[Disclaimer: this post isn't a dig at those people who have already listed a guilty pleasure or at the concept of the monthly musing. This is my own take on the idea. Remember folks, even though this is the interwebs, opinions are like arseholes: everyone has got one. This post will also veer on and off gaming a few times. ]
Come closer my friend, I'm going to tell you a secret. You wanna know my gaming guilty pleasure? Well I don't know how to say this, but.... I don't have one.
The concept of a guilty pleasure is taking enjoyment in something that we either would not admit to or be seen enjoying in the company of others. In the last few years, there's been a bit of an indulgence of guilty pleasures, especially in the UK where Sean Rowley's Guilty Pleasures club night has been a roaring success as well as spawning two compilation albums. In my estimation, guilty pleasures are more common in music and film, than gaming. You might enjoy a brainless action flick or dumb comedy, but you're probably not going to list either of them on your top 10 films? right. A cursory glance through my DVDs shows some films by the Coen Brothers, Orson Welles and David Lynch, some esoteric Asian films and plenty of critically acclaimed films. But I've also stuff like Jackass: The Movie, Kingpin and plenty of Adult Swim stuff too, which is hardly the most mature thing you could watch. Looking at i-tunes, I've got Godspeed You! Black Emperor, influential post-punk and left field hip-hop. I've also got Keane, Electric Six, Coldplay and Welsh hip-hop goons Goldie Lookin' Chain. Do I feel embarrassed about this? Not a bit.
Time for me to go all psycho-analytical (without the benefit of an "analrapist" [1.11 in]) on you, I think my feelings on this stems from one incident. Was at high-school one day, during my last year. I brought in some CDs for a friend of mine to listen to. I was getting them out of my bag, when someone I wasn't too fond of asked me what I was doing:
"I'm giving Chris a loan of a couple of CDs,"
"All your CD's are shit,"
"What? You haven't even seen CDs they are!"
"Doesn't matter, you only like shit stuff," (For the record, the CDs were Urban Hymns by the Verve and Ok Computer by Radiohead, two of my very favourite albums)
I know you're thinking "What the fuck! What kind of twat would say that?", but this was about par for the course when I was at school. This kind of galvanised me, because up until that point I had been very eager to please people since I never really fitted in at school. Wasn't bullied per se, beaten up for sure and generally ignored, but not bullied. But this moment crystallised things for me. I realised that I didn't like this person and they didn't like me, so why should I give a fuck what they think? From then onwards, I stopped worrying about the dreaded "other peoples' opinions" and instead enjoyed the music, books and films that I was passionate about. I would still talk about stuff with my friends and take recommendations form them, but I never let what someone else thought cloud my judgement.
So, my complaint against the idea of a guilty pleasure is that we shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying anything. Now I don't mean, we shouldn't feel guilty about drop kicking a puppy down the street because you should feel downright ashamed of yourself if you do. What I mean is that, why lie about what we enjoy and hold dear and feel ashamed if we're found out. I like plenty of things most of my friends and acquaintances don't like or find "gay" (the most well thought out criticism you seem to get these days). I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect despite their flaws (and the fairly vitriolic reaction some people aimed at both of them). I prefer FIFA games over Pro Evo. Just finished playing some Peggle which was fun, gonna do some Brain Training later on the DS before I go to bed. Need to finish Lego Star Wars too at some point. So, I guess my point at the end of all this meandering rubbish would be, do as you will. Enjoy your games, give them your all and don't worry how you're gonna get judged.
"Opinion on Shenmue is somewhat split these days. Detractors argue the games were slow and clunky by today's standards, while Shenmue fanatics argue that the detractors are a bunch of stupidheads."
Shenmue 3, Diablo 3, Star Trek Online all feature as well as the obvious no.1, Duke Nukem forever. So any glaring omissions? Maybe you're still looking for a sequel to Jet Set Radio Future, another Thief game NHL Hitz 2008, Bushido Blade 2, Grim Fandango 2..... they're what I hope the powers that be will bless us with.
[EDIT: Image Shack appears to be fucked right now, which is why my rather nice header is AWOL]
Now I know it may seem to some people, that I have something against Steam (especially my brother in law who maybe reading this. We're still on for lunch tomorrow, right buddy?), but that's not really true. I did have a horrible experience trying to register my copy of HL 2 when it came out, but then again, who didn't? Right now, my PC isn't really capable of doing much gaming but that's something that can hopefully be remedied when I come back from a three week vacation in mid-May. I just downloaded the free version of Trackmania, which is a blast and runs fine on my PC, so kudos on Steam releasing a cool free game.
Now with that out of the way, I posted recently on the Rest Of The World group on Steam that's trying to bring attention to publishers of how many potential customers that they're missing out on. The group has been quite successful in gaining new members, (despite things quieting down recently) and now Cnet has an article discussing the hows and whys of why certain games and publishers can't publish outside North America. I say explain, only Ubisoft offers any real explanation and that's just in the form of an announcement in a few months. There's an interesting list of what's not available on Steam in Australia (where I live) and it's kind of heartbreaking. Here's a few noticeable entries:
Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Medieval II: Total Wars
Frontlines: Fuel of War
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War - Gold Edition (also the expansions Dark Crusade and Soulstorm)
Assassin's Creed
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 1 & 2
Some good titles there, and there's also games that are over-priced too like CoD 4 and Bioshock which are almost doubled in price! But it's not all bad news, we Aussies get some games that you North American's don't, like Call of Juarez and Championship Manager 1 & 2.
That's it. Three games. Now can you understand why we feel so gipped? So, please if you haven't already please join the Rest Of The World group on Steam. I know it may all be a futile gesture, but it seems like the only thing we can do. Again, I fully realise that this is a problem with the publishers and that Valve have their hands tied in these cases, but all we're asking for is a fair deal.
So Ze Germans seem to have a nice scoop here, some rather nice screenshots of Fallout 3 in action. The image browser is a bit patchy, so you might need to go through a couple of times to see all of them. All the screenshots show some in-game action or some of the locations. By the looks of these, Bethesda's nailed the post-apocalyptic landscape and atmosphere, but I shall have to wait and see how the game turns out. There's also some screenshots of the classic games and some tasty looking concept art.
So last week Steam announced that Ubisoft games were going to be available on Steam, including Assassin's Creed which was available for immediate pre-order. Unless you were one of the poor souls who lived outside of the USA or Canada. That is, the rest of the world. Now, being in a PAL region regularly means we're treated like second class citizens when it comes to games (Rock Band, Super Smash Brothers recently), but I think with Steam there's a different consequence here. Rock Band, SSB et al can be imported, and I'm sure a number of enterprising Dtoiders have already done so, but games on Steam just aren't available to import or even order. It's like they don't exist.
Now Valve have said that it's the publisher's fault, that they indeed want to distribute games all over the world, but their hands are tied. I do believe this, as you could get games like Half Life 2, Portal and TF2 on Steam with no restrictions. Add to that, Steam's great community services and whole online package, and you've got a reason for people to actually buy games. Yes, actually buy games! Because I know quite a few people who buy games if they are on Steam, and if a game isn't? Bollocks, they'll just download a cracked copy. If PC gaming is in the dolrums (which I don't believe it is), then having Steam as a kind of i-tunes store for games giving gamers a good price on all the games they want can't be a bad thing.
Well some enterprising individuals have gone and created a group on Steam to highlight how many sales publishers are missing out on. The Rest Of The World group has gotten over one thousand members in less than a week and will hopefully keep growing. I know a lot of you will think "what's the point, nothing's going to happen," but fuck! Actually do something, no matter how small a gesture it is, maybe, somehow it might make a difference. Join the group and maybe we'll see some change.
(this is about as optimistic as you'll probably ever see a Scotsman, so take advantage of it)
I've been wracking my brains for something to write on this after reading Batthink's articles on his favourites. Then an obvious favourite hit me: the score for Assault on Precinct 13 by John Carpenter. If you don't already know (and shame on you if you don't) John Carpenter scored most of his early films (and some of his later films) as well as directing them. Assault on Precinct 13 was Carpenter's second film, in which a rag-tag group of people are holed up in a deserted precinct house whilst an army of gang members seek revenge on one of them. It's gritty stuff and a great film. The Thing, which Carpenter later directed, had the same themes of paranoia and isolation. Halloween would be his masterwork, but Assault on Precinct 13 is undeniably a in influential score, coming a full year before Suicide would release their self titled debut, with a similar sound.
The Music
The score itself is defiantly minimal, with a skittering drum pattern (which reminds me of "Trans-Europe Express") and a heavy pulsating bass line. The music was all recorded in three days and by Carpenter alone, after budget constraints forced him into the role of composer. It ended up being a good move, as the spare music and repeated motif's became an integral part of the film's appeal. As an album, it's obviously repetitive as that the two or three core sequences ended up being repeated quite a lot. As a mood album it's quite good and here's where the gaming part lies.
The Game
GRAW was a fun game in co-op, especially at a LAN party. I was playing it round at the flat my two brother in law's share whilst we had a small LAN party. We tend to play co-op games rather than any kind of death match games as it's good to be able to talk to the people you're playing with directly, (or shout at them if they're in the other room). Now my PC is a piece of crap and as such the graphics were turned all the way down and the music was off. I felt the experience kind of flat (I know it's probably more life-like but hey screw that!). I had my i-pod with me and the inspiration struck to put on John Carpenter's score. Immediately the tension was racked up, with the shuffling beat hiding the potential footsteps of any approaching enemies. The two just clicked and it made the game more involving for me. At some point, I'm hopefully going to loop the main theme into a large 30 minute track that will just sound awesome for some squad based games.
This is a video of the infamous ice-cream truck scene. The central theme music is what's playing in this clip:
Ok, we know Manhunt 2 has been "un-banned" in the UK. Frankly I can only imagine the well thought out and even handedness this decision was greeted with by the UK tabloids, a bastion of integrity and quality journalism (massive sarcasm, by the way).
But what's more interesting is this short article on Games Industry Biz.com, which quotes a release by the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport which says:
"It is important to note that there is no conclusive evidence of any link between playing computer games and violent behaviour in real life," the spokesperson continued. "Our concern is to make sure that inappropriate material is kept away from children."
Wow. A government department officially saying, on the record, that there is no evidence to link games to violent behaviour. I think nearly all of us would agree violent games don't contribute to violent behaviour, but it's not as if we can actually prove it in a way that would cause the many vocal video game detractors to see sense. Having a branch of goverment come out and say this is a small step to hopefully an more enlightened argument about video games and violence.
Hah, only kidding. But seriously, a brick would probably move faster than what I've got. I've got a PC that's been cannibalised from about at least 3 different PCs. I'd give you a run-down of what's in it, but frankly I'm not 100% sure. Let me say, cutting edge it ain't (please ignore the cat licking it's genitals):
Look at the generic black case, which contains the equally generic and really fucking noisy PSU:
The monitor is a 17 inch Samsung TFT which is very nice. It was kindly donated by my brother-in-law after he bought a brand-new 24-inch widescreen monitor which is absolutely beautiful. There's some burn marking at the top of the scree (which you can't see from here), but hey for the first flat screen I've ever had, it's really nice:
Some games that are lying about, most of them are my wife's. She found them in storage and broke them out to play. I think the only one of mine in Call of Cthulu and the F.E.A.R. expansion pack (which looks like a dog on my setup). Most of my games are in the CD wallet on the left:
Okay, let's highlight the positives: nice, if small monitor and a good 5.1 set of Logitech speakers. I've got a Creative X-fi card in the PC, so MP3's sound brilliant:
Might as well admit now that I'm in Australia and obviously will have to pay for import tax and shipping (which I won't, because I'm not going to win).
That's the question that Ubisoft developer Clint Hocking is asking. After complaints from the Canadian Teacher's Federation about Bully, he's offered to buy the leader of the Federation, Emily Noble, either a Wii or X-box 360 so that she can play the game. Hocking admits he hasn't played the game, but is hoping that the two of them can discover the game and be able to discuss it's merits and flaws in an enlightened atmosphere:
"Since I haven't even played Bully - and probably neither has Ms. Noble, President of the CTF, (nor probably have her counterparts in the coalition of teacher's unions in Canada, the United States, Britain, South Korea, Australia and the Caribbean who are mentioned in the article) I wonder if we even can contribute anything? Ought we enter into debate about public access to media that we have not even engaged ourselves? That seems unethical to me - especially given our roles. It is doubly unethical if Bully might in fact actively contribute to broader and deeper societal understanding of the very serious and real issues of bullying. While our teachers are certainly on the front lines of the battle against bullying - they are not the owners of the issue and they are not the only ones entitled to examine or discuss it."
I think this is definitely a good move (as long as Ms Noble accepts); a while ago N'gai Croal wrote an article after the whole Mass Effect/porno kerfuffle saying the video game industry must be more pro-active in defending itself and it's a positive sign that Clint has chose to be proactive about a game, he wasn't actually a developer for. I hope this will spur developers on and they won't simply let clueless politicians and self-imposed moral guardians say whatever they want. Bully may have flaws that would worry an educator or parent, but without actually playing the game, they will never know for sure.
Anyone thinking Bioshock here? Ok, it’s not a sea slug but a sea cucumber that’s the focus of this story on the BBC news website about how said sea cucumbers defensive reaction is inspiring a new polymer:
“Writing in the journal Science, US researchers describe how species of the sea creatures "tense" when threatened. The new material mimics this ability, and could be used to make advanced brain electrodes which are stiff when implanted, yet supple inside the body.”
Even more exciting is this bit further down
"These creatures can reversibly and quickly change the stiffness of their skin," explained Dr Jeffrey Capadona, another member of the team.
"Normally it is very soft; but for example in response to a threat, the animal can activate its 'body armour' by hardening its dermis."
It’s like the Armoured Shell plasmid. Sign me up for when they can find a way to shoot bees from my fucking arms!
Via BBC News Sciene/Nature
Attached photos:
Uhhh, I'm a recently married, bearded Scotsman in his late 20's living in Australia. I've been playing games since my mum bought a C64 in the early 80's (but that was mainly so she could play the Lord Of the Rings text adventure). I only moved to Oz from my hometown Glasgow, a year and a half ago, so I had to really sell all my games before I left, which was slightly upsetting.
Got an X-box 360, DS and I despise fanboys of all systems with vigour.Right now I'm playing Call of Cthulu on the PC and skate on the 360.
Here's what I'm tracking right now over at Game Trailers.com:
Ali D's Gallery of Heroes (in varying states of facial hair-ness):
Warren Ellis: Comics author (Authority, Fell, Planetery, Transmetroplian)
Warren Ellis: Musician (the Bad Seeds, Dirty Three, Grinderman)
Wayne Coyne: Musician (The Flaming Lips)
Julian Barret and Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, the I.T. Crowd)
Kevin Smith: Writer and Director (Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy)
DJ Shadow: Musician (Endtroducing, The Private Press, The Outsider, the Hard Sell)
Alan Moore: Comics author (From Hell, Watchmen, Top 10, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
Thom Yorke: Musician (Radiohead, solo album The Eraser)
Bill Hicks: Late Comedian (Relentless, Rant In E Minor, Shock And Awe)
Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton): Musician (DM and Jemini, Gorillaz, Gnarls Barkley, Dangerdoom)
John Carpenter: Director (The Thing, Halloween, Prince Of Darkness, Assault On Precinct 13)
Iron & Wine (aka Sam Beam): Musician (Our Endless Numbered Days, The Creek Drank The Cradle, Woman King)
