Podcast Linkdump Ahoy

May 14th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Random | No Comments »

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now. Here’s a bunch of links linking to various podcasts that I regularly listen to. I suggest you check them out!

PCGamer UK Podcast - Awesome podcast from awesome dudes.

Major Nelson’s Blogcast - If you’re an XBL player, then this is a vital podcast, straight from the head of Xbox Live himself, Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb.

Lost Podcast - Official Lost Podcast, straight from the producers and directors. With video podcasts too.

Control Point - A great Team Fortress 2 podcast. Often funny and hilarious, and with a great community.

Trailer Trash Talk - A podcast talking about trailers. Very enjoyable and a great listen.

So yeah, enjoy.

Auteur Theory

May 13th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Gaming, Thoughts | No Comments »

In Film Studies we learn about the Auteur. Auteur theory generally refers to someone who is a respected person (usually a director) in the film industry who has a solid body of work, which are of good quality and fit within that director’s “creative vision”. For example, Quentin Tarantino is an auteur to many. Martin Scorsese is an auteur. The most obvious one would be Alfred Hitchcock.

Auteur theory began in the roots of French New Wave, and was originally reserved for only directors, but today it can apply to Actors, Directors, or even institutions like Pixar. Auteur theory brought film into ’seriousness’, as it were. So why can’t Gaming have Auteur theory? Videogaming has advanced further in 20 years than film did in 80 years.

For more information on Auteur theory, Wikipedia has a nice article here.

So, who would be Auteurs? Developers, Publishers, or individuals? Here’s a few of my picks, along with a few of their “standout” games.

Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, Bully, Max Payne, The Warriors)
Relic Entertainment (Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Homeworld)
Bungie (Halo, Marathon, Myth)
Infinity Ward (Call of Duty)
Konami (Metal Gear Solid)
Ubisoft Montreal (Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia)
Valve (Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead)
id (Doom, Quake)

I could probably go on for a while. Perhaps some of the ones in that list are more deserving of ‘auteur’ status than others. But what about individuals?

Hideo Kojima, famous for Metal Gear Solid,
Sam Houser, famous for Grand Theft Auto,
Peter Molyneux, famous for Fable,
Warren Spector, famous for Deus Ex,
Ken Levine, famous for Bioshock, System Shock 2,
Gabe Newell, famous for Half-Life 1 & 2.

We can see that the gaming world has plenty of auteurs to offer us, both visionary leads and groundbreaking developers. But what about others? Do you have any thoughts on applying auteur theory to Gaming? Does it work? Comment away!

In Silico (With Audiosurf)

May 11th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Music, Thoughts | 1 Comment »

Pendulum’s new album, In Silico, is pretty damn good. It took a while to grow on me, but the album is absolutely brilliant. It’s a slight departure from the remix-esque Hold Your Colour, with more rock aspects and more vocals. I’ve been waiting for In Silico for a long time now, and it certainly delivers. If you’re a Pendulum fan, this is clearly a must buy - and if you’re a fan of rock, or Drum and Bass, check it out too.

So, here’s a short review of each song, along with a short piece of information about how it plays on Audiosurf.

Read the rest of this entry »

Groundbreaking doesn’t quite cover it

May 7th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Gaming, Xbox 360 | 1 Comment »

I finished GTAIV yesterday. Took me 28 hours, 14 minutes, and 29 seconds. And I loved every moment.

Words can’t actually describe how awesome it is.

There are plenty of decisions in GTAIV you have to make. Choices between two people, choices whether or not to kill someone - and they’re hard. It’s a hard choice to make. These characters are so well fleshed out, so intricate, so alive, that killing them is an impossible choice. Some deserve to die, while others do not.

One of the most vital life or death decisions comes towards the end of the game. I’ll try out my new spoiler plugin here. It contains spoilers about the end of the game.

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It’s absolutely phenomenal - I’ve never felt so much for fictional characters, and never considered whether people should live or die.

Mass Effect did it too, but only once, perhaps twice. It didn’t have half the impact that GTAIV had on me. Random characters that you’re sent to kill become agonising decisions, and to feel guilty was common. But when given no choice over the death of someone, it doesn’t feel like a bad thing at all. Those people deserve to die. And I kill them without remorse. But when given the choice - it’s a tough one. Some people I killed, some people I left alive.

I could go on for hours. About how absolutely brilliant the storyline is, about how utterly compelling and believable the characters are, about how utterly hilarious Euphoria never ceases to be, and how much fun multiplayer really is. (Hint: Lots)

This is without doubt one of the most important games of the year. Perhaps for the past 10 years. Even through it’s controversy, it is a huge step forward for true, mature, compelling gaming. Like Portal, it is truly a landmark in gaming. If you haven’t played it, go do so. There’s no news about a PC version yet, but who knows. If it does come out on PC, you’re only ruining your own gaming experience if you don’t play it all the way through.

GTAIV: Unstoppable amounts of fun

April 29th, 2008 by Fullforce | Posted in Gaming, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

Remember what I said about writing about my GTAIV antics? Well, I lied. I planned to write up blog posts about stuff, but this game is too much damn fun.

It’s brilliant. It’s everything people said it would be and more. It’s just so… huge. It’s daunting. It’s downright scary. And it’s absolutely astounding at every turn.

I guess writing a diary about Oblivion is feasible, considering Oblivion is boring at the best of times - and any attempt to liven that up is welcomed. But GTAIV is enough fun on it’s own. I don’t want to play the game ‘properly’ because it’s too much fun.

Euphoria, while being a very advanced animation system, seems entirely designed to be hilarious. I can’t help but giggle as I hit yet another pedestrian or dive out of my 80mph car and barrel roll into a wall, breaking my bones. I managed to run someone over and then dive out of my car, only for him to run at me and trip over me while I was lying down. It was so unbelievable I didn’t believe it happened. I laughed my face off.

Multiplayer is the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time. It’s just so, so fun. Like, driving a forklift truck into a group of baseball bat-wielding players fun. It’s RPG exploding at point blank range fun. I would happily have paid £45 for the multiplayer alone. It’s that good.

GTAIV continues to amaze me. I had my hopes set high, but it’s blown them all away. And I haven’t even scratched the surface of single player.