Le Tranchant du Miroir

Everyone is making a mistake with Mirror's Edge. Players, critics, and even DICE themselves are trying to believe that ME is a first person shooter. It is impossible to escape genre cliches in a game that so heavily relies on them, with constant firefights erupting around you, helicopters above shooting at you and the ability to use not only melee skills but guns as well to retaliate at your aggressors. It's even more impossible when the game's loading screens seem intent on showing you how to fight enemies with karate-like "flow".

But play the game and you're shown a different focus; holding a weapon eliminates most of your dexterity. Melee is only beneficial to disarm one man and then use his gun to take out others. You keep wanting to fight, you want to refine your melee skills, but in the end you are outnumbered and underpowered. Why? Because you aren't meant to fight. The game was made for you to run.

Mirror's Edge is a racing game. You want to run, and you should. Each level is a course with a few different ways to move through the level and one of those ways is the fastest. It seems harsh when the game is criticized for requiring just the right touch because that is exactly what a racing game is about. Play Trackmania for more than ten minutes and you know that just the right angle around a corner will lose you that Gold medal time. So it is the same for Mirror's Edge. You are trying to make the most efficient use of space and time to manuever your way to the exit. In Story mode it gives you helpful red markers, but finish the story mode or turn away to the Race mode and you see that it really is all about getting that exact right line. Learning the movements, finding the route to propel you the most quickly to your destination.

I am really enjoying the game. I acknowledge random small issues that annoy me, such as sometimes unclear goals or the somewhat common lock-up. But I love the challenge the game has presented. I'm still working through the story, but I've got to give DICE props for making what I think is an incredibly solid Parkour game.

Oh, and it's gorgeous as well.

Pixar: The Thomas Kinkade of the Animation World?

Perhaps? I just had the thought and I had to share it with you all.

You are too connected when...

You bring your laptop into the bathroom with you.

I realize that I work on the same floor as Google personnel, but seriously? This guy came in and set his laptop on the sink as he took a leak. I hope to heaven there was some crazy macbook thief on the loose in his office. Otherwise, come on!

Oh, and you're a very ballsy girl if you wear a miniskirt out in weather that's less than 10 degrees. I say this because a couple nights ago, sure enough, I saw some girl bundled up heavily down to her waist wearing only a miniskirt with lots of leg showing. How clearly can one look like they want sex? Or, put more diplomatically in the words of my girlfriend: "suffering in the name of fashion".

enter the confusion, pt. 2

I awoke with a start to find the beast staring hard at me, its fangs glistening as it -- well, no, it was just a squirrel. Looked like the little guy hadn't eaten anything in days. Which was befuddling, because I was surrounded by acorns. In fact, I had been woken up with an acorn right in between my eyes. Apparently this squirrel had never received the memo on what one does with acorns.

Pop! It chittered and hurried away as I recovered from another nut to my face. This was not my idea of a great time. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. Nothing new or unusual to be seen except this slightly confused squirrel. I dropped my kitchen knife to the ground and began to arrange my items. An apple was gone! No, wait, I had just eaten it before the nap. As I finished repacking my items it seemed forward was my only option. Forward into the wilderness. The sun was beginning to drop low and the burrs were particularly clingy to my jeans and socks. I was going to have to seek out shelter soon otherwise I'd be in trouble.

As I walked through the grove of magnificent, magical oaks, I heard the squirrel chitter away as it scampered after me. Interesting, I thought, my party grows.

I sat on the hilltop looking down. Below I saw the silence of my town. Settled peacefully into a rut that only a few had any idea what mud had gotten into it, the wagon wheel of progress slowed to a halt, or more amusingly from up here, it spun in place, going back and back again to the same innovation. How on earth could stereo sound still impress so many people? But I guess that's the way of the world. I knew history repeated itself, but seriously, it was a bit of a letdown.

I smiled, though. I was done with them all. I had set out with exactly three apples and 15 copper coins in a knapsack and a kitchen knife in my hand. Also, I was wearing straight-up jeans, no metal armor or anything for me, and a t-shirt that was far too comfortable to pay the holes in it any heed. At that point I turned around and headed down the far side of the hill. The grass was sorta green, which was better than the dead grass I had left behind. I meandered down the grade and found myself in a valley with a nice little stream. Trees filtered the sunlight upon me and I knew it was time for a little break and one of those apples.

Crunching into the delicious cherry-red apple I looked around. A sudden chill came to me, and I knew then that my kitchen knife would be necessary in a few moments. Mountain lion, bear, something unknown was watching me. But I wasn't going to get all worried. I had protection.

So down I sat with my back against a tree and the knife laying safely next to me and my hand on the hilt. I waited. Moments turned into minutes as I waited for the beast to appear. Minutes lengthened into large amounts of minutes. Still, I knew the beast would appear. Then I would kill and harvest the meat and make better protective clothing for myself, with an added bonus of such hides making me more stealthy.

All was going to plan as I waited for the beast.

phew

I spent the past 3 months working nonstop on an animation project for my senior animation class at Northeastern. It was an intense process and indeed I'm glad I did it. I directed a team of 4 others and we attempted to create a realistic city block and composite a live actor into the cg world. In many ways I think we very much succeeded. There are gorgeous shots and the overall story seemed to be represented well.

I was the main camera and timing guy in addition to running the team, and it was spending those hours just running over the edit that I had the most fun. Really looking at what was important, what we didn't need, and just how it all flowed together. At a reasonably fast pace we were able to establish a character, a dilemma, and build it all up to a climax and a resolution. It was awesome!

So the story goes: this guy is walking along when he discovers he's walking along a glowing blue line. He tries to step off of it but the world rotates so that his step away from the line is now back on it. Confused and rattled, he tries again, but again the world responds, so that every time he tries to move away from the line it twists the world just so he's back onto the darn thing. Well now he's just gone loopy and going to have himself a ball. And he does, until suddenly a pot falls and almost takes him out. Flustered and fearful he takes off, only to discover that he's arrived at the end of the line where a glowing blue X awaits. He hesitates only to have the world tilt him forward. Bam! A girl runs into him and they fall to the ground. He looks up and- love! The end!

And that's my call to sleep.

p.s. urge me to write more, people. I love writing, I just don't do it often enough because I seem to think other things are more important. (and they're not)

If a server goes down in the computer lab, does anyone survive? These are the questions we ask ourselves in the precious times when all that is near and dear crumbles under the fact that it is a collection of ones and zeros.

Sanity, my friends, that is what I'm losing. Madness, I am gaining. And now I'm hungry. Dinnertime!

Nerve endings
Dissolving
Dissolution
And salutations to you proud nations
With crumbling numbers
As colors crunch.
Fading leaves and tattered
While light dissipates
My blood accumulates in white cells
Where poetry dissolves back into energy.
Potential resolutions gone
And hoped for.
Fall, I fall
I whisper softly to my fate
While the heart yearns through years and sees nothing
But fading light
Burning brighter and brighter into the reversing night.

When the day came for the warriors,
They stood up and were counted.

The leader of them stepped forward and looked upon his fellow tribesmen. Boys danced among their ranks, eager to see those they would one day follow. Dark clouds held over their village as they listened to the rain fall upon their forests and their people. The hills glistened in the downpour as the glow over the hills raged on. The men were silent as they thought to themselves of their sons and daughters and wives. The children continued to dance and began to tumble about, warring in their own worlds as the chiseled faces and furrowed brows above relaxed at the sight.

Darkness was across the sky, a blood red hue, but beneath the pouring thunder there was light, shining beyond the sun.

Camera!

So I played the Tomb Raider Underworld demo and found myself begging for mercy. Tomb Raider is exactly the type of game that I love: acrobatic world-exploration with fighting interspersed. But the core of the game is movement around luscious environments with a plethora of movement puzzles that force Lara Croft to pull off awesome looking stunts. And when the events work right, then the game is really cool. Hanging on ledges, leaping to rock outcroppings, doing random backflips, awesome stuff. All of these things are set up in a fashion so that each puzzle is a twisting rail that you've got to navigate to create a beautiful balance beam routine.

However, between each routine the game hates on your movement. There are so many context-sensitive dynamic events that the computer doesn't realize when you're just trying to run around or enter one of these things, when you're near something. I have never experienced before a AAA-game where I pressed a few different direction keys and nothing happened. I don't know if I want to see my character run in place, but not even having that image of the game being confused, it threw me. When I press the forward key, something should happen! The game is a lot of fun when it works, but be cautious about approaching anything while running on level ground. You will be stopped and Lara will attempt to do something and often fail.

In addition, I found the camera far too sensitive. I would set it up how I liked, but moving only slightly would shift camera position dramatically. This is especially an issue in tight spaces, where you might suddenly get a wonderful close-up on Lara that is appreciated for the few seconds before you attempt any movement, and then the camera freaks out. Also, I actually found myself sometimes falling to my death because I would approach a ledge while the camera stayed too low for me to know that I was about to plunge very far down.

All of this is too bad, because the game has a lot of potential. It feels very fluid at times, and animations interacting with the world are very enjoyable, especially the often easy ability to pull off incredible stunts. Perhaps the final game will correct these camera issues and movement sensitivity, but I'm not holding out immense hope for these things to be corrected to the point that I'd buy the game...

We'll see, Lara, we'll see.

Insomnia?

I'm not sure if this is an issue, but is it insomnia if I actually sleep quite well, it's just my inability to go to sleep? I find myself working here in the lab and it's almost 3am, I have to
get up in about 5.5 hours, and I only slept about 4 hours last night? I feel tired, but I find myself slightly strung out, not able to just drop things and leave? Am I allowed to leave? I've got more to do before I sleep but I think instead I should just sleep.

I want to play Mario Super Strikers though, or perhaps God of War, both of which have been preoccupying my random spare moments of late. Both incredibly addictive games for completely different reasons. But files are finished transferring now, so I best do some work and sleep while I can. I'll talk more about my respective experiences with those games in bit.

Mass Across The Charles

I wonder how often people dive off this bridge.
And when they do, what are they thinking?
The challenge set, to enter and escape
Or let winter waters swallow one whole.
Do they see infinity or an end?
Does the city crumble in their vision?
Or conquer the sky?
Do they sweat or freeze with the serenity below.
How long will trees last here?
Laughter, what timeline for that?
There's so much clarity as the darkness cools to black.
How long will these lights last?
Will the wind ever die or the mirror give up?
The water answers,
Its four dimensions clear.
But I comprehend not,
I am lost in this moment.
Forever right now.

A new poem

Do I know what action is?
Sometimes I say the answer's yes.
It's not true, just a presumptuous guess.
And I know it's wrong
Through every note of this song.
From each thought unhad,
Action silence-clad
So don't ask me if I know the way
When I'm taut with decisions
Fraught with revisions
Molded into the fray.

I didn't ask for this confusion,
I thought I've always had questions
But now those questions are absent,
I search and wonder if I've curiosity left.
A million reasons in every direction
I can't be bothered to spell them out,
Stretching far as I can decipher
The way is clear but it's so dark out.
Even still, moves so fluid,
A partial step so long to start
Momentum is strong the action ain't over,
Silence keeps flowing, one part, next part.

These actions continue, seen or not,
In quiet, cacophony, calm or storm.
With winds whistling harsh approval
Of time exploding, reducing form.
So the ripples leave me,
A shell of previous,
True or devious art
I lose the blue,
As nothing grows
Swallow my absence
Tender reaction
That nothing knows.
Way, not way,
Path unwound
Bitter tear I'm sick and tired
You've done your damage, be gone I ask.
Inaction is the same as action,
Priorities, really, that's the task.

Extrasensory perception

I used to believe that I could sense when people were looking at me. In fact, even today I'm not sure whether it was my imagination or not. There was just this other sense when I was younger, much younger, that I could feel eyes looking upon me. I would turn around and people would be looking directly at me. I would glance over to catch eyes upon me. There was never a question in my mind that I had this power of perception, this sixth sense. It never failed me.

But then there came a point when it stopped working. Suddenly I had no idea whether or not people were looking. A sensation of people watching would come and I would turn to see nothing. Or people would turn to see me staring. What happened to what I had? My power of perception disappeared. Was it just simple science that when a little kid starts to turn his head you glance over at him?

I'm a strong believer in science, but I think there are elements of the universe that are beyond our current understanding of said science. Every couple hundred years we realize we missed something simple and yet extraordinary. So perhaps we're missing something big right now, like those things we can't "test". It's hard to justify this, yet I do believe there are things beyond our current understanding of reality. Ghosts, who knows? God, I think so. Everything being related, most definitely.

So maybe I did have this extrasensory perception and then I lost it because of my lack of belief in it or my increasing scrutiny of the ability. Trying to understand it, I lost it. That's how the tao works, after all. What does this say about life? I believe that we need to accept the wonder of it all, and hope that we maintain a sense of awe. Not that we shouldn't try and understand, we just need to love what's here and keep believing, keep stretching our thoughts and imaginations. Because maybe if we believe and keep believing, our thoughts will carry into our actions. And then who knows what might happen.

Election games

So we often call each other liberals and conservatives (I myself would probably/hopefully be labeled liberal), but what exactly do we mean? There seems to be this idea that liberals embrace change, whereas conservatives are, well, conservative and want to keep things the same. However, I view things in a slightly different manner.

I don't believe that liberals really like change any more than conservatives, or conservatives any less than liberals. Rather, I feel that the concept is more about what is change to the individual. A conservative has a more restrained view of how things perhaps "ought" to be. There is a tighter vision of what is normal and what is not-so-normal. Gay marriage, for instance, does not fit within the normal vision of certain conservatives, and as I see it, people are against gay marriage because it doesn't make sense to them, it is beyond them, and would require a change to reality of sorts. The liberal doesn't want to change things by making it legal, but rather sees it as something that was already there and is no change to reality. Therefore, a law would only enforce the freedom of what is already a fact of life.

I would keep going, but I feel a crash coming. Before I crash, I have to mention that election games are awesome. I've now done a turn-based battle for the US, popped other candidates' balloons, and, probably best of all, fought kung-fu against the various candidates. Look up election games. Not very complex, not very helpful about the election, but fun. Definitely worth the search.

Edit: I was really tired when writing this post a couple nights ago, and I don't think I emphasized anything about the election kung-fu game and it's much tougher a game than the other ones, much more soundly built for what it is. It's fun, and you have to actually settle down for a little and learn how to block your opponent and take the open shots where you can and each one definitely gets harder. They're very aggressive opponents (except John Edwards...). You get many choices of the candidates (from about a year ago) and they all have special moves and really seem to have different styles, at least visually. The only way you'd know they were candidates would be from their faces, but it just makes the game all the more amusing when the rest of them is a sumo wrestler or some crazy assasin ninja. Go play it if you like fighting games or just want to see Bill Richardson as a sumo or Michelle Obama kicking some bloody hurt into any and everyone. Funny and fun.

And here it is: Election Kung-Fu

Forgetful, but not about Crysis

Here I am, completely forgetting what I had thought of earlier. A muse that I thought would truly draw thousands to this blog. Bring people here every day to see if I've made another amazing philosophical breakthrough. But I forgot it.

But I guess that's alright, because that means that I don't have to post here every day or every other day. I can continue my sporadic entries, and I believe I shall.

So I've been playing Crysis, and I believe it to be one of the best FPSes I've ever played, and despite me not having played most of them out there, I'm sure most of you would feel the same with a computer that ran it so well. It's a gorgeous game, first off, really bringing you into your environment. A tropical paradise with waterfalls and beaches and villages...and explosions. The physics add to the beauty of the game, and the way things fall apart, the glorious fireballs that erupt from destroyed tanks, it all comes together in a beautiful opus of mayhem. What further enhances the beauty of it all is the free-roaming capability of the world. It supports stealth through the forests surrounding enemy encampments. Or perhaps you want to use speed and blow past the enemies. Or just blow the hell out of them with superstrength. It is your choice!

That might be the greatest strength of the game. Any play style can be fun, and whichever you choose, the nanosuit you start the game with allows you to play each role to its maximum potential. The enemies also really allow the variety in playstyles, being, overall, quite smart, and the game is good about throwing them at you, with reinforcements being brought in if you're overly aggressive or open about your attacks.

At the point I'm currently at, I have really come to appreciate the cinematic quality of the game. I just got dropped in to a war zone, and instead of starting out on my own, I'm taken through the US defenses as a jet crashes into the hillside next to me and I'm ordered to take out the AAA guns I can see across the harbor peppering the sky with shells. Maybe some stealth and some speed are in order. Maybe some raw explosives are about to be served up. This is good stuff. Highly recommended.

(I'll try and have some actual musings next time. I'm taking an Intro to Philosophy, so my brain has definitely been pumping with this jazz.)

New addition on the way

That's right folks, I just spent the last 5.5 hours on newegg and throughout the internetting finding and purchasing all the components of a new computer. Mmm, she's shaping up to be a doozy. I'm feeling great right now, as long as the newest nVidia card will fit into my case. And as long as Vista doesn't fuck with my soundcard as it apparently likes to screw with soundcards... But I'm happy and it's 5am and I really should go sleep now.

Here's to my next wave of gaming! (as my ps2 cries in the corner)

Space (Under?) Siege

So yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day downloading the Space Siege demo. About 930mb later I had the tantalizing demo waiting on my computer. I was ready to spend all night checking out the new action RPG from Chris Taylor.

Well, I watched the intro cinematic, a pretty looking attack on earth with capital and fighter ships dueling on the edge of Earth's gravity. Finally, the awesome movie ended, and I was taken to the intro menu, where the same movie began playing again, but this time with a menu around it... So I started a game and after a short in-game cinematic of aliens assaulting my ship I commenced my defense of humanity.

The game uses the WASD setup to control many things, except movement, and I have to say this threw me. The mouse moved and controlled firing while A and D were used to rotate the camera and W and S zoomed in and out. The controls otherwise were very convenient and straightforward, but finally as I began to get comfortable with the non-FPS scheme, the demo ended.

I'd say I finished the demo in not more than 30 minutes, after downloading almost a gigabyte. I was disappointed. I think it was a fun game, and it looked awfully pretty, but I'm back into a phase of trying demos of all the new games, and it's hard for me to discern if my excitement of a game is warranted after 25 minutes, especially with such a hefty download. I realize that's how games are today, but you'd think I could get a little more content for a gig. Also, I'm still trying to figure out if the game is deep or not. It was straightforward, and though pretty, also quite simple. Well, Chris Taylor, the ball is back in your court. I'm intrigued, but not sure yet about $50 of intrigue.

A game called reality

So I'm now home for a couple weeks recovering from actuality before I head back to my senior year of college and work and all that jazz.

What exactly is this actuality that I'm dealing with? I decided to ride a bicycle from Boston to Washington, DC. And I did it! I'm one who often doesn't do a lot of actual preparation, I usually prepare in my head and then either do something or don't. I find so many things fascinating that a large-scale project is daunting and unlikely. I do lots of little things, except for when I'm at work or school, because having that framework gives me a solid set of boundaries that I actually find the most comforting. Pressure, I need a box to not necessarily be thought within, but to allow myself to bounce off the edges and come back to reality.

But rarely do I think about non-creative endeavors. I certainly think about travel, but just about how I should go travel, go visit other countries. Never solid plans. So lo and behold, I thought that this summer would be the ripest time, a last ditch effort to be crazy in college, for some sort of road trip. And I settled upon a crazy biking trip, realizing that a trip between Boston and DC would be feasible and probably fun. I started preparing by telling everyone I knew that I was thinking about it, so that if I didn't go they would call me out. Then I got a bike (somewhat necessary) and just started biking again. Then I alloted time for the trip, asking for a leave from work and not having school anyway. I followed this by continuing to tell people about my trip and started making a list of things I would need.

Then I just continued to ride and began to train with a friend. We went a solid 150 miles one weekend to test out the items needed. It was good we tested our equipment and what would be needed, because I was not entirely aware of all I would need. But then I bought that, I kept biking, and then, well, after some route-planning, I found myself stuck on the trip.

It was great. It was really a learning experience, a challenge, a mission, and just relaxing. I had worries during the ordeal, but they were so pure and simple that I think my brain really enjoyed the trip. Never again do I plan on doing a long challenging trip like that alone, because a pal would have made it so much more fun. But it was nonetheless an incredible experience that I definitely am proud to say I completed.

570 miles in 7 days of riding. Not bad, eh?

Now back to games!

Karateka

I often find myself trolling from one classic game download to the next modern game trailer to a Flash game. Having not been a gamer for the golden age, or whatever you think the period should be called from the mid-80s to the mid-90s, I often download full games in about 20 seconds and then play a few levels. And then sometimes I find even older games and download them in 2 seconds.

A couple days ago I ran across Karateka, a game by Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia. Clearly the precursor of POP, Karateka has the player moving a ninja forward through a flat environment and a wave of opposing ninjas. Like a typical fighting game you have movement and then keys for upward, straight, and down kicks and punches. Finally, there is one more button to switch your character from running to fighting stance. Your goal is to move forward and rescue your love at the end. So simple, and yet pretty enjoyable.

In terms of gameplay it was very simple and I never really felt much depth to the combat, but the simplicity of the presentation made it all work. You've got arrows at the bottom showing your health and your direction while whichever ninja you're currently battling has the same health arrows. Anytime you defeat a ninja your health returns to full and you can run forward until you hit the next ninja. Just be careful not to still be in running mode when they attack or it's game over. My fascination with the game ended, however, when suddenly a gate fell on me as I ran forward under it. No warning, just spikes falling on me. The revenge of old games and their arbitrary deathtraps! I decided then that I didn't care for my pixelated love enough to fight through the hordes again.

And I found out about this game because apparently Karateka shall be returning in next-gen form sometime in the future with Mechner at the helm.

the original Karateka

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