Saturday 1 January 2777

Flat Life - Animated Pilot Episode

NOTE: Changed post date to keep at the top of the blog for the foreseeable future.

Here is the You Tube version -



You can see the Google Video version here.

Monday 23 April 2012

My Mass Effect 3 Dissertation



Mass Effect is by far my favorite game series of all time. In fact I think it is arguably the most important video game series of all time.

I recently finished the third game, the end of a trilogy. It was sublime, however the ending is very unusual. It is either a flawed piece of utter genius, or one of the worst ending to a brilliant piece of science-fiction ever seen.

It's very controversial. I'm convinced they tried to pull off an amazing and clever twist, but it seems they were too subtle and many fans refuse to be convinced that is what they were doing.

Anyway I wrote a 10,000 word article examining the controversy. If you are interested, have a read -


INDOCTRINATION: The Definitive Guide to the Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy


Wednesday 4 January 2012

My Top 10 Games of 2011

It's been a while since I posted, but I thought this should go up. We are at work still on our secret project. Hopefully things will move a little faster this year.

I stole this from IGN ;) 
In reverse order with comment:-



10. F.E.A.R. 3

My favorite FPS of the year. Steals the spot from Crysis 2 because I hated the later mission in C2, fighting the aliens was more frustrating than fun and killed an otherwise excellent game. Fear 3 is second most overlooked or unfairly criticized game of the year in my opinion (see #3 for the most). For me this is actually the best entry in the series, surpassing the flaws of the first games while maintaining what made them great. Which was the unique slow time combat and smart AI. Excellent single player combat with much more variety than past games and other FPS's, great co-op and a unique, varied and superb multiplayer. Also the ability to replay the whole game as the brother (or play as him in co-op), with different skills including the ability to possess enemies and you really have 2 games in one. Add to the mix the fact that the missions are separated into chapters that encourage repeat play for improved performance and you have a game that really suits my tastes.



9. Dead Island

I am an RPG fan (as this list will attest). I am also a big fan of Zombie games. So when you take Fallout and breed it with Left 4 Dead you have immediately gotten my interest. While the game was a bit rough around the edges in places and the later area's less interesting than the early ones (due to being too confined), the fact remains that this game is superb in single and co-op and above all the best zombie game of the year. Also nailing first person melee combat with the "analogue controls" is quite a feat, even if they had it turned off by default and had it hid away in the options.



8. LA Noire

After the facial animations of this game every other game seems stiff and unrealistic. I love me an adventure game and am partial to a good procedural. While the post homicide missions trial off a little, the game is such a unique experience that it really stands out as a truly great game. And one I know I will return to over the years.



7. Driver: San Francisco

Finally reflections rewards the patience of fans of the original game and delivers a worthy sequel. The car handling is dead on perfect for me and recreates classic car chase movies with ease. The bizarre body hopping storyline actually adds to the game with a great new mechanic that is so out of left field that it is shocking that it works while not betraying the series roots at the same time. I am however disappointed that the original Survival Mode did not make the cut, and that the Film Director mode is a little janky and limited when compared to the first game.



6. Dark Souls

Intensely punishing and immensely rewarding. A game I could play for years. A perfect blend of Zelda-like exploration and sublime combat. My only complaint is that I simply don't have the time to play it to the degree it deserves, and that it does require a little more grinding than I would like.



5. Saints Row the Third

What the hell is this doing on my list? A dark horse! While I was fond of the first game as the first open world GTA-like game on next gen consoles. I never played more than an hour of the second and my patience with the series' sophomoric humour was pretty much worn thin. However my disappointment at how dry the world of GTAIV had become, and by extension the lack of zany fun of GTA 3 and Vice City in that game did lead me to want to give SR3 a shot. And boy am I glad that I did because this game is INSANE. The humour that just did not quite work in the last games is spot on here. Everything is taken to such and extreme and is so self aware that it works. The whole game is turned up to 11 from start to finish (not that I have had time to finish it yet). It is quite honestly the most fun I have had playing an open world "GTA-like" game since Vice City. Funny as hell and crazy as shit. Playing it is almost like dropping acid, you can barely believe what is happening on screen moment to moment. And like I said, so self aware and self depricating that it is brilliant. To quote the game "Ultra-post-modernism... I LOVE IT!".



4. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The closest thing to come out this year to the greatest game ever made, Mass Effect 2 (unless you count the release of Mass Effect 2 on PS3). I love the art style of DE, the combat is spot on and the stealth is as good as any stealth game I can think of. The openness with which you can approach any given situation is brilliant. My biggest problems with DEHR are the areas where it falls short of Mass Effect 2. The lack of real character development, the lack of any feeling of connection with other characters, the very limited effect your choices actually have on the world, the boss battles were just not good and the different endings boiling down the a simple selection of 5 choices is very disappointing. But all those issue's (besides the boss battles and final choice) are not so much large faults of the game as they are area's where it fails to equal the quality of Mass Effect 2. Everything else about the game is better than other games and more suited to my tastes. And the simple fact is that I had more fun playing this game than all but 3 other games this year.



3. Dragon Age 2

This one bares mixed feelings for me. In many ways Dragon Age 2 is inferior to its predecessor. The scope of the story is much smaller, the reusing of the same areas over and over is almost unforgivable and overall in comparison to the first game it feels kinda rushed. All reasons this game took a lot of flak in the press. However I feel like concentrating on its flaws does a great disservice to how much is great about this game. To start with in true Bioware fashion the characters are so incredibly charming that I just loved every second of the 70+ hours I spent playing this game. Also the combat is massively improved over the first game. Nobody does relationships like Bioware, and by the end of the game I was completely smitten by Merrill the naive blood magic using Elf. The games narrator, Varric the dwarf with a knack for storytelling and exaggeration is one of the greatest video game characters of all time. The superb way Bioware develops character relationships with dialogue meant that by the end of the game I really felt a kinship with these characters. Really felt like I knew them and cared for them. Even more so than the first Dragon Age and possibly more so than Mass Effect 2 too. And all flaws aside, that is a massive achievement.

2. Portal 2
Sheer and utter brilliance in every aspect. The funniest game of the year, the smartest game of the year and the most unique game of the year. I love a good puzzle game, but there are so few truly great ones. Portal 2 is not only a great puzzle game, but a great action game, a great story driven sci-fi game and a great co-op game to boot. The impeccable voice acting from Steve Merchant, J. K. Simmons and Ellen McLain really is the icing that completes this cake (pun intended). Also I would go as far as to say this is the ONLY "perfect" game on my list. It simply has no flaws at all. None.



1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Immense in scale, sublime in execution. No other game transports you to another world and then lets you just do what you want. You can get lost in the world of Skyrim for weeks. Every nook and cranny is so lovingly modeled that exploring is a zen like experience. Or it would be were the world not filled with horrible things that want to kill you. The combat while not perfect is vastly improved over past entries and good enough to really enjoy the character build you create. The way the game has been designed so that it gently nudges you towards the good stuff that you may have missed in ways that are so seamless and the strings are so invisible that it feels like magic. Every "side" quest is as well crafted as any other games "main quests" And I put those in quotation marks because Skyrim is not a game about completing the main quest and doing some side quests along the way. It is a true & RPG you create a characters and the LIVE in this world. What are considered "main" and what is "side" quests is irrelevant. They are just experiences for you character to have in this world. So much so that when the "main" quest ends the game continues just the same way it does when you complete a "side" quest. You simply don't play Skyrim to "complete" it, you play it to experience it.

I should also note that while Mass Effect 2 came out for PS3 in 2011 I felt that it should not be included in my list as it was a 2010 360 release. But needless to say if I did include it, it would be number 1 by a long shot.

That list again.
  1. Skyrim 
  2. Portal 2 
  3. Dragon Age 2 
  4. Deus Ex Human Revolution 
  5. Saints Row the Third 
  6. Dark Souls 
  7. Driver SF 
  8. LA Noire 
  9. Dead Island 
  10. Fear 3 
Honorable mentions

Goldeneye Reloaded
Back to the Future: The Game
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon

Games of 2011 that might deserve to be on my list but I never actually played. Hopefully I will get to most of them in 2012. These are written in order of how much I want to play them

The Witcher 2
Shadows of the Damned
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Uncharted 3
Gears of War 3
Resistance 3
Catherine
Rage
Orc’s Must Die
Warhammer: Space Marine
Batman Arkham City
Dead Space 2
Bulletstorm

Monday 4 April 2011

Holy Fuck!

Is that what I think it is? The final Flat Life strip? Concluding the Spaced Out story arc and probably the final strip ever?

Yes, and to be honest Dan sent me this months ago and I kept forgetting about it. My bad.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed despite the sometimes very long delays between strips. We hope to announce some exciting new projects at some point in the future.

Peace

Wednesday 26 May 2010

Lost - The ending that failed.

As I am sure you are all aware Lost aired it's final episode this week. There have been many mixed reactions, and I feel the need to vent my own disappointments.

Before I start I do not want to waste time debating what the ending was supposed to mean. I stumbled upon this explanation from someone claiming to be a member of Bad Robot (the production company that made the show). And from my own knowledge of the show I am in no doubt the person writing it was someone with direct knowledge of the creators/writers intent. So before reading the rest of my post I suggest you read this -

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=6529463&postcount=3036


After reading this, I felt a little better about the ending. While it didn't actually explain anything plot related that I did not already understand, it did clarify that the ending was intended from the start and that it was not supposed to be as religious in nature as it came off. Before then I had the distinct feeling they just created a get-out-of-answering-the-big-questions ending while half-way through writing the last season. 

Because let's face it, the limbo-alt-verse meet up ending could have taken place at the end of season one. Or it could have been the ending to 20 other shows (Quantum Leap, Twin Peaks, The X-Files etc.), it essentially had no relevance to any of the events that took place on the island. The fact that these characters meet up again in the after-life really has nothing to do with the island. Like AT ALL!

It also served to undermine a whole bunch of previous plot elements that now appear to have been red-herrings.

What it did serve to do was give the audience some closure, on the characters at least. Something that The Sopranos failed to do for example. 

However it does not change that the show failed to deliver on the core reason most of us were watching, answers to the mysteries! Now I don't care what the writers say about it being the show actually being "all about the characters", because I'm sorry that is bullshit and we all know it! We were not tuning in each week to find out if Kate chose Jack or Sawyer or any other soap opera-esque character development for that matter. We were tuning in to find out what the island was, what the hatch was, what the numbers were all about etc. etc. Sure I cared for these characters, but I was watching the show for the mysterious. And I have little doubt that is why everyone at least started watching the show. Our next day "water-cooler" discussions about the last nights episode were not about character development, but island mysteries. 

And for the main question, "what is the island?". They never even attempted to answer it. So it "maintains the balance of good and evil in the world" "someone from Bad Robot" says, AND HOW THE FUCK DOES IT DO THAT?! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY WHY!?!?!? Keeping a plug in a hole is hardly a sufficient method of maintaining the balance of good/evil! 

And of course the other (and probably bigger) major failure for me was the needlessly over done Judea-Christian religious over-tones of the last scene. Making the non-denominational church MORE non-denominational would have helped, or not even having it in a church at all. That alone pretty much guaranteed the disappointment of all science-fiction fans and non-christians. It's clear to me that they meant to transcend any particular religion, but the church was far too Christian looking. Especially with the angels standing at each side of the doors of light.

Regarding that scene this is what "Someone from Bad Robot" had to say about the writers intent :-

"The conceit that the writers created, basing it off these religious philosophies*, was that as a group, the Lostaways subconsciously created this "sideways" world where they exist in purgatory until they are "awakened" and find one another. Once they all find one another, they can then move on and move forward. In essence, this is the show's concept of the afterlife. According to the show, everyone creates their own "Sideways" purgatory with their "soulmates" throughout their lives and exist there until they all move on together. That's a beautiful notion. Even if you aren't religious or even spirtual, the idea that we live AND die together is deeply profound and moving."

* This speaks to  the biggest issue I take with the ending. Elsewhere he says the show was ultimately about science Vs faith and that faith won. However philosophy even a religious one (see Buddhism and Taoism, most other religious don't have a philosophy, they have dogma's) is based on logic and therefore falls to the side of science. So if the whole shows main intent is to explore philosophical ideas (one of the main reasons I loved the show by the way) it is a betrayal to that intent to decide faith beats science. Because faith (in the context of a battle with science at least) is believing without evidence or in the face of contradictory evidence. Which is the opposite of philosophy.

Let's take a look at the dictionary definition of "philosophy" -

philosophy
the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline.

The definition is almost identical to the definition of science itself! The only difference with philosophy and science is science seeks knowledge via the material world through experimentation and philosophy seeks to understand through logic and intelectual analysis. But both seek truth from direct knowledge! In truth the whole Science VS. Faith is actually Science/Philosophy Vs. Faith.

It seems to me that the show writers failed to actually explore and/or understand philosophy itself.

While it's true that often people misuse the word in the context of religion, (ie. a Christian might say "my religious philosophy is derived from the ten commandments"), the fact remains that true philosophy is derived from what we can KNOW and what can be derived from intelectual analysis. Which is of course antithetical to FAITH.

The question of Science/philosophy Vs Faith (or knowledge vs faith as a more accurate description) is far too often muddled up with a false belief that those that choose Science cannot have chosen a spiritual answer. I take great issue with this as a science loving Buddhist. However I will defer to another great man of science to make my point on this, Albert Einstein -


Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.
and:
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.

So the final message of the show seems to be one that I passionately disagree with, that is that the ultimate questions can never be answered. In my opinion that is a defeatist attitude of those that have given up the search. If philosophy proves anything, it is that the answers to the ultimate questions are always within our grasps, although when we are finally able wrap our minds around them, trying to explain them to others can be akin to trying to hold onto water with your fist. In this regards Lost can almost be forgiven in it's inability to resolve the greatest ideas from philosophy. However I feel they really didn't try with the ending they gave us.

In the end I still like the show, and I enjoyed the ride, and for the most part the show explored philosophical ideas in a manner that was true to the ideals of philosophy, it avoided religious dogma and engaged people in questions that few shows succeed to even approach. But in my opinion the ending was bumbled in such a manner that it betrayed the ideals the show seemed to hold onto for so long. And that is why I feel the ending was not only a let down, but ultimately a failure.

-----------------

This is also good article going over some of the major plot holes and clears up some of what was answered to a certain degree and what wasn't -

Monday 12 April 2010

Perspective - The pale blue dot

UPDATED: Fixed the link as it was removed for some reason. Also added a second great video I found. Seriously you MUST watch these!

Take a few minutes to watch this beautiful and enlightening ode to our planet by Carl Sagan (video by David Fu). You will not regret it, I promise!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfwY2TNehw

And a great follow up I found, more from Carl Sagan on our planet and species -

EARTH: The Pale Blue Dot from Michael Marantz on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/2822787

Thursday 25 March 2010

Marvelman / Miracleman comes back to print!



Great news for comic fans. One of arguabley the greatest comics ever written is finally coming back to print after years of legal battles!

Unavailable in print since 1994 the Alan Moore run of Miracleman/Marvelman is without doubt among the list of must read comics. Introducing many of the themes that he would later use in the classic Watchmen books, MM is a post-modern masterpiece and I strongly recommend everyone interested in this art form go pick up the Alan Moore written issue's which will hopefully be released as a TPB soon. Sounds like they will also be released as single issue's in the new on-going series.

From Marvel's press release.

Marvel is proud to announce the return of Marvelman to shelves everywhere with the release of Marvelman Classic Primer #1 in June! Who is the mysterious Marvelman? And just why is he one of the most enduring super heroes of all time? The answers arrives in this commemorative one-shot featuring interviews with creator Mick Anglo, superstar Neil Gaiman and more who contributed to this character's history over the years! [...] Then, in July, thrill to the debut of Marvelman Family's Finest #1, a new ongoing series reprinting Marvelman's greatest adventures for the first time in the US! Plus, no comics fan can miss Marvelman Classic Vol.1 Premiere HC, reprinting Marvelman's earliest adventures in chronological order!

Source io9.com

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