Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered

It was the early Nineties when I first stumbled on the shareware (read: free) levels of Doom, a game which by today’s standards is incredibly old-fashioned and in no way gory (’blood’ was a few red pixels on screen) however at the time it was shocking in it’s explicit nature. An 18 certificate was slapped on it, something which my Dad thought was so extreme for a game he loved that he eventually bought it for me and we played for years to come. Doom 2 followed, then on to the collectors packs designed to work under that new-fangled thing called Windows 95 (an operating system which shafted millions of Microsoft fans by providing horrifically minimal support for old DOS programs) and then Doom eventually slipped away with age, a game that none of us could consider playing anymore as a lot of the magic had been lost.

Enter Doom 3. The hype was well known to me, a hardware intensive computer game which was supposed to actually be scary…almost unheard of in games. It was new, I didn’t get it.
A year on and I finally found a bargain copy and started it up. There was the familiar UASC logo, the Mars station and the suggestion that the scientist who worked there were involved in sadistic and dangerous experiments with space/time. Modern technology means you touch down as a Marine signing on to a new posting, the scientists and other crew who work there no longer merely a random mention in the game’s manual but AI controlled beings who interact with you and who have hushed conversations in quiet corners which in the space of a few seconds fills you in on just the type of place you’ve arrived at. The facility is gorgeously modelled using realistic graphics which are actually realistic…which is when it hits you. The story plows into action and you realised you’ve been immersed in a horror movie, quite literally immersed, modern computing technology being such that in the heat of the action you have to use great willpower to remind yourself that you are just playing a game. Creatures crawl from the woodwork, survivors speak to you in desperation, the dead rise and all of this using the same suspenseful atmosphere that Half Life taught us to expect from a horror game.

In short…Doom 3 is scary. It’s a superb game, the narrative abilities of Half Life being drawn upon by some truly warped and freakish minds to create a story you can’t quite break yourself out of and the sofa isn’t there to hide behind anymore.

Just make sure you keep your gun loaded.

I had my first proper “I feel old” moment just the other day. I’ve said it jokingly and only half-jokingly before now, usually having to stretch to find a reason why at only twenty-four years of age I would be feeling old.

The other day I was finally given a proper reason and it was a disturbing moment. Eleven to twelve years ago I was a huge fan of The X Files (Back then we were known as X-Philes) after I Had heard all the hype about it in the local papers and tuned in at the beginning of an episode called Squeeze. From then on I was insanely hooked as anyone who may have stumbled on old site designs of mine in the past may know. I could recount every episode for you, give me a name and I’d tell you the plot, I could tell you inanely trivial factoids, guest stars, in-jokes and I could tell you just what Mulder/Scully sexual tension was brought to life in that particular episode (Iced tea has never been the same since.)

A few months back I discovered that the once expensively priced box sets (£100 for a series) are now available as DVDs and at an astonishingly low price (while other series have a standard pricing of £25+ a series, the X Files can be bought for £12.99) so I snapped up the true classic, the first series. It brought it all back to me, the FBI, the fluffy haired David Duchovny, the ever-shaggable Gillian Anderson plus all of the plotlines which preceded the unfathomably complex conspiracy theories (even I didn’t quite understand it in the end.) Something else was brought back to me however, as I watched and paid close attention to the boxy Pontiacs, a Ford Sierra, old faded suits, mobile phones the size of bricks and a computer that was running…Windows for Workgroups 3.11. For me it felt like I had only just finished watching this series, like I saw these episodes just the other day and until I saw all of these features I hadn’t realised just how aged the show is now. I keep remembering that the first series of the X Files was set in the grey and gritty televisual age that was 1994.

Then I felt old.

In response to Bruce Woodcock’s article; E3 2006 MMOG Report

Originally posted here.

My response to parts of this article is to say that I have indeed played World of Warcraft, quite avidly and I found it immensely entertaining, however at the risk of sounding two-faced I’m also going to say that no game should ‘aspire’ to be a WoW-killer, simply because achieving that dubious accolade would require you to sink to their depths. I’ll clarify, Blizzard have stuck to their style and created a truly entertaining world, however it’s a basic world and is verging on the childish in almost everything it does, achieving it’s subscription numbers through the rather questionable approach of appealing to the lowest common denominator.

As much as WoW kept me hooked it is nonetheless a dubious game as it doesn’t care who it attracts and what it does to attract them so long as they add to it’s thousands (if not millions) of subscribers. This is not the hallmark of a truly quality game which is what I am looking for, as a product of any quality will not be designed for the masses but for certain mindsets. Cry elitism if you want but this is the mark of quality manufacturers of anything, Bentley don’t make cars that the average Joe in the street could afford, the Hilton doesn’t offer affordable rooms and a quality MMO does not try to appeal to every player under the sun. Less customers obviously but a far greater quality which people will talk about in positive tones for years to come.

The fact is I have to agree with a comment on [Brad McQuaid] about this, the reviewer had an obvious axe to grind to so noticeably fail in reviewing the game itself, in favour of making some ill-judged personally motivated rant. He is so intent on promoting the virtues of low-quality WoW-alikes that the aspects he obviously considers to be in Vanguard’s favour are quickly brushed aside in favour of complaints over aspects of the game that aren’t even game flaws (i.e. not being like WoW).

(more…)

What do I do when I need cheering up?

I apparently regress to childhood…I go out and buy lame computer games purely for entertainment value.
Earlier last year I was out helping Liz buy a new computer when I found the demo Playstation 2 that Dixons kindly provided, which at the time had a copy of The Incredibles running on it. It’s true that some of us never grow up as many minutes ticked by as I stood there ‘testing’ the console…charging around as Mr. Incredible and smashing stuff. It was superb mindless fun.

Ever since I got hold of my second hand Playsation 2 at the end of last year it’s true that much of my gaming has been console based. It was even to the extent that my parents got me a couple of games for it, something which never happened with the little GameBoy I have in mothballs or with the Playstation 1 which I bought off Maddy’s sister (and which I have to thank for my interest in the Playstation). However what I’ve been trying to track down is a cheap ‘pre-owned’ copy of The Incredibles, as while it was a fun game I can’t see myself spending more than a tenner on it.

I went out today in search of Kingdom Hearts (Disney and RPG…how can you not be intrigued!?) which I failed to find…instead tumbling on a copy of The Incredibles for under a tenner.

So that’s my day made.