirby Emporium venture was non other than the virtual land owner upon which both Lego and Kirby spent their days. Lego's architecture was reported to Second Life staff and his plot of land (worth hundreds of dollars) was confiscated by the land owner. It's important to note that ultimately Kirby was victorious, framing him as a strong candidate for Reichs-Fuhrer in next year's elections.

Is there a lesson to be learned from all this? Well, the social laws of Second Life remain in an oft-hypocritical state of flux. Although Lego had treated his freedom of speech too liberally for the virtual tastes of the virtual world, virtually all of your property can be legally 'confiscated' by money-grubbing land owners with seemingly (also, virtually) no respite from the cyber rozzers. So, it's probably for the best, before you invest, to sign a contract prior to putting this 'New Media' thing to the test.

Will Wright: Toys that make worlds

2007-07-22T23:03:00.001+01:00

An Appetising Prospect

2007-07-21T00:01:00.000+01:00

I've added a new link on the right: Games for Lunch. Here's how Kyle Orland chooses to describe his wholly readworthy compendium:

"Games for Lunch spends an hour with a different game every weekday and writes a stream-of-consciousness review about the experience. Each review ends with an answer to the only important question at that point: Do I want to keep playing?"

Interesting, nay?

Wince of Persia

2007-07-20T22:42:00.000+01:00

Last Monday bore witness to the Union of Islamic Student Societies' riposte against Kuma War's Assault on Iran. The student body, challenging stereotypes, toiled with furore to develop The Special Operation: an FPS that radiates Kuma's ethos of giving their players a broadly defined setting and a gun and then letting them do what comes naturally (shoot people in the face, obv.)

"This is our defense against the enemy’s cultural onslaught. We tried to promote the idea of defense, sacrifice and martyrdom in this game."
- Mohammad Taqi Fakhrian (member of the Union of Islamic Student Societies)

I'm hugely impressed to see the medium of games utilised to express issues of vast human importance such as one's discontent with unreasonable and unrepresentative products of the media or one's pride for their nation, yet, judging by this YouTube video, The Special Operation lacks the ambition to warrant analysis or acclaim.

Granted, I may be wrong. I should play the game before passing judgement. I'm not going to. Unfortunately for the Union of Islamic Student Societies, their point was instantly custardised the moment such a bold statement as the one above met with my perception of a game that seemingly has fought fire with fondue. To declare another your enemy and their product a 'cultural onslaught', I'd expect you able to identity your enemy's weakness and to counter-attack with something of greater worth. If I'd invested three years into coding and embedding meaning into a game and The Special Operation was my result, I'd have to consider a brisk shower under the cultural onslaught to freshen me up before I tried once more. I've shot virtual people in the face many times, never once learning anything in the experience. Please, students, try again - but show me something worth learning next time.

LittleBigPlanet - E3 2007

2007-07-19T14:01:00.001+01:00

Masters of the Past: XCOM: Terror From the Deep

2007-07-16T14:58:00.000+01:00

XCOM: Terror From The Deep is almost certainly my favourite game of all time. Released by Microprose in 1995, the sequel to UFO: Enemy Unknown has captured my heart and mind, taken them back to base, researched them, and discovered my weak-spot for sumptuous turn-based strategy. Terror From The Deep is a pleasure with depth, complexity, surprise, and imagination beyond human game developers' modern capabilities. The title of this post truly belies the significance of this game - not only a master of the past but a paradigm of the present.

The mechanics of the game are simple enough to serve as a freely navigable reef to a novice of the genre. From the outset, Terror From The Deep presents a crystal-clear expanse that the player may approach at their own pace, paddling or diving, developing strategy or carried along by the ebb of the tide.

Terror From the Deep consists of three distinct phases: the geosphere (above left), the mission (right), and base management (use your imagination). Beginning a new game, you'll immediately be confronted by Microprose's ambition - you'll be asked 'Where would you like to place your first base?' - and, instantly, a conduit of importance forms between yourself and the game world; You'll ask, 'If I site my headquarters in the Mediterranean, giving protection to Europe, Africa and Asia, am I leaving my main funding provider - the US - open to attack, and myself open to charges of neglect?'. Yeah, funding. In XCom, money makes the world go round. Without money your R+D teams will be figuratively dead in the water, worse - your ill-equipped aquanauts will literally meet the same fate.

Microprose have created an immensely challenging game. In a recent PC Gamer article, John Walker provided a URL for an XCOM difficulty augmenting utility, stating that many view the game as too difficult. I appreciate the relentless tricky tide. From the very outset, with fearsome foreboding, the alien threat will progress with the pace of a tsunami, each day becoming technologically, numerically... even biologically superior to Earth's defence force (that's you). You have one single advantage: experience. If you can keep your aquanauts alive, they'll develop from scared seamen into hardened reliable veterans - as capable of washing away Martians as is Fairy Liquid to stubborn, engrained filth. The XCOM defence force will forever struggle to keep pace with alien development, because it is only by encountering new alien technology in missions (and overcoming its perils) that your squad will return home carrying new toys to be retrofitted for Earth's purposes.

Now: the atmosphere. Microprose have worked a miracle - Terror From the Deep is both turn-based and tense. Some would say that this tension arises from the frailty of your aquanauts, knowing that 'End Turn' could also spell the an end to the lives of your team. I agree, I find that notion quite chilling. Yet, it's my own imagination that terrifies me. When my aquanauts disembark onto the seabed, I'm certain that I'm being watched, that the aliens are aware of my presence, my violation of their domain. They're never friendly, even at the best of times, yet when I've shot down their ship and now I'm coming to steal their stuff - I know they're mad, and they're prepared to stop me. And although the graphics are basic by today's standards, those infernal aquatic demons have not aged one bit - catching glimpse of one during the alien's turn-phase remains genuinely, heart-pumping, anxiety attack provoking and 'Is that a fish tank down your pants?' scary.

Microprose, in UFO and XCOM, were early adopters and pioneers of gameplay components that we as gamers have still to yet take for granted. Although Dune 2 had introduced 'fog of war' to gaming three years prior to XCOM, Microprose's series brought about a revolution in the implementation and importance of 'line of sight' (the realistic necessity such as that for an object to be seen by a viewer, no obstruction should present itself between the two parties). The inclusion of 'line of sight' in XCOM allowed for squad-based tactics and environmental cover to be empowered by new predominance. Destructible terrain was also of grand significance, woe betide the player that fails to lend weight to the fragility of the oceanic rock that once served as cover for five aquanauts - now chipped away to reveal five crouching blue fools.

That concludes today's voyage into gaming past. If you'd like to buy XCOM: Terror From the Deep then I'd recommended a search on Ebay because Play.com doesn't stock the game any more and Amazon.co.uk offers the high high price of twenty three quid. As I mentioned in my previous post, you can download the game over Steam for five dollars, yet, this is the version that I've been playing over the past few days and I can tell you it's terribly prone to crashing on Windows XP. I don't believe any version of the game is compatible with Vista... yet.

Vista: Terror's Not Cheap

2007-07-13T19:34:00.000+01:00

The weekend worries me. This is the weekend in which I install Windows Vista - the crippling OS that liquidates youthful computers, rendering them outrageously senile. I'm installing it because I have a DX10 graphics card and I want to be able to say that I have a DX10 capable machine. I'm installing it because I'm stupid. These Summer months are apparently as frigid and barren for DX10 games as is the landscape of Lost Planet: the PC's solitary wanderer able to take advantage of the new oasis of fancy fidelity. Unfortunately, the only exceptional feature of Lost Planet lies in its tundra of trilinear titillation, yet my knowledge of this fact, (and my inevitable forthcoming purchase of such a shallow game) only serves to exalt my own failure as a gaming connoisseur and a human being.

I'm most apprehensive about opening my eyes to the weekend's Vista because:

It's going to steal my megahurtz.
It refuses to cooperate with hitherto universally recognised sound cards.
I won't be able to nostalgically revisit some of my old games.

Thud! Typing this has knocked some sense into me - I'm not going to upgrade, for now. I'm having way too much fun playing XCom: Terror From The Deep (£2.50 on Steam, click the link above). Until Service Pack 1 or a significant patch for Vista is released, I'll be keeping my copy in alien containment, where my scientists can learn from it without risk of exposure.

EU3: Loading Units On To Ships

2007-07-09T19:47:00.001+01:00

I checked Splines' tracker today to find a lot of my visitors are referred through a Google search under the query 'How do I load units onto my boats in Europa Universalis?' or some such. Well, I just happen to know the answer - and you're going to be kicking yourself. So, due to popular demand, here's the solution you've been searching for:

To load your units onto ships in Europa Universalis 3, simply order your ships into an ocean square adjacent to the territory in which you have armies, when the ships have reached their destination (this process usually takes around 2/3 days) order your men to move into the ocean square - they will do so, and, instead of drowning, they will board the boats.

Yes, the solution seems silly. You probably assumed that the boats had to be docked in order that the men could safely walk the gangplank. Today, common sense has not prevailed. However, you may still yet rule the seas. Apply the knowledge I have had conferred upon you this day, and you'll be the scourge of smelly foreigners everywhere.

A Hollow Assumption

2007-07-08T16:27:00.000+01:00

Under Hu Jintao, China's poorly fleshed-out 'purification' policy had led to the absurd censorship of skeletons in World of Warcraft. Apparently, the sight of exposed bones will upset the 'harmony' of China's erstwhile immaculate society. The9 - licensee of WoW in China - swiftly complied, burying the offensive textures and replacing them with softer, squelchier, socially harmonious undead horrors.

Beijing's 'purification' is a reactionary policy, aiming to address corruption, inefficiency, dishonesty, and generally every other symptom of a selfish, individualised, society. 'Purification' shares much in common with recent British political machinations - essentially, the wanton imposition of policy based on a nostalgic and idealised vision of our nation's past. I hold both the UK and Chinese government guilty of conceptually simplifying their subjects, betrayed through the design and enactment of law that is both oppressive and totally ineffective at progressing a healthy common conciousness.

Perhaps the removal of WoW's skeletons will have an unforeseen effect upon The People's Republic. The internet and oppression share a commonality - they both hold the potential to unite people, either through ease of communication or by the shared agreement that an unacceptable situation exists. Through instances of unnecessary state interference, discontent may grow to become a force for change. So, oppressive states of the world, keep it up! Each time you interfere, your resistors' identity and mission becomes clearer. Be assured, when the time for change comes, the skeletons in your closet will be displayed for all the world to see.

Bioshock - New Trailer

2007-07-06T23:18:00.001+01:00

An Uplifting Experience

2007-06-29T13:54:00.000+01:00

I've begun the arduous task of moving house, and it's totally no fun. Due to this, Splines only has neglect and mistreatment to enjoy during the immediate future. I'll write something better when my surroundings shrug off their transience. Until then, Splines out.

Bruce Banner: "Hip Header"

2007-06-25T21:25:00.000+01:00

That header, up there, represents my first stab at Photoshop. An incredibly amateurish stab, I know, and one that could be deflected by my sensei in an imperceptible instant, yet I'm pleased with how much I've learned. 'Who's my sensei?', I demand that you ask. Go on, ask it! Well, seeing how you're so insistent, my thanks go out to The Corporation Gaming Community, because without their advice I'd still have a flaccid polygon lasso.

HP Pencil: Tomb Shader

2007-06-23T17:48:00.000+01:00

So, the picture (above) and video (below) both tenuously link to the purpose of this post, which is to give you a heads-up on Gametap's generous gift to gamers: beginning on July 10th, visiting Gametap will place you privy to a new animated series. The first season intimately deals with Lara Croft, yet season two is already planned to be quite different:

"[I]t will feature six different IP [Intellectual Properties - Translation: six video games and their characters] that share a common theme, explored and created by different creative teams."
- Ricardo Sanchez (VP of Content at Gametap)

I think this series has the potential to be brilliant. Unfortunately, the trailer is rubbish. Which is why instead we have the picture (above) and video (below), natch.

Anything You Can Do...

2007-06-23T17:40:00.001+01:00

My Free Time: Engaged

2007-06-21T14:35:00.000+01:00

It's now been a week since I emailed The Nobel Foundation to request their reasoning for issuing a warning/cease and desist letter to Impact Games: creators of Peacemaker. There's been no response, so I sent them a second email:

"Seven days ago I sent Jonna Petterson [of Public Relations] an email requesting some information regarding why The Nobel Foundation issued a cease and desist letter to Impact Games - creator of the computer game Peacemaker - which was due to include the Nobel Prize as a reward for the player winning the game. Due to a lack of response, I can only assume that The Nobel Foundation regards computer games as unworthy of respect or consideration for their potential to foster peace. Please prove me wrong by satisfying my request: why was Impact Games' Peacemaker not allowed to feature the Nobel Prize?"

... and I'll keep on sending them emails until I get an answer to my question. Thanks, internet!

Manhunt 2 Refused Rating

2007-06-19T15:14:00.000+01:00

Manhunt 2 has been effectively banned from sale in the UK, reports The Register. This comes only weeks after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) issued a report detailing the need for an analytical approach to videogames as a maturing medium.

The BBFC have betrayed their nativity, and the people they represent. They are so far removed from reality, they fail to fathom that Manhunt 2 will still be available, albeit through means of import and digital distribution. The BBFC are relics. To them, modern society is a locomotive that travels too fast for their comfort.

The Sims Become Autonomous

2007-06-19T11:33:00.000+01:00

Electronic Arts' body has undergone drastic surgery, emerging from the operating theatre in chunks: four autonomous 'business units'. The ex-adjoinees would like themselves to be known as:

EA Games
EA Sports
EA Casual Entertainment and ...
The Sims

That's right, The Sims now answer to nobody but the inexorable demands of acquisitive capitalism. Considering they've already acquired their own brood of credit cards, it can only be a matter of time until The Sims: Secret Police surveillance becomes a mandatory installation for our monitors. We'll all be talking Simlish if we know what's good for us. I need to lie down.

Altar the Legalities

2007-06-17T20:41:00.000+01:00

Does Manchester's gun crime problem bare any relation to Insomniac Games' Resistance: Fall of Man? The answer is clearly not a simple one to reach in consensus, so I'll leave you to your own opinion. The purpose of this post is to question the various rationales of thought which have culminated in the Church of England Vs. Sony fracas.

I have identified three major groups: Sony, The Church of England, and British Labour MPs. The issue is in fact far more complicated because in some respects it is legal (thus, bound by precedent) and in other ways it is a matter of public opinion (dictated by perspective and personal sympathies). We'll stick to the three groups because each of their stances on the matter have now been firmly stated. I hope that, in writing this article, I'll be able to demonstrate that each groups' actions and reactions have been governed by nothing but self-interest, rather than care for the people of Manchester.

Resistance: Fall of Man is set in 1950's England during an alien invasion.

Let's begin with Sony, who, prior to the launch of PS3, commissioned Insomniac Games to produce a game that would demonstrate the technical capabilities of their new console. I sincerely doubt that any part of Sony's instructions to Insomniac involved suggesting that the game should outrage the Church of England or incite the people of Manchester to violence. Sony's interest, as with most businesses, lies in profit. As such, Sony gauged Resistance: Fall of Man's value in terms of units sold and this factor's potential impact of the PS3's competitiveness against market-share rivals.

So, when the Church of England expressed offence, Sony's sentiment could be measured in the words of their own representative:

"We do not accept that there is any connection between contemporary issues of 21st century Manchester and a work of science fiction in which a fictitious 1950’s Britain is under attack by aliens…"
- David Reeves (SCEE President) addressing the C of E

The Church of England's concerns have been vocalised by The Very Reverend Rogers Govender (Dean of Manchester Cathederal). Church is still seen by many as an important adhesive in social cohesion, a symbol of ethical community spirit, and a respectable voice on worldly matters. The Church of England's motivation could thus be accurately simplified to be the continuation of the Church's status within England, achieved through the defence of values that are synonymous with the community and their particular denomination of Christianity.

Considering the clearly unethical actions of Sony should they be found guilty of abetting violence, the Church of England's tablet of persecutions remains oddly specific to copyright issues regarding Manchester Cathedral itself. The Church of England wish for Sony to comply with:

The removal of Resistance: Fall of Man from retail shelves, or, the modification of the Manchester stage to revoke access to the cathedral's interior.
An apology from Sony because of their use of realistic imagery of the cathedral without prior permission.
A 'donation' from Sony which would be used in Church youth projects.

A selection of British politicians have made their views public - among them, Keith Vaz (Labour MP and long-time anti-game advocate), Jack Straw (leader of the House of Commons) and Tony Blair (British Prime Minister - resigning in ten days). Each have issued statements in support of the Church of England:

"It [Sony] has a moral duty to withdraw the game and make reparation to a Church charity, but it ought also to have some enlightened self-interest about the damage that it is doing to what was a reputable brand."
- Jack Straw

Now, I'll give this issue some analysis and, besides questioning whether Sony or The Church of England was the brand to which Jack referred, I'll try to keep biased criticism to a minimum.

As mentioned earlier, I think the crux of this issue is whether or not all these legal wranglings will actually result in a better situation for the people of Manchester. Surely the copyright issue bares no relation to any question of ethics; it is a means of gaining the Church an advantage in the courts that, I'm sure, will eventually become the issue - the question perverted from, 'Can computer games harm communities?' until it becomes the irrelevant, 'Is a church a public place?'

I find the suggestion that Sony should make a 'donation' wholly problematic. The Church of England has claimed that their institution is seen as a soft target: open to criticism and abuse in a far greater degree than other religions. Yet, if any institution other than a religion were to demand the exchange of money under duress, even for educational purposes, then they'd be susceptible to similes with the mafia. Perhaps this metaphor doesn't quite ring true, (I'm not aware of any mafia youth programmes), yet the Church of Scientology certainly invests in their own educational schemes and I doubt that politicians would be so keen to defend L. Ron Hubbard's followers if Resistance: Fall of Man had sparked an identical furore with the Scientologists.

I'm deeply intrigued as to why British politicians have been so directly opinionated on this issue when they're usually prone to ambiguity. Could this be because many British voters attend Church of England services, thus supporting the Church has become an issue that effects the next election's results? Surely not, because the number of games players in England must exceed that of church-goers? Having said that, games players don't have a unified ritual of indoctrination or regular sermons made to them. I think it's irresponsible and damaging to debate if politicians were to make public statements without knowing the matter of contention in intimate detail, yet I fear much of what has been said is based on succinct briefings, researched on the basis of demographics rather than experience. The UN have proven the value of governance in the mediation of disputes, so why is the British government so keen to align with the Church of England and assign blame to Sony?

The case of Church of England Vs. Sony is an apt demonstration of our culture's unwillingness to communicate and preference for legal actions over compromise. This article's length can be seen as proportional to the distance my jaw dropped when I realised the stubbornness of these institutions (each with vast resources at their disposal) to come to an agreement that would benefit the people of Manchester, the people whom each group claim to care about.

I'll conclude with a few ideas:

At the upcoming meeting, bring a PS3 and a copy of Resistance: Fall of Man. Let the cathedral officials and members of the youth project play the game. Sony representatives should encourage and listen to criticism and all participants approach the get-together with a constructive attitude and open mind.
Youth associations in Manchester could be provided with PS3s upon the release of Home and LittleBigPlanet- because of their constructive and non-violent nature.
Sony could apologise, and the Church of England could pay heed to various sources that display the lack of causation between games playing and violent acts.

Review: Peacemaker

2007-06-14T19:53:00.000+01:00

Impact Games' Peacemaker is extraordinary. It's a framework for discovery and an impetus for investigation. Peacemaker will place a lasting impression on your psyche. Our odd minds are configured with the potential to evoke the sensation of empathy: whereby sympathy and understanding can be conferred by the imaginative process of placing oneself into the situation of another. Impact Games have seemingly developed Peacemaker with empathy as a central tenet. In Peacemaker, you'll be granted a startling synthesis of the subjective and objective. You'll be posited with the perspective of either the Israeli Prime Minister or Palestinian President in what initially appears to be an adversarial relationship with one another. Empathy will flow from the source of subjectivity and your sympathy will be bestowed on 'your people' - those closest to you in heritage and homestead and not necessarily in personal policy for peace. Overcoming the wants and needs of some of your people - the patriotic yet punitive, those influential and ignoble - this is the real challenge of Peacemaker.

Peacemaker's strength is perhaps its very existence as a game. Games allow for a great deal of flexibility for their players' methods in approaching a problem and devising a solution. In Peacemaker, you'll be both pupil and teacher. The game has a clear message to learn, yet each player will leave Peacemaker with an understanding that is unique to themselves. The concept of saving and reloading (foreign to other media), empowers the player of games to effectively learn through trial and error with allayed fears of 'making the wrong move', thus experimentation is encouraged.

In Peacemaker, the solution to peace between Israelis and Palestinians is realised through a recognition that it is in both states' best interests to cease the conflict. The actions and words of each leader have ramifications beyond the locality of their deliverance. Pronouncing a speech of mutual cooperation with the Palestinians may unnerve a tense and security-concious Israeli parliament, yet the Palestinian leader may hear these same words and feel encouraged to reign in militants and resume negotiations with a newly empathic Israeli Prime Minister. Cleverly, Impact Games have simulated both leaders' inability for total control over their populace. People are not automatons, they'll act in their own interests and potentially counteract the inertia of their leader. Impact Games have astonishingly simplified this complex social phenomena, refining it into a system of 'Hopes' and 'Fears' which are clearly presented to the advantage of the player.

There's a wealth of incidental information to assimilate.

If you devote an evening to Peacemaker, you'll likely 'complete' the game as both sides. I'd like to believe that Impact Games intended Peacemaker as a demonstration for what games can achieve, yet I'm dismayed because Peacemaker isn't a particularly good game. Insulting though it may be, Peacemaker's gameplay could be compiled into a comparatively brief string of 'if-then' directives. Newsworthy events are too few in number, leading to an immersion-shattering repetition in a major and gameplay-critical portion of the game: the effect of your citizens' actions upon public opinion. When I've read the same news story about trees being vandalised on Israeli settlers' land for the third time, I stop caring about the trees or the settlers. Once I'd played Peacemaker for a few hours, I had to resist the urge to blinker my perception of the game and view each action and event only in terms of what effect they had on public opinion. To do this would be to negate the positive humanitarian effect that I assume Impact Games intend to foster. Yet perhaps Impact Games should have been more cynical of the gnarled gaming enthusiast's tendency to reduce life changing events such as the removal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and morph this into a clinical 'W00t! +12 approval'. Perhaps the solution to this anal gaming is for Impact Games' next project (and I sincerely hope there will be one) to remove any display of situation simplifying 'points', instead adopting a visual representation of the effect the player's persona's decisions have upon their people.

I found Peacemaker's soundtrack to be particularly uninspiring - a rather half-hearted accompaniment towards a two-state solution. Eventually, I overlaid Peacemaker with Enya, with satisfying results.

This notion of a two-state solution (in which the Israelis and Palestinians share Jerusalem as their capital and centre of government) is the final of four 'milestones' that the player must reach in order to win Peacemaker. Interestingly, Impact Games originally intended for the player to win the Nobel Peace Prize in place of their final milestone. This was not to be, as The Nobel Foundation refused Impact Games the right to use their award in the game. I'll be sending The Nobel Foundation an email requesting an explanation for why this decision was made, as I believe this shows a lack of respect for the aspirations of Peacemaker and for the games industry as a whole.

I've been deeply satisfied by the experience that Peacemaker has shared with me. Though its foibles are numerous, Peacemaker remains the gamer's synagogue and mosque of meaningful game design. Peacemaker professes lessons and offers sanctuary for thoughtful reflection. My advice: give peace a try - it's only a tenner.

Empathy with Agency

2007-06-11T14:32:00.000+01:00

I've only recently returned from Hereford, where four years of friendship and frags culminated in my Planetside outfit's 6th official real life meet-up, in real life. For (four?) years now I've been quasi-considering my favourite MMO to be on its final tour of duty, yet the truth is that Planetside is still fighting on. Having said this, two thoughts are never far from the minds of Auraxis' deadlocked combatants: 'When is a new MMOFPS going to be released?', and, 'Will it kill our game?'. The community's questions have been met with a return-volley of answers, as IGN reports on SOE Seattle's devastating rebuff to the claim that Sony have come to regard the MMOFPS as a non-profitable venture.

The Agency, Sony's 'inside-job', effectively pinpoints a surgical strike against the MMOFPS community's sceptics. Due to the distant release date and secretive nature of the project, details are sparse, yet we can be sure that the covert character of The Agency beckons a departure from the epic and obvious brutality of Planetside.

Can't SStop Laughing

2007-06-08T08:04:00.001+01:00

Maxed Out

2007-06-07T22:30:00.000+01:00

The next SimCity game is under development, but Maxis aren't the developers - that's the news on the street, anyway. EA will remain SimCity Societies' publisher, yet they'll risk importing trash by commissioning Tilted Mill Entertainment (Caesar IV, Children of the Nile) as developer.

The predictably ferocious backlash surged forth from internet types and was met with a curious and charismatic response:

"This SC is not a realistic urban simulation, which I understand, to many, represents the heart of what SC is. No one is blind to that. And if you're just completely turned off, even angered by the mere notion of any game called SimCity that is not a detailed, realistic urban simulator, I absolutely understand that viewpoint, and absolutely respect it."
- Chris Beatrice (President, Tilted Mill Entertainment)

Developers often resort to hyperbole as a method to attract attention, so I find Mr. Beatrice' words atypically refreshing. I'm a little concerned, however, that his ability to respect the anger of SimCity fans may result from the nonchalant acceptance of a man who firmly knows his game will sell, albeit to another demographic. SimCity Societies may well be comprised of a lower density of complexity per hectare, perhaps aiming at the elusive 'casual' crowd. One thing's for sure - the neighbourhood just got Tilted.

I've not been paid for this

2007-06-06T23:51:00.000+01:00

Kindly sway your oculars rightwards and you'll find a link to the most marvellous of journalistic delights, Gamasutra. I've come to appreciate this website by fathoms with each passing day. Thoroughly deserving of a place in your daily gaming digest, Gamasutra updates with the quality and insight of Nostradamus hoping for a promotion. Click for an intrepid insight towards inspiration.

That's Autumn

2007-06-06T23:14:00.001+01:00

Review: Europa Universalis III

2007-06-05T03:40:00.000+01:00

It's because of my liberal attitude towards the carrying capacity of caravels that I can boast to boat 10,000 Englishmen across the Atlantic each month - vital shoulders needed for the support of muskets during their righteous rumpus against a rebellious rabble of ex-pats with fancy hats. Europa Universalis 3 has fairly laid claim to the title of 'Zealous Provider of Tweakery', offering the chronic toggler an opportunity to alter and improve virtually every facet of the machinations in their governance of a nation as it steams through the Renaissance/Enlightenment era of European history. My feudal noodle concocted a despotic plan of conquest: I decided to maximise serfdom (which had the effect of increasing my nation's productivity at the cost of popular discontent) in order that a gargantuan English navy might surf the seas. The scheme paid off, and by neglecting the conquest of European land I'd almost fully colonised North America by the year 1600, rebuffing all competition from rival states. However, it was not to be EU3's huge cargo-hold of treasuresome tweakery that would amount to my aforementioned liberal troop-carrying policy, instead, this would swell from the tumultuous tides of minor bugs (I wanted to say minor buggery) that find their home deep in the dynamics of EU3, namely, the too-tempting option to pause the game, divide my armies into smaller companies, then load each of them onto my ships - massively bypassing the maximum volume which should be imposed by the number of transports in the fleet. My justification for this debauchery was that EU3 rigidly defines which ships are able to carry troops and those which are not, with the larger battleships nonsensically unable to stow away soldiers. It would appear that my colonists took a similar revolutionary attitude to the rigidity of my rule, they rose up in force in the year 1620.

By the year 1630, France was mine. The Cosmopolitan swines chose my moment of weakness to sail across the channel and strike a blow against my capital, occupying the whole of Southern England while they were at it. Admirable as EU3's AI may have been to me at that moment, vengeance had to be mine. God was clearly on my side (I'd already claimed 'Defender of the Faith' years earlier), so I allowed the Americans to have their precious America and swiftly exploited my way to 30,000 troops in Normandy by May 1622. Another admirable feature of EU3 is the option to hire Admirals (and Generals), greatly improving the combat performance of units; this would be to my detriment in Normandy because France had superior Generals (accredited to their superior 'Army Tradition' - accrued through victories in land combat - something I'd lacked through years of peaceful, submissive colonisation), for this reason I'd have to win through strength of numbers. I hired a further 20,000 mercenaries using the Ducats I'd amassed through tax and trade with the new world, then I promptly fricasseed the French.

I'd opine that one of the greatest assets of EU3 is its ability to mimic the mindset of the medieval world. Imperialism has historically never been questioned on a moral basis because of warfare's cost in human lives, instead, rules of war were traditionally evoked on the notion of the 'Casus Belli' or 'A Just Cause for War'. Having possession of a Casus Belli equates to the only sensible way a nation within EU3 will be able to declare war without incurring a stability penality, which leads to inefficiency, loss of income, revolts, perhaps even revolution. Fighting without a Casus Belli was the French King Louis' fatal mistake. He'd plunged his army into disloyalty and his nation into a mood for dismembering head from body. I exploited this by utilising another of EU3's nifty additions - spies! My men of the sleight were able to incite troop desertion, forge reputation-damaging documents, hire port-blockading pirates, and instil yet further French unrest.

With the French and their utterly insignificant allies out of the way, I was able to reclaim what I'd rightfully stolen from American natives. I'll take this opportunity to criticise EU3's AI of allies in war, which I'd describe as thoroughly 'A' but neglectfully 'I'. My Portuguese friends showed dog-like loyalty as their boats sailed enthusiastically up and down the channel, occasionally landing wet-nosed mutts in Kent (where there had been a battle two years prior), cheerfully sacrificing their ships to the elements as they stayed out at sea, wagging their sails, gathering barnacles and generally getting soggy, possibly in the hopes that a discarded baguette might be netted and paraded in the English court for all to see.

Battling the ungrateful uprising, I came to realise a painful truth to be learned of EU3: colonialism is fruitful but duller than the terrain of my newly-acquired Holland. If the real meat of EU3 can be found in the competitive strategy of economic and military war, then the bland side-dish could certainly be equated to the acquisition of unclaimed land - the process of which can be summarised with 'click the colonist button until territory becomes your national colour, repeat until 1000 colonists arrive and form a city'. For this reason I'd highly recommended playing as a power with vested interests in the annexation of their neighbours (the Ottomans, for example), the risk being that otherwise you may play the game on full speed, constantly waiting for your colonies to expand, and allowing the events in your heartland to pass by without consideration.

For someone who's fascinated by history, Europa Universalis 3 is tantalising. If I were to choose the date 1452 (the earliest possible in EU3), I'd be presented with an accurate depiction of the factional alignment of the world at in that period; when time begins to flow, however, new history is in the making. I'm not exactly certain how Paradox Interactive have managed to accomplish this. The divergent nature of EU3's history somehow manages to be both feasible and interesting each time I begin a new campaign. The actions of other nations are not merely influenced by your own decisions, the AI displays a believable motivation to accomplish goals according to the pressures and opportunities which present themselves, differing in activities and successes according to some genius randomiser which I've yet to fathom.

The soundtrack of EU3 is both as epic and magnificent as the scale of history which the game hopes to convey. I frequently prefer the in-game audio to my own music folder, EU3's aural accompaniment being so superbly suited to amplifying an atmosphere of noble savagery. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the sound effects of battle and sieges, most of which sound rather like a drunken tussle with a glockenspiel rather than anything remotely evocative of combat.

EU3's graphics are simple yet attractive and more than enough to convey the details needed to play a game of this type. Oddly, when my old graphics card melted in last month's heat, I discovered that my temporary replacement (a GeForce 3) was not enough to play EU3, which apparently requires 128MB of graphical RAM.

After patching the game, changes were made to the start-up panel, informing me that there is an active mod community for EU3. I believe this is deserving of mention because I'm certain all of my qualms about the game may be remedied either by fiddling with the config files in the system folder or simply downloading a mod that applies a similar result.

There's much about EU3 that I've been remiss to mention, such as the impact of religion on diplomatic relations, provincial stability and justification for war. I've been playing EU3 for months, yet I discover something new and vital every day. This learning process is part of EU3 (also a convenient excuse to cut this review short) and an exemplary reason to stray off the beaten track. Learn a lesson or ten then restart and pick an oft-forgotten nation such as Poland or Ethiopia. Play Europa Universalis 3 and shape your own incredible history.

Not Everyone's a Critic

2007-05-28T23:19:00.000+01:00

So I've not written much for awhile, but that's not halted the games playing or conversational predicaments we as gamers find ourselves hoisted inexorably towards. I live in a household of five lads who are each receptive to the value of games (at least for entertainment, if not for any significant 'gaming cause' (note to self: must write something about the gaming cause)). My housemates' sympathetic outlook therefore contributed to my surprise when Ged (last seen laughing at the plight of Okami's villagers) challenged me, stating that we'd grow out of gaming eventually. "They're for kids, aren't they", he furthered. I explained to him the belief I hold - that games deserve to be recognised as a meaningful creative medium, that there isn't any specific age synonymous with a love of games, just as there isn't with books or film - but I don't think my impassioned words made a dent on his shiny chrome belief, which got me thinking.

Ged's not alone. Although I'm not privy to any reliable statistics, I'd assume he's a holder of the majority's viewpoint. As an advocate of gaming, I'm intrigued as to why games continue to be regarded as a hobby to grow out of. I think perhaps the truth lies partially in that last sentence - 'continues' - the 'games are childish' viewpoint is as well established as the games themselves. Not only have the players of games historically been teenagers but also their playing has been based in a external position relative to the household - in the arcade. The arcade thus became a point of contention between parent and child. The pocket money granted to Horace Jnr. ("Perhaps you'll save that money for college, Horace dear?) mysteriously frittered away on a new fad, a habit rather than a hobby - self-destructive and unproductive. These early arcade games set a precedent, their influence reverberating into the present.

At the centre of the problem is the notable failure of a certain ilk of games developers, unable to comprehend a gaming conciousness extending well beyond the reach of their particular game and into the lives of many people. Other creative industries were fortunate to not experience the glut of essentially similar products as those proffered by the early days of gaming. Spacewar! was the target of such an incredible intensity of cloning it's a wonder there wasn't some unforeseen mutation, and with such direct plagiarism as Atari's Computer Space or the later Asteroids, perhaps a mutation would have been beneficial to the fetidness of the average gamer's diet. There was an atrocious degree of 'inspiration' which reeked of Pong shortly after its release in 1972. Some would argue that memory constraints were the limitation that necessitated the similarity of early games, yet this weakness persists in 2007. Now is a time when the cliché should be true - the only limit to our industry could be our imagination - yet Kuma War (standard FPS attempts controversiality for sales), yet LOTR Online (the single distinguishing feature : it's Tolkien), yet Fifa, yet every Sims expansion, yet more. I propose this too is due to precedent and driven by an uncritical audience. Because early games set a trend for the gradual evolution of gameplay through the mimicking of predecessors, today's industry finds no fault in doing so either. Many gamers aren't discerning, and thus publishers are not left smarting through the punishment of few sales because we keep buying drivel. Ironically the section of society that views gaming critically is the non-gamers who have observed gaming's (attempt at) progression and decided their time would be best spent elsewhere.

I propose that the 'games are for kids' belief originates from non-gamers, that it began with parents' fear for their children's failure to mature, became rational with the stagnancy of our industry in the 70's, and entered mainstream conciousness as 70's children became parents and began to worry about their own children as they perceived our industry's failure to find inspiration beyond profit.

This is all rather pessimistic. I should mention that there are various sub-groups wallowing below the mainstream, people that care about gaming, that participate, discuss and contribute to gaming and the various media associated with gaming. These are the critical gamers, and these people are important because they are informed enough to know that games aren't simply for kids. These people have vitally engaged with the mechanics of game production; they are journalists that act in their readers' interests, spurning publishers on to make an effort for originality, they are modders that critically engage with the heart of the game in order that something better might arise, and they are developers and the students of game development that consider their jobs an augmentation to their identity as gamers.

Despite my harsh words, I believe that the future of gaming will be awesome. Thanks to the efforts of the people mentioned above, our medium has become self-aware - embodied by the scathing truthfulness of Progress Quest to the wondrous shock upon learning that Ubisoft are willing to smash all the test tubes and concoct a new formula for their guaranteed money-earner Splinter Cell, in which Sam Fisher (the protagonist and super-spy of the series) becomes protagonist and emphatically-human.

Depressing? Too long? Utterly bollocks? Your criticism is welcome.

Assassin's Creed

2007-05-23T11:01:00.001+01:00

New Starcraft, not an MMO

2007-05-19T12:58:00.000+01:00

I've not had the chance to write much lately, exam time and Europa Universalis 3 have tangled their terrible tendrils amidst the part of my brain that associates the sight of a keyboard with blog writing. EU3 is good though. I'd write a review if I thought anybody else liked that kind of game. Heck, I'll probably write a review anyway.

Big news announced today, and the reason for my writing at this time: Starcraft 2. Yes. Blizzard loves you.

Dave Perry: Be Merry

2007-05-13T15:36:00.000+01:00

Informed readers will be aware of Top Secret, a collaborative games development project - the collaboration taking place between a few veteran games designers and thousands of gaming enthusiasts. The aim of Top Secret is to release a new MMO racing game. So far, I know that the game will involve beast riding (cyborg dinosaurs, not ponies) and embarrassingly that's all I know for definite.

I've mangled a few IRC transcripts together and formed some kind of monster that ought to represent highlights from last night's encounter with 'dperry':

*Knight1b* You guys have been in the industry for awhile what do you think of the progress TS has made so far?

dperry: It's been a much more complicated start than expected. Normally we just make decisions and forge ahead. If we need to make changes it takes minutes. In this project, there's a week added each time we change our minds on something. Not used to this at all. So we need to plan 5,000 times more than normal.

demaria: On the other hand, we are getting a great, and unexpected variety of ideas, making this game unique.

dperry: We are pretty clear on that now, so we are planning new ways to present problems. One major issue has been the catch-22 problem. It's hard to plan out the entire project when you don't know what the project will be. We had no idea there would be fantasy beasts running around. So the plan unfolds as we go. It's actually very fun, but nothing like as fast as we are used to.

demaria: We're really working to address several issues: 1 competition and the perception that this is more contest than collaboration
2. How to make it clearer what we are asking
3. How to help you grasp the scope of the game design by creating a dependencies chart
4. Ways to get you involved in more rewarding activities
5. How to provide some additional rewards... ;)
And we're hoping to find ways to help you become leaders of the project more and more.

*jwboggess* Other than boosters, what other income streams do you see as viable?

dperry: We want to keep the game free to play. So that anyone can give it to their friends and they can play as long as they like for free. This is the general rule with the Acclaim games.
(1) Online
(2) Free.
dperry> :)
dperry: On the other hand, it's a business and we need Acclaim to do well and keep funding these kinds of risky projects.
dperry: (I LOVE RISKY PROJECTS!)
dperry: So we need to help Acclaim find ways to allow people (that love the game) to spend some money. Thats done with in-game items, upgrades, and sponsorships. We will also have in-game advertising. Acclaim tries to put the advertising in places were there are natural pauses. They don't want the gamer to suffer death by advertising. So if it's loading, or if you are wating for someone, it's a great time to squeeze in some revenue. The items however can't affect the game balance, so our team will have a chance to get creative with these items. What would you be happy to buy? I met a team in China recently. A designer came up with an idea for one item. This one item makes a million dollars a month. Could you come up with one of those really innovative items. Acclaim would love you! But so would ever other game company. The US market has not realized that there is potential to just allow gamers to spend money when they are happy, and when they choose to. It's a working model, but you bet 110% on your design team, and their knowledge of gamers. So I will be really interested to see if we can find a million dollars a month guy/girl from this group. It's a new kind of (forward looking) business design challenge. Right now however the game comes first, but we will discuss this stuff later.

*adonai|mxo* Can you give us a sneak peak at whats coming up over the next month regarding TS?

dperry: Well for me it's really going to be drilling into the gameplay. I really want to dive into the action, the controls, what you can do, when, why, how can we make it more fun. What will make you really point to the screen and say "Did you see that?" That will be mixed with abilities. What can the beasts do? What can the players do? How can they be modified? How can we keep the controls simple? How can we attack others and really enjoy it? How can they attack us and not piss us off!

*Juindalo_irc_irc* Any insight about the kinds of tracks that will be featured pertaining to the chosen theme?

dperry: I had some Pancakes in San Francisco yesterday. Westin Hotel at the San Francisco Airport. Anyone live near there? I'm chewing on my pancakes and I look at the wall.
There's a GIANT mural of a race. It's really cool, immediately made me think of top secret. It was in a town square, with a few thousand spectators, so many, they actually MADE the track. Meaning you ran around them. I kinda like that idea... So you could fall over and role into the audience. Anyway, that's just an example. There are ideas everywhere. We just need to gather them up.

*adonai|mxo* From my perspective the community seems under utilized, going forward can we expect the same at arms length relationship, or can the community expect to be intimately empowered to define its own success in the near future?

demaria: I'll take a stab at this
demaria: Yes, we want to get you guys busier. There are several ways to do that. First, you guys are doing an amazing job. I keep saying that, and it's true . So... right now the four current tasks are going to open up many more new tasks and refinements. We're just getting to the heart and the real meat of this project. It's like the overture before the symphony, so you will be getting more to do. I am exploring the concept of community leadership. This means that we want to find a way for YOU to nominate people to help lead tasks. We will be introducing new systems to empower that. Really, there is a lot more to come. we're out of time, but keep an eye on the forums and feel free to PM me. I'm already in conversation with the moderators to get this project even more productive. Feedback is helpful.

For a unique and untested concept, I'd judge Top Secret is manoeuvring towards the correct racing line. I'll keep Splines updated with any further developments.

Dave Perry: IRC Clients at the Ready!

2007-05-12T12:58:00.000+01:00

Project: Top Secret continues to lead an oxymoronic trail to the realms of becoming Project: Well Known. To this end, Dave Perry (MDK, Messiah, Sacrifice) will hold a conference on IRC today. The time is 8PM GMT, you can click this link to be teleported via Java to (almost) the correct place - simply type '/join #topsecret' (without the inverted commas) and you'll be there. Alternatively you can fire up your own IRC client and find the channel on irc.stratics.com port 6668.

I'll see you there!

Cell Factor: Revolution Trailer

2007-05-10T09:21:00.001+01:00

All I Think of is Blocks

2007-05-09T13:02:00.000+01:00

In the first few moments of watching this video (which is of a slightly higher quality and longer length than the video you see above), I thought I'd seen it all before. The gravity gun of Half Life 2 has previously jollified me through the tossing of helpless ragdoll soldiering types, so what's new? Those shiny metal blocks were acting all swirly! The last time I felt so inclined to say 'Ooo' was when I saw exactly the same thing in Prey, a year ago. Ageia were trying to scam us gullible gamers with promises of hardware-enabled treats although such stupendosity would be entirely possible without the need for their crass component.

Luckily I kept watching. How wrong I was! 'He's... He's... He's... He's got those blocks dancing to the beat of his whim, thousands of them'. And then BLAM! The dancers are dispersed, scattered according to laws I have very little knowledge of but OMG I want to get intimidate with those principles.

Principally, I want, nay, need ... My continued existence in life will be determined by the presence of a PhisX card in my PC. Gaming Gods - make it Christmas, or extend my student loan, or pay me for every word I write on this blog. No? Well I'm going to have to deeply consider not eating for a few months. First though, let's collectively drool over this page.

Nees Up

2007-05-08T17:07:00.000+01:00

Liam Neeson has been brought on board Bethesda's Fallout 3 team to provide voice talent. Will the fans by satiated by a public display of Bethesda's intent to encourage quality narrative, or will this only strengthen the fans wrathful cause? Does this confirm that Bethesda are treating Fallout as they did Oblivion (in which Patrick Steward played the Emperor and Sean Bean, his estranged son). Only time, and the gnashing of forumite teeth, will tell.

North/South Decried

2007-05-08T16:17:00.000+01:00

Ian 'Omroth' Hardingham will be in Keble (Oxford) tomorrow, and he'll be talking about Indie games development. In his own words, he'll be, "trying to make the talk as punchy and non-boring as possible". If I lived closer, I'd be there in a snap.

Ian Hardingham develops for Mode 7 Games, his most recent project is Determinance.

Scripted

2007-05-07T15:51:00.000+01:00

First Person Shooter is a preeminently prophetic play which addresses one of the games industry's contemporary concerns.

"The play’s plot, while complex and deeply-nuanced, boils down to this: two teens in a rural Illinois high school gun down a number of their classmates with brutal efficiency. Within days, it’s revealed that they rehearsed their massacre on a custom game map, and the management of JetPack Games (the developer of the aforementioned software) finds themselves scrambling to deal with their possible role in the school tragedy. What could have quickly turned into a tale of lawsuits and greed gradually unfolds into a believable story of shock, anger, grief, and, ultimately, self-realization."
-GayGamer.net

That's The Rub

2007-05-06T11:55:00.000+01:00

I'm not so sure that I play games (especially RPGs) as any 'character' other than myself - a person who vehemently seeks to demystify their game-world.

Yesterday, I started to play Planescape:Torment. Although Planescape was released in 1999, I'd only heard brief whispers of what my experience would entail. I remembered hearing that you could potentially play the game and bypass the majority of the combat through persuasive charm and, failing that, by running faster than Chikkita Fastpaws. I held this remembrance in mind as I created my character, investing all of my skill points in charisma, intelligence and wisdom - each traits that would further the storyline (intelligence and wisdom aid in the piecing together of lost memories), leaving my character immensely fragile. I'm still early in my Planescape experience, but what an experience! I can't quantify the pleasure of having NPCs fall over themselves in a rush to divulge all of their deepest, most sacred secrets to their new best friend ... who they just met ... as they unlocked the gate ... which they were supposed to be guarding ... to prevent people like myself from escaping. And the thrill of knowing a single wrong word could lead to a single blow which could spell instant death (not that this means much in Planescape, but I won't spoil the surprise for you!).

Many modern RPG staples seem obsolete: stats, loot, dungeon crawling; I'd rather explore the mind of a complex character than the lair of a dragon. Ethical decisions only present a dilemma as to which choice would trigger the most interesting result, the most exotic content. I like to play a game and think that I'm delving into areas that the developers later regretted coding, figuring that hardly anyone would go to the troublesome extremes required to stumble across their work. If I find a typo, incomplete text or placeholder, my quest has met with success.

Perhaps this quirk is borne out of a tiredness of traditional gaming archetypes, and a yearning for emergent gameplay. Games have become simpler in what I assume is an attempt to broaden their appeal. Unfortunately, I believe this simplification has led to the dumbing down or total removal of abstract or untested gameplay elements. Take, for example, the X-Com series, which began its tirade as a game of structural and personnel management, R&D, UFO interception, and crash-site investigation. Now, consider the evolution of the series, even if you discount that awful arcade-style space-shooter (X-Com Interceptor, was it?), there's no discernible progression, only a disintegration of the elements which made X-Com unique.

I seek to de-mystify my games, to tickle them in the right spot and have them bare their souls. That's right, games have souls. What I like most about games is that everything exists because someone thought it necessary; nothing exists without the inspiration of a coherent team - director, artist, coder, even QA's play their role in the humanisation of a lifeless body of script. I believe a little essence of character is rubbed into a game as each person gets to grips with their creative task. The citadel of Half Life 2 is a prominent example of script with soul. The citadel has a purpose and a meaning. My interpretation of this meaning is special because it's formed by the interplay of all my life's experience and all the citadel's developer's collective values.

When I first emerged from Half Life 2's train station and caught sight of the citadel, I forgot all about Gordon Freeman and his little mission to save the town from traffic congestion, or whatever. I was very firmly me. Me, gawping at something truly stunning. The same is true of corrugated iron. Fallout's rusty girders helped me unearth meaning in the midst of Junktown. There's no need for Pipboy. If the game's objectives are met, that's merely incidental to my quest of demystification. So long as there's a soul to be found, so long as the developers keep rubbing, I'll keep on digging.

Ungagged

2007-05-05T23:55:00.000+01:00

There's now a PC Gamer (UK) Podcast, which is lovely. This might sound odd, I often think of the PCG staff as transcendent heroes. I'm sure John Walker would dispute this, but he seems more human since I've heard his voice. The whole team are no longer muted producers of text, they're alive!

You'll find a new podcast every month. I believe the intention is to have the chatter serve as an accompaniment to each new PCG issue. The second wave should be heralded around June 7th.

Happy Shadowbolt Day!

2007-05-02T19:57:00.000+01:00

Welcome to a regular new feature on Splines! Because my purpose of existence is essentially to earn the admiration and approval of one man, a man who thinks this blog isn't updated often enough, I'm going to dedicate today's posts to a particular fondness I know he has. His particular fondness is of the Fallout series, which quite frankly I'm more than a little fonded by myself. Anyway, Joystiq have recently posted a video (below this post) and this link, both pertaining to the excellence that will sadly never become reality, Fallout 3 by Black Isle.

Black Isle's Fallout 3

2007-05-02T19:56:00.001+01:00

System Requirements

2007-04-30T23:07:00.000+01:00

I'm back from Nigeria much later than expected. I found myself adrift in a country gripped by election fever - a contagion which my immunisers were remiss in anticipating! The presidential elections were held on the day of my departure and an understandably anxious military assembled roadblocks with haste amidst the city of Lagos. Traversing the dimpled, tarmacked veins leading to Lagos airport was made impossible by soldiers who displayed themselves particularly unwilling to cooperate. Our car stood nervously in a government-orchestrated pileup. After the driver in front was threatened with the possibility that his windscreen might just get smashed if he were to remain in the same spot any longer, the occupants of my car came to the consensus that we should move on. We changed tactics, drifting slowly through the darkened and sporadically delved capillaries that serve the city's vast citadel of humanity, a passage which failed to divide the divine spirit of the populace it both served and severed. A throng of folk stood on either side as our car dissected a slow progress towards home. I felt dissolved by fear, yet I was steeled by the presence of my mother, perhaps equally apprehensive, holding my hand as we sat in the intermittent bathing of yellow light which brought a sudden awareness to the colour of our skin.

No harm came to us, and in retrospect I don't believe we were ever in serious danger. The crowd was sedate, no signs of anger. In the week prior to our diverted foray, I've participated in conversations with people who own a comprehensive knowledge of Nigeria. They inform me how, just as in English cities, street life rises as the sun sets. Markets open and parties begin as people emerge into the cool relief of dusk.

So perhaps I was wrong. There was no election fever. The riots which the government had predicted didn't happen, and the political party which everybody knew was going to win went ahead and won. Although I didn't get to the airport, my way was not blocked by the good people of Nigeria. The good people are as unheard by their government as they are as unconcerned with politics. Helpful, happy humans are common in Nigeria. I'm ashamed to admit that the same cannot be said of my home, England. Nigeria's national roadblock may be erected by the mammoth corruption of their government, but England's people live in their own depression.

Games writing will resume soon.

Big Fat Diary

2007-04-04T10:59:00.000+01:00

I'll be in Nigeria until the 22nd. I've never been before, so my expectations of Africa are based on what I've seen in games. The rainforest will provide a chance for me to observe new DX10 real-time shadowing effects, although this opportunity may be spoilt by the African people's fondness of survival horror and as such their insistence that the brightness should always be turned up to maximum. I hear the first few levels may be worse than Daikatana, with lots of annoying incessantly nibbling insects that I'll need to deal with - at least there will be plenty of Rhinos to provide RAM.

I expect no surprises on my trip, and to come back home having learned nothing new - I already have the guide, after all.

Living Without Shame

2007-03-30T17:00:00.001+01:00

Kate Moss in Oblivion Scandal

2007-03-28T20:07:00.000+01:00

I think that games are showing a tendency to simplify mechanics for the gamer, perhaps in an effort to become more inclusive to newcomers, perhaps in acknowledgement of the maturation of the medium. Just Cause, sequels to Deus Ex, Rainbow Six, Zelda and especially The Elder Scrolls series - they've all refined the elements of their predecessors and become more easily approachable, but have they lost something in the process?

Today I'd like to focus on auto-travel, featured in three of the games I've mentioned above. As the road analogies commence I fear that developers are on the wrong track in removing the necessity for players to follow their own path as they course their way through a game. In Oblivion, for example, the route from the Imperial City sewers to Weylon Priory could present itself as a trail pebbled with chance encounters, paved with the corpses of slain highwaymen, embedded with the cat's eyes of ... OK - enough of that - let's just say that travel can be an adventure in itself.

I try to make best use of my time, so it's with a sad obligation that I oft choose to auto-travel. I curse my self-depreciating efficiency as I click my way through lush forest and rugged heathland, vomit the bile of a philistine as I neglect the weeks of development time devoted to perfecting the noxious volcanic wastes of some entirely forgettable place; a place which would have been seared into my memory through trial by fire were it not for the inevitable pyroclastic flow of me and my need to go.

This isn't a criticism of developers, quite the opposite - development teams show surprising modesty in their acceptance that many players won't discover the richness of their world. If you've read this far, and you agree, perhaps it's time to consider auto-travel as a lustful temptation, the apple in the garden or Kate Moss in your bed - initially attractive but ultimately a shallow, bitter distraction from life's pleasures.

Vehement Vehicularisers

2007-03-28T19:34:00.000+01:00

For a student, I've been unwholesomely busy as of late. Mostly everyday stuff, although I'm preparing for a dissertation on the antisocial nature of gaming and also for a trip to see my Mum in Nigeria, so if anyone can recommend reading material for either I'd appreciate it!

Let's see... I'm playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (that's the last time I bother to type the dots) but I don't consider myself ready to write a review yet. It's atmospheric and often unfair - I understand that the persistency of the AI characters had to be toned down, but really, infinite ammo? If I turned on Punkbuster then STALKER's zone would be an empty one.

Game Politics have aptly acknowledged the connection between these two recent stories. As you know I always appreciate when games can be utilised as an aid to the most impoverished of our society. Although coughing up cash to the vehement vehicularisers of violence seems immoral, perhaps the action is more amoral - surely the route to peace?

Tired and inebriated. I'll try and write something but it won't be clever.
DuBBle out.

Here's a Thought

2007-03-21T20:15:00.000Z

Let's be realistic. Our minds conjure visions of the games we'd love to play, that we'd hope others would love to play. Occasionally, a gifted person, a games developer, is granted the opportunity to shape reality in the form of their vision. But we're being realistic, and reality demands that one cannot create without also suffering a loss. There's a certain attrition about games development. Priorities change. The meeting of deadlines becomes almost as essential as breaking even upon release. The mind's vision becomes hazy.

Let's be idealistic. The constraints are removed. The way I view our prospects, unshackled, there are two routes we can take:

The first is amateur development, as opposed to professional wages-for-work development. Traversing this route most often leads to a euphoric community of enthusiasts which science has collectively termed 'modders'. They work out of love, and to demonstrate their talent. The length of time they take to complete a project hardly matters - there's no production cycle they must adhere to. This means a collective creative vision can be fulfilled before work ceases. Modders can take satisfaction as they guide their project to completion.

The alternate route has yet to be attempted, but I have faith in the concept. I like to call it development+1.

The traditional business model for games development involves the development team, the publisher and the consumer. The traditional model relies on the developers' gaming vision demonstrating itself to the publisher as being financially viable (ie: guaranteeing a profit) or it won't get support. Now, what if the development team could guarantee a minimum level of sales before their work even began? What if, instead of approaching the publisher with a demo, the game was instead shown to the public? If a concept level were placed on a server and made freely available then, as seen with the recent phenomenon of popularity which is Line Rider, news of an innovative demo will spread via word-of-mouth and interest in the full game's production will grow. Observing their demo's popularity, the development team now sets up a forum or IRC channel where they'll foster a community of enthusiasts, ideally these people will hope to see a full game come to fruition. The devs can converse with the community, ask for their opinion, judge the merits and failures of the demo and in which areas a full game could be improved. After the community has grown to a sufficient size (exactly what size is deemed sufficient will be a decision which has to be made by the devs), the devs will ask an important question: Would the community like to help us create a game?

Although the response will be mixed, ideally some of the community will be willing to guarantee that they will buy the game for a stipulated price upon release. In return, these people will become creative assistants for the project - their ideas will be considered by the devs and their names will appear in the final game's credits. The budget for the game will increase in proportion to the number of people willing to guarantee their purchase of the game upon release, which means the developers may remain cash-strapped. However, the advantage of this process is that a game will be produced entirely by a staff of people who want to see nothing more than the original creative vision come to life. The community will be involved in every decision in the game's production, so the full game ought to culminate in a satisfying outcome.

I think that developers and the vast majority of gamers see the unfulfilled potential of games as a necessary evil. I've ordered S.T.A.L.K.E.R. even knowing it's far from the game that GSC Gameworld originally proposed. I'm not blaming publishers - it's only natural of them wishing to protect their investments, but their priorities clearly do not lie in the quality of the finished product. With some fine-tuning, I think the theory outlined above could prove that publishers are not necessary, perhaps even that a game developed without publisher support can deliver more of what gamers truly yearn for. The question is - can a good game be funded entirely by enthusiasts? I hope that time will tell.

Doormat Physics

2007-03-15T22:49:00.000Z

Sony's upcoming Home platform, as you can see in the video below, offers little that cannot easily be found elsewhere, and for a tithe which could topple a king from his throne and simultaneously demand his loyalty to the brand of Playstation. Nonetheless, I think Sony's Home has installed some utterly tempting double-glazing on the facade of their franchise whilst consecutively tarnishing their competitors through an unexpected re-routing of air traffic over Microsoft's coughing corporate offices and Nintendo's now bronchitis-afflicted kingdom.

I think Home is a gimmick, and Sony designed it as such. I also think Home will be a huge success - augmenting a standard console OS with the stylistic tendencies of The Sims, with the capability to meet up with friends and then join them in gaming - that's hardly genius, but it's perfect. Essentially, a successful gimmick garners attention, which is undeniably what Sony should be doing right now in order to survive this generation. Substance must then follow.

Sony's Home

2007-03-15T22:48:00.001Z

Mind the Fluid

2007-03-11T23:56:00.000Z

If you recollect, gamers of the early 1990's were mollycoddled by a mass of quality platform games. I grew up playing Bubsy the Bobcat, Sonic and Toejam and Earl; and although I was hardly a critical child, I believe I became a discerning gamer through recognising and rejecting the titles which I'd have less fun in playing - the Cool Spots of my day.

Contrary to Nintendo and Sega's belief at the time, I don't think the appeal of platformers lay in the identity of each game's main character. Even to my childish mind the fun was in the fluidity. The spontaneous grace to which that bright figure on the screen would gesticulate and gyrate, I'd watch in awe until an obstacle reminded me that I remained in control. Perhaps platformers attained the best fusion of video and gaming at a time before interactive movies - Sonic's sprightly aerial springing relegated my person to the status of viewer for a few exciting seconds before placing my nimble fingers back into the digit-shaped hotseat.

I won't deny it, Ubisoft's recent offerings to the Prince of Persia shrine have proven that much of what I have termed 'fluidity' can be delivered alongside a third dimension, but much of that essential avatar autonomy seems to have been lost. For example, I've never seen the prince take initiative beyond the limits of my frantic clickery. I enjoyed that moment in Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy where Lucas broke the restrictions imposed on him by the Bust-A-Move style gameplay and shocked me by violently impacting his punching-bag off its hook and directly across his living room. If the combat (and, more generally, the game proper) of modern titles allowed for your character to amaze even you - the master and controller - once in a while, I think we'd see better games.

I believe the below video of Fancy Pants Adventure (world one) displays much of what has been lost from gaming since the demise of the 2D platformer. If you like what you see, check out the Fancypants demo.

Fancy Pants Adventures

2007-03-11T23:55:00.001Z

Abide Sony's Abode

2007-03-07T21:10:00.000Z

That screenshot? It's the future, it's Sony's Game 3.0, it's quite simply everything the discerning gamer has ever wanted but never had delivered... that is, unless they own a PC. The above picture (besides being incredibly cute) depicts the new game from Media Molecule - the developers of Rag Doll Kung Fu - it's named LittleBigPlanet (not a result of my rushed typing - there really are no spaces in that name).

LittleBigPlanet is a game of creation. It's a gem of modification. It's all about you - the player, the dreamer, the centre of inspiration in LittleBigPlanet's little big world.

And best of all this is only the beginning. Sony's Playstation Home has just been announced at the GDC. Seemingly Sony has embraced a credo of creativity. The 'Home' to which the title refers will be available to all connected Playstation 3 owners - a kind of virtual, entirely customisable hub. Sony envisions a neutral ground for meeting others, connected to many personal spaces laid out as apartments. The extent to which these apartments may be customised remains to be seen (can I build my own Naval Yard/Meat Processing Plant?) although I'm impressed by Sony's ingenuity. You'll find screenshots if you click the link.

The Blog Apology/Challenge

2007-03-07T20:41:00.000Z

The Games Developers Conference has begun. This reliably high-profile event has become a focal point - an opportunity for the games industry's talent to converge, discuss, and polish their top-brass. There's loads of wonderful stuff happening and I'd love to keep you updated with it all, sadly my life is overflowing with bulky wonderless time-traps (such as applying for a Nigerian visa - arg!) - as such I'll recommend you visit some of the links on the far right of this screen - infectious carriers of information, each and every one.

I'll share with you one snippet. In a bold move, Microsoft have issued a challenge to six experienced XNA programmers, setting them the task of creating a game from scratch in a mere four days. It's likely Microsoft have hedged their bets by choosing only the developers they deem most unlikely to embarrass themselves, but such a public display of confidence in their development kit's power has to be applauded. The competition ends on Friday. Best of luck, corporate pawns.

Hunting the Big Daddy

2007-03-04T21:43:00.001Z

A Social Science

2007-03-03T14:32:00.000Z

Apologies for the slump in wordmongering of late, all the usual excuses are applicable. Today's the town beer festival. In light of this day of restful inebriation, I'll be throwing all worldly responsibilities to the wind (so that's essays, gastric discipline, and the duty to scan the pavement below for signs of small children). Thankfully I regard this blog as a pleasure to write for, never a burden. So, without further verbal stew - here is the news:

A daring academic has seen reason. Karen Sternheimer - sociologist at the University of Southern California - publishes her informed opinion, outlining the media's role in the construction of our understanding of violence:

"Politicians and other moral crusaders frequently create “folk devils,” individuals or groups defined as evil and immoral. Folk devils allow us to channel our blame and fear… Video games… have become contemporary folk devils because they seem to pose a threat to children."

"The biggest problem with media-effects research is that it attempts to decontextualize violence. Poverty, neighborhood instability, unemployment, and even family violence fall by the wayside… Ironically, even mental illness tends to be overlooked in this psychologically oriented research."

The above discourse should be familiar to anyone who's found themselves defending video games in public - this, however, is not old hat:

"White, middle-class killers retain their status as children easily influenced by a game, victims of an allegedly dangerous product. African-American boys, apparently, are simply dangerous."

Emile Durkheim urged sociologists to embrace their school of thought in a scientific manner, for "the aim of science is to make discoveries, and every discovery more or less disturbs accepted ideas". I'm overjoyed to view Karen Sternheimer so effectively challenge accepted prejudices against gaming, and against the falsely-defined characteristics of certain social stereotypes.

Honour Amongst These

2007-02-28T15:26:00.000Z

It's not often an online debate retains civility and reason, rarer still a debate manifested in an ideological battle contested between representatives of contractual obligation and freedom to act beyond the realm of legality. Click here and you'll discover something very special - an intersection of worlds - where Astalavista's underground community of software crackers engage Mode 7 Games' nervous_testpilot in a miraculously rational dialogue regarding the nature of piracy. I say miraculous because the first line reads "I was wondering if anyone had a Determinance serial key or crack" and the second post contains "I'm a developer on Determinance", yet sanity is maintained.

I'd often assume that developers and pirates were juxtapositions of greed - ancient credal colossuses, opposed in stance yet bound to their terrain in a need to swell their treasuries by any means possible; The developer would charge the highest price they could extort from consumers and the pirate would go to great lengths to avoid paying for anything. Astalavista's community reaction to nervous_testpilot and the arguments put forth by both camps are profoundly enlightening. I've come to realise each faction labours in support of an established world-view. Money is hardly a factor.

Whether or not we buy games can immensely affect the lives of developers, especially smaller 'indie' teams. Determinance has been an investment of life for Mode 7. Through piracy we're not only robbing ourselves of any further team projects, we're directly downloading a deposit of defeat to the doorstep of developers in disregard of their sacrifice for our own enjoyment. In contrast, the software cracker views each anti-piracy measure as a challenge. There may be no such thing as an altruistic action but software crackers don't work for loot, their labour's goal is to exclaim 'w00t!'.

Just Add Amaterasu

2007-02-27T22:19:00.000Z

The creative minds of Clover Studios (Okami, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe) have taken root once more following exile during Capcom's talent culling. Rather than allow themselves to be taken to market, the talented developers discovered the resolve (and capital) to found a new company - appropriately entitled Seeds. There's no news as yet regarding their first project. I'm hoping Seeds' website will grow to become decipherable. Nonetheless, Splines will regularly check on the fledgeling Seeds.

PS3 Song

2007-02-25T18:22:00.001Z

Reservation for Doomguy

2007-02-21T05:26:00.000Z

This is Damiano Colacito's "Face of Doom", projected onto another face - that of Sarajevo's Europa Hotel. Sarajevo is the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As such, Europa Hotel has steadily remained a suffering monolith whilst humans summoned hell in the streets below.

I understand this work bares a crude message to be decoded. Mr. Colacito proudly displays his art as a parallel between the suffering of a pixelated marine and that of a nation. His actions belittle a tragedy. I hold the opinion, in earnest, that computer games are due a greater acknowledgement for their contribution to culture, but "Face of Doom" represents entirely the wrong ethos in achieving this goal. We should allow people to learn from the games they play, never impose our values upon others - especially in drawing comparisons between the virtual and the real.