bradjweber

[bradjweber]

The Importance of Game Literacy

There’s probably been a time where you played games with somebody who normally- doesn’t. When you handed them the controller, they held it like it was from another planet. Any button press would be preceded by that thing where they inspect the entire controller then slowly press the button. Maybe they struggle with camera controls in 3D games. Maybe they didn’t realize there’s a run button in Mario. Maybe they don’t know what a minimap even is.

This is all simply due to the fact that they don’t have much experience with video games.

ALRIGHT THANKS FOR READING GUYS

No but seriously. When compared to other forms of media, I’d say that video games have more in common with books than film/television.

And no- not because I think video games are some next level shit telling stories that are better than The Great Gatsby or whatever- in fact, that’s largely... the opposite.

What I am saying is that video games and books require active participation on the part of its consumers. While something like film can be engaged with on a higher level than what you see at face value, actually watching a film requires nothing more of its audience than to- well obviously just sit there and watch it. The film keeps going regardless of whether you’re paying attention or not.

Now- another scenario. You and a group of friends have all started playing a new game. This game is completely brand new, and not a sequel or part of another franchise in any way. It literally doesn’t matter what it is, but for the sake of this example we’ll say it’s a shooter; all that actually matters though is that one of your friends is immediately able to perform at a relatively high skill level, while the other is still attempting to learn the controls.

This is because the first friend is very familiar with modern first person shooters, while the other is not. And the first friend doesn’t even necessarily have a mechanical advantage over the second, but he does have more knowledge of common UI configurations, button layouts, and a general understanding of modern map/objective design- whether he knows it or not.

Much like reading a book, game literacy is a skill that’s developed over many years of being immersed in the art form. One of the primary benefits of reading on a regular basis is an increased comprehension of language and texts as well as a more diverse vocabulary. Now, replace comprehension of language with the ability to intuit the objective of a game, and replace vocabulary with a repertoire of basic mechanical skills and well- you’re off to the races.

Another important attribute to literacy in any art form is the ability to quickly detect outside influences, and understand how those influences impact whatever it is you’re listening to, watching, reading, or playing.

One example of this that I know- somebody- somewhere, will take a lot of issue with me making is how Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds draws on two very specific and obvious sources for its game design. Counter-Strike and ARMA. From Counter-Strike it takes the importance of map awareness, player prediction, body placement, a lack of respawns and an intense focus on high mechanical skill in combat. From AMRA, we obviously get the simulation-esque handling of players and weapons, the sprawling maps, realistic ballistics, and the overall pseudo-real military aesthetic. Experience in both of these games will give you not only mechanical advantage in PUBG, but it will also make the initial hours of play much less daunting.

It’s no secret as to why somebody like Shroud is very good at this game.

Another massively-successful-and-popular shooter which draws from wildly different influences for its design is Overwatch. Overwatch obviously draws its player mechanics from popular MOBAs like DOTA and League of Legends, while the majority of its map and objective design comes directly from Team Fortress 2.

Hell, even down to the micro level of a single character in Overwatch like Pharah for example, it's very clear to veterans of the genre, only by looking at her skillset, what some of the more “advanced” maneuvers are that she might be able to execute such as rocket jumping.

Having this background knowledge and literacy in games makes it easier to pick up new games, and to become better at them faster than other people might.

And if you’re part of the group that doesn’t have this literacy in games, that’s okay too. Somebody who just learned to read isn’t going to pick up The Fountainhead the next day and be expected to make any substantial progress.

*although maybe nobody should be reading the fountainhead because like yikes bro-*

Anyways, that is a skill which is built up over time. Literacy not only makes future endeavors in the artform more easily appreciable, but it also allows for a greater appreciation than you had with the things that came before it.

The only thing that stops you from getting better is not doing it. So get out there and do it.

[bradjweber]

I Want To Talk About Ready Player One

Disclaimer: This piece was originally written as a script for a video that can be seen here. Which explains why I’m talking about RPO a month after its release...

When I sat down to write this, I initially wanted to make one my I HATE videos about nerd culture or something. But, I realized there wasn’t a way for me to do that without unilaterally dumping on, like, a lot of people. A lot of people that haven’t really done anything wrong.

And these days, it just feels so disingenuous do that when there’s actual, real, people out there who are doing things that deserve some of that negative energy. And it just sort of devolved into me talking negatively about things that people likely worked very hard on.

An excerpt from my original script...

But the thing is... I really really dislike everything about Ready Player One. From the jump, Ready Player One is, to me, just as soulless and cynical as that original video would have ended up being.

This film as most of you already know, and the book, but, strictly speaking about the marketing material and promotion for the film, gets people excited for it by making references to cultural touchstones largely born out of the 80’s and 90’s. With a few odd exceptions.

I understand the Halo connection because Spielberg is reportedly still doing that thing, but Tracer being there... well... it pretty much makes my point in itself. It’s reference for the sake of reference, without any of the context or meaning that makes those things special.

And that’s really the heart of that original video I was making. I have a major issue with things being regarded as worthy or popular simply because they existed in the past. Nostalgia is dangerous and shallow. And nerd culture is, quite obviously, built entirely upon that. Companies like Nintendo run their whole business off of this fact.

Old nerdy stuff is, in my mind, one of the easiest sells a person could make when looking to open a business. You could slap a triforce on anything and I assure you there would be droves of people out there looking to buy it simply because it was The Legend of Zelda paraphernalia, and not because it represented anything too meaningful other than old- nerd- culture.

Sticking with The Legend of Zelda, just as a simple and easily recognizable example, I wanna talk about creator’s intent, why I feel that is so important, and why Ready Player One readily dismisses it without a second thought.

The easiest game to pitch to a group of nerds would be a dark and gritty Legend of Zelda, where you play as a battle hardened Link who is like, missing an eye or something. He’s got a beard, his old tunic is barely held together by threads and is covered by this old weathered armor. And, he kills things, for real. They don’t just vanish into a puff of smoke- no. He kills things and they bleed. It’s big, it’s dark, it’s rated M, and it’s the Legend of Zelda.

But when you think about Miyamoto’s original vision for what Zelda should be, which is based in his time exploring forests as a young child, you start to see why that version of The Legend of Zelda would be tasteless, tone deaf, and ultimately missing the point.

And before anyone can say it, I understand that this sort of thing does have a real life analogue. In fact, it has a very successful- oscar nominated analogue. In Logan.

Logan is one of the first superhero films to really “grow up”. Taking what most people think of as bright, colorful, and lighthearted romps and turns it into a gory, grizzled, and thoughtful ode to its own genre as well as others. But, I think there’s a very specific reason that it was Logan that made that jump- and not Iron Man.

(annoyed) And no. Not, “because Disney” or that “Old Man Logan already exists.”

Well, kind of the Old Man Logan thing. But, Old Man Logan is built upon the same precedent. This precedent being that Logan was already a brutal and ultimately tragic character, just like the film itself.

Wolverine was created against his own will, forced to live in a world that consistently moved on without him. Forcing him to watch his friends, family, and loved ones die- time and time again. This ultimately creates a bitter and angry man who wants nothing more than to finally be given the sweet peace of death but is constantly torn away from it in his pursuit to do what’s right in the end.

(And, I get that Wolverine was obviously created in the 70’s and that there’s probably some early comic out there where Wolverine is being goofy and colorful, but we all know that this isn’t the definitive, culturally understood version of Wolverine.)

Now, obviously you could make up an analysis like this for any property if you try hard enough.

“This is a post-apocalypse story about a boy who alongside his dog, his only friend in the world, must fight off evils that threaten what little of that world remains. He ponders the meaning of death and love and violence. He loses his arm at one point, he has to fight in a war...”

This was- Adventure Time... by the way. And, even then I still had to stretch the truth... to get this to... work.

But, with the Wolverine thing, Logan is far more impactful when you understand who that character is, and it does such a great job at not only demonstrating all of the things I mentioned earlier about the character, but with providing a logical and MEANINGFUL endpoint for that character as well.

And? Isn’t that far more satisfying than a tasteless shot of Wolverine slicing up a puddy from Power Rangers or- something? To me it is.

And the ultimate example of Ready Player One’s tasteless references can be found no further than in the film’s inclusion of The Iron Giant during its climactic battle.

And I know it seems like something insignificant, but I think the implications of his inclusion is anything but.

The Iron Giant is a film that is, unfortunately for the wrong reasons, all too relevant these days. Especially with me writing this not even twenty four hours before thousands of people will take to the streets in protest of gun violence across the nation. And, regardless of political standpoint that is what the film is about.

Brad Bird, the director of The Iron Giant as well as a lot of other things, emphasized the film’s anti-gun message after he too lost- his sister at the hands of gun violence.

Now, obviously Spielberg and company couldn’t have understood or foreseen the climate in which their film would be releasing, but that only further strengthens my point.

Removing something from its meaning or context simply for the sake of tasteless and frivolous reference only opens yourself up to situations in which you go from soulless nostalgia to harmful and tactless insult against the creator’s original vision. A thing which, due to modern copyright law, most artists aren’t even given a chance to protect or defend.

The worst part is that I could make many more arguments about why some more of these references, when removed from context, are not only cynical appeals to nostalgia but- downright misinterpretations and gross misuse of the original source material. But, this video would become much much longer, and- I think you get the point by now.

And if you need any more reason to find some distaste in Ready Player One, you can always read Nerd Porn Auteur, a poem by Ready Player One’s original author- Ernest Cline. The proverbial father of this- reference- bonanza.

If you don’t have the time or patience- skip to line twelve. It’ll tell you everything you need to know.

With that, I think I’m finally done here. There were a few other things I wanted to talk about here, but I think I’ll save those for another time. Maybe some time in the near future, but likely not- knowing myself.

Thanks for listening- and if you really want to see something from your childhood again, just go watch it or whatever. Stop trying to remake it, or reference it whenever you get the chance. Nobody likes it when you do that.

[bradjweber]

Video Game Movies Cannot Work

Disclaimer: This piece was originally written as a script for a video that can be seen here.

It’s obvious to anyone that the biggest trend in Hollywood at the moment is the Superhero blockbuster. Marvel Studios has built an unstoppable money printing machine by adapting not only their beloved characters to film, but also the mechanics of universe building and continuity that have kept comic book fans obsessing over these properties for decades.

Hell, adaptation has been an important staple of film almost literally since the invention of the art form. And in recent decades, some of the most ambitious and successful undertakings in the creation of film franchises have almost all been based on stories from another medium, most- often- literary.

Successful film adaptations of books, poems, plays, musicals, radio programs, and television shows are abundant in the industry. But, one medium of storytelling that has yet been able to make the jump is one that’s nearest and dearest to me. Video games.

When you think about video game movies, what probably comes to mind is something like the Resident Evil series, the recent Assassin’s Creed and Warcraft, or maybe... I don’t know... Hitman? Max Payne with- Marky Mark? Not exactly landmark achievements in the space of cinema is what I’m saying.

This, rightfully, begs the question of why Hollywood can tackle outlandish concepts like the ones seen in superhero movies or sci-fi and fantasy adaptations, but have such a hard time making movies out of video games?

And the answer to this, while it may sound shocking or ignorant, is that most, not all, but most video games could not- and should not- be adapted to film.

The reason I believe this is because most impactful moments in video games are created with the belief that the context in which the game will be experienced is by a player with a controller in their hands, who is directly in control of some aspect of the experience.

The quiet Tibetan village in Uncharted 2, the Psycho Mantis boss fight in Metal Gear Solid, the human cost of your actions in Spec Ops: The Line, the pace at which you discover the truth about your sister in Gone Home, and Andrew Ryan’s final speech in BioShock are all examples of moments where a player’s input to the game has a direct relation to the emotional impact that those points in the experience will carry.

On BioShock, this video is actually directly inspired by a Reddit post I saw today about how Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water presented a set of visuals that, to this user, beg to be used to create a BioShock film. Which, to be fair, has been in development hell for a long- long time.

But, this sentiment is one that runs rampant in video game fandom, and completely misses the point I just made about what makes video games so impactful. This is the idea that in order for a video game movie to be good it only needs to capture the aesthetic qualities of a game. This ignores the meaningfulness of these games, and the themes the present, and will leave you only with a husk of these properties, devoid of whatever substance it is that you’d expect.

Yes. Rapture is an extremely interesting setting, and a concept for a world so original I don’t really believe we’ve seen much else like in the ten years since its release.

But, I think the reason BioShock is so impactful is because it's a game, not in spite of it. It isn't incidental that this is the medium chosen to tell this story. BioShock is a game about games, and how players never give any thought to the rules or objectives they're given, no matter how grisly the implications. Which is why the reveal [INCOMING SPOILERS FOR BIOSHOCK, A TEN YEAR OLD GAME] that you never actually had any free will at all is so impactful. Because players are generally told by developers that they’re in control, that they have complete freedom. People who watch movies to don’t have any free will within the story, they don’t even ask for it. But BioShock punishes you for thinking that way in the first place.

In order for a Bioshock movie to work it would need to be a film about stories in movies, or about how we watch them. Which would require a lot of retooling, and rewriting. And at that point you might as well make something else entirely.

A direct adaptation of BioShock would look very nice, yes. And you’d get to see a Big Daddy in live action. Neat. And, you’d get to see Andrew Ryan’s speech recited by some big name actor. But, ultimately what’s the point of all that? These things have already been expertly realized in the way that they were meant to be experienced.

Does the jump to film provide legitimacy to these games? Being made into a film doesn’t provide legitimacy to these stories and experiences. They’re already legitimate in their own right as masterpieces of their artform. Hell, even just by virtue of existing these games are provided legitimacy.

The only option I see for video game adaptations to work is for the people behind these films to take the universes of these games and to tell their own stories within them. This way you can potentially end up with substantive text, all wrapped up in that familiar aesthetic that these fuckin nerds can’t get enough of.

Hollywood must create their own stories because video game stories on a structural level cannot work in the span of a two or even three hour movie. Because they’re too long. The story for The Last Of Us would require almost five three hour movies to tell that story.

Now, you’re probably saying, “but Brad, you could cut out all the gameplay, trim down the cutscenes, and bing bam boom you got yourself a movie.”

And to that I say, “have you not been paying attention for the entirety of like this whole fucking video?” Because look. THIS, would not work without the player being directly responsible for THIS!

That’s not to say I don’t think the world of The Last Of Us can’t be used for a film, just that Joel and Ellie’s story cannot be adapted correctly.

And no. That doesn’t mean we should get a fucking Ish movie either. Discovering that story through the notes is 100% the point of that whole thing.

It’s that line of thinking that leaves you with the Star Wars prequels. [show obi-wan talking about the clone wars]

Surprisingly, Hollywood has kinda started to figure this out. 2016’s Assassin’s Creed took place within the universe of

[bradjweber]

Emily Is Away Too - Review

“Rather than being about romantic relationships, Emily Is Away Too strives to explore the importance of platonic ones.“

“...developer Kyle Seeley clearly designed a game with multiple endings that acts more like a personality test, giving players a result based on their actions and who they really are as a person.”

     One of my favorite games of 2015 was one that I’m not sure a lot of people have heard of. It’s a free to play indie on Steam called Emily Is Away. The conceit of the game was that it was an almost perfect simulation of using AOL Instant Messenger in the early 2000′s. From the sounds of your “old PC” running in the background, the faux-recreation of Windows XP, all the way down to year appropriate buddy icons, as well as the ever familiar sound effects, it sells the aesthetic quite well. The story of the game, without getting into spoilers, sees you working your way through a relationship with your friend Emily. Whether you want to be just friends, attempt to be more than that, or even give her the cold shoulder. It was all done through a selection of four different responses after each line of dialogue that you would then proceed to “type” into the chat window by slamming on your keyboard à la Hacker Typer.

      This unique style of controlling what is essentially a visual novel, combined with some excellent writing and scripting created a game that easily won me over, and even hit pretty close to home a few times. I won’t get too specific about the events of the first game in this review, but I will be referencing a lot of the emotional and mechanical beats that it hits, so I highly recommend playing it for yourself. It’s free, and no more than two hours long. Even if you don’t come back to read the rest of this review, At least I’ll know I’ve convinced more people to play it.

     After two years in development, Emily Is Away Too is finally here, boasting a longer run time, multiple endings, as well as a $5 price tag. At a glance, not much is different about the game when compared to the first. There’s another pretty spot on recreation of AOL Messenger, sound effects, buddy icons and all. Except, now the game runs in windowed mode so that they can pull neat little tricks where characters have you download files to your desktop, and send you links to fun recreations of 06-07 era YouTube and Facebook (which is also a pretty clever way of including licensed music in your game without actually having to pay for it).

     The main difference in gameplay doesn’t become apparent until you begin the game, where you realize that you’ll be spending the majority of your time talking to two different girls at once, sometimes one or the other sending you messages with time sensitive responses. Meaning that you’ll have to pick which person you really want to focus your attention on. I felt like this system provided some much needed player agency in the way that they carried out their relationships with the characters when compared to first. Although, this also created situations where either person would become upset with you for not responding to their message within 5-10 seconds, and I’m not really sure that I’ve ever seen somebody react that way before.

     This new change gives way to the biggest difference between Too and the first. That is having multiple endings. The first Emily Is Away only had one ending, regardless, it was still one of the most powerful executions of a game’s story and mechanics that I’ve yet to see since; aside from maybe the likes of NieR: Automata. And believe me, it stuck the landing. I wouldn’t have written two whole paragraphs about the first game in a review for the second if it hadn’t. Unfortunately in this game, with multiple endings, I feel like the emotional resonance is lost a bit here. Sure, your choices might make you feel a bit more invested in the way that the story plays out, and in the circumstances that your relationships are left in once the credits roll, but the first game’s melancholy ending helped the game convey a specific theme. Something that I feel like the sequel has a hard time doing.

     The first game set out with a specific story to tell, and all of the events leading up to it’s ending played out in order make you feel a certain way, regardless of the paths you took. Emily Is Away was about the strains that distance can have on friendship, the regret of missing out on important relationships, the awkwardness of keeping in touch with people post-high school, making mistakes in your first relationships, unrequited love, and so much more than that. Emily Is Away Too on the other hand feels more like a really really well written simulation of talking with two teenage girls in the mid-2000′s. That’s not to say this is necessarily an issue, it’s just that Too’s themes have a harder time being conveyed when some of the endings seem to fly in the face of what the game is trying to say.

     Rather than being about romantic relationships, Emily Is Away Too strives to explore the importance of platonic ones. In the first, where the player was obviously set up in a position where they would likely try to date Emily, the sequel attempts to dive into what makes friendship so special. Whether that be sharing your favorite music or video games, shooting the shit about your classes, or even helping each other through nasty breakups, Emily Is Away Too has a firm understanding of the emotions that make friendship so important to some people... and it utilizes them. Emily Is Away Too deals with topics like abusive/toxic relationships, the reluctance to let friends move on, as well as coming to terms with it, the importance of staying true to yourself, and the dangers of becoming somebody you’re not just to get people to do what you want.

     Especially regarding those last two items, Too, like a lot of sequels tries to take a bit more of a meta approach to it’s writing. Attempting to anticipate some of the play styles that players may have taken in the first in order to “win,” so that it can stay one step ahead of the player. And it works! I wasn’t necessarily keen on what the game was up to as I was playing it, but there’s a certain moment in the game where players could be potentially “punished” for not treating the characters as human beings or for treating the relationships in the game as anything less than real. Trying to game the system by predicting what a character will want you to say rather than what you want to say will likely have the opposite effect than what the player intended. I think it’s a super smart way of stopping players from playing Emily Is Away Too like a game, in order to get the ending they want, rather than the ending that they deserve.

     It’s for that reason that at the time of writing this review, I’ve only finished Emily Is Away Too a single time. And I don’t think I necessarily want to replay it. Not because I don’t want to see the other endings, or because I dislike the game, but because developer Kyle Seeley clearly designed a game with multiple endings that acts more like a personality test, giving players a result based on their actions and who they really are as a person, rather than something where multiple playthroughs yield players a wildly different adventure each time. I feel like if I were to replay Emily Is Away Too, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to reach a different conclusion. The ending I got, and the path I took to get there is so tied up in my moral sensibilities, my anxieties/fears, my taste in friends, and even my taste in video games or music, that to do anything else would feel wrong. I feel like I’d be lying to myself in a way.

     Emily Is Away Too is a special game. While I don’t necessarily think that it hits the highs of the first, I think it comes close by changing up the formula, and by secretly providing an almost entirely different experience to it’s predecessor. It trades away themes of incompatibility and regret for themes of friendship and what it truly means to call somebody your best friend.

[bradjweber]

Pokémon Go Is Bad, And I’m Mad That I’m Still Playing It

“That money could have gone to something else. Something that was actually fun to play, rather than superficially.”

This entire piece can be summed up by that title, but I don’t think a single statement can cover all of the reasons as to why I think that this game doesn’t deserve to be most popular game of all time; and why I’m a part of the problem.

A couple of weeks ago in my review of Pokémon Go I said that the game was really just a neat distraction, and not much more than that. I also wondered if the game would find an audience, or if it would have legs beyond it’s initial launch. Only nobody could have anticipated the effect that Pokémon Go would have, and will continue to have on the video game industry as a whole.

Since it’s release, the game has caused major fluctuations in Nintendo’s stock prices, released in multiple countries, inspired many businesses to embrace the phenomenon, and become the most popular mobile game U.S. History. Pokémon Go surpassed apps like NETFLIX and even TWITTER for daily active users in it’s first two weeks. TechCrunch reports that, “as of July 15th, the purchase of PokéCoins accounted for 52 percent of the entire mobile gaming market’s revenue, making Pokémon Go potentially the most lucrative game ever.”

Holy shit. All of this for a game that isn’t good.

It is fun to walk around with your friends and hunt Pokémon, but that’s only because you’re out for a walk with friends. The act of catching and battling these virtual monsters isn’t; and that’s where the problem comes from. While capturing a new Pokémon can feel somewhat satisfying, after that there isn’t much left to do. The battle system almost feels completely random, with the dodge system feeling like façade. And, these problems with gameplay can only be experienced if you can even log in to the game in the first place!

It’s a shame that a game of this quality, which aside from the social aspects that I lauded in my review, is demonstrably a bad game. The majority of game coverage and discussion across the internet has been focused on this game. Granted, there hasn’t been much to play in the past weeks, but shows that a developer can put so little effort into making a game fun to play, and that they can be “rewarded” for it.

And the worst part of it all? I’m totally still playing Pokémon Go. Not only that, but I’ve spent money on it! Only something to the tune of $7-8 but still that money could have gone to something else. Something that was actually fun to play, rather than superficially. I’m one of the people who uses the wikis and guides, who reads the articles about upcoming patches and updates. I’m the kind of person who keeps giving the game more publicity by writing about it.

The concepts and questions that this game brings up, outside of it’s gameplay are so interesting and new to a lot of people that it doesn’t matter to them that the game is really not good at all. The gaze is taken off of much better games, and developers realize that in order to become the most successful game of all time, there doesn’t need to be much game there at all.

The success of Pokémon Go isn’t necessarily surprising taking in all of the factors surrounding the game’s release; using the original 151, surprise launching it, and the unintended hype caused by the U.S. delay. But, the implications of the effect that it will have on the market, mainly the inevitable deluge of copy-cat games (which will likely be just as devoid of gameplay/content), and the encouragement of lazy development which we’re sure to see more of further down the line are somewhat concerning. And voicing these concerns, at least in my case, feels very inauthentic... as I’m one of the people who’s supporting these practices.

[bradjweber]

Pokémon GO - Review

“ It was something I’d never really seen a game do before. It brought people together. ”

After what some might call a rather confusing release, Pokemon GO has finally released in the United States. Sorry countries where the game still isn’t out yet; apparently you don’t matter.

While I was able to fiddle around with the app on the night of launch, I took the majority of my the past two days to really stretch Pokemon GO’s legs. The following write up is only after a few hours of gameplay, mainly because the servers are down about 95% time.

DISCLAIMER: Before we get going, I’m going to assume you already know what Pokemon GO is, and how it’s played so I can quickly get into the meat of the review.

So I’m sure the biggest question on your mind is if it’s actually good or not. I think  it’s pretty neat. And realistically, at the moment that’s really the highest praise I can give Pokemon GO. It’s extremely cool the first time you find a Pidgey in your backyard, or a Ghastly on the way to class. Sadly, this feature only seems to exist so you can show your friends; because it creates more problems than it’s worth, in my opinion. Two big problems in particular.

One, in order to catch a Pokemon you have to stop moving and point your camera towards it. This can be an extremely awkward/difficult thing to do if you happen to run into a Pokemon on a busy street. Which for most city dwellers, this will more than often be the case. Two, if you are able to stop for one of these Pokemon, but there happen to be people around, it really does look like you’re filming them. I can assure you, most people won’t be okay with that.

P.S. - Both of these problems can be fixed by turning off AR.

What I’ve found to be the coolest aspect of Pokemon GO’s mechanics is the way that the Pokestops and Gyms encourage you to get out and explore the area around you. Seeing a Pokestop that’s nearby can send you to an area of the city you’ve never been to before. It’s always really cool when you find a nice piece of art or restaurant you’ve never heard of because they were Pokestops. But be careful, chaining these Pokestop visits together can turn your five minute walk into an hour and half long trek across the city. At the moment, gyms work sort of the same way, except you’re not really given an incentive to visit them. Capturing a gym doesn’t really provide much other than bragging rights because the number of gyms your team controls isn’t currently available.

Capturing gyms also reveals one of Pokemon GO’s most glaring of issues: the combat. Pokemon is a series that’s known not only for it’s addicting collection, but also for it’s initially shallow, yet surprisingly deep combat. Combat in Pokemon GO doesn’t amount to much more than tapping your screen as fast as you can, and hoping you win the battle. The only factor I’ve been able to determine that gives you the upper hand in battle, aside from Combat Power, is type advantage. That’s about the only similarity Pokemon GO’s combat has in common with its mainline counterparts.

Now that I’ve covered most of the game’s mechanics, I’d like to talk about the most endearing part of Pokemon GO’s design. It has this weird unifying quality. Walking around the city these past two days, I’ve seen people from all walks of life playing the game. From businessmen, to college students, to children; Pokemon GO has thoroughly taken over. And, light of recent events in this country, it’s neat to see people bonding over something. I saw people in the park shooting knowing glances to those passing by on the sidewalk. Children running to catch that Pokemon they’ve been looking all day. Almost everyone I saw downtown on the day of release was walking down the sidewalk, with their eyes glancing around, trying to pick out the next Pokestop or person stealing their spot in the Gym.

It was something I’d never really seen a game do before. It brought people together.

After having Pokemon GO for a couple of days, and really getting it out into the city, I can say that the game is a pretty neat distraction; but at the moment, it’s not much more than that. It lacks real-time battles with other players (a staple of the Pokemon franchise), trading (arguably more important than battles), and the RPG mechanics that kept the gameplay interesting. If you want a real-life Pokemon simulator, this isn’t the place you should look. But, if you really do want to catch ‘em all, or at least have something fun to do while walking around the city then I’d definitely recommend it.

And, does the game have any lasting appeal? Or will it peter out like Nintendo’s own Miitomo? Obviously, only time will tell but I’d imagine it as, at the very least, it’ll last a bit longer than that did. Once the servers start working on a regular basis, I can see my friends and I really getting some mileage of Pokemon GO.

[bradjweber]

The Nice Guys - Review

I wrote this review for one of my college classes, which is why this post is so late. I’ve had it written since opening night, just couldn’t post it!

     In a summer dominated by superhero movies, sequels, reboots and remakes, writer/director Shane Black (creator of Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and director of Iron Man 3) delivers a breath of fresh air with the funny and action-packed buddy cop film in The Nice Guys. It feels good to finally see something original and fresh on the big screen after sitting through the many other films that have come out this year, based on previously established franchises. Now, that’s not to say The Nice Guys is entirely original, as any fan of Shane Black will instantly recognize a few similarities with his previous works.

     The Nice Guys, set in the 70s, tells the story of a less-than-professional private detective, Holland March (Ryan Gosling), and a hired enforcer named Jack Healy (Russel Crowe), who after a series of confrontations, must work together to find and protect a runaway girl named Amelia. It’s only during their search for Amelia, that the two men begin to quickly discover that the girl’s disappearance may have something to do with a plot much larger than they could have possibly imagined.

     Like I said earlier, anyone who is familiar with Black’s previous works, especially Kiss Kiss Bang Bang will feel right at home with The Nice Guys. The script is bitingly funny, while the plot is intriguing and sometimes downright absurd (in a good way). By absurd, I mean that the film heavily relies on the use of deus ex machina in many of its pivotal moments. Now, this is obviously done on purpose, seeing as it’s done multiple times and even brought attention to by one of the characters in the film, and I personally enjoyed these decisions, but I could see how it would easily dissuade other viewers.

     I’ll stand by my opinion that very few other people in the industry can write conversational dialogue like Shane Black. It feels natural, while remaining smart and quick-witted enough to stay entertaining. This dialogue is expertly delivered by the film’s amazing cast. Crowe and Gosling have great chemistry, and even though they were more-or-less enemies in the first fifteen minutes of the film, that all quickly falls away and leaves behind a believable friendship. Most surprising was Gosling’s impressive comedic delivery. While I can’t recall a single joke in The Nice Guys that ever fell flat, Gosling definitely had some of the best. Another standout in this movie’s cast is Angourie Rice who plays Gosling’s daughter, Holly March. In most films, child actors tend to be a blemish on the film, mostly due to their inexperience. But, Rice is able to not only hide her Australian accent, but is still able to deliver a quality and surprisingly funny performance.

     The music in this movie also lend itself well to the stylish aesthetic of 1970s Los Angeles. Filled with classic 70s pop and rock singles, the soundtrack really helps set the tone and setting of The Nice Guys. Along with so many classic tracks, we’re also treated to a few original funk and jazz instrumentals, which evoke many feelings and memories of Shane Black’s  other successful buddy cop comedy series, Lethal Weapon.

     The Nice Guys is a stylish, brutal, and hilarious reminder that original ideas in Hollywood are worth going supporting. Shane Black and his A+ cast are able to take us back to a method of storytelling and film making that we really don’t get to see anymore, by emulating so much about what so many people love about summer blockbusters of the past.

[bradjweber]

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End - Review (Spoiler Free!)

    When I finished last month’s, “Ratchet and Clank,” I had quickly proclaimed that PS4 had finally gotten its first must-play exclusive, as well as its best. The game was gorgeous, well-written, and best of all, extremely fun. Now, after multiple delays, and the departure of it’s director and writer, Naughty Dog finally gives us the conclusion to their Uncharted series in, “Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.” Uncharted is the series that put Naughty Dog on the map, and firmly cemented them as the powerhouse of technology and storytelling that they are today. Their prowess in game development is unmatched, pumping out masterpiece after masterpiece; and they’ve done it again.

     Uncharted 4 is without a doubt one of the most (if not THE most) technically impressive games ever made. Some people might make an argument against this, claiming it a travesty that the game doesn’t run at 60 frames-per-second. These people obviously haven’t actually played it. The visuals in this game are something that not even the likes of  “The Witcher 3” can live up to. There were multiple occasions where something on screen genuinely took my breath away. Whether that be a gorgeous view of the Madagascan coastline, or the violent waves of the Indian Ocean, even just a simple shot of a couple of characters on a couch. This is one of the few times where I wasn’t sure when a cinematic had stopped, and where the gameplay began.

     Not only is Uncharted 4 impressive visually, it’s impressive in motion as well. Each environment is meticulously detailed, and obviously hand-crafted with care. There are so many moving parts in this game, it honestly amazes me that it all works without a hitch. This feels like a game from the future. Swaying flora and fauna, expansive explorable environments filled with crumbling architecture and interactive curiosities around every corner, and packed into every inch of the world. The environmental storytelling that Naughty Dog mastered with, “The Last of Us,” is put to great use here. It seemed like everywhere I went, everything I did as a player, no matter how eccentrically weird, earned a reaction from the characters in-game. The developers thought of everything in designing these odd, and very missable interactions. This made it feel like these characters actually lived in this world, rather than just using it as a backdrop for the action.

      Speaking of action; this is the best the series has ever played. Uncharted 3 notoriously botched it’s gunplay upon release, but featured the best hand to hand combat the series had seen thus far. This combines both of those systems, each the best they’ve ever been, in a satisfying and smooth experience.  The only changes that are made to the way guns handle in game are for the better, and provide for a quicker and more responsive control over Nate in gunfights. Control over Nathan Drake’s movements is also greatly improved, especially in the realm of climbing. The climbing feels more responsive, as well as smoother this time around. This is helpful because of the less-linear routes that are afforded to the player when climbing. Walls and spaces are now covered in multiple ledges and handholds, rather than the familiar yellow-colored counterparts of series’ past. Because of this, climbing feels more organic, and real than ever before. Of course, that brings me to Uncharted 4’s most “exciting” addition to climbing: the rope. The rope, which oddly enough has very deep roots in Nathan Drake’s backstory, is just plain fun. I found that swinging around the environment, up to previously unreachable places, and sometimes into into enemies would never get old. Although, one point of criticism I have with the rope is that using it in a firefight is usually a pretty surefire way to get killed; making my Indiana Jones/Spider-Man dreams a little harder to live out than I had hoped.

      The story of Uncharted 4 is without a doubt the best in the series. While still very much as fun and adventurous as previous outings, the direction of Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley (directors of, “The Last Of Us”), who took over for Amy Hennig after her departure, can definitely be felt here. This is the longest Uncharted game, clocking in at a little under 13 hours, compared to the previous three eight hour long campaigns. The game is a little more thoughtful, and take sit’s time where it needs to. Because of this, the game is filled with the quiet and slow moments that punctuate the bombastic and exciting action, that became synonymous with Uncharted and Naughty Dog after, “Among Thieves.” Also, firefights seem to be fewer and far between compared to previous installments. This game is less about fighting, as it is about the climbing. This somewhat slower and more thoughtful pace doesn’t seem out of place here, though. This game is about the relationship between these characters, as well as the last few hours we get to spend with them. So, any time we have to learn more about them, or even just to hear them get out a few more of their famous quips is fine by me,

     The main narrative deals not only with what makes Nathan Drake who he is, and finally giving us the full motivation for the adventurous life he leads, but seeks to criticize and analyze the real cost of these adventures. Nathan Drake’s estranged brother Sam, played by Troy Baker, is a welcome addition, and I was immediately enraptured by this mysterious figure from Drake’s past. The main villain, Drake’s old partner Rafe is probably the most fun I’ve had with a villain in the series. He is Nate’s antithesis, his foil, and shows just how dangerous the thirst for adventure and the glory that comes with it can be. The other villain, Nadine, on the other hand feels almost unnecessary. While she is featured in some of the best fight scenes in the game, her actual bearing on the plot seems almost non-existent. With multiple callbacks and references to not only Uncharted’s history, but to Naughty Dog’s as well, this game truly feels like a conclusion. We’re left with a very real feeling of satisfaction here. And, an ending that I’m sure not many will see coming, and will be appreciated by many long-time fans.

     Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a fitting and masterfully executed conclusion to Nathan Drake’s story. With unrivaled graphics, as well as series best story and gameplay, Naughty Dog proves once again that they are pound-for-pound the best video game developer working right now. And, while I’m sad that I won’t get to spend anymore time with Nathan Drake and company, I’m satisfied with their goodbye, and I can’t wait to see what Naughty Dog does next.

[bradjweber]

What Nintendo Means To Me, And What It Feels Like To Be a Fan In 2016

    I’m four years old. My family and I live in a manufactured home on the outskirts of town while my parents work dead end jobs in two different restaurants. My mom is a waitress, and my dad is a line cook. One night, I burn my hand on a clothes iron that was left out in the kitchen where we kept the ironing board. I’m not taken to the hospital; the burn wasn’t that bad, and we probably couldn’t have afforded it anyways. I sit with my father, my hand wrapped in a cold washcloth while he plays Super Mario 64. In my mind I can barely make out the neon colors flooding into the room, or the glow of the late-90’s CRT television bringing the dark room to life. My father, jostling on the floor as he throws his whole body into every jump, bringing his only son, who is resting on his back, along with him. This is my earliest memory.

     I’m six years old. My family no longer lives on the outskirts of town. My father got a promotion at the restaurant. With that promotion comes a new house, a new town, and as woefully ignorant as it sounds, with that promotion comes the Nintendo Gamecube. Originally a Father’s Day present, it quickly becomes mine. I’m afraid of the ghosts in Luigi’s Mansion, and I’m amazed by the island paradise of Super Mario Sunshine. This is also where I discover my love of art. Drawing and writing my own stories about Mario, Luigi, and the rest of Nintendo’s lexicon of characters. This is where I find out what I’m good at.

     I’m seven years old. The Gameboy Advance and Pokemon Leaf Green is where I fall in love with RPGs; as well as bond with my older brothers for the first time not as “the younger one,” but as an equal. I’m eight, the Nintendo DS I get at my birthday party is, unbeknownst to me at the time, one of the most important gifts I’ll ever receive. It’s the first time I play Animal Crossing. I’m ten years old, Pokemon Diamond and the Nintendo Wii dominate my daily thoughts in Ms. Hamilton’s fifth grade classroom. I’m twelve years old. I join an online community where I’ll end up meeting some of my closest friends. Some I’ll later even travel to the other side of the country to finally meet. I’m fourteen, the 3DS. I’m fifteen, the Wii U. I’m seventeen, it’s my senior year of high school. Monster Hunter, Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8 bring together an unlikely group of people from all levels of the schoolyard social hierarchy. I’m almost nineteen now. I live alone in a city where almost nobody knows my name, I don’t talk to my father as often as I’d like to, and Nintendo’s in a bit a trouble.

     Most of my growing up was somehow tangentially related to Nintendo in one way or another. Some of my earliest memories of my father come from Nintendo. It created a wonderful childhood, and helped set me down the path that I’m on today. That’s what Nintendo means to me.

     I’m not here to talk about the good old days, or make hyperbolic statements about the abysmal performance of the Wii U. I’m here to talk straight facts. Nintendo fans are dwindling, the idea of a casual Nintendo fan is falling away, and the only people who are left to deal with the hand that Nintendo has consistently dealt are being mislead about what their expectations for a Nintendo game or console should be.

     Nintendo recently announced the only game being shown at this year’s E3 is a recently delayed Zelda game. A title that was not only promised for the Wii U, but is now being pushed onto their next, still wildly mysterious and equally confusing system: the NX. This, to me is the culmination of all of Nintendo’s half baked ideas, unnecessary “innovations,” tone deaf responses to it’s community, and all around ignorance to the market/industry in which they currently operate that we’ve seen over the past decade. Broken or needlessly convoluted online infrastructures, compounded with woefully underpowered hardware created an island that Nintendo, along with it’s colorful and creative cast of characters, has been stranded on for all that time.

     Being one of the stalwart few that hold out, and wish to see Nintendo return to their glory days has been tough because of these reasons. I feel like a father who's not mad, just disappointed. It’s put me into a state of mind these past couple of years where I’m not surprised when I hear about a Nintendo game selling short, or about how the Wii U has sold almost as badly as Sony’s similarly and almost as tragically mishandled Playstation Vita. If you would have asked a younger me if I could even fathom, let alone entertain the idea that Nintendo would one day be developing games made specifically for cellphones, and maybe even for another company, I would have called you a liar. Nowadays, I think it might be the right direction for Nintendo, and would see it as a welcome change.

     Nintendo is taking 2016 off so that they can reevaluate the situation, rally the troops, and when the time is right hopefully wow us all again. And even if the majority of the industry stays away, I’ll be there day one. Because, with enough work, and enough time, I hope that Nintendo can stop trying be something they’re not, and rather than leave their luck to heaven, get back to being that magical toy company that we’ve all built them up to be in our imaginations. Because, as harsh as I am on Nintendo and their nonsensical business decisions, I hope that someday in the far future, I might be able to ask my kids what Nintendo means to them.

[bradjweber]

One Week Out - Miitomo

     “Have you made any big mistakes recently? If so, what happened?”

   When Nintendo announced that it would release six smartphone games by the end of March 2017, Nintendo fans, industry analysts, and any other curious bystander waited with bated breath for the reveal of the first of these six titles.

   Well, it’s here. And, it’s not exactly a game either. It’s a social network. Sort of. It’s hard to put a label on it. But, I do know one thing... it’s addicting. I mean, it’s surprisingly great! Please, give me some of your time so that I can explain to you why you should be using it, and why you’re really missing out if you don’t give it a chance.

   From the outside looking in, Miitomo seems like a kid-friendly social network that can only get away with calling itself a game because it features coins you can earn, and the ability to earn achievements which net you some Nintendo Fun Bucks. But, Miitomo does something interesting with the now-common concept of a social network. It makes interacting with your friends on the service fun, and actually turns the simple act of commenting and updating statues into a very fulfilling and addicting experience.

    So, what’s the moment to moment gameplay? Well, it isn’t really gameplay so to speak, but it is a fun game-ification of what some would consider to be simple social networking tasks. The bulk of the game consists of answering questions that the game asks you. These answers are shared with your friends, who can then comment/like your answers. This goes the other way as well, because when you’re not answering questions, you’re listening to what your friends have to say! Answering questions, commenting on other answers, and liking other people’s posts earns you coins. These coins are Miitomo’s main currency, and are mainly spent on clothing for your mii.

    That’s where the intention of Miitomo becomes very clear. Miitomo is not a spectator sport. This is a social network that isn’t about passively checking on your friends; it’s about directly interacting with them, and about actually getting to know them. There isn’t a newsfeed or a wall that you can quickly check in order to see what your friends have been up to. The only feed available features just the answers you’ve already heard or submitted. The only way to see answers that you haven’t listened to is by way of spending one of the other in-game currencies, candy. Candy is earned by playing the only real game inside of the app: a minigame called “Miitomo Drop.”

    Miitomo Drop is basically a virtual pachinko machine, which allows users to spend earnable game tickets, or the their coins on the chance to win clothes and accessories for their mii. These drops are only available for short amount of time, enticing you to keep coming back and trying to earn some of these rarer clothing options.

    My biggest complaint with Miitomo comes from the system of making friends, which is provided by it’s inherently Japanese focus. The only ways to make friends are to be following each other on Twitter, be friends on Facebook, by sharing a few mutual friends, or by meeting face-to-face. The majority of my 40+ friends on Miitomo are exclusively from the Internet; and not all of them have Twitter/Facebook (or we weren’t necessarily connected on those services), and most of them live far enough away where meeting face-to-face would cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Now if I actually knew anyone who was on Miitomo, let alone somebody who wanted to even check it out in the first place, these wouldn’t really be problems. But, I don’t. So, adding friends is initially a confusing and complicated process, especially in a country where random acts of socialization and mobile gaming don’t occur as commonly as they do in Japan.

    Nintendo’s first attempt at creating something that would only really work on a smartphone was in my opinion, a huge success! I spend hours on Miitomo every day learning stupid trivia about my friends in a fun/engaging way. I’m also one of the few who’ll probably admit to have already spent a couple of bucks on clothes/chances at earning something cool in the Miitomo Drop.

   I really really like Miitomo. But now I think it’s time we see what Nintendo and partner DeNA can do on smartphones, as far as “real games” are concerned.

[bradjweber]

I Just Read - Fight Club 2

                            “I want you to hit me as hard as you can.”

    Today, the last issue in the ten-issue sequel to Chuck Palahniuk’s original Fight Club was released. I just finished reading it, so now I think I’ll touch on my thoughts about this sequel as a whole.

    I’m not sure how to feel about Fight Club 2. The first book, being one of my favorite novels of all time, and it’s film adaptation sitting in a similar position on my list of favorite films. Fight Club 2 feels.... unnecessary. Now, other people might disagree with me, and that’s fine; but, I just don’t feel like this sequel had to be written. At least the art is really pretty.

     I’ll tell you why I think that. But, that’s gonna require a lot of SPOILERS. 

     You’ve been warned. Proceed with caution.

     I actually feel like Fight Club 2 starts off on a pretty strong note. Being a sequel to the novel, and not the film, we pick up on the narrator who now calls himself Sebastian. It’s been ten years since the events of Fight Club, after Sebastian has gotten out of the mental institution that he ended up in as a result of Tyler Durden’s project mayhem ultimately failing atop the Parker-Morris building.

     Sebastian is now married to Marla, his love interest from the first novel, and the two also share a child. It’s from here that we lean that Marla has been slowly replacing Sebastian’s medication (which keep the aforementioned Tyler locked away in Sebastian’s mind) with sugar pills. Because, she misses the man she fell in love with, not the man who Sebastian is now. We also learn that Sebastian’s psychiatrist, who is revealed to be a member of project mayhem, much like the men who staffed the psychiatric ward at the end of Fight Club, has been using hypnosis to release Tyler Durden onto the world for a short period of time every week for the past decade. It’s using this short time that Tyler is able to continue his operations as the leader of Project Mayhem, and is able to escalate his plans to a global scale.

     These first plot beats are fun. Giving us an insight into what does happen when Tyler inevitably does, “come back,” as alluded to at the end of the first book. We also get more of Palahniuk’s undeniably entertaining writing. This time, accompanied by Cameron Stewart’s wonderful and captivating art.

     We also get more Tyler Durden. Which is fun no matter how you slice it.

     What these beginning stories lead up to on the other hand is less than satisfying, to say the least. From here we get a story that doesn’t really seem to be saying anything. One of the reasons that I love the original Fight Club is that underneath it’s bitingly funny writing, there’s a satire about modern masculinity, commentary on the hetero-homosexual desires between men, a parody of conformity through the use of conformity itself, and the obvious criticisms of consumerism. Here, it seems like the only thing being said in the subtext of FC2 is either a reiteration of things it’s predecessor already said, or it’s singing the praises of the original, and bathing in it’s successes.

     What do I mean by this, exactly? Well. In a Stephen King-like plot point, Chuck Palahniuk and other author friends are featured prominently in the book’s plot as part of the, “Writer’s Club,” one of many groups inspired by Durden’s fight clubs. Here, Palahniuk takes on the role of an all-knowing God character. He writes the story from inside the story, leading to some characters coming to visit him, looking for answers he doesn’t have; because the story hasn’t been written yet. He hasn’t even thought of it. This also leaves the undeservedly-meta finale in the tenth and final issue, in-which the Writer’s Club confronts thousands of unhappy readers of Fight Club 2 about the ending (yes, this actually happens) feeling strange, detached, and tonally ignorant.

     This also adds to my biggest complaint about Fight Club 2: it’s just too damn weird. Now, that’s not to say that the first novel wasn’t weird in it’s own right. What with the brain parasite support groups, bitch tits, Project Mayhem itself, as well as the narrator’s strange and sociopathic commentary about the events unfolding around him. But, this books weirdness is almost on another level. Marla leads an child army comprised of children afflicted by progeria. Tyler behaves like a ghost, possessing Sebastian’s family members. Chuck Palahniuk saves the world through the power of writing, and is then promptly murdered by Tyler Durden himself. Tyler Durden is also implied to have created ISIS. I could go on. But I really don’t want to.

     Fight Club 2 starts strong in the first two or three issues, but quickly falls flat when it decides it wants to be a meta commentary and critique of the first book as well as it’s film adaptation surprisingly, rather than a continuation of the story of Tyler Durden’s quest for world domination, er, purification.

     There are some strong ideas buried beneath the face-value story, and the beautiful psychedelic art; but Fight Club 2 would rather focus on it’s weakest ideas. Which wouldn’t be as bad if this wasn’t such an obviously conscious decision.

     Oh well. There’s always Fight Club 3, right?

[bradjweber]

Not A Review of - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Disclaimer: I wrote this review about two weeks after the game came out back in September of 2015. I finished it, but never got around to editing or posting it... for some reason.

Some of the problems I mention in this review may of have been fixed by now, but I’m not going to edit it, and post it as is.

Also, it’s super long. Like, five pages long.

     Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was one of the first games I wrote about here. It was only my third post; and this was back in April of 2014. Then, the game was announced all the way back in 2013. That’s how long we’ve been waiting for the conclusion to the Metal Gear franchise. And, after spending more than 65 hours with it, and finishing the game a little over two weeks ago, I feel like I’m finally able to start talking about it.

     This game is so big, and there’s so much to talk about, I’m not sure exactly where to dive in. Probably the best place for me to start would be The Phantom Pain’s greatest aspect; no, not the story, but the gameplay.

     This is the best Metal Gear has ever played; and better than most other games coming out this year. It’s fast, fluid, and fun. There’s rarely ever a dull moment; whether you’re sneaking, shooting, exploring the new open world, or micro-managing the ever-evolving Mother Base (God, there’s so much to talk about in this game).

     Your basic gameplay is classic Metal Gear. Here’s a place/person/thing you need to reach, here you are, good luck! Although, this time around it all happens in one of two expansive open worlds. Meaning that the way you complete an objective can be completely different from the way your friends did it, or really anyone else in the world.

     You can tackle missions in any way you’d like. For example, let’s say the mission is an assassination mission, in an airport (this is a true example by the way). Now, you can slowly and methodically sneak into the airport, taking out guards and security cameras along the way, using your sniper friend, Quiet to mark guards before they sneak up on you; until you finally reach your target. Or, you can do that in exactly the same way but without killing anyone at all. Or, you could do it the way I did; wearing full body armor, wielding an M60 machine gun, while airstrikes (that I call in) rain down onto the airport, all the while your crack-shot sniper friend takes out anyone who dares to try and get the drop on you.

     This is all one mission. It’s truly amazing when a plan you made comes together allowing for the perfect infiltration; and it’s equally amazing when everything goes the exact ‘opposite’ of the way you wanted it, and you’ve got to make a daring escape.

     As well as the excellent moment-to-moment stealth/action gameplay, the game also includes some very addicting item and base building mechanics that come in the form of your Mother Base and FOBs. Now, to anyone who’s played Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (which is actually very important story-wise to MGSV), this will all sound very familiar.

     After the destruction of the original Mother Base in Ground Zeroes, Snake and Kaz and company are left to rebuild what they once had; but even better this time around. They’re going to do that through the new and improved Mother Base, under the guise of Diamond Dogs rather than the infamous MSF. You can upgrade Mother Base, build it bigger, develop new weapons and equipment for Snake to use in the field, as well as staff and manage the many different branches of operation within the base.

     Pretty much from moment one, you’re told about the importance of collecting resources, medicinal plants, and of gaining GMP. GMP is the game’s main form of currency, and it can be used to upgrade Mother Base, begin development on weapons, and is spent when you do pretty much anything else.

     Talking about the overall resource collection for Mother Base reminds me of what is almost another form of meta-game inside of the TPP’s addicting open world. What I’m talking about is the importance of the fulton recovery device. Now, you’ve probably seen a million gifs of this thing in action by now. The big balloon that carries all sorts of people, vehicles, and most importantly... wildlife.

     This brand-spankin’ new Mother Base needs to be staffed, as big as it is.  Now, you don’t want just anybody working for you, right? I mean this is the supposed to be the ultimate base of operations for one of the best private-military corporations in the world. Nothing but the best for Boss. When you’re out in the field, you can use your binoculars to not only mark the positions of enemies; but see their specific skills as well. This comes into play when you need to staff a specific portion of your Mother Base; such as the Medical Bay, Defense Team, or one of many others.

     The need to find soldiers who have a high ranking turns into a sort of deranged version of Pokemon. Collecting the best soldiers, and building the best Mother Base staff becomes a strange sort of obsession; that inadvertently punishes you for killing someone, rather than extracting them.

     Okay. Let’s take a breather before we begin to take a look what is sadly and surprisingly, the most disappointing aspect of The Phantom Pain; the story.

     From what we were presented in the trailers leading up to MGSV’s release; it was set to be an amazingly epic exploration of what made the infamous Big Boss into the villainous man that he was in the other titles. We were going to have answers to questions about the rise and fall of the mysterious ZERO; your comedy sidekick from MGS3 who turned out to be the mastermind behind the entire series. We were even teased a look at the early stages of the “Les Enfants Terribles” project; the origin of titular hero Solid Snake, as well as his brothers, Liquid and Solidus.

     Not only was it going clean up any loose ends; this was set to be Hideo Kojima’s last Metal Gear game. This was meant to be his swan song; his farewell to what is, without a doubt, his greatest creation.

     Unfortunately, the answers we got were disappointing, half-baked, and under-developed.

     Due to the open world nature of MGSV’s gameplay; the story is presented in a series of missions, as opposed to it’s usual linear progression. Each mission begins the same, you fly into wherever you’re going, while Kaz either or Ocelot tell you about your objective. During this phase, is where my first grievance with the game’s story-telling comes into play. At the beginning of each mission, you’re shown a title sequence, much like the beginning of a TV show. This includes the director, writer, both of which are usually Kojima himself. This also includes the cast of the mission, or “episode”. Meaning, that the presences of characters that you either haven’t met yet, or that you had no idea would even show up, is completely spoiled. This completely removes any surprise when the villain, a certain group of enemies, or even a certain important plot-related human-controlled titular robot show up.

     Then, the the story that’s actually there is mostly told through voice recordings on cassette tapes; a-la Bioshock. Metal Gear, a series notorious for its grandiose use of cutscenes to tell it’s story, delivers very few cutscenes with this installment. It feels like the story just sort of happens, and doesn’t really matter all that much. It feels like the story takes a backseat to the new gameplay. Which, wouldn’t be a problem, considering just how good the gameplay is; but, this is Metal Gear. Yeah sure, I’m playing the game to have fun; but I’m also playing get the rest of the story. This could probably be seen as a reaction to MGS4’s overabundance of cutscenes. Although, I was in the camp that enjoyed the length and frequency of cutscenes.

     Before I get to, what is in my opinion, one of the worst twists in video game history; I have one more thing to talk about; your buddy, the sniper Quiet.

     I’m not talking about the obvious problems with Quiet here. I feel like the Internet has done enough talking about... ‘that’. But, in case you’re wondering no; the reasoning behind Quiet’s attire (or lack thereof) is not good enough to justify it.

     Alright, we’re about to get into MAJOR SPOILER TERRITORY. Probably for the rest of the review. If you don’t want anymore spoilers, you should probably just stop reading here.

     Like I said, I’m not necessarily talking about Quiet’s attire, her motives, or even really her story as a character. What I am talking about is the way her story wraps up.

     This situation is going to sound familiar to probably almost every single gamer on the planet at this point; but... bare with me here.

     So, the way the buddy system works is that by taking them out on missions with you, they’ll slowly begin to trust you. When this trust level is raised, you can develop new gear/weapons/armor for your buddies. All of these developments, keep in mind, require a lot of time and GMP to create.

     In my opinion, Quiet is the best buddy in the game. She provides sniper support, can scout bases before you reach them, and even be used as a distraction. It made me feel like I wasn’t actually alone out there. I spent soooo much GMP on her weapons/items. Waited so many hours for gear to develop; just so I could have the perfect buddy.

     After a certain point in the game, towards the end, Quiet leaves the base. This was unnerving; especially considering the mission that you undertake to retrieve her is named, “A Quiet End.” So, I get on the helicopter, Kaz yells at me about some dumb shit, and I get dropped off. I’m told that Quiet is being held by some Russians in an old, dilapidated building. So, I head to the building, and I’m treated to a cutscene of Quiet kicking the ever-loving shit out of some Russians; which was super cool. Then, tanks show up. Crap.

     Anyways, to make a long story short, Snake is wounded, Quiet calls for help (speaking english is bad for her, I won’t explain why; it just is), and then she leaves forever.

     Yes. She leaves. Not just like, storywise. But, like, she’s gone. I can no longer use her as a buddy. There is no way to get her back. Meaning, all of my GMP and time had been COMPLETELY WASTED. Like I said, this is probably extremely similar to anyone who played Final Fantasy VII and gave Aeris all of their Pheonix Downs. But, unlike FFVII, there is a way to keep Quiet from leaving. All you have to do is set your emblem as the butterfly.

     Sounds great, right? I get to keep my buddy; sure my emblem is a butterfly now, but I can deal with it. Wrong. This completely halts the progress of the story, as you can’t unlock the final mission of the game until after this mission has been completed. I thought this was pretty disappointing; but, I knew I was almost done... so I dealt with it.

     If only I knew what was coming next.

     After completing the first ending of the game, you’re shown a preview of the next “chapter” of the game. It looks awesome. You see so much of the stuff that you’ve been wanting. Oh man.... here it comes! The true ending that we’ve been waiting for!

     What you actually get is a set of missions that you’ve already done; just on a harder difficulty. Most of which you have to complete in order to unlock the 50th mission. Called, “Truth.”

     This is a remake of the first level of the game; but with a few differences. And it’s here that the biggest disappointment is made apparent. This game has a twist.

     When you start the game, you’re forced to make an avatar, which I assumed was for Metal Gear Online, which launches next month. So, I thought nothing of it.

     You can probably see where this is going....

     As it turns out, the person you were playing as the whole game was NOT in-fact Big Boss. But, a medic from the helicopter crash in Ground Zeroes; who is now you.

     The REAL Big Boss was the man who helped you escape the hospital in the first mission. And, he left to create the REAL Outer Heaven. Meaning, that the Boss you play as, who is called Venom, is killed actually the one who was killed in the very FIRST Metal Gear.

     While, it makes sense canonically, I thought this twist was so disappointing, that I haven’t gone back to MGSV since I finished it. Not to finish any other side-ops, raid FOBs, or even just to mess around. I quit.

     Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain is definitely the best playing MGS; but I just can’t love it more than something like Snake Eater or even Peace Walker

     I'm honestly super disappointed with the ending, and the story in general. As much as I want to love it, the ending let me down so much, as a huge Metal Gear fan, I can't really bring myself to go back and play the remaining side-ops.      Then, taking Quiet away really didn't help matters either, as she was my favorite buddy, and I'd already spent so much time and GMP on upgrading her.      Thankfully though, the gameplay was so stellar, that before I'd beaten it completely, I was able to look past the (in my opinion) rather lackluster story. Again, the gameplay is so amazing; some of the best all year.      It's cool to see that some people really do enjoy the ending, and can interpret it in a way that they enjoy; I just can't do the same. And that sort of makes me sad.

[bradjweber]

The Maltese Falcon and Contemporary Media

Quick disclaimer: I wrote this paper for class, and I kinda really like it. It’s a paper explaining the influence that The Maltese Falcon has had on contemporary media (TV, movies, and comic books).

There might be a few spelling/grammatical errors, but I decided I would post it as is. (also I have class in the morning and it’s almost 1:00 am)

     Dashiell Hammett’s, The Maltese Falcon, is the quintessential piece of Detective Fiction. Many of it’s characters and plot points would be considered cliche if used in a modern story. That’s because Hammett’s work inspired countless other pieces of modern media. From film, to television, and even video games. In any movie where you’ve seen a man in a long trench coat, wandering the city streets and solving mysteries, you’ve probably felt the influence of The Maltese Falcon.

     I think the biggest impact that Maltese Falcon has had on other media, is its impact on film. The Maltese Falcon contains all of, what we now consider, basic aspects of the Film Noire genre. Being such a popular novel, it was no surprise that Falcon’s influences were felt in Hollywood, but it truly left its mark on film when it was adapted into a film, starring Humphrey Bogart in 1941. Since then, the character of Sam Spade can be seen in a multitude of different films. Some expressly taking on the archetype, such as LA Confidential, or taking the image of the morally grey and flawed lawman in a new direction with Training Day. The archetypal femme fatale that Hammett helped to define is ever present not just the noir genre, but other films as well. Films like American Beauty which center around a destructive or dangerous woman, and and a man’s inability to avoid her.

     The Maltese Falcon has left its mark on television as well. Just about every long-running series at some point has had an episode parodying the style and conventions that Maltese Falcon laid out. From Rugrats to Star Trek, the style and feel of film noir has been replicated countless times in television history. Procedural crime dramas, like CSI and Law and Order take their case-by-case nature not just from Maltese Falcon, but from Hammett’s other works as well, like The Thin Man. Hardboiled, and gritty crime dramas like True Detective, generally feature a flawed protagonist, or group of protagonists, who through their flaws and willingness to sometimes step outside the law, or into a space of moral-neutrality are able to solve (or almost solve) the case. This flawed and, at times, unlikeable anti-hero provides for a more interesting watch as we’re never sure to what our main character might do in any given situation. The novel’s influence can be seen outside of detective fiction on TV, as well. In Mad Men, the flawed and unpredictable nature of Don Draper, and his quest for redemption is what people love about it. Even with shows like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos, which feature criminals as the main focus, we’re able to sympathise, and sometimes rationalize the abhorrent actions of our characters. We hate to see them fail, but are unsure of their actions or even ourselves when they succeed. The flawed characters not only themselves enter a morally grey state of mind, but help their viewers reach that place as well.

     Video Games and Comic Books can’t escape the influence of The Maltese Falcon either. 2011’s LA Noire is beat-by-beat a story that could be ripped straight from the pages of a pulpy, 1940’s detective novel or film noir. The title of the game doesn’t make any attempt to hide this fact, either. The game is split up case-by-case, with each opening on a title card, like the Golden Age Hollywood films it’s trying to imitate. The game also shares a large majority of it’s cast with TV’s Mad Men, making that connection all the much stronger. In comics, Batman is a hyper-fantasized, and ultra-stylized version of the detective stories. Bruce Wayne is a morally grey, and flawed character who constantly struggles with the difference between right, light and dark, and the need to do what’s right. His rogues gallery features femme-fatales, stereotypical mobsters, and cerebral psychopathic killers. Batman uses his skills as a detective to solve horrible crimes, and put away terrible criminals. The only difference between Batman and it’s influences is that while Batman has to find a man who’s gotten plastic surgery to steal Bruce Wayne’s identity before the night is through, Sam Spade only has to deal with a couple of murderous thieves.

     The Maltese Falcon’s influences can be felt throughout modern media, whether the references be overt and obvious, or subtle and less-apparent. The novel defined an important genre of film, and created one of the most iconic character in pop culture history. The idea of the flawed anti-hero faced with a great mystery is nothing to new to us, but is important to all media.

[bradjweber]

Not A Review Of - Bloodborne

I decided I would try something a little different for non-review of Bloodborne. I really felt like making a video for it, and I decided to start a new Youtube channel as well. This one will be more entertainment centric; basically being a video version of this blog.

It might be a little long, but I really like this format. There will probably be more like it in the future.

[bradjweber]

Revisiting - The Social Network

"You're not an asshole Mark. You're just trying so hard to be."

      These are the last two lines of the film, "The Social Network." Oddly enough, they're some of the best. It was either that or, "Sorry, I forgot my Prada at the cleaners; along with my hoodie and fuck-you-flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag!" This film is full of amazing dialogue like this. It's one of the reasons I decided to look back at it, and rewatch it for admittedly, probably my 5th or 6th time. I'd like to revisit more films here, as I feel like I don't necessarily write about movies enough here. So, I'd like to go over the production, history, and impact of the film; along with my opinions on it, probably.

     The Social Network was directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven), and written by Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball, A Few Good Men). The movie is based on the book, The Accidental Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich (Moneyball). Principal photography on the film began on October 2009, with the film being shot entirely on digital, using the RED One. The shooting of the Winklevoss twins' scenes required a body double, then CG in order to use Armie Hammer's two different performances in the same shot. Tyler's body double was played by Josh Pence, who was apprehensive at first, considering the fact that his actual face would have little to no screen time in the movie; but later said taking the part was a, "no-brainer." Another interesting fact about shooting this movie that doesn't really fit in anywhere, is that the opening scene between Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara took over 99 takes to finally get right. The soundtrack for the film was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and went on to win the academy award in 2011.

     The film was released in 2010, to praise from numerous critics, and great box office success; remaining in the top spot for a little over two weeks. The film was nominated for numerous Academy Awards, including Best Picture; and ended up winning Best Original Score, as well as Best Film Editing. Mark Zuckerberg was unhappy with the film, claiming that much of the film wasn't factual. Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, who is portrayed by Justin Timberlake; also said that he was displeased with his portrayal in the film. Particularly with the way the film showed his relationship with Eduardo Saverin. Parker claims that he and Saverin are actually good friends in real life, and remain in contact.

      I'm not entirely sure exactly what it is that makes me love The Social Network; but it's definitely top five material. It's probably the writing, if anything. I enjoy the witty back and forth the characters have. While some of it doesn't seem like anything actual people would say; I never expect it to. It's a movie. There are also certain scenes that are so iconic in this film. Namely the, 'Welcome to Facebook' scene, and "You know what's cooler than million dollars? A billion dollars." Watching this film again last night was something I almost did on a whim. I'm not sure what it is that made me come back, or keeps me coming back; but this movie is great. I probably don't need to tell you that, but I really felt like this film was worth revisiting, again, and again.

[bradjweber]

New Nintendo 3DS XL - One Week Out

     The New Nintendo 3DS has been out here for little over a week at the time of writing this. In that time, I've spent a lot of time with the system. About 50 hours of Monster Hunter 4 with the system, to be exact. After spending this much time with it, I feel like it's probably time to write something about it.

     As per usual whenever Nintendo does another hardware revision on one of their many handheld and home consoles, there usually isn't all that much different about the new system. Well, in this case what you're getting is fundamentally a built in circle pad pro (why this is fundamental, and not literal in a bit), a much improved 3D system using face-tracking, and a faster processor and added RAM. The faster speed and increased memory allows for games that wouldn't previously work on the system to, well, work. It also provides better frame rates and better load times in some games. Most notably being the aforementioned Monster Hunter 4, and Smash. It also allegedly provides better download speeds. Patches and system updates appear to be faster, but actually downloading games off the eShop appears to be about the same.

     The new 3D on the New 3DS is perfect. It's clearly what Nintendo had in mind from the conception of the system. The face-tracking allows me to turn the 3DS almost completely sideways, and still be able to see the 3D effect on whatever it is I'm playing. I've had two 3DS systems in the past, and have absolutely hated using the 3D. It was finicky and punished my eyes if I moved the system out of the designated "3D zone."  Now, I've found my self actually playing with the 3D on; granted with the slider only about halfway up, but still on nonetheless. This is probably the greatest improvement with the New 3DS.

      Now, for the whole built in circle pad thing. The New 3DS features four shoulder buttons as opposed to the usual two, and adds a little nub right above the ABXY buttons. Why I previously said this isn't literally a new circle pad, is that the nub is exactly what you'd find on old laptops. This is nice because it takes up very little real estate on the system itself; but actually using the nub is a different story. If you don't know what those old laptop nubs felt like, grab a pencil and press on the eraser. Imagine using that as a control stick; because that is about the same size and give the nub provides in the ways of feel and control. Using the stick can definitely take some getting used to, but might still feel awkward, even after spending many hours with it. For example, attempting to make the camera point downwards in some games can be somewhat of a pain, and requires you to sort of dig your fingernail into the stick. Also I can't get it to move diagonally in any fashion in most cases. Even with all these grievances; this is probably my favorite addition to the New 3DS.

      The big question on everyone's minds whenever this thing gets brought up is whether or not these new features warrant an upgrade. What do I think? Not necessarily. If you were already planning on upgrading to an XL from a normal 3DS or 2DS, then yes; absolutely. Although, if you already have an XL, or don't really care about whatever exclusive games they have announced for it right now, then I'd have to say probably not.

      After spending a week with the New 3DS, I can see that Nintendo really put a lot of care into making this the premiere version of it's handheld system, and it shows. The faster games, the better load times, fixed 3D, and better controls make the system a great addition to any Nintendo fan's collection; and make it a great option when upgrading, or if you're just getting into the 3DS ecosystem for the first time.

[bradjweber]

I Just Saw - Sponge Out Of Water

      Alright. So, just hear me out. Before we start: yes, I'm being critical of a Spongebob movie. And yes, this will contain spoilers. So, if you care about Spongebob spoilers, steer clear of here. I'm gonna talk about all of the juicy, spongy details.

     As a 17-year-old kid, who did the majority of my growing up so far in the very late 90's and early 2000's; I am a very big fan of Spongebob. Mainly the early stuff, but this was my childhood, and I love it and still find it funny. Not sure what that says about me, but I'd really just like to talk about this movie.

     So, the basic plot of the film is that during one of Plankton's schemes to steal the Krabby Patty formula; it disappears into thin air. The lack of Krabby Patties throws Bikini Bottom into an apocalyptic, Mad Max-esque state. After this, the movie falls into a somewhat incoherent plot about time travel, universe-watching dolphins, pirate fry-cooks, and superheroes.

     The majority of the film was actually traditional 2D animation, contrary to what literally all of the marketing for the film would have you believe; the live-action segment of the film only makes up the last twenty minutes or so. It was honestly really refreshing to see an animated film made this way. I don't think enough 2D animated films release now-a-days. Although, the animation in this movie felt like it wasn't as good as it was in the first Spongebob film. Now, I think there might be a reason for this, and I'll get into that in a second. The 3D animated segments that were used during the live-action portion of the film looked extremely well done. The characters looked like they belonged in the world, while still retaining their fun and bouncy movements.

     Music is important. Even in a film made for kids. One thing you don't have to worry about with this film is the music. With the majority of the original tracks being done by N.E.R.D, Pharrell William's band, the soundtrack is pretty great. The rest of the score being filled with songs from the TV series, bringing back just the right amount of nostalgia and fun needed for certain scenes. The film also features Ennio Morricone's, "Ecstasy of Gold", at a certain point. Which caught me off guard a little bit, but was a welcome surprise none the less.

     Now, my biggest criticism with the film wasn't the obvious potty humor, or the under use of Antonio Banderas as Burger Beard. It came from the fact that compared to the first film, which had a definite plot that could easily be followed, there wasn't much to be found here in the way of plot. Sure, the movie has a basic premise to get things started, and to keep them moving; but the film just sort of... 'happens' from scene to scene. The live action climax honestly feels like it comes out of nowhere, and isn't really built up to. It just sort of happens; and there's never a real reason for Spongebob giving the group superpowers. Though, I'll explain why I think this happened in a bit. The movie didn't really feel like it knew what it was doing. Even though the original show runner, Stephen Hillenburg returned to write the film; I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not the script that he had originally written. I think the film was orignally intended to be largely a parody of Mad Max and other post apocalypse films, like Escape From New York.

      Now, this is why I feel like the 2D animation of the film suffered, because it felt like the majority of the live action stuff, including the climax was added almost last minute. Here's how I imagine the conversation went; somebody handed in the post-apocalypse script, and another guy in the writing room decided it was a good idea to add in time travel. Some producer probably really liked it, and forced it in. Not a huge deal, I guess, they kind of made it work. Now, the script was finished, but another guy at the studio wanted something to appeal to more kids. What's more popular than Spongebob? Superheroes. "Make the climax like The Avengers", he probably said to the writers, handing them back their script. Well, to do that, they needed a larger villain than Plankton. So, live action pirate happened, so did fancy CG, and so did the 'out-of-nowhere' climax. Thus slashing a majority of the animation budget, and giving it to the live action segment; which is probably why the animation looked a little off in the 2D segments. This is probably why a majority of the marketing, including the title make such a big deal about Spongebob and company leaving the ocean, even though that scene literally only makes up the last 15 to 20 minutes of the film. They needed to get their money's worth out of all the fancy CG and live action stuff they've got. Now we've come full circle.

      I also understand that some of my logic might need a little work there; and there is probably a lot more to the production than that. It just feels a little off that the majority of early marketing for this film featured little to no mentions of the live action stuff; then the rest of it only mentioning it, and disregarding the 2D animation which takes up the first hour of the film. Or, I could be completely wrong, and the superhero climax could have been there from the very start. I'll probably never know.

      Anyways, I just wrote a whole lot more about a Spongebob movie than I did about Interstellar. But, Interstellar was kind of overrated anyways. I'll probably think of more stuff about this movie I liked, or disliked, but I don't really care. These aren't reviews, it's just me giving my honest first impressions on things. Because, this was Sponge Out Of Water, and I just saw it.