Chrono Trigger- The Christian Allegory?

A while back I came across some comments suggesting that Chrono Trigger, the great Squaresoft RPG (originally on the SNES but now on at least two other platforms) should be read as a Christian allegory. I had fond memories of playing CT years back and decided to replay the game carefully in order to consider this claim. Interestingly, in my research I found one website dedicated to the idea of CT as a Christian allegory but also another website presenting an existentialist reading of Chrono Trigger.

After replaying the game through Its pretty clear that the game can't be read as any kind of full on allegory- it simply doesn't itself that seriously. Just looking at the naive way that the game presents time-travel should be enough to stop would be academics from pulling some grand philosophy out of it all. The Characters are happily under-developed and take on all manner of strange experience with the same detachment as the gamer.

So, if the game is 'Christian', it is on a subtler level. There are odd resemblances here and there to the Gospel or Christian virtues but it would be very silly to go around the cast of the game and identifying them as the masks of different New Testament characters- it falls to pieces very quickly. Like in The Lord of The Rings, reflections of Christ can be found in the actions of Gandalf, Frodo and Sam at different times, but as a whole no one character is Christ throughout. What makes LOTR explicitly Catholic is the way it presents reality, I'm going to look at CT under 5 criteria to see how strongly or if at all we soak up a Catholic vision of reality in CT.

Reality of Objective Moral laws.

It is clear that Lavos is bad and that Queen Zeal has become wicked because she has sold herself to him. The people of Zeal realise belatedly that their whole lives are based on using Lavos's wicked energy and that the magic has corrupted them. The judgement of Crono by the chancellor is very interesting in that we get an application of the moral law against the main character. Magus causes some problems in this area. He is clearly a wicked character from his efforts to invade peaceful Guardia and the way he treats Glenn/ Cyrus who are truely noble. The problem is that later he is able to simply becomes a member of your team and there is tacit approval in how he was essentially trying to accomplish the good end of destroying Lavos through wicked means. In a 'Christian worldview' Magus would have to remain an antagonist and be destroyed or make an act of repentence for the wicked and misguided actions he had taken.

Interior Struggle to pursue the good.

CT doesn't really give us insights into the characters' interior struggles within themselves to do what is right. This is no criticism, the game isn't trying to be profound or to present an explication of the human condition.


Divine Providence working through free will.

I think we can see the Gates as an example of Divine Providence. The game doesn't make this claim but there is enough evidence to see things this way. The gates to different time periods are not caused by Lavos randomly but they are purposeful. The characters realise this and although their speculation is that it is caused by "the entity" which is trying to preserve its existence we could see the purposeful gates as an example of providence. The providence moves interestingly with free will in that no matter what the characters do in the past the present is largely preserved and they continue to exist. Such an extraordinary maintainence of the status quo is absolutely illogical scientifically but could plausibly be preserved by a being that transcends time. In fact the existence of God transcending time is the only thing that could make the Chrono Trigger world hold together. CT doesn't take this stuff seriously at all but we can draw these thoughts from the game fairly I think.

Self Sacrifice for others

CT deals with this quite well. On a few occasions the theme tune music sets in as Crono agrees to undertake some self sacrificial mission for the good of someone else. Ultimately of course we have Crono's laying down his life in the first battle against Queen Zeal and Lavos. Perhaps it is in virtue of Crono's death that the gate opens up for the others to escape....

Marle is quite disobedient, this is her nature, it would perhaps be more ideal if she was able to overcome herself and accept her future responsibility as queen or if we got some hint that she intended to do this (Like prince Hal in Henry IV). We do see however her love of Crono in her immense efforts to restore him to life and her chaste devotion of him. Frog is a paragon of medieval virtue whose duty is to protect Queen Leene and who is fulfilled in this role, a Christian Gentleman as it were.



Basic Christian Theodicy- Monotheism, Goodness of creation, understanding of eternal reward/punishment based on moral behaviour.

We shouldn't expect pre-Christian stories to present Christian theology (Tolkien explains this well in 'on Fairy Tales'). Although CT has some trappings of being in a post revelation world (the time is written as BC/AD, there is a Cathedral in the Middle Age) it is probably fairer to asses the game as if it presented a world before the revelation of Christ. Tolkien's Middle earth is pre-revelation and that its why the general worldview and religious understanding is one of High Paganism- holding the the beliefs virtuous and good pagans would naturally tend towards from their analysis of the world.

CT generally does present a pre-Christian natural religion. We don't have any reincarnation talk, the planet is not deified and a few 'ghosts' of virtuous characters go upwards towards heaven (The hero Toma for example) suggesting their continuous and blessed existence. There is not a similar treatment of wicked characters, which is a pity. The game doesn't take itself seriously to present any understanding of where monsters come from, but ideally they would be seen as a disorder in creation- in the same way we would see a savage wolf attacking humans.
Robo undermines christian theodicy a little in that he seems to 'learn' emotions. This is obviously erroneous. He should have been presented as unable to understand human behaviour and existing soley to serve those who truely posses freedom, intellect and will. The fact that he has a 'girlfriend' is a bit silly, perhaps its sillyness is its redeeming grace. Again, the issue of Magus poses some problems in that Christian theodicy would present this wicked character as either meritting death or needing to repent. The game's acceptance of him actually doesn't flow with the story because it undermines the Frog/ Glenn/ Cyrus theme which is very positive and creates unhelpful relativism in the game.

The treatment of magic is very complicated in the game, I am not exactly sure if it is given a careful account. I don't think it took the issue that seriously. It seems on the one hand that magic originates from Lavos and this is wicked but also there is some kind of elemental magic bestowed by spekkio which is presented as good. There is something positive in the fact that the magic is bestowed from 'above' but the role of the Gurus is poorly explained in CT. In a Christian Natural Theology they would have been religious figures of some kind and were endowed with their respective gifts.

Conclusion

So whilst CT is not a Christian Allegory in that we do not see the life of Christ or Salvation History running through it, we do, in many places get true values embodied and the possibility of using some of the story's contents of acting as an intoduction to the Gospel. The treatment of Magus lets the game down a little. Chrono Cross's reading of CT messes things up quite a bit too- but CC is far far more illogical than CT but with the added problem that it does take itself seriously. When a game 'takes itself seriously' the gamer has to be much more cautious in discerning the undercurrent philosophy as it is trying to teach in a way a 'fun/ naive' game like CT is not.

Gaming after conversion.

I am sure many of our readers can recognise how, at some point in their life, they made a transition from a child apprehension of the Catholic Faith to an adult one. A good number of others will have approached the Faith from a nearly total neo-pagan upbringing but in both situations the 'converts' will come to see many of the things they used to do as incompatible with the Gospel of Christ.

It is interesting as to how deeper conversion effects catholic gamers. I was certainly someone who was playing video games long before I had any grasp or acceptance of the faith and 'converted', as it were, only around the age of 17. How then should the full Catholic faith alter my appreciation of gaming? I don't think I have come to a conclusion yet. On the one hand, if I reflect on the philosophies underlining a lot of the games I really love (Console RPGs mainly) I find really questionable stuff (I'll reflect on this later) on the other hand, I know that such games can be great for relaxation and can be a common point of dialogue with many guys my age.

I think there are two legitimate approaches then towards gaming (especially of the RPG and adventure variety which are essentially interactive novels), the first is to totally reject all games that are not explicitly and wholly in conformity with the Gospel (this was the approach of Tertullian on the subject of whether Christians should read pagan fiction or attend the theatre). A 'liberal' reading of Tertullian's approach would be to also allow the legitimate video game corpus to include morally ambivalent games like Duck Hunt, Driving Sims, Sports Sims, Puzzle games and a few cheesy 'bible based games'.

The second legitimate approach towards games, so far as they are not intrinsically evil, is to see the values, philosophies and ideas that are good and noble in them so as to enrich our appreciation of what Tolkien refers to as 'the true myth', the Christian Revelation. Vatican II, in the quotes on the side of the blog takes this positive approach and hopefully in my posts I will be able to look at some of the great video games and see what we can take from them that will enrich us as followers of Christ.

Catholic Gaming Community?

From the e-mail files:

"I’ve been looking around the web for any ‘Catholic Gaming’ groups, specifically on the Xbox 360, I came across one of the blogs you contribute to and decided to shoot you an email.

Do you know of any Catholic-based clans, or gaming communities? I’m interested in gaming with like-minded individuals, and if you’ve ever played Xbox Live, you know that most people tend to be vulgar, crass, disrespectful and the like. Right now I’m playing ModernWarfare 2, but I love almost all games. Let me know if you can point me in the right direction!"

Being the online gaming square that I am, I got nothin.' Readers! Knowest thou anything relevant about this topic?

Video Game Violence, Part Trio

Heavy Rain, QuanticDream's heavily anticipated "interactive movie" (their words, not mine) experience developed exclusively for the Playstation 3, released to a flurry of positive reviews this past week, and the flurries of snow here in Chicago didn't stop anyone here in the Chi from picking up the game - including one of my brother seminarians.

I have yet to play or even watch the game myself; however, the buzz about the game has reached my ears, and as it has some pertinence to the oft-discussed topic of video game violence here on CathVG, I'm going to offer the readership a chance to comment on it.

Now, the lexicon of the video gamer "chattering class" is awfully pretentious (the diction employed to describe the gaming experience is strictly limited to words like "innovative," "immersive," and "deep," and there's rarely any substantive attempt to distinguish between terms). Still, describing Heavy Rain as "immersive" is probably an understatement. The game takes a sort of "choose-your-own-ending" approach to the story; every action you as a player undertake has a dramatic effect on the story's progression. Anyone remember the "Goosebumps" books from the 90's, with the funky "alternative endings?" Yeah, it's kinda like that, only there's a seemingly limitless amount of endings to the story in Heavy Rain. Why is this important? Read on, gentle reader, read on...

Heavy Rain also "immerses" the player in its utilization of the Playstation 3's motion-sensing controller. Case in point: you character is a gun-wielding, neo-noir detective. You hold the controller as if you were holding a handgun (not too disimilar to the "light gun" arcade games of yore) as your character is forced with a moral dilemma: shoot an innocent bystander in cold blood (and thus save the character's son), or choose to back off and watch someone else die the same brutal death.

THE PLAYER pulls the trigger - or at least, this is what the game compels the player to think, as the motion-sensing control scheme demands that the player simulate the actual murder sequence.

So...with an immersive setting like that of Heavy Rain, is the moral culpability of the player any different? It's awfully clear that the developers are pushing the envelope in that direction, blurring the line between the "player-as-viewer" and "player-as-agent," per se. At the very least, the postmodern, "it's all just a matter of perspective..." thematic is certainly a part of this game, and for this reason alone I will say, without hesitancy: DO NOT buy this game for your 4-year-old grandson/nephew/brother. Even then, given that this game deliberately attempts to soothe away the pangs of a guilty conscience in its portayal (simulation?) of murder, well, I'm not sure if anyone else should be playing it, either.

That being said, I await the judgment of those who have actually, you know, played the game.

DRM - Reasonable or Unreasonable? (Part 1)

Gamers are not generally known for clean language. Most gamers I know, are pretty liberal with vulgarities. In the game community, though, there is a three letter acronym which has become the equivalent of a four-letter word: DRM, Digital Rights Management (anti-piracy measures, essentially). And it is not surprising that this is the case. In their rush to stop piracy, developers and publishers of software have included all manner of draconian and invasive methods of DRM with their products.

Piracy: My Own Thoughts in Relation to Catholic Teaching

There exist very diverse opinions concerning software piracy. They range from those who consider any unauthorized use of software to be unacceptable to those who see it as a badge of honor never to pay for software and everywhere in between. The in between is, perhaps, much more interesting than the extremes. It is there in which we see the various justifications people use for piracy.

Looking carefully at the matter, I would say that I consider software piracy to be a form of theft. As such, I would say that it is wrong under any normal circumstance. The various people in the chain of software production and sale deserve to be justly recompensed for their labors. This is a Christian principle as well as one which is in keeping with the general concept of individuals rights. Taking the fruit of someone's labor both without permission and without recompense is theft. I do not think that it matters if you are not taking a physical item, even though some people will try to justify piracy by saying that non-physical goods are somehow not afforded the same protection as physical ones.

While there are numerous different justifications which are used for piracy, I will list a few here:

1) Justification: The software is over-priced.
My Thought: It could easily be replaced with "I do not want to pay for it". This argument strikes me as especially weak in light of the fact that software is not a basic human right nor, generally, do you need it for your livelihood.

2) Justification: "Try before you buy". The idea is that you pirate the software and then buy it if you like it.
My Thought: This is a concept which, if you were to attempt it with most other goods, would likely not be accepted by those who are purveying them.

3) Justification: Certain publishers or, perhaps, all publishers are "rich" and/or "evil", therefore making it acceptable to pirate their products. Microsoft is a popular target for this.
My Thought: This mentality does not strike me as having particular merit any more than the over-priced reasoning. Simply because someone is wealthy does not make it right to pirate from them. Not even if it is Microsoft (and please note that I am writing this on a computer running Linux).

Along with my individual responses here and the moral perspective from a religious and individual rights point of view, I would also like to add a practical test for personal actions. It is always good to ask: "What would be the result if everyone else were to do as I do?" In this case, if everyone pirated, then it would become difficult to profit from the production of software and many high-end games and powerful applications would no longer be available to us. Further, it would be a great injustice to those who labor to create software for our use.

There is one more justification for piracy which I find, perhaps, the most interesting:

Protest.

Yes, sometimes people use software piracy as a means of protest against some policy or other which a developer or publisher undertakes. Ironically, as was the case with the game Spore, it can even be a response to draconian DRM (anti-piracy) measures. Once again, I would not endorse the idea of pirating software simply because the developer or publisher has made you angry. At the same time, a part of the reason I am looking at this issue on this blog is the very phenomena of piracy as protest.

NOTE: This article is NOT addressing issues such as "abandonware" and foreign titles not released in your native language. I will talk about that in a different article as it is rather a different circumstance.

NOTE 2: I am also not a fan of DRM, despite not supporting piracy.


God be with you,
Steely

For Freedom! - Two Great Classic Game Deals at Steam!

Freedom Force: Freedom Pack

Freedom Force, the light-hearted real time tactical game based around Silver Age style super heroes, is on sale this weekend on Valve's excellent Steam service. Right now, you can get the Freedom Force: Freedom Pack, containing both the original Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich for only $2. Such a low price for two excellent classics of the PC gaming genre is a real deal.

For those who have never played any of the Freedom Force series, this would be a perfect chance to get into it. The game stars a cast of heroes and villains reminiscent of what was known as the "Silver Age" of comic books which is defined as being the era between 1956 and around 1970. As such, they are over-the-top and bombastic in the most endearing ways. Perhaps the best example is the main character, Minuteman, a patriotic themed hero who wears a tricorn hat and belts out slogans about freedom and justice. Add in abilities with names like "Strike for Freedom" and "National Defense" to create an awesome retro feel.


The gameplay itself involves controlling a small group of individual super heroes from a zoomable isometric perspective. While the action takes place in real time, the game can be paused at any time to issue orders - something which becomes essential when there is more than one character in the team. Each super hero is colorful and features their own set of powers and weaknesses. The powers and traits are upgradeable through an point system, adding an RPG element to the game. Due to the varied strengths and weaknesses, each character has their own set of tactics to work with and the chemistry of your team becomes an important planning factor in each mission.

From a Catholic perspective, I have to say that I like the light tone and heroic theme of Freedom Force. I definitely enjoy some dark games - such as Bioshock or Resident Evil 5. However, it is good for the heart to get something light sometimes. Freedom Force definitely fits the bill there.


X-Com Complete Pack

Also on sale at Steam for the ridiculously low price of $2, one of the great legendary games of the PC genre - X-Com: UFO Defense - along with a collection of four other games of that series. Serious PC gamers will likely have least heard of this title from ye olde days of DOS games. Well, if you have played it before and you want to play it again, here is your chance. And if you have never played it, then I think that you owe it to yourself to check this out.

X-Com: UFO defense (originally X-Com: Enemy Unknown) is a turn-based tactical game released in 1994. As the name implies, the game involves fighting against an alien force. Aliens are making the first moves towards invading Earth and you are placed at the head of an international military organization known as X-Com, tasked with defending against the new threat. You begin with a base, a team of soldiers, interceptor fighters, a transport, and international funding. From there, how things proceed is up to you.

The game takes place on two levels. X-Com is commanded globally from a rotating globe map. The player oversees operations such as base construction, research and development, personnel, supply and equipment, and, of course, defense. UFO's appear at regular intervals across the globe. Depending upon radar coverage, which is part of base building, the player can detect these intrusions and attempt to intercept the ships. There are also cases in which the aliens actually land and must then be dealt with. Eventually, the player will have to deal with alien terror attacks, alien bases, and attacks on X-Com bases by the aliens as well.

It should be noted that speedy and efficient defense is crucial. The world's leaders will become upset if the aliens get away with too much in their territories. If they see X-Com as ineffective, then they will decrease funding or, worse, sign a pact the enemy.

The missions themselves involve turn based tactical from an isometric view. Once a team has landed, they are controlled by the player one by one, with the amount of action each can take determined by an action point system. Each team member may be armed with a variety of weapons, including heavy weapons and grenades. In the beginning, the X-Com forces are heavily outgunned. But, with time, captured weapons allow for the use of more advanced technology.


While the graphics and sound are quite primitive by today's standards, they still serve to create the eerie atmosphere which sucked me in the first time I played. There is a certain tension created when you have first landed and look upon the landscape of the mission map, then obscured by fog of war. Somewhere, in that darkness, aliens await your brave team of commandos. Life and death will depend upon sound tactics and careful planning. Around each corner, a hostile might be encountered.

Indeed, I would venture to say that the minimalistic nature of the game with its old technology perhaps adds to the creepier aspects of the game. There's something about that pc speaker style music which has its own effect. Even if someone were to offer me a remade version of the game with better effects, I do not think I would want to replace this original version.

Additional details tying the missions to the overall strategy game elements include a robust research system. If the player captures alien equipment or even live aliens (using stun devices), then they can research them. This is crucial to success, as it can lead to better technology and more information on the nature of the enemy. Not only that, but it adds just that much more flavor and enjoyment to the experience.

X-Com has a certain heroic feel to it which I think is a good thing to experience in a game. It features bravery, honor, and duty in the struggle against the invading forces. Even though your soldiers are not fleshed out characters in any way, you can easily begin to think of them as brave defenders of the innocent in your fight against the alien menace. I always hated to see one of the soldiers die and would always do whatever I could to ensure the survival each member of the team.

Turn based tactical games are not very common these days. However, there will always be a place in the hearts of many gamers for this tense, thoughtful style of play. X-Com is a part of gaming history and its place is well-deserved.


God be with you,
Steely

U.S. Navy: Video Games are good for you

H/T to the NeoGAF forums

"Think interactive video games are a waste of time or more suited for children? Think again. Research by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) indicates that video games can help adults process information much faster and improve their abilities to reason and solve problems. Dr. Ray Perez, ONR program officer, discussed video game-induced “fluid intelligence” on the Jan 20 webcast."

Other notable excerpts:

"...Early indications suggest that cognitive improvements from video games can last up to two and half years, Perez said, but he admitted that so far the results have been relegated to observations and measurements in a controlled laboratory environment..."

“The major question is that once you’ve increased these perceptual abilities and cognitive abilities, do they transfer to everyday tasks,” he said, “and how long do they continue to influence the person working on these everyday tasks?”

For the record, this is hardly the only instance of the scientific method demonstrating the health benefits of video gaming; one such benefit that goes unmentioned in this particular study (and, thus, earns a peculiar mention here) is accentuated eyesight. Personally, I think my prolonged hours of video gaming have done wonders for my hand-eye coordination, though that's probably the only physical health benefit I derived from them. The intellectual and spiritual formation these games provided, however, was invaluable. The artistic imagery of some of the games also gave me a taste of the transcendent, instilling in me (during those precious formative teenage years, no less!) the idea that beauty was, in fact, NOT in the eye of the beholder. I learned a bit about storytelling and characterization, as well; as a budding English major at a major Catholic University, it is no exaggeration to say that I owe my interest in the subject at least partially to the video games I enjoyed well into my teenage years...and still enjoy, albeit with less frequency, to this day.

That being said, the social isolation and addictive potential of these same games also contributed at times to a kind of spiritual desolation; I will be the first to admit that I failed to employ moderation during my more "hardcore" gaming years, and no amount of acquired ocular aptitude can replace wasted time (not to mention neglected friendships, a deteriorating physique, and a regrettably over-extended introversion). Too much of a good thing is, well, too much of a good thing. Games became my god, and that was...well, not healthy at all.

I sincerely hope the Navy Officers in this study don't fall into the same trap I did. There's something about video games and an incarnational spirituality that really...doesn't quite mesh. They can't replace love of neighbor, even if they do teach the value of the practice of this or any other particular virtue. They can impart wisdom and knowledge, but they can't make you practice it. They can depict, and even bring to life, Christ on the cross, in a way peculiarly unique to the medium, no less. They can never, however, replace Him.

man games - Scorched 3d

Scorched 3D

Imagine, if you will, the early 90's. A group three or four of middle school boys huddled around a computer screen in someone's living room or study. The focus of their rapt attention is a terrain which looks like it was made in a few minutes in MS Paint on which were gathered a handful of tiny pixellated tanks and artillery pieces. The guy at the keyboard takes a thoughtful sip from his Coke and then lines up a shot. He carefully measures out angle and power, adjusting for wind and for the fact that, despite the game taking place outdoors, the borders of the screen were "walls" of rubber which would send even nuclear warheads bouncing around like superballs. Finally, the player punches the fire key with a singular force which has a sort of exclamatory nature to it, as if the satisfying clack of plastic key were a kind of battle cry. Everyone watches the screen intently as a tiny white dot, its arc traced by a white line behind it, is lobbed across the screen and down into a small valley in which another pixellated tank waits. The shot strikes earth and issues forth a massive explosion, not only enveloping the target but disintegrating an entire chunk of hillside.

The owner of the targetted tank waits with fist clenched, willing his tank's shield - represented by a white circle around it - to save it from impending doom. But fate has decreed otherwise. The shield falls with a shrill pc speaker whine sound blurb and the tank colorfully explodes into even tinier pixels while issuing a one-line lament of its demise.

Scorched Earth was a cherished part of my early gaming years. My friends and I loaded up the simple but incredibly enjoyable game many times to blast the computer and each other into tiny pixels using a variety of death-dealing and amusing weapons. It was a great time to be a gamer. Those days are, of course, their own moments in time. The same combination of wonder, companionship, and place are something I cannot replicate because I am no longer in middle school. But the game which brought us all together around a single keyboard is still around - a classic which has spawned many similar titles, including the incredibly enjoyable Worms series.

Version 1.5, the last release of Scorched Earth, is still easily available online as free shareware. It can be played using Dosbox. I do recommend that anyone who has never played it before give it a try because it is a real part of gaming history.

However, out of all of the various descendants of Scorched Earth, one has stood out to me both as a fan of the original and as a Linux gamer. That game is Scorched 3D.

Put simply, Scorched 3D is Scorched Earth with a 3d environment. It presents the players with a group of tanks and artillery set on an island or set of islands with the objective of lobbing heavy munitions at each other. Why? For what purpose are they engaging in this conflict? What are the ecological ramifications of disintegrating small islands? None of that matters. This is a game about tiny tanks and huge explosions. That is all we need to know.

Whenever you have an "update" of anything creative - be it a tv show, movie, video game, or what have you - I am suspicious. So very often these things just screw things up royally. Well, I am happy to say that Scorched 3D treats the original property with the tender loving care which a classically destructice game like this deserves. In fact, the designers have done their best to deliver an authentic experience of what the original Scorch (as we called it) would be if it was put into a 3d environment.

Among the things which carry over from the old classic are the basic mechanic of turn based artillery gameplay, the deformable terrain, and, very importantly, the massive arsenal. All of the great weapons are back - from the funky bomb to the sandhog. So are shields and other accessories. In short, it does not try to fix what was already a fantastic gameplay element.

Where the new game shows its improvements is, naturally, in the area of graphics. I found the environments to be impressive, varied, and enjoyable to play on. Perhaps the best part is the water, both in terms if how it looks and how it reacts to terrain being blasted away. Watching a newly created crater fill with seawater makes the game that much more fun.

Adding 3d to what was once a 2d game works extremely well in this case. The additional dimension adds a great deal of tactical thought that was not available before. Moving your vehicle was always important, for instance, but now it is even more essential. The terrain can become an asset or a liability, depending upon how you make use of it. I have played matches in which a tank nestled in a particularly tough to hit spot proved to be a real pain for everyone else. On the other hand, if you start a match in the middle of the open, expect to be a target. It's all part of the experience. And while all of this was present in the old Scorch, it is magnified and made more complex through the new iteration.

In the old days, we used to gather around a single keyboard in order to play Scorch. While that is still possible, the evolution of networking capabilities in games has opened up new possibilities of which Scorched 3D takes full advantage. It is easy to set up a game to play with friends or to join online games. If you play with friends. I recommend using some kind of audio chat - such as Ventrilo - because the best part of Scorch has always been the interaction with your buddies.

Overall, Scorched 3D captures the sense of fun which the old Scorch had to it. It continues the spirit of the original and is a great update for both those of us who played in years past and those who are new to the legacy.

Scorched 3D works in Linux, Mac, and Windows. Downloads are available on their website. You can also install the game via the Synaptic Package Manager in Debian based Linux distributions (including Ubuntu and Mint). Synaptic has a GUI available. However, if you want to use the terminal, do the following:

prompt ~ $ sudo apt-get install scorched3d

Then if you want to play the game, simply use the following command:

prompt ~ $ scorched3d

I played the game in Linux Mint and, aside from some sound issues which are probably related to the sound card on my Sony laptop, it worked quite well. When I played it on my desktop in Ubuntu, it ran with almost no issues, though again the sound could bug out at times. Since the game is 100% free, I will not complain. It is such a fine production overall.

And now for the links.

Scorched Earth Website: http://whicken.com/scorch/

Scorched3D: http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/

Greetings, Salutations, etc.

Hello, all.

Andy has already kindly introduced me and provided the introduction for my new column, man games. I thought that I ought to introduce myself a little further.

I have been gaming since my early adolescence. In those enchanted days of my first forays into gaming, my opportunities were sparse but cherished. My parents did not consider video games to be a very high priority for them. That is not surprising. And so for awhile, my primary opportunity to play games was at friends' houses. I always jumped on these chances. And, in the process, made gaming at that time into a social activity for me.

Back then, I played some of the more primitive PC games, such as Oregon Trail - which I got to play at school sometimes (gasp!) - as well as Hugo's House of Horror's, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Scorched Earth. Then there was the much wished-for Nintendo Entertainment System, which my parents eventually bought for me. Even then I only had precious few games.

As time went on, adulthood brought on the ability to buy and play games as a chose. Now I run into the problem of having games that I don't even get around to playing. It is a state of affairs I would not have imagined in those young days. Now that I look back, though, there was something special about those times of trying to squeeze every last bit of fun out of those old, low-tech games. You cannot go back to where you came from sometimes. But I am happy I was there.

These days, I share my gaming hobby with my beautiful fiance and fellow geek, Linda. She is not as much a gamer as I am. But that has its own fun. I get to introduce her to games she has never had a chance to see before. So once again, I have returned to gaming's social aspects - not just in terms of multiplayer games - but in single player games enjoyed with others.

It has been and will be a fun journey.

God be with you.

Steely

"Man Games"

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first ever edition of "man games." Those who are unfamiliar with Linux and Unix might be somewhat bemused by the title of this post. This is not, in fact, a column about games for men. Rather, in Linux and Unix the “man” command in the terminal brings up a text manual for the requested subject. For example, “man grep” would bring up the manual page for the grep command. So man games is, in fact, a column about games on Linux. Many of these games are also available on Windows, so if you are a Windows user then you might find some good stuff here too.

If you have never used Linux, I would encourage you to give it a try. At the basic level, Linux can be very user friendly. An excellent starting point is the Ubuntu distribution, which has wide compatibility and a helpful user base.

The truth is that I am fairly new Linux myself and through this column you will be joining me on my own journey of exploring the gaming opportunities on this robust and powerful family of operating systems. And if you are new to Linux or have never tried it, then you can rest assured that I was once in your shoes.

You can obtain a liveCD version of Ubuntu Linux to try it out without changing a thing on your current system here at the Ubuntu site:


http://www.ubuntu.com/


As a final note, I am proud to be hosted at the Catholic Video Gamers blog. God and the Catholic Church are of prime importance to my life.

Steely

posted via proxy by Andy Kirchoff

New Contributor!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooood Morning Catholic Video Gamer readers!

Today I have the privilege of introducing a new contributor: Brian "Steely" Swan. He'll have his first post up shortly. Welcome to the blog, Steely!

Facebook games?

Everyone on earth is STILL playing farmville, Mafia Wars, and oodles of other video games on various social networks. The legendary game creator Sid Meier now claims he's making a Civilization game for facebook, as well!

Yet I've done everything I can to avoid "social network-based" video games. I spend too much time on both social networks and video games separately already.

That I don't spend time with this particular breed of video game, however, also means I can't attest to their quality. I CAN say, however, that they certainly LOOK like garbage - Farmville = cheap graphics, loading issues, and time-based gameplay that rewards prolonged screen exposure as opposed to skillful time management.

Why not just play one of the better iterations of Harvest Moon instead? Is there really something different about them?

What's on the Horizon for 2010?

Though I've had some success in eliminating my gaming backlog this holiday season, I'd be kidding myself if I committed to doing this throughout the coming year.

So, here's a list of video games slated for a 2010 release that I'm looking forward to:

Pokemon Heartgold/Soulsilver (I'm a pokemaniac. Need I say more?)

Dragon Quest IX (portable Dragon Quest! WIll the soundtrack be as good as VIII's though?)

Final Fantasy XIII (all indications are that it is NOT like Final Fantasy XII, so I'm all in!)

Star Wars: The Old Republic (in spite of it being an MMO)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (even though I haven't really played the first one!)

Yeah, it's rpg-heavy, but I'm a sucker for the genre, and even though there really isn't much else I'm interested in, DQ and Pokemon alone (let alone together!) will be enough for me in the coming year.

Dark Void, Capcom's latest action game, is out soon, too...anyone gonna go out and buy that one?

Bitten by the poke-bug!

For the second year in a row. Anyone got any remedy for it? My brothers go back to school on Monday, and we're aiming to finish New Super Mario Bros. Wii sooner rather than later.

On a side note: Anyone have some "co-op" wii game recommendations, aside from the various "LEGO" variants? I've got relatives anxious for a new multiplayer wii game for the family, but I couldn't recommend anything outside of the New Super Mario Bros...and frankly, they seemed fairly disinterested in it, anyway.

Overall Game of the Year

Ok, confession time: I really don't think I've played enough video games across the course of 2009 to make my own definitive declaration regarding the very best gaming experience(s) that this past year had to offer. Thomas McDonald of GAMES magazine and the National Catholic Register (readers of this blog may recognize him from his recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review discussed here on this blog within the past 2 weeks), however, has separated the wheat from the chaff, as it were, and has what some will consider a surprising choice for "Electronic Game of the Year": Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Full text of the review, with some parts bolded for emphasis by yours truly:

"Batman: Arkham Asylum was a true last-minute upset. The idea that a licensed superhero game might not only be outstanding, but qualify as the best game of the year, just wasn’t feasible. Sure, there have been a few good superhero titles: Marvel Ultimate Alliance, The Spider-Man and Hulk series, and…actually, that’s about it. None ever transcended their license to become a great games on their own. But, as we explored Arkham Asylum more deeply, all the gameplay elements began to evolve, and the locations and story line opened up. We started making shocking comparisons—not to other superhero games, but to certified masterpieces like Bioshock (arguably the finest game of the last decade).

Yes, Arkham Asylum is that good. The combination of three disparate elements—stealth action, plain old brawling, and even a bit of detective work—takes some time to gel, but once it does, the game becomes almost impossible to put down. The upgrade system and gradual introduction of new abilities are remarkably satisfying, and 240 “Riddler puzzles” (including riddles that involve careful examination of the environment) add a tremendous depth and flexibility to the gameplay. The production is topnotch, with performances by the stellar voice cast of Batman: The Animated Series (including Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the definitive Joker) and a terrific story and script by comic book writer and TV producer Paul Dini. The film is saturated with Batman lore and fan-service, and loaded to the gills with villains from the Dark Knight’s rogues’ gallery. It is, simply (and without any undue hyperbole), the best superhero game, ever. —Thomas L. McDonald

Haven't played the game, so I can't comment, but I know Mr. McDonald isn't the first to compare this game to Bioshock, nor the only one to name it Game of the Year for 2009.

Overall it's been a pretty good year for action game fans, with Resident Evil 5, God of War, Batman, Deadly Creatures, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Bayonetta receiving accolades from both critics and fans alike. Modern Warfare 2 and Beatles Rock Band are also bound to get the GOTY nod from quite a few people, as well. I've been playing too much of 2008 (and even 2007's) games to weigh in on this subject, but I'm still curious to hear what others are thinking, if only to know what to buy from the Toys R' Us bargain bin a few months from now. Give me the scoop, readers: What's the best videogame of 2009?

DS Game of the Year?

My brother picked up a fairly obscure Western DS RPG yesterday after seeing its high metacritic average (metacritic.com is a website that compiles reviews for a given video game and averages them into a composite score; for you movie buffs out there, think Rottentomatoes.com, but for video games):



IGN is calling it the "sleeper hit of the year." My brother bought it and was, for better or for worse, up until the wee hours of the morning playing it. He enthusiastically described the game mechanics in a way that was clearly meant to entice me to purchase a copy of my own - I may as yet do so, especially after reading IGN's review.

Has anyone else played this game?

More Proof that I'm Not Crazy

See? Even priests think we can learn something from video games!

I'm a Survivor!

Just finished RE5 with my brother this morning. Not sure if I'm up for a full-fledged review, but as a gamer fairly new to the Resident Evil franchise, I will say I was very pleased with the entire package - the game isn't perfect, but there's nothing really glaringly WRONG with the game, either. It's violent, it's gory, but not in the way the Modern Warfare 2 is; there is no moral relativism-masquerading-as-narrative "depth" here. In fact, without spoiling anything, I dare say the story's themes fit quite well into a well-formed Catholic worldview. I was genuinely surprised by the characterization, too; it's as much of an action game as a horror game, meaning there's equal parts Indiana Jones as there is...well, "Resident Evil" (the movie, of course ;P). Actually, it's better than quite a few movie storylines in the recent past...including the most recent Indiana Jones movie.

It's not a game for the youngsters, and I'm not sure if the game holds up if you go it solo. Without spoiling the more important narrative details, though, I will say this: Resident Evil is a very impressive game. It's visually and aurally outstanding; the narrative is more compelling than most movies from the past year (seriously!), and Capcom managed to synthesize the best elements of a "scare-your-pants-off" atmosphere with action-oriented gameplay (it's not so much a Halo-esque "shooter" as a Devil May Cry "action game") that thrives on cooperation between players rather than competition. It's a little on the short side, and there's nothing truly "innovative" about the actual gameplay itself beyond the cooperative aspect, but it does everything you'd expect - and some things you wouldn't expect - more than adequately. Easily the biggest and best "surprise hit" for 2009.

Readers, please feel free to comment, especially RE: the story in the combox below. I would love to talk about the narrative, characters, etc. in greater depth than this intentionally spoiler-free blog post indicates. Just be careful with spoilers!

Cooperation and Competition in Video Games

First off, a belated Merry Christmas to all readers of this blog. God bless each and every one of you!

Here's what my dad and I bought my younger brothers for Christmas:



I was under the impression that this game was just a "wii-make" of the Nintendo DS game of the same name from three years ago. Turns out I was wrong, and good thing, too: it's as if the game was designed with the Kirchoff clan in mind. It's more cooperative than competitive, which seems to be a rarity for video games these days outside of the shooter genre.

My brother Tim has introduced me to another cooperative game, Resident Evil 5. My aversion to blood, gore, and the like isn't preventing me from enjoying it, either. In fact, I feel like I'm playing some Indiana Jones spin-off more often than not - except for the blood and guts, of course. It may be worth re-examining the last blog post in light of this game, as well.

All that for later, though. The important thing: cooperative multiplayer gaming is AWESOME. Period. And as much as "playing a sport" could probably do this just as well, you can't play basketball outside when there's snow on the ground.

I'll (hopefully) post more detailed impressions of both of these games later (or, alternatively, another poster will!). For now, though, less typing, and more, you know, actual game-playing. Merry Christmas, everyone!

On Video Game Violence

Christmas break – a full month of it, no less – has arrived for this anxious seminarian! That means, among other things, actually attending to the duties of blogmaster for once – an obligation I’m actually quite happy to have, actually, as it will doubtlessly keep me busy amidst the tedium that haunts Christmas vacation. As I wrote on my facebook status this morning: “It’s amazing how the luxury of free time can make one feel so despondent.” Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, which means that we have to, you know, do stuff now and then. In the words of the late and Great John Paul II:

"Work is a good thing for man – a good thing for his humanity – because through work man not only transforms nature, adapting it to his own needs, but he also achieves fulfillment as a human being and indeed, in a sense, becomes ‘more a human being’."
Without turning this post into yet another episode of “Theology Amateur Hour,” let me just say that despite my numerous blog-vanishings, infrequent postings, and general ineptitude in maintaining this blog, I’m VERY thankful for the readership I have here, diminutive and infrequent as it may be. Blogging gives me a chance to do something, however menial, for the greater glory of God, and if any solitary reader gleans something worthwhile from what happens here, well, awesome!

*AHEM* Without further ado, then…

“Video game violence” has been something of a recurring theme here on CathVG throughout the duration of its existence, but it seems to me that the past few months in particular have brought the issue into a greater focus. This is evident both from my own individual postings and comments from this blog’s readership. My “review” of Soul Calibur IV, for example, defended the game’s violence as a sort of “icon” in which we one can see the “glory” of fighting – yes, even using lethal means, if necessary – for what the Psalmist calls “the cause of truth, goodness and right.”

Commenter j35u5fr34k expressed his reservation about anyone, let alone seminarians and priests, playing violent video games:

“You and these priests need to read what the Pope teaches about violence in video games. I also struggle with whether or not I should play video games that depict violence against humans. The Pope is outspoken against games that exhault violence.”

A fair point. Sadly, his and other commentators wishing to probe this issue further received no response from me, and thus any opportunity for intellectual and spiritual edification – the “fulfillment,” or at least a part of said fulfillment, that JPII talks about in the quote above – was ignored. No longer!

For me, the portrayal of “violence” in any given media context is justified based on, well, the context; the same applies for treatment of sexuality. I despise the brutality of movies like Watchmen; I likewise cringe at the gratuitous violence in games like Grand Theft Auto. At the same time, I’ve always been very sympathetic to those who claim that Halo and the like are basically this generation’s Cops and Robbers; a harmless role-playing/imaginative exercise. Everyone knows who the good guys and the bad guys are; the moral lines are drawn, and there’s no over-the-top brutality involved in anything that occurs in either situation.
Some games, however, not only blur the line between right and wrong, but seem to glorify in making the player feel as if they ARE engaging in actual acts of brutality. For an example of this peculiar game mechanic (I know of no better euphemism for this phenomenon), see the latest review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 from none other than the National Catholic Register, a Catholic periodical worth reading if there ever was one. It mentions the problem with the now-infamous “Airport level” in the game, which, as the article describes, involves the player
“…A group of men enter an airport where civilians are peacefully waiting for their flights. The image on the screen is the perspective of your character, gun in hand.Calmly, slowly, methodically, the men walk through two entire levels of the airport mowing down civilians. They scream, run and drag their wounded bodies through smears of their own blood until someone, perhaps you, puts a bullet in their heads. Scores of unarmed people are mowed down. At the very end, your character is shot in the head, left staring lifelessly at the ceiling as blood pools around him.”

The article then asks the question: “Is the cold-blooded massacre of innocent civilians really an experience on the emotional spectrum that we need not only witness, but simulate?” I would answer in the negative, as I hope ANYBODY would. The question is, what makes this game so morally objectionable in contrast to the other parts of the game? How is MW2 worse than Halo or another shooter? Is it because of the violence itself? The intensity of the depiction of the violence in question? Is it the act or object of the violence, in which the player is involved in such a powerful way?

I still need to sort out my thoughts on the matter a bit more, but my rudimentary knowledge of Catholic moral theology makes me think it’s a combination of the three. As per the catechism:

“1750 The morality of human acts depends on:
- the object chosen;
- the end in view or the intention;
- the circumstances of the action.”
See: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a4.htm

Of course, there’s a such thing as an intrinsically evil act, too. Murder, needless to say, is such an action; is the virtual murder of civilians, then, tantamount to actual murder? It would seem so…moreover, does this carry into any act of murder in games? Is having a fragfest in Halo with friends also morally wrong (and, by extension, playing games like cops and robbers), too?
One of these things is not like the other. Trying to make a player feel accomplished for brutally killing civilians is certainly morally distinguishable from shooting a bald space marine who is also trying to kill you (lethal self-defense is also defended by Catholic doctrine). Yet, irrespective of how its depicted, it seems that there’s something wrong with killing people in any circumstance, regardless of how brutally its depicted. Is it really murder if it’s “just a game”? Where is the line drawn here?

Ok, enough of my ruminations. Readers, the ball is in your court. Fire away!