Let's take a stroll outside the box.

 Videogames, interactive entertainment, is about consequence. What happens if I do this? For me, videogames are a place where i can flirt with reality. In a world which has been designed to be experienced by a player, every exploratory poke is a reward. I want to know what happens next. It's about asking questions and getting answers.
 

Mattbodega confused the hell out of me

 by rambling about illusions of reality within videogames. I understood the point that was being made, I just didn't see why it was important. I came away with some conclusions that are probably completely unrelated: As long as the illusion of freedom is being maintained, players are free to continue with their linear adventure unconcerned. Whilst the potential for exploration exists, the player need not worry about physically experiencing it. It's almost like... peace of mind. It's not wanting to reveal how linear a game is because that would shatter the illusion of freedom when you find out that it is inevitably a lot smaller than the games designers would have you perceive. This is why modelers are employed to create entire cities that serve only as a backdrop to a disproportionate chunk of gameplay. The implications that a world exists are enough to convince a player that he or she does not need to explore it, though many would probably leap at the opportunity. This desire to explore is another driving force that spurs a player to... well... keep playing?
 
A while back my housemate bought Grand Theft Auto 4 on PC, played a few levels and then got distracted by something else. I don't think there was any particular reason why, or if there was then he didn't tell me. He's on the same university course as me, he seems more interested in technical prowess than a gripping storyline - he's also the kind of cynical bastard that, if handed a working PC game, will spend the next 3 hours trying to break it. I guess Liberty City didn't have apparent rewards that justified it's exploration. He saw me playing Ballad Of Gay Tony in the living room the other day and sat there watching for a few minutes. Totally unimpressed by the gimmicky dancing minigames and crappy sex animations. However after cruising through a typical run-drive-shoot mission I was dumped back onto the street with a complete lack of wanted level. It was one of those weird moments in GTA4 where you have just finished a mission and aren't sure what to do next, so you idly start picking of pedestrians with an AK just to pass the time. Anyways, I wandered over to an ATM to check my balance - my housemate freaked. He didn't know the game had working ATM's. The illusion of freedom had suddenly and randomly been reconstructed. He wanted to know what else was possible, and immediately rushed off to experiment. Last time I saw him he was skimming through the dozens of Krapea web-pages on the fake GTA internet. 
 
When something does what it is supposed to in a videogame, it's comforting. When it goes beyond that, offering new and exciting results - in my opinion that's what makes a great game. It makes me want to explore and find out what else is possible. It gives a world depth. It doesn't even have to be complicated. It can be as simple as a few lines of dialogue or a scenic backdrop - a world crafted to give the illusion of being much bigger than the sum of it's parts. It can be as mundane as different death animations depending on where you shoot your enemy. Look at Street Fighter 4; The street fighter world has been expertly fleshed out, but you only ever get to experience a microscopic 2D chunk. Your impact on the world is seen by the reactions of the characters in the background, the effects of your attacks on the environments, and the bizarre cut-scenes that break up your arcade adventure. The importance here is that you still think of it as a world, not just a stage.
 
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If this was a podcast, someone would just have asked me what games I have been playing. But it's not a podcast. What are you talking about? Just read the blog, please.
 

Modern Warfare 2

 FINALLY completed the Snatch and Grab Special Ops level on veteran after hours of trying. Those Juggernauts are total bitches, and the dudes in Shadow Company really pin you to the fucking walls. I'm pretty surprised that i'm enjoying the Special Ops so much, it's focus on tight team-gameplay and communication is really awesome. Too often I jump into a standard multiplayer game with some buddies and after 10 minutes everyone goes silent because they are concentrating so hard, only offering the occasional grunt of recognition when a bomb needs to be defused or our flag has been captured. In many ways, the multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2 is a grind, as the exciting and interesting equipment is only available to the higher levels. One thing I have noticed is that completing challenges with each weapon yields a chunky XP bonus, so i'm experimenting a lot more with my playing style as I work through the basic upgrades for each gun. Here's some bullet points:

• Dual Wielding weapons looks badass but is ineffective.
• Never underestimate the Riot Shield.
• Silencers are for pussies. Here I am bitches, come and get me!
  

 

Crysis

Curse you, steam deals. I got this in a 50% off sale otherwise I wouldn't have bothered as my week is already pretty clogged up with stuff to be getting along with. So far I am completely and utterly underwhelmed. The gung-ho characters are totally uninteresting. The enemy AI is complete bollocks, and for a game that is apparently supposed to be "covert" it's weird how at nearly every encounter my attempts at stealth fail after the first kill. The AI seem to be able to see me through rocks, tree's, buildings - and there is very little in the way of indicators letting me know how aware they are of my presence. The suit mechanics are just straight up weird. There is a Invisibility function which is so restrictive that it's almost impossible to use effectively. In fact pretty much all the cool elements of my robo-suit that would be fun to mess around with are given to you in tiny morsel chunks, so it's got to the point where I can't even be fucked to use them as it's just easier to ignore they exist. I really hope these abilities get upgraded as you progress through the game... but in retrospect the first hour of content was so devoid of atmosphere I don't know if I want to play it any more. Needless to say, I'm running the game with every graphics setting on "Very High" and it runs fine, which is... comforting? I thought good graphics would be enough. Apparently not.

Left 4 Dead 2

 One thing that was missing from the original Left 4 Dead was spark. It worked great, but the level design seemed functional at best. In the sequel Valve have really begun to experiment with ways of adapting the environment to manipulate your playing style. Often your visibility will be limited by environmental factors which cause you to either stick together or spread apart - both of which can be lethal at the wrong moment. There have been several sections in the campaign where my jaw literally dropped and I just thought "FUCK. This is awesome!", usually while being eaten.
As for the other game types, the two i'm enjoying the most are Realism Mode and Scavenge. Realism mode is the campaign but it's INTENSE. Zombies are now more resistant to body-shots so you have to revert to the traditional "remove the head or destroy the brain" technique. Witches kill you instantly and there are no rescue-rooms so If a guy goes down he's down for good. And there is no glow on items or players, which means if a Smoker drags you behind a wall the rest of your team can't see you. It can get pretty frantic when players get split up. At one point I actually thought I was getting too far ahead of my group and turned around to find them, when actually they were racing ahead and I ended up miles behind. Zombie chow.

Scavenge is awesome.

 You play best of 3, zombies vs survivors. Each level will have a central object, a car or generator, that needs to be fuelled up. It basically forces the survivors to split up and search for fuel which makes them very vulnerable to Zombie attack. This is balanced by the fact that the survivors begin with a fucking armoury of weapons and health. Each round lasts about 5 minutes tops and it's great. Because the levels don't actually have to be too big i'm expecting a heavy MOD scene to take over this particular game type. It's going to be awesome.
As for the special infected, I really like the Charger. It's great lining up a perfect run and slamming Nick in his smug stupid face. As for the Jockey... he's a little bitch. His leap doesn't go far, but it has a ridiculously short cooldown which means if he gets knocked off he just jumps right back on again. And I don't care what it says about "resisting the Jockey's influence", if one of those bitches sits on your head you are going wherever the fuck he wants you to go. Oh, and the spitter is lame. Weak as fuck. Being spat on is the zombie equivalent of going to the dentist. It wont kill you, but you sure as fuck won't enjoy it.

 
Anyways, that's what I've been up to. Until L4D2 came out I was playing a lot of Company Of Heroes. While I still have the occasional match, I'm going to ease off for a while. Those zombies ain't going to kill themselves.
 

No Hope? No Cure?

No Problem.  
 
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This blog has been heavily sourced from the Guardian website, but here's the beef:
 

Fazan Mohammed of the British Muslim Forum is quoted on the news site MCV:

"You can't equate it with watching TV or a movie or reading a book. This is a much more intimate experience. You're mentally playing out the effects of violence. A lot of people make the excuse that this is sport – that it's just entertainment. But Joseph Goebbels – the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany – said his entertainment did more for the German people, in terms of creating the psyche for war and hostility towards others, than the speeches of Adolf Hitler. The idea this is entertainment is not justification whatsoever."

It's a bit strong to compare Infinity Ward to the Nazi's. A bit of a cheap shot to be honest. I'm going to assume that Fazan Mohammed has not actually played the game for himself, as this quote seems pretty generic. I personally thought that the game distances itself comfortably from reality with it's over-the-top set-pieces and that it also added a heavy dose of ethical weight to the actions and consequences of the characters. Players don't finish the game with an urge to go out and shoot up an airport, if anything they are enthused to prevent such atrocities from happening. This is why the "No Russian" level is put at the beginning of the game, to give the player drive. As far as entertainment is concerned, I don't know if I'd say I was enjoying the mentioned level...
 

Hannah Betts, the Telegraph, wonders whether the game should carry a "relationship health warning":

"Something momentous took place in The World of Men this week, something that those living in The World of Women – that is, largely, The Real World – may yet be unaware of."

The Telegraph is a stupid fucking newspaper that unfortunately a lot of people seem to enjoy reading. Such is the way of the world. This comment is both sexist and utter bollocks. Apparently because I play games I'm detached from reality. That wasn't computer games you idiot, that's because I was dropped down the stairs too many times as an infant! Weirdly, this article received a big chunk of comments from male and female gamers saying that they thought Modern Warfare 2 is great and that the writer was both misinformed and out of touch. Perhaps times are changing?  
 

Michael Moran, The Times:

 "I believe that the grisly imagery of the Modern Warfare 2 level 'No Russian' will teach more that it corrupts. I don't doubt that when the next Columbine or Virginia Tech massacre occurs some commenters will inevitably try to link it with Modern Warfare, but simulated guns don't kill people, real ones do. The NRA bears more responsibility than Infinity Ward."

That's what I just said! Kudos to the Times, though I think people are bored of blaming the NRA. It's much more interesting blaming the world's problems on a group of computer game developers.   
 

Barbara Ellen, The Observer:

 "Are we still convinced that children are such hair-trigger sociopaths, so feral and simplistic, that they cannot tell the difference between reality and a video game? This "video nasty desensitising the nation's youth" argument has been raging for 25-plus years, but are our high streets plagued by 40- to 45-year-olds in Super Mario moustaches attempting to run up walls to escape invisible assailants? It seems to me that our anger should be reserved for the nightmare that real soldiers are facing."

"Maybe we should ask ourselves why we're fine about young people being engrossed in a culture of sexed-up murder and bloodsucking (Twilight), only to become agitated when they enter what is to them the equally fictional world of soldiers and battles?"

I completely agree, although the "if I'm influenced by games then why aren't I jumping on goomba's" argument is kind of stupid. The Mushroom Kingdom is a good place to start the counter-attack, as it's the most recognisable of computer game iconography and also, conveniently, one of the most innocent. As we aren't all fucking idiots I think we are still able to differentiate between reality and what's hidden in our respective game's consoles. As for desensitisation, it's just bollocks. my combined videogame kill-count is probably stacked into the millions, but I still cry at funerals, because i'm not dead inside - and I don't think any amount of computer games could make me so. Perhaps it's more detrimental allowing your child to seclude themselves in front of any screen for countless hours as oppose to assuming it's the content they are experiencing. And also, what the fuck, this game is rated an 18! If "Children" are playing it then someone must have bought it for them. Parent's will never learn to take responsibility. Computer games are just being flogged as the current get-out-of-jail-free card.

Keith Stuart, The Gaurdian:

This is the important thing about Infinity ward's game. While us gamers feel like we've been talking about Modern Warfare non-stop for months, everyone else is just getting hold of it, wrestling with it, and coming to their own comparisons and conclusions beyond the fanboy orthodoxies. This is how we know that games are important. Or, at least, the million-selling ones are …

Importance is subjective, Dickfish. Apart from that, full marks.   
 

What do you reckon, kids at home?

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I had a disturbing conversation with my friend today about Left 4 Dead 2. We have both been playing the demo fairly solidly over the last couple of weeks, but while I tend to actually contribute to the progress of the survivors, Dispencer has a different strategy; 

Dispencer: my aim is to grief so much L4D2
Dispencer: that people know of me
Sweep: :|
Sweep: whats you griefing strategy?
Dispencer: i have a few
Dispencer: my favourite is not shooting zombies
Sweep: haha
Dispencer: Left3Dead
Sweep: ok, thats pretty good
Sweep: what else?
Dispencer: rushing ahead to safe rooms
Dispencer: using all the equipment when i don't need it. right in front of people who do
Sweep: You have a sick mind
 
This adds a whole new level of fear. Play safe, kids.
 
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It's 6:40 am. And no, I didn't wake up early. Here's some music:

 

Stay Sleepy, Giantbomb

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