Just finished Call of Duty 4 after months of procrastination. All's that left HL2 + its episodes, Mafia, Freedom Fighters, Bioshock, Crysis, Mass Effect...
Plus the Witcher: Enchanced coming out Sept 16/19.
So many games. So little time =(
When Alan Moore wrote the Watchmen in 1986/87, it was not only an exercise to explore the 'dynamics of a post-Hiroshima world', but also an attempt to prove that comics, then widely considered to be a form of low-brow art, was capable of dealing and portraying complex themes.
It was a wildly successful attempt; the Watchmen made graphic novels a serious form of literary art, winning a Hugo Award and landing a spot on Time's 100 Greatest English Language Novels from 1923 to Present. It proved that graphic novels as a medium was not only able to get across a mature plot, but show subtle nuances that was unique to it. Just like books will always be different from film, the Watchmen created a line that set comics into a medium deserving proper consideration, with its own singular literary merits.
There are many videogames that have been praised for witty characterization, engaging storytelling, visceral action and visuals. But the problem is, that's not the point. Books can do witty characterization, films can do visceral visuals, and even graphic novels can fuse them into a grand work. Having a fantastic game within the current paradigm of artistic expressions isn't enough. Moore's Watchmen was a feat simply because it tore down the limits of what was believed possible, and pushed the boundaries into a place that only comics as a medium could reach.
What videogames need isn't a game that is great by the current gaming/artistic/literary standards. What they need is something that pushes the boundaries, uncovering new places that can explore the unique nature of videogames as a proper medium. Instead of trying to emulate past literary greatness videogames should examine themes, stories through their own eyes, not a mash of narration and cinematics.
Lets hope there's a Watchmen for videogames to make them an accredited artistic form and allowing them more freedom and respect to pursue the more interesting, varied and less commercial ideas that dominate the industry now.
Writing for the sake of a semi-convincing argument.
I should be writing how my life is the last a lot of months have been, but that's ridiculously boring even to myself not to say my non-existent readers, so I'll skip that and go to some philosophically/morally complex expository that can illuminate some sort of truth I've gleaned in my journey through life.
Or not. I don't really know what to write really. Other than the fact that what I'm typing now makes me sound like a really stuffy guy when I'm not. Or fifteen minutes ago where I would have been saying how BLEEDING EYES AND EARS ugly Bonnie Wright is. One hour ago how pretty Summer Glau is. Yesterday how Johnny Depp is rumored to star as the Riddler in the next Batman movie. A week ago raving how STUPENDOUS and STELLAR Alan Moore's Watchmen is. A month before screaming and kicking and completely and totally in stupidfied AWE of The Dark Knight. 2 months back how my posting is really kickass. And more than 8 months ago how I was in an almost transcendental admiration having finished Portal.
No, nothing much to say now.
Now listening to "Iron Man", The Cardigans.
Am waiting for my father to FUCKING GO TO BED so I can play Portal in peace. It's 1:38AM and I've been waiting for more than ONE FUCKING HOUR and it's pretty much pissing me off
NEED TO CALM DOWN BEFORE I PLAY MY GAME GO TO BED FOR FUCK'S SAKE
Grr.
Just bought Mafia. Taking ridiculously long to install. It's been a long time since I installed games from 3 cds.
TOO LONG THE WAIT
Sometimes Usually Digital Life's reviews are retarded. Like the most recent one on Hellgate London. "Beautiful 3d graphics" indeed they say - totally untrue. 3d graphics are technically complex, but just like how 3d art doesn't mean it's better than 2d art applies here as well.
Hellgate is a ugly game. When I say ugly, I don't just mean visually. Visually H:L is drab and bland. Post-apocalyptic landscapes are bleak, but being bleak has a certain atmosphere of hopeless and doom, which really isn't the same as painting everything in greys and muted colours and hoping for the best.
Twice I went into a dilapidated ruin of a building. Apparently Londeners in H:L have extremely common taste in wallpaper and carpeting and even personal effects (or lack thereof). Yes I'm sure there are two identical buildings in London.
Where are the personal effects? The little remnants of the lives that once inhabited there? Where's the little details like a small photo of a family, different broken furnitures, beds, books, diaries, paintings, bags, clothes, etc? Huge things like computers, the tv, or even antiques? A lack of human life on the topside doesn't mean every single thing that pointed to an existence of personal, unique lives goes missing at the same time. What ever sense of hopelessness/bleakness you are trying to convey immediately disappears simply because there isn't anything there for the player to care about.
Look at Bioshock for the an example of what carefully planned details can really do to a game's atmosphere. Even look at Diablo's charmingly despondent dungeons and lairs to see how a game can achieve this with randomly generated maps.
Hellgate London, as far as the demo goes, is a disappointment in terms of practically everything else except gameplay. And if I were to buy a game based on gameplay, I'll stick to Titan Quest or buy Unreal 3, thanks.
Now listening to: "Lonely Souls" unkle
They appeared as a shimmering mass, blinking just at the edge of the horizon. I looked at the sight idly, my eyes half parted in the stifling desert heat, and somewhere along the way my eyes closed, and I found myself awakened by startled gasps and excited chatters.
I looked at bleary world, where everything seemed to be a messy palette of smudged colors. I turned - there was a small crack in my shoulder - blinked and my vision cleared, and before me I saw a great looming tower, white and magnificent, stretching far to my left and to my right. I found my self standing, my neck bent as I looked upwards, squinting, following the white sight to a huge turbine, spinning languidly in the hot wind.
Then I whirled around, slowly, and saw thousands of white, gleaming towers, all spread before me, spinning with a dull swish and swish, rising above the sands like sinking masts above a yellow sea.
