In case you haven't noticed, I've talked about some games over and over. I need people to suggest new games to me.
I WILL play Infamous and InFamous 2, so no worries there.
While I can play any rated game, I can only play M games frequently on my 3DS or PSP. So, keep that in mind when you are suggesting games. (I have a young brother. We don't exactly want him watching the God of War cutscenes) (I did play Bioshock on my PS3, that took some time to get through since I could only play it late at night.)
I have promised to write an article about the licensing issues over "Space Marine"
I will (eventually) finish Alan Wake and Lost Odyssey. I just need to get them out of the library, again.
All games must be easy for me to access. GOG, Library, Gamestop, Virtual Console, PSN, XBL, etc. They must also need to be reasonably cheap. I don't have a lot of money.
Please drop your ideas over the weekend. I'll pick them up as soon as possible.
In case you haven't figured it out, Bioshock is one of my favorite games. My love started after reading an article about how Bioshock started as a look at Objectivism and Ayn Rynd in a self contained area. Starting off in such an analytical way, we can then look at the rest of the game through both that lens and others.
Like, what exactly makes the Little Sisters and the Splicers so creepy.
The answer is very simple:
Because while they are obviously no longer human, they are still very human. When we listen to the splicers ramble, we can hear how they are scared. How they want fame, or money. We see them wearing clothes, trying not to be killed, and being honestly worried about how they and everyone else are living. Little Sisters skip around, play, and recite nursery rhymes as they pull ADAM from corpses.
In other words, they are non visual invocations of the Uncanny Valley.
What is the Uncanny Valley, you may ask?
Basically, the closer something non realistic gets to being realistic, the more unintentionally creepy it will turn out to be. Our faces and bodies make so many little movements that we subconciously pick up on, when something looks very human but lacks the little movements, we regard it (mentally) as being creepy and wrong. This is why Pixar usually uses inhuman creatures for their storytelling, and when they do use humans it's very stylized. They need to keep from invoking the uncanny valley.
Data on Star Trek, is another deliberate invocation, but he was played by a human. Tom Hanks in "the Polar Express" is a non deliberate invocation. C3P0 deliberately misses the valley entirely.
Examples:
(I can't find anything on C-3P0)
While the Splicers and the Little Sisters do not look very human (especially the Splicers) they do ACT like very aggresive humans or very innocent humans.
As humans, we can see ourselves and our friends in the splicers and we can see siblings, cousins, the children of friends, etc. in the Little Sisters.
And this is what invokes a behavioral and vocal uncanny valley. The Little Sisters act just like our own little ones. They hold on
tight, they sing, they play, it's just the fact that they drain blood
from corpses while they have glowing yellow eyes that mark them as
inhuman.
We can see how much of it is accurate. We can hear our screaming matches with family and friends, we see our greediness, our vanity, when we're terrified. We just can't shoot fire, and their outside is as ugly as our inside can be.
And THAT is Bioshock's uncanny valley. It's not the lack of breathing, or the fish that accidentally swim through the ceiling.
It's how the player knows that they are being stalked by their internal demons, and maybe kill their inner child.
Now, to follow up on Yesterday, you may be asking WHY this is so important. Why should we care Catwoman and Poison Ivy are discussing plants? Why does it matter that Terra throws a small fit asking Celes what love is and how Terra wants to know now? How does it advance the story with all of the Femshep and Liara conversations in Mass Effect?
It's actually pretty freaking big.
Traditionally, if women are put into any media, it is to fill a "Token Female/romance" sub plot. Women, in works written by men- which is most of it- they are only there to look pretty, fall in love, and to defuse accusations of sexism.
Now, that's not ALWAYS the case. As I stated yesterday, this obviously does not apply to lesbian porn and there are great works where the use of women would be in congruent to the setting,
But, women are fully fleshed out people and pigeonholing this into the role of love interest (and that's it) opens up some VERY unpleasant implications.
That's why we need these as guidelines. It is rare to see more then one women in the main group of anything. (The Avengers had three -one was a romantic interest but had other traits outside of it. The other two did not present romantic inclinations towards anyone- but none of them talked to each other)
Men are allowed to talk to each other about issues other then women. Heck, it's practically guaranteed that there will be more then one man in anything. They will hold positions of power, they will be complex, multifaceted, and they will occasionally show emotions.
The token girl will usually be a girlfriend, if we're lucky we'll also get a mother figure. But if those two talk, then it will automatically about the main male character. It won't be about the girlfriend's job, or how they like to cook, the trip she took to Italy, or how she recently won the Pulitzer.
Think about it? While the number has gone up dramatically recently, it's still no where near enough what it needs to be. For every episode of Once Upon a Time (Where there are about twice as many regular or reoccurring female characters to male characters and NONE are limited to just the girlfriend role.) We also have a superbowl commercial for Audi that turns a teenage girl into something to fight over and celebrate when you get a black eye.
(Please don't click it, I don't want them to get the hits)
Women can not be reduced to motherhood, part of our function is to give life. But they can be reduced to being one dimension, to only supporting a man, or to be property for the man to fight over.
The Bechdel test is just a stop gap. But it's something that needs to be more present in games. We need fully fleshed out female characters to help make this world, what ever world it is in the game, to feel fuller and more connected. The easiest way to do this is to have more then one main female character and have them talk about something other then the lead man.
Having a women take the place of the lead man and having her talk to other women about other things would be even better at times.
I'm not saying women should be every position in a game. That's just as bad. But when what makes a game pass the Bechdel test is having a 30 second conversation about PLANTS, then something is up. Something that drastically needs to be fixed.
The Bechdel Test is really more of a guideline, but it is quite important. The rules are exactly as stated. There are some alterations (some rules require the women to be named. Others refuse men to be mentioned even in the abstract) but as guidelines they are vital.
Why am I saying guidelines? Because Lesbian porn automatically qualifies and (keeping with the movie theme) Movies that take place in World War II men's prison camps do not. For example, Stahlag 17. A BRILLIANT movie about a captured American soldier who is trying to find the German spy in his bunk area. While Women appear, it is for a few comedy routines and are seen through a telescope.
While games are a bit MORE likely to fit in the rules, it is still a bit hard to accomplish.
Final Fantasies? Generally they accomplish it. There are traditionally 3 female characters and with the saving of the world being something on the forefront of people's minds, they talk about getting it done. The most obvious examples are Fang and Vanille talking, since they talk a lot. InFamous 2 has Kuo and Nix, and while they often talk about Cole, the also discuss powers and how to react to situations. And when Shanoa takes the lead with Castlevania, she talks to all sorts of people about many different things, Dracula and her brother being just two options.
But, that's just three options. Sly Cooper? Nothing. There's only one main Female Character (Carmelita Fox) and she's not playable until this game. As it stands now, I don't know if she will talk to any of the female characters and - while she is quite devoted to the law- her arc also revolves around Sly Cooper himself.
Kingdom Hearts 2 does have Selphie and Kairi talk to eachother briefly, but they only talk about Sora and Riku. All other female characters do not cross paths with eachother, or if they do, they don't talk to eachother.
While Peach has her own Arcs in the Mario RPG series, independent of Mario and the other male characters, she generally does not talk to other female characters.
This will need more research, but the next time you play, keep an eye out for this. The standards are low, but how many pass does say a lot.
For the early Final Fantasies, what they lacked in processing power they made up in creativity and silliness.
For example, in the middle of Final Fantsay VI you have to act in a full 12 minutes opera on the SNES until a purple octopus tries to get revenge by dropping an anvil on you.
No, I'm not joking.
As it was on the SNES, it was revolutionary and amazing for the time, but everyone has at least some idea what an opera should sound like, so there was always the knowledge that - as amazing as this scene is- it fell flat.
Several years ago, Nobou Uemetsu started a traveling orchestra. He recomposed the songs so they could be played with a full orchestra and we could finally get a sense of what he was trying to make all those years ago.
"Maria and Draco" is ripe for that kind of remake. It had a few lines added to finish up the opera (in the original version, all the actors are knocked out and Locke adlibs until Setzer interrupts the performance) and we get a beautiful, operatic, video game music and how it should have been played all those years ago.
The show is well respected, known for crossing age and demographic lines, is lauded for it's fleshed out all female cast, and would not exist if Hasbro didn't decide to start a TV channel.
When you start a TV channel, you have two options. Make wildly original shows or show repeats. MLP fell into the "Original Shows" Category and has been a boon for Hasbro and it's marketing department.
The PS4 is speculated to be announced on February 20th.
The Xbox 720 may be announced before then.
Everytime something new comes out, there are the two instincts. Do something new, and do something old. Mario and Pokemon WILL sell systems. That is without a doubt. So will Nathan Drake. Sly Cooper still has buying power. Infamous might, but the way Infamous 2 ended who knows if it can go on to Infamous 3 with Cole.
As for Valve, Valve has Half Life 3/Half Life 2 episode 3. That is their ace in the hole. No matter what, people will buy the steambox to play this game. It's not going to be on GOG. No one really sells PC boxed games anymore, not when Valve made Digital Download so easy. If Half Life 3 comes preloaded and several months before it's released to the public on steam? Sweet Celestia, the sales would be enormous. People would buy it anyway, but that would push people on the edge over the edge.
People always crave the new and the familiar. The familiar can help them grasp something easier. It's why Mario and Luigi are used to sell Nintendo systems. People know how they work. People know they will be good games, or at the very least pretty decent.
People also crave the new. They have something in front of them, they want to know what it can do!
And that fresh blood is always critical. New creators give fresh ideas. Portal is a very original puzzle game. It started because Valve hired some new and forward thinking college students. They got a new, popular, and reasonably all ages series out of it.
If people and games just retread the same paths, they become stale. Others retread but mix it up to become more interesting. That doesn't always work out (I'm looking at you, Sonic Unleashed. Day parts were good, fun, and typical. Night parts... interesting but not as much fun)
But is important is that games try and learn. It's why Journey, Flower, and Shadow of the Colossus are well regarding, because they are unique. They take ideas and concepts that shouldn't work, and do.
It's also why Final Fantasy is having difficulty. They are trying very hard to change and keep their formula, but it is having trouble gelling. Fresh blood must come into Square Enix.
Then again, with a fresh system (A bit of Fresh Blood on it's own) we get The World Ends With You which is one of the most original and FANTASTIC games I've played.
Everything needs a new idea, a new system, so new blood. It gets creative juices flowing, allows old ideas to become fully fleshed out and realized, and let's people resee classics in a new light.
To the Steambox, WiiU, PS4 and Xbox 720 (or whatever you'll be called) ! May we have fresh games and wonderful ideas to look forward to in the future.
The last game in the Ace Attorney trilogy wrapped up a saga of love, law, and trust. (Obviously spoilers ahead)
I'm going to be focusing on the third game. The first covers so many different kinds of love and the law in the Ace Attorney series is pretty messed up.
Trust, however, is a major point in the game. Phoenix relies on trust because he may not always know what he is doing, but he knows what he is going for, an aquital.
He has trust in Maya, he has trust in Mia. He has trust in Pearl, Miles, Larry, Gumshoe, and even Franciska has worked her way into his trust.
This all comes to a head in Case 3-5 where every bond he has built up gets tested.
Miles Edgeworth is the main testee. Miles Edgeworth starts off in the first game as the rival. As the unbeatable opponent. As the man who would do ANYTHING to bring his opponent down. He turns into someone much more complicated and worthy of the trust. I've talked about this before.
Maya on her end always feels like she is never worthy of trust, but has fought and loved for the last three years so her trust can be given. In the second game, it looks like nothing can help her, she doesn't even know if she is innocent, and yet she places her trust in Phoenix and he continues his eternal trust in her.
Mia, despite being dead, has a large presence on the series because her family is a family of spirit mediums. As a result, Maya or her cousin Pearl can summon Mia when needed. As they can only have her there for limited times, Mia MUST be trusted because they can't really cross her or double check her information.
Franciska throughout the second and a bit of the third games rapidly proves herself to be -while out for revenge- also interested in justice and does not cross lines. While she may hide some information, she will never manipulate facts.
Pearl is a little girl. She can be trusted, partly because she has a horrible poker face.
Larry is an old school friend. While he may unintentionally cause trouble, he will never intentionally act malicious or lie (even if he forgets things). You may not like it, but you can trust him.
Detective Gumshoe works for the police, but he's also interested in justice being done to the right person. He helps Phoenix out when he can. Sometime's it's physical help, sometimes it's information, but he does not lie and he has been fired for helping.
This trust proves critical in the last case of game 3. Maya has disappeared, her mother has been found dead in two places at the same time. Pearl has also vanished. Phoenix fell through a burning bridge and landed in a cold and swift river known for killing people, and no one is quite sure what happened.
Edgeworth trusts Larry enough when he says Phoenix is in danger to come back to the states. (Phoenix did have a bad cold but that's it.) Phoenix trusts Edgeworth enough to have him do the work and help out in court despite how Edgeworth is a prosecutor. And when spirit mediums and psychelocks come up, Edgeworth trusts Phoenix enough to just go along with it and accept it. Gumshoe trusts everyone enough that they will do the right thing; that Edgeworth will protect the innocent, and that he will punish the guilty. Franciska is trusted to help Phoenix when everyone is missing. After all, she won't let anyone else get hurt. Mia and Pearl have critical information that they can not reveal right away. They are trusted when they appear that their witholding was not malicious or deliberate, and they know the truth.
If any of this was doubted, if anyone had lied. If anyone was not worthy of the trust they were placed with when studying the case, then Maya would have been found guilty of matricide, the manipulator would have had the last laugh, and the killer would not have found his redemption. (And, yes, that sentence makes sense in context.)
I need to replay this level again. The trust is heartbreaking and I'm lacking details. Though, you all should have played this game through before! It's worth it.
If you watch Doctor Who, the idea of "You can't change history" has popped up.
If youtube cooperated, I would show you that.
However, the fact remains that games do frequently rewrite history when they take place in the real world. Let's look at Bioshock Infinite and their new trailer which has led me to this post.
Yes, I'm a sucker for Bioshock. Anyway...
Any search in the history books will reveal that while the world's fair did happen, Columbia was not involved. The Boxer rebellion did happen (it was a revolt in China against the British, Chinese Christians and other foreigners and foreign powers.) but it ended in 1901 with an alliance of western nations defeating the imperial Chinese army and taking over Beijing. It's view over history is rather complicated so we're leaving it there. However, China was very much NOT bombed in the original run.
Why do companies change the past for their stories?
Partly because it makes it easier to set in an alternate continuity. We know that Columbia didn't actually bomb the Boxer Rebellion. We know that the US won the American Revolution. We know that King Henry the Eighth created Anglican Protestantism in order to divorce his wife. These are very much facts. So when something significant changes, we take it not only as an "Alternate Universe" but because something is wrong. This is something we know is false but presented to us as true.
Bioshock Infinite had hinted at it previously.
Seeing "Revenge of the Jedi" is quite a shock.. Return of the Jedi part of our culture.
Most video games present an alternate future. It's usually a dystopian since utopian futures can get boring for a game. Fallout can be considered the main Dystopian future game that takes place in our timeline. In Fallout, a nuclear war is started over the lack of non renewable resources. In the end, civilization collapses, humanity is hanging on by shreds, and most of the rest of the world is instead heavily mutated from the nuclear fallout. I have the game on my GOG account so I'll have to play it sometime and then give more details.
An argument can be made for Command and Conquer, but it seems to heavily involve timetravel so that's both a past and future game. Again, something I need to play. According to Wikipedia, it's set in the future of an alternate timeline where Albert Einstein went back in time to kill Hitler which then led to an unchecked Soviet expansion in the 1950's.
But while Bioshock Infinite is the most obvious example, there are others. Gunparade March, Iron Storm,Resistance, and Enigma: Rising Tide are among others. (according to Wikipedia. I will admit I've only heard of Resistance.)
Gunparade is about life when Aliens invade before the end of World War II. (The historical difference should be obvious).
Iron Storm takes place in 1964 in the fiftieth year of World War I. In this world, (Looks over history) Okay, long story short a Russian General was NOT defeated and instead is trying to make a Russian/Mongolian empire and the war depends on the allied nations stock market. I need to learn more about World War I.
Resistance is again Aliens invading, but this time it's during World War I.
Enigma also involves World War I, but with the Lusitania never sinking. As a result, the US does not enter World War I so Germany takes over Britain and France.
Wars, especially the World Wars, have a dramatic effect on history and the World Wars are the most dramatic wars in recent memory. This is probably why when it comes to alternate histories, these are the defaults. Even if we don't know all the details (glares at Iron Storm) we do know that things did not end up that way.
But, no matter the reason, an alternate history gives weight to the story. We want to fix it, we want to get back to "our" history. It gives the story writers a freedom while not explaining everything and still giving it weight. The writers get to explore what could have happened if something changed. So much of history depends on near misses and oversights. What if things HADN'T come to pass. What if Amelia Earhart wasn't the first woman to fly solo. What if King Henry had stayed married to Catherine of Aragon? What if Disney stayed with Oswald?
That still doesn't mean the game will be good, but it does make it a bit more interesting.
