Ground Control to Major Tom...

So, I've been playing a lot of Kerbal Space Program, ever since it became available on steam. For those of us who aren't perpetually geeking out over physics and space stuff, Kerbal is a space ship simulator, where you have to design, build and fly your own space ships, from launch to wherever you choose to set your destination. For science geek's like me, its nothing short of an excellent game, and highly addictive.

Look! I made a pretty space ship!

Before I put you off for life however, I would say that, whilst difficult, Kerbal is in no way impossible if you don't have the advantage of studying an engineering degree.

The reason I bring Kerbal up is because it's a prime example of what I wanted to chat about today. Does technology interfere with gaming. On the surface of it yes, it does! Gaming is already being taken up as a world wide sport, with leagues in many countries and on many games, and in that situation the answer is a resounding and total affirmative, as unbalanced technology removes the human factor and eliminates skill as a variable (in non-science talk we say cheating). However, I think non competitive games like Kerbal make an excellent exception to this rule.



The Kerbal Space Station, after having just crashed my
pretty space ship into it.

On the picture of my pretty space ship (actually its a module on route to the space station I'm building) you can see a task panel on the right hand side of the screen. This is a non standard ad-on. Before all the beautiful, and sadly non-existent, gamer girls all start swooning in the street at my insolence, I would point out that getting two craft to dock in Kerbal is extremely difficult, and not worth the effort required, even if you do have an engineering degree. So, its very simple, I'm using a non-standard piece of technology, software in this case, to enable me to do things that I would usually find difficult or impossible, but I wouldn't consider it cheating.

There are many reasons I wouldn't consider this cheating, mainly in this case it's because I haven't harmed anyone. Kerbal is a game based on using technology to achieve self set goals. In this case, the goal I've set myself is neigh on impossible, and I have to repeat it many times, as you cant just balance a space station on top of a rocket (and before you say it, no you cant, I've Kerbaled it, it doesn't work).

With technology advancing at such an amazing speed, we do have to turn around for a few minutes, as an industry and say to ourselves "do we really want 3D goggles with self-righting gyroscopes and movement sensors, or can we do without it". Ok, that was a little over the top but you see where I'm going with this. Technology is amazing, it helps us do many things, however, it removes the human element, which means we have to be careful in its implementation.

As always folks I'm eager to hear your thoughts and opinions on the matter, and to be honest I'm starting to think my comment bar isn't working, so start commenting!

Matt.

(P.S. Space is Awesome
)

Lectures are boring, gaming is fun!

I know, I know, I should probably be paying attention, but the lecturer also shouldn't be teaching us about springs.

Anyways, the question I've been mulling over for the past few hours is about gaming peripherals, we've already seen accessories like those funny google glasses (I forget the name), infrared keyboards etc.

What I want to know is; do you think these accessories are going to make there way over into the sphere of hardcore gaming, or, is there no beating a good ol' gaming controller.

I have to sit and think for a while, but once I'm done with that, expect a post!

As always leave your remarks in the comments

Matt.

I Tawt I Taw a Booker Dewitt

So, lets have a chat about Songbird. Before I go any further, I must quickly say:

Yeah, if the big arse picture didn't give it away, Songbird is a major character in Bioshock: Infinite, so there will be some definite major spoilers!

Elizabeth and Songbird have a... complicated relationship

Songbird is Elizabeth's guardian and gatekeeper, he fills a very interesting role that speaks very highly to the theory of Stockholm syndrome. Both protector and imprisoner. We first encounter him (I'm assuming Songbird is a him) as we first encounter Elizabeth, at the top of a large tower, where he immediately start trying to kill us. A fairly standard layout for a game character, especially an enemy, however that is where the similarity ends. Elizabeth and Songbird have a complicated relationship, both protector and jailor at the same time, Elizabeth starts off with songbird as her only friend, bringing her books, pictures, films, etc. Eventually, Elizabeth starts to hate Songbird, simply because of his position as her jailor. This complicated relationship is felt throughout the game, and sets the tone for your encounters with Songbird.

Eventually the inevitable happens, and Songbird ambushes Booker and Elizabeth, stealing her away to be taken back, kicking and screaming, like a stereotypical comic book damsel in distress. Story wise, there's not much you can do to get Elizabeth back, and mechanics wise, there's nothing you can do, as Songbird mostly appears in cut scenes.


The Death of a Songbird, a particularly emotional scene

Of course eventually you do get Elizabeth back and the story does progress, leading to the point where you gain control of songbird, I shant say when or why though, some spoilers you'll have to work out for yourselves. It’s very difficult to describe what happens next without giving away most of the plot. After many a cut scene you find yourself facing Songbird's death, a particularly stirring scenelet, which sums up this game perfectly. 

Another cool mechanic that I quite enjoy is the Songbird Defence system. Golden statues of the prophet, rather reminiscent of the mechanical patriots (except with rather less miniguns). If disturbed by Booker or Elizabeth, they emit a high pitched whistling tune, which players of the game will come to fear and dread, as it almost always bring a rather angry Songbird down on you.



Songbird Defence System statue, rather creepy and
egotistic, don't you think?

 If I had to draw a parallel to the other Bioshock games, I'd say that Songbird is very much like the Big Daddies of the previous games. However, there are many Big Daddies, and only one Songbird, allowing us to delve much deeper into the story of the creature.

I seriously recommend that you go and get Bioshock Infinity, as it's an excellent game, and Songbird is only one, very small (if particularly tear provoking) part. Lastly, I'll leave a YouTube link to the songbird call song at the bottom of the page, so you can listen to that damn creepy tune as much as you like.
 
So what do you guys and gals think? Songbird, Sorrowful Loss or Songbird, Beat up old monster?
Share your opinion in the comments!

Matt.

We inturupt your schedualed blogscast...

Just a quick updated to keep you all saited in the long hours of the day where I'm at university.

The next topic on my blog is going to be all about songbird, elizabeth's mechanical guardian from Bioshock: Infinity, there will be spoilers galor, so I'm warning you now.

I've already posted about the topic elsewhere, but I realy need some discussion on it, what do you think? Songbird, good riddance to bad robots, or a terrible tragidy of the worst order

Use the comments to discuss it!

I dont want to set the world on fire...

...I just want to start a flame in your heart

Game music, from eery ambiance music to epic battle tracks, gamers almost universily agree, the music makes the game.

I'm going to type one word

Halo

Now I bet you I can guess what your thinking (apart from, wow, this guy realy is nuts!). That theme, those stiring vocals, maby even the quick pace drum and string bits from near the end of the tune, any of it, is now going through  your mind. It's inevitable, a good peice of music is infectious, it stirs feelings and emotions in us that just make games work. Could you imagine playing the Halo games without the music? Dead Space, without the leaking pipes and creaking walkways? Fallout, without the quirky 80's radio broadcasts? It just wouldent be as fun.

Here's the Halo 3 main theme, just because I know you cant stop thinking about it.

If you hadent already noticed, I love the halo franchise for its music, its excelent, and hopefully will continue to be excelent under 343. However! we must move swiftly onwards, even though i could chat about this one song for another few pages.

The Pip-Boy radio screen from Fallout: New Vagas

Music in gaming isent just about having a catchy tune though (oh alright, thats the main bit of it), if your clever, you can implement music in intresting ways. A good example of this is the radio stations in the later fallout games, by making the players go into the pip-boy and physicly select a radio station adds a new level of imersion and better yet the ac
tual radio broadcasts, made by charicters in the game, gives you a whole new level of story.

The sad moment right before the
big event, play the game to find out more!

On the opposite side of the coin however, there is alot to be gained in the standard implementation of gaming music, even in cutscenes, the perfect example of this is the leaving earth scene from Mass Effect 3. Its an obviously well thought out scene, as is typical of the series. It makes you interact with the key protagonist of the introduction (a small child) and then kills him off, accompanied by the mellow and sad music of Leaving Earth, an effect which still makes me want to curl up in a corner somewhere and cry till I dehydrate.

I've just picked the two best examples from my experiance, however I'd love to hear your opinions on the matter, stick them in the comments!

Matt.

Bring us the girl and whipe away the debt.......

As you may have noticed from the title, this post is going to be all about Bioshock, specifically the latest instalment in the series, Bioshock: Infinite.

Stunning views over a flying city, who could ask for more?

However, before we get into the who what when where and why of the game, I'd like to discuss what first got me thinking about this game. The person who sold me it, or rather the conversation I had with him. Now, when I went to the local Asda (for our trans-atlantic readers, Walmart) to pick up my copy, I wasn’t exactly expecting sparkling conversation in the field of game design, I was however hoping for someone with an opinion, and that's exactly what I got.

Before I start analysing this conversation let me tell you how it went down. I pick up my empty box, bring it to the counter and hand it to the sales rep who immediately puts the box down, turns around and goes rummaging through his draw for a brand new copy of the game. At this point, I'm starting to feel a bit awkward, as not a word has been exchanged. I try to start up a conversation with one of my impromptu conversation starters, "So, is it any good?".

I was treated to a barrage of opinion, something I would usually welcome with open arms, however, this opinion was typical gamer, the mechanics suck, the guns don’t look different when you upgrade them, Vigour’s aren’t as good, blah blah blah blah. Sentence after sentence of meaningless drivel about how the mechanics spoil the game.

"Burden not Columbia with you chaff" Seems a bit
elitist to me...

Although everyone is entitled to their own opinion, this guy's opinion seemed immediately elitist. I could practically hear him in my mind, "A game is not a game if its mechanics don’t support it". A respectable view, sure, in fact there have been many games that flourish on their mechanics alone, the first portal game, for example. However, if we don’t explore the aspect of storytelling through the medium of game, then how can we really claim to progress as an industry.



If we are going to explore story through this wonderful arena, Bioshock: Infinity is probably one of the best places to start. If story could be attributed a quantitive mass, this game would have it in spades.

The ubiquitous Lutece twins, possibly my favorite
 characters in the game 

Irrational games, whom I shall be forever dubbing the masters of mindf***, start you off in a boat, on your way to a lighthouse. Sound familiar? It should do, the original Bioshock started the same way, however this time, you're paired up with two rather interesting individuals, who bicker consistently and rather creepily for the entire ride to the lighthouse. Every five minutes or so, as you explore the area, you find, or are told the phrase "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt". All your exploration will brings you to the top of the lighthouse, where, you board a rocket, not unlike the great glass elevator from charley and the chocolate factory, and for lack of a better phrase, hit up and out!

Make of it as you will, but this sets the tone for the rest of the game, now, I don’t have any strong opinions on the story as of yet, however, all I know is that this is an excellent game.

I shall write a more comprehensive view of the Bioshock: Infinity story in a later post, but for now, share your opinions in the comments!

Matt.

 

Welcome,To Rapture!

Hi there Guys and Gals! I thought i'd start a blog, so here it is!
Recently i've been having a lot of thoughts about the games I play when i'm avoiding work, being anti-social or, ya know, generaly procrastinating.

I Shall update this blog, generaly whenever I feel like it, or when the muse strikes with many a different and probebly derisive topic.

Feel free to leave comments and a like!

Matt