Second Sight, Timesplitter's Neglected Little Brother

Forgotten Gem #2: Second Sight

It's only natural that one tends to associate a studio with their most well known work. If I say Nintendo, you say "Mario." If I say Konami, you say "Metal Gear Solid." If I say Free Radical, you say... Well, perhaps Free Radical doesn't bring anything to mind for those of you less versed in the gaming industry, though that doesn't make the ignorance forgivable. Allow me to provide a quick lecture in "History of Game Development 102."



Remember back in 1997 when the Nintendo 64 got a much needed "shot in the arm" in the form of GoldenEye? The fact that the game was a success was a downright oddity in the first place, as it was developed by the studio Rare, whose previous work mostly consisted of the Donkey Kong Country series on the Super Nintendo, and the BattleToads franchise on the NES. That being said, I personally would have trusted Rare with another sidescrolling platformer/beat-em-up consisting of anthropomorphic amphibians/mammals attired in hipster sunglasses or sideways baseball caps. Talk about being pigeonholed.



Even odder, the game launched almost two years after the movie, and only a few months before Tomorrow Never Dies, the next Brosnan-helmed Bond film came out. The fact that anybody remembered the movie, as the game wasn't a tie-in, was nothing short of amazing, considering the transitory nature of the human mind.

Okay, so I'm not a HUGE Bond fan, but I can say this movie made me a Famke Janssen fan.

The bottom line is this: the game was a hit, sold over eight million copies, and became the title by which all future FPS games would be compared. A lofty goal that would only be surpassed by Rare themselves with Perfect Dark. However, after Perfect Dark several of the "head honchos" that helmed the N64 FPS revolution, decided that, in keeping with this cheesy boat analogy that I've started, that they would "jump ship." Lead by David Doak, the screenplayer writer of both games, and followed by the head composer and art director, a new studio was formed, going by the name "Free Radical Design."

While they might not have the history Nintendo does, or the money that Microsoft wades in, Free Radical is largely responsible for the success of the Playstation 2 launch, predominantly in Europe, in my opinion. While the Playstation 2 launch titles were less anemic than several other console's debuts, Free Radical's title Timesplitters was a surprise hit. The premise in the first game was quite simple, an evil race, unsurprisingly and aptly named the Timesplitters have "ripped the fabric of time" and are now bent on destroying humanity, a fairly common item on the "to do" list of extra-terrestial species. Except for E.T., who just wanted to chill, eat Reece's Pieces and molest small children with that throbbingly bright finger of his. You are charged with portraying different characters from varying locales and time eras and fending off the Timesplitters with weaponry of the age. Sounds simple? It was...but the multiplayer was undeniably a next-gen GoldenEye, and that was a legitimate selling factor in its own right.

If you weren't convinced you were playing something made by the creators of GoldenEye, take a look at the "life" and "shield" bars in the screenshot.

Not having a contract to exclusively develop for a specific publisher or console, the Timesplitters series branched out to the Xbox and Gamecube for the second and third volumes in the series, and even attracted enough attention to have EA publish the latter. Free Radical was turning heads, and decided that they could afford to fund a non-Timesplitter IP (Intellectual Product). Something that wasn't first-person, that was story-focused, and wasn't related to the Timesplitters series at all. That game would be Second Sight.

Generally when a staple of the gameplay involves "out of body" experiences, you know you're not dealing with your average action game.

Ghost Story

Explaining the story of Second Sight is a difficult one, mainly because not only is it complicated and time-consuming, but knowing such might keep one from playing the game, it's just that amazing. Especially the twist at the end. Don't you just hate it when people tell you "just wait for the twist at the end" and it's like "Oh great, this must be an M. Night Shamalayn movie." Well, the twist in Second Sight isn't anywhere as stupid as, say, The Village. We're talking a Signs or The Sixth Sense quality twist here. It's still no KOTOR twist, but...what is? The basic premise begins with this, you wake up in a medical facility, as shown below.

Wouldn't this just make a great "Best Part of Waking Up" Folgers commercial?

Oh, a minor sidenote, if you like the soundtrack from the clip, the entire Second Sight soundtrack is available here. It's by the same guy that did the music for GoldenEye, if it sounds familiar. Like the clip shows, you wake up in a medical facility with some rather...unique...abilities. The two demonstrated in the first level are a rather handy healing ability, as well as the telekenesis used against the guards. While the clip cuts off right as the character realizes that his name is John Vattic, it causes him to "flash back" to his military training, before being sent on a mission to Russia as an expert in paranormal incidents to investigate a man named Dr. Grienko. Vattic, however, seeks to disprove those who believe in paranormal occurences. Why exactly he was chosen to accompany the military mission is more or less a mystery until near the end of the game. Again, it's so difficult to present a complicated and intricate story without giving too much of it away.

The structure of the game continues to switch between the "modern" bandaged and bald Vattic, and the flashbacks of his "past" missions in Russia. Apparently this Grienko fellow has been conducting some, well, appropriately paranormal experimentation on children out in the middle of some arctic tundra, and the US military thinks he might be building a psychic army, has weapons of mass destruction, looked at us funny, something along these lines. What's interesting is that, because you are sans psychic powers, playing as "past" Vattic is more of a conventional 3rd person action/adventure with gunplay. Obviously, as the game's made by the people of Timesplitters it was basically impossible to drop the ball here.

While I hope this doesn't give too much away, so allow me to throw in a massive SPOILERS warning here...what's truly amazing about the story is that your actions in the past can completely alter the storyline when you return to another "future" mission. While not an entirely surprising concept, it's always fascinating to see just what changes you have wrought when you return to the present.

And this still isn't the biggest twist in the game.

I know, right?

All in all, Second Sight is by no means a perfect game. Some of the gameplay is too easy, due to your healing ability, especially when strengthened, and some it is too trial and error. Regardless, you have an amazing visual aesthetic, great storyline, as well as great voice overs and moody music. It was just hampered by being an under-publicized IP that was sadly released at the same time as Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, causing those on the fence to opt for the seemingly hipper Psi-Ops.

The Backwards Compatible Breakdown #1

The Backwards Compatible Breakdown #1:

Fable: The Lost Chapters (Xbox, 2005)

Again, I've decided that it's time to establish another feature idea, which again has also been used by other video game bloggers, magazine writers, and whatnot. To be fair, I've been "in" on the "needle in a haystack" madness that is the "bargain bin" for more than a couple years, I just wasn't on the blog scene at that point. In addition, I also try to avoid using more than three practically successive sets of quotes within a sentence. Shit happens. Allow me to give an anecdotal intro before talking about the beautifully flawed game above.

What I'm getting at is that on more than one occasion I've come upon a friend in the software section of (insert mainstream electronics store) sifting through cheap stacks of otherwise forgettable titles. You know the type. The ones where it's more than okay to judge the game by the cover art. Unlike books, this approach is disturbingly accurate in the game field. My roommate JD's method usually involves scanning box art for exaggerated presentations of cleavage or violent acts that would put someone in the electric chair in a state that does not allow the death penalty.

Of course, being the admittedly elitist gamer that I am, (look, I bought Second Sight and Killer 7 on their launch dates)I never turn down an attempt to bring "the light" to the masses. As I began to get to know other gamers at Kalamazoo College better, I realized that quite a few of them displayed similar symptoms as my roommate: they wanted cheap games that offered violence and sex. Like a redneck parent that purchases a pellet gun for their son as a less deadly alternative to the 12-gauge, I too attempted to compromise with JD, promoting titles with substance that also didn't forgo those "traditional values" that my roomie holds so dear.

First I pitched Final Fantasy X, hyping the scantily clad women and the improbably over sized swords. After nodding with approval at the C-cups on the cover, he flipped the case over.

"It says this is an RPG," he unexitedly pointed out

Oh God, I thought to myself. Are there too many words on the box?

"That means it involves a lot of reading and talking, right?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "It does have a plot and storyline.

JD put it back on the shelf.

Next I suggested God of War, another "Greatest Hits" title. I brought up the fact that Kratos happens to dismember a healthy amount of enemies in a highly viscerally violent fashion, the extensive variety of weapons, and the fact that your character can engage in a "threesome" video game. And no, not a "devil's threesome," for those curious about the title.

"That's all about that Zeus and Hercules stuff, right?"

"I think you're referring to Greek mythology, JD?"

"Yeah."

"Well, yeah, you do kinda play as the personal hitman of Ares."

"That's more mythology, right? More stories and stuff?"

"Umm...yes, it could be summed up that way."

JD put it back on the shelf.

I probably shouldn't even get into how the conversation over indie/emo favorite Shadow of the Colossus went over. When it was extensively shown in the movie Reign Over Me, JD was quite impressed. I didn't have the heart to remind him that he'd spurned the title several weeks before.

Instead, he opted for the latest Everquest title for the PS2. Bewbs and swords. Granted, it's not an awful title, Sony can pour enough money into an otherwise average title to make it "okay." But it's far from being a variation on the gaming status quo.

Are there others like JD? Absolutely. And one cannot knock them too much, as they will often fund publishers so that they can take a risk on an edgier title like Okami. But I do think there are those out there that want to "break" into playing less publicized quality titles, or catch up on the solid mainstream titles that they just missed out on. And, they don't want to spend a lot of money to do it.

So, several paragraphs later, that's the purpose of this feature, to point out predominantly last-gen titles that are quality contributions to the realm of gaming AND affordable. Naturally, the first in the series is Fable: The Lost ChaptersNote: Hair, armor, and bow training optional.

a MUST HAVE if: You never played the version of Fable released in 2004, you're looking for a cheap Microsoft title still stocked in stores, you are into aesthetically pleasing action-RPGs with a "do anything" attitude, but most importantly, you aren't aware of what Fable was supposed to be.

Think twice if: You already played the first iteration of Fable and don't feel up to plunking down ten dollars for a semi-decent expansion pack, you happen to be a "die-hard" JRPG fan (stands for Japanese, refers to linear, often cliche series like Final Fantasy that involve the same turn based combat utilized on the NES, moody androgynous protagonists, and gravity defying hairstyles) you aren't an RPG fan at ALL, or you were molested during a D&D match gone bad in your neighbor's basement and now hate swords, magic, and all other cool things.

Fable: The Lost Chapters is a lot like the semi-recently released Orange Box. If you already own some of its contents (ie, the original Fable) this might not be for you. Sadly, unlike Orange Box, there's no way of paying a reduced cost for the expansion alone, and, correct me if I'm wrong (as I don't own the original) but I don't believe you can transfer your character over into the expansion anyway. In short, if you've played Fable before and can bear another playthrough, there's some new content here. Not "another game in its own right" content, but at least enough that it couldn't pass off as a small patch or something.

STORY

Where to begin with Fable, a game that had been in development for over four years, beginning under the title Project Ego? Storyline-wise, it's fairly run of the mill: boy begins with idyllic life in a medieval Eden with a caring family, courteous neighbors, and a possibly fake British accent. Seeing as even a cookie-cutter plot requires conflict and obstacles to overcome, the game decides that it too will follow in the Job-esque footsteps of so many other narratives, and take all of that stuff away. Except for the awful British accent. But yes, with the arrival of bandits one night your house is razed to the ground, your sister is kidnapped (which for some of us wouldn't be an utterly abhorrent thing to have happen) your parents are slaughtered (and NO, the head honcho villain does not reveal later on that he is actually your father) as well as all the other citizens of "Mega Happyville," as I have deemed it. They even take care to "knock off" the insurance collection officials that could have allowed you to live the good life, childhood travesty aside.

From here, officials from a program called the Hero's Guild show up, and whiz you back to Hogwarts...err...seemingly Hogwarts academy to learn the ways of the hero. That's right, instead of getting yours truly the much needed psychological help I deserve, instead of me being able to lie on a couch on talk about my problems, I'm fitted for armor and sent out to complete several trials involving swordsmanship, archery, and magic. It's a clever way for the game to integrate the three main elements of combat, without being overly pedantic or blatantly tagged on, like it is with some titles. From here, you're sent out to save Albion, find your sister, stop Jack of Blades reign of terror, perform side quests, fight the "all popular" rival from your youth. Rinse, repeat, you get the idea.

Gameplay

As mentioned above, gameplay is centered around the three types of combat, and each of these is linked to a key skill; strength, will, and skill, in order. Like in most RPGs, you'll spend a fair amount of time killing enemies, and gaining experience points for such. However, in addition to generic experience points that would dictate an expansion in the hit points bar, additional points would be given depending on how you dispatched the enemy. Slice and dice with a broadsword? Expect to get points to spend towards "strength" related skills. Headshot from 100 yards away with a bow? You just got yourself some will points.

That being said, you dictate how you want to fight, and, in doing such, reinforce your preferred method with access to stronger skills. This is a bit of a double-edged sword, however. While I'm all for breaking down class stereotypes (You are the fighter, you are the mage, etc...) it's important that the player not attempt to become a jack-of-all-trades otherwise he/she will miss out on some of the stronger abilities that each class has to offer. Try everything out, but don't take forever to land on your modus operandi.

Appearance isn't everything, but you can fiddle around with it for a lengthy time
In addition, be aware that heavy magic usage causes the character to experience some form of an unnatural age acceleration. This would be why The Emperor looks like Methuselah after zapping everyone with force lightning. Weigh the consequences my friend, weigh them well. While you can change everything from the clothes you wear, to the facial hair you sport, to the tattoos that you have inked into your skin, scars and aging aren't going anywhere.

A hood can do wonders for the aging hero

That's right, take a nasty blow from a giant, and you've got something on your hands that even a few generic health potions won't cover up. And because most of your body is understandably covered in armor, the artists over at Lionhead decided that your face would take the brunt of the damage. Not entirely accurate, but one gets where they're coming from.

"I'm afraid of changes, cause I built my life..."
In addition to the scars, and the aging, Lionhead Studios attempted to stay away from a non-static game world as much as possible. One's appearance isn't solely determined by what you buy and the degree of force with which an enemy bludgeons you in the face, but also by where you fall on what I have just coined as the "spectrum of good and evil." Yes, KOTOR fans, you can swap in "light side" and "dark side" if you deem necessary. And while modern games have attempted to capture the infinite degrees of "grayness" on the usual black/white spectrum, Fable is quite simple about things, often only leaving you with two options in decisions, and less than subtle indicators of what will put a halo over your head and engulf your body in bluish light, and what will undoubtedly have one sprouting a pair of horns. Literally.

I can't tell if my hero is emitting radiation or is being taken by the Rapture.

Yes, it's true, it's pretty easy to tell that when a mission involves killing town guardsmen that it probably won't fall under the generic "good" classification, while killing bandits does. Sometimes they're tricky to figure out, but not often. In addition, how you look is another indicator of your reputation. If you are mostly good, do "good" quests, and, as the game heavily reinforces, kill bandits, you'll be cheered when you walk into towns, people will have something nice to say to you, traders will lower the prices of their goods, and, supposedly, it's easier to get laid when you're good. Inaccurate? Probably.

Of course, being evil has perks too. Simply being able to kill anyone you want, and take their stuff generally does allow one to accumulate wealth faster. It also means that you usually won't have to creatively talk your way out of dicey scenarios, instead, resolving them in over-the-top bloodshed. Perhaps an anecdote would help. Say that you're hired by some bandits to carry out an attack on a guard outpost. In addition to being paid (and gaining experience) from following the bandit's instructions, you can also "turn" on your employers, and add a few more tallys to the body count. Playing as the typical "baddie" might be easy when it comes to perfecting the genocide of innocent civilians thing, but it's often hard to convince the neighborhood committee to let someone with your track record move in.

From the last couple paragraphs, you've probably gleaned the knowledge that Fable is unlike most titles, in sheer ambition alone. From the morality scale, to the dynamic altering of one's character's features due to morality, combat, and age, and the reputation system for starters. What may surprise one is the fact that Peter Molyneux, lead designer at Lionhead had even bigger ideas. Being able to plant seeds and watch trees grow in "real time." Having children and then having to fight off the oedipal instinct of one's children. Basically, come up with something absolutely rediculious that sounds more crazy than actually interesting, that's how one make's a "Molyneux" statement. For those of you who didn't play the first, and don't know much more about the hype leading up to the first other than what I just illustrated, go, enjoy the game, and look into the matter no further. For those of you who do what I am talking about, I feel your pain.

Graphics: Aka, why this game might have caught your eye in the first place

There is no shame in saying that this game is "eye candy." The art direction is unsurpassed by any other xbox title, in my opinion, and the graphical engineering behind it doesn't look to shabby either. Character models are detailed, with a bit of an exaggerated cartoon flair, and the amount of customization of one's hero that can be seen visually is quite an accomplishment: hoods, tattoos, scars, hairstyles, shirts, pants, armor, weapons, and more. All rendered in FULL 3D form, in a last-gen title. Spell effects are tragically beautiful to look at, as they come at the cost of needing some reconstructive facial surgery, the scenery is so detailed you can make out singular leaves on branches, or stones in the footpath, or ivy growing up a wall. Very few titles have the graphical prowess of Fable.

Final Thoughts

Fable is a deep, action-packed RPG backed by a supposed "do anything" mantra and wonderful production values. And while this sandbox style of play is a bit more linear than claimed, that doesn't make the game any less interesting or valued. Some players could probably finish the main plot in about 12 hours. Possibly less. But, if one bothers to spend some time on a couple side quests, as well as complete the added material of The Lost Chapters, which adds a good 33% of content to the game, that number significantly rises. In addition, Fable shines as a prime example of a fine non-Japanese RPG that does not require the "stand in line, take a number, and wait your turn to hit the enemy for 54 hit points" format, or the overly feminized lead characters. America is doing quite fine on its own, thank you. The only point at which Fable is liable to face criticism is when the title is put head-to-head with what Molyneux envisioned. Not that "dreaming big" should be criticized, but calling up the press in the middle of the night and declaring one's more inane thoughts about game design without proper refinement or scope isn't the wisest thing. In summary, Fable only falls on its own sword, when compared with...what Fable might have been.

The Morality of Games: Bioshock

Too often recently, video games have been frequently cited as one of the many litmus tests by which society is clearly turning into a state of moral depravity. Grand Theft Auto, clearly the "whipping boy" of those "educated" pundits that can't even bother to learn the name of a different "Mature" rated title, has been called out on its "do anything" mantra, which has spawned more than a handful of sequels. Such activities include "cop killing," (though the police in Vice City have an unhealthy tendency to be corrupt, if that's any consolation) carjacking, and utilizing hookers in a manner quite more...utilitarian, than that shown in Pretty Woman.

Granted, video games aren't the only medium, electronic or not, that has been accused of corrupting the otherwise vulnerable youth of America. For starters there's Harold Hill of The Music Man as well as the "less than library darling" Huck Finn.

All joking aside, the video game's slightly older brother, TV appears to have "gotten away with murder." Or any other corrupting act you can think of. And we're not even talking cable yet. Yet somehow video games are more capable of indoctrinating one's child into becoming the next Manchurian Candidate because the player willfully decides to act out whatever occurs on-screen. Now naturally, the person isn't able to play out any varied sadistic fantasy they want to, anything they do, is merely within the paramaters of the game, no matter how wide it is. And, as for gaming console's doubling as "killing simulator," tapping/holding down depressable regions of a game controller or awkwardly flailing a Wii-mote fail to strike me as something that could possibly instruct a seven-year-old in the fine art of operating a flamethrower. Anyone that lets their child waltz around the background playing "Cops and Robbers" with a plastic gun probably has a greater likelihood of creating the next Al Capone.

Yet, this article is not meant to debate the influence of video games in corrupting America's youth, or the degree to which other mass media mediums (say that three times fast) are equally culpable of the same effects. Instead, I'd like to discuss how the issue of morality is presented within the title of Bioshock, in addition to providing an attempted "cursory" glance at the game on the whole.

At the outset, Bioshock borrows several techniques from the Half Life series. The player is dropped into the title in media res, sitting in a seat on what appears to be an older airplane, which is only ascertainable by the seat design, as well as the fact that the protagonist is clearly puffing away and not even attempting to hide it in the lavatory. Like the FPS legend, Bioshock does not intend to reveal the appearance of the main character...though it's quite amazing that while Rapture has enough water to fill all the kiddie pools at Neverland Ranch three times over, you never mange to glimpse your reflection. But that's just a small quibble. In fact, Irrational Game's title attempts to "one-up" Valve by refusing to give the main character a name. While we quickly figure out that Earth's savior, Gordon Freeman, is a MIT graduate conducting subatomic research at Black Mesa facility, when he more or less tears dimensional rifts between Xen and Earth...we have NO idea why the character named "Jack" by readers and fans is on the plane, where he's going, whether it's business or pleasure, or even the TYPE of cigarette he's smoking. Then again, even the player's gender could be considered to be up in the air.

What's amazing is that when playing the title, none of this matters. Just when I was beginning to be frustrated by the "withholding nature" of Bioshock, the flight path deviates from whatever unspoken location it was, to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Suddenly being concerned about whether or not the stewardess is going to bring me some peanuts and a Coke is the least of my worries, as groggily treading water while the tail of my plane slips beneath the surface of the waves. Oh, and the rapidly enclosing ovals of ignited fuel from the plane's tank cause a certain Johnny Cash song to come to mind. That and the possibly impending third-degree burns. And that sort of "warp-vortexy" black hole-ish whirlpool that shows up whenever, well, something large plunges under the Earth's surface. Whatever that scientific effect is technically called. I believe I called it: "Oh FUCK, it's that thing from Titanic!"

Few games have managed to bring out those "primal survival instincts" as well as that "trial by fire" in Bioshock. Whether it was the ever enclosing rings of fire, or that fact that the game refused to provide me with any tutorial suggestions other than the fact that swimming away from the fire would be advisable, my heart was pulsing at a rate that would have sent the heartiest of Vice Presidents in cardiac arrest. Perhaps it was the fact that after surviving something so...exotic...as a plane crash, there was no way I was going to kick the bucket in such a mundane method as drowning. Soon enough you're "dog paddling" to the nearest and only visible landmark, a lighthouse. And, instead of waiting for the Coast Guard to come and pick you up, you descend in the bathesphere that leads you down to Rapture. Please note that I said one goes down to Rapture. There was a certain amount of irony in that, that I appreciated.

A View of Rapture from the Bathesphere

During the ride, you are introduced to Rapture, an underwater metropolis founded upon the principles of unbridled capitalism without safety nets, science sans morality, and an undeniable Darwinian philosphy permeates throughout all of it. The founder, Andrew Ryan decides that it's "high time" to build an aquatic Hong Kong on steroids, and, with the help of the best, brightest, and mind-numbingly demented scientists of the world, does exactly that. Not exactly the typical "American Dream," but bear with me. Unlike the famous colonizers before him, Ryan does not "plant the flag" in the name of another nation-state, or for one diety or another, nor even in his own name. He does it in the name of objectivism--the belief that a moral life is dictated by "rational self-interest" which can only be achieved in a society whole-heartedly endorsing individual rights, as well as a laissez-faire economic attitude. It's the same attitude that Any Rand endorsed in her books, such as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

Enboldened by these values, Ryan's scientists discover that by extracting the stem cells from a particular sea slug, which vastly accelerates Rapture's genetic engineering aims, in keeping with Ryan's fixation in naming things after early forms of paradise, this material is called ADAM. ADAM is thrown onto the open market and begins the meteoric rise of the plasmid industry. What is a plasmid? Well, Wikipedia explains it as "an extrachromosomal DNA molecule separate from the chromosomal DNA and capable of autonomous replication. In many cases, it is typically circular and double-stranded. It usually occurs naturally in bacteria and is sometimes found in eukaryotic organisms (e.g., the 2-micrometre-ring in Saccharomyces cerevisiae)." Now, I really don't know what that means, but from playing the game, I can give this layman's understanding: plasmids are the panacea for ALL of life's problems: male baldness, not being athletic enough, or anything else that could possibly be triggered by toying around with one's genetic make-up.

Of course, these plasmids have a much more useful implementation for "Jack," allowing for such abilities as telekinesis, shooting lightning bolts from one's finger tips, or freezing enemies with a single touch. Unsurprisingly, not everyone is so quick to endorse Aristotle's adage of "everything in moderation." Many go a little too "over the top" in "playing God" that they become deranged and mad from excessive ADAM use, and go by the term "Splicers." The Splicers are the only inhabitants of Rapture, save for a few humans in hiding, after a mobster by the name Frank Fontaine challenges Ryan for control of Rapture. It's a long and intricate story narrated by various log entries left around Rapture, but suffice it to say, not much of Rapture is left when you show up. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.

Forget Peanut Butter and Chocolate, H2O and Electricity is my new favorite combination

As for why exactly Rapture self-imploded, or how you might have any "seemingly" non-existant connection with this exotic locale, that's basically the main objective. One that, after a few skirmishes with Splicers within the first few minutes of arriving, you realize is going to be quite difficult without plasmids. Scratch that, make it impossible. While the more callous gamer might not think twice, for myself there was already something eerie about using plasmids. After all, what good is it to become what you have sought to destroy? That whole "what good is it if you save the world and lose your soul" argument. While Irrational Games sadly did not address this issue (although, it would appear that it would take a LOT of ADAM usage to become a junkie) this much is made evident: to survive in Rapture you are going to need to get your hands on progressively stronger and varied plasmids. And while Resident Evil 4's weapon stash was delivered "in full" by that raspy masked bandito with the red eyes and the seemingly infinite trenchcoat pockets...

This post will be finished at a later point, as I am trying to meet self-imposed deadlines on other things

A Little bit of life, blogging, and gaming

Well, some of you, and by some of you, I mean possibly the sole reader of these posts, Adam Baranowski, God bless his soul, might have realized that my last post included hyperlinks, pictures, and *GASP* actual video clips. I know that it's kinda sloppy, some of the spacing was a bit off, the fonts were moderately inconsistent, but most of this was due to the fact that the text didn't wrap around some of the pictures "oh-so" perfectly like it did in "preview" mode. Like I said a while back, the blog is still primarily about the writing aspect, and learning some of the other blogging stuff at my own pace, so I'm not too worried.

Some of you (again, synonymous with Adam) might have also picked up on the fact that at least my last couple posts have been about gaming, or some aspect of such. In addition to actually forcing myself to learn how to use a "big boy" safety razor last week, I decided that I would try another new thing, and actually attempt some real "gaming journalism" or whatever one wishes to call it. If you want to become better at something, you have to have the basics down pat, but also not be afraid to delve deeper. Perhaps it's presumptuous to say that I've got the fine art of writing "down pat," I guess that could be up for debate, but I admit that I've not really ever pushed myself to write about gaming. I mean, I certainly know way too much about it, I'm more or less the "authority" for even my gaming-inclined friends for release dates, game reviews, industry moves, etc... But I've always convinced myself that the journalistic aspect of gaming has always been reserved for the exclusively funded few in magazines and heavily-trafficked websites, and then...those miserably unfunded hacks that write grammatically preposterous two sentence reviews of games. I'd say 98% of the industry are the latter.

How does this tie into my life as it stands? Well, most people at my school, in my grade, are at a point where this summer usually means preparation for a senior thesis, and this usually is accompanied by a summer internship. Now, there's a lot to be said about what is required to "nail" an internship, though the whole "it's WHO you know, not WHAT you know" is still quite an accurate statement. Perhaps a much more interesting one is that provided by my wonderfully supportive college that informed me that "(insert disturbingly large percentage) of available internships are not posted/shown by Kalamazoo College." Of course, this makes me question if those individuals in the Center for Career Development have the best job security in the world if they are so brazenly advertising that they aren't doing their job. I mean, it's not like they should be worried about having to support those that participate in the externships that they sponsor.

They expected me to live in a nice suburb of Chicago on a 50 dollar a week stipend, pay half of the housing costs, as well as transportation costs. And this was all for an externship that didn't pay. Like I said, Kalamazoo College is no stranger when it comes to stabbing people in the back. I mean, "having" people's back. My bad. I guess what the past two paragraphs are getting at is that I've been surfing around for externship possibilities, and, perhaps this is an equally stupid notion, but I've been doing it in the gaming industry. Personally, I'd love to write press releases for a development studio, or even write dialogue or a script for a project, but it's hard to find developers that aren't just looking for code monkeys. That's the fancy term for the little computer science junkies that are already more than conditioned to work in overly small spaces, crunching algorithms.

And that's why I've spent the last couple weeks brushing up on my game writing skills, as well as trying to get the contact info on every decent developer that I can find. Double Fine (the people behind Psychonauts, as well as the Lead Designer being the head guy on Grim Fandango) apparently have an intern program, albeit unofficially, but their location is fairly expensive to live in, AND, they don't pay. Though, oddly enough, I read that California law says you MUST pay all your workers. Perhaps blackmailing Double Fine in regards to such might work...hmm... I've placed their really cool logo below, as well as a link to Double Fine Studios this for those interested.

Double Fine's Logo, click here to visit their website

Other than that, I've got Valve's info, but have yet to find out if they have internships. It's a tough situation, because part of me says I shouldn't pour out my heart into something if they flat out don't do it in the first place, but part of me says that doing such might just make the difference for someone that otherwise wouldn't offer an internship. I don't know, part of me says that trying to find a internship of the video game sort, so soon to summer, and expecting to be paid, is COMPLETELY crazy. I guess it all goes back to that whole, "trying to spite one's parents" dealio. Honestly, I wish I would have had that "parent-spiting" moment earlier in my life, perhaps when so much wasn't a stake.

I don't want to spent my life as a tool, doing something I hate.

Then again, who does? *thinking about it* Actually, there are probably more than enough people that would be okay with that.

Like I said, the other big name is Valve, I'm spending the next couple days getting contact information on game studios: e-mail addresses, phone numbers, locations, etc. I mean, seriously, how BADASS would it be to intern at Valve? For those of you who don't know, Valve is the name behind the Half-Life series.

Valve Studios is located in Bellevue, Washington, and is responsible for Half Life 2, which won over 35 "Game of the Year" awards, and has an "average critic score" of 96% on Metacritic.

I've also thrown in the OFFICIAL trailer to Half Life 2 below. Now for those of you that don't find it horribly impressive, this game debuted 4 YEARS AGO, and this was a pre-release trailer before the game was finalized. Still, it's quite impressive

The link below leads to what I think was a much cooler trailer that debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, but Gametrailers is a jerk and won't let me embed it, so instead, here's a link: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/135.html. I already did a big article about Half Life 2 but, I figure this is enough information if any of you are curious about learning more. Besides, of course, reading that article that I wrote.

So, yeah, aside from that, I still need to talk to my parents about ALL the paperwork about the lease for the apartment for college. We got the form sent to us about three days ago, but then JD's grandpa had to look over some details, and then my parents were too busy between work and symphony practice last night to get around to looking at it. I'm shooting for tomorrow, when my dad is perhaps less stressed over having to deal with grade cards for his fifth grade students. Basically Trident, the leasing company, just needs to have the forms before we show up, so that's about two weeks, but I also don't want to put this off. There's always a chance that my parents could get grumpier. Always.

Summing things up. I head back to Kalamazoo in about two weeks. Have to deal with paperwork before then. Trying to come up with some internship possibilities before then, as well as work a bit more to make more cash. I'm going to try to put up a new post soon on Bioshock, as I just finished that lately, as well as any new developers that I get info on. Other than that, hopefully I can meet with Adam and Jess before spring quarter begins, lock down some sort of internship, oh, and I have work tonight in about an hour and a half. That's about it.