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Great question. If I only had one video I could play it would be this.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Issue : Games : 2013 to Infinity



Bioshock Infinite is a game about wish fulfillment. It doesn't matter what the wish is, there is something in there for just about everybody, be they player or character. There is a city in the sky, or it could be somewhere else, whatever. There is a job to do, somebody to find, people to help, people to shoot, lots of people to shoot.

There is magic, there are flying things, there is a tyrant, there is a rouge, there is a dreamer, there is a hustler, and there is a rebel. They all want the same thing, pretty much. Which is why wish fulfillment in the game is so easy to provide, because everybody wants different versions of the same thing.  

There is magic you can drink in the game, which I understood as a story telling continuity function, but really didn't get as a fits into the meta narrative function. Here is where I see the problem, if an underclass wanted to rise up, and there are all types of super power drinks just laying around the world, being mass produced, why wouldn't that underclass simply drink that power juice, and get crazy?

And here is the truth, hidden deep in the narrative, be it intentional or not. That is option is obvious to people not under the thumb, but not so obvious to people under it. This has been proven in real life, but the example has never been presented this well digitally, as in presented so well, the question is buried four mathematical steps behind the obvious.

There are philosophical and dogmatic Easter eggs of varying degrees, intensity and or sparkle hidden all over Columbia. It strikes me as funny that this game was pushed back three or more times, and lorded over by a so-called tyrant said to have ruthlessly sacrificed whole floors of developers to his intellectual property's vision. The game releases around a holy day, and it's as challenging as that days ideas.

Too bad when the game is not asking questions it's a bland FPS with no cover system, intractable's and motion that show the unreal engines age, waves of pointless enemies, ancillary powers that have dubious at best combat purpose, and a third act that forgets where is is going until the very end, then has multiple orgasms. But on a positive note, best companion AI  I have ever seen. Bravo, guys.

I am on my second play-through, 1999 mode, and I may have to take back that "Powers have no purpose," diss. Shit gets real unforgiving around the spirit parade section. I don't remember the last time I finished a game and immediately booted up another run. I picked it up first day, but I wouldn't urge anyone to go out of their way to grab it. No need to rush, it's a good book that will be waiting for you whenever you are ready, just as fulfilling, the way it should be.

... Oh sorry massa! I don't know what I'm sayin'! just a bit a Mokey' shines! How bout some news?

- Youtube finally realizes how serious a threat Twitch has become

   And none too soon. Even I have been going there to get my stream monster fix more than usual. Now they just have to wait till Google buys Twitch as well, and they are safe for another few years.

- EA thinks DRM might be a dead end strategy

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!

- Gamestop loses $270m in fiscal 2012

Damn, homie, in high school, you was the man, homie. Please go sit over there with Blockbuster and think about how you could have been Gamefly and Netflix. Respectively.

- Square Enix president to Step down, $106 "Restructuring" loss

Ok, this one is kind of surprising. I get the other guys departure, but they had like three bangers in a row, what kind of numbers were they expecting? Damn man, those Japanese boardroom dudes don't play. Makes me wonder how some American Sony studio heads are keeping their jobs flop after flop. Guess some stay luckier than others for longer. Well see though, luck is fickle.


Anyway, I hope you choke on information and stay stocked with salts and canned pears. And ERMAGERD JERBZ.


The Protoculture Mixtape v.154 Issue : People : Determinism

Monday, April 1, 2013

Issue : Games : Ware's leg



Do Until InStr(1, sXML_Input, "
i = i + 1

sXML_Input = Replace(sXML_Input, "

Loop
Do Until InStr(1, sXML_Input, "Bah!", vbTextCompare) = 0
sXML_Input = Replace(sXML_Input, "Bah!", "

Loop


April fools?

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