tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72503130249879417062023-11-15T22:57:51.695-08:00LudolinguistA blog about the language of video games and the video game industryLudolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-82891767667073520602013-05-24T11:24:00.001-07:002013-05-24T11:36:48.904-07:00The Xbox One Reveal in Stupid Sound Bites<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Don
Mattrick, President of </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Interactive Entertainment Business at
Microsoft, probably wasn’t expecting such a poor reception when he revealed
Xbox One to the world on Tuesday. Coverage of the system, and the event at
which it was revealed, has been mostly negative so far. Plenty about Microsoft’s
vision for the console, and the way it’s been communicated, deserves to be
criticised. It’s largely the overblown and empty language used to introduce Xbox
One that I plan to talk about here, and I want to point out that I’m reserving
judgement on the console itself at least until E3. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When you read the quotes
below, remember that they were said by straight-faced men and women, without a
hint of irony. On reflection, this may be the most impressive thing about the
entire event.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Moments
before unveiling Xbox One, Don Mattrick suggested that Microsoft could
“[i]mprove a living room that has become too complex […] by harmonising your
experiences”. This seems to mean using Xbox One to do multiple things at the
same time, and on the same screen, so that they get in the way of one another. <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yusuf
Medhi</span> wasn’t “harmonising” his experience when he demonstrated using voice
commands to buy tickets for one movie<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>whilst
watching another. Surrendering yourself to a movie and busying yourself buying
tickets fundamentally don’t go together. One is leisure, the other is admin,
and we do the former to get away from the latter. Combing these activities isn’t
harmony; it’s dissonance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If I
need to buy tickets whilst watching a movie, I want to do so on a separate
screen to avoid interrupting my viewing, and I imagine most people feel the
same. But like many features demonstrated at Tuesday’s event, Xbox One’s multitasking
doesn’t appear to be a response to the needs of Microsoft’s audience. Instead,
it looks like a desperate attempt to keep you looking at your TV screen – on
which Microsoft wants to market things at you – instead of the one on your
smartphone or tablet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One thing
Microsoft think will keep you looking at your TV is, well, TV. Much was made of
Xbox One’s pointless ability to switch between live television and gameplay,
and there’s both an NFL partnership and a Spielberg produced Halo TV series on
the way. Indeed, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Digital Media President, Nancy
Tellum, claims that “Xbox is about to become the next water cooler.” Clearly
written by committee and selected for maximum sound bite potential, this ridiculous
phrase gave me a good laugh. Of course, I’m familiar with the idea of water
cooler chat, where employees gather around the aforementioned appliance to
discuss their favourite TV shows. But the proverbial water cooler in the
expression is what co-workers chat <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">around</i>,
not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about</i>. Unless this is a stealth
reveal of Xbox One’s ‘refreshment mode’, this was a laughably inappropriate
line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Games
were barely mentioned until about half way through Tuesday’s event, when EA
Sports <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Executive Vice President,</span> Andrew Wilson, announced
new entries in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FIFA, Madden, NBA Live
</i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">UFC </i>franchises. Dredging up
two of the most tired clichés in video games, Wilson claimed that these
“revolutionary” titles would “blur the line between real and virtual”. Now
there are plenty of “revolutionary” titles that have had profound effects on
the way games are designed and played<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>But
on the strength of the vague promises and gameplay free trailer shown at
Tuesday’s event, there’s no evidence that any of EA Sports’ Xbox One titles
will fall into this category. And as for claiming these games will “blur the
line between real and virtual”, I would struggle to think of a game from the
last 10 years with realistic art direction that hasn’t. This type of language
is designed to fill time and sound important, rather than imparting any
meaningful information.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Besides
EA Sports’ titles, it was Infinity Ward’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Call
of Duty:</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ghosts </i>that received the
most attention. Activision Publishing Chief Executive Officer, Eric Hirschberg,
had the following to say about it:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">[E]veryone
was expecting us to play it safe this year […] But we didn’t want to do the
safe thing; we wanted to do the right thing, and that meant eliminating as many
creative restrictions as possible so that our developers could create an
entirely new Call of Duty for the next generation.</span></blockquote>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This
lead into a video in which Infinity Ward Executive Producer Mark Rubin explains
what happens when a company bravely refuses to “play it safe”:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One
of the fascinating new additions to your squad is a dog. We’ve had dogs in Call
of Duty before, but never like this. This is someone you really care about.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You’ve
got to feel for that poor dog. Everyone knows “someone you really care about”
is just a euphemism for “someone we’re planning to kill off”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6MxtzhnX4kGiS12zP_rGERdpSNXMRKmSNFxocYiCLtVNWNV1ShHTmy5-EFmKcuW6K1JBXU7A13EKrtfHR0xA70XbFNcXzFd5ikGecKuu8XRzmBDGyYd6ik8DEvEP9DNyrs4kyv8IQ78/s1600/CallofDoggy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs6MxtzhnX4kGiS12zP_rGERdpSNXMRKmSNFxocYiCLtVNWNV1ShHTmy5-EFmKcuW6K1JBXU7A13EKrtfHR0xA70XbFNcXzFd5ikGecKuu8XRzmBDGyYd6ik8DEvEP9DNyrs4kyv8IQ78/s640/CallofDoggy.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Marked for death (Picture: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/call-of-duty-dog-names-185401506.html">Yahoo</a>)</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But
wait, there’s more. Lead Animator at Infinity Ward, Zach Volker, points out the
studio is hard at work on other exciting new ideas:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So
another feature […] is the slide. It allows you to […] get out of the line of
fire […] in a really cool looking way.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Because
heaven forbid you should look <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">uncool </i>whilst
frantically diving out of harm’s way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A
slide isn’t a “feature”; it’s a move. Dogs aren’t “fascinating”; they’re dogs. If
this is what first-person shooters look like after creators are done
“eliminating as many creative restrictions as possible”, perhaps the genre is a
spent force. If this is happens when a studio doesn’t “play it safe”, imagine
what will happen in a couple of years when development costs balloon and they
are forced to do just that in order to keep increasingly risk adverse shareholders
happy. If you take Eric Hirschberg at his word, Infinity Ward are either holding a lot of exciting stuff for E3, or they're creatively bankrupt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And
then there's the name. Already shortened to ‘Xbone’ by mischievous Twitter
users, ‘Xbox One’ lacks the confidence and simplicity of naming the console ‘Xbox’,
as was rumoured to be the plan. Presumably, it refers to Microsoft’s designs on
being the ‘one’ box in people’s living rooms. But the affluent demographic
Microsoft was clearly targeting at Tuesday’s event already have devices that do
the things that Xbox One can do. Microsoft thinking they can muscle in on established
markets with Xbox One stinks of a company being blinded by their success with
the 360. I think this arrogance will prove to be their biggest problem. Near
the start of Tuesday’s event, Don Mattrick bragged that Microsoft is “proud of
[its] leadership position”. We all know what pride comes before.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist</a></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-68262577424983299472013-05-12T17:07:00.001-07:002013-05-12T17:07:25.463-07:00PS3 Review: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>I've decided to try to make my reviews more critical, coming at games from a particular angle rather than simply evaluating their visuals, sound, story, and so on. This look at 'style over substance' in <i>Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon </i>is my first attempt.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">‘Style
over substance’ is a phrase I often see in video game reviews. I came
dangerously close to using it in <a href="http://www.ludolinguist.com/2013/03/ps3-review-metal-gear-rising-revengeance.html">my own review</a> of <i>Metal Gear Rising: Revenegence, </i>and can think of scores of other
games I’ve played that it could apply to. But what does it really mean? To me,
substance refers to a game’s controls, systems, and mechanics, whilst style covers
sound design, art direction, and narrative. A game that prioritises style over
substance, then, is one where attention has been lavished on the game’s
aesthetic and the expense of its gameplay, or at least one where the selling
point is the former rather than the latter. Since the vanilla version of <i>Far Cry 3 </i>is near identical in substance,
it’s clear that <i>Blood Dragon’s </i>main
selling point is its<i> </i>distinct, 80s
throwback style.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Let’s
look at substance and style in <i>Far Cry 3,
</i>for which <i>Blood Dragon </i>is a stand-alone
expansion.<i> </i>Following the definitions
above, substance covers things like the shooting mechanics, the weapon upgrade
system, and hunting animals, while style covers the design of the island, the
theme of insanity, and the dubstep-ridden soundtrack. <i>Blood Dragon </i>appropriates almost all of the substance from <i>Far Cry 3</i>, but jettisons its style
completely. In its place is a self-consciously bombastic one lifted from the cheesiest
of 80s action movies. Instead of overmoneyed waste of space Jason Brody, then,
you control wisecracking cyber commando Rex Power Colt; instead of distasteful
dubstep, you’ll be listening to distasteful guitar solos; instead of a mission
to rescue your friends from pirates, you’re battling neon dragons that shoot
lasers. This is an intentionally – and often amusingly – stupid game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4SBy7FCSaeowfq1RRV7vIbDa88Yn3LJ-LxdqM1MfUt7XEz4w4LWK5Cu4mdAhSpt6AH-8MAQWPu3cUqK9eQPWOln4xJP-ARIW97czFDxrfunMQQmNwszJcl0KoJXu6XGeGWHeltrCse_E/s1600/farcryblooddragon.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4SBy7FCSaeowfq1RRV7vIbDa88Yn3LJ-LxdqM1MfUt7XEz4w4LWK5Cu4mdAhSpt6AH-8MAQWPu3cUqK9eQPWOln4xJP-ARIW97czFDxrfunMQQmNwszJcl0KoJXu6XGeGWHeltrCse_E/s640/farcryblooddragon.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Despite being more machine than man, Rex Power Colt still proves to be a more relatable, human protagonist than Jason Brody (Picture: <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/products_detail.phtml?p=Far+Cry+3%3A+Blood+Dragon&c=images">Destructoid</a>)</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I’ve
always disliked the phrase ‘style over substance’ because it feeds the notion
that the two things are necessarily separate; in many games, style and substance
are interwoven. <i>Mass Effect, </i>for
example, treats narrative as something you do<i> </i>as well as something that informs what you do. Unfortunately, <i>Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon </i>fails in this
respect, and its open world design sits uneasily with its 80s action movie stylings<i>. </i>Action films from this era,
particularly the B-tier ones that <i>Blood
Dragon </i>draws many of its ideas from, are tightly scripted affairs. A movie that
treats character development as a pretentious affectation is unlikely to have time
for scenes where the hero hunts animals or upgrades weapons, after all. (If
these tasks did feature in an 80s action movie, it would surely be as part of a
montage, probably set to some hair metal.) That you have to engage in these
kinds of activities at length in order to get the best out of <i>Blood Dragon </i>is jarring. Of course, you
could ignore the side quests, but they’re heavily incentivised. Who is
seriously going to want to play a game set in the future as imagined by the 80s
without unlocking the laser fire upgrade for the assault rifle?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This
isn’t to say that <i>Blood Dragon </i>fails
entirely as a tribute to 80s action films, but it is constantly hampered by the
trappings of modern game design. For example, it raised a smile when I started <i>Blood Dragon </i>and saw the Ubisoft splash
screen display in the wrong aspect ratio for my widescreen TV, complete with
the flicker of a taped-off-the-telly movie. But the illusion was broken when I saw
the ubiquitous ‘don’t turn off the game when you see this icon’ warning in a
distinctly modern font immediately after the splash screen disappeared. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If
you believe its writer, Jeffrey Yohalem, <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/19/far-cry-3s-jeffrey-yohalem-on-racism-torture-and-satire/">Far Cry 3 is a ‘satire’ on video games</a>. Call me a cynic, but writing a story
overwhelmingly filled with clichés with barely a hint of critical analysis isn’t
satire in my book. <i>Blood Dragon’s </i>irreverent
style, however, proves a better vehicle for commentry, its<i> </i>intentional ridiculousness setting an appropriate tone for
skewering the equally ridiculous sections of games that are less self-aware. Fleeing
from enemies near the end of mission four, for example, Rex questions why an
elevator is taking so long to arrive. His sentient HUD suggests what we were
all thinking: “Dramatic tension?” The level ends with Rex blowing up an ‘Amphibian
Shark-Squid Hybrid Attack Titan’, before deflecting praise for his actions: “Paintings
of clowns crying and dogs playing poker… those are incredible. What I did?
That’s just the job.” This bizarre line – clearly a send-up of the overmodest
hero trope – is only slightly sillier than Old Snake’s tediously self-depreciating
dialogue in <i>Metal Gear Solid 4</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Blood Dragon </i>has a particular bone to
pick with meaningless collectables, expressed through Rex’s dialogue when he
comes across one: “So I collect shit, to unlock shit, and then I get shit. Got
it”. I was glad to see this trend getting some gentle criticism; its been a
turd in the game design punchbowl at least since Rare’s heyday in the late 90s.
But I couldn’t help thinking that <i>Blood
Dragon </i>would be in a better position to critique the saturation of open
worlds with collectables were its own open world not, well, saturated with
collectables. Again, <i>Blood Dragon’s </i>style
is scuppered by the substance it inherits from <i>Far Cry 3.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So <i>Blood Dragon </i>turns out to be a solid
open world shooter, dressed up as an enjoyable but flawed attempt at homage and
satire. What you get out of it will, ironically, depend on how compelling you
find its mechanics and systems in their own right. Because although its 80s
style is extremely appealing on paper, it’s hindered at every point by being attached
to a wildly inappropriate game. <i>Far Cry
3: Blood Dragon </i>has plenty of substance, but it’s the wrong substance for the
style it’s trying to convey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">6</span><span style="font-size: large;">/</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">10</span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-20283966033408883962013-05-02T16:45:00.000-07:002013-05-06T10:30:56.793-07:00PS3 Review: Guacamelee!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There’s
an on-going debate amongst video game critics about whether or not games need
to be fun. It’s my opinion that they don’t. There are plenty of games that I
didn’t find fun, but that I found worthwhile for other reasons, <i>Spec Ops: The Line, </i>for example.
Drinkbox Studios’ <i>Guacamelee!, </i>however,
aims to be nothing but fun – unashamedly so, and its singular dedication to
this goal is difficult to fault.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Beginning
in a small Mexican town during the preparations for the <i>Día de Muertos</i> (day of the dead) celebrations, <i>Guacamelee!</i> follows the superhero luchador Juan as he sets out to
rescue the president’s daughter from the villainous, undead Calaca, who plans
to use her in a ritual to merge the worlds of the living and the dead. It’s a simplistic
story, but an excellent script keeps it from feeling stale. Peppered with
Spanish, the writing is snappy, with enough nudges and winks to keep you
grinning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Guacamelee! </i>is extremely stylish.<i> </i>The art direction is excellent, recalling
a classic Saturday morning cartoon with its bright colours and smooth
animation. Though stereotypical in presentation, it always feels like <i>Guacamelee!</i> is romanticising Mexican
culture rather than deriding it, and the setting is key to the game’s style. Environments
include Mayan temples and cactus-filled deserts, whilst side-quests see you
reforming mariachi bands and collecting enchilada ingredients. The sense of
place is further reinforced by <i>Guacamelee!’s</i>
music. An infectious mix of flamenco guitar, trumpet flourishes, and chiptunes,
<i>Guacamelee!</i> is a game that begs to be
played with headphones. Then there’s Juan himself; making the protagonist a
luchador proves an inspired choice. Juan has an instantly iconic look, and an authentic
moveset consisting of wrestling moves such as suplexes, piledrivers, and
bodyslams. If, like me, you’re a 90s kid who grew up believing WWF was real, you’ll
probably like Juan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Tonally,
<i>Guacamelee!’s </i>daftness recalls <i>Earthworm Jim, </i>though it lacks the gross-out
humour of the super-suited invertebrate’s games<i>. </i>The<i> </i>zaniness is rarely
laugh out loud funny, but it will make you smile, and the breezy tone lends a surprising
poignancy to the more sombre story beats. Contributing to the game’s irreverent
tone are the references to other games. Rather than arbitrary shout outs, these
are usually contextualised as posters promoting fictional luchadores. So we see
the green leotard wearing <i>El Linko</i>, the
moustachioed tag team of <i>Los Super
Hermanos, </i>and, my favourite,<i> Mega
Hombre. </i>Then there are the game’s ‘Choozo Statues’. A blatant reference to
their near-namesakes in <i>Metroid, </i>Juan
must smash these in order to new unlock powers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Metroid </i>is a<i> </i>big influence on <i>Guacamelee!’s
</i>structure. The powers bestowed by Choz…, er, <i>Choozo</i> Statues allow you to destroy previously unbreakable barriers and
climb previously unscalable walls, and are therefore crucial to collect in
order to progress. Just like in <i>Metroid, </i>the
drip feed of powers proves extremely addictive, and makes the game’s modest map
seem larger without overwhelming you with backtracking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
powers gained from Choozo statues also prove useful during combat. The
uppercut, which propels both Juan and his victim skyward, is especially handy,
as airborne foes are helpless to defend against combos, the use of which is
vital in order to daze enemies and leave them vulnerable to Juan’s most
powerful attacks. Combat in <i>Guacamelee! </i>does
get repetitive, however. Partly this is down to the enemies. Consisting of
folklore monsters like the chupacabra, sombrero-wearing skeletons, and killer
plants (how many games let you suplex a plant?), the rouges gallery is memorable.
The problem is that there are too few of them and too much combat, so it
becomes tedious. Drinkbox seem to be aware of this, and have gone to some effort
to rectify it. Around the midpoint of <i>Guacamelee!</i>,
for example, enemies protected by shields that can only be broken with a
particular attack begin appearing. This is a good way of making you switch up
your style on the fly, but it becomes frustrating later when you have to fight
enemies who can change the type of shield they use at will. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0uiGlcJtdH8dtaYxT9SBMooz3-NCX30uZl1Ms5UyHSL5aNZLdV9zPAp5JM4JCWcY-QKbl2l1AocymYK8Y9Yf1Oho5QCDscKJqF2348DpJXt3HXENSj0Gc-iYwARQec3rqcn6mUrUvYU/s1600/Guacamelee.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0uiGlcJtdH8dtaYxT9SBMooz3-NCX30uZl1Ms5UyHSL5aNZLdV9zPAp5JM4JCWcY-QKbl2l1AocymYK8Y9Yf1Oho5QCDscKJqF2348DpJXt3HXENSj0Gc-iYwARQec3rqcn6mUrUvYU/s640/Guacamelee.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Did I mention you sometimes fight enemies in two different dimensions at once? Well, you do</b><b> </b><b>(Picture: <i><a href="http://guacamelee.com/?page_id=24">Guacamelee!</a>)</i></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Guacamelee!’s </i>workable but unremarkable
combat is contrasted, however, with some truly excellent, old school puzzle
platforming. The best sections of the game can only be overcome with a mix of
forward thinking, imaginative use of Juan’s moveset, and incredible dexterity. One
particularly fiendish area sees you using Juan’s ability to switch dimensions in
order to conjure walls into existence. It seems simple, but the catch is that
you have to do so mid-jump in order to kick off the newly materialised wall and
avoid the spinning saws below. Sections like this recall the precision of early
<i>Mega Man, </i>the negligible penalty for
death minimising frustration without blunting the challenge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">(When
I ‘completed’ the above-mentioned section, a chicken appeared – <i>pollos </i>are a recurring theme in <i>Guacamelee!</i> – to tell me I was “half way
there!” I swore loudly, but had to laugh when I ran into another one
immediately afterwards that said, simply, “PSYCHE!”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Guacamelee! </i>is £10. I spent a lot of
time exploring the map, finishing with 80% completion in just under nine hours,
and I’ll probably return to uncover the last of its secrets soon – a rarity for
me. In an era where you can pay £60 for a game of comparable length, made with
half as much passion, <i>Guacamelee!</i> is
spectacular value for money. Yes, it riffs on an established formula, but it
does such a good job of placing well-worn mechanics in a fresh, vibrant setting
that I didn’t care. A gem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Nueve</span> </i></b><i style="font-size: x-large;">de cada diez<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">(that’s
</span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">9</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">/10 in Spanish,
according to Google translate)</span></span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist</a></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-54526745879340890952013-04-22T12:08:00.000-07:002013-04-22T12:08:55.879-07:00Video Game Controls as Standard Language
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Anyone
watching me play through the first few hours of <i>BioShock Infinite </i>would have had a painful experience. When I tried
to swing the Sky-Hook, I would inevitably find myself staring up an enemy’s
nostrils, having forgotten that zoom, not melee, is mapped to R3 in the game. I’m
sure you’ve had similar experiences when a game didn’t control how you expected
it to. I think my failure to grasp <i>Infinite’s
</i>perfectly simple controls results in part from me expecting the game to
adhere to the established ‘standard’ shooter control scheme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The ‘standard’
form of a language (also known as the ‘acrolect’) is the way of speaking and
writing it that is commonly perceived as ‘correct’. Most languages also have ‘vernacular’
forms (sometimes called ‘basilects’). These are varieties of a language that
diverge from the standard form’s established rules of pronunciation, vocabulary,
and sentence structure. Whether you speak a standard or vernacular form depends
on many factors, including where you’re from, your socioeconomic class, and
your education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Where
language is a system of signs and sounds people use to communicate with other people,
a control scheme is a system of button presses and control stick tilts people
use to communicate with a video game. Like a language, game controls in a given
genre tend to become ‘standardised’ over time. I’ll use console based first-person
shooters (FPSes) to explain what I mean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A
language’s standard form usually reflects how it is or was spoken by
influential people in an important area of a country. Standard British English,
for example, reflects the way upper class Londoners spoke in the late 18<sup>th</sup>
Century. This is the same with video
game controls, where a successful game or series of games can influence the controls
within its genre for years to come. For console FPSes, this period begins in
the late 90s. This is when FPSes successfully made the jump from PCs to home
consoles, with N64 games such <i>Turok:
Dinosaur Hunter,</i> <i>GoldenEye 007, </i>and
<i>Perfect Dark</i> amongst the most influential.
Where shooting in console games had
previously been mapped to a face button, with the introduction of the N64 it was
mapped to the Z-trigger, which remained popular throughout the rest of the
console’s lifespan. With the Z-trigger no more, today’s FPSes still map
shooting to trigger-like buttons: R1 or R2 on the PS3 controller, and the right
bumper or right trigger on a 360 controller. While R1 and right bumper aren’t
referred to as ‘triggers’, their placement on the controller where the joint of
the index finger naturally rests means that pressing them is still comparable
to pulling one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You
could argue that using a trigger-like button to fire guns in video games would
have happened regardless of the N64’s great library of shooters because it’s
more logical. However, far from embracing it, gamers are usually resistant to
this type of one-to-one correspondence between input and action. With the Wii,
Move, and Kinect, the current generation saw a push for less arbitrary
controls, only for the idea to be snubbed by ‘core’ gamers. Interestingly, this
tendency towards arbitrariness is another trait video game controls share with
language. With the exception of onomatopoeias such as “crack” or “pow”, words draw
their meaning from convention rather than any logical link between the sounds
produced and the thing they refer to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">While
the use of a trigger or trigger-like button to fire guns remains standard in
FPSes, new trends in gameplay have lead to new standard controls. As the <i>Call of Duty series</i> has become more and
more successful, so too has its control scheme become the standard across the
FPS genre. Shooters as varied as <i>Borderlands</i>,
<i>Portal 2,</i> and <i>Far Cry 3, </i>for example, each allow players to duck using the same
button as <i>Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare </i>(circle/B).
In addition, both <i>Far Cry 3 </i>and <i>Borderlands </i>allow the player to sprint
and execute melee attacks, uniformly mapping these actions, as in <i>Modern Warfare</i>, to L3 and R3
respectively. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">At
university, I read a study that concluded even Queen Elizabeth doesn’t always
speak The Queen’s (i.e. standard) English (!). This illustrates an important
point: ‘standard’ and ‘vernacular’ are not watertight categories. Some people
use standard language all the time, but most don’t. Likewise, there is variance
within the template that shooter controls adhere to. As I mentioned above,
standard FPS controls use R1/right bumper or R2/right trigger for shooting, but
which they use varies from game to game. This is confusing, and I sometimes wish
developers would agree on one button or the other. Some games make more noticeable
breaks from standard FPS controls, often to accommodate a unique mechanic.<i> </i>For example, where most games use
L1/left bumper to aim (another hangover from <i>GoldenEye</i>), <i>BioShock Infinite</i>
uses it for vigors, freeing it up by moving the zoom function to R3. This violation
of the standard left me with the problems I mentioned in the first paragraph. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyfim8INrXI9kcSiDk__BuVvRAhkB1b4ElxLmQlhJ0a-EJMBsVHBYl6AHcedk9_sI9J8yTH7-VRd-f8wA-eCVzMT2mH-z-SZMinZZja0mDWUrEVAimR0IIwzIxMTZtlf9lGBiUbUi7fs/s1600/buckingbronco.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuyfim8INrXI9kcSiDk__BuVvRAhkB1b4ElxLmQlhJ0a-EJMBsVHBYl6AHcedk9_sI9J8yTH7-VRd-f8wA-eCVzMT2mH-z-SZMinZZja0mDWUrEVAimR0IIwzIxMTZtlf9lGBiUbUi7fs/s640/buckingbronco.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Honestly officer, I was merely trying to get a closer look when I magically threw you into the air"(Picture: <a href="http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/screenshots/P12"><i>BioShock Infinite</i></a>)</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I
dislike the word ‘standard’ because it’s a loaded one; it implies that one
variety of a language is more valid than others. This type of value judgement
is also seen in the critical reception of video game controls. Since we’ve
already established that most control schemes are arbitrary, I wonder if
‘intuitive’ really just means ‘controls that conform to the standard within a
given genre’. Perhaps dislike for the tank controls of early <i>Resident Evil </i>titles is stems from them
violating rules of standard third-person controls, which derive from the boom
in 3D platformers lead by <i>Super Mario 64.
</i>Certainly, some argue that <i>Resident
Evil’s </i>controls in are a legitimate stylistic choice, implemented to add to
the tension of the game. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This
post is meant as an analogy, not a genuine attempt at applying linguistic
theory to video games like in <a href="http://www.ludolinguist.com/2013/03/metaphors-we-game-by-part-i.html">“Metaphors We Game By”</a>. You might not agree with
what I’ve suggested about standard controls, but I’m sure you’ll agree that
this ranks as the most creative excuse ever suggested for being terrible at shooters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">@ludolinguist</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-19867022575221098372013-04-12T11:13:00.001-07:002013-04-15T11:47:04.612-07:00EA Responds To Bad PR With More Bad PR<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once
again, EA has received <a href="http://consumerist.com/2013/04/09/ea-makes-worst-company-in-america-history-wins-title-for-second-year-in-a-row/">the Golden Poo</a>, the prize given
to the ‘winner’ of the Consumerist’s ‘Worst Company in America’ poll. Voted for
by the site’s users, it marks the second time EA has topped the poll in as
many years.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">An
<a href="http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/06/14/why-do-people-hate-ea">IGN article</a> from last year asks, “Why do people hate EA?” It’s a reasonable
question. Sure, there’s the purported horrible working conditions, dishonest marketing campaigns, buying and shuttering beloved studios, intrusive microtransactions in full price games, ‘free’ to
play games unplayable unless you pay, annual sequels, steadily declining game
quality, Origin, online passes, making <i>SimCity</i> always online, flubbing the
release of their always online <i>SimCity</i>,
and flubbing their response to flubbing the release of their always
online <i>SimCity. </i>But other than those
few things, EA is a good company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMILoN6Wkn45EPry7Ikbt-XoBv26c47PS5rDFhx5UAHYlvJQciSnS6B8pZ353yasYFO-Q7dm9FP2bAHSQddVdWCiwWp6Tkvi3nncSU9ytoIb37xElVtm8n_gT_lNIqYUNjXIa3HxajuI/s1600/EApoop.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMILoN6Wkn45EPry7Ikbt-XoBv26c47PS5rDFhx5UAHYlvJQciSnS6B8pZ353yasYFO-Q7dm9FP2bAHSQddVdWCiwWp6Tkvi3nncSU9ytoIb37xElVtm8n_gT_lNIqYUNjXIa3HxajuI/s400/EApoop.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"The biggest turds stink the worst" (Picture: <a href="http://consumerist.com/2013/04/05/ea-admits-it-can-do-better-but-blames-worst-company-success-on-homophobes-and-whiny-madden-fans/">The Consumerist</a>)</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Joking
aside, it goes without saying that EA are not actually the worst company in America.
To gain this latest win, EA went up against companies that have done things so
unpleasant, they make the <i>SimCity </i>debacle
look like a charity fundraiser. Of course, you could argue that people who
dislike EA are mostly gamers, and therefore more likely than those with
contempt for other companies to be Internet users who might to vote in an
online poll. However, considering EA annihilated Facebook, a <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5994380/how-facebook-uses-your-data-to-target-ads-even-offline">truly rotten</a> company
with an enormous, entirely online user base, in the first round, it’s difficult
to buy this claim. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It should be obvious, however, that the Consumerist’s poll doesn’t really reflect the
quality of any given company. Rather, it reflects that company’s ability to
communicate with its customers. And while EA is probably not the worst company
in America, it might have the most inept approach to public relations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A
great example of EA’s poor PR is Peter Moore's recent response to the company’s then impending
victory in the Consumerist’s poll. In a <a href="http://www.ea.com/news/we-can-do-better">blog</a> entitled "We Can Do Better", Moore, the company's chief operation officer, seemingly
offers an apology, but all he really offers is a list of excuses disguised
as an apology. Moore asks:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Are we really the “Worst Company in
America?” I’ll be the first to admit that we’ve made plenty of mistakes.
These include server shut downs too early, games that didn’t meet expectations,
missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch
of SimCity. We owe gamers better
performance than this.</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">At
first glance it all seems very sincere, with what appears to be a genuine
acknowledgement of some of EAs recent missteps and the need for it to improve.
But looking closely at Moore’s euphemistic language, he comes across as
oblivious as best, disingenuous at worst. “[S]everely fumbling the release
of <i>SimCity</i>” may seem like an honest
evaluation of EA’s most recent fiasco<i>, </i>but
it’s far more pleasant than, “we released a broken product and then refused refunds
for customers who’d paid for it, as well as censoring our customer care phone
number in our forums to limit the numbers calling to complain”, which would be more
accurate. Rather than holding his hands up and admitting EA’s mistakes, then, Moore
is engaging in damage control.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Moore
then goes on to make several poor arguments. He claims, for example, that <i>SimCity’s </i>need to be connected to the Internet
is not a digital rights management (DRM) issue. In doing so, he misses the
point that, regardless of what motivated it, forcing players to
play <i>SimCity </i>online meant the game
was unplayable for a huge amount of users at launch. DRM may be something that
people are opposed to on ideological grounds, but the majority of players will
grudgingly accept it if they are still able to play their games. A DRM free game
rendered unplayable by poor design decisions (which is what Moore is arguing is
the problem with <i>SimCity) </i>is less
forgivable<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Moore
also defends EA’s online gaming platform, Origin, as well as the company's monetisation
strategies, reeling off some impressive figures to support his argument:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Some claim there’s no room for Origin
as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that
wrong. […] Some people think that free-to-play
games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more
are playing and loving those games.</span></blockquote>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">45
million people may indeed be using Origin, and there’s no doubt that’s a lot, but
how many of them are doing it simply because their favourite EA published games
aren’t available on Steam? How many of those 10 million people ‘playing and
loving’ EA’s free-to-play games downloaded them, were disgusted by the <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/real-racing-3-infuriates-with-500-of-microtransactions-247411.phtml">sleazy implementation</a> of microtransactions, and never played them again? Moore is
also attacking a straw man here with his ‘pox on gaming’ comment. I don’t think
many gamers have a problem with free-to-play games or microtransactions in
principle, just EA’s inimitably awful way of doing them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Moore
even goes as far as claiming that Conservative websites were encouraging people
to vote for EA in the Consumerist’s poll to punish them for publishing games
where the player can enter into same-sex relationships. While it wouldn’t surprise me if this
claim were true, the Consumerist says they’ve seen no evidence of such a campaign
in their traffic figures. If they’re right, it’s classless to blame dislike for
your company on imaginary bigots.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">EA
could have handled this differently. Had Moore acknowledged the EA’s
mistakes, offered a sincere apology, and talked about changes the plans to make, he might have swayed
a few critics. However, Moore’s blog instead blames EA being voted
worst company in America on what Chris Morran at the Consumerist calls the, “misinformed
perception of your average “gamer” as a whiny, nitpicky loner who will complain
about anything”. In relying on such a lazy stereotype, Moore has done
little more than make EA the favourite to collect the golden poo for the third
time in 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-70693969260573819392013-04-10T15:13:00.001-07:002013-04-15T12:20:25.242-07:00PS3 Review: BioShock Infinite<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Many
big budget games rely on the player overcoming violent opposition to progress. Taking
place in the floating city of Columbia during its yearly fair, <i>BioShock Infinite’s </i>first hour makes a
compelling argument that this needn’t be the case. Columbia is mysterious. Posters bear cryptic references to prophecies
you don’t yet understand; ambient dialogue and seemingly innocuous fairground
games hint at a culture where racism is rife; stalls show off curiously
advanced</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">technology</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> for a game set in 1912. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Everywhere you look in </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">BioShock Infinite</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> scraps of Columbia’s backstory are incorporated
organically into the landscape, and each one you discover pulls the curtain
back a little further. This process of discovery is so tantalising that you’ll
never find your trigger finger itching. When the curtain comes all the way back
and the extent of Columbia’s prejudice is laid bare, it’s one of the most
incredible scenes in gaming to date.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"></span></o:p></div>
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Beautiful but oppressive, Columbia is a utopia to its inhabitants but a dystopia to us,
which makes exploring it a fascinatingly conflicted experience. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">While playing <i>BioShock Infinite, </i>I began my exploration of new areas by checking where my next objective was before immediately
setting off in the opposite direction. This was always rewarded with something interesting: a sinister statue here, an explanatory voice recording there. The
sense of curiosity is emphasised through Elizabeth, the woman the player
character, Booker DeWitt, has been sent Columbia to rescue. Held captive since
birth, Elizabeth is endlessly inquisitive, and her excitement at seeing the
outside world for the first time mirrors our own at exploring Columbia. It’s a
shame, though, that combat is so pervasive that <i>Infinite’s </i>exploration and discovery never again feels as pure as it does
during the first hour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This
isn’t to say that combat isn’t enjoyable. There are plenty unique features that
set <i>BioShock Infinite </i>apart from
other shooters. Most interesting are the vigors, supernatural abilities similar
to <i>BioShock’s </i>plasmids. Vigors have
been designed with plenty of imagination, and it’s always a pleasure to deploy
them in battle. Bucking Bronco, for example, catapults enemies into the air to
the sounds of horses whinnying, while Possession takes the form of a ghostly
woman whispering in your target’s ear. <i>Infinite’s
</i>gunplay is also an improvement over <i>BioShock’s,
</i>though for all their period stylings, its firearms feel dull in comparison
to the vigors. You can also use zip lines to get the jump on enemies, or have Elizabeth
conjure cover, supplies, and allies into the fray, meaning you’re never short
of options in battle. There are problems with the enemies, though. Lacking the
unhinged menace of the original <i>BioShock’s</i>
splicers, the interchangeable canon fodder is instantly forgettable. More
powerful foes such as Handymen and Motorised Patriots have clearly had more
attention lavished on them, but they appear too often and are dispatched too
easily to capture your imagination and instil fear in the same way that Big
Daddies did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdlJLCbHdfebLIyOGx7E0mlr2wAS-Ra3xaIp4OFWVeQkm5lgWxRqTH8EHtybZyvdX-oGaqdAwd-M46jFwF7QihWgErc4YqFkctdALDjCrymq0iTJkWOX1-k6UeWJYutK9AhHY-4gg0iTU/s1600/Liz.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdlJLCbHdfebLIyOGx7E0mlr2wAS-Ra3xaIp4OFWVeQkm5lgWxRqTH8EHtybZyvdX-oGaqdAwd-M46jFwF7QihWgErc4YqFkctdALDjCrymq0iTJkWOX1-k6UeWJYutK9AhHY-4gg0iTU/s640/Liz.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Tale as old as time, song as old as ..." oh, wait (Picture: <i><a href="http://www.bioshockinfinite.com/media/#8f3XJePYPpo">BioShock Infinite</a></i>)</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Booker
and Elizabeth’s story is initially intertwined with the the civil war brewing in Columbia between the Founders and
the Vox Populi (usually shorted to ‘the Vox’). The Vox are a group of rebels
made up mostly of disenfranchised black and Irish workers, and early in the
game it seems clear that you’re supposed to sympathise with them. However, around
the game’s midpoint, the Vox are abruptly written off as extremists, apparently
to justify deemphasizing the racial conflict and foregrounding the story’s more
fantastical elements. Not only is it disappointing that a potentially impactful
topic is squandered, it’s offensive to see an issue as repellent as racism used
frivolously as set dressing. <i>Infinite </i>goes
on to explore Elizabeth’s ability to open ‘tears’ in space and time. These
science fiction elements are well thought out, but they tread familiar ground, and
it feels like a miscalculation on Irrational’s part that they end up so
prominent in the narrative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">However,
while <i>BioShock Infinite’s </i>plot
doesn’t live up to its initial promise, the characters it creates are strong
enough to carry it through. Booker initially seems generic, but he becomes more
interesting as his past comes into</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> focus. Elizabeth is more immediately appealing. Drawn as a Disney princess and animated just as
smoothly, she is an unforgettable companion, and the relationship she and
Booker share is touching, unforced, and well written. Their story features as many understated moments as it does moments of high drama. When Elizabeth finds a
guitar in a backroom, for example, she complains that she can’t play. You can choose to have Booker pick it up and
strum a few chords, and Elizabeth</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> responds by singing </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Will
The Circle Be Unbroken</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. L</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ittle touches like this linger long in the memory.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>BioShock Infinite </i>is a brilliant, but
self-contradictory game. It’s a solid shooter, but its non-violent exploration
is so memorable that it would have been just as compelling if you never fired a
shot. It tells a competent science fiction story set to a backdrop of racially
charged conflict when it could have delivered a devastating critique of racism
with science fiction elements. The high points in <i>BioShock Infinite </i>will rightly take their place alongside the defining
moments in gaming, but Irrational fail to capitalise on them, meaning <i>BioShock Infinite </i>falls just short of being the generation defining experience that many had hoped
for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">9</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">/10</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist</a></span></span></div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-17275927883640092912013-04-07T14:21:00.000-07:002013-04-07T14:24:34.364-07:00Performative Utterances (Or Not) in Chris Hecker's 'Fair Use'<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</style><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Fair Use</i>, Chris Hecker’s hilarious Game
Developer’s Conference (GDC) 2013 rant, is essential viewing for anyone sick of
video game developers making unsubstantiated claims. Hecker’s rant skewered the
worst tendencies of spokespeople in the gaming business, just by giving a few
of them enough rope to hang themselves with. If you haven’t seen it already, <span style="font-size: large;">you can check it out at <span style="font-size: large;">Chris Hecker's <a href="http://chrishecker.com/Fair_Use">personal website</a>.</span></span> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let’s
have a closer look at the clips in <i>Fair
Use</i>.</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">First
we have Yoshinori Ono, producer at Capcom, at the February 2013 reveal event
for the PS4 (0:00). Unveiling the company’s new ‘Panta Rhei’ engine, Ono
explained that<span style="font-size: large;">:</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This new engine […] will allow us to take
game design in entirely new directions.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ono illustrated
this with footage from a new game, <i>Deep
Down, </i>in which men in suits of armour battle a dragon.<i> </i>The footage was beautiful, but hardly looked like an “entirely new”
direction for a medium that gave us Dragon's Lair 30 years ago. Perhaps it was
a translation error, and what Ono actually said was ‘entirely old’. Subtle
nuances are often lost when translating from one language to
another.</span></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Next
(0:40), we have Glen Schofield of Sledgehammer games, delivering a keynote address
entitled “The Art of Inspiration” at the 2013 Design, Innovate, Communicate,
Entertain (D.I.C.E.) Summit. Schofield is a good speaker who seems genuinely
passionate about his craft. When he talks about his realisation that doors on military
Humvees weigh “100, 150 pounds”, you can tell it had an impact on him. Too bad,
then, that when he shows us the scene in <i>Modern Warfare 3 </i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">that this realisation influenced</span></span><i>,</i> we see a Humvee door
being pushed open with ease. Schofield then says
the following without a hint of irony: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">[…]it let us frame the whole scene and make
it better. If you just flipped the door open, you don’t have a scene.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Well, Glen, I guess you don’t have a scene.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
third section of Hecker’s rant is lifted from Guerrilla Game’s Managing
Director, Hermen Hulst, appearing on <i>Late
Night with Jimmy Fallon</i> to demo <i>Killzone:
Shadow Fall </i>(1:53). In the clip, Hulst claims that the PS4 allows
developers to create, “characters that you truly care about”, while onscreen
the player slaughters at least three opponents in under 40 seconds. Watch the
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGlu3e9kdks">entire spot</a> that the clip is drawn from if you can bear it. Seconds after the
clip in Hecker’s rant cuts out, Hulst begins trying to seriously suggest that
climbing onto ledges is an exciting new feature. Talk about scraping the
bottom of the barrel.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sucker
Punch’s Nate Fox introducing <i>Infamous:
Second Son </i>at the PS4 reveal event is probably the most amusing section of <i>Fair Use</i> (2:32). Fox, coming across as someone
who might be found late at night fervently reading <i>1984 </i>while wearing a tinfoil hat, waffles about surveillance
culture, before addressing the elephant in the room:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Now, picture how things would change, how
the world would react, if a handful of people suddenly developed superhuman
abilities.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">How
Fox managed to deliver this breathtakingly nonsensical line with a straight
face, I do not know. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Finally,
we come to Bungie’s <i>Destiny </i>(4:03)<i>. </i>Again, it’s worth watching the video
that Hecker sourced the clip from in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwOUi4JDC4o">its entirety</a>. If you’ve ever wondered what
it looks like when a company buckles under the weight of its own hubris, this
overproduced reel of twaddle should give you a good idea. The disembodied voice
in Hecker’s video (apparently that of Martin O'Donnell, composer at Bungie)
repeating “completely new” over and over sounds progressively sillier as we
focus on the <i>Halo</i>-esque scene
unfolding endlessly on the screen.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSqVGyazNUqt9gV_rMxQDL_qH2H3iOmc-91Ct16Ikj4_2xz3wwXPv9sktEw4Q9eu6HXnsErrRjr4WXsoDqxwSfthV-P9KniIqRoU6BVJcM_mVVFf5LLrDfIgZZDP1JQHFmGOGAPxGeu0/s1600/Destiny.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSqVGyazNUqt9gV_rMxQDL_qH2H3iOmc-91Ct16Ikj4_2xz3wwXPv9sktEw4Q9eu6HXnsErrRjr4WXsoDqxwSfthV-P9KniIqRoU6BVJcM_mVVFf5LLrDfIgZZDP1JQHFmGOGAPxGeu0/s1600/Destiny.jpeg" height="332" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>"<span style="font-size: x-small;">We're creating something c</span>ompletely new. </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">We're creating something c</span>ompletely new.</b></span></span></span> </b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">We're creating something c</span>ompletely new.</b></span></span></span>" (Picture:</b><i><b> <a href="http://www.destinythegame.com/media/guardians">Destiny</a></b></i><b>)</b></span><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Fair Use</span></i> works so well because it illustrates in an extremely economic fashion just
how lacking in self-awareness some people in the video game industry can be. Either companies
don’t realise how ridiculous their promises of reinvention sound when they
don’t back them up with evidence, or they just don’t care. Either way, it
reflects poorly on those making the promises. Let me be clear and say that I
think all the upcoming games mentioned in <i>Fair
Use </i>will be good<span style="font-size: large;">, b</span>ut I <span style="font-size: large;">won't be</span> convinced <span style="font-size: large;">by</span> the lofty claims being made
about them until <span style="font-size: large;">I see some</span> proof. It’s entirely possible that the Panta Rhei engine
will take gaming in new directions. Maybe you will end up caring for characters
in <i>Killzone Shadow Fall</i>. Perhaps <i>Destiny </i>really is something completely
new. The point is, for us to believe such grandiose talk, developers and
publishers need to provide us with evidence that what they’re saying is true.
In the clips Chris Hecker chose for <i>Fair
Use</i>, they have failed spectacularly to do so.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">‘Performative
utterances’ (or just ‘performatives’) are most commonly associated with the British philosopher, J.L.
Austin. Performatives are words or phrases
that, as well as communicating information, also lead to a perceptible change in
reality. “We find the defendant not guilty”, for example, communicates the
opinion of a group of jurors, and also officially exonerates a defendant in the
eyes of the law. When I learned about performatives in my first year at
university, my lecturer explained them using a counter example that has always
stuck with me. He dryly pointed out that you cannot simply show up to the exam
hall and say, “I pass my exam”, only to receive top marks on results day. Of
course, it would be nice if it w<span style="font-size: large;">ere</span> the case, but “I pass my exam” is not a
performative.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This seem to be the trick <span style="font-size: large;">t</span>hat companies such as Bungie<i> </i>and Guerrilla are trying to pull off. Rather than showing off new
features in their games, they simply say they have them and hope that nobody
will notice. “We’re creating something completely new” is not a performative<span style="font-size: large;">, <span style="font-size: large;">so</span> s</span>aying
that about your online sci-fi shooter with fantasy elements doesn’t make it so.
We want to believe you when you say it, but you have to give us compelling evidence before we will.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As
for Nate Fox’s bizarre spiel about surveillance and superheroes, well, I don’t know
what to tell you.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist</a></span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-39328490189476611052013-04-02T15:02:00.000-07:002013-04-02T15:12:55.599-07:00From PR Fail to PR Win: BioShock Infinite’s Cover Art<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</style> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>BioShock Infinite </i>is a great game. So
great, in fact, that I’m unwilling to rush through it for review. Instead, I
want to talk about the controversy that erupted last year when its cover art
was revealed. My review will be posted this time next week.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>BioShock Infinite’s </i>cover art<i> </i>went down <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/new-bioshock-infinite-box-art-causes-controversy">badly</a> with gamers. <i>Infinite</i> is a game of considerable
thematic depth, and it’s difficult to explain succinctly what it’s about. You certainly
can’t accurately capture the essence of the game with any single image. Bless
2K, though, because that’s what they tried to do. This is what my copy of <i>BioShock Infinite </i>looked like when it
arrived in the post:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ejfIiNz9oKkFegwIi4C8soM0qRzHBlheClupI-EUY_3Xghx9FIvYXaFu-FSLPv3IDg26ixNU5UeIYa0FEET3W9Y-f_um4aZFkeMyAISDi3ZJUHqH7YVAF4Fwuof95LVDzCTFJ8lxAk8/s1600/BioShock+Infinite+Shit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ejfIiNz9oKkFegwIi4C8soM0qRzHBlheClupI-EUY_3Xghx9FIvYXaFu-FSLPv3IDg26ixNU5UeIYa0FEET3W9Y-f_um4aZFkeMyAISDi3ZJUHqH7YVAF4Fwuof95LVDzCTFJ8lxAk8/s1600/BioShock+Infinite+Shit.jpg" height="640" width="569" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The promise of waggle controls <span style="font-size: x-small;">softens the blow, though, right?</span></span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
can hardly imagine a blander choice of cover art than this picture of the player
character, Booker DeWitt. <i>BioSho<span style="font-size: large;">ck </span>Infinite </i>boasts
the beautiful, sky-borne city of Columbia as its setting, but besides a barely
visible zeppelin in the top left corner, there’s nothing here to tell you that’s
the case. There’s no sign of Elizabeth, the game’s most important character, or
of Songbird, her guardian and constant pursuer. There’s no hint of the magical
powers the player can wield, or the numerous interesting themes that <i>Infinite</i> incorporates into its narrative.
Instead, we get a rugged white dude holding a gun over his shoulder and looking
moody. Hardly scintillating stuff. It may as well be a cover for any number of
other third or first-person shooters. It’s also misleading; the realistic style
is not at all representative of the game’s actual, more Disney-esque look.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ken
Levine, Creative Director at Irrational Games and the public face of <i>BioShock Infinite</i>, gave <a href="http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/12/bioshock-infinite-box-art/">an interview</a> to
Wired.com shortly after the backlash kicked off, and explained the box art with
the following:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I wanted the uninformed, the person who
doesn’t read IGN… to pick up the box and say, okay, this looks kind of cool,
let me turn it over. Oh, a flying city. Look at this girl, Elizabeth on the
back. Look at that creature. And start to read about it, start to think about
it.</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let
me be clear that I’m not trying to criticise Ken Levine here. I highly doubt
that <i>BioShock Infinite’s </i>rotten box
art was his idea. After all, Levine clashed with other members of his team when
they <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/6/4067832/the-meaningful-murder-in-bioshock-infinite">wanted to remove Elizabeth</a> from <i>Infinite</i>,
so it’s clear he’s someone who will fight to realise his artistic vision.
However, I have to take this quote at face value, and it begs the question: if
you thought people would be interested in Elizabeth, Columbia, and Songbird,
why hide them away on the back of the box? Frontloading the game’s more
interesting characters would attract far more attention than the dull cover
that was eventually settled upon. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
main issue with the cover art, though, wasn’t that it didn’t seem likely to
sell the game. Instead, fans were annoyed that a series they’d invested in
because of its unique take on the first-person shooter was about to release a
new instalment with jarringly conformist cover art. Not the end of the world,
perhaps, but <i>BioShock Infinite</i> had
been promoted using <a href="http://media1.gameinformer.com/images/blogs/curtis/covergallery/covers/cov_210_v1_l.jpg">great art</a> ever since its unveiling in late 2010. In the
eyes of <i>BioShock Infinite’s </i>most
vocal fans, the cover was an indefensible concession to fans of generic
shooters. Probably unfairly, Irrational and 2K were vilified.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
solution was simple but brilliant. A poll was set up on Irrational’s website allowing
fans to vote for one of six artworks, with the winner to be printed on the
flipside of the game’s inlay when it shipped. All anyone buying the game who
wanted a more artful cover had to do was remove the insert and flip it. Not
only did this democratic flourish calm the rage over the cover art, it also
gave fans a sense of having something special. Everyone else would have the
dull, generic Booker cover, but the <i>real </i>fans,
they’d know to flip it and have the alternative design instead. All of the
options offered in the poll were better than the original monstrosity, but the
winner was truly something special. After some fiddling, then, my copy of <i>BioShock Infinite </i>now looks like this:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1c3H2NIWqM4tmd2YqMaaHY4okDZ-wiglsTxvIL-3Wl_2VqMylmWqMRuOUxb7Z3EahMaqzkXhNJLHvnP5ENAM70dYHEEc5qVOh-qUnTleh6klkPdfRIkp1Z2ssriz1rJkaMmOj4BpiXM/s1600/BioShock+Infinite+Good.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1c3H2NIWqM4tmd2YqMaaHY4okDZ-wiglsTxvIL-3Wl_2VqMylmWqMRuOUxb7Z3EahMaqzkXhNJLHvnP5ENAM70dYHEEc5qVOh-qUnTleh6klkPdfRIkp1Z2ssriz1rJkaMmOj4BpiXM/s1600/BioShock+Infinite+Good.jpg" height="640" width="582" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">I display this strategically when people visit so they know I'm cultured</span></b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s
wonderful, artistic, and mysterious, much like <i>BioShock Infinite </i>itself. Ironically, I think this artwork is far
more likely to pique the interest of someone who knows nothing about <i>BioShock </i>than the actual cover, and it’s
a shame that this isn’t what we’ll see on store shelves.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Many
companies in gaming make missteps in their PR. Often, they react by issuing a
non-apology and end up digging themselves into an ever-deeper pit in the minds
of their fans. Instead, Irrational and 2K listened to concerns of their core
fans and issued a cost effective fix that kept everyone happy. Even as a
linguist, I can acknowledge that actions sometimes speak louder than words. </span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-47874881512210737262013-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:002013-03-30T11:24:04.778-07:00Metaphors We Game By - Part II<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</style><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">If you haven't already,<span style="font-size: large;"> be<span style="font-size: large;"> s<span style="font-size: large;">ure to</span></span> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.ludolinguist.com/2013/03/metaphors-we-game-by-part-i.html"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>read part one</b></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> of this article first<span style="font-size: large;">.</span> <span style="font-size: large;">I</span>t sets up the concepts I refer to here in part two.</span></span></span></b></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lets
go back to ‘systematicity’, and the entailments of the GAMES ARE COMPETITION
metaphor. These are, I’ve claimed:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">GAMES
CAN BE WON OR LOST</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">GAMES
ARE ENTERTAINMENT</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">GAMES
HAVE RULES</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
would argue that how closely a game adheres to these entailments influences its
reception within the video game community. For example, <i>Mortal Kombat </i>(2011) was criticised because its final boss, Shao
Khan, suffers from ‘SNK Boss Syndrome’. This is when an enemy character is
difficult to beat because they are able to do things (such as unblockable attacks)
that other characters are not. Shao Khan is therefore difficult because he <i>breaks the rules </i>of the game, and players
reacted poorly because this deviated from the entailments of GAMES ARE
COMPETITION, which is key to their concept of what a game is. Compare this with
a game such as <i>Ninja Gaiden. </i>Universally
seen as extremely difficult, <i>Ninja Gaiden</i>
is nevertheless warmly received because its challenge is fair. Gamers don’t
mind the game’s difficulty because it sticks to its own rules, and is therefore
in line with the metaphor. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
question, “what is a game?” is the subject of on-going debate in the video game
community. If we examine titles whose status as games is controversial, they often
have something in common; they are not titles that we talk and think about in a
way that is consistent with the GAMES ARE COMPETITION metaphor. When analysing <span style="font-size: large;">a game</span>, the entailments above work like a checklist. Titles that flout some or
all of them are more likely to be judged not to be a game. Let’s look at an
example from the indie space.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1uJSnqP_SvapRHoGsCszz31PHoSb2BUPZi_HUgz9mJHtGIbB2zgnqvNlK0BNqMorUpJgAhB0dZiStAIx-sr0cW20OkX5UycG5aF0m_cZYCT4VXI9QhxLNo5MaJz0mNJaw-1HSlVTB5Io/s1600/Mainichi.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1uJSnqP_SvapRHoGsCszz31PHoSb2BUPZi_HUgz9mJHtGIbB2zgnqvNlK0BNqMorUpJgAhB0dZiStAIx-sr0cW20OkX5UycG5aF0m_cZYCT4VXI9QhxLNo5MaJz0mNJaw-1HSlVTB5Io/s1600/Mainichi.jpeg" height="516" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Mainichi</b></i><b>: game or not? (Picture: <a href="http://www.mattiebrice.com/?p=78">Mattie Brice</a>)</b></span><b><br /></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mainichi </i>is a simple, affecting game in
which Mattie Brice tries to convey some of the embarrassments and frustrations
she regularly faces as a mixed transgender woman. Though
Mattie’s sharp writing is entertaining, <i>Mainichi</i>
constantly flouts all the other entailments listed above. With no rules, there
is no way of winning or losing, and therefore no competition. Nobody would say
that they had ‘beaten’<i> Mainichi</i>, or
that it was ‘too hard’<i>. Mainichi </i>is a
better example of the alternative metaphor, GAMES ARE PRESENTATION, or perhaps
even a different one altogether: GAMES ARE MESSAGE. You might therefore hear
people talk about <i>Mainichi </i>using
phrases like:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mainichi says </i>interesting things</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mainichi speaks about </i>the experiences of
a mixed transgender woman</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mainichi carries a lot of meaning </i>for me</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s
interesting about <i>Mainichi, </i>beyond
its thought provoking subject matter, is the disparity in responses it elicits
from gamers compared with non-gamers. <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorcocke/status/317052406393364480">As Brice noted</a> <span style="font-size: large;">in</span> her #1ReasonToBe talk at
the Game Developers Conference this week, non-gamers called <i>Mainichi </i>inspiring, and said it changed how
they looked at games. However, game-studies students<i> </i>complained that <i>Mainichi</i>
had little gameplay, and didn’t consider it a game at all. I would argue that this
feedback was to be expected because gamers, unlike their non-gaming
counterparts, come from a culture where they are used to talking and thinking
about games as competition. Since most people would struggle to see a title
where the main aim is to meet a friend for coffee as competition, gamers didn’t
even see <i>Mainichi </i>as a game. Non-gamers,
unaffected by the influence of the metaphor, did not come to this conclusion. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let’s
go back now to Lakoff and Johnson’s concept of ‘hiding’ and ‘hi<span style="font-size: large;">ghlighting</span>’. If we
accept that GAMES ARE COMPETITION is the prevalent metaphor in video game
culture, we accept that it obscures aspects of gaming that my suggested
alternative, GAMES ARE PRESENTATION, would emphasise. However, I think that
this might be changing, at least in part.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Above
I discussed how I would talk about <i>Sonic
2 </i>as a kid. Although today I still describe games today with phrases like
‘it was too hard’, there is one important exception. I wouldn’t normally talk
about ‘beating’<i> </i>a game anymore. At
the end of a modern game, I would instead say I had ‘finished’<i> </i>it. This new phrase ‘hides’ the concept
of competition to an extent. Although games still include challenging moments,
in this small way the language I discuss them with has come to ‘hide’ this
aspect. This is because reaching the end of games has become easier.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Finished </i>is an interesting word. You
wouldn’t say that you’d ‘finished’ a film, but you may say you’d ‘finished’ a
novel. It suggests overcoming something, but not the direct confrontation implied
by saying you ‘beat’ it. When you read novel, the obstacle you overcome is the
need to invest time and intellectual energy to reach the end. Games have always
required an investment of time. However, where in the past they also required
battling with difficult opposition, they now require gamers to deal with a
comparatively gentle challenge. This is because modern games are designed to be
finished. With devel<span style="font-size: large;">opers <span style="font-size: large;">concerned about scaring off p<span style="font-size: large;">otential players, </span></span>t</span>hings that previously contributed to a game’s difficulty, such as
finite lives, have become rarer, decreasing challenge accordingly.
It’s therefore no longer appropriate to say you ‘beat’ a game because there was
never a question of the opposite outcome occurring; the developers designed the
game with you reaching the end in mind. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">However,
in the golden era of arcade gaming, you ‘beat’ a game if you completed the
final stage, but you ‘lost’ you if ran out of money or gave up trying to do so.
It was appropriate to say you’d ‘beaten’ the game <span style="font-size: large;">if you reached the end </span>because it was<span style="font-size: large;">n'</span>t designed to let you. It was designed to clean you out. Furthermore, the
concept of ‘finishing’ a game didn’t exist in early video games. Though you could
sometimes ‘beat’ the game, you could rarely ‘finish’ it. Instead, the end of
the final level would usually loop right back around to the first, often with a
bump in difficulty to boot.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m
not saying that games are no longer challenging, but I do believe the challenge
they offer has decreased over time. Unlike when I was younger, I expect to
complete most modern games in three or four sittings. I believe this is why my
use of language has changed. By using ‘finish’ instead of ‘beat’, I portray
myself more passively as a player. I am hiding the competitive aspect of
completing a game and highlighting that I have come to the end of a
presentation by the developer. GAMES ARE PRESENTATION, then, has begun to vie
for space with GAMES ARE COMPETITION as the metaphor that informs the way I
think and talk about games. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s
much more to say about this topic than I could fit into two posts. I’m sure
there are other metaphors people game by, and there are other angles from which
to examine the ones I’ve already discussed. Hopefully, by unpicking the
metaphors that influence the way we talk and think about the games we play, we
can gain an interesting insight into why we think the way we do, and in turn
broaden our horizons in gaming as a whole.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reference</b>
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
<br />
Lakoff,
George, and Johnson, Mark (1980[2<sup>nd</sup> ed. 2003]), <i>Metaphors We Live By, </i>Chicago and London, Chicago University Press</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist </a></span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-25441931539877341852013-03-26T18:54:00.000-07:002013-03-29T17:10:48.251-07:00PS3 Review: Tomb Raider<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</style><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m
not proud of this, but I’ll be honest and say that I wanted to dislike <i>Tomb Raider. </i>I’ve never been a fan of
the franchise in the past, and the <a href="http://kotaku.com/5917400/youll-want-to-protect-the-new-less-curvy-lara-croft">knuckle-headed pre-release PR</a>, coupled with
my general dislike for reboots meant <span style="font-size: large;">that</span> I was positively looking forward to this
game being mauled by the press. Imagine my annoyance, then, when I found
myself enjoying Lara’s origin story more than any other game so far this year.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ve
always seen the <i>Tomb Raider </i>series as
a cynical play for the hormonal teenager market, so I was pleasantly surprised
to see that this latest entry avoids the lechery of its predecessors. While
Lara is obviously supposed to be attractive, the game never sets out to titillate,
avoiding leery camera angles and improbable breast physics. Instead of her body,
the focus of <i>Tomb Raider </i>is Lara’s
extreme bravery and resourcefulness. Little touches such as Lara psyching
herself up before tough jumps remind us that she is new to adventuring, but it’s
clear that she’s far too capable for anyone to feel the need to protect her. My
only complaint with Lara is that she is a stiflingly humourless character. Of
course, her situation is dire, but the game could have benefitted tonally from
some well-placed gallows humour. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As
well as presenting a believable character in Lara, <i>Tomb Raider </i>employs a clever design that accommodates divergent
play styles. If you want a focused third-person action-adventure game, you can
play it in a strictly linear fashion, allowing the game to funnel you expertly through it<span style="font-size: large;">s <span style="font-size: large;">serviceable</span> but blan<span style="font-size: large;">d</span></span> story. But if you choose to go off-piste, <i>Tomb Raider </i>rewards exploration, with
new items often allowing access to whole new sections of previously visited
areas. Exploration is essential for collecting the parts necessary for
upgrading Lara’s weapons, and doing so confers significant benefits in combat. Deviating
from the game’s path also allows you to access the game’s optional tombs. These
usually consist of a single, self-contained puzzle, and can often be completed
in under a minute once you hit upon the solution. This is probably
disappointing for long-term fans of the series, but I found them just
substantial enough to be satisfying. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20rEzh6WNS_OJBIMXZxs43W5vhbcTsW0gN73SzlPNbXwpko5qGLNNoFkN-VHo_yBA-HtOtaIFMWabltyCTlkjOnorXKEE9PBVh69_VUrmKkotZnABLvCvdseIC2_Ok_yrKuaRSEH5er8/s1600/Tomb+Raider.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20rEzh6WNS_OJBIMXZxs43W5vhbcTsW0gN73SzlPNbXwpko5qGLNNoFkN-VHo_yBA-HtOtaIFMWabltyCTlkjOnorXKEE9PBVh69_VUrmKkotZnABLvCvdseIC2_Ok_yrKuaRSEH5er8/s1600/Tomb+Raider.jpeg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">It's baffling that Lara never thinks to pilfer<span style="font-size: x-small;"> a jumper when looting dead enemies</span></span> (Picture: <a href="http://www.tombraider.com/gb/base/brandsitepreorder?refer=211&">Tomb Raider</a>)</b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There
are some distractions from the main quest that add little to the game, however.
Trinkets, letters, and diary entries fill in the story, but sitting through the
grating voiceovers that accompany them is a chore. Hunting animals also proves
to be a disappointment. I had hoped <i>Tomb
Raider </i>might have included some interesting survival elements similar to
those seen in <i>Metal Gear Solid 3</i>.
Unfortunately, slaying animals is simply a wa<span style="font-size: large;">y to farm meag<span style="font-size: large;">re amounts of</span></span>
experience points, and feels unnecessary as a result</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For
all the pre-release talk of survival on a remote island, then, it turns out that combat makes up
the most substantial portion of <i>Tomb Raider</i>, so it’s a relief that it’s
been handled so well. When enemies are nearby, Lara readies her weapon and
adopts a low profile, ramping up the tension even before threats are visible to
the player. When Lara is spotted by her foes, the pace of the game becomes noticeably
frantic. Driving congas are added to the soundtrack, and bullets whistle
menacingly through the air as Lara scampers on all fours to get to cover. Without
access to body armour, Lara feels appropriately delicate when under fire, meaning
even small groups of foes can be dangerous. Enemies regularly throw explosives your
way, which is frustrating, but it keeps combat dynamic and prevents you from
finding a <span style="font-size: large;">safe</span> spot and staying there until you've cleared t<span style="font-size: large;">he room</span>. When you do get
the chance to line up a shot, Lara’s weapons feel extremely satisfying to use.
It’s a shame that some shootouts outstay their welcome, with combat fatigue
doing much to kill the drama in the later portions of the game.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Much
has been made of the disconnect between Lara’s tearful first kill and the
bloodbath that comprises the rest of the game. It’s true that Lara’s reflection
on her actions is rather fleeting within the narrative, but subtle factors beyond
it add to the feeling that Lara is developing into a killer, rather than having simply flipped a switch. Lara’s finishing moves, for example, go from desperate
lunges to cold executions as they are upgraded. That you’re unlikely to unlock
the most violent takedowns until the game’s final act gives a convincing sense
of Lara increasingly abandoning her morals as she faces a more and more hostile
environment. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After
I saw <i>Tomb Raider </i>at E3 2012, I was
convinced that it was destined to be a second rate <i>Uncharted </i>clone<i>. </i>Having
played it now, while there are similarities, <i>Tomb Raider </i>surprised me by<i> </i>holding
its own against <i>Uncharted,</i> even bettering
it in some cases<i>.</i> For example, like
Drake, Lara spends much of her time climbing. However, climbing in <i>Tomb Raider</i> lacks the predefined paths
and glowing ledges that sanitise the experience in <i>Uncharted, </i>and Lara’s adventure<i>
</i>feels far more satisfying as a result<i>.</i>
<i>Uncharted’s </i>trump card, though, is its
memorable cast of characters. Little more than a checklist of lazy stereotypes,
Lara’s friends are badly acted and unlikeable in the extreme. Clearly, there’s
still work to be done if Lara is to steal Drake’s crown when <i>Tomb Raider </i>returns for a sequel.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">S</span>ince we’ve established that previous <i>Tomb
Raider </i>games haven’t appealed to me, it’s a testament to the excellent work
that Crystal Dynamics have done on this reboot that I’m excited for Lara’s next
adventure. Brilliantly believable, the Lara of 2013 is a world away from the
caricature that became a pop culture icon in the 90s, and to my mind <i>Tomb Raider </i>is immeasurably better for
it.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>8</b></span>/10</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguis<span style="font-size: large;">t</span></a> </span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-79443789756436196282013-03-22T17:01:00.000-07:002013-03-29T18:00:45.567-07:00Metaphors We Game By - Part I<style>
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</style> <br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>This will be a two-part article. In part
one, I’ll introduce the concept of metaphor as it’s understood in cognitive
linguistics. The second part will consist of a more critical look at the metaphors
below, including a discussion of how the concepts they entail inform debates
that are currently raging in the world of video game criticism.<span style="font-size: large;"> You may need to read this a couple of times to fully get the concept <span style="font-size: large;">- I certainl<span style="font-size: large;">y did!</span></span></span></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One
of my all time favourite books on linguistics is “Metaphors We Live By”, in which <span style="font-size: large;">Professors </span>George
Lakoff and Mark Johnson examin<span style="font-size: large;">e</span> the links between metaphors, language
and thought. This article on metaphor in gaming follows the template set
out in the first three chapters of their
book.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lakoff
and Johnson argue that, rather than being merely a literary device, metaphors
are used when we talk about almost everything, and that they influence the way we conceptualise the world. In their own words, metaphors are:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">[…]pervasive in every day life, not just in language, but in
thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both
think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b> </b></i></span>(<i>Metaphors We Live By, </i>page three)</span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’ll
explain this idea using a video game metaphor, GAMES ARE COMPETITION (like Lakoff and Johnson, I’ll be capitalising the metaphorical concepts
in this article). This metaphor can be seen reflected in <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">the phrases </span>I would have used </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">as a kid</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <span style="font-size: large;">to talk about playing <i><span style="font-size: large;">Sonic The Hedgeho<span style="font-size: large;">g 2</span></span></i></span>:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I <i>beat</i> <i>Sonic 2<br />Sonic<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>2</i>
was <i>too tough for me</i><br />Emerald Hill Zone was <i>not
very challenging</i><br />It was <i>a battle </i>to
get all the Chaos Emeralds<br />I <i>fought </i>my way to
the Death Egg Zone, but then <i>lost</i></span></span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6ALEfsqB-r4fPVKgICr4-2T76k0LJzmqxYb8mCxQgyztrH5Kbj-ZjCkn7bXkRTn58bZ8SKMa32HWMbqlyfb0wFXKKLDN1HzwMHiiIqG1iJiOhDw4j59r5Qlmswra5Cs-wXVdak7mCoA/s1600/Sonic+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO6ALEfsqB-r4fPVKgICr4-2T76k0LJzmqxYb8mCxQgyztrH5Kbj-ZjCkn7bXkRTn58bZ8SKMa32HWMbqlyfb0wFXKKLDN1HzwMHiiIqG1iJiOhDw4j59r5Qlmswra5Cs-wXVdak7mCoA/s1600/Sonic+2.jpeg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Cambria;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's a little known fact that Dr. Robotnik's Ph<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Cambria;">D</span></span> was actually in cognitive linguistics (Picture: <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/71163/">Steam</a>)</span></span></span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We
can see from the choice of words that I think of <i>Sonic The Hedgehog 2 </i>not just in terms of the literal battles that
take place between Sonic and Robotnik (yes, Robotnik, not bloody Eggman) during
the game, but in terms of a metaphorical competition between myself and the
game.<span style="font-size: large;"> The <span style="font-size: large;">metaphor</span></span> GAMES ARE COMPETITION, then, is not only the way we speak about games, <span style="font-size: large;">but also</span> the way we play and even think about them. We play games to ‘win’ them.
We compete for high scores and race to acquire achievements/trophies before our
friends. When I played <i>God of War: Ascension</i> and got stuck at
the Trials of Archimedes<i>, </i>I began to
get frustrated because I felt like I was losing. It was a shot to my pride because I was viewing my experience in terms of the GAMES ARE
COMPETITION metaphor. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lakoff
and Johnson point out that metaphors are culturally specific, and they invite
readers to imagine an alternative culture where metaphors, and therefore <span style="font-size: large;">the concepts that infor<span style="font-size: large;">m the ways people talk and think</span></span>, are different. I’ll try to do that
here, as it makes the link between metaphor and thought easier to understand. Imagine
that the metaphor in our culture</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> was GAMES
ARE PRESENTATION<span style="font-size: large;">, rather than </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">GAMES ARE COMPETITION</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>.<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Let’s go back to my playthrough of <i>God of War: Ascension</i>. Again, I’m struggling with the Trials of
Archimedes. Again, I’m frustrated. However, this time I’m not feeling the hit
to my pride, I’m just annoyed that I’ve yet to see the later sections of the
game. Divorced from the concept (and therefore the language) of competition, I may complain that I ‘didn’t’
get to the end, rather than saying that I ‘couldn’t’. Rather than saying that I
‘lost’, I may simply say that I ‘stopped playing’. My conception of gaming would
be more passive, and the language I use to discuss it less adversarial, in line
with the alternative metaphor. The way I speak about games would become far more similar to how I speak about movies. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lakoff
and Johnson go on to talk about the ‘systematicity’ of metaphor (apparently,
we’re supposed to accept that ‘systematicity’ is a word because they<span style="font-size: large;">'</span>re professors
of linguistics). This means that a given metaphorica<span style="font-size: large;">l concept</span> entails various others that follow logically from the
original. So following on from GAMES ARE COMPETITION, we may have
GAMES CAN BE WON AND LOST, GAMES ARE ENTERTAINMENT, and GAMES HAVE RULES. I'<span style="font-size: large;">ll call these 'entailments'. Ke<span style="font-size: large;">ep th<span style="font-size: large;">ese</span> in mind, because </span></span>I’ll
come back to the<span style="font-size: large;">m</span> <span style="font-size: large;">in part two</span>.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lea<span style="font-size: large;">ding on from the </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">‘systematicity’</span></span></span></span> of metaphor, Lakoff and Johnson talk about how a metaphor hides some aspects
of a concept while highlighting others. As they put it: </span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In allowing us to focus on one aspect of a concept […], a
metaphorical concept can keep us from focusing on other aspects of the concept
that are inconsistent with that metaphor. (<i>Metaphors We Live By,</i> page 10)</span></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">To
illustrate this, let’s go back to our alternative metaphor, GAMES ARE PRESENTATION.
This is a plausible metaphor, but one highlighting the role of the player as a
passive recipient of what the game offers, hiding the adversarial side of the relationship
between the player and the game emphasised by GAMES ARE COMPETITION. The
tension between different metaphors informs much of the debate
surrounding video games at the moment<span style="font-size: large;">.</span>
Again, this is something we’ll come back to in part two.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Click <a href="http://www.ludolinguist.com/2013/03/metaphors-we-game-by-part-ii.html">here</a> <span style="font-size: large;">to read</span> part two.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Reference</b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lakoff,
George, and Johnson, Mark (1980[2<sup>nd</sup> ed. 2003]), <i>Metaphors We Live By, </i>Chicago and London, Chicago University Press</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist </a></span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-89943199493032046922013-03-19T16:56:00.000-07:002013-03-21T09:21:01.973-07:00PS3 Review: God of War: Ascension<style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>God of War: Ascension </i>has everything
going for it. It builds on an established character and mythology, and <span style="font-size: large;">its</span>
beautiful graphics and lavish orchestral soundtrack demonstrate sky-high
production values. In spite of this, however, a combination of missteps in
design and problems carried over from previous games means that, although <i>Ascension</i> is fun to play, it’s rather
difficult to get excited about.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i></i></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ascension’s </i>story is its biggest
problem in this respect. You never feel <span style="font-size: large;">like</span> there’s a good reason for doing the things
you’re doing. Rather than resolv<span style="font-size: large;">ing</span> the cliff-hanger ending of <i>God of War 3</i>, <i>Ascension </i>is instead a prequel centred around Kratos’ previously
unmentioned quest to kill The Furies and break his bond <span style="font-size: large;">with</span> Ares. The premise is
simple, but the execution is muddled, and padded with poorly explained
MacGuffin hunts. Unlike previous instalments<span style="font-size: large;"> in the series, <i>Ascension </i><span style="font-size: large;">has few</span></span> recognisable characters
from Greek mythology, and the story feels bland as a result. Even Kratos himself is curiously
muted throughout. While rarely sympathetic in previous games, Kratos’ unbridled
rage was definitely compelling. Here, however, he doesn’t seem angry, or even
especially interested. Following his journey in <i>Ascension</i>, it’s hard not to feel the same.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Despite
his aloofness throughout the narrative, Kratos is still a vicious protagonist,
and combat remains the <i>God of War </i>series’
biggest draw. <span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately,</span> <i>Ascension </i>makes many ill advised changes
to the series’ solid combat mechanic<span style="font-size: large;">s</span>. The need to tap two buttons to parry proves fiddly, and I ended up
barely using it throughout the campaign as a result. Rage of Sparta is harder to build up and less
useful when deployed, making it more of a bonus for strong players than a lifeline for weak ones as it was in the past. Magic can no longer be upgraded, and is de-emphasised to
the point that the game can be completed without even acquiring more than one
spell. To compensate, Kratos has the ability to disarm enemies and use their
weapons. It’s a nice touch, but the Blades of Chaos’ brutal, balletic grace remains
such a pleasure that you probably won’t be tempted to experiment much. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Combat
is only as good as the enemies you face, of course, and the new designs are
detailed and imaginative, even if fighting an ‘elephantaur’ does feel awfully
similar to fighting a minotaur. Plenty of effort has evidently been lavished on
the enemy’s gruesome death sequences, but for all their desperation to shock
they just feel unnecessary. It’s refreshing, though, that the <span style="font-size: large;">quick time events</span> that precede
them are often ‘prompt free’, with Kratos executing stabs and dodges under the
direct control of the player. This is an interesting idea, and one I hope Sony
Santa Monica expand upon in future <i>God of
War</i> games.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">T<span style="font-size: large;">he p</span></span>uzzles
in <i>Ascension</i> break the game up
nicely, keeping combat from becoming too stale. Their solutions are obvious,
but <span style="font-size: large;">the<span style="font-size: large;">y are creatively desi<span style="font-size: large;">gned</span></span></span> and satisfying to complete. <i>Ascension's </i><span style="font-size: large;">new items</span><i> </i><span style="font-size: large;">are also good,</span>
adding flavour to its puzzles and <span style="font-size: large;">combat alike</span><i>.</i> The
amulet of Uroboros, which <span style="font-size: large;">allow<span style="font-size: large;">s</span></span> Kratos to fix huge, damaged
structures, <span style="font-size: large;">or</span> suspend enemies in<span style="font-size: large;"> mid air</span>, is a personal favourite.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Like
its predecessors, <i>God of War: Ascension </i>is
big on spectacle. Kratos can swing across ravines and slide down sheer drops,
and this is often integrated with the series’ trademark enormous boss battles
to great effect. There remains the question of player agency, though, which has
dogged the <i>God of War </i>series since
its inception. <i>Ascension, </i>perhaps
more so than in any previous game in the series, can feel like it’s playing
itself when Kratos pulls off his most impressive feats, your input being little
more than responding to a button prompt in time. However, there’s no denying that
these set pieces are exhilarating in the moment. It’s frustrating, though, that
when the player does get direct control in these sequences, the camera often
zooms so far out that the action becomes difficult to follow.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_uF078edqTD4yQPsifvzxouM3Mt2K1-IUKzaVz8uzSRsY-Egclpd9hACBHEni-VnkLIkfJkyArAUh0e2inc-zc-gz_AhkDhAibXtvsmYtjCH7P25Vv6MJBoA4SXNlvlfQZsELnuY07Qc/s1600/God+of+War+Ascension.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_uF078edqTD4yQPsifvzxouM3Mt2K1-IUKzaVz8uzSRsY-Egclpd9hACBHEni-VnkLIkfJkyArAUh0e2inc-zc-gz_AhkDhAibXtvsmYtjCH7P25Vv6MJBoA4SXNlvlfQZsELnuY07Qc/s1600/God+of+War+Ascension.jpeg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sliding <span style="font-size: x-small;">looks silly,</span> but proves to be more fun than it has any business being (Picture: <a href="http://www.godofwar.com/en-us/media/#images">God of War: Ascension</a>)</span></b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>God of War: Ascension’s </i>release has been
beset by dual controversies, and it seems appropriate to briefly comment on
both issues, since they impacted my enjoyment of the game itself.<br /><br />First,
there is the Trials of Archimedes, <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/god-of-war-ascension-s-trials-of-archimedes-to-be-nerfed-248668.phtml">imminently receiving a patch</a> due to balance
issues. This section sees Kratos facing three waves of progressively more powerful enemies in three
increasingly dangerous arenas, with no health or magic power-ups beyond those
dropped by defeated foes. This is indeed a very frustrating section, and speaks
to Sony Santa Monica’s tendency to pit you against several enemies at a time,
their sheer numbers making up for how unthreatening they are individually. This
has been a problem throughout the whole <i>God
of War </i>series. However, while in previous instalments, multiple enemies could be dealt with using a combination of spamming magic and judicious parrying,
due to the above-mentioned changes, this is no longer effective in <i>Ascension</i>. This being the case, the
patch is probably welcome. I must admit, though, that I didn’t find the Trials
of Archimedes quite as badly balanced as <span style="font-size: large;">its</span> hasty patching would seem to imply. That Sony Santa Monica continues their crude approach to challenge from previous <i>God of War </i>games, thou<span style="font-size: large;">gh,</span> is a
real issue, and clearly
one that can only be addressed with fundamental changes in the design of future
games in the series.<br /><br />The
other controversy that has enveloped <i>Ascension</i>
is more nefarious. At a certain point in the campaign, the player receives a
trophy called <a href="http://www.destructoid.com/patch-renames-god-of-war-s-bros-before-hoes-trophy-248418.phtml">‘Bros Before Hos’</a>. This is
doubtlessly misogynistic, and it’s probably for the best that this was patched
after pre-release criticism from reviewers. The new name, ‘Bros Before Foes’, not
only dials back the misogyny, but is also quite a funny play on words. Those
claiming that the name is justified by the context are, in my opinion, missing
the point that the phrase is offensive in any context. Some have also argued
that Kratos is not exactly a feminist icon, and that changing the name is
therefore unnecessary. The difference is that when Kratos behaves in a
misogynistic way, it’s<i> </i>a fictional
character that is doing it, but it’s a real person who writes the names of the
trophies.<i><br /><br />God of War: Ascension</i> adds little to the
series' established formula or lore, while actually changing some aspects for
the worse. It’s a good, solid game that’s worth playing, but you can never
shake the sense that it’s going through the motions, and that the next true instalment
in the franchise is still to come.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: Cambria;">7</span></b></span>/10 </span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-48593129799245156362013-03-18T08:49:00.000-07:002013-03-19T10:47:30.778-07:00In Defence of Derivative Games<style>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If
you stick with this blog, as I post more frequently you’ll begin to see that I
respect straight-talking, honest people in the video games industry. Well,
Zynga’s Dan Porter was at least being honest, if not especially admirable, when
he <a href="http://qz.com/60731/zynga-copies-competitors-games-says-zynga-vp/">reportedly said</a>, “Zynga is often accused of copying
games, which is mostly true”. Not surprisingly, this bone-headed statement generated
controversy, and this in turn got me thinking about the issue of derivative
game design. With its connotations of a lazy, cynical creative process, no criticism
is more damning than calling a game derivative. But is a derivative game always
a bad one?</span></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Certainly,
a derivative approach to game design is perceived as a growing problem. Beyond
mechanics lifted from other shooters, <i>Medal
of Honour: Warfighter </i>had little to show for itself besides multiple ways
of breaking down doors. Even franchises previously seen as innovative are
borrowing key features from elsewhere, with<i>
</i>343 Industries receiving criticism for appropriating <i>Call of Duty’s</i> perks system for the multiplayer in <i>Halo 4</i>. Not only was this change seen as
unnecessary, by adding features from other games, fans felt 343 had muddied the
waters, detracting from the feeling that <i>Halo
4 </i>was a truly unique experience.<br /><br />The
problem seems to be one of balance. Games like <i>Warfighter </i>are criticised not because they are derivative, but
because they are derivative at the expense of innovation. All but the most ground-breaking
and left field games are going to be derivative in some way, and to a certain extent
this can be beneficial. Recurring mechanics allow gamers to easily manage the
transition from game to game within a given genre. When you begin a new
platformer, the ability to jump is your comfort blanket, a reliable constant
ensuring you aren’t overwhelmed as you deal with whatever novel features the
developers have added<b>. </b>A problem
arises, however, when a developer decides to afford the player more comfort
than they need, presenting an overabundance of familiar mechanics rather than
taking the risk of interspersing them with fresh ones.<i><br /><br />Braid</i> is Jonathan Blow’s response to the
problem of derivative games. At first glance, <i>Braid</i> appears extremely derivative itself. However, when you first
take damage and the game allows you to wind back time, it becomes clear that
there is far more to the experience than simple regurgitation. As you progress
further, it becomes ever clearer that Blow has packed the game with established
tropes not out of laziness, but in order to deconstruct them. In World 4, for
example, <i>Braid</i> plays with the unwritten
rule that progress in 2D platformers is achieved by moving towards right of the
screen. Blow takes this to an absurd extreme: move to the right and time moves normally,
but move to the left and time runs in reverse. This is the formula throughout
the whole game; ideas that are derivative of other games appear, only to be reworked
in unexpected ways that are not only fun, but also make you question existing conventions
in platform game design. A derivative approach to design was therefore crucial
to Blow’s vision for <i>Braid.</i><br /><br />While
<i>Braid</i> is derivative for artistic
reasons, the bland conformity of <i>Spec
Ops: The Line </i><a href="http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/14/3590430/dont-be-a-hero-the-full-story-behind-spec-ops-the-line">seems to have more to do</a> with publisher pressure than the
aims of its developer, Yager. Controlling Captain Martin
Walker, you spend the majority of <i>Spec
Ops</i> camped behind cover, shooting nondescript enemies whose A.I. would
struggle to beat you at noughts and crosses, let alone outflank you. In this
respect, <i>Spec Ops </i>is almost
indistinguishable from dozens of other third-person shooters. <br /></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiIfEJdQvnBN_At1FWzQKfnHCuziEeAzRTiJUSKlJU9xS5jhPy9s_FbSmVNTc5rdeLzZZNOvkHLW70FduIX50Lg2_LNdftkxxPTm3NFPa8YG1cAdzow2Ix5sTjsdM4u3JUm9_UDTQoGZY/s1600/Spec+Ops.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiIfEJdQvnBN_At1FWzQKfnHCuziEeAzRTiJUSKlJU9xS5jhPy9s_FbSmVNTc5rdeLzZZNOvkHLW70FduIX50Lg2_LNdftkxxPTm3NFPa8YG1cAdzow2Ix5sTjsdM4u3JUm9_UDTQoGZY/s1600/Spec+Ops.jpeg" height="358" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So far, so much like every other shooter (Picture: <a href="http://www.specopstheline.com/uk/#media">Spec Ops</a><a href="http://www.specopstheline.com/uk/#media">: The Line</a>)</span></span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">However,
<i>Spec Ops’ </i>derivative<i> </i>mechanics are offset by a truly
original narrative. Where most shooters present their protagonists as
unambiguous heroes, <i>Spec Ops </i>has you
questioning Walker’s mission from the outset. You will experience and even
commit horrible acts in <i>Spec Ops</i>, and
this soon begins affecting Walker’s psyche. This is displayed in many ways,
most strikingly when he goes from calmly executing downed enemies to screaming
obscenities and bludgeoning them with his rifle. By the final act, Walker is apparently
hallucinating, and loading screen hints cryptically assure you that “you are
still a good person”. <i>Spec Ops’ </i>brave
engagement with the psychological implications of war is at odds with the derivative
shooting, and it’s tempting to wonder what could have been had Yager had the
opportunity to offer up unique gameplay alongside its story. However, as well
as allowing <i>Spec Ops </i>to exist at all,
I would argue that the derivative nature of <i>Spec
Ops’</i> mechanics helps its narrative work without being overwhelming. Returning
to my previous analogy, <i>Spec Ops’ </i>derivative
mechanics are your comfort blanket. The familiarity of ducking behind cover for
a quick reload anchors you as a player. It’s a moment where you know what’s
happening and can influence the outcome in a narrative that otherwise allows
neither of those luxuries. The stark contrast between the mundane
predictability of the shooting and shocking unpredictability of the story also
adds to the game’s overall impact. For numerous reasons, then, <i>Spec Ops: The Line</i> couldn’t be the game
it is without being deeply derivative in some ways.<br /><br />It
seems, then, that derivative game design, like many things, isn’t a problem in
and of itself. Instead, it’s a question of moderation. Don’t expect derivative
games to go away. As publishers and developers alike become more risk averse, games
that are derivative of other, successful games will seem more and more like a
safe, sensible option. We can always rely on independent developers like
Jonathan Blow to find innovative ways to critique derivative design. The real
question is whether other developers, forced by publishers to be derivative in
some ways, will follow Yager’s example and be creative in others. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note: Language related articles like this one will usually be posted on a Friday.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/ludolinguist"><span style="font-size: large;">@ludo<span style="font-size: large;">linguist</span><b> </b></span></a> </span></span></div>
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Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-70344203920267370192013-03-14T10:48:00.000-07:002013-03-15T10:19:24.787-07:00PS3 Review: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Warning: <span style="font-size: large;">Spoilers <span style="font-size: large;">ahead </span>for Metal Gear Solid 4</span></span></b> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">PlatinumGames
was an inspired choice of developer to help Konami save <i>Metal Gear Rising</i> from
development hell. Creators of some of this generation's most revered action
games, the studio seemed an obvious fit for a hack and slash spin-off staring
the cyborg ninja, Raiden. But what have they brought to the Metal Gear series
besides a painful subtitle? Read on to find out.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Combat
is what Platinum is best known for, and this aspect of Revengeance is
compelling, if simplistic. Lacking either a block or a decent evade move,
Raiden is reliant on parries to deal with oncoming attacks. This forces
defensive play where you might have expected something more aggressive, but
works well once you get into the rhythm. Blade Mode, <i>Revengeance’s</i> take on the
ubiquitous time-slow mechanic, allows Raiden to target specific points on a
cyborg’s body for removal. This could have added an interesting, puzzly
dimension to combat, but outside of collecting 30 red arms it feels underused. Blade
Mode also allows Raiden to perform <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Z</span>andatsu</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>a precision slice that gives him the
chance to snatch a sack of blue goo from a cyborg’s body, instantly
replenishing his health and blade energy. The constant repetition of this simple
mechanic is addictive, although it would have been nice if there were a few more
animations to keep it fresh. Raiden can also use a variety of secondary
weapons, such as grenades, but while they are sometimes useful, changing between
them is such a pain that you probably won’t bother. Also unwieldy is the
upgrade system. Found buried in the codec menu, available upgrades consist of
predictable boosts to health and attack power, offering little option for true
customisation. It’s also galling that making alterations mid-game warps you
back to the last checkpoint, instantly hobbling the pace.
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgYYI_EOFPK7RkdDKiGYIVNaeYuEa42DIRC6HYTLG8aEWNYaY01_PfDowS8wJyqXX1GGDpkRanBBvd8CaKTJpGqGog_HCgU_LgHNLdTAKGLIeJwCHJFmyS5P95BxiSTvos0aapOol78Y/s1600/Revengeance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgYYI_EOFPK7RkdDKiGYIVNaeYuEa42DIRC6HYTLG8aEWNYaY01_PfDowS8wJyqXX1GGDpkRanBBvd8CaKTJpGqGog_HCgU_LgHNLdTAKGLIeJwCHJFmyS5P95BxiSTvos0aapOol78Y/s1600/Revengeance.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>One of the more subtle moments in Revengeance's delicate narrative (Picture: <a href="http://www.konami.jp/mgr/en_us/index.html">Konami</a>)</b></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Beyond
combat, there’s very little to Revengeance. Stealth is encouraged, but
inevitably thwarted by the fact that Raiden can’t <span style="font-size: large;">lie down</span>, <span style="font-size: large;">duck<span style="font-size: large;">, or even </span></span>stick <span style="font-size: large;">to cover</span>. Exploration yields little in the way of interesting collectables, and
non-fighting objectives rarely get more imaginative than ‘get to point X’. The<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>promise of Raiden’s blade being able to cut though anything also turns out to
be hot air, with <i>Revengeance’s </i>extreme linearity being enforced by
indestructible barriers that look tantalizingly sliceable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Metal
Gear games are beloved for their memorable boss fights, and while there’s
nothing here to rival The End or Psycho Mantis, it’s certainly something
Revengeance gets right. The philosophical babble is back, and the bosses are
imaginatively designed and brimming with character. The battles themselves are great
showcases for the combat system, featuring innovative uses for Blade Mode that
recall similarly tactical bouts in <i>Zelda: Skyward Sword</i>. It’s a shame that
these duels are often disrupted by the need to crowd control, breaking the
tension of a one-on-one showdown. Music during boss battles is also painful, filled
as it is with distasteful guitar solos and angsty lyrics. It’s not enough to spoil
the fights completely, but the music is an unwelcome distraction, and a world
away from the suspenseful, considered themes that soundtracked the most
memorable confrontations in previous Metal Gear games.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After
<i>Metal Gear Solid 4</i>, fans will be keen to see what Kojima’s world looks like
post-Patriots. Not much different, as it happens. <span style="font-size: large;">Private </span>Military Compan<span style="font-size: large;">ie</span>s are still commonplace, and
cyborg implants have replaced nanomachines as the cop out of choice when a daft
plot point needs explaining. Tonally and thematically, Rising is inconsistent,
but certainly as ambitious as previous Metal Gear games. The narrative draws
freely from sci-fi, dystopian fiction, and transhumanism, and towards the mid
point gets extremely dark. Unfortunately, the dialogue doesn’t afford the game’s
perverse twist on the theme of child soldiers the gravity it deserves. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Playing
<i>Revengeance</i>, you get the distinct impression that Solid Snake wouldn’t approve
of Raiden’s latest quest. Unlike previous Metal Gear games, which rewarded
no-kill playthroughs, <i>Revengeance</i> requires regular, graphic slaughter to
progress, and Raiden’s bleating that he fights for justice feels hollow by the
time he’s chopping up police officers in the third act. At one point, Raiden
begins to question his bloody mission. This injection of self-doubt hints at an
interesting narrative turn, but collapses into farce when it simply introduces Raiden’s
supercharged Ripper Mode. A wasted opportunity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Raiden
himself is the worst thing about this game. I was unconvinced at the attempt to
recast him as a badass in <i>Metal Gear Solid 4</i>, with the endless, over choreographed
fights seeming extremely try hard. If you felt the same way, there’s nothing
for you in Revengeance. Whether deflecting bullets with his blade or
nonchalantly resheathing it with his back to downed enemies, Raiden is still a
walking collection of animé tropes. Worse, though, is Quinton Flynn’s laughable
voice acting. Raiden sounded annoying in <i>Metal Gear Solid 2 </i>(“There’s a lot of
pressure on my torso!”), but I feel like that was the point. Here, Flynn is
doing a third rate David Hayter impression. Not only is this not convincing, it
makes Raiden into a charmless, fiercely unsympathetic character.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And
this really wouldn’t be a language blog if I didn’t comment on the name.
Firstly, the less obvious point of contention in the title: why ‘Rising’? What
exactly is ‘rising’ in the game? Except, that is, for the player’s ire at the
stupid subtitle. Revengeance. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Revengeance.
</i>Set aside for a moment the stupidity of combining two words with similar
meanings into one word (imagine if <i>Metal Gear Solid 3</i> was subtitled ‘Snake
Devoureater’). Not only is the ‘word’ revengeance never (to my knowledge) used
in the game, <i>Metal Gear Rising</i> is a game predominantly about the horrors of war
and child soldiers, not revenge or vengeance. So not only is the subtititle ridiculous,
it’s inaccurate. However, the subtitle sums up <i>Revengeance</i> better than I
ever could. Like its subtitle, <i>Revengeance</i> is brash and attention grabbing, but ultimately silly and lacking in
depth. While certainly worth playing if you’re a fan Platinum or Kojima
Productions, don’t expect <i>Revengeance</i> to match up to either developer’s
previous work.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">6</b>/10</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note: <span style="font-size: large;">I will usually be posting my reviews </span>on <span style="font-size: large;">a </span>Tuesday. Reviewsday Tuesday, if you will.</b></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ludolinguist"><span style="font-size: large;">@ludolinguist</span></a><b> </b></span> </span></span></div>
Ludolinguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09001938182762360663noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7250313024987941706.post-57141580847866693752013-03-13T16:20:00.000-07:002013-03-15T15:25:29.391-07:00Welcome<style>
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</style><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Welcome
to the Ludolinguist blog! Ludolinguist basically means 'linguist that
talks about games'. Linguistics is the study of languages, and <i>ludo </i>is
Latin for 'game' (Ludology is what people who take themselves just a
little too seriously call 'game studies'). I studied linguistics at
university, and have been playing video games since I was five. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">D</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">on't worry; this blog won't be filled with overly technical analyses of the dialogue in games. I don't want to be a bore for people who don't have a background in linguistics, and I won't use specialist terminology without explaining clearly what it means. Instead, what I will aim for is fun, succinct essays about language and gaming. I may occasionally post things that are only about gaming, with no link to language, but I won't ever go off in the other direction. In addition to regular articles on language and games, I will also post reviews. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Some of my articles will take an idea or observation from linguistics and apply it to a particular game or group of games. For example, I may write an article on 'code switching' (the term linguists use for people who speak multiple languages switching between them), and how games such as Assassin's Creed II use this phenomena to give a sense of authenticity. I also plan to shine a harsh light on some of the sillier video game PR out there. All too often, an obsession with empty jargon obscures the substance of announcements in the video games industry. With this in mind, look out for regular posts examining the meaning (or lack thereof) of 'Bullshit Gaming Buzzwords', as well as eviscerations of stupid press releases whenever they happen. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The plan is to post reviews on Tuesdays and mainline articles on Fridays. As well as reading the blog, you can also follow me on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/ludolinguist">@ludolinguist</a>.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Enjoy!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-Sam</span></span> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">P.S. My website was put together by Kate Walker. If you like great writing, photography and art, you should really check out her website, <a href="http://marqueelights.weebly.com/">Marquee Lights</a>.</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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