I’m hardly trying to foment a new generation of system wars, but Sony this year virtually epitomized the “puppet show” motif I discussed a few days ago - and it appears to have worked for the most part, at least as far as non-game media is concerned. I don’t believe there is any such thing as a “Playstation 3” yet, and I don’t believe in the Killzone video. What I do believe is that Sony harnessed the media and then rode it from place to place, one hand on the bridle while the other waved madly in the air.
MS did something that really destabilized the natural order of these things - first by coming out swinging at GDC, and then with their televised abortion on your Music Television. That’s not how it usually goes down. E3 is insane, leaks do occur, but there is a place for these things and it’s not when they did it. In the face of these competitors, I don’t know what else they could have done. The hardcore in my circle were left wondering why Sony or Nintendo didn’t return fire, why they’d leave the channel open to be dominated by a torrent of competitive data. For the moment, put aside the fact that the companies we’re talking about lead the industry in their nation in many parts of the world, and are extremely proud - businesses who I doubt really feel the need to respond to Microsoft. In the long run, the “hesitance” we detected has been largely irrelevant.
News organizations certainly inform us of new events, “news” being the plural form of new. But there is a kind of storyline that these things hook into, a story about “the nation” or “industry” or whatever, that relates our lives to whatever thing they’re talking about. Some of these tones jump out at you. So when Time gave Microsoft the cover before E3, the theme was “The Usurper,” a not uncommon tale about the scrappy sophomore vying for the throne. It’s a powerful theme, and it got them a week or so of fawning press, but it flows right into The Liege Ascendant, where the reigning king slips back Odysseus style and kills all the suitors.
The only console-exclusive I saw running and playable that really struck me as a next-generation experience was Epic’s Gears of War. I’m not “putting my weight” behind the 360, I’m saying that at this particular show, it’s the only system that I consider to have been truly “launched.” Nintendo’s system has been introduced, in the vaguest sense, but without seeing what they intend to accomplish with their controllers we don’t actually know why it would hail a Revolution. Sony showed some movie trailers in HD, said that their console could create “artificial life” and expected us to swear fealty to their system’s now dynastic lineage. They even showed the intro from Final Fantasy VII in “Real Time(!!!!),” but I can’t possibly be the only person who remembers they trotted out a “Real Time” dance scene from VIII when they launched the PS2 - can I? You ever see shit like that on your Playstation 2?
(CW)TB out.
what the fucks is goins on
I’m home now and feeling significantly better. Thanks to everyone who showed up and stood in line to get one of our comic books.
During E3 we had a very good meeting with Arun Mathews, a Medical Informatics fellow at Johns Hopkins. He’s the man behind a project called “HOPE”. They are a group of doctors who believe that access to online gaming can help improve the quality of life of hospitalized children. For example, kids who need to be hooked up to a dialysis machine multiple times every week might benefit from being able to play games during the procedure. It will keep them occupied and they might even ask for less pain medication. This seems totally obvious to us but these doctors plan on proving it with hard data. This seemed like exactly the sort of thing that Child’s Play was designed to do and so we’ve decided to help fund their research. We’ve given them a donation on behalf of Child’s Play in order to help them with their initial test.
I think that you will see us working very closely with these guys this year when Child’s Play rolls back around. Their initial test will be over around November and there is no doubt in my mind that the data they collect will prove that hospitalized kids with access to games are happier. At that point the goal of these doctors becomes connecting every child with a debilitating ailment to an online gaming network so they can socialize and play together. I don’t see any reason why Child’s Play can’t make sure that happens.
The other big news I have is about PAX. I’m happy to announce that we’ll have Nintendo as an exhibitor at this years show. My guess is that show goers will get their hands on the new Zelda, which was voted game of the show at E3 this year by Show Daily. I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought some of the new Mario sports titles along with some of the new DS stuff either. This year’s exhibition hall is actually three times the size of last years and it’s absolutely packed with awesome games. In addition to 18,000 square feet of exhibition space we’ve added another night of music this year. The music concert on Saturday has already been announced but we’ve decided to put on another concert on Friday night with a completely different line up of bands. We’ll be announcing those soon and I guarantee you guys are gonna love it. Also all you caffeine junkies will be happy to hear that Bawls will be back again this year. If you haven’t done it yet I recommend getting your ass signed up now. BEST PAX EVAR!
-Gabe out :o:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday expect posts to accompany the daily strips at about the usual time, but for tomorrow and Thursday’s great works please extend me your gracious understanding if posts are up around lunchtime here in the PST.
Regents of Lost Ascalon business. You understand, I’m sure.
(CW)TB
I was under the impression that my appetite for World War II era inhumanities was coming to a close when Infinity Ward sent Call of Duty bobbing out into the sea, but the skill and enthusiasm they brought to their task urged me forward. I have heard people say that CoD2, or at any rate the demo they showed in the theater there in the Activision booth, was the finest thing they saw at the show - this is not a sentiment I can echo. When I heard the initial rumblings of a German campaign, I thought, yes, that is something I have not previously done in a lower resolution. The notion didn’t actually go anywhere, and I don’t know if I can do all the rest of that stuff again.
I’m just not ready for another first-person shooter in that context. Brothers In Arms is the last one I’ll play, I’m serious. it’s over. I feel as though I have learned the lessons therein and no longer need to see a good man die with my own eyes simply because it is the most expeditious route to true drama. So while there is certainly an element of what a fancier person than I would call ennui with retail products of this kind, it is dulled somewhat when experiencing the events through other genres. I’m not sure if I just don’t want to buy the same thing again, or if I’m starting to desire a bit of psychic separation from the events depicted.
“The Outfit” was in a mock bunker directly across the way from Call of Duty’s mock bunker, and I’ve only seen non-interactive video of it because I could never swing that line they had out front, but it’s a next-gen cooperative action/adventure game that could become something I’d enjoy quite a bit. It’s by Relic, which I’m predisposed to like, but they’re delivering another game set in World War II called “Company Of Heroes.” I thought there might have been a rule about pulling this kind of shit, but I can’t find it. It looks sharp, though - a custom engine and Havok physics produce the visual quality you expect from a top-flight shooter, with your awareness drawn away from the character. There was no user interface to speak of, so I couldn’t get an idea what genre advancements were en-route or how a player could actually direct the set-pieces I was observing, but Gamespot went fairly in-depth with them if you’d like to know more. I guess I’d have to see the stuff they talk about in there. The person giving the demo made it clear that they really wanted the player to feel for the soldiers under their command, but then over the course of the demo they killed like two hundred of them. So, who knows.
There’s a new Blitzkrieg as well as a new Codename: Panzers, and though I didn’t get a chance to see them in person I enjoyed their predecessors enough to consume all media on them upon my return. Blazing Angels attends the “Crimson Skies” school of approachable, arcade flight and goes for a co-operative dogfighting game with a grimy cinematic filter that drew the eye. There’s even a new Indiana Jones game coming, which is, you know… It has Nazis in there. So, please - air combat, strategy games, adventure, dancing, puzzle, racing, whatever. I’m not buying a straight-up shooter in the genre again.
(CW)TB out.
like a new emotion
