12.01.08
Even I Can Be Mayor
My last post about video games and the realization that I haven’t played any of those games (outside of Rock Band and Guitar Hero) made a part of me sad. I think it the index toe of my right foot (going by corresponding finger association here since I’m not sure if toes have alternate identifiers (although “ring toe” really can’t be correct)).
After this impulse traversed the empty expanse of my nervous system from the before mentioned toe all the way to my brain and I pondered it a moment, I ended up doing what all sane men do after such toe-riffic thoughts: I played a game. I’ve actually played three games since then. One of them I have decided that I can’t play while in school and once out of school I can’t play it when I’m married and have a family (if I don’t have such responsibilities by the time I exit my schooling) because it’s just too much of a time suck. Possibly the worst I’ve ever experienced.
It’s an immensely entertaining game. It requires a great deal of thought to get set up in, and once it gets going you tend to snow-ball into victory if you get things right in the beginning. I enjoy it a great deal, but like I said, time disappears into this game like you would not believe. On a Friday night I went out with Alex and Sheree and decided that Saturday I would head up to Salt Lake and spend some time with them in their neck of the woods. At noon I sat down to play this game and was cruising along in my own little world. Eight hours later (I kid you not) I looked at my phone to see the time. “Well, so much for spending the evening in Salt Lake.” It wasn’t a complete waste though, I did win the game.
No more of that. I need something more manageable. Something that could fill the gaps in my everyday affairs rather than replace those everyday affairs. Ah, my DS. It can travel with me and when I have even just a couple minutes I can pull it out and get to work on some adventure. I have a fair number of DS and Gameboy Advance (which the DS plays) games that I haven’t beat yet so that works. Last night I beat the first Fire Emblem. I’d explain the premise to you, but it’s a Tactical Role-Playing Game and people don’t play those for the stories. They get played for the tactics and I can’t adequately explain that in a paragraph or too.
I now come to the third game I have played of late: Sim City 4. I remember playing the first Sim City on some horrible school computer. I was no good. No good at all. I tried it on the Super Nintendo and I was even worse at that one. I left the second installment alone and tried 3. I could get started, but my city would collapse financially after a short time. My ability to govern seemed to be minimal. Then Wong built a computer and bought Sim City 4. As life would have it, at this time in mine and Wong’s lives we were pretty much the only ones left in Riverton of our friends. Most others were on missions or away to school. This left Wong and myself with plenty of time hanging out at each other’s places doing whatever. And one of those whatevers was Sim City 4. If one of us was not playing Sim City 4 the other one usually was.
It took some time and some discussing of strategy between the two of us, but we got to the point where we could build somewhat stable cities and let them grow, but only to a point. We never could really get past a certain threshold. Then one day as I was playing it all started to click together in my head. I began to understand and one of my cities surpassed that threshold. Not for long. It began to fall apart, but it made sense to me why it didn’t work now.
Not long after this Wong left on his mission, leaving me with all that time by myself. Luckily Wong lent me his Sim City 4 and I filled some of that empty time with building cities. Over time I got better at it. A LOT better. It all made sense to me and I was loving it. I far surpassed my prior notions of what I could accomplish in the game and developed a region that I was proud of. Alas, that region has been lost to me and I have begun again. Some of the knowledge I once had has also fled, but as I’ve picked Sim City back up it has slowly been coming back. And so I come to this invitation of sorts. Over the next.. however long I keep playing this game I guess, I will periodically update you one what is happening. First, let me show you the region I will be building in.
What you’re looking at is a default region called “San Francisco.” (Building your own regions with water and mountains like this is grotesquely un-fun.) Each of these rectangles is a possible city to be built. At the bottom middle of the image you can see two cities I have already started. The first one I did was “City of Disease.” It’s not doing so well. I’ve balanced the economy but it’s not growing anymore and I’ve moved on. The second city is “Contagion City.” I started that one today and spent a little time on it. This is what it looked like when I first laid out the plans:
The green is residential; blue is commercial; yellow is industrial. In the center of the city I have a high school, elementary school, hospital, police station, and fire station. On the right is my little wind generator farm for power along with the water pump (which you can’t see really) and the landfill (the brown area). I set this up with the middle circle of empty plots to be filled with future civic buildings when they come along and a ring between the residences and commercial plots for expansion as needed. So I clicked the fast button and let things fly. With some careful micro-managing of the schools and hospital, after five years I ended up with this:
It’s coming along. You might notice that the landfill has been put to use, there are a couple more wind generators, and both the elementary and high schools have been replaced (with bigger versions of themselves which are just better). I’ve also added some commerical and residential plots into the dividing ring where appropriate. I let things go and kept on micro-managing and got this after fifteen years:
There are many more wind generators, the city has begun to build upwards with taller buildings, and I have added a college behind the hospital and some other little things like a private school, a couple churches, a cemetary, and if you look right next to the high school is the mayor’s house. Yay.
That’s that. Or at least that’s where I stopped for today. If you think this might be fun to follow along with then pay attention for future Sim City posts. If you don’t like it, then move along home.
11.17.08
The Effect of Mass Effect
I’ve been thinking about this for some time now. Quite some time actually. There are more current events that I could be writing about; such as what’s been happening with the Church, or seeing Quantum of Solace (and loving it), or even this girl I sit next to in a class and have done so most days of the semester and until last week we have only so much as said “Bless you” after the other sneezes and “Thank you” when the other says the before mentioned “Bless you.”
But that’s not what I want to write about. Instead I want to tell you about a single moment and what happened after that moment. Almost one year ago (November 20 of 2007) a game released called Mass Effect. I had been looking forward to this game for a long time. So much so that I pre-ordered the special edition of it without owning the system necessary to play it. I wanted to have the game in preparation for the time that I would have the means to play it. As luck would have it, a few weeks after I got it I had a change of heart concerning the massive collection of games that I had sitting on a shelf at about the same time Game Stop ran a couple promotions that I wanted to take advantage of. To make a short story a little shorter, I traded in over one hundred video games and netted almost a thousand dollars in credit. Nice. With that credit I purchased the necessary means to play the anticipated game of which I now write.
Some of you now reading this have played and beat the game. Of those who have, I have talked about in some way this moment and hopefully this will rekindle the love you had for it if that love has dwindled in the past year. For those of you who haven’t played it, or don’t even play games at all, don’t worry. That’s not required and I’ll explain all you need to know.
Mass Effect takes place a few centuries from now in a future where humanity has begun moving out into the galaxy. We’ve met alien races and we exist together with them. Some of them we are good friends with and some of them we are at odds with (in humanity’s first encounter with one of these alien races we got into a fight and that memory hasn’t left a lot of people’s minds).
Throughout the game you are trying to track down this individual which has turned rogue against the galactic government. All this while you are slowly piecing together a much larger puzzle. You get a little piece here and there and start to understand what is happening, but it’s not very clear. Like looking through a muddy stained-glass window that you put together with duct tape. Also, you don’t have a light to put behind this mess of a window to actually see the colors. You just don’t really have a picture of what is really going on.
Towards the end of the game you do realize that this rogue agent is trying to bring about the end of all life. Not not sure how that’s going to happen, but anyone can tell you that ending all life is not a good thing. After busting your way out of confinement by your leaders you head after this agent onto an unexplored planet. On this planet you come across an ancient and alien device which explains everything. It takes those muddied window pieces, cleans them up, and puts them into the proper places for you.
This was it for me. As I realized what was being said and what was going to happen, the personification of the game character in my head muttered the words “Oh shit” while in the physical world I sat on my futon at two in the morning and said “Awesome.”
It just got real.
After ending the conversation with this device you continue the chase of the rogue agent. I don’t want to go into full detail for anyone that may yet enjoy the experience as it unfolds, but I will tell you how I felt. Everything in the game was building up to this moment when you recognized what was happening. There was only one thing that could stand in the way of utter annihilation. That one thing was you.
As the fight to stop the seemingly inevitable progressed I couldn’t put down my controller. I was completely lost in the fantasy being unfolded before me. I was not in that cramped little room any longer. I was in John Shepard’s armor suit as he ran along the outside of the Citadel in deep space shooting Geth at all turns.
I was John Shepard.
Intermittently through the fighting the game would cut away to depict what was happening elsewhere. A fleet of enemy ships had arrived and the allied fleet was losing the battle. I began to worry that they wouldn’t make it. I actually despaired at what was happening. It seemed that no matter how much I tried, this battle would not swing in my favor.
That all dissipated when a fleet of humanity’s warships arrived as reinforcements. A race that no one fully trusted and was looked down upon had shown up when needed. Despite the other races’ contempt for us it would be humanity that would turn the tide.
I don’t want to ruin everything so I’ll stop there. As the game end approached music began to accent what was happening. This music was a song that played through the entire credits to which I sat in silence listening to.
I’ve been asked by some people why I play games. It’s difficult to answer that. I enjoy the fiction and the challenge they present. I enjoy the themes which some games offer. I enjoy the time of recreation where I can sit and relax. These are all valid reasons to me to play video games. But they aren’t the reason.
As I sat on that futon in a dark room, listening to the music, it hit me. A feeling that comes only rarely after completing a game. The satisfaction of having gone through that trial of hope and despair and being a part of it all. It was a moment of retrospection.
That must sound odd to those of you that don’t play video games. But to those of you that do, it makes perfect sense. I don’t mean to say that all games do this. It is remarkably rare. I could count the number of times it has happened. That rarity only intensifies the moment though, it does not lessen it.
I have played a game that has no dialogue that made me cry. I’ve sat with my hand covering my open mouth in amazement at what I had just witnessed. I’ve thrown controllers into pillows as hard as I could in anger and frustration (I’m rational enough to know it won’t break on a pillow). I’ve jumped up from my seat in triumph and shouted exuberantly. I’ve struggled side-by-side battles with friends in battles that I felt could not possibly be won that together we proved not to be the case. I’ve played a game that overworked and heightened my senses so much that I jumped around and almost attacked the toaster when the toast popped up.
I play video games because of these moments when it becomes something more than a video game. It becomes real. It becomes emotion. And it drives the player to do more. Sadly many people don’t get these moments. They experience them and move on. They don’t take them for what they can be and only change discs when they have beat a game.
Another sad truth is that I haven’t been able to play these games of late. I’ve been busy with more important matters. But in the times that I have free where I can stop and think, my mind sometimes recalls these moments and I smile.
I play video games because some of them are more than video games. Sometimes they are experiences.
05.08.08
Great Googuh-Mooguh!
I just finished reading the announcement and follow-up question and answer session for a game set to come out this fall and I just had to write about it. It is coming from a company called Pandemic. It’s not my favorite game company out there, but I like what they’ve done so far. Previously, there are two games I have really enjoyed from them: Star Wars Battlefront and the subsequent sequel, Battlefront II.
I very much enjoyed these games. The concept is this: You are a regular soldier for either the powerful Empire or underdog Rebellion (or play in the Clone Army or for the Separatist Droids). When each battle starts, and each time you die, you are able to start from one of your control points and select from a number of classes. You can be a basic soldier that is just versatile, you can be a rocket trooper with a big bazooka to take out vehicles, you can be a sharp-shooter with a sniper rifle to take out guys from a distance, and the list goes on.
Included in most maps was the ability to get into vehicles. If you were in the battle for Endor (like at the end of Return of the Jedi) you could jump onto a speeder bike and race to the other side of the map. You also had the option to jump into an AT-ST (those chicken walkers that the conniving Ewoks were able to destroy so easily). On other maps you had other vehicles, up to and including the giant AT-AT (the towering four-legged behemoths that are so ominous in the battle on Hoth at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back). You can even jump into a snow speeder and take those things down like in the movie.
Battlefront II added the ability to play as a hero unit. If you were doing as awesome as awesome gets killing the enemy, a message would appear indicating that you could now play as Yoda, or Darth Vader, or Luke Skywalker, or Boba Fett, or any of the other characters from Star Wars. Who you got to play as depended on the faction you were playing with and what planet you were on. You had to be careful though, because they were so strong you had to keep up on the killing or they would disappear. One time I was playing with Wong and got to be Darth Maul. We had pushed the Clone army back to a single remaining control point by this time but they still had well over one hundred guys in reserve (you were only allowed a certain number on the field at a given time but when someone died they respawned from a control point as a reserve unit). I set my Sithlord sights on that remaining control point and began running and swinging my double-bladed lightsaber. Because I was a jedi (dark jedi) I ran quite fast straight into the fray just as what must have been twenty or more clone troopers poured out of the doorway and they all turned towards me. Like a rabid wombat I knew the end was near if I didn’t take them all down so I ferociously swung my glowing red blade. With each swing the text area which updated with new information would scroll up with four or five messages saying “The Nil killed…” and name a particular unit I had ended. Rob was sitting behind me and watching. We both began shouting and hollering in delight as that list kept building and those troopers kept falling. With each one that died, another appeared from the reserves to take his place. When the last clone fell and the battle ended, we pulled up the statistics for the fight. In that final minute of the game as Darth Maul I had killed over one hundred and fifty clone troopers. Yes! That is what it feels like to be a sithlord. A dominating force in the galaxy that cannot be stopped!
But I digress. The reason I tell you that story is so you know how much fun I have had with these Battlefront games. Being able to play as a soldier in the Star Wars universe makes for a ripping good time, and this Pandemic company has served well to convey the excitement and fun that can be had. I have waited anxiously for them to make an announcement of a Battlefront III. Both Battlefront I and II were for the last generation of systems (Playstation 2 and Xbox) so their age has begun to show. Also, a game on the newer systems would allow for more units and bigger battles.
Alas, I am not writing about an announcement for Battlefront III. In fact, I am more than willing to wait longer with this new game in mind, for Pandemic announced today that this fall they would be releasing a game called The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Yes, a Battlefront game, but in the realm of Middle-Earth. How awesome is that? If you are uncertain of your answer, let me just say that it is quite. Quite awesome indeed.
There haven’t been many good Lord of the Rings games to come out. They have mostly been from companies just trying to cash in on the film’s popularity and success. I have avoided these like the plague. But this game has real promise. The Lord of the Rings hype is nearly non-existent so that can’t be their focus. And since Pandemic has already proved their ability to create excellent games from an intellectual property driven by drooling droves of fans, they have my trust in being able to pull this off.
The game looks great so far. But it was this question and answer which got me most excited. Their names have been changed since most of you don’t know what IGN or who Eric Gewirtz is.
Gaming Website: Are there any “vehicles?” Can you ride any of the creatures in the game or anything like that?
Game Developer: You can ride them all. [laughs] Again, our mandate was that this game was really about diversity and all the breadth of different things you could do, and we wanted to make sure that if you saw a cool moment in the battles of the films that you could experience it. So you get to ride the Oliphants and fight against the Oliphants, you get to be the Trolls and the Ents in this game and they’re just… they’re awesome. They’re like our tanks; they’re kind of slow-moving, really powerful, with devastating attacks. And the AI is the same — they can pick up guys and throw them across the battlefield.
You also have a ton of siege equipment in the game: there’s catapults, and battering rams and siege towers and ballista; all the things you need to pull off a proper siege. Also, there’s horses and Wargs. There’s flying creatures that are in the game; you can call in flying strikes. There’ll be an eagle swooping down, picking up guys systematically and carrying them off to their doom. Just really populating the battlefield with as many different tools and fun toys as you would want or experience from the films.
Oh yes my finely-feathered family and friends. This fall will be a time for great battles as I will lay siege to both Minas Tirith AND Minas Morgul (perhaps in the same day!). Evil shall not be safe from my righteous indignation and good shall not be safe from my terrible wrath!
02.25.08
Wii Want a Revolution
(This note is for those of you that may not know the details about some of Nintendo Wii’s features. The Wii comes with an available memory on the system of 512 Megabytes, or MB’s. It also has 4 pages of 12 channels, a total of 48 channels in all. The reason for this letter I sent to Nintendo is because Nintendo has a service called the Virtual Console that allows you to buy classic games from older systems. The problem is that each of these classic games takes up its own channel and anywhere from less than 1MB up to 30MB’s or even more. Nintendo has not offered an answer to either running out of space or channels though. This is what inspired my letter.)
Let me first preface this email by stating that I am, and always have been, a loving fan of Nintendo. From my 8-bit NES I have been on the Nintendo train and not second guessed my devotion. There are a couple increasingly rising concerns I have over the Wii though. These two issues revolve around the channels system and small amount of memory on the system itself, both when in conjunction with the virtual console and soon to be released WiiWare.
Nitendo has not presented a viable source for me to keep and manage these programs. I have not yet, and will not in the future, make any such purchases until this matter is resolved. And let’s be clear here, I do want to buy a large number of these games and can only imagine that there will be an even larger amount I will want to buy in the future. As of yet, I have heard two options Nintendo has given to resolve the matters of running out of available channels and memory.
Those “solutions” are a repeated process of deleting and transfering programs from an SD memory card to the Wii memory, or just deleting and redownloading. Both of these are a major joke to me. One that isn’t all that funny as well. Why not simply create a system update that will allow users to manage channels within channels, or just allow for any number of pages of channels? Why not allow downloaded games to be played off of an SD memory card? Constantly moving or redownloading files is not a suitable answer. Especially with the new Pay and Play for new content.
If, for example, I were to get Rock Band on Wii, or any similarly styled game with an ample supply of downloadable content, and I was running out of space I would have to delete those songs I had purchased only to redownload them at a later time when I wanted to use them. That is ridiculous. And rather than making me want to buy any such games for the Wii, it makes me much rather want to buy them on another system where I have been provided that ample amount of storage space for downloads. That’s something I’m sure Nintendo doesn’t want.
And it’s not just me that feels this way. I’m sure you receive similar letters from your fans. It’s great that Nintendo is doing so well. It’s great that so many people are buying Nintendo’s systems and games. But it’s not great that Nintendo is ignoring their fans and the people that kept trucking along with you. Why should I, or anyone else, buy Virtual Console, WiiWare, or downloadable content if Nintendo is not taking seriously the problem in running out of channels to access that information or even memory to store it?
The fact of the matter is that there is no reason for me to buy any of Nintendo’s digital content. Instead I should just spend my money for similar content on another system where I can access it easily whenever I want. That is the attitude I am getting from Nintendo, and until that attitude changes, I won’t buy any digital content from Nintendo. And I will not do anything to indicate to other Wii owners that they should either.
