Back to Life
(image from the UK cover)
It took me a little longer to get back into the swing of life after getting back from the forest (and i certainly did not work as hard as some!). I have spent the last few days trying to get back into life in the big city, and it has definitely been challenging.
I liked having my little canvas cabin in the woods, I liked having my meals catered, I liked the simplicity of working all day, going to sleep and doing it all over again. Now, it has all gone back to normal and dealing with the mundanity of life bores me to unconsciousness. Traffic makes me want to doze off almost immediately. Where the hell do all these people come from?
Here’s what I have been up to. Don’t judge me.
1. I have been reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. When I was visiting San Fransisco, I walked by a window advertising a signing by Cory. I am a huge fan. He is one of the editors of Boing Boing and one of the brightest minds in science fiction. But alas, the signing was going to be while I was at LIB. The sweet people at the shop offered to send it to me when he came.
Because Cory is the super-coolest writer ever, amd he believes obscurity is a bigger problem than piracy, you can also download the book for free at http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
“To Spaceman, Live Free” the inscription read when I got home. The book is incredible. It is a young adult novel, his first foray into that realm. It is basically a novelized manual for how to beat homeland security at their own game for young people. I would say that young adults like us should read it too. I am seriously considering doing an online companion site for Little Brother, a resource for the tech and countermeasures taught in the book.
2. My dad had a birthday the other day. I can’t believe that my dad is 60. He doesn’t look it, at all. It is always this great check on ourselves to note how long the years really can be. I deeply love my dad. He’s such a good guy.
3. I stayed away from the sugar and the alcohol at LIB and am recommitting to hitting the gym 3 time a week at minimum again. My body image has been shifting in the last few weeks, and I am liking what I am seeing. It is true, I am one sexy mothafucka.
I am also recommitting to getting content on this blog every godsdamn day. I miss blogging, I am back.
4. I registered a theme camp this year: Voodoo Bistro. Camping and Voodoo. Limited capacity. No slackers and no big art. We shall see if the BORG approves it. http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?image=layout1bs1.jpg
5. Wolfie, ever the pusher, has been hounding me for weeks to start in his little World of Warcraft cult. “Come over,” he says, “we’ll have a few laughs, kill a few monsters and take their stuff” he says. This week, I caved and played. I am so scared, because it is so much fun.
There is deep social meaning in this. It is an incredibly well designed game. I can’t help but think that these will be the new secure chat rooms.
6. My flip video camera rules. I got some great footage out at LIB. I want to cut some of it together, but am daunted by the quicktime-imovie thing. It is just so many steps. A video monkey who can help me on this ill win my eternal gratitude and a nice dinner or lunch. Please help me.
7. Oh yes, I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the other night. I was impressed. I thought there were some really cool references to some stuff that I am really into like multidimensional thinking, area 51, and forbidden archeology. AND it is a genre action film, thought best of as a pulp novel brought to life. Go into it expecting unbelievable two fisted tales, and you will get what you paid for.
Ultra-violence
So, it is official. I am desensitized to violence. There is little violence that will shock me. I have been playing these games on my 360 lately (and not even the most violent one: GTA IV
So I have been looking for the pattern and reason
Viking: Battle for Asgard
- You play a bloodthirsty viking warrior brought back from the dead by the goddess Freyja. You brutally wage war across Midgard, chopping the monsters of Hel’s Legion into little bits along the way. You slay champions and giants. Ancient dragons are your allies. You find and use Mjolinir, Thor’s Hammer. The game was spectacularly beautiful and really fun. The killing, the constant killing, affected me, though. It got repetitive. It hardened me into a cold viking killing machine.
- You play a bloodthirsty viking warrior brought back from the dead by the goddess Freyja. You brutally wage war across Midgard, chopping the monsters of Hel’s Legion into little bits along the way. You slay champions and giants. Ancient dragons are your allies. You find and use Mjolinir, Thor’s Hammer. The game was spectacularly beautiful and really fun. The killing, the constant killing, affected me, though. It got repetitive. It hardened me into a cold viking killing machine.
Frontlines: Fuel of War: The year is 2024, and you are a soldier with the Western Coalition after all of the fuel has all but run out. You pilot massive tanks and helicopters to fight for what little resources are left. The gameplay is awesome, and death has little consequence. When you die, you just redeploy, as a fresh new soldier. This is a convention I saw in the Battlefront games. Interestingly enough, that kind of total lack of fear from death is useful. I have found myself really looking at the life or death consequences of my own life and my own choices. The possible future presented in Frontlines has also had me really look at my contribution to this kind of post peak oil scenario. I am excited to see how this game will play out.
: The year is 2024, and you are a soldier with the Western Coalition after all of the fuel has all but run out. You pilot massive tanks and helicopters to fight for what little resources are left. The gameplay is awesome, and death has little consequence. When you die, you just redeploy, as a fresh new soldier. This is a convention I saw in the Battlefront games. Interestingly enough, that kind of total lack of fear from death is useful. I have found myself really looking at the life or death consequences of my own life and my own choices. The possible future presented in Frontlines has also had me really look at my contribution to this kind of post peak oil scenario. I am excited to see how this game will play out.
Burnout Paradise: The Burnout series is well known for crashing. It is a game of road rage, pure and simple. In this version, though, EA Games has made a massive multi player world for people to dwell inside of. You start off with a junker, and you drive around Paradise City, recklessly, collecting prize money for running other cars off the road and causing multiple collisions. Of all violent games, this is by far the most dangerous. The car crashes that I cause and am a part of would kill hundreds of people. And yet, like sweet sweet candy, I just want more. Just one more race. I can catch that dude who cut me off. I can launch my car off the freeway construction and hit that billboard! I guess the upside is that I drive much more sensibly in real life when I am immersing myself in Burnout. This game really is vast and gorgeous. I really enjoy it.
: The Burnout series is well known for crashing. It is a game of road rage, pure and simple. In this version, though, EA Games has made a massive multi player world for people to dwell inside of. You start off with a junker, and you drive around Paradise City, recklessly, collecting prize money for running other cars off the road and causing multiple collisions. Of all violent games, this is by far the most dangerous. The car crashes that I cause and am a part of would kill hundreds of people. And yet, like sweet sweet candy, I just want more. Just one more race. I can catch that dude who cut me off. I can launch my car off the freeway construction and hit that billboard! I guess the upside is that I drive much more sensibly in real life when I am immersing myself in Burnout. This game really is vast and gorgeous. I really enjoy it.
The Club>- The shaky premise of this Sega title is simple. There is an ultra secret organization called the Club that organizes underground blood-sports through dangerous areas filled with gunmen. You play as one of eight outsiders dropped into a deadly game. Think Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, only everyone wields guns. This game’s violence, too, is without consequence. Where do all these thugs armed with uzis and minguns come from? As I played through the game once on Casual (an interesting descriptor, for sure) I must have brutally murdered a few hundred guys. You are scored on how stylishly you kill these people, so explosions and head shots are preferred. I just kept thinking about these guys’ worlds and what on earth would make this kind of game worth it for them, you know? It is a crazy game.
>- The shaky premise of this Sega title is simple. There is an ultra secret organization called the Club that organizes underground blood-sports through dangerous areas filled with gunmen. You play as one of eight outsiders dropped into a deadly game. Think Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, only everyone wields guns. This game’s violence, too, is without consequence. Where do all these thugs armed with uzis and minguns come from? As I played through the game once on Casual (an interesting descriptor, for sure) I must have brutally murdered a few hundred guys. You are scored on how stylishly you kill these people, so explosions and head shots are preferred. I just kept thinking about these guys’ worlds and what on earth would make this kind of game worth it for them, you know? It is a crazy game. What is the lesson in this one? I don’t know. The medium and harder settings are really challenging. But there is an unlocked setting called “Real” perhaps in that setting, one bullet can kill or maim you, the rivals are fighting for their own lives and you cry when you kill.
Assassin’s Creed- I played through this game a couple of months ago. There was a writers strike on, which meant no work and no good TV, so…
- I played through this game a couple of months ago. There was a writers strike on, which meant no work and no good TV, so… I really wasn’t all that excited about this game when I first started hearing about it. I guess I really didn’t know all that much about it when I was compelled, yes compelled to pick it up a few weeks back. I had a gift card from Best Buy. I picked up AC and the messenger pad for the Xbox 360 controller (a fine bit of equipment, but that is another story).
You play Altair, a journeyman assassin in the order of assassins. The story is spectacular and really well done. Again, it is a vast world for you to explore. An Assassin (a variation of the word Hashasin, meaning a user of hash) in a historic middle east kills for political reasons. It is said that one death of a leader could save thousands. The Old Man of the Mountain had infiltrators in every kingdom and they could get beyond all bodyguards and soldiers. All of that is pretty close to the history I have read of this time. In the game, you play one of these acrobatic physical adepts as you leap from rooftop to rooftop, seeking your assassination prey, helping the innocent of the city, and shadowing corrupt officials seeking to lay siege to the cities. You play a good guy! This game reminded me so much of all the reading I did on the Templars and the old Christian world. It took me back. There is also a B story of his descendant in the modern age, accessing genetic memories of being an assassin. Brilliant game design. I am looking forward to the sequel.
So what is my lesson from these games? I think I am still learning. What Lessons does GTA IV hold? Oh dear gods…
I Just Don’t Get It: GTA IV
The media is so fricking excited about GTA IV (Grand Theft Auto IV). It’s metacritic.com score is 99 out of 100! How is that even possible? I have no desire to play this game at all.
It’s a game about crime. You can get and kill hookers in the game. You can shoot cops and steal fast cars…okay. I just don’t get the draw.
I love games. I have since I first played that old Atari 2600 that my dad (who I can see now was a tech geek just like me) brought home when I was very young. I think the Xbox 360 is an incredible platform and there is a lot of incredible content for it. In fact, just this last week my gamerscore reached 10,000. Now, if you are a 360 owner that might have a little significance. But otherwise, it’s an arbitrary number of false achievement. Let’s just leave it at I am a serious gamer. I am usually open to playing almost anything.
I am totally stumped by the GTA hype. I hear it has a great story. I hear it has the most realistic alternate reality city ever created. I even hear that the main character, Niko, has remorse for his hyper-violence. But what is the “why” of this game?
I like games about heroes battling the darkness. I like games that enliven and bring the magical realm to the world. Give me unicorns and faerie dust any day.
This game scares me just a little.
Introduction
I am a gamer. I have been since I first got in front of a computer. I played NES, and Genesis and SNES and everything in between then and now. I am an XBOX 360 enthusiast now.
But I want to make something very clear. I am by no means a hardcore gamer. I play regularly, yes. But, I am not hyper-competive, I don’t play until dawn anymore. I like Xbox Live, but do not play many games against people. I would say I have an average skill level. I am a softcore gamer.
I also have a very full life outside of my 360. I play tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve been playing for years. I love comics and movies and would consider myself a pretty serious geek when it comes to that stuff, too. I also throw underground parties in the LA area.
My purpose for this blog is to open up the converstaion for the soft core gamer. I want to create a place where people can get straight and realstic information on games and game culture. Let’s see what unfolds.
spaceman23
