Splinter Cell: Conviction Demo Impressions

Yeah, so I’ve played this demo through 17 times now. 17 times, and it’s been different, invigorating and exciting each time. The interesting thing is that while it still has the ambient feel of a Splinter Cell game it plays completely differently and, dare I say, it’s the way I’ve always wanted to play Splinter Cell.

Sam Fisher has become a complete badass. In previous installments he was almost like Spiderman, hanging from above and making funny quips when he takes guys out. Sam Fisher liked his job and he had fun with it, sometimes it was like he was toying with guys for the lols. Now he’s angry and he doesn't have time for screwing around.

Spiderman would have said something like "Ouch, that can't be lucky" Or some shit. Moments later Fisher just kicks this guy in the beans.

The main difference is the ease in which you can take enemies out, but also the strategy you must employ to do so efficiently. You have the ability to ‘mark’ up to three targets and then, should you put yourself in a position to have an unobstructed line of sight to each of them, you can simply press a button to have a slow-motion head shot take down before they can react. They don’t even have to be in the same direction. If there’s two in front and one behind Sam he simply shoots the last guy by crossing his arm under his armpit and shooting without even looking.

Okay, so he looked this one time. I promise that usually he's so badass he doesn't have time to look. This was just like, an off day or something.

The caveat is that to refresh the ability to execute in that fashion Sam must get his adrenaline pumping by taking someone down in hand to hand combat. Let me tell you, that stuff is just as efficiently brutal as anything you’ll see in God of War. I would really rather not be punched in the throat with a gun.

So the puzzle of Splinter Cell is no longer one of hanging from a rafter waiting for the guards to pass so you can sneak into the missile silo. The puzzle is sorting out how to eliminate all of the guards in the most efficient and deadly way possible. See, as far as I could tell you can’t pick up bodies and hide them as in previous version. I guess Fisher just doesn’t care anymore. So what you find yourself doing is attempting to kill everyone in the most efficient manner possible. With the new Sonar vision you can actually size up an entire warehouse and plan out how you’re going to go about enacting swift death with about 3 seconds of sonar viewing. Then, you leap from the shadows, break a man’s neck, shoot a locking mechanism dropping an engine chassis on 2 guys and then one, two, three guys with silenced bullets in their head. When the Foreman comes out to see what the hell just happened he gets a kick in the knee and two bullets through his ribs. I guess Sam Fisher just like, owns the warehouse now. That's how it works right? It's his.

Aw man, now we can't even rent it out for parties or whatever.

The stealth mechanics feel just right. It’s forgiving while still being challenging, especially on the realistic setting. And it’s much clearer whether you’re hidden or can be seen. The game feels gritty and angry and you find yourself both flinching at the brutally but nodding with grudging respect as Fisher removes every obstacle in his path in his search for the man who murdered his daughter. In fact, if you’ve seen 2009’s ‘Taken’ then you’ll know exactly how the game feels. I for one will be pick this gem up come April 13^th.

Until next time, remember that two deadly assassins are better than one.

King

It's kind of like a kobold....

As Rook mentioned earlier in the week, I recently hosted a game of 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons. It was a real treat to be back in the drivers seat after a hiatus of a couple of years. We didn't get into any story or roleplaying this time as it was just a test session to practice a few things. Namely, the 4th edition system, and the software.

Something Rook didn't mention was that this game was run entirely online. I distributed PDFs of the core books, had everyone build their characters with Wizards of the Coasts Character Builder, connected through Skype for voice chat, and Maptools for a virtual grid and dice roller.

First, let's get PDFs and piracy out of the way. Yes, distributing PDFs to my players is technically piracy but let's be honest folks, back in the day each player didn't own a full set of books, we all had a couple different ones and passed them between each other as needed, I feel that PDFs are simply the digital version of the same practice.

The Character Builder is simply one of the most powerful tools we have and one of the best products Wizards has ever released. It seems simple at first, in that it takes you through character creation step-by-step and automatically builds the numbers based on your choices. Populating things like defenses, skill bonuses and so forth. It's when you start selecting powers and feats that you realize you have something amazing at your fingertips. See Character Builder pulls information from every book printed and provides not only references to book and page number but also the relevant text. It's like having a magical tome that opens to the page of your choice, from the book of your choice, at will.

It may not look it, but this darkness is about to get attacked

Next up we have Skype. Now I just don't get how Skype hasn't seen more widespread adoption. It's a free phone line, with no long distance charges, assuming you're using your computer as the phone and the person you're calling also has Skype. You can of course use it to call normal landline numbers, though that has a cost associated. At any rate it also incorporates an instant messenger and, most importantly, allows conference calls. To get our game started I simply call up all the players via a conference call and away we go.

Finally, We have Maptools. This software is also free, and coded with pure love by a couple of dudes and we all know what kind of quality pure love coding gets us. Maptools has a virtual grid, a chat window, and a dice roller all built in. You can Import tokens and textures to draw your own maps and populate them, or you can simply drop in a jpg which is particularly nice when using a printed adventure. The grid allows you to move the tokens around, draw Area of Effect templates and just about anything else you could do on a kitchen table with some graph paper and pens, but you can never knock the map over with an errant die toss.

The die roller is extremely handy especially with 4th edition, as you can set up rolling macros. All the players have set up their various character powers as macros. When the mage wants to cast a magic missile he simply presses the magic missile button and the software populates the results. It's also handy that, when I have everyone roll for something like initiative I can just glance at the chat window to see the results instead of having to ask the players for their results one by one.

Well, if this isn't the future I don't now what is.

That's really only the tip of the iceberg with Maptools. It has fog of war and line of sight options and, if you wanted to put the effort in could be made into an entirely automated version of DnD. I could actually set up statistics for the PCs and the monsters and have Maptools take care of everything. I doubt we'll ever dive into that but it's cool to know it's there.

In closing, one of the cool things about a digital game is that it's pretty easy to record it. We recorded the first encounter, but look forward to full sessions in the weeks to come once we start the game proper. Until then this will give you a fair idea of how DnD 4th comes together in a simple encounter.

-King

Embarking on a DS Journey

So I traded in a stack of my old games in order to procure a DSi and it has been a real treat. I grabbed a few games with it including: New Super Mario Bros, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Final Fantasy IV, Fire Emblem, and Dokapon Journey. Of these I have easily spent the most time with Dokapon Journey, so let me break it down for you.

Dokapon Journey, from Atlus, is essentially Mario Party, but instead of mini games you find yourself in CRPG style battles with monsters when you land on open spaces as you move across the board (cleverly disguised as an overworld map) reminiscent of a random battle, or in towns where a boss style monster will be standing guard.

The objective of the scenario is to be the player with the most gold after a number of weeks determined before the games starts. Each week consists of seven turns and the number of weeks are chosen during the game set-up, between 1 and 199 allowing a game session of anywhere from 15 minutes to 80 hours. Games can, of course, be saved midplay.

Scrooge McDuck: Regular player, and winner, of Dokapon Journey.

So now that you’re up to pace I’ll explain what makes Dokapon so good. You can also enter battle, cast spells on, and use skills against other players. In a nutshell, PvP. Should you defeat a player you will be able collect any bounties that may be on their head as well as select a looting option to steal a single item from their inventory, a spell, or all their gold. There is another option if you don’t feel a need to take their loot which is to, delectably, prank them by changing their name. I’m not sure about the world at large but this option significantly changes the games ESRB rating when I play it.

It's pretty much just like this.

There are also several game modes to play. Greed Mode determines the winner as the person with the most gold at games end. Death Match is the player with the most PvP kills, and of course a single player story mode. There’s another multiplayer mode that escapes me at the moment. I myself play Greed almost exclusively. Multiplayer can be played one of 3 ways. Over the internets by connecting to another player who owns the game, via local wi-fi with other DS owners in close proximity though only one of you need own the cartridge and finally, hotseat, where you and up to 3 other players simply pass a single DS around when your turn comes up.

For those who don’t own a DS you can pick up Dokapon Kingdom on either the Wii or PS2 that is more or less the same thing with some minor graphical and class selection differences. It's my understanding that they give away PS2's for free, launched from shirt canons at car races and sporting events or as a bonus when you buy a slushie at convenience stores so you don't really have an excuse not to try Dokapon at least once.

For the 20 bucks I paid you're looking at a pretty great dollar to fun ratio.

Until next time, may you stab your friends in the back.

-King

Wasting the same amount of time, but less efficiently

When it comes to things that are shit, not having the internet is one of them. Not having the internet for 2 weeks in 2009 is the equivalent of sleeping from 1942-1964, accounting for inflation and all that.

In case you also have not had the internet for 2 weeks I would like to share some things I missed:

-Han Solo, PI memed all over the place.

-Penny-Arcade did a thing. My vote goes to Lookouts. I would confidently bet my life savings that Rook has already started a letter writing campaign to ensure Automata is selected.

-Little Wheel was released with a sort of polite golf clap from the indie community.

-Magic: the Gathering was ruined.

-E3 blew its load on every gaming site and nobody cared.

To juxtapose, here are the things that I did instead of the internet:

-Played InFamous

-Played Sacred 2

-Played Red Faction: Guerilla

-Finally got 100% wins in 100 games of free cell.

-Drew a funny picture.

My funny picture

Of all the things listed I would most like to talk about InFamous. Well, I would most like to talk about my awesome FreeCell record but let’s go with InFamous. I will begin by describing it as a bastard child birthed from an orgy involving GTA, Crackdown, and Star Wars: the Force Unleashed. You play a dude with super powers of an electrical nature, able to shoot lightning, make lightning grenades, heal people with lightning, lightning surf, and make shields out of lightning. When you are not doing these things you crackle…sort of like lightning.

More like In-lightning-Famous mirite?

Aside from lightning, one of the neat things is that the city has a feeling of feeling of being alive and not just become people the citizens and bad guys driving and walking around. The game opens with a bomb going off (A lightning bomb) and it turns out you are the bike courier that has unwittingly delivered this bomb. Anyway, when it goes off you get powers and half the people in the city die. It’s apocalyptic destruction on albeit on an island scale and as you play through the game your choice of actions, including how carefree you are with your powers, not only do you change, with your appearance leaning towards a light or dark side reminiscent of the Knights of the Old Republic, but the city itself either gets worse or becomes rejuvenated.

I tried to get a screenshot of lightning but IT'S SO FAST!

So you run around the city leaping from rooftop to rooftop shooting people with your powers and it is good. The short of it is that it has a good story with some big twists, plenty to do, strong controls even with the number of powers available, and stellar visuals. Standing crouched atop a building looking out over your city you can’t help but feel like you’re having a Batman moment. Also, the cut scene are done up like a comic book which adds to the whole superhero thing. So if you have the chance to play the PS3 exclusive I say go for it, and play it evil. I normally play karma games light side but in this case the powers are more enjoyable and the gameplay smoother if you’re not worrying about hitting the civilians your targets are holding hostage. Plus, dark side get's force lightning

Until next time, if you kill someone by accident consider doing it again.
-King

Kicking it old school

This weekend Rook and intend to relive some glory days.

A couple years ago, while his wife was away, we decided to play through and beat Dead Rising and we decided to do it in high debaucherous style. I arrived late Friday night and we immediately plugged in the game swearing that we would beat it that weekend. Now, Dead Rising is a game where you play a veteran photojournalist, Frank West, locked in a mall with zombies.

Part John Maclean, part Angsty teenager, all douchebag.

The game takes place in the Willamette mall, which is located in the sleepy town of Willamette, pop. 53,000. The story tells the story of what Frank gets up to while locked in this zombie infested shopping emporium for 3 days until his helicopter arrives to extract him. What Rook and I didn’t know was that the game clock is real time. We had sworn to beat a game which takes 72 hours to beat and we only had 72 hours to beat it before his wife came home and I returned to my private estate. Screw sleep, we could do it in shifts if we had to. We were undaunted.
About 2 hours in we realized we would need sustenance. We placed an order for 3 extra large pizzas and 20 minutes later, leaving Frank in the secure mall office while we made our food sortie. The plan was that these 3 pizzas would be our sustenance for the next 3 days. Sunday was kinda gross. That weekend we smoked enough cigars to give 5 people cancer. As I said, debauchery.

Needless to say, we beat that mother f-er and swore we would do it again sometime. That sometime is now.

One of these guys is a Daddy, the other is sterile. You guess.

Rook and I have 3 days once again, but this time the stakes are higher. We plan to beat both Bioshock and Metal Gear Solid 4. I know we’re looking at two 30+ hour games and it would be doable except that we aren’t starting until tomorrow. Tonight we’re going to a birthday party and, post party, plan to play through at least one Left 4 Dead Scenario. Also, Rook needs to play Braid.

Maybe we can’t do this, but by God we need to try.

-King

Braid for Windows!

This is imperative! Braid is now available on Windows and can be downloaded online through Greenhouse and Steam for 15 dollars of the American persuasion. Buy it, buy it now!




Seriously, this game is important.

-King

I Have 99 Problems But Navigating Procedurally-Generated Two-Dimensional Space Ain't One

Spelunky bitches. Spelunky.

This game has me addicted and I blame Rook. He introduced it to me during the Murder Mystery/Birthday party he and his wife hosted recently and I've barely stopped playing it since.

It's sort of a combination of Mario and a Roguelike which makes for a good time. Each time you step into the dungeon the map is randomly generated and fully destructible. The objective is to work your way from the top of the room to an exit at the bottom 16 times. Every 4 rooms the setting changes from cave, to underground jungle, to ice cavern, to evil temple and any given room can have a number of 'feels' like an undead infestation, or complete darkness. You must navigate these rooms initially with naught but a whip, 4 hearts, 4 bombs, 4 ropes, and 3 flares.

Hearts are your life just as in the days of yore however with the danger of the dungeon and your small supply they are all too frequently not enough. Luckily you can save Damsels. Bringing a damsel to the rooms exit grants you a single heart. Granted just getting the ladies often loses you a heart or two from traps or critters, but what's a spelunker to do?

My only regret is that I have but four hearts to give.

As for the equipment additional supplies can be found through the dungeon in crates, on mini-bosses, or in shops. The shops randomly have additional bombs and ropes, or other equipment such as parachutes, guns, jetpacks and teleporters which you can purchase with the gold and gems you collect or make an attempt to steal the goods out form under the shopkeepers nose, though beware his shotgun. Killing a shopkeeper causes you to be wanted for the rest of your run, and many runs you will have.

Right now my score reads 456 plays, 455 deaths and 1 win. And I'm actually good at the game. Rarely do I die because the game is too hard or too cheap, in fact the game is rather simple and easy in it's design. More often it's because I don't take my time or I do something stupid like jumping down a hole before taking a look to see what's down there, and landing on some spikes.

Help Wanted: Tomb Raider
Pays approx. 1 million dollars an hour, make your own schedule
Self-resurrection experience a plus.

But that's the idea of the game, to die until you don't. There's a few reasons this works, first off, because the game creates each room randomly every time you enter it so every restart is new. You never have to play the same level twice. Secondly failures are generally just as entertaining as successes if not more so and finally, because each time you die you get better at the game.

That's my favourite part too, Learning little things piece by piece that make each subsequent run easier or more informed “Oh, I can hit things with the backswing from my whip? Spiders just got easier to kill.” “There's always a jetpack if I bomb behind the Alien ship? Easy mode!” “Oh, I guess the Countdown Ghost is invincible and kills me in one hit...well then.”

Ghosts have been oppressing video game heroes for far too long.

Since the beginning of my gaming history I've been drawn to the idea that I can get better at a game, not just through the conventions of the game, such as leveling up or finding better equipment, or even from gaining increased skill at controlling the game through dexterity and a better understanding of the control scheme. What really floats my boat is beating a game through mind powers. In the original Mario I eventually became able to beat the first level with my eyes closed because I simply knew where and when to jump. We all know the knowledge of where magic flutes and other warps are can expediate and ease the completion of a game and this sort of thing is becoming more and more prevalent.

It seems some designers aren't trying to immerse you in the game like so many of the current generations game developers do. They're simply saying “This is a game, see what you can do with it.” and while I appreciate being fully immersed it's also fun to just play a game sometimes.

Until next time, keep hitting things with a whip.

-King

King Watches the Watchmen

So I just watched it, Watchmen that is. It was suggested I arbitrarily compare it to a number on a scale of 1 to 10 and chose 7. The folks I saw it with gave it a "9" an "8" and an "8 or 8-and-a-half"

They changed some stuff, they kept some stuff the same. The music was weird. I liked the film.

I'll tell you more about it when it isn't 2:30 in the morning.

Till next week,

-King

Sweeeet Coraline, dah dah dah!

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 glasses.

I was shocked to say the least. I had come to see a magical children's story come to life on the big screen, not to dodge red and blue bat-dogs and button eyes flying off the screen into my face. Imagine my surprise then when I discovered what 3D movies were all about these days.

You could totally just wear these out to the mall.
Like, maybe with a nice hat?

Gone are the red and cyan cardboard glasses of days yore. Now they use Polarized glasses which create the illusion of 3d by limiting the amount of light that reaches each eye. The projector then projects two images, superimposed on each other, with opposite light levels and each lens of the glasses filters a different level of light tricking your brain into perceiving depth where there is none.

Science!

The result is a great effect. As the opening credits roll everything appears to be, for lack of a better analogy, in a fish tank. A mysterious pair of hands comprised of sewing needles is stitching together a rag doll. The hands appear to be occupying the space a fish would, the rag doll appearing just behind, the desk the doll is resting on would be the bank of the tank and the opening credit names look as though they were written directly onto the front of the tank.

We've come a long way.

What I'm trying to illustrate is that it's an extremely subtle effect which simply provides depth of picture. I can only recall two instances where something jumped out of the screen in an attempt to kill me. It is a testament to my awesome reflexes that I am here today to tell of it.

This new form of 3D is has also made it's way into video games with support from Nvidia, one of the major manufacturers of graphics cards. One of the things that easily fascilliatates games using polarized 3D is that they don't need to be designed with the feature in mind, it's relatively simple to add in later. And with other new discoveries in gaming technology who knows what the next generation of gaming, and movies could bring.

Until next time, may you see the sailboat

-King

Yuletidings

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 I had our differences, with the primary point of contention being where I would spend Christmas morning, you see there were rarely fewer than 3 options vying for my attention, what with my parents being divorced and I being raised with my Mom and Stepdad, each of my families would request the honour of my presence each year. This is stressful on a young man whose only goals in life are to become a firefighter, become an astronaut, and please everyone all the time.

Eventually I had an epiphany, I would attend none of them. Certainly I would lose the gifts the season would grant me, new books, and video games. But in return I would get an actual holiday. A day to relax, kick back and enjoy life to it's fullest. And so, for the last few years, that's exactly what I've done and now, for the second year running Matt has opened his doors to all wayward christmas celebrants to come by and enjoy a bit of pressure free, straight up 'spirit of' Christmas morning.

Truth be told I can't think of a place I'd rather be.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Until Next Time, Enjoy This Christmas As Though it were the last.

-King

Pro Choices

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, now what was I going to do? I mean I knew exactly which one I wanted to attend when it was only York yearning for the honour of my presence, but now the Trent faction has made a tempting offer. What’s a man to do?

What is it about being forced to decide something that changes everything about it? A Choose Your Own Adventure story is totally different than a Hardy Boys book. Sure, either way it’s a couple of prepubescent kids uncovering an underground crime ring but whether or not they succeed is now in your hands. That is stressful stuff.

If there are two things prepubescent kids are good at it's
solving mysteries and piloting giant robots

The same holds true in a video game, many gamers have spoken about how they love a good storyline in an RPG yet become paralyzed when playing Grand Theft Auto. All of a sudden there are just too many options, Do I walk over there? Stay here? Get in that car? Buy a Hotdog? Shoot a hooker? Frick if I know.

Video games have had an increasing amount of decision making thrown into the mix. Montreal based Bioware, best known for the Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect games, has focused on it as a primary gaming device, forcing you to make difficult moral decisions that will inevitably lead you to the light or dark side of the force or force analog. In ages past the Fallout games combined the Sandbox style of gameplay with the option to make decisions that change the world itself. The same goes for Peter Molyneux’s Fable series. All of these games have multiple endings and encourage multiple play-throughs to see them all. Don’t even get me start on Star Ocean : The Second Story's 88 different endings.

If you save just before this you can go back and not push him off the roof.
Alternatively you can go back and push him again.

Choices are scary. Well, maybe you’re good at them but I buckle under the pressure. Which movie do I want to see? Well the best one of course. Hopefully somebody else knows which one that is. Which sandwich do I want to eat? The one that looks best of course. And, of course, you can’t keep your finger on the last page or save your game just before you decide which University you’re going to attend, you have to suck it up and hope you’re making the right choice. Unfortunately I haven’t made a choice that I wouldn't discover the outcome of for 4 years, but I imagine I’m making the right decision, I mean it looks better, so how could I go wrong?

Until next time, I sure hope we solve this mystery!

-King

A holiday gift for your soul!

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

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 celebrate them. Today was to be my last day of work before my holidays began, likely lasting a few weeks before I begin University in January. It was looking like alot of work too, but then something happened. Something profound was in the works.

I always thought the middle-aged Fate was hottest. Rook likes the old one.

I left at my usual 8:15 to take the 20 minute Subway ride to Finch, the northern most of the stations, where I would transfer onto a 45 minute bus to travel the rest of the way to work. The trip to Finch was a hour and 10 minutes alone. What is going on, I pondered as I walked up the stairs from the underground tunnel. Cresting the last of the concrete steps I saw it. A blizzard. Fate had spoken and ushered in a new day, long forgotten.

The Snow Day.

That's right there wasn't much chance of me getting to work today dear readers. I called the boss and let him know my oh so unfortunate plight and then turned around, back to the subway, a spring to my step.

Polar Bear in a Snow Storm

The awesome power of the Snow Day is undeniable. A power that many learn to summon for the great pleasures the snow day can bring. Snowball fights, tobogganing, video games, no homework, writing your blog article. Who doesn't appreciate the snow day, Nature's own time machine with the power to give the world a free day, pulled perhaps from spare reserves in the past or future, filled with limitless possibilities.

There are different kinds of Snow Days too. There is the snow day created when an enterprising individual decides, in advance, that tomorrow will be a snow day. These guys usually aren't meteorologists, but I'm not going to argue with days off especially with someone who is my boss or principal. The problem with these snow days is that they kind of take the magic away, you know they're coming, make plans in advance, and have the day full of activities before you know it.

There is also the Suspected Snow Day. Where you are so damn sure it is going to snow tomorrow that you just assume that's what's going down. You stay up late, skip homework, and prepare for adventure, all the while teetering with anticipation and hope. Sometimes this kind of Snow Day will screw you though and you'll wake up to some weird pre-spring weather.

Finally there is the best of all. The Sneak Attack Snow Day. You went to bed early, you got all your business done and are prepared for another day of the same old. You wake up, go about your morning ritual and then notice, sweet baby jesus, there is 4 feet of snow outside. These are the best, the truly free days.

The look of pure, Snow Day, joy

All of these days come less and less frequently. The glory years are during the elementary school years of course, and hold strong through high school, but once you've joined the work force they evaporate quite quickly. Business is business and the phrase 'business as usual' holds true in inclement weather. But when you can't get into work you simply can't.

So next time you have a snow day, have yourself a cup of hot chocolate, grab your laptop and open up your favourite blog. Play some video games, eat some junk food and maybe, just maybe, catch up on something you meant to do yesterday.

Until Next Time, Toboggan in style.

-King

Apocalypse Nao

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 traveling to the coast across the U.S. 10 years after an unexplained cataclysm. Tales of this sort have been told since Mary Shelly’s 1826 The Last Man or, technically speaking, much, much, earlier.

But what’s the point of all of this? Why is humanity so enthralled by the depiction, fantasy and, in games, participation in apocalypse? I mean, clearly popular culture is rife with the apocalypse in a variety of forms, we’ve been destroying it in stories and prophecy pretty much it since it began. The stories go from war and acts of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, to religious, sci-fi, horror and fantasy representations of the end of the world, depicted in a wide range of media including novels, comics, film, television and video games. Considering how old the idea of the apocalypse is it’s certainly created some of the most imaginative and terrifying imagery I’ve seen.

The Large Hadron Collider still freaks me out abit

While Apocalyptic Fiction has a long pedigree there has also, for quite some time, been a similar genre in the gaming world. As far as games themselves are concerned it pretty much started with Wasteland, probably the first Post Apocalyptic Video Game and the undisputed Granddaddy of the genre, directly inspiring The Fallout Series with the most recent entry being 2008’s Fallout 3.

I don't want the future to look like this

Then of course we have film. Starting with Wells’ Things to Come, going the B-movie route through the 50’s and 60’s and then regaining prominence with Mad Max in the late 70’s and soon becoming mainstream with the Terminator series and Kevin Costners hard-on for Post-Cataclysmic adventure, capping off with The Matrix before moving away from Wars and bombs and towards zombies and plagues through the likes of Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, and I Am Legend. It seems people are fascinated with the end of the world.

In recent years of course Environmental Apocalypse has taken the stage. The Day After Tomorrow, Japan Sinks, the upcoming 2012, the adapation of The Road, The Happening, and even Wall-E. These films are all moneymakers on account of the growing concerns regarding our environment…well except The Happening.

Insert obvious joke relating 'Apocalypse'
and 'M. Night Shyamalan's career'

With all of the available post apocalyptic musings, scenarios, games, film and literature I have read or heard about I can safely say I would not like to see one on the real. An apocalypse is a tragedy on a vast, and horrifying scale, but it brings with it the idea of starting new and on a bare slate where everything is destroyed, leaving a scattered few to rebuild from the ruins which seems to be where alot of the...let's say charm

So, as cool as trading some pre-apocalypse artifacts for a clean jug of water, a hunting rifle and a fur hat sounds, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to take part. I mean, it sounds like a really shitty time. Luckily there’s these guys.

Until Next time make a point of going out in style,

-King