Wednesday, September 29, 2010

For the Love of Gaming: Pirates

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I have to take on another hot topic. There is a parasite leeching off the game industry, and while some may say no harm no foul or that it's a victimless crime, there is real damage being done. Here we delve into the murky dreary and falsely idolized waters of piracy, focusing mainly on games, but dabbling in other places too. (Cue sweeping Pirates of the Caribbean theme)

Piracy of games seems to be growing into a common practice, what at first was accessible to only the determined is now made easily available to the masses via torrent sites which shall go unnamed. I'll give you the cut and dry right up front so as not to beat around the bush: I think pirating games, movies and the like is wrong. Take that with a grain of salt, this is coming from a guy who won't even theater hop. Back to the subject at hand though, no matter how you try to present it pirating is stealing plain and simple.

Now then, there are two sides to this argument: the developers crying foul over lost profits and the pirates complaining about game prices and Distribution Rights Management. I'm going to tackle the Dev's side first.

The affect of piracy on Developers is similar to that of a problem the National Parks Service has. People go into these beautiful parks and they want to take something back with them, say, a rock. The problem is if everyone takes a rock eventually there will be nothing left. Many people justify this by saying that it's just one rock, what's the harm? It's the same for pirating, many people believe they are just one person downloading a game or movie and that it could hardly have any affect, but it does. Now, companies aren't going bankrupt over this, but it takes a toll.

Its such an odd relationship between Devs, publishers, and the people they make games for. It's like a parasite that slowly sucks the life out of a creature while complaining the entire time that the animal isn't accommodating enough or that its blood isn't quite the parasites taste. If you didn't catch that, the pirates are the parasite, see what I did there?

People are just so self entitled now. I've heard the argument that a person wouldn't buy a game in the first place, so the dev is not loosing a sale when they download it. Or if the games sucks then it's not worth the money. Look, we live in a very informed age when it comes to our purchases. You can find multiple reviews for almost anything on the internet, even sweet shirts. The point is with a video game you can almost always tell if it's something you're going to enjoy.

This gives birth to the opinion that if a game is well received critically but you download it and dislike it then you are justified. Honestly how self centered do you have to be to think that if the game isn't exactly what you want that you are somehow entitled to steal it. The game developers aren't making it for you alone, they have a broad audience to think about because they need to make money to continue making games. You pay for permission to play the game, and you can make a good decision, I believe in you. The internet has removed all pleas of ignorance from your case. You are either an informed customer, or an ignorant (though usually informed) thief. It's almost funny that the internet, the thing pirates thrive on, has destroyed all reasons to pirate. All the information you need to make a responsible purchase is right there in front of you.

Internet! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems

There is also the argument that piracy is required for old games, and that publishers don't get money for out of print games. This one is a bit less black and white then pirating new games. Again, the internet that you love so much has destroyed your argument. While there are games that do not exist anywhere but pirate sites, certain websites like D2D and GOG have really aided with this. You can go there and legitimately download old and out of print titles.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is gaming and movies attract, on large, immature facets of our culture. People would rather spend hours justifying their selfish actions then doing the honorable thing. What's worse is now there is a thriving culture that believes pirates are a modern day Robin Hood, standing up against the evil companies that would dare protect their investments with Distribution Rights Management. Here's the thing, if you disagree strongly with a companies DRM then don't buy the game. By downloading it illegally you're only making it worse for everyone because they will implement more severe DRM next time.

I'll leave you with one last story, something to reflect on for those still rooting for the pirates. A while back several Indie developers got together and made the awesome package known as the Humble Indie Bundle. This was a collection of 5 (later 6) amazing games. The best part was you could name your own price and on top of that give either half or all the money to charity! It was a fantastic idea and had no DRM. Unfortunately though, due to its lack of DRM the bundle was pirated. Think about that for just a moment. A pack of six games that you could literally pay just one cent for, to charity no less, was pirated.

So please stop pirating (if you are, if you aren't; Good job!) before you ruin gaming for everyone either through excessive DRM or the collapse of the industry. The sad thing is, this article probably won't do anything to sway your opinion more then likely. If you've been able to steal a persons hard work and still sleep at night there's nothing I can say to change that. Does that make you a bad person… Well let's just say in Fallout 3 you'd be getting negative Karma, and in InFamous you'd be shooting red lightning, and in Bioshock you'd be killing little girls, you monster.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I have a Dreamcast (and it's painted gold)

As a child I can think of no fonder memory than opening a new game. Alright, maybe a few, but come on I was trying to be poetic. I loved getting games because it was a new adventure and experience. The one thing that truly trumped getting a game though were the rare christmas' or birthdays when I would get a new system. Now I've owned many over the years but to receive them as gifts is just something special. I can still remember the christmas I got my Sega Genesis.

There is one I want to focus on today however, because its life was short, the end came to soon. You probably have a good idea of what I'm talking about (I even referenced it in an earlier blog) the Sega Dreamcast. A system far ahead of its time and greatly unappreciated by the masses. So lets take a trip down memory lane and through the life of Sega's last system.

When I got my Dreamcast hype was in full swing. It was the holiday season and I opened it christmas morning, with Sonic Adventure to play. I played the heck out of that game. In fact recently when my friend Jeremy picked it up we both had trouble navigating the land and figuring out what we were supposed to be doing. I don't recall having any trouble with it as a child. Still, even if it was the most frustrating game in the world nothing would have stopped me from playing it and loving it on that christmas morning.

Things went well for quite some time. I continued to get awesome games like Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure 2, Skies of Arcadia, and my favorite, Shenmue. For me Shenmue was it. It was, and still to this day is, one of the greatest games I have ever played. Games like Grand Theft Auto IV give you this pseudo sense of freedom but Shenmue just felt more authentic. Essentially in any GTA game what you have is a giant cardboard city where you can go in to certain buildings that serve a specific purpose. The city doesn't feel alive, one bar is the same as the next.

In Shenmue they managed to really make the town feel like it was alive. Sure it was much smaller than Liberty City, but that didn't matter. You could get to know the people of the town and just live every day of the main characters life as you saw fit. You even had to get a job! It's easy to see why this game turned away so many, it was far beyond its time, like the system it was made on.

I remember toward the end of the Dreamcast's life, while flipping through an official magazine looking for new games, not finding any. I wondered what was going on with the devs. Then the magazine stopped printing the next month. It was so sudden. I was still pretty young and not quite so plugged in to games and the industry so I had no idea about the fate of the Dreamcast.

To this day it bums me out that more people didn't give this awesome system a shot. Still, I supposed the market would be a bit crowded if it had survived and Sega made it to the current gen. That would mean you'd have to choose between PS3, Wii, PC, 360, or Sega's machine. Now Sega sits as a developer and publisher, making some good games, and some… just alright ones… Here's hoping Sega can stay in the fight, and regain its glory.

So I suppose what I mean by all of this is that I want to start doing some reviews of Dreamcast games and an overall critique of the system itself. My wife and I are just about settled in our apartment and I have the Dreamcast all set up. We'll see how much nostalgia has clouded my mind when it comes to these games, it'll be fun! Oh and if you were wondering about the title of this entry, yes my Dreamcast is actually gold, I spray painted it a while back and it is awesome. I'll try to post a picture eventually.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Back in my day: Video Rental Stores

You've probably heard the news by now: Blockbuster has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. I've heard many a person say they'd seen it coming, well of course you did, the writing was on the wall years ago. This is not going to be about Blockbusters corporate failings or their final desperate throws. No, this is about losing something.

We have now lost an experience: going to the video store. Much like going to the record store (or late night record shop if you're into impulsive/compulsive/insane things). One could go to the video store and browse for hours, in fact it has long since been a running joke that it's never easy to rent a movie. But just because it was "difficult" didn't mean it was a bad thing.

Sometimes you would go in knowing what you wanted and other times just to look and find something. I loved going in to a Blockbuster or Hollywood video or Super Duper Video and wandering. The box art of a movie might catch my eye, and then I would rent something that I had never even heard of before.

Yes, of course you can browse with our modern alternatives like NetFlix and RedBox but it just isn't the same. It's to early for a nostalgic look at video stores, but I can just picture myself as an old man telling my grandchildren about how we used to go to a store to borrow movies, and you could just walk around looking at all the different titles.

I suppose it's just odd for me to think that this experience I've known since I was a little kid is going to, for the most part, be gone forever. I don't mean to make it sound like such an earth shatteringly big deal, I just see it as something that a few years from now will be commented on like "hey, isn't it weird that we haven't like been to a store to rent t movie in like years" before it vanishes from memory.

Honestly I love RedBox and Netflix, I think they're great, but I'm going to miss the aimless wandering. It reminds me of a Shepard, I didn't care where I was going, because the journey is the worthier part.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Integrity for some, Money for others

I have three other articles waiting in the wings, but I had to get this out.

I visit several sites to keep up with the games industry, one of the better known is IGN. They have an amusing cast of characters that review all platforms though they tend to have a bias, I won't say for what though. I use IGN only as a means to get hard news and to get a taste of what people are saying bout games. Their reviews are… alright generally, but I would never go on that site's opinion alone. Previews and Rewind Theater are where they really shine.

That said I have found another editor to cross off my list of credible writers on that site. Here's looking at you Michael Thompson . To understand my current distain I have to take you all the way back to the year 2007, and the debut of a little game called Kane and Lynch. The Editorial Director of Gamespot.com Jeff Gerstmann gave a less than shining review to the game. Well Eidos wasn't to happy with that, as they were currently paying money hand over fist to Gamespot for advertising, and Jeff was fired. Of course Gamespot would later refute the claims that his termination was related to the review and offer other reasons as to why he was fired, but it was laden with the stench of corporate BS.

Flash forward to 2010, we have a black president, Justin Beiber is the new hot thing, and Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days just burst onto the scene… to reviews ranging from average to abismal. People did not like this game, it was over stylized, short (> 4 hours), and had buggy mechanics. This game was set to drift into the discount bin, hopefully abolish all chances of a sequel, and be forgotten. That's what I thought, until I logged on to IGN this morning.

Edgy right?... Right?

There was an article posted on the front page (You can read it here, though I suggest you don't waste your time: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/112/1123230p1.html ). The article was written by one Michael Thompson, though to be fair the bulk of it was just the words of Karsten Lund, Creative Director at IO interactive. It boils down to this, Karsten is defending his games against the bad reviews by saying that he didn't fail, it was just that no one got it. I have some bad news for you Karsten. If no one understood your point it is because you failed. Ouch, I know. If you are trying to get a point across or deliver something, anything, and your audience is left scratching their heads it is because you did a poor job in translating the message you wanted to deliver. Don't blame it on your audience.

The article is clearly an attempt to drive of sales of the dismal game, and I'm not surprised to see it on IGN with all the banners and full page ads they had for Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days. Need more proof, IGN has never done this before. They have never given a developer a rebuttal against reviews as a whole. As far as I see it, the game is already the defense of IO's credibility as a developer, and their defense wasn't up to par.

Your defense is supposed to speak for you, so when it doesn't do that you have done something wrong, not the public, not credible professional reviews, but you the developer. Even Shia Lebouf had the doodledingers to admit a lot of the crappiness of Transformers 2 and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was on his shoulders. He didn't go out whining about how the movie going audience didn't connect with his character because they didn't get what he was going for, or that his performance was revolutionary and simply beyond the average mind to comprehend.

I played the demo of Kane and Lynch 2 and I thought, "eh, it's alright." The visual style was unique but it was so much style over substance. That and the game play mechanics (ya know, cause its a game that you play) just weren't very good. I had an easier time with Dark Void, which got pretty dismal reviews as well. Honestly I bet I could pick up Kane and Lynch 2 and have an ok time for an afternoon, but to read this article… to talk about this game like it's an evil-ish-anti-hero-kill-fest Citizen Kane. No. No. No. Go back to writing reviews of Halo games please.

Also, don't say it's an acquired taste and then present that taste as being intellectual. I once saw a video on the news of a man that ate only expired rotten food, seriously, his body was acclimated to it. Guess what he said: "It's an acquired taste" why? because it tastes like crap. Just because you get used to something doesn't make it good. Remember that IO.

Your defense has failed, court is adjourned.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Simple Alpha


Recently my wife and I went to the movies. I'd been anticipating Devil due to its laughable premise and the gem of a trailer which touted that it came "From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan". Obviously it takes much more than a mind to make a movie, and while I was excited to dismiss it as mere garbage it has been turning in a stream of positive reviews. I recently found out this is probably due to the fact that it was directed by someone else, and the screen play was written by someone else. Shyamalan and another guy co-wrote the story, but over all he had very little to do with it. So since Devil stands as neither a comeback attempt or outlandish trash, I think I will wait for a rental.

Back to the main point, we ended up seeing Easy A (as was the plan all along I suppose). I had been very curious to see this, partly because it is a loose adaptation of classic literature (The Scarlet Letter) and also because I knew it had to have at least some commentary on religion due to its controversial nature.

As an adaptation it works as a modern translation. Also in a "let's not be Decaprio's Romeo and Juliet", it fully embraces that this is modern day and the movie makes overt reference to the Scarlet Letter, to the point that the main character is explaining via blog how her life is currently paralleling the book. It is a fun and funny look at how a subject so serious has changed so much and yet so little.

The lack of change comes with the religious commentary I mentioned above. I should have been more specific, I knew that the scarlet letter would have at least something to say about Christianity, and boy did it. The movie stars Amanda Bynes as an obnoxious Bible thumper who portrays a very specific "religious" stereotype.

I think there are a lot of people who will be offended by the films portrayal of Christians, but honestly, those offended should take time to pause and reflect. The sad truth is there are people out there like that, and that is the way Christians are perceived. Now one thing I really enjoyed is that while Easy A takes a tongue in cheek approach to this subject it never crosses the line into lampooning or demonizing. It showcases a classic case of the messenger being a fool (Proverbs 26:6).

Apart from that the film remains secular (and no I don't mean that as a dirty word). The wit tends to be sharp and jokes spot on, certainly better then I thought it would be. There is a good message about sacrifice and not judging others that everyone should take to heart and an ending that will make any 80's movie buff smile. This and it's all packed neatly into a relatively raunch free PG-13. So go see it, ya know, if Scott Pilgrim isn't miraculously still playing in a theater near you.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Art: The Pretentious Frontier

I am on the verge of a headsplosion. This subject is very near and dear to my heart as a student of art, but this may take a while. I am attempting to organize what is potentially pages and pages of rambling into coherent thought, so please bear with me as I tackle this…er … bear.

A subject that has recently been on everyones mind is video games as art. There's a contingent of people who have never played video games that decided to take it upon themselves to profess games cannot be art. In return the majority of people who do play games come back with the argument of "yes they are, you just don't know, shut up". In short, most just get mad instead of giving evidence as to why games are legitimately art, and an amazing and unique form to say the least.

While this rhetoric is not helpful for either side it continues none the less.

I recently found myself in an art museum in San Francisco. While browsing the halls with my wife I came upon a large canvas, I can't recall the name of the piece but it was basically just painted purple. This was right across the hall from a masterful piece showcasing Niagra falls circa 1890 in beautiful detail, oil and canvas. This led to a peculiar pondering that I never thought I would ever have: Do games even want to be considered art.

We live in a day and age where essentially anything is art. I will borrow a quote here from an excellent Pixar film, The Incredibles. Basically the villain Syndrome has created items that emulate super powers that he plans to sell to the public so that "everyone can have powers. Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super… No one will be." My bias love for Pixar aside this line is amazing. It's so true! Think of it this way: If everything is art, then nothing is art.

Art has gone through many phases and changes and we are now in what I like to call the "immature age" of art. All pretentiousness aside the fact is anything is considered art nowadays and the reason seems as simple as this: A person does something and calls it art and we have to accept it as that. It's like some people can't stand that they have no artistic talent so they make something, ANYTHING and then call it art, then whine and complain if YOU don't call it art.

There is a flip side to this as well: People who are to artistically inclined. I'm going to switch gears here from art as art to music as art, savvy? Good. I've been a musician for many years and I've met many extremely talented people. There's this pattern I noticed, some people get so good that they go full circle and become bad. They will play these incomprehensible progressions that are neither technically impressive nor pleasing to the ear. Why? The best answer I can come up with is that they just get full of themselves, but it's shocking how many times I've seen this happen in MANY different areas of art.

Another argument that recently peaked my interest was one between two friends about photography. One of my friends thought that only digital photography could be art while the other believed only classic film could be. Here's something to understand: mediums evolve. There will always be new and sometimes easier ways to express artistic talent (notice, you must have said artistic talent). Don't tell me a picture is any less striking or powerful because it was taken with a digital camera, and vice versa. Can things that are created digitally not be considered art? Is it the medium that really matters or the artist? The person behind the medium with the creative force driving the project.

The next part of the argument started when someone said Photoshop isn't art. Wow. Now thats the ignorance I'm talking about and the same ignorance that surrounds Games. Here's some simple examples of Art vs. NOT ART (in my humble opinion of course)

Modern Art Win

Modern Art Fail


Photomanipulation Win

Photoshop Win


Photoshop/manipulation Fail

Post Modern Impressionism Win

Post Modern Art Fail

Modern Sculpture Win

Modern Sculpture Fail

Art Win

Video Games as Art Win

Video Games as Art Fail

Let's look up the definition of this word people are having so much trouble with

art 1 |ärt|

noun

1 the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power : the art of the Renaissance | great art is concerned with moral imperfections | she studied art in Paris.

works produced by such skill and imagination : his collection of modern art | an exhibition of Tibetan art | [as adj. ] an art critic.

creative activity resulting in the production of paintings, drawings, or sculpture : she's good at art.

2 ( the arts) the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance : the visual arts | [in sing. ] the art of photography.

3 ( arts) subjects of study primarily concerned with the processes and products of human creativity and social life, such as languages, literature, and history (as contrasted with scientific or technical subjects) : the belief that the arts and sciences were incompatible | the Faculty of Arts.

4 a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice : the art of conversation.


When I look at that definition I have no trouble whatsoever in calling games art. They fit that to a T. Creativity, Imagination, heck, games even take it a step further by making it all interactive. Other things people are calling art, say, modern masterpieces like "My messy room" (which is literally just a persons dirty room on display in a gallery) take no effort, imagination, skill or talent. Alas though, it is all just opinion. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. It just really grinds my gears that movies can be considered art and Video Games are left by the wayside.

You might have noticed the picture I used for "Video Games as Art Win" was Ico. I chose this because I feel it is something that truly solidifies games as art. From the stunning vistas that would enrapture even the old masters, to the subtle dialogue (or lack thereof really) this game is a masterpiece. No story is shoved down your throat through exposition and cutscenes, there is no contrived romance. It is a very simple story that is touching and exciting, told almost without words but incredibly powerful.

This game was crafted with skill and love. The best thing is, there are more games like it! I don't mean carbon copies of Ico, but games that attempt to be something more then mindless fun (though as I have stated before I have no problem with that). Games are art, just like movies, just like music, just like literature, just like art. These are things that draw people in and enrich there lives. I know that is what video games have done for me, as have all the other things I listed. Now, if one of those had not really enriched my life, it wouldn't be fair for me to dismiss it as a whole. So naysayers, please calm down, and game makers; thank you.