King and Rook

Splinter Cell: Conviction Demo Impressions

2010-04-07T20:05:00.009-04:00

So I went to see Coraline the other day and was surprised to discover my ticket had smacked me for $15.50 instead of the usual $12.50. I was instantly excited that I would soon be learning all about the economy in university at which point this sort of bullshit would make sens- What. The. Fuck. I had just been handed 3D

The Second Coming: Who Watches the Watchmen watch Watchmen?

2009-03-05T13:29:00.016-05:00

TURNING and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer.The end times are upon us. Have you seen the signs? Whispered omens flit across the internets like sparrows taking flight, spooked by some looming and inscrutable presence. They bespeak a dark hour, drawing ever nearer. The world ends tonight! Or, no it doesn't.But either way, the Watchmen movie finally touches down. So

Geekonomics: A Blog on Bling

2009-03-04T10:40:00.016-05:00

With massive-multiplayer games blooming to big business, and bringing in the big bucks, much more media attention has been bent towards understanding the economics of these behemoths.Alliterative!This attention only make sense. Once a successful business model has emerged from a volatile market, it's simply bad business not to know how the model works. For example, when I came over to Florida as

Adventure! Excitement!

2009-02-28T10:56:00.005-05:00

I have it on solid authority that the Jedi crave not these things. But boy hardy, I shore do.Thus: I have been invited to present at a conference on horror video games.It's organized by Ludicine, a research group with the University of Montreal. They are hoopy froods, who really know where their towels (collectively) are. The conference has its own theme song, so you know it's legitski.Because do

Signifying Violence, Part Six: The Six Million Dollar Gear

2009-02-25T16:37:00.014-05:00

I don't mean to suggest that the scripted plot points and boss fights in the Metal Gear Solid franchise undermine the "proper" form of the game, or that somehow these games are somehow in a more pure form when you're lurking about and garroting faceless thugs. A large portion of what makes these games memorable occur within boss environments: The grandiloquence of these cartoonish villains, the

Signifying Violence, Part Five: Insert Number Based Movie Reference Here

2009-02-24T11:41:00.011-05:00

Are we at the fifth installment of this digression already? How time has passed! I can remember, dimly, a time before all of this, when mediation and signification of violence in video games weren't graphed against each other and considered in turn. A simpler time. How we sung! How we danced!BUT THERE'S NO GOING BACK NOW, PEOPLE. Because here we are, at number five. That may not sound like a

Signifying Violence, Part Four: THE GOBLET OF FIER

2009-02-03T23:43:00.017-05:00

In the last three posts in this series I looked at the degree to which violence is signified in games, the degree to which play experience is mediated, and how these two factors may affect the experience of the game. Specifically, I've discussed:- Violence in terms of "interactivity": How mediation affects what you can do in a game.- Violence in terms of signification: How acts in games are

I was surprised and mawkishly heartbroken

2009-01-25T11:43:00.008-05:00

I've relaxed these last few days by playing Rock Band 2 with my wife, in preparation for a Rock Band Party next weekend. This is a portentous occasion, and must be treated with deadly seriousness. Far be it from me to let the beat.. umm.. drop?(Though it's perfectly acceptable to turn the beat around. Go figure.)In the face of such crippling responsibility, only one thing will do: I have to get

Signifying Violence, Part Three: Turtles in Time

2009-01-20T15:10:00.017-05:00

In my last two posts, I looked at two factors that affect performances of violence in game-space: mediation and signification. In terms of the latter, I looked at the degree in which acts could be signified as violent or otherwise, and how these significations affected play experience. In case of the former, I looked at how the degree to which play was controlled, in terms of what a player could

Sang-FREUD

2009-01-14T17:59:00.007-05:00

All right. I thought I could stop at one, but I have to get these out of my system."Anal fixation?" Up yours!"Oedipal Complex?" Your mother!"Phallocentric?" Dick.I call them LOLFreuds, and they're going to be the NEXT BIG THING ON THE INTERNET.- Rook

Signifying Violence, Part Deux: Lost in New York

2009-01-14T17:47:00.012-05:00

Why, if we've dispatched millions of goombas and koopa troopas in our gaming lifetimes, do some symbolic acts of violence come to matter, and others come to be dismissed?In part, there is the matter of signification. In most early video games, death and violence serve as handy referents to the act of playing and progressing, but contain none of the symbolic weight of the actual acts. The earliest

Player 2 has joined the game

2009-01-08T15:05:00.009-05:00

So I spent the Christmas holiday playing video games. I mean the whole thing, one straight week of nonstop gaming.I was back in my hometown with my friends of yore, we had two TVs and two Xboxs and were prepared to beat the following games or die trying: Gears of War 2 Co-Op Campaign, Gears of War 2 Horde Mode, All 4 Scenarios in Left 4 Dead, and Castle Crashers.Needless to say we did it, we beat

Signifying Violence, Part 1: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomberman

2009-01-06T17:04:00.013-05:00

In Zork, one of the original text based games, many short commands would produce numerous replies - a type of conversational easter egg that acknowledged how frustrating navigating this type of space could be.If, in a fit of pique, the player typed "Kill Self" they game would reply: "It is forbidden to commit seppuku." At once acknowledging the action and dismissing it, it framed the question of

Another lovely thing is your mom

2008-12-25T11:09:00.003-05:00

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. - Garrison Keillor- Rook

Yuletidings

2008-12-25T09:56:00.007-05:00

As I write this I'm sitting on a large couch, in my pajamas and robe, listening to the crackle of the fire while enjoying some hot mulled cider. Of course the cider has about half a cup of brandy in it, the crackling fire is a 'Fireplace Ambiance' DVD, and the couch is in the home of my good friend Matt but this is Christmas in Toronto and one should expect no less.Growing up, Ol' Saint Nick and

Pro Choices

2008-12-23T19:15:00.009-05:00

So I recently applied to a couple of Universities for business and history studies (What DON’T they have in common!?)at York and Trent. York got back to me about two weeks ago to let me know I had been accepted and all was well because, by dangit, I was going to York. Today Trent sent me an E-mail to let me know they, also, wanted me to join their ranks as a soldier of academia. Well crap,

A holiday gift for your soul!

2008-12-22T14:25:00.012-05:00

For a limited time only King and Rook is now selling Karma!That's right folks, pay dollars and get an equivalent amount of karma!I draw your attention to the widget on the right. Now give!Give like you've never gived before!Kingfully yours,-King

Live Like There's Snow Tomorrow

2008-12-19T12:41:00.010-05:00

So I totally missed my post yesterday, and for that I apologize. You no doubt have come to rely on us here at King and Rook for our informative, and timely, work. I am ashamed it was I who let you down. Greater still was my shame that I probably wouldn't be posting until sometime this weekend maybe not even until Monday, terrible, I know but the holidays have me so damn busy and I don't even

Game-space: The Final FUNtier

2008-12-18T16:03:00.017-05:00

Fun fact: Our universe is expanding, and has been for Quite Some Time. This limits our ability to perceive it in sum, since the outer regions are literally traveling too fact to allow light to ever reach us. If things continue in this vein, more and more stellar objects will disappear from the sky altogether, as entropy begins to render the universe unfit for life of any sort. Scientists,

When life gives you oats...

2008-12-16T17:17:00.012-05:00

There is a new game that my wife and I play. It is a delicious bit of decadence, made all the more special that we've made it up ourselves. Late at night, while the world is sleeping, we are busy getting things in place, making sure everything is just so. It is our last thought as we go to sleep, and is the first thing that springs to mind when we awake. Our game is called "Free Oatmeal." And

Apocalypse Nao

2008-12-16T15:19:00.007-05:00

So I recently read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, while my girlfriend was prepping for the upcoming Watchmen film by reading its source material. The latter involves the nature of superheroes set against the alternate history backdrop of a world where political tensions between the US and the Soviets are edging closer to nuclear war, While the former is the harrowing tale of a man and his son

Filled with Rage

2008-12-12T00:07:00.007-05:00

If I had a single gamma ray in me I would have mutated into a green monstrosity and laid waste to New York twice already. New York is lucky that I am Gamma Free.This is such bullshit.-King

Everyone's a critic

2008-12-11T18:23:00.008-05:00

There's an interesting post over at Slate, where Seth Scheisel, video-game critic for the New York Times, talks about how he became a video-game critic for the New York Times. His thoughts, if I might paraphrase, sum up as "Holy snaps I am a video-game critic for the New York Motherflipping Times." And, I suppose, holy snaps, he is.He talks a bit about making the transition from gaming-reporter

Let's talk about sex, baby

2008-12-11T15:23:00.010-05:00

You've probably heard about Grand Theft Auto's 'Hot Coffee' scandal, even if you don't follow games. It made news shows and headlines for months and still remains the go to poster child for why games are worse than rock and roll. There are two sides to the argument, and about a dozen sub-sides to each. From 'There's nothing wrong with it since the game was rated mature at the time anyway' to 'It

Would you like a strategy guide with that?

2008-12-09T14:52:00.014-05:00

Type “Ebgames Policies” into google and you’ll get a couple hits about their great deals and then a slew of rants and raves from jaded customers decrying the evil nature of EB. The most common slander is along the lines of “ramshackle pawn shop” and I couldn’t agree more. Let me start by explaining how EB rakes in trucks of cash. Firstly, they don’t stock new games. They generally bring in a

On boys, their toys, and Illinois

2008-12-09T14:25:00.014-05:00

When I was a kid, my favourite toy by far was Lego. My younger brother and I would pour buckets and buckets of the stuff out on the carpet, spreading it out to cover the breadth of the room. There we'd sit, surrounded in a sea of blocks, and we'd set to work. But though we played together, often for hours, the way that we played differed greatly. My brother found, very quickly, that he was the

Been through the desert on a bus with no name

2008-12-04T14:18:00.015-05:00

Penny Arcade's yearly toy fundraiser, Child's Play, is purring along for the sixth time. Founded in 2003 by web-comickers Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik as a means of rebutting negative media portrayals of gamers. Since then, over 4 million dollars worth of games, books and toys have been donated to children's hospitals around the world, a remarkable feat of media mobilization and charity. As a

Where is that masked man?

2008-12-04T12:33:00.012-05:00

So there’s a new grocery store across the street from my apartment and it has a motion detector security system. While I’m sure it keeps the various gangsters and ninjas of Toronto at bay it also has it’s sensitivity jacked way up. Like, when someone walks down the sidewalk it goes off. This happens from the hours of 11 pm until 3 or 4 am and while my girlfriend is able to sleep blissfully

Ask not what your games can do for you...

2008-12-02T17:44:00.009-05:00

The most depressing notion behind games is the 'timesink' - the extent to which these activities are repetitive, irrelevant, and ultimately wasteful. As a term it is unusually evocative: while a 'pastime' helps the time to pass, a time sink sucks it away, like some wretched Baba Yaga stealing your breath as you sleep. You don't just help time pass, you kill it. Played a nice game of checkers

In Memorium

2008-12-02T13:58:00.015-05:00

I swear I was going to write a piece about the lack of strong male role models in today’s society. It was going to be both educational and thought provoking. Seriously, both. Check for that on Thursday. I started writing the piece Sunday afternoon while waiting for a couple friends to come over. It was our intent to sling cards for awhile that afternoon after which I would dip my quill back into

15 Minutes of Fame

2008-11-28T14:52:00.008-05:00

One of my friend's coworkers, who has a PhD in Sci-Fi, (We've been recognized by the academia!) had her own 15 minutes of fame passed my way. Check it out as it's both groovy and cool!-King

A Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy

2008-11-27T11:57:00.010-05:00

"Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph." – Roger Ebert There’s something about a memorable villain that gets the blood boiling, that pulls you into the story of a game emotionally. It takes a good villain to change the story of a game from being about stopping a

Jump, man, jump!

2008-11-27T08:31:00.007-05:00

At the dank, cryptic arcade I frequented when I was young, there was one machine that towered above the rest: An original Donkey Kong. Set apart from the other games, it loomed monolithically, promising dark portents to any who dared plumb its depths. I’m talking real “hit a monkey with a bone” stuff, folks. Serious business."Huh.. it says 'insert quarter.'"Despite my fascination, I never touched

A virtual affair to remember

2008-11-25T14:50:00.013-05:00

Recently I’ve been noticing a story about Second Life buzzing about a number of news outlets. For those keeping track of reportage on gaming and virtual interactions, it represents more of the same: A “Tales From the Wired” parable that serves up online misbehavior at its most titillating. Broken down simply, this tragic tale of lust and betrayal plays out as follows:- A man and woman met

Indie Games and The Raiders of The Lost Art

2008-11-25T13:13:00.008-05:00

I’m a hardcore gamer. I’ve tea-bagged Covenant Elite, Saw Manny and Meche all the way to the Ninth Underworld on the Double N, Caught 252 Pokemon on the Red, completed FF7 at level 28 without Materia and beaten Super Mario Bros 3 in 2 hours and 30 minutes.Wait…what? Oh I know it can be beaten in less than 15 minutes, but why would I want to? Mario 3 is fun times and a speed run cuts out half of