Bike Hero

99 Bottles of Koopa on the Floor, 99 Bottles of Koopa

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Even Video Games Need a Good Third Act to Work

Rush Knows Changes Aren’t Permanent, But Change Is

Sandkings Indeed

A free trial creature creator from Spore has been released. The creatures here are too cutesy to be considered for practical battle concerns. There is a paucity of dangerous teeth and minatory claws. Is a ruthless and self-serving alien creature who will have some life form for lunch too much to ask from Maxis? Is there no possibility here of a dangerous ecosystem?

I suppose we’ll have to wait for the final game in September before these evil possibilities — a la George R. R. Martin’s “Sandkings” — make their presence known. (That’s the thing about games from Maxis. They tend to turn very nice people into savage sadists.) Nevertheless, this free trial is dangerous. I have created a creature with about twelve limbs and a very large head. I have tried to sully its Disneyification, but to no avail. I am now leaving the house so that I can actually get some work done. But if you’re interested in this, i09 has nabbed Austin Grossman to reveal his thoughts on all this.

The Video Game as Art

In 2005, film critic Roger Ebert ruffled a few feathers when he suggested that because video games require player choices, games are therefore an inferior medium:

To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.

bioshock.jpgI can certainly agree with Ebert that video games are, for the most part, showcases for the latest gaming engines, primarily designed so that the individual will drop hundreds of dollars for a next-generation console system or a needlessly expensive video card that will be outdated in a few years (only to be replaced by yet another). We are now in the nickelodeon days, although, as the Wii demonstrates, the game controllers are getting more interesting. But this multi-billion dollar industry is less concerned with the human experience than it should be. It has come close with the Civilization games and the Sims offerings, and may come even closer with Will Wright’s much delayed Spore, an ambitious god game that permits the player to develop a cell and then control the natural development of this cell into a species, and then further manage the species as it plunges into space exploration. I’ve lost many hours feeling an ignoble cathartic thrill when fragging a junior-high schooler who, like me, should probably be reading a book. But I can justify my shameful vicarious pleasure by knowing that this is a medium that has yet to produce a Battleship Potemkin or a Birth of a Nation.

To suggest, however, that the video game will never find the same gravitas as cinema is to fall prey to same prejudicial thinking with which intellectuals once castigated cinema in the early 20th century. Let’s not forget that it took the motion picture around thirty years of technological developments before it was considered more than a gaudy amusement. And we have only just passed the 30th anniversary of the Atari 2600.

This New York Times article from September 7, 1913 suggests that the then primitive motion picture was, like the contemporary video game, very much about delivering spectacle to a mass audience. George Kleine, one of the key people who established the film industry in the United states and who had just made a cinematic adaptation of Quo Vadis? with a cast of 3,000 people (then an unprecedented number), is quoted in an eerily comparable manner about the future of the medium”

“I have plans for the future which make everything I have done so far seem to be mere child’s play. The educational end has not begun. Motion pictures will not supplant books in the public schools, according to my opinion, but they will revolutionize our educational system. Instead of being bored, the child will enjoy learning by object lessons conveyed by the use of moving pictures.”

ffever.jpgReplace “motion pictures” with “video games” and you essentially have what’s reflected in this 2002 BBC News article, in which a study reveals that games are not a substitute for books, but a way to help children learn. And if, like me, you grew up playing Fraction Fever (the ROM is here, if you’re an emulator geek) or any of the other Spinnaker titles, perhaps there is some credence to these theories.

There is also this commentary from the 1913 article:

There are many pictures being thrown upon the screen every day which, although not really harmful, possess no merit. Some are positively ridiculous, and portray scenes both unnatural and unreal. It is not to be expected, however, that with the demand for films exceeding the supply every production should be perfect.

It seems to me that Ebert’s Grumpy Old Man routine was published in newspapers a century before. The medium is the only thing that’s different.

passage.jpg

Jason Roher’s surprisingly touching game, Passage, freely available for download and released a few months ago, quite easily destroys Ebert’s thesis that the video game is incapable of poetry. Roher achieves a unique poetry both in limiting the player’s perspective to a 100×16 window and through the deceptively simple manner that he has designed this game for the player. Play the game once and you will follow a strapping young man from left to right. He finds a woman along the way. A pixelated heart soon follows. As the man advances further along this horizontal tableau, he (and his sweetheart) begins to age. He goes bald. As he continues to age, his position on the axis shifts further to the right. Near the end of his life, he is hobbling. Then a tombstone crops up. The End.

Or is it?

The game isn’t limited to left-to-right movement. Play the game again, press the down arrow. and you will find yourself exploring a maze below the top, collecting many stars and stumbling for a way out. But with this simple design, Roher has done something very interesting. If you choose to fall in love with your sweetheart, the two of you can only explore certain areas. Because with your partner in tow, you collectively take up a wider space and can only fit into specific territory. If you choose to go through this life solo, then you’ll be able to collect many of the stars denied you and your sweetheart, but you may get lost in the maze and be unable to find your way back to where your sweetheart waits.

If Passage is not quite the video game’s answer to The Waste Land, Roher’s poetic game demonstrates that independent developers can in fact use the form in favor of human experience. Roher’s lo-fi approach is a welcome response to high-end graphical tentpole operations. I found myself thinking of all the choices I had made over the course of my life and wondered how I would have turned up if I had made slightly different decisions. Contra Ebert, I did indeed find the experience to make me more curious and empathetic about the human condition. (And this would appear to have been Mr. Roher’s objective.) This was something that no amount of fragging had inspired.

If all this sounds fishy, well, the game simply has to be played. Like any work of art, it is something better experienced than talked about. And it requires that superannuated naysayers keep open minds.

A Diversion for Writers

If, like me, you’ve written somewhere in the area of 5,000 words to meet various deadlines over the past three days, I highly recommend Alien Arena as a way to stay sane. It’s an open-source first-person shooter that offers pretty solid texture and lightning, a humbling AI (I am still suffering the taunting computer voice repeatedly telling me in hard mode, “The bots have won. You will have to replay the level again.” Or maybe my fragging skills have atrophied.), and it runs quite smoothly on a mid-grade processor.

One thing’s for sure: you can never go wrong with robots and lasers as a diversion.

Half-Life in 60 Seconds

The Case Against World of Warcraft

ADD Test?

This is one sadistic Flash game.

Will Wright: A Danger to Creativity

1Up: “Spore is finished. That’s the first thing I learn as I head in to my play session at the Leipzig Games Convention. Obviously, the game isn’t finished finished (as in ready to ship), but in terms of its content offering, it’s all there — the game is complete. At this point, EA is spending the next several months paying attention to feedback from players to tweak and polish Spore for its release next Spring. But otherwise, it’s done.”

This is, of course, terrible news for those of us who do our damnedest to avoid such fascinating video games that threaten to do away with what little spare time we have. I’d just like to say that Will Wright is a mean man, an intellectual heroin dealer, for doing this and that I will do my best to avoid purchasing this game. Because should I get sucked into yet another Maxis trap, I will likely get nothing in the way of important work done. I’ve observed what went down with Iain Banks and Alex Garland, and I know damn well that it could happen to me if I’m not careful. I am weak and susceptible. If only I had been born ten years earlier. Should I purchase this game, I will become a sad thirtysomething man staring forever into my LCD, permanently tinkering with a horrendously fascinating experiment. Because Will Wright knows how to make games that are the cerebral version of a hard drug. That guy ripping out his video card from his motherboard in a few months to avoid getting hooked on the inevitable? That’s me. And many others. I will do everything in my power to avoid getting sucked in, but I fear the worst. Perhaps a support group is in order.

If You Need to Waste Time…

50 Really Good Indie Games.

A Stanley Kubrick Game

Worst Video Game Ever?

Live Action GoldenEye 007

A More Interesting Million Pixel Project

If By “Save Marriages,” You Mean “Avoid Speaking to Spouse for Long Periods of Time,” Sure!

Arianna Huffington: “Why not experiment? I think Second Life will save marriages.”

Final Academic Fantasy

A Case Against the Wii, A Case FOR Lazy Gamers

Slate: “After a few whacks, I realized that the Wii isn’t asking me to simulate a realistic swing. There’s no reason to assume a batter’s stance, and no reason to bother swinging the controller fast or following through—flicking the controller like a pingpong paddle works just as well. This is the Wii’s biggest letdown—you don’t need to stand up, leap around, or otherwise leave the warm embrace of your couch. The console senses motion, but compared with the full-body workout of a game like Dance Dance Revolution, you’re not getting any kind of exercise at all.”

The Real-Life Leeroy Jenkins

First Jerry Lewis, Now Donkey Kong

New York Times: “France is proud of its contribution to culture in such forms as existentialism, Impressionism and auteur films. Now the French culture minister wants to add Donkey Kong to his country’s pantheon of high art.”

But Will Inept Stick Figures Get the Less Artistically Inclined Through a Side Quest?

Wired: “It works like this: In Okami, you play as a wolf that is the incarnation of an ancient Japanese god — and that has the power to literally draw things into existence. At any point in the game, you can hit a button and the scene freezes, transforming into a piece of parchment. You wield a traditional Japanese brush and ink objects on the parchment. When you unfreeze the scene, presto: Whatever you’ve painted transforms into the real, solid thing.”

Excerpts from Adam Pasick’s Notebook

BBC: “Reuters has opened a virtual news agency in the Second Life online world. The bureau will be staffed by Reuters media correspondent Adam Pasick who will report on the lives and business dealings of Second Life’s residents.”

Excerpts from Adam Pasick’s Notebook

18 October 2006, 3:30 PM

Arrived today, chatting with avatars about getting set up in Second Life. First avatar knew nothing about Iraq situation, but told me he was “really bored!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and that his parents had imposed a curfew. Second avatar, named “gonowhere43,” advised first avatar of intricate method to sneak wi-fi access from neighbor and thus play Second Life on laptop after bedtime. gonowhere43, who is a 34 year old network administrator, steered me to suitable patch of land and conspiracy theory site in answer to my questions.

19 October 2006, 8:40 AM

Well, my house is now set up. gonowhere43 offered to sublet some space, knows a few loopholes with the insurance people. Nice of him. Still worried about first avatar, whose name was a series of unusual ASCII characters I can’t remember. Hope he’s not in trouble with parents.

20 October 2006, 4:42 PM

Went to the Marketplace to see if I could get a sense of the economy. Pitched incessantly to buy many Creations. One avatar followed me out of boredom, asked me to be his friend. Told him a joke. He responded, “LOL,” and then left me alone. Still trying to work out exact exchange rate for Linden Dollars. Seems to be major underworld here. Some people are online as much as thirty hours at a time. What the hell did I sign up for? What does Reuters expect out of me?

21 October 2006, 2:42 AM

Logged in SL and found new home vandalized. Words in living room read “GET OUT NEWBIE!” Crude picture of ass on couch. Asked gonowhere43 for advice. He tells me this is par for the course, the work of a clan fond of victimizing new users. Have sent email to Linden Lab, but have received no response.

23 October 2006, 1:15 PM

Looks like Carrot Top will be performing near the Marketplace in a desperate effort to claim geek credibility. Carrot Top has been offered $10,000 in virtual property, insists on Vegas treatment. Have asked gonowhere43 about this, advises me that journalists don’t stand a chance.

26 October 2006, 7:42 AM

Now finding “first life” to have problems. Girlfriend tells me I spend too much time in SL, doesn’t understand. Was about to sit down and talk with her, but great deal on Edwardian mansion came up that I had to nab. Girlfriend left, won’t return phone calls. But life is pretty good in SL. Think I can live here forever. Thank you, Reuters!

The Most Addictive Game in History?

Steven Johnson has a lengthy profile of Will Wright’s Spore.

Timewasting

VNES: An NES emulator accessible through your browser. (You have been warned. Even worse, they have the Adventure Island games.)

Majority of Online Gamers Female

CNet: “Of the 117 million active gamers in the U.S., 56 percent play games online. Sixty-four percent of those online gamers are female, according to results of the survey, released by Nielsen Entertainment on Thursday.”

How Not to Be Fragged

“How Not to Be Seen” as Halo machinima.

Iain Banks: Posterboy Slacker?

Iain Banks missed a deadline and it was all because of Sid Meier: “It’s all because I became a serial addict of the computer game ‘Civilisation’ [sic]. I played it for three months and then realised I hadn’t done any work. In the end, I had to delete all the saved files and smash the CD. It is very unprofessional of me. I had to ask for an extension for the first time, which made me feel just like I was a student again.”

Hopefully, someone who cares will keep Will Wright’s games out of his hands. I had to smash my Sims CDs about three years ago to get things done.

It Seems That Girls Are Living Two Sim Lives Instead of One

Telegraph: “Except it’s not quite so simple. Caroline Pelletier, a project manager at London University’s Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, says: ‘The Sims inspires quite a patronising attitude - that it’s OK for girls to play with computers so long as it’s in a domestic space, controlling characters in a maternal way, caring for them and attending to their needs.’ Yet when Pelletier’s team observed girl players, they discovered a different reality. ‘Girls usually use The Sims to explore subversive behaviour. They get rich and try out a wealthy lifestyle, then see who can lose the most money. They drown their babies and call in social services - they deliberately play against the game’s conventions.’” (via Rebecca’s Pocket)

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