As of Friday I have been granted a temporary reprieve from the academic burdens of my vocational discernment. This gives me an opportunity to focus on my emotional, physical, and spiritual obligations, especially those that I've neglected over the second half of the semester, this blog included.
Despite the new game releases that accompany each Christmas season, I haven't interest in any of them save Chrono Trigger DS, which I'll hopefully get as a Christmas gift. Soul Calibur IV has proven to be surprisingly popular with my brother seminarians, and while I can't say that the game possesses any particularly endearing value beyond sheer entertainment of the absurd (who wouldn't want to see Yoda fighting an Elvis look-alike with nunchaku?), that alone has been a welcome respite from the strenuous workload that too often characterizes college life.
Since I've been back home, I've rediscovered that I have the Pokemon gene - embarassed as I am to admit it, I can totally understand why the game has been so successful and popular. Organizing a team of virtual critters to fight and trade with friends makes for an undeniably fun game. This game and Pope Benedict XVI's Spirit of the Liturgy will ensure that my living room sofa is occupied for long stretches of time for this 3 and a half weeks of Christmas vacation. The book is certainly a bit on the "heavy" side - I find myself re-reading passages just to glean everything I can from the text - but my gaming hobby and Spirit of the Liturgy are proving to be far more complementary than I would have ever thought they would or could be. Being a video gamer, the "play" theory of liturgy (though Pope Benedict does ultimately deem it as "insufficient") resonates deeply with me. The idea of play being an excape from the confines of the world is an idea that many video games take and "run with," so to speak, but in the end, it ultimately becomes just another part of the world we live in, as the rules and confines established by the game transform the game from being "another world - a counter-world or a non-world - to being a bit of our world with its own laws." Games provide a fleeting escape from reality at best; they can't transport us to our higher calling, even if they can indirectly help us on our way there. It's a good reminder for video game enthusiasts (including yours truly) not to let these games become idols - they aren't the Savior whom we await during the Advent season, and we certainly can't offer ourselves to them expecting any sort of true fulfillment.
That's not to say that games don't provide something of value - Aquinas, for one, echoed Aristotle's thoughts that the relaxation from games provided a good - but in the age where many (myself included) spend inexorbinant amounts of time with video games, Pope Benedict's reminder is one worth noting.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
C.S. Lewis: The Video Game
What a cool idea!
Like many, I only wish that is was real. I hate MMORPGs, (including the tacky, Lord of the Rings-inspired ones nearly devoid of what made Tolkien's signature works so great: Catholicism!) but anything in the vein of C.S. Lewis can't be that bad....right?
(h/t Mark Shea of Catholic and Enjoying It!
Like many, I only wish that is was real. I hate MMORPGs, (including the tacky, Lord of the Rings-inspired ones nearly devoid of what made Tolkien's signature works so great: Catholicism!) but anything in the vein of C.S. Lewis can't be that bad....right?
(h/t Mark Shea of Catholic and Enjoying It!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Audiosurfin' USA
Anybody familiar with the gaming community/network Steam has doubtlessly heard (if not already a proud owner) of Audiosurf, a rhythm/"music" game with an interesting twist.
The megapopular mainstays Guitar Hero and Rock Band rely on a system of colored "bars" that more or less function as musical "notes" on a scoresheet. (Those unfamiliar with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc. are probably already lost at this point: take a gander at the Guitar Hero video review here for a glimpse at what I mean). In Audiosurf,, these on-screen colored cues aren't notes on a scoresheet; they're cars on a highway, and rather than tasking the player with matching these colored bars to buttons a joypad or controller to "play" a song, Audiosurf needs no newfangled, awkward insrument-shaped controllers: you need merely the arrows on a keyboard or a computer mouse to navigate your vehicle as you traverse the musical highway...crashing into as many cars as you can along the way.
Well, sort of, anyway. Think of this game as "musical Tetris": the color-coded "cars" on the highway don't cause your vehicle to crash immediately; they are stored in one of three columns (each column corresponding to a lane on the highway), and by placing three cars of the same color in either a row or column, the player not only scores points, but like in most "falling block" puzzle games, the blocks (or cars, in this case) disappear and the columns are emptied. Likewise, if the columns are filled, the car crashes and the player loses points.
Keep in mind that the "cars" that appear on the "highway" correspond to musical notes of a song; the game also marks changes in the rhythm of a song with sudden sharp turns and uphill climbs. The best part? Audiosurf doesn't use a pre-set song list like most games of its type; any music file on yor PC harddrive, music CD, mp3 file, etc. can be used! Scores are tracked online, as well, if you wish, and it was quite a shock to see that I had racked up a 15,000 point score on the Salve Regina highway only to find out that someone had outscored me! Apparently I'm the only one who's been travelin' down Fr. Groschel's The God of Mercy and You freeway, though. No surprises there...
With a $10 price tag, I can't recommend this game enough. I'll never understand how I missed Audiosurf when it released earlier this year, but I'm sure I'll be playing it for many years to come.
The megapopular mainstays Guitar Hero and Rock Band rely on a system of colored "bars" that more or less function as musical "notes" on a scoresheet. (Those unfamiliar with Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc. are probably already lost at this point: take a gander at the Guitar Hero video review here for a glimpse at what I mean). In Audiosurf,, these on-screen colored cues aren't notes on a scoresheet; they're cars on a highway, and rather than tasking the player with matching these colored bars to buttons a joypad or controller to "play" a song, Audiosurf needs no newfangled, awkward insrument-shaped controllers: you need merely the arrows on a keyboard or a computer mouse to navigate your vehicle as you traverse the musical highway...crashing into as many cars as you can along the way.
Well, sort of, anyway. Think of this game as "musical Tetris": the color-coded "cars" on the highway don't cause your vehicle to crash immediately; they are stored in one of three columns (each column corresponding to a lane on the highway), and by placing three cars of the same color in either a row or column, the player not only scores points, but like in most "falling block" puzzle games, the blocks (or cars, in this case) disappear and the columns are emptied. Likewise, if the columns are filled, the car crashes and the player loses points.
Keep in mind that the "cars" that appear on the "highway" correspond to musical notes of a song; the game also marks changes in the rhythm of a song with sudden sharp turns and uphill climbs. The best part? Audiosurf doesn't use a pre-set song list like most games of its type; any music file on yor PC harddrive, music CD, mp3 file, etc. can be used! Scores are tracked online, as well, if you wish, and it was quite a shock to see that I had racked up a 15,000 point score on the Salve Regina highway only to find out that someone had outscored me! Apparently I'm the only one who's been travelin' down Fr. Groschel's The God of Mercy and You freeway, though. No surprises there...
With a $10 price tag, I can't recommend this game enough. I'll never understand how I missed Audiosurf when it released earlier this year, but I'm sure I'll be playing it for many years to come.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
An Echochrome Player Diary in Pictures
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With most puzzle video games taking the tetris rip-off route, It's refreshing to see something of the "sit-down-and-think" variety appear on any gaming platform.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Looks Like I'm Not the Only Catholic Who Enjoys Video Games...
Brian Saint-Paul has written a quaint little piece over at Inside Catholic today regarding the new Pew research study which aparently found that 97 percent of American kids play video games. Being a gamer himself, Brian Saint-Paul does not use this study as an excuse to lambast the video game medium and the people who enjoy and utilize it, but actually thinks the findings of the study could be a good thing.
I guess I'm just glad that Catholics are on the forefront of the video game defense force these days. Video game "legislation" is a popular pandering point for politicians of many persuasions - everyone from Hillary Clinton to Sam Brownback seems to think it's a good idea. In Britian, it's not at all uncommon to see the Daily Mail publish asinine articles attacking the video game medium for causing virtually every societal ailment. The Fox News Mass Effect fiasco demonstrates that American news networks are equally nefarious in their treatment of the medium.
Kudos to InsideCatholic. It's nice to see that SOMEBODY gets it...
I guess I'm just glad that Catholics are on the forefront of the video game defense force these days. Video game "legislation" is a popular pandering point for politicians of many persuasions - everyone from Hillary Clinton to Sam Brownback seems to think it's a good idea. In Britian, it's not at all uncommon to see the Daily Mail publish asinine articles attacking the video game medium for causing virtually every societal ailment. The Fox News Mass Effect fiasco demonstrates that American news networks are equally nefarious in their treatment of the medium.
Kudos to InsideCatholic. It's nice to see that SOMEBODY gets it...
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Player Diary: Tales of Vesperia
Since I am absolutely indisposed to reading Chuang Tzu right now, here's a few more tidbits about the game I managed to play for about 2 1/2 hours today:
-The game introduced the concept of an "over-limit", a special battle command that basically lets your character whale on enemies without reservation. No need to worry about combining attacks and special attacks (or "artes") together (though you still need to worry about conserving health, etc - no invincibility!); you can pretty much just mash the buttons on your controller and watch as the on-screen monsters perish. Unfortunately, enemies can use it too, and since the introduction to this new gameplay feature, the game's difficulty seems to have spiked dramatically. Some nasty Cerberus-like Cloverfield wannabe boss beastie completely annihilated me, and after grinding/"leveling up" enough to wipe him out and traveling to the nearest town, some red-eyed ninjas accsot me before I can save the game. Ugh.
- The story is quite openly discussing consequentialism. In two consecutive scenes, two different characters are faced with situations in which they are tempted to break laws for the sake of preceived righteousness. One character does so and another declines. Sequential scenes show the characters discussing which one did the right thing. Neither characer comes out particularly better off than the other.
I wrote about this in my last entry, but I will mention it again for emphasis: There is a pervading theme of "Just-do-what-YOU-wanna-do-when-faced-with- tough-decisions" in this game's narrative . I'm not sure if "hedonism" is the right word what the game is advocating here, but it's definetley the same "believe in yourself!" self-help rhetoric that seems to pervade Western culture these days. Come to think of it, it's pretty common in anime, too...given the throughly Japanese origin of this game, I guess I can't be too surprised with this thematic.
-Lack of puzzles I realize Tales of games are genearlly light on puzzles, but the near-total lack of them thus far is ridiculous. The game seems too easy without the occasional logic puzzle, even if they are of the thoroughly rudimentary variety.
- I don't understand the "cooking" system. I know what it's used for, and it's sure handy in a pinch, but I'm not sure how the cooking "menu" is supposed to work. Perhaps a reader could add a dash of knowledge (apologies for the VERY bad cooking joke)?
- Total Playing time so far: 7:57 (it's actually more since I had to restart after losing to a "boss" and the game just loads from the last save point. I've probably played around 8:15 or so.)
-The game introduced the concept of an "over-limit", a special battle command that basically lets your character whale on enemies without reservation. No need to worry about combining attacks and special attacks (or "artes") together (though you still need to worry about conserving health, etc - no invincibility!); you can pretty much just mash the buttons on your controller and watch as the on-screen monsters perish. Unfortunately, enemies can use it too, and since the introduction to this new gameplay feature, the game's difficulty seems to have spiked dramatically. Some nasty Cerberus-like Cloverfield wannabe boss beastie completely annihilated me, and after grinding/"leveling up" enough to wipe him out and traveling to the nearest town, some red-eyed ninjas accsot me before I can save the game. Ugh.
- The story is quite openly discussing consequentialism. In two consecutive scenes, two different characters are faced with situations in which they are tempted to break laws for the sake of preceived righteousness. One character does so and another declines. Sequential scenes show the characters discussing which one did the right thing. Neither characer comes out particularly better off than the other.
I wrote about this in my last entry, but I will mention it again for emphasis: There is a pervading theme of "Just-do-what-YOU-wanna-do-when-faced-with- tough-decisions" in this game's narrative . I'm not sure if "hedonism" is the right word what the game is advocating here, but it's definetley the same "believe in yourself!" self-help rhetoric that seems to pervade Western culture these days. Come to think of it, it's pretty common in anime, too...given the throughly Japanese origin of this game, I guess I can't be too surprised with this thematic.
-Lack of puzzles I realize Tales of games are genearlly light on puzzles, but the near-total lack of them thus far is ridiculous. The game seems too easy without the occasional logic puzzle, even if they are of the thoroughly rudimentary variety.
- I don't understand the "cooking" system. I know what it's used for, and it's sure handy in a pinch, but I'm not sure how the cooking "menu" is supposed to work. Perhaps a reader could add a dash of knowledge (apologies for the VERY bad cooking joke)?
- Total Playing time so far: 7:57 (it's actually more since I had to restart after losing to a "boss" and the game just loads from the last save point. I've probably played around 8:15 or so.)
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