Issue : Games : 343 Solutions

I find it interesting that the success of Halo 4 under new management arrives with the news that George Lucas is handing the Star Wars franchise to the house of mouse. People hated Lucas for all the creative control he exerted over the mainstream Star Wars projects, and blamed him for driving the franchise into the ground. I wonder how that felt for Lucas? The world screaming, "You are killing our baby!" The baby he gave birth to and nurtured into adulthood.

Then one day he finally breaks down and gives it up for adoption, packs it's belongings into a van and watches it head off to the happiest place on earth. And now he and the world wait until 2015 to find out if it was the right decision. I wonder if he is going to watch the new trilogy? I wonder if he secretly hopes they fail?

Everyone has an opinion on Bungie's handling of the Halo series, although it's one of those things that no one talks about openly. Enjoyment of the halo series has become the new religion or politics of the video game world. As in it doesn't fucking matter how anyone feels about it, it serves a purpose, and will be there regardless.

The game makes money hand over fist, jumps demographic models, has tie in's all across the entertainment landscape, and has some of the most dog rabid fans you will ever come across who will buy anything with the Halo name on it, and cut you without hesitation should you say one critical thing about the game. I wonder if Bungie is happy to see Halo 4 doing well somewhere else?

Everybody knows I am not a fan of Halo, have not been a fan since the first, am not a fan of this one. I used to not say anything when the subject came up, but it's not going anywhere anytime soon, and I don't have the energy for that shit anymore.I understand what saying that means, I am an idiot, I must have never played them, I should kill myself, etc.. I get it. But for the record, once again, I will explain why I do not enjoy Halo. And also, some stuff I like about Halo.

The game is generic, it is a generic looking shooter. Bungie worked with the environments, palette  and assets they had on the first game, found a hit on their hands, and became scared to change, or better yet, were dis-encouraged to change.

The button mapping, control scheme, and multiplayer are the best seen on console since Goldeneye. The multiplayer community on the other hand, no one to blame except the human race.

If you really want to feel the full force of a Halo fans fury, question the story. Call it silly, Play the games multiple times, read the books, learn everything there is to know about it, and then continue to call it silly. You might as well have said abut the bible, "I think they may have been making this up as they went along." I think the story is silly.

I think Halo 4 is more of the same, with one, grand, shining exception. 343 spent lots of money on focus testing and level balancing to mimic the gameplay and world that fans are comfortable with, but they also added an ingredient that has potential to turn the series into something wildly different, a few honest questions. Has master chief been the story's monster this whole time? And, will the artificial intelligence that runs him live forever? That's not silly, those are good questions.

This Week in Gaming Oct 28 - Nov 3 - by  SpeakingOfGames

The Protoculture Mixtape v. 125 : Issue : People : Conduction

Issue : People : Creeds

So this blog will be going through some changes, Tupac style, fairly soon. It's going to look different, and the content will focus more on, you know, games, instead of it being my way of making up for not having LiveJournal as a kid. Shhh, don't be scared ho, change is ok, or at least, better than bad. If it works, out, all good. If the digital replica of a messy room that it is now turns out to be better, then that will indeed be a surprise to everybody.

I have a good feeling about this. I think this is what a good feeling is, although I am worried that the change will get more people to read it, which would totally ruin my whole, "I dare you to read this discombobulated manifesto," thing.. Anyway, moving on.

Assassins Creed is a game about an assassin who's creed is that he needs to be killing a bunch of dudes. A creed is an authoritative formula of religious belief, or set of fundamental beliefs, that make it so you need to be out there killing a bunch of dudes. As opposed to dudes that go out there and kill a bunch of dudes for no reason. So it's basically religion.

The mission structure has you sneaking up on dudes and hiding in between groups of people that like to walk around in a diamond formation through the streets. You also get to sneak up on corrupt people and yoke them out from the back or trip them and make them fall into a pile of doo doo, then you jump into a bail of hay. You know what assassins creed is by now, it's in the damn name. It's not called Debaters Credo, do the math.

I am phoning this one in so hard, sorry, it's been a crazy day. But if there is one paragraph of worthwhile content in this post please let it be below what I am writing at this moment because this sentence is not going to be it by a long shot. Is that five paragraphs already? Shit. Ok. Ummm, how was your Halloween? No wait, I got it! Jerbz.

The Protoculture Mixtape v. 124 : Issue : Games : Modulation

Issue : People : Sandy

Only thing to talk about right now is Hurricane Sandy, or Assassins Creed. The East Coast is waiting for one, the West Coast the other. Close up shop boys and girls, nothing else going on.

The election? Shut the fuck up, pundits. It's seven days away, and people are dying. Halloween time? Carving pumpkins with the kids? Stop it, it's in bad taste. Got caught in front of a video camera next to bags of Doritos and a space marine? It's all goody, news cycles gonna be Terry Bogarded by matters of true and immediate salience. Just take a seat in front of the tv and drink every time someone brings up Katrina.

There is always an air of inter-webs excitement before a disaster rolls around, people in areas that will be affected post pics of empty City streets, tweet about how they hope school is closed, upload pictures of their Facebook fuck you! [Insert disaster here] parties. Run video segments about horses. Meanwhile, the disaster is perched on a ledge watching the festivities, just waiting.

Then for a long time, nothing. A few hours later, the feed changes into trees bursting through homes, blurry video of cars being lifted off the ground, news reports, statistics, that kind of stuff. The the timeouts, the service drops, the 404's. Can't F5 fast enough. Sometimes the release date is something you never wanna see show up.

Good luck to all in it, and buy a round for the EMT's, city works, and net tec's when you run into them. The Doppler types say it's only gonna get rainier.


The Protoculture Mixtape v. 123 : Issue : Games : Blue Watch