Bits For Rent

Though I have been trying to steer myself away from too much political blogging, I believe that the current situation in Iran demands a closer evaluation from all free citizens of the world. What we are witnessing in this country, to me, is something beautifully human: a massive uprising from within an oppressed nation that is both peaceful in nature and ruthless in its accusations. It is millions of “free” citizens crying foul at their government, demanding justice and due diligence from a body politic even the United States dares not trifle with. For the first time since perhaps the Second World War, or maybe even the Bolsheviks, we are looking at what may be the start of a political revolution.

I say “may” because, as is the case with any authoritarian or totalitarian state, the workings of government are not as cut-and-dry as we Americans are accustomed to. Censoring, silencing, and propaganda will and have already played a large role in how the Iranian government subverts any public resistance to its “election” and enforces its own will. However, governments are ancient, slow-moving institutions not designed to handle the lightning-fast pace of modern technological innovations, and any dragnet laid by Iran over the voices of its people will almost certainly be subverted or penetrated by those with the power and the will to tell the free world their side of this story. China has been dealing with this fact for years, and in several cases has even conceded some liberties back to its citizens which it had previously tried to withhold. Still, we cannot expect miracles; Iran will do whatever it can to keep foreign powers from meddling in this situation, and its best chances of accomplishing that goal are to limit the flow of information out of the country as best it can.

I also say “may” because Iran has already proven it is more than willing to use violence to coerce cooperation out of protesters should they not submit to “reason”. If there is an official death count being kept by their government, you can bet your ass we’re not going to be seeing it anytime soon. If we do, the Iyatollah will clear out his cabinet so fast that even Stalin would blush. Put simply, these guys ain’t going down without a fight. This isn’t the French monarchy being overthrown, by the vicious, starving masses. This is shaping up into a battle where the side who has more to lose will be the victor, and right now the Iranian government is the one with the greater look of desperation on its face.

But that’s the great thing about political revolutions and upheavals — the longer they are drawn out passively and without violence on the side of the dissenters, the more righteous that side becomes. The Iranian people protesting need to know that time is on their sides: the longer this goes on, the more time they have to possibly unearth the truth, win over foreign interests to their cause, and force the government to play nicely as the entire world watches with keen interest as each day’s events unfold. Like Obama said in his speech, quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Ultimately, whether it be 10 days or 10 years from now, there will be a reckoning for any wrongdoing that may have occurred in this “free” election. The course of nature will ensure this. However, it falls to us, and the Iranian people specifically, to keep the signal fires burning for all to see, so that what has transpired does not find its way swept under the large, smothering rug of history and human disinterest.

But what of our part in this wonderful bit of Iranian Kabuki Theater? There have been cries for our president to take stronger action against Iran, to involve ourselves in the settling of this civil dispute. Personally, I feel that there is no course open to us other than the one we are currently on. Let’s draw an allusion, here. Imagine you are walking through a crowded pubic park and you happen to catch, out of the corner of your eye, a mother slapping her child for something you didn’t see. Regardless of whether the child deserved to be hit, you feel inclined to take action. In America, we know that we are not going to be able to just walk up and punch out the mom while saying, “have a taste of your own medicine, bitch!” It just doesn’t work that way. However, we would be perfectly fine with addressing the mother by saying that it is wrong to strike a child and surely she can find a way to reprimand her children without violence. If the mother is truly abusive, we can notify the police and have the situation resolved by a judicial power that has jurisdiction over something such as child abuse. Ultimately, though the matter may be of our own concern, it is not within our rights to take direct action in response to it.

Now say that the mother is Iran, the child is its people, and America is the bystander. The only major difference between the allusion and reality is that America does not have a police officer to report the wrongdoing to — the United Nations lack jurisdiction over governing bodies and can do little more than a crowd of people would be able to do towards the mother in the story; i.e., it could badger her into submission but mostly just stand there and say, “How could you?” in a really accusatory tone. This is the situation that our president finds himself in, expect in his case the mother would also have a nuclear weapon in her purse. At best, all he can or should do for Iran is let them know that we support the righteous act of seeking justice, and that America is the ally of any party or person pursuing such actions.

As I am a fan of drawing allusions today, I also found it interest that what Obama is faced with now is in some ways not so different than what John Adams was faced with during the first throes of the French Revolution. Back then, Adams was reluctant to rush to the side of France in usurping the monarchy because the nation was still young and reeling from its own violent birth. Also, it would have more than likely shattered ties with Britain, who had become a key trading partner in the late 1700s. For Obama, to side with the dissenting citizens in Iran would be to endanger our already perilous position in the Middle East, to draw the ire of yet another government on the verge of nuclear capabilities, and to cast Americans into yet another foreign war of independence that would put our soldiers in harm’s way and burden us with yet another country to restructure in a region where public opinion of us tends to run rather cold. If Korea and Vietnam weren’t enough proof in the past, the quagmire of Iraq most certainly is. To those of you demanding swifter action and a more hawkish response from the president, I say stay your sabers. There is much yet to gleaned from this fallout, and the one who looks before leaping is almost guaranteed to be better off for it. So watch, wait, and — most importantly — remember what happens next. It could be a long time before you ever see something like this happen again.

Addendum: I don’t know why I bother writing sometimes, especially when the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan says it all so much better than I ever could.

Finishing this today. It’s gross, it’s mostly a build-up for the two sequels, but it’s still almost impossible to to put down. Even when you know that the character you’re reading about is almost certainly going to get offed, you can’t help but wait to see how it happens and cringe at the outcome. Not for the faint of heart, for sure.

Halfway through this, but taking a break to read a bunch of fiction that I’ve been piling up. They call it the definitive book on WWII. Given the step-by-step analysis of the war and the research behind everything, I’d be willing to say that’s probably accurate. Recommended for history buffs who want to read about the entire war in under 600 pages with no pro-/anti-Axis sentiment in the writing.

They call this McCarthy’s masterpiece. Personally, I enjoyed All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men far more than this book, but there is something to be said for the sheer shock you feel when reading the levels of violence depicted across these pages. This is a dirty, apathetic, middle finger of a book where every character save one is a walking pile of curses, stink, and booze. However, like Chigurh was to NCfOM, The Judge is the reason you will finish this book. His monologues are heavy-handed lessons in gnosticism and the godliness of the animal-man, but his words and actions build towards a climatic encounter on the book’s closing pages that will have you scratching your head or stunned in disbelief, depending on how you interpret it. For McCarthy fans only. Everyone else, go read The Road or No Country and come back to this one later.

What I will be reading once I finish the Strain. It got a lot of good press last fall and the paperback was like $5.50 at Wal-Mart so I figured I’d give it a shot. Child abduction in Soviet Russia with political intrigue and fur hats is good enough for me to give it a shot.

I read the first few pages of this in Barnes and Noble and I’m already certain I’ll like it. Child is found alone after going out with his friends into the woods, with no trace of the two missing children to be found. The kid then becomes a detective, determined to resolve the case. The writing was really strong and this book and its sequel, The Likeness, get a ton of love on Amazon. Fans of thriller writers like Cussler and Brown should check it out.

Last week we stood witness to the coming and going of the newly resurrected E3 Expo (though the name Electronic Entertainment Expo shouldn’t really need another “Expo” at the end when truncated). The consensus, overall, was that it was good to have the grand ole celebration and excess back again, and that many, many good games could be found on the show floor. After having listened to, watched, and read a large amount of coverage, here is what I have taken away from this year’s E3, in as brief a manner as I could write it. (Read: long as fuck)

Going Through the Motions

Obviously we must address Project Natal, the oddly-named but altogether stunning motion-sensing technology revealed by Microsoft at their media summit/press conference/whathaveyou. First, a disclaimer: with all of the motion technologies, be they from Microsft, Sony, or Nintendo, there is a limit to what is feasible and within that a limit to what is practical. Nintendo offers the option in Punch-Out!! to let the player use the Wii remote NES-style, wand-and-nunchuck-style (with motion sensing), or with the balance board, which will detect your dodges. The last two methods have been reported to present odd feedback in the player’s movements, often to the detriment of his ability to play the game, and as such the first method, where only buttons are used to play the game, is considered the most practical. Still, the options are welcomed by the intrepid among us, and some even prefer the balance board or waggle+wand controls over the NES-style. Point being, while the industry and the hardware providers may be obsessed with bringing us a new take on interactivity, in the majority of cases this new format of game-playing can only be applied as either an option (PS3 games toggling use of SixAxis controls are another great example), or as a control input for a very strictly defined, limited gaming experience (Wii Fit, Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii).

Take for instance the talk from both Microsoft and Sony of their respective technology’s ability to interpret one-to-one motion. The Wii only just achieved this (at least, is assumed to have) today with the release of Wii Motion Plus. But when Sony and Microsoft pitched this idea, they talked of using in ways Nintendo has carefully avoided: throwing fireballs in RPGs, holding your sword and shield, fighting with virtual enemies, etc. Nintendo has only ever tried to implement motion into combat with quick flicks of the wrist. Why? Because games are built upon systems of repeated actions — the old Bungie “30 seconds of fun” argument. To stand before your TV and swing and block attacks like a wildman not only makes you look like a total cad to whomever might catch you in the act, but it will also straight-up wear your ass out.

To put it simply, I think Microsoft has achieved something triumphant in its vocal and facial recognition, and it has the potential to harness a new level of immersion should it layer this technology into games. I do not think, however, that asking players to set down their controller and instead grasp at the air is what people want, or need, from this new style of game playing. History proves that simplicity will always be the victor, and as with Punch-Out!!, sometimes it is easier to press A than have to tell your character to kick someone in the junk. In that respect, I think Sony is wise to have chosen to expand on their available technology, the PlayStation Eye, and keep a controller in players’ hands. Nintendo also chose to keep that physical tether to the screen intact, and has met with resounding success.

What Sony must consider, however, is how — unlike Nintendo — these new controllers are not the standard PS3 interface, and must likely be purchased in pairs if they are to be best utilized. Both companies will fracture their audience with their tech, but unlike Microsoft, Sony’s device seems like applicable to sedentary, non-gaming uses, such as menu-browsing, video chat, and the like. It is a controller, not an interface, and thus it will live or die by the the software support it receives. So while I don’t really prefer one solution to the other, it is clear that they are more different than they are similar. Personally, I think both companies have opened up a can of worms entering into the arms race against a well fortified Nintendo, and both will likely lose more than they gain. Then again, I have been wrong about this kind of thing before.

Microsoft Shows Its Hand

There were a fair number of games at the Microsoft conference, and a large percentage of them were exclusives or “exclusives”. Let’s get right to it. Splinter Cell: Conviction hit me like a taser shot to the genitals (again with the male genitalia jokes, what gives?), and by all means deserves all the plaudits it has so far received. While the demo didn’t really show us what the actual, boring parts of the game will be like, it did a lot to reignite interest in this Sam Fisher guy and made me, a series agnostic, want to find myself in front of a 360 this fall to find out what’s become of the poor man’s daughter. And the visual flourishes? Classic Ubisoft. At least among all the Wii-related refuse they are releasing their core development teams haven’t lost their edge.

Modern Warfare 2, on the other hand, got knocked for showing just what a boring part of the game might be like… and then for cutting some of that out. Oi, talk about not being able to catch a break. I, for one, found the demo very engaging and am eager to get my hands on the latest from Infinity Ward. Call of Duty 4‘s multiplayer is beginning to wear stale for me and World at War was never anything more than a diversion from Left 4 Dead. Which I suppose brings us to the next title shown. (Quickly: I am glad that at least one Activision game doesn’t require a plastic peripheral, and that IW has spun their series off from Call of Duty, so that Treyarch cannot get its grimy paws on it. Good for you, boys.)

Left 4 Dead 2. Breathe in deeply for a second. Did you smell some odd fragrance to the air, like a kerosene lamp burning? That’s the lather that thousands of Valve fanboys have worked themselves into at the announcement that L4D will be getting a full sequel in lieu of the traditional long-tail content drops Valve has graced other titles with, such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2. Why the sudden change of heart? Money, no doubt, played a very large part. Why give away for free what you can charge full price for? We live in the era of DLC, where Resident Evil 5 comes with multiplayer on the disc but asks for you to pay a bit extra to unlock it. Where you can buy experience points or in-game money to save you the trouble of having to actually play the game to unlock or accrue these things. Where your virtual horses can, for a small earthly sum, be clad in the finest of armor. Can we really shake our fist at this one?

But let me be serious for a moment here. We all wanted the long-tail love for L4D, because we all love L4D. I think that people really wanted to do more with Louis, Bill, Francis, and Zoey. With the sequel, not only are we getting a new set of locations, we’re losing the focus on gunplay (in favor of the more strategic melee combat, it may not be a bad thing, but will change the balance and horde combat significantly), the night of the living dead has become day, and the missions all tie together. None of these things, by themselves, is a bad thing. However, because the first game was so successful, and its quirks and charms so adored, Valve could never have made a sequel such as this without incurring the ire of some portion of its fanbase. As a marketing student, I look forward to seeing how Valve presents this game to players of the first. Much like World at War, they will have to tread a fine line between encouraging players to move on from the first game (something Valve has never had to do before, to my knowledge; even CS 1.6 still has its hold-outs) and maintaining a level of trust with players that, no, we are not going to keep milking you every year — we wanted to refine the experience and this was the only way possible. Because if Valve is looking to make L4D more of a series than a touchstone, well, I don’t know if I’m ready to live in that universe just yet.

Moving on!

Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach. Bungie, you broke with Microsoft so that you could make more Halo games? Really? First of all, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers is the dumbest title for a game in a long while. Imagine: Babiez was heads and shoulders above you, since it at least gave us some great lulz. But ODST? How is mom supposed to remember that? She’ll just say “new Halo” to the clerk and be fine, I suppose. But still, DUMB ASS NAME. Also, you haven’t shown shit of the actual game, so I have nothing to say about this. Likewise for Reach. Next!

Forza Motorsport 3. Well this one sure does look pretty. It’s got some nice physics and a host of neat fan creation tools, too, like livery and video editing. But, I’ve never really cared for anything out of the sim-racing genre, aside from mandatory Gran Turismo purchases, so I’ll probably passing this one up. And Need For Speed: Shift? You guys really have the worst timing. I’m sorry. Other than that, most of the stuff we saw was third party, other than Alan Wake. From what I saw of that game, the concept sounds really fun, and the game looks great. But the actual mechanics and play on-screen looked way too familiar, and nothing in that demo popped out at me as being “omfg” material. I know this is a game a lot of guys in the press like to stoke boners over, but I haven’t quite begun to sip the Kool-Aid yet. Maybe as it gets closer to release.

Sony’s Shotgun Strategy

The worst part of Sony’s conference, aside from Kaz Hirai, was that they forgot or rather opted not to show some really great stuff. Unlike Alan Wake, Heavy Rain is totally in my wheelhouse. Multiple paths where your character can die or be injured in various ways, a crime story, investigation and environmental exploration… it’s too good to be true. Then I watch something like the extended demo on G4TV, and I know that it’s real, it’s coming, and I fucking want it.

Likewise, Sony stalwarts Ratchet & Clank were politely asked to remain visible only on the show floor. For a game that is looking to finally give the series that show in the arm that it needs, and as one of Sony’s staple brands, you’d think the guys at Insomniac would get a little more exposure. The time puzzle mechanics, which share the same central conceit as PSN game echochrono (to lazy to link), will hopefully do much to inspire the level designers, who had grown a bit lazy with their world construction since Up Your Arsenal. A stronger focus on platforming and puzzles will do much to please fans, and the inclusion of a more involving story will undoubtedly bring the game more Pixar comparisons, so long as the classic tongue-in-cheek humor remains intact. In short, I’m totally on board.

Likewise for Uncharted 2. Do I even have to say anything about this game? It’s all been said already: it’s fucking gorgeous, it’s funny, the online modes are a blast, and we’re all going to be enraptured by it when it comes out this fall. But the PSP go? Notsomuch.

Some people just don’t like the way it looks. A lot of people just don’t like the price (read: me). But truth is Sony’s on the right path with this one, and it’s doing what it needs to in order for developers to start supporting the platform again. I.e., it’s cutting out piracy as best it can. The only thing is, with an iPod touch going for $229 dollars, the PSP go isn’t really the right value proposition Sony needs. Unlike the TV market (or perhaps quite like it, given their fiscal statement), Sony cannot afford to play the “premium product” card anymore. It’s costing them would-be buyers who can go pick up a DS or 360 at much lower costs than the Sony systems. If Sony wants to be a competitor, they can’t keep acting like they are Nintendo. Sega thought it was hot shit back when the PSX launched, but the Saturn wasn’t exactly the hit they were hoping for. When it comes down to the brass tacks, it’s the install base that brings the software to the market, and the price is the barrier to entry. Sell the go for $199, and you’ve got yourself a helluva competitor.

Real quickly, the rest of the Sony stuff:
- MAG: not for me. For whom? I have no goddamn idea. Why isn’t Zipper making a new Syphon Filter again?
- The Last Guardian: Day one. Ueda is a genius and can do no wrong. I am enchanted by the trailer and cannot wait to play the game.
- GT5: lol vaporware. But seriously, it looks great. Can we get a release date?
- FFXIII: Want. Black guy seems like another case of Japan doing it wrong (RE5, hel-lo!)
- FFXIV: Same designer as FFXII makes me super happy. MMO? Notsomuch.
- God of War III: it looks like more God of War. By all means, that is perfectly fine by me. I get to pull Helios’ head off with my bare hands? Disgusting, but I will nevertheless relish the moment.

Nintendo Announces Mario Games, News at 11

Nintendo I can sum up rather quickly. NSMB for Wii will be an obvious purchase, as will Galaxy 2. They know this, I know this. Golden Sun was a pleasant surprise and had me wanting to track down a copy of GS2, which I never played, in anticipation of this new outing. I’m glad that they held off on showing a new Zelda, because I think they need to consider not only a return to cel-shading, but also what it was about the N64 titles that made the series such a killer. Twilight Princess suffered from a lot of failed ideas and an inventory with several one-shot items. Ocarina, on the other hand, always managed to keep your old items relevant, or at least never did anything to lower their merit. But it isn’t enough to take from the past to sculpt the future; Nintendo has a carve out new ideas for a new generation and for new hardware. I’ll gladly give them another year to get that done properly.

Really, the only concern or game that I felt the need to seriously mull over was Metroid: Other M. Team Ninja and combat go together like rice and beans, but Team Ninja goes with a lot of other, not so glamorous things, too. Large Breasts, horrible character design, and terrible plots come to mind. The trailer wasn’t enough to tell us much, other than this game looks to reinvent the 3D Metroid game. I don’t mind if the game has more action, or more visceral action anyway, but Retro’s games did a great job of maintaining the sense of isolation and lonely exploration of hostile alien worlds. Reflections in the visor when hurt or in the cold were only part of that special crafting, but already it seems like this is more of a Warrior Within than a Sands of Time. I will be following this one closely, though, with the hope that Nintendo keeps Itagaki’s old crew on a tight leash. If they can deliver a Samus that kicks ass but is also vulnerable and helplessly intertwined in the affairs of Space Pirates and Metroids, I’ll be as happy as the next guy. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Supporting Third-Party Support, and Closing Thoughts

As I wrap up, I come to two games that I have wildly differing expectations for. Brutal Legend is a game that wears its heart on its sleeve, and makes its inspirations well known to all simply due to the fact that they are all in the game. While Psychonauts sits near the top of my pile of shame, Grim Fandango was a delight I enjoyed well after it first came out, and I knew long ago that if the man behind that game were to craft another, I would most certainly be up for seconds. While Brutal Legend is a far cry from a sequel to Grim, the classic Schaffer hallmarks seem to be intact: humor, character design and personalities, inane madness, and a plot so original you wonder why no one had thought of it before.

Assassin’s Creed II, on the other hand, has me fingers-crossed for fear of another letdown. Despite the iconic style and open-world championing of the first title, the game fell apart as soon as you finished off your main target in each city. The side-missions, or rather the missions you were required to do to collect evidence on your target, were repetitive and uninspiring, requiring you to complete mundane tasks such as sitting on a bench and listening to people talk (the game’s lack of cinematic camera movement meant staring at the game world in all its middling glory) or slowly walking behind someone while pretending to pray just long enough for you to get next to them and steal an item. But the new game, with its Renaissance flair and Italian draping, is as big of a temptation as one can encounter outside of Amsterdam’s red light district. The graphics have that “come hither” sexiness that keeps your eyes glued to the action and the new gimmicks such as killing guards from inside a hay pile or taking out two sentinels at once with twin hidden blades beg for your forgiveness of the half-baked original — look, you can hear Ubisoft saying, at those old promises now delivered.

Unfortunately, I’m a cynically bastard. If there is any one thing to be taken away from E3, be it from the motion tech demos, the Modern Warfare 2 demo, the Splinter Cell demo, the Assassin’s Creed II demo, or even the Metroid: Other M trailer, it’s that this is, first and foremost, a show. And as this is a show, we should take everything with a strong helping of salt. Who knows what sort of smoke and mirrors and prestidigitation take place behind the spectacles unveiled before us. The beauty of an E3 demo, unless it is a level playable in its entirety, is that it can be cut from any one or even from several places in the game and stitched together to construct a truly breathtaking first glimpse of some of the latest and greatest offerings. So, yes, Assassin’s Creed II looks like it could right a lot of wrongs and prove itself to be the game we always wanted from Ubisoft, but the truth is seldom so kind. Last year Resident Evil 5‘s director promised that conceits were being made to Americans and that Gears of War-style controls would be adopted and that we hadn’t seen all the game had to offer… but that just meant that aiming was moved to the right stick and there was an underground lab you would eventually find yourselves in (shooting gatling gun-clad zombies!).

But all the same, I was happy with the quality of the third party offerings for all systems, and saddened that I will not be able to play many of the great early 2010 titles when I am out of the country next year. Overall, E3 was a great return to form, with some of the best coverage and most diverse array of titles we’ve seen in some time. Compared to FPS-heavy 2007 and 2008, it was nice to see E3 embrace some new (and some old) genres. And with titles like A Boy and His Blob and Scribblenauts showing that innovation and simple charm can still exist in small packages, there were plenty of hidden gems as well. The only downside to E3? Knowing that we have to wait until TGS this Fall for more big reveals and shameless strutting from the console makers.

Note: I apologize that these entries keep running so long, but when I can’t post often enough to deliver smaller articles, I end up lumping as much as I can into one post as possible. Next time, look for (hopefully) shorter entries on Resident Evil 5, and inFAMOUS versus Red Faction: Guerilla versus Prototype.