Culture by the dozen

Dear Internet,

I wanted to share with you a surreal experience I had last night.  It involved a huge field of grass, some hot dogs, an extensive amount of apes and an Opera. You know, the usual.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario: A crowd of literally thousands of people gathering in a park around a big stage. As the distance between the throng to the stage gets smaller, the density of human flesh per square meter grows ever larger. The weather is hot and humid, as if the park resides in the very center of god’s armpit. The crowd thickens and thickens. Brawls between sweaty, angry people sprout randomly for dominance over their 1x1 patch of grass, their swears drowned only by the shouting voices of the teenage hot-dog vendors and the sound of enormous electric generators. Some of the more “innovative” people climb onto those generators in order to both escape the crowd and maybe catch a better glimpse of the stage.

This whole sight might have been typical for a soccer game, or a rock concert. What made this whole ordeal so surreal was that it took place in an opera concert. The absolute polarity between the cultural significance of an opera and a crowd of aggressive, sweaty commoners shoving and hitting each other to get a better look – believe me, it was… something else.

Everything took place in an event called Opera in the Park, which is an event organized by the city of Tel Aviv, in an attempt to expose the general public to some culture. While the idea seems good, it just isn’t applicable for the type of people who live here. Hearing the sweet voice of the singers while seeing people hurting each other like animals was a sad experience for me. Having never been to an opera, I am a little sorry about this being my first experience with it. This is something I will have to remedy.

Speaking of Remakes…

In my previous post I talked about remakes and my ambiguity towards them. This week I have played a little bit of Street Fighter IV, which is mostly a remake of the good old Street Fighter II. Why mostly? Well, there are some new characters, and (if anybody cares) there is a new story for each of the characters.

In any case, I consider this game a remake, and, in my opinion, it is a good thing. I loved playing Street Fighter II at the arcades as a kid. I loved playing it years later on emulators and consoles. Street Fighter IV is almost identical in gameplay to Street Fighter II. The graphics are “next-gen” and there is a more than functional multiplayer mode and other goodies, but the core gameplay is the same. Even the moves for the old characters are played in the exact same way, so old geezers like yours truly can find themselves right at home from the get go.

Fast action flawlessly combined with spectacular graphics. I can almost feel her pain… 

And still, the game feels fresh, and I believe new gamers will find it no less attractive even without the nostalgic factor. How can this be explained? Is it because other fighting games, such as Tekken, rely mostly on button mashing while Street Fighter still requires some tactics and finesse? Or maybe I really am blinded by nostalgia? Whatever the reason, I am enjoying this game, whether its when I perform an ultra combo finish or when a friend wipes the floor with my dignity (you know who you are!), I am having fun with a fighting game like I haven’t had in a long long time.

So here is a remake I know exactly how I feel about. Maybe this is the answer I was looking for. I cannot have a specific opinion on all the remakes in the world. Some could be really good and polished such as Street Fighter IV, some might not.

Doing and Redoing

I don’t know what to make of remakes. It seems to me that a gaming company that releases a modern remake of an oldie is either doing this to please the fans of the original game, or just because they want to milk the franchise to death. What I cannot decide is whether or not the reason even matters.

 
No doubt that the remake looks amazing. But then again, we all know that the original was great.

With the impending re-release of The Secret of Monkey Island by Lucasarts, I am trying to focus on whether or not I am excited about this release. After all, this was an adventure game that stood above all other adventure games of its time and gave me hours of fun and laughter. And pirates. lots and lots of pirates. So a modern remake of the game with new graphics, music and voice casting must certainly swash my buckles, right? Who cares that Lucasarts are releasing this game really close to Telltale’s own version of Monkey Island that was released 3 days ago? Why should it matter that Lucasarts, who abandoned the adventure games genre years ago in order to focus on releasing tons of Star Wars games is suddenly releasing an adventure, which is a remake of an old favorite? Why would I mind that they are publically saying that they promise to release more adventures only if this new remake sells well?

 
At least Telltale is trying something new.

Well, I don’t know why, but I do mind. It does matter to me. Where Telltale attempted (with more success than not) to recreate the franchise and came up with a brand new Monkey Island adventure, Lucasarts is reusing its old material and is also “holding hostage” its other franchises unless their demands are met. It just feels wrong to me. Its the difference between a company that creates and therefore contributes to the advancement of video games, to a company that recycles for money. Lucasarts used to be the first type of company when it came to adventure games. I really hope that there is at least some soul behind their actions.

Years Apart

Warning! This post contains minor spoilers for Assassin’s Creed.

I finally got around to finishing Assassin’s Creed for the first time. Nice game, spectacular visuals, top-notch voice acting (which is something that Ubisoft is very good at, apparently). However, the game ends abruptly, leaving the story as open-ended as it gets. Assassin’s Creed was released in 2007. The sequel is due to be released in the second half of 2009, two years after the release of the first game.

Jerusalem, 1000 years ago. When the sequel is released, this is what we will call today’s Jerusalem…

I’m not sure how I feel about open-ended games. It seems to me that games, which take years to develop, leave the player in suspense for too long with open endings. This also applies to movies which usually take years to create. The problem is that suspense wears off after a while. How much can I care about a story, however interesting and engaging it was, 2-3 years after I read/play/watch it?

Of course, this does not apply to the recent epidemic of trilogies in films. Trilogies (such as Lord of the Rings) are usually created together as a single movie and are then released on a yearly basis. In this way a story can be told over a longer period of time, sometimes surpassing the story depth that is possible in a single movie. But what happens when the time between each chapter is longer than a year? Even longer than two years? For video games this is usually the case. Quality video games take years to develop. A trilogy cannot be developed as a whole and then released yearly, because each year the technical expectations grow and by the time the series would hit the third chapter it might not be good enough for the audience.

Will he win the sword fight? Stick around for a few years to find out.

One could say that episodic gaming was invented to answer these problems. However, episodic games are usually very short, making the collection of episodes as a whole the length of a single game. Episodic gaming is just an excuse for companies to break the development of their games into smaller segments, allowing them to charge for these segments separately. Other than the obvious economic benefit, I cannot really say that episodic gaming can solve the problem with open endings in video games. What’s more, some companies can’t even get episodic games to be released quickly enough (Half-Life 2: Episode 3, where art thou?!).

I think that as long as the time between the development of games in a series is longer than, say, a year, games should not be cut short as with Assassin’s Creed’s ending. It is reasonable to end a story with a small twist, leaving it open for a continuation. However, cutting the story right in the thick of it with absolutely no conclusion just doesn’t make sense to me. By the time Assassin’s Creed 2 is released, I probably won’t feel the suspense I am feeling now, which is a shame, because if a sequel would have been able to arrive in a shorter time, its impact would have been much more satisfying for me.

Left 2 Change

I must admit that when I first heard about Left 4 Dead 2 being announced at E3 2009, I felt a bit bad. After all, its unlike Valve to release a sequel so fast (only one year after the release of the first Left 4 Dead). Also, a sequel usually means that the previous game is obsolete. Apparently I wasn’t the only one to feel this way. Many Left 4 Dead fans are protesting against the impending release of a sequel for a variety of reasons, some of which make some sense (‘Significant content for L4D1 was promised, and never delivered’), others are just plainly a reflection of a fear of change (‘L4D2 is too bright to fit in with L4D1’s visual aesthetic’).

And that’s just the thing. The fear of change had lead to many protests on the Internet for technically ANY change. Facebook got a new interface? ‘But we like the old one better!’. The new Star Trek movie has a different theme than the Star Trek movies of the 60’s? ‘We want more of the same!’. It’s like there will always be a huge group of ‘hardcore’ fans of <insert franchise name here> that will say ‘better is badder’ for any change to their beloved <insert franchise name here>.

On the other hand, there are times that a group opposing a change is on to something. Sometimes, the change really is for the worst and the opposers manage to reverse it back. It’s these rare occasions when a group of idiots gets it right.

So when I found myself resisting something because its different, which in this example is the fact that Valve, which is known for releasing sequels years in between, would be releasing a sequel only a year after the original, I couldn’t make up my mind on whether or not my reasoning for this ‘mental’ resistance to this particular change is solid, or whether I am just another nay-sayer for all the wrong reasons.

New characters, new weapons, new maps – New game!
(Screenshot from Destructoid.com)

I have decided that it wouldn’t be smart of me to condemn this new release. Just because Valve had gotten us used to games that were years in the making and had provided free additional content years after the games were released, it doesn’t mean they have to do this for me. Left 4 Dead was very successful. If they feel they can release a sequel that early, then kudos to them. The first game was complete and I think I got my money’s worth for it. In a world where EA is allowed to release near-identical sequels to their sports games year after year after year, I think Valve are allowed to create their own frequent release franchises without us putting them through a shit storm.

In the mean time, enjoy the E3 2009 Trailer for the game:

Zombies in broad day light seems creepier, don’t you think?

Technically Working

I promise this will be the final post about my PSU. I have already given this too much attention. For those who are interested in the personal experience (which was awful), you can read the previous posts: 1, 2, 3, 4. This is a technical post in which I will details how I diagnosed and isolated the problem, which I had promised to some people. Some background: My PSU crashed completely. It died. I took it to the store for fixing/replacement. While it was at the store, I had a replacement PSU that I got from my workplace (for which I am thankful). During that time everything worked perfectly (this was an important detail for later on). After a month, I got my PSU back from the store. That's when things started to get really frustrating.

First Wave

The PSU crashed during games. It took a non-constant amount of time to crash (15-30 minutes on average). The crash was a shutdown of the computer for 5 seconds, followed by a reboot. My main suspect was, of course, the PSU. However, since it just got back from the store, I had to make certain. Also, because it only crashed during games, the graphic card was a very likely suspect. So to isolate the problem, I conducted a few tests.

Cuddly Muscles

The first thing I wanted to do is to rule out the graphics card. I had conducted a stress-test on the graphic card using FurMark, which stresses the graphic card to its limits using fur rendering, and is usually used to check overheating in overclocked graphic cards (my card is not overclocked). In my understanding, FurMark does not stress the CPU. It ran for 40 minutes without crashing. So while the graphic card reached its highest working temperatures (ever), it did not give in.

Think and Remember!

Next thing was to rule out the CPU and Memory. This also called out for a stress test, and the tool I that I used was ORTHOS, which stresses both the CPU and the RAM using some heavy FFT calculations. I let it run for two hours. It did not crash.

Balls of Fire

So now that I had ruled out the CPU, RAM and graphic card, I wanted to find a controlled way to crash the computer. Playing games and waiting for the crash was out of the question. I downloaded an nVidia demo called GeoForms. This demo utilizes both the CPU and the graphic card, although not as extremely as the stress tests I used for them separately. GeoForms uses the CPU for procedurally modifying 3D models and the graphic card for rendering them in real time. However, it was enough to crash my PC in less than 20 minutes on average. 

Conclusion

There could have been other things causing the crash. It could have been a faulty motherboard. However, given that I had just replaced my PSU, and that while it was in repair the replacement PSU (which had lower wattage) worked flawlessly, I placed my “bet” on a faulty PSU. Given the events that followed, it turned my bet was solid enough.

I hope this post can help someone who is experiencing a similar problem.

Ending with a Bang

This is the end of my PSU adventures. It appears that shouting is the only thing that works with customer services.

I was finally offered a new PSU, only to find out I was offered an inferior unit. Calling customer services gave me the honor of talking to one of the most foul people I have had the pleasure to talk to. This was the first time I had raised my voice over someone over the course of this whole affair.

In the end, I had received a brand new PSU. I have tested it thoroughly and I can finally say that my PC is back to working condition.

All I can say after all this is that it wasn’t worth it. I have learned that even though in the end I got what I was supposed to already get two weeks ago, it just wasn’t worth the effort. The only thing I did “earn” was the experience I got for handling this type of hardware with such scrutiny.

I can finally go back to writing about games, now that my mind is at ease from the entire affair. I will, however, write one post in a few days in which I will detail the procedure which I used to deduce the (now proven correct) faultiness of my PSU, despite the many false diagnoses provided by the professional technical staff at the store. I intend to post this so that others with a similar problem would be able to pinpoint the problem or, at the very least, eliminate the PSU as a suspect.

PSU Hatred

That’s it. This has gone far enough! I received my PSU from the store for the second time - still defective. These guys are making fun of me. Either they are giving me a brand new one, or I’m going to buy a new PSU at a different store, and I will get my money back from these guys.

Did I Win?

First, a short story: A few years ago I was dining at a restaurant and I ordered a special salad. When I received it, I found out that one of the more ‘exotic’ ingredients (listed in the menu) was missing. When I asked the waiter why the salad was missing that ingredient, he told me that they were out of it. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that when I ordered?’ I asked. In reply I was told something that until today I keep encountering at many of the services in my country: ‘We did not think you would notice’.

This story is only a sample of the many times I have encountered this phenomena in a wide range of services. From restaurants to electronic stores, many of them first assume that the client is an idiot who doesn’t really know what he wants. It’s only when the client finds the service faulty that the service ‘patches up’ the problem. Sometimes people call this the ‘successful’ method, which means that the service provider attempts to bill the customer for something that they did not provide for extra money, and if the client picks up on it, only then the service provider removes the bogus item from the bill.

Today I once again dodged the ‘successful’ method. Long story short: My PSU was faulty, I handed it over for repairs, after which I had received a ‘new’ PSU. After that running complex applications (games, mostly) made my PC crash, which was horrific, because it was difficult for me to pinpoint the problem, especially since the PSU I had received was brand ‘new’.

It took me a few days to come up with a test to make it certain that the problem was either the PSU or my Motherboard. Given that the PSU was just replaced, the odds of the problem lying else ware were small. So today, after wasting days trying to figure out the cause of the problem (with the tests to back it up) , I returned to the store and once again requested that my PSU be replaced. The lab guy first checked the PSU with his equipment asserting that it is perfectly functional. Doubts formed and grew in my mind, but I have not given up yet. I have elaborated about my agonizing journey for recreating the problem and finding the cause. Luckily for me, the lab guy listened and called the importing company. After a long conversation he finally came up to me and told me that I was right. They have sent me a PSU that was returned by another customer because of the exact same problem and was tagged as ‘new’. I could see how the lab guy felt bad about it, even though it wasn’t his or the store’s fault. The importing company had decided to send this to another customer in the hopes that the customer is stupid enough to order a powerful PSU without the hardware to fully utilize it. Were I just surfing the web and reading my mail I might have never find out that the PSU is faulty.

So now I am to receive a new PSU. Even if everything turns out OK and my computer will run flawlessly for another year or two… what next? What if another hardware component fails? Would I have to go through this cat and mouse ordeal again? Did I win?

2D or not 2D?

I find it rather astounding how some of the old styles of gaming are still appealing t me (and apparently others) even after all these years. I guess that even after games have developed to the level of sophistication they are at now, sometimes what we want is something fast and colorful. That's where indie games usually come in.

Yesterday I have bumped (on Gamasutra) onto the game Ivory Springs, which is an unfinished game. However, what little there is can be downloaded freely and is quite lovely. It's an old-style 2D platformer with anime style characters. The graphics are colorful, vibrant and pleasing to the eye. The gameplay is fast and simple, with a few easy platforming puzzles and fast-paced battles. Too bad the project was discontinued, but if you have some spare time, give it a try, its small to download (about 4MB) and is easy on the resources.



Will I ever get tired of anime style?

You can get it here:
http://www.konjak.org/section.php?section=ivory

Another fun platformer which I knew for some time is Knytt Stories. It is an atmospheric game with emphasis on exploration rather than puzzling or fighting. There are several 'quests' that were released by the author of the game, as well as several other quests released by the community. I especially enjoyed the music in the game, which is a relaxing blend of guitar and some new-age music, which sets the atmosphere in a very nice way. The graphics are simple, but convey exactly what I think the game is all about: mood.



The environments are relaxing and beautiful in their own way.

You can get it here:
http://nifflas.ni2.se/index.php?main=02Knytt_Stories

Both games are simple, compact and easy to play. If you have some extra time, you should give them a try. Maybe the influence of nostaligia talking, but I believe that it doesn't matter how old this style of gameplay is - these games are enjoyable.

Game-less weekend

My PSU (Power Supply Unit) is dying. It was in repair and was returned to me as busted as it was when I handed it in. Warranty in my country doesn’t mean shit and it shows every single time. Now I’m stuck until next week to be able to use my PC for anything other than surfing.  I cannot fully convey the frustration to be completely powerless (pun definitely intended) to do anything for a few days before the holiday and weekend are over, while bottling the rage induced by the knowledge that I was scammed again. Will there never be a PC retailer that doesn’t try to scam you every single time?

Team Fortress 2 Updated Again

Oh, Valve, the amount of fun I get from just a single product…

Another update for the beloved Team Fortress 2 game, this time both the Spy and the Sniper got an update, which includes new weapons, achievements and voice lines for both the classes.

As usual, Valve had delivered the update after a week of funny mock articles and advertises on the update site, giving the fans a lot of laughs and mystery as the Spy update snuck up on the Sniper update and stabbed it (and the Sniper) in the back. Good times. As usual, Valve included a new animated short, presenting the Spy in an entertaining manner.

Meet the Spy!

I still find it quite amazing how much attention Valve is willing to put into each of their games years after they have been released. I am not deluding myself to think that a company does that simply out of the goodness of their hearts, but it is quite rare to find such quality products with so much attention to details in today’s gaming market.

Video Shames

Sorry for not posting for a while, been busy with work, you know how it is.

Anyway, today I was at a computer graphics mini-conference-gathering of some sorts with a few lectures and yes, there was cake, so it wasn’t a lie this time. Some of the talks were interesting, some less, but it was a very short affair that went by fast and mostly painless.

I was happy to see that a few lectures were targeted at video games. One lecture in particular that got my attention was about an algorithm for deforming 3D models in a smart and symmetrical way, such that you could create dozens of different models by deforming a single model, such as furniture. The team even provided an easy interface, so creating tons of different models for a video game scene seems to be very easy with the framework they provided.

The thing is, not once did the speaker mention that their algorithm was targeted at creating video games. It was only after he was asked about possible applications that he said that the main focus of his paper was about creating models for video games and the like. He further exclaimed that the models could not be used for anything other than virtualization, given that the algorithm is not accurate enough to allow for physical reconstruction of the models by 3D printers or similar methods.

So basically I am asking: Why not to officially target your work at video games? I would think that a billions-of-dollars industry is something that should be taken more seriously by the academia, even if some backwards places still consider video games as children’s toys.

In any case, I had a good time at the conference and I believe there’s a thing or two that stuck with me.

Fighting Against Fixations

The Japanese Role Playing Games (JRPG) genre exists since the NES era. The first Final Fantasy games set the tone for the genre for years to come, and the concept remained the same for many years. However, there are some games that belong to the JRPG genre, yet they defied some of the core principles and the way we think about JRPGs. In this post, I will talk about two genre-defying JRPGs from two completely different eras: The first is Mother 3, to which I was acquainted by Michael Abbott, writer of the Brainy Gamer blog, in his post about the new fan English translation for the game (a post I will probably write about again in the future). The second game is The Last Remnant, for which I received a recommendation from the lovely Lauren Wainwright (also known as Atheistium).

Mother 3 is a sequel to a JRPG called Earthbound that was apparently was a big hit on the Super- Nintendo (SNES). Like many of the best games to appear on the SNES (Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger), Earthbound also eluded me because of my location. Long story short, Mother 3 was never released in the English language, until now, when an amazing group translated the entire thing into English. So now, like most western gamers, I was able to play the game. Finally, I understand why so many people worked so hard on translating it, and why so many people love this game so much. The game has a unique writing style, with a quirky sense of humor that does not get in the way of the more serious parts of the story, some of which are truly emotional and heart breaking. It is a campy game, and it knows it, which makes it even more fun to join in.

Don’t expect fancy graphics in Mother 3, this is a GBA title.

What I want to talk about is how the game separates itself from other JRPGs. From the start, the game distinguishes itself from others in a few ways. There is no money. When you enter a store, you can just pick up whatever you want, as long as it is in stock. I was shocked to discover this, because it breaks one of the most fundamental mechanics of any RPG, which is to accumulate wealth. Mother 3, in an attempt to tell its story without compromise, eliminated that mechanism. No longer was I required to hold on to equipment I did not need just to sell it later. If I did not need something, I could just throw it away. To me, it seems like a brave design decision. The best part is that half-way through the game money is introduced into the game as part of the industrialization of society, but instead of making me feel more comfortable with the familiar mechanism, it made me feel… dirty. I think that when a game is able to make me accustomed to new mechanics for the sake of the story, and then for the same reason feel uncomfortable with the old and familiar mechanic, it is impressive. Not only did it defy the genre, it also made the “normal” mechanic less appealing (in the context of the game).

Another way Mother 3 does things differently is the battle system. Sure, every JRPG has its own unique battle system, but most JRPGs rely on grinding. It is true that you can grind your way through Mother 3, which is a legitimate choice. However, the game is designed in such a way that you do not have to grind your way through it. In fact, you don’t need to grind at all. Beating monsters in the game is like solving a puzzle. If you realize their weaknesses and exploit them, you can easily beat the monsters and bosses as they come. On the other hand, a fight that is not fought wisely can be very difficult, if not impossible, even if you did grind the hell out of your party. In any case, if you die, the game lets you continue from the last save frog (yes, frogs are save points) with all your experience and items in tact (as if you never died but only transported back to the frog). The game focuses on telling its story, and therefore does not want you to get stuck for too long on monster battles.

 
The Last Remnant is gorgeous to look at, and the PC version runs smoothly.

The second game, The Last Remnant, does the exact opposite of Mother 3. It is a JRPG for “advanced” JRPG gamers. The story in The Last Remnant takes second place to gameplay, which resembles western RPGs more than it does JRPGs. The Last Remnant is a new Intellectual Property (IP) by Square-Enix, which is the leading company when it comes to JRPGs, and are the creators of the Final Fantasy series. It is a game of epic proportions, designed to be on par with other great names such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. It was released with many technical problems, which made many critics write it off as “average” at best, and I don’t blame them. The shameless way that companies, especially large ones, allow themselves to release defective games just so they can release them on time should not be encouraged, even if they are the biggest names in the industry. Nevertheless, a working version of The Last Remnant was released for the PC, and without the technical issues the game can be played as it should have been from the get go.

 
Where should I go now? The amount of possibilities can make your head spin.

So what could be so “genre-defying” about a game from a company that practically created the genre? First, as I said already, the game is not for beginners. Most JRPGs take you by the hand for a large chunk of the game just to get you started, and some of them guides you through a linear story for most of the game. The Last Remnant does not. It teaches you the basics of the game, but sets you free to do a lot of things that are unrelated to the actual story almost from the get go. In fact, it encourages it, but making you roam the cities and dungeons before calling you back to the story. Beginners to JRPGs may feel a bit lost and overwhelmed by the amount of possibilities. I found it rather refreshing to be able to explore so much of the game world almost from the start. The amount of side-quests is mind-boggling, and many of them are available early on. I would go as far as to say that, in this regard, The Last Remnant can be compared in gameplay to a western RPG.

The battle system in The Last Remnant is also quite interesting. Whereas in JRPGs you control each of your characters individually, in this game you control groups of characters (called unions). This makes it possible to conduct huge battles, and the battles in the game are spectacular for it. The downside is that when controlling a union, you cannot micro-manage individual characters. However, I am not really sure that this is a downside, because micro-managing the units in a large scale battle (of which there are many) could have been quite tiresome. While battles are very strategic in nature, many of your important decisions will be made prior to the battle, when creating unions and choosing formations for them. The battles themselves are fast and dynamic, and choices in battle can quickly determine the result. As with the exploration, combat in The Last Remnant could be difficult for beginners. Dying is not uncommon, even with constant grinding. Sure, grinding can make it easier to win some of the battles with brute-force, but the game is designed so that it is far more satisfying to win by using a good strategy, especially when it comes to tough, large-scale battles.

 
Large-Scale battles can be difficult to handle, but are spectacular to watch.

So these are two games from two completely different eras. They both somehow defied the JRPG genre, and mostly in a good way. I am enjoying these two games, partly because of the fact that they did something different, and showed that JRPGs do not have to repeat the same formula over and over again in order to be good. In fact, sometimes the old mechanics are just there because everyone are used to them (such as the linear JRPG storyline). I am glad to see that a big company, Square-Enix, took the chance on a JRPG that employs new battle mechanics and did not dumb it down for beginners. It probably hurt their sales, but it made me, and I assume other regular JRPG gamers, appreciate the game for providing a good challenge and not wasting hours on tutorials. As for Mother 3, I must say that to me it seems that the fan translation is amazing. Coupled with another fan collaborative effort to create an amazing strategy guide, Mother 3 was one fun ride.

Time is of the essence

Have you ever experienced one of those times when you had the best idea ever only to find out that somebody beat you to it months ago, and then somebody else created something that is so much better than the original idea, that the original idea would be considered obsolete at best? No? Well, to me and a few of my friends it happened.

Consider to following setting: Four computer science grad students on a hiking trip, trying to come up with an innovative idea for video game design. While drinking black coffee with the trees above and the flow of the water, an idea is born for a time travelling mechanic. Slowly, ideas formed into specifics, leading the naive men to believe that this was an idea that was meant for greatness.

Little did we (yes, I was one of those poor men) know that this neat little flash game was already on the market… Unbelievably, it was almost identical to the the game we formed in our minds, down to the smallest details of the time travelling mechanic and paradoxes! Playing it was just like travelling to the future and playing the game we designed just a few days ago. It was as if the creators of the game listened to our conversation, travelled back in time in a manner no so different from the one in the game and created the game before we even thought about it. Kind of a lame usage for a time machine though…

So somebody had already thought about (and implemented) our idea. Bummer. But here comes the good part: it didn’t matter. Enters: Braid. Braid was released on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) about two months after we had our “big idea”. Although it is considered an indie game, Braid was richly funded. The time manipulation mechanics in this game could, I am sorry to say, wipe the floor with our mechanics.

The trailer shows some of the mechanics used in this magnificent title..

Without getting into an artistic discussion, Braid is carefully implemented to include puzzles that are on one hand complex and diverse, and on the other hand accessible and satisfying. Each world in Braid employs a new time manipulation mechanism that is usually completely different from other worlds, and then immediately puts you in a position to use that mechanism to solve carefully planned puzzles. The puzzles were planned thoroughly and it shows.

I only played Braid for the first time when it came out on the PC three days ago, and I am enjoying every minute of it. This leads me to several conclusions to this story: First, if we want to design an innovative game, we need to think faster. Second, even though we came up with our idea too late, it was a good idea in retrospect. I can say this because, as I said, I can play a game that implements it almost completely. Third, if our idea is not as innovative as we thought, we could still create something that makes better use of it, just like Braid did.

Princely DLC

I have already ranted about shady Downloadable Content in a previous post. It seems that the big publishers keep on pushing the limits on how low they can go with ripping off their legitimate customers. This time, the record is set by Ubisoft, publisher of the newest Prince of Persia game.

First off, I have to say that I loved the new Prince of Persia. It is, to me, an amazing accomplishment. The flow of the game is fast and catches the essence of what the prince is all about. Paired with one of the nicest cel-shaded graphics in gaming history, production values in par with Disney films such as Aladdin and Hercules, and topped with genuinely loveable characters, the game is just breathtaking.

How awesome that this is an actual in-game screenshot?

Therefore, when I have heard about the DLC planned for Prince of Persia, I got pissed. No, I was more than pissed. I was furious. I will explain with as few spoilers as possible: The game has a rather bleak ending, with no real conclusion. Since Ubisoft had already established that the new game is to be a first of a trilogy (an annoying trend, but one I can live with), I was satisfied with the ending, hoping that the next two would deliver the conclusion to the story. However… the new commercial DLC released by Ubisoft is called Prince of Persia: Epilogue. Can you see where I’m going with this? The DLC is an extra portion that contains a more “proper” ending for the original game! This isn’t a real expansion to the game. It contains a couple of new levels and moves for the prince and a new ending sequence that actually makes more sense than the original ending. And they are charging 10$ for it! They are charging the customers additional 10$ for content that was supposed to be an integral part of the original package for which legitimate customers paid 50$/60$ (depending on whether they bought it for the PC or consoles) . It’s as if that the game wasn’t completed by the time Ubisoft released it, and now that they finished the rest of the game, they have the nerve to release it as additional content for money! It is almost like being kicked in the nuts by a porn star; She lets you watch all the good parts but then she kicks you in the nuts.

 
It feels kind of like this

This is no less than a spit in the face of the customers by Ubisoft. Whereas companies like Valve are constantly releasing new maps and features for games they released years ago for free, Ubisoft intentionally cut the last part of their game, released the game and a few months later released that last part, charging no less than 10$ for it! There just aren’t enough words to describe how despicable this act is. I just pray that the majority of gamers, even those who loved the original game, would have the restraint and common-sense not to pay for this. We must draw the line somewhere!

Not for Everyone

You could probably stop me from writing a Watchmen joke, but you are 35 minutes late.

I will start by saying that this is not a review. This post is merely my thoughts and feelings about the movie Watchmen. Although I would love to actually review a movie, It’s too soon for me to do that. So please keep this in mind when you are reading the rest of the post.

Watchmen isn’t a movie for everyone. I could find tons of reasons not to watch it. However, if you are one of those people to whom these reasons don’t apply, you are in for a great ride.

I have read the Watchmen graphic novel, and I loved it. I only first read it about two years ago, so I’m not your typical ‘hardcore’ fan. However, I do believe I was able to appreciate the book for what it is. That said, with the story set in an alternative ‘present’ (1985) with the cold war and the fear of nuclear war being the main threat to society, I probably couldn’t get into the atmosphere as far as I would if it was actually 1985. However, that did not stop me from enjoying the book and the powerful messages of the story, which hold up even today as very innovative and deep.

I loved the 80’s version of the apocalypse

Watchmen is a story about people. You might think that it is a ‘superhero’ story, but it really is just a story about the fact that there is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. There were others who tried to convey that idea, but Watchmen did it spectacularly, with style and a lot of blood. Watchmen did not take any prisoners when dealing with violence and sex, so when I first heard about the movie coming out, I was afraid that it would be another Hollywood pg-13 adaption gone horribly, horribly wrong…

Hollywood’s version of otherwise great stories…

My fears dissipated quickly though, for the movie has no restrictions when it comes to violence. That isn’t to say that this is a mindless gore film. The violence is tasteful and helps to convey the powerful messages of the story. The movie does, however, manage to stay as faithful to the book as possible, which makes it the one and only movie that I can whole-heartedly recommend on viewing without the need to actually read the book. It’s that faithful to the book. I know that this is a very bold thing to say about a movie. It is obvious that even a three-hours film cannot really contain an entire book with all of the little details and nuances, even if the book is a graphic novel which has less text than a typical book. Nevertheless, after watching this film, I cannot think of a better way of telling the story. The characters are as round as they are in the book, and the background stories fit perfectly into the timeframe. If anything, the movie may even surpass the book because of a breathtaking soundtrack. Never before did I encounter such a rich and fitting soundtrack in a movie, such that it enhanced my experience as deeply as the Watchmen soundtrack.

This is one of the good guys!

All in all, Watchmen is an amazing movie. However, if you are sensitive to graphic violence, this movie is probably not for you. It contains graphic violence which, in my opinion, is tasteful and powerful, but may not be for everyone. This isn’t a superhero movie, and it is definitely not for kids.

If you loved the book, you would probably love the movie, as it is very faithful to the book. For the same reason, if you read the book and didn’t like it, you needn’t bother with the movie. If you love rich and detailed stories and are not sensitive to graphic violence, then I recommend it.

Pretty View

This post is small, just wanted to share with you some pictures I took this Saturday at the Dead Sea.

I took these at Nahal Bokek (נחל בוקק), Enjoy!

Though these panoramas are far from perfect, me being a Photoshop amateur, I still think they are much more fun to view than a series of regular photos.

Fighting the war AFTER the victory!

Chrono Trigger has a very happy beginning... You visit the millennial fair, celebrating a 400 year-old victory in a war between mankind and the forces of evil yada yada yada.

 

The big difference between this story and others comes later on, when you get to join the very same war, 400 years in the past. In fact, you have a significant role in changing the future and affecting it's outcome (and much much more).

However, the part where I really got into this game was when I first found myself in the future. The far future, about 1000 years into the future.

 

A dystopian future is one of the most common settings in sci-fi movies and games. However, after moving through a happy present time period and another medieval time period, I was shocked to see this future.

Robots? Mutants? Ruins?! It is amazing how powerful these clichés can be when used correctly, and is usually not a very believable future. Chrono Trigger nailed it though, and it was more or less what you would expect it to be. For me it was a real shock to find myself in a dystopian wasteland all of a sudden with no idea of how it came to be, coming from a time of knights and swords. This future is so distant from the “present” that I had no way of seeing it coming, and it fits into the story well. Which goes to show that clichés, when used correctly, are not clichés at all.

I will try to post more about this game, but I cannot promise anything, since I have other things to write about that are more… recent. Here are some more screenshots from later in the game where you get to travel to prehistoric times… things are never dull :)