E3 and WYD Recap

Now that both E3 and World Youth Day 2008 now officially belong to the past (and God’s eternal “present moment”), a recap and reflection is certainly not out of the question, and seeing as the date of this posting happens to be a Sunday (a day that, according to the Tradition of the Catholic faith, is reserved for God-centered meditation and thanksgiving), I hesitate to share even the most modest reflections on either. Scrupulous? Perhaps, but since I haven’t posted in a while (my current employment situation leaves me without internet access for most of the week), I thought I’d post a brief update just so no one thinks this blog has died an untimely death – patience, everyone!

So, in recognition of the fact that I must “Keep Holy the Sabbath Day” and also not shirk my responsibilities to the readers of this blog, here’s a choice selection of some of my favorite moments from both WYD and E3 – without commentary:

WYD:

- “The mission of the Church is to help people be free,” – Cardinal Francis George, at the July 20 WYD mass

- The Pope’s decision to encourage reception of the Eucharist kneeling, and preferably on the tongue (as first reported by Sydney’s very own Cardinal Pell last week)

- “My dear young friends, if you take part frequently in the eucharistic celebration, if you dedicate some of your time to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Source of love which is the Eucharist, you will acquire that joyful determination to dedicate your lives to following the Gospel”. – Pope Benedict XVI

E3

- The surprise announcement that an Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy 13 is indeed in the making

- The localization of Retro Game Challenge, a Japanese Nintendo DS game that was formerly seen as having practically no chance at ever seeing a release outside its home territory.

- Sony announcing more games for its Playstation Network, including the appropriately-titled and intriguing action game, Fat Princess.

A Video Gamer's "Christmas in July"

Despite being virtually unknown to most of the mainstream public, the Electronic Entertainment Exposition (appropriately dubbed E3) is something video game aficionados the world over greatly anticipate. Not only do the major video game console manufacturers hold press conferences where they proudly display their latest wares and upcoming games, but all major game developers also showcase demos and video trailers of their products, as well. Despite a massive downsizing in the conference in recent years, the decision to move the conference to mid-summer has truly made E3 into a video gamer’s “Christmas in July.”

While I personally won’t be attending the festivities (and, as such, won’t be writing extensively about the event as various other video game websites are doing), I’m still anxiously anticipating the new game announcements, demo impressions, and – courtesy of the internet – videos of the various press conferences held by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. It also provides a great insight into the “culture” of video games, making it an invaluable tool for anyone interested in understanding more about the video game industry and video gamers themselves. As far as this video gamer is concerned, E3 really is the closest thing you’ll ever find to a Rosetta stone. Merry Christmas, indeed…

Player Diaries: Boom Blox

Boom Blox, a Wii exclusive, has great single player and multiplayer modes, whether you want to play cooperatively or competitively. You basically use the Wii remote as a hand or other item to move or blow up blocks or block animals to complete the puzzles, play “shooting gallery” minigames, or play “don’t topple the tower!” games like Jenga. There is also an addictive “Build” mode in which you create your own “stage.” You can make almost anything you want, from castles, monkey and dog fights, sculptures of dinos…even Rube Goldberg machines. The only problems with this game are that you can’t really make stages with a multiplayer focus, and there are certain types of blocks used in some game modes that you aren’t allowed to use in the “build mode.”

You’ll need a steady hand to beat this game and if you play multiplayer be sure not to have any sore losers. Boom Blox uses all of the Wii’s features, too. It’s a perfect game for newcomers but has enough tough stuff for those of you who finish games completely, too. Highly recommended!

Burnout!

It figures that, after specifically promising to post more frequently, I fail to post for 5+ days. The classic "better late than never" excuse certainly does little, if anything, to dismiss the sheer risibility of the situation. Thank God for his mercy!

Speaking of mercy, I’ve recently been playing Burnout: Revenge, a game whose title seems to prominently denote a deficit in the aforementioned quintessential Catholic value. As if that isn’t enough, the game description on the back of the game box makes matters even worse, stating that “mercy is for wimps.” Hmm. Sounds hardly Catholic, to say the least. Time to scratch this one off of the “to play” list?

Well, not quite. Burnout: Revenge is probably best described as a remedy for revenge - the modern-day equivalent of the “punch the pillow” technique recommended by mothers everywhere as a stress reliever/anger management tool for their children. While that might seem odd for a game touted as “battle racing ignited”, Burnout is a far cry from a typical racing game: it’s not enough to simply outrun other racers to the finish line; no, you need to make everyone else crash into walls, pillars, oncoming traffic…anything to take them down, really…and you’ll be rewarded with some nitro to boost your cars speed along the way. It takes multiple crashes before a car is completely and utterly totaled – and that’s where the “revenge” part comes into play. If you can take down the same vehicle that rammed your car into oblivion, you’ll be rewarded with a “revenge takedown” – providing you with even more nitro to help you outrun and takedown the competition.

You’d think a game all about crashes (and very realistic ones, at that…while the bodily carnage of crashes is not replicated in the game, the physical damage to the race cars certainly is!) would be counter productive to a racing simulator, but the game never forgoes the intense speed that makes racing games so much fun. Plus, if you’re not in the mood for racing, you can try out the “traffic attack” modes, where you’ll go bumper-to-bumper with highway traffic, tasked with causing as much monetary damage to these cars as possible within a set time limit.

If you truly want to become an insurance company’s nightmare, however, I would suggest giving the “crash” mode a shot. Here, you’re assigned with the goal of causing massive 50-car pile-ups, millions of dollars in damages, and generally causing as much havoc as possible.

Luckily, despite the focus on physical destruction, Burnout deliberately neglects to add a human face to the game. You’ll see no human carnage, blood and gore, or any kind of human violence in the game. In fact, Burnout: Revenge carries an “E10+” ESRB rating (recommended for ages 10 and up, in other words, which makes sense given the intensity of the crashes seen in the game). I would suggest parents give it a shot before letting their kids have fun with it, but despite the game’s title and rather violent take on street racing, it’s actually quite kid-friendly. It doesn’t require a heavy time investment like many role-playing and adventure games, and is, in fact, arguably nest played in short 15-20 minute sessions. The game is available on the Xbox, Playstation 2, and Xbox 360, often going for $30 or less. Give it a shot if you’re looking for something different from a racing video game.

Onward and Upward...

Well, I finally finished off The World Ends With You this morning. Having played the game to completion, I think I can safely stand by my initial impressions that I posted last month. It's a superlative example of an action-based role-playing game, and I highly recommend it, but be sure to take heed to the "T for teen" ESRB rating - it's well deserved, as both the complexity of the game and the thematic content are far more compatible with the sensibilities of an older, experienced video game enthusiast than with the young gaming newbie or the "casual" crowd that's accustomed to games of a more quaint and quiet variety (sudoku and Brain Age, for example).

I’m not sure what game I’ll be covering next here on the blog, as I have plenty of older games that I bought months or even years ago that I still need to finish. My copy of the Xbox 360 game Lost Odyssey that I received for my birthday nearly 4 months ago is still sitting on a shelf in the basement, waiting to be played. At the same time, there are other recently released games that I’m also anxious to try out! Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 was just released this week, and the game’s publisher, Atlus, inc, is notorious for printing and distributing their games to stores in extremely small quantities; couple this scarcity (rarity?) with high consumer demand, and it’s not hard to see why Atlus holds a unique place in the gaming industry: while most games see a depreciation in price with the progression of time, it’s not at all uncommon to see used copies of Atlus games sell for more than the original suggested retail price for a new copy, even months after the original release.

I’ll keep the blog updated with anything new, but I’ll be watching my “gaming time” with more scrutiny now, as well.. Amidst all this excitement about video games, I can’t let my hobby turn into a sort of “gaming gluttony,” and I’m resolved to refuse to let this hobby become a distraction from the call to holiness. It ought to be integrated into my spiritual life, not detract from it!

I’ve been a bit lazy with posting as of late (my trip to Mexico not withstanding), and I’d be lying if I said that a laxity in my physical and spiritual life hasn’t been a factor in my rather brief contributions as of late. If I wrote about games as much as I played them, I’d be averaging far more than 1 new post every other day. I’ll try to more astute about this from now on. St. Catherine of Siena, St. Paul, and all holy men and women, pray for us!

Kid-Friendly Games, Parent-Friendly Prices

Thanks to everyone for your prayers during my border awareness mission in Mexico. The experience was intellectually and spiritually edifying, to say the least. Thanks be to God for such a powerful blessing!

Many thanks to my brother Martin, as well, who graciously served as my proxy during last week's interlude. It was also his first real experience in the cyberrealm that is the blogosphere, and he made no secret of the challenge involved. Feel free to browse his comments on the Space Invaders blog from last week.

I had the privilege of seeing WALL-E (the latest film from the acclaimed PIXAR animation studio) yesterday. This review from Catholic Exchange is right on target. It truly is a Catholic masterpiece and appropriate for anybody of any age group. The video game based on the movie is available in stores now for just about any platform you can imagine – but I hesitate to recommend it. For one, I haven’t had the chance to try it yet, but more importantly, I don’t really want to. Video game adaptations of movies rarely turn out well, and even less often do they manage to emulate what made the parent film so great.

That’s not to say that high-quality family-friendly games don’t exist. They do. Take the Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon, for example. Sporting a colorful aesthetic, endearing characters, and a charming sense of adventure, Blue Dragon may just be the video game equivalent of a PIXAR film. It sports a “T for teen” rating, due to some very, very brief instances of foul language, but there really isn’t any morally problematic content beyond that. In fact, it’s one of my favorite games from 2007. Best of all, you can buy the game new at most stores for $30 or less – half the price it was when it first released nearly a year ago.

I’ll try to make “kid-friendly games, parent friendly prices” a regular feature if I can. Let me know what you think of it!

Player Diary: Space Invaders Extreme

After spending a few days with the game, I think I can safely reiterate my initial impressions from Thursday. Feel free to peruse the following entry if you’ve got questions about some of the finer nuances of the game.

The “fastest finger” (shoot-at-the-aliens-before-they shoot-at-you) gameplay still exudes the same tension and sense of urgency that made the original so much fun, and the space invaders themselves even keep their classic 8-bit aesthetic. However, Space Invaders Extreme mixes in a few modern-day trappings that make the experience substantially different from its predecessor.

For starters, the invaders come in different colors, now. It seems like a neglible difference, but it’s really important if you care at all about high scores…which is, of course, presumably why anyone would play this game in the first place. Shoot 4 enemies of the same color in sequence, and you’ll nab a “power-up” – a laserbeam, bombs that can wipe out clusters of aliens at once, a protective shield that repels enemy fire – for a limited time. Which one you get depends, once again, on the color of the space invaders you’ve destroyed. Blue enemies grant laserbeams upon their demise, while destroying red aliens yields cluster bombs.

If you manage to this twice in a row (for example, shooting down 4 red enemies and 4 blue ones in succession) and you’ll be able to interrupt the game for a special “bonus round” – complete whatever challenge the game throws at you here, and you’ll enter a “fever” mode where, for a short period of time, each enemy you shoot down will be worth 10x the normal point value.

You can also multiply your score fairly quickly simply by shooting enemies – whatever their color – in very rapid succession. Eliminating enemies at a rapid rate activates a “chain” – a score multiplier of sorts that increases with each enemy you destroy, and decreases every moment you fail to shoot down one of those pesky space varmints (and the top screen keeps track of all these score modifiers for you, so don’t worry if this sounds a tad overwhelming).

With such drastic changes to the scoring system, the game becomes more than just a simple test of precision and quick reflexes. It adds a bit of pattern-recognition based puzzle-solving to the game (much like that of another classic videogame, Tetris). In fact, I’m more inclined to label Space Invaders Extreme as a “puzzle” game rather than a “shooter.”

The other elements of the game’s presentation also reinforce this classification. Clearly inspired by the efforts of Q Entertainment, who brought us the rhythmically-challenging puzzlers Meteos and Lumines, SIE integrates sound effects with various background music and kaleidoscope-like movies, creating a sensory overload that amounts to nothing less than aural and visual opulence.

Even with these seemingly drastic alterations to the gameplay mechanics, Space Invaders Extreme maintains the same structure as its predecessor: there’s no story to speak of, nor does this game need any; the game still incorporates the arcade-style “branching” levels, (where you can continue playing until you’re out of “lives” – or, in this case, extra ships), and there’s another game mode where you can simply play through an particular level of your choice and try to get a high score. Like the original, the game is also brutally difficult at times, especially on the later stages - it’s still an exercise in futility, and, most importantly, it’s still fun, even 30 years later.

The game boasts a multi-player mode, but the gameplay options here are really limited. My brothers and I tried it, and it’s nothing more than a “compete-to-survive” contest. The depth and breadth of the solo game is not present in the multiplayer modes, and I wouldn’t recommend this game if you’re looking for a fun multiplayer game for the family. I’ve played only the Nintendo DS version of Space Invaders Extreme, but there is also a Sony PSP version for any interested parties. Most critics seem to agree that the DS version is superior, but also agreed that game is an easily defensible purchase regardless of what handheld videogame player you buy it for. I’m inclined to agree with them on the latter point, although I’m not sure if this is a game for everyone. It’s harmless fun, like the games of old, but the “fun factor” will be dependent upon your enthusiasm for earning high scores.

On another note, I’ll be out of the country for the next coming week without any internet access. I hope to back and ready to blog in the first week of July. St. Catherine of Siena and all holy men and women, pray for us!