Top 5′s 2010: Movies

Movies are important for us games designers, as they fuel our rabid imaginations and give us a break from thinking for a couple of hours. So, here is 2010′s top five greatest movies and their greatest moments!

5. THE HANGOVER: Like a drain pipe. That’s how I laughed through most of this insane and hard to outsmart comedy road movie. Loved everything here, with dozens of memorable water cooler moments. Real characters in an unreal world that seems strangely familiar and hugely satisfying. Too many things to say that would spoil it so go see for yourself!

4. TOY STORY 3: I loved the the other two, but this one is a particularly intense and hard not to get lost in piece of cinema perfection. Amazing characters, unpredictable story, immersive journey and even some horror for the road. Great, great, great!

3. SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD: How could a gamey person not love this movie? Well, it is a bit boring. SPVTW is one of those almost a movie movies. It has some great characters, amazing ideas and some of the best action sequences of the year if not ever. But lurking in the mayhem are some pedestrian moments and sheer story doldrums. Overlooking the quiet patches, this is an amazing parody and homage to games and young love, both of which were mixed in most of our teen lives. A movie for me.

2. TRON: LEGACY: I cannot express how relieved I was to finally enjoy watching this film just before Christmas. Though it is a simple tale, with obvious paths, the overall experience is magical and immersive. The design is amazing, and creates a new benchmark for visualising imaginary worlds. It has excitement, action, and a deep idea running through its veins that will hopefully please some, though I know it angers others. In the end, ignoring the lite approach to story and characters, TRON: LEGACY delivers an experience rather than a movie. But wow, what an experience!

1. INCEPTION: Though I have only seen it once, it stuck. From the wood panelled interiors to the back of the falling truck, from the well dressed suit army to the viscous twists and head-messes, this film is the most stylish piece of cinema to come in a decade. What this film tries to do is put you in a sci-fi environment with nothing more than telling you that’s where you are. Other than the city fold and a few parlour tricks, there is little in the SFX that makes the story any more Sci-Fi than its word poetry establishes. A bunch of talented actors, some invisible effects, some amazing ideas and a great cinematographer, and you get this slick, perfectly designed world.

My Top 5′s: Visceral Experiences of 2010

5. To Dream a Dream within a Dream: It has to be said that INCEPTION is just one of those cinema experiences that leaves you open mouthed and in wonder. Well done Chris, you incited around 3 days of discussion with my wife about the in’s and out’s of your loverly little film. The impact of that film is still lasting now, and so as experiences go, it left us reeling.

4. The Excitement of New Purchases: There was a day this year that my Wife gave in to temptation on the grounds of a shop demo she idly asked for without any concern for the consequences. We had been limping on with our heavy weight component CRT TV, and though the Wii looked great, the other 2 were less than happy. In a moment of weakness, my wife’s mouth slowly dropped open as she watched the BLURAY demo in a small shop near our hometown. I had been impressed by HDTV for years, but this demo was pretty great, and had a low price tag to match. After very obviously standing there checking prices on the internet on our smart phones we cut a deal and walked out with a bargain that still stands now even in the new year sales. But just to top that, she sat on the phone in the car on the way home and managed to get SKY HD delivered the next day. She does that a lot!

3. The Warm Embrace of New Tech: Playing the Kinect for the first time felt like a magical new hardware experience. Just like my first SNES or the unboxing of my initial DS, it had all the feelings and pleasures of that christmas opening and playing of something truly new. Even without a totally killer app, the whole experience was laden with smiles and grins and wonderful moments of connection. Shame I had to give it back.

2. Chasing the Electronic Dream: unpredictably this is not my number 1 experience of 2010 (and I would say 2009), but it nearly was. I have been following the TRON: LEGACY ARG from baby steps, to mobile phone drops, to secret meets, to free things in the post, until finally, I was sat in the IMAX, enjoying the visual overload. A trickle of trailers, a handful of badges, a cooler than geek T-Shirt, some postcards, some stickers, something exciting to solve, a couple of visual game based “Where’s Wally” puzzles, a constant onslaught of info, a gaggle of fake sites, a limitless splurge of blogs and comments, the occasional starring role in the twitter stream and ultimately, those exclusive and brief trips to the IMAX for those tit bits of visual splendour. And after all that, what do I have to show for it? Well, loads of badges, shirts, free stuff, but most importantly, a heart stopping and chilling soundtrack on CD and the memories of an IMAX experience like no other. Gonna miss you… till I get the BLURAY! (BTW, this guys looks a tiny bit like me, but he’s not me, I just thought this clip summed it all up)

1. Conquering Japan: Finally, I stepped off a plane into the land of gaming and robots. But instead of discovering some great shops, I discovered a whole culture of wonder and serenity that I sincerely loved and now miss hugely. Japan is a place of true wonder to all aspects of my psyche, from the geek to the scholar. I loved the food, the places, the ways and the feeling, but was left most impressed by the people. Never have I met a culture so inviting and patient, so rich and interesting. For me, Japan is a place I can relax and feel normal, and even though I cannot speak Japanese at all, I never felt like I couldn’t understand what was happening. Thank you Japan, for making me feel welcome.

My Top 5′s: Gaming Experiences of 2010

I thought I would share my mind and make a few 2010 top 5′s. So, here goes… lets start with gaming experiences:

5. Those Angry Little Winged Menaces: Oh yes, how many hours has that game stollen from me? Too many. Just when you think you’ve played enough games to be less than impressed with some simple physics thing on your phone, along comes Angry Birds and charms the pants off me. What a simple and yet awesomely hardcore game. Well done, this was a true game for gamers.

4. iPad Vesus Smule: I love music games, and I have spent a few thousand points on songs over the past couple of years. I have a dozen peripherals stuffed under the sofa and enough eager friends to start a virtual band. But, there is one music game that still brings a huge grin to my haggard face; the Smule Magic Piano. What a simply delightful and nourishing little mini-game this thing is. IMO, to get the best out of this hidden gem, turn off the need to aim your hits and just play for rhythm and number of fingers. You can close your eyes after a while as you learn the songs. Pure magic.

3. That First Kiss with Kinect: Though my living room is too small for duo play, the unboxing and playing of my first Kinect game in my house was as magical as you would hope new hardware should always be. I only had the thing for one night (I borrowed it) so I had to play all the games for at least an hour to get a feel for the thing. Initially, it was fun and enthralling, getting lost in bowling and dancing. Playing with the dash was also interesting and brought a smile to my face. Overall, those opening moments are what a good new thing unboxing should be; like all your christmas’s rolled into one! Then I had to give it back

2. Warioware DIY: It might seem low-brow and lost in the noise now, but the initial ability to make a game on my tiny handheld had a certain engrossing charm. Yes, I know, I do it for a living on far more advanced tools… well, mostly more advanced. But making your own little, highly compressed and incredibly restricted masterpiece was as fun a challenge as a mega session of Tetris.

1. Japanese Arcade of Many Floors: My most memorable gaming experience of 2010 was touring a multi-floor arcade at 1am in the morning in Shibuya. So many memories and a handful of new ones. With a pocket full of Yen I deposited around £20 into various different machines that spanned a decade or two. From Gundam pod, to tiny multi-screen music madness, to ancient arcade shooter to multi-player fighting with a stranger (and it seems there is no language barrier when the common tongue is combo!). Exciting, fulfilling and lasting. Try it for yourself one day if you get the chance.

3DS Marches On, But Why 3D Now?

Over the weekend in Japan, Nintendo held an event to show the public what the 3DS is all about, including the all important ability to actually see the 3D effect for themselves. Many queued for 2 hours to play for a few minutes, getting their eyes and hands on titles like LOZ: OCARINA OF TIME and various RE games.

For me, this console is the most interesting decision Nintendo have made in the last few years. Some years ago, going for a motion controller was a big thing, and though there had been others around in various guises (golf springs to mind), they simplified it and made it mainstream. The Wii also did the amazing job of expanding the console audience to include a much wider age group and recruit new types of human into their demographic spread. It’s fair to say that the DS and later the DSiXL (LL) had been striving to expand the audience with titles like BRAIN TRAINING and adverts featuring an older style of player (go Helen M). Nintendo have always had this audience in their sights, and these new ideas and platforms helped them to secure a new future for the acceptance of gaming and what else it can offer in terms of nourishing entertainment.

So why have they gone for 3D now?

The recent sly invasion of the 3D HDTV and the almost unnoticeable single SKY channel showing the unavailable to buy AVATAR, has brought the 3rd dimension to the living room. But whilst the effect on a 40 inch screen cannot even compare to a full IMAX or CINEMA experience, those lucky enough to up the inches will be getting something close to a new media format worth taking seriously. And as far as gaming is concerned, the automatic PS3 upgrade to allow 3D BLURAY playback and the introduction of various 3D games (some free if you own the disc) makes 3D a serious contentder for the gamers heart. But, there is a cost to enter this unique and burgeoning party; the huge price of hardware. A good, 50 inch TV will set you back £1700 in the UK, and it will only come with 2 pairs of glasses. Another 2 with be another £100-200. A projector will currently cost you £5000. Even then, you will now want to get your hands on the game and BLURAY upgrades, and though it’s slim pickings, it will cost you. Then chuck in the “free” sky channel, if you buy the crippling £62.50 a month world package. So there you have it, you are all 3D compliant and enjoying the wonders of 3D… well, 50 inch, stuck to the wall 3D.

So now imagine you are Nintendo, and you are thinking, “this 3D revolution, we’ve done that before, it suits games, makes them easier to understand, what with them being 3D sometimes… how can we get in on that and bring it to the masses?” The answer is make a stand alone console that requires no glasses or add-ons. The answer is the 3DS.

When you really think about it, the 3DS is a natural evolution of the DSi and DSiXL, but this time, it is perfectly designed to appeal to an audience who have been left wondering whether the heady heights of the old school Nintendo would ever return; the hardcore gamers. You only have to look at the very deliberate launch line up to see the finger twitchers being catered for up front. STREET FIGHER? RESIDENT EVIL (twice)? STAR FOX? MARIO KART? These are the games of the hardcore elite, the golden age of gaming, with its tough to master button mashers and its grown up horror adventures. These are not the games for the older player; none of them will be putting BRAIN TRAINING down and forking out for MERCENARIES.

If you really look at what they are doing, they are turning back to the hardcore and saying, “hey guys, we never forgot you, you were never out of our minds… its just, we needed to expand our audience, try out some new things, you understand?”

We do; we do now.

Now all you have to do is price it right, and the hardcore will come.

You Tron, I Tron, we Tron… but only in REAL IMAX

OK, so here is a spoiler free impression of something that brought a smile to my face last year for 123 glorious minutes… well, probably 106 brilliant ones and a few that went south, but lets not pick hairs… split hairs… um…

So after a very long, but pleasingly ARG assisted wait, the moment finally came to print those IMAX tickets from the automatic machine, drink the Americano in the BFI bar and ascend the familiar stairs to the neon holding pen and popcorn peddling waiting hole. With timing on our side, only a few moments passed before we were seated, and with my wife on one side and a writer (of films and games) on the other, the lights dimmed and brave little student in the bottom right of my vision welcomed us to the “experience”.

From the CG Disney castle to the 3D exploiting end credits, a bar has been set for visual perfection. TRON: LEGACY is a spectacle experience, lavishing your eyes with a gloriously perfect and shiny world you wish you could visit, and can in the wonder of IMAX. So lets get to the crux of it; you should really only watch this splendour at a real IMAX theatre, with the full height screen. If you have been following the scandal of IMAX misinformation and the newly opening “so called” IMAX screens, then you will understand that during the time of the dinosaurs when you said the words IMAX, you meant a tall, peripheral vision filling screen. Now, in this modern age of cordless phones and filofaxes, it can also mean a really good picture quality on a 16:9 screen. For me… Not IMAX, sorry! Stick to BFI Waterloo to avoid confusion.

In (REAL) IMAX, the film performs a little magic trick on your eyes, which you really should enjoy, as if this twas a theme park ride, and frankly, that is the best way to review this film. It’s a chew of the best bubblegum ever made. Think of it as nothing more and you cannot go wrong. And the trick? The live action is 2D and 16:9, which on the large, square IMAX screen, just looks like you are watching a film. Then, enter the computer world, and the image expands to full IMAX size, filling you vision, and the 3D is turned to the max. It makes the whole thing feel different and more real. The word you can now safely use is immersive. Finally, a film that is truly immersive. The super observant will notice that the aspect dances occasionally between full size and a little smaller, and this may be because some of it is 70mm and some is 65mm, for whatever technical reason. But this never bothers and overall the experience is better than Avatar.

The story is fine and the characters are fine, with Olivia Wilde and Geoff Bridges steeling the show. I liked Clu, though many said he looked fake… but he was fake, right? Not bothered. I liked Michael Sheen a lot, and his character is very fitting and fun, bare with it. Overall, the things that many people have complained about are because they are attempting to find meaning in the painting, and like many critics, peoples interpretations are often different. Don’t try so hard to “get” TRON, just let it wash over you. It IS a painting, or perhaps more fittingly, a series of wonderful paintings by the same artist.

But how will it last? I suspect that in the future it will mildly underwhelm on BLURAY 2D and on 16:9 TVs where the effect of changing aspect ratio will be lost. In the end, it is showing in its intended form at the IMAX, so don’t miss the spectacle. Equally, under close scrutiny, I suspect the plot will be decimated and shouted at by many, but again, ignore this in favour of the wonder.

I will watch it again at the IMAX, because it represents something special and fleeting which will vaporise in the next few months, never to return. I regretted not watching Avatar again at the IMAX, and now that I have it on BLURAY… not the same.

In an age where cinema is struggling for meaning and originality, TRON: LEGACY IMAX offers a totally unique experience that truly cannot be matched elsewhere.

Get it while it’s hot.

TGS 2010: Part 3

I Forgot my Shades

 

Morning was a tough sell. I had some issues.

 

When I first woke up, I remembered through the misty pain that we had agreed to meet up at 11 to head for Yoyogi Park, but it was much earlier and once my head was off the pillow, much less enticing. We spent the next few hours putting it off a little more then a little bit more. By about 1pm, we had all emerged, all a little tender and tired. As usual for the group, we wander around for quite a while selecting a restaurant. I want Katsudon, so we go deep into Shibuya, almost to the top and ironically close to Yoyogi Park, which I realize later. After chomping down our excellent food, we leave and hail a cab, which takes 1 minute to deliver us to Yoyogi Park, which it turns out was down the street.

 

As we circle the park looking for a good place to sit and talk, one of my companions explains that this is the place all the Elvis appreciators and Cosplayers come on Sundays to show off. Sadly, we are leaving and says it is a great shame as the whole thing is an amazing spectacle.

We shop at the base of a massive wooden gate and have an ice cream. Obviously, they don’t sell any ordinary ice cream and we have orange sherbet and green tea. Treats in hand we head through a different part of the park. As we walk gently through the tunnel of trees hidden in the middle of the park, here is a sense of quiet in amongst the deafening chirping. The whole thing feels royal and meaningful. We soon come across another huge wooden gate and take a left, which the sign says is towards the temple. As we round the corner, I can see it.

 

Like many things in japan, there is meaning and ceremony to what you must do. We head for the fountain, which is a deep basin of water with two dozen wooden ladles on it. You must take water from the spring, pour it into your spare hand, drink a little, put the ladle down and rub your hands together. Once you are cleansed, you head for the temple, and both the approach and the spectacle inside carry a mysterious air of majesty. There is no photography at the alter, and this is where you are free to through a coin into the collection grill and then clap twice before saying your prayer or request. We watch a few Japanese people perform the ceremony, but I regretfully did not do it myself because I felt dishonest to do so without understanding why. I must educate myself…

Once we had paid our respects, we head back out into the main courtyard and over to the prayer tree. None of us can resist doing that though! We purchase our plaques and consider carefully what to write. We hang them on the hooks of our choice and head out of the park and away from the serenity of Japan. One day I hope to take my family there and show them something truly beautiful.

 

Harajuku Style

Gwen Stefani name checks the Harajuku girls in some of her solo album songs, and you can be forgiven for not understanding what that’s all about. It is a district of Tokyo where young girls fashion is the most densely packed and where small boutiques sell one offs and ideas to push fashion in the rest of Japan and apparently the world. It is basically Japans answer to Camden town, and features a long, narrow alley full of buildings, with many shops on many levels, including the basements.

 

We wandered into a few of the shops, one of which was just accessories, where I spied some nice Hello Kitty items for my girls. They would love it here as ere is every kind of hair grip and slide with any character or colour you can imagine.

 

We pressed on through the alley until we emerged in one of the main streets and spotted a tall, round, glass building opposite. We had been looking for somewhere quiet to work so after seeing the word cafe on one of the signs, we wandered in. It was a weird place, with a giant TV in the front entrance, with a kind of EYE TOY game playing on it sponsored by JVC. It showed us creating balloons wherever we walked. The whole building was equally fascinating, with strange interactive art and people selling 2D and 3D TVs. Then, as we ascended the spiral outer walkway, I spotted information about my Japanese phone network provider and realized that this was more like a Carphone Warehouse, selling a large number of different communications and entertainment devices. What a wonderful building it was, and like everything else Japanese, it was very multipurpose.

 

At the top was a very chic cafe called Wired which proudly offered no wireless Internet, but instead, pay as you go PC terminals. Strange, but at that point, not so logically unusual. We ordered some ginger drinks and set to work, getting in a good 3 hours of quality discussion, allowing the sun to set in the background. As we were kicked out at their 6.30 closing (to match the shop) we looked out of the top window at the neon city below. It never ceased to amaze me how Japanese cities can look so different during the day and night.

We search for a Ramen house that had been remembered from a previous trip, and soon we found it, as it was hard to miss and garishly decorated. Inside I had a pork based dish, which was very hot. The staff were friendly and it was good, but I think we all still felt quite kicked and tired, so there was little more conversation. I ordered a special drink, which I did not realize is the famous bottle with a marble in it thing. The bottle is molded in a special way and has a rubber seal put in the top into which a marble is pushed. When you want to drink it you push the marble in and it sinks into the top of the bottle, but this does something clever. The drink is very fizzy, and in-between sips it seals the lower chamber to prevent any further bubble loss from the liquid. When you lift it up to drink, there is a little recess in the upper part that allows the marble to roll away, letting the liquid out but stopping the marble rolling up into the neck and stopping the drink leaving the bottle all together. Once I figured it out, I enjoyed the small portion of a weirdly bubblegum tasting Japanese beverage.

 

Outside, and slightly refreshed now, one of my companions says there is a shop I would like, back the way we came. We head there, but in the place it was meant to be is a man sat at a table handing out maps. Amazingly, the shop has moved, and it’s grand opening in it’s new location… Is today!

 

KIDDY LAND is a chain toy shop with retail prices, but is decked out like a wonderland, with anime characters and stickers on the walls, white floors, Ramps and generally high tech presentation. Think the basement of Hamley’s. I find a little Gundam and some Revoltech, but not what I am after. I buy myself a dust bunny keyring to dangle from my manbag, which I am now very attached to. I cannot believe that I had not had a bag like this before.

 

Done with eating and looking, we head back to Shibuya on foot and search for somewhere quiet to work some more. We struggle. Shibuya is very trendy, and finding a quiet place to work after 6pm is nearly impossible. Then, we see something which might work out in the form of a Starbucks copy cat at the top of a multistory building. We hit the lift and head to the top floor. We are presented with what looks like the outside of a coffee shop with about 3 customers, and it is only when we get really close to the door that we realize there is no coffee shop; this is a foyer? It is a concert venue. Not joking. This is a whole floor of a building, seating 1000, for concerts and music evenings. It costs to get in and there is a famous Japanese folk band playing as we arrive. This is not what we were looking for, though fascinating. We head back to the lift, losing the will to live, and read the signs for all the floors: TV STUDIO, RESTAURANT, POOL/DARTS.

 

Hmm? We hits all the buttons. The TV Studio is unbelievable. As the doors open there is what looks like a hotel foyer, with a hundred screaming girls dressed like Sailor Moon. This is a fake TV show you can pay to take part in. Maybe it’s not fake. It was hard to tell. As the doors shut I think we all wished we had the time to find out.

 

Just as the doors opened on the next floor, we joked that anything could appear behind them. This time it was a misty waterfall, with a huge stone gate entrance which leads to a traditional Japanese restaurant. I mean, this was more surreal. It had a waterfall and a cobbled floor, distant music and a really quiet tone about it. There was a stunned silence. I wish I had filmed it.

 

Finally, we were presented with the Pool and Darts floor, and instantly this looked good as there was little music and it was quite spaced out. We hired a dart board and sat down to discuss business again. It was a pretty good atmosphere, and I can recommend a round of darts between subjects to any shrewd businessperson.

 

Time for bed, and we go our separate ways. When we get back to the hotel, I am super tired, but I am also in Japan, so I sneak out exploring. I head towards the arcades I had seen that morning. Finally I find the density of machines I had been looking for and spy some ultra classics and some new things I have never seen. There is a guy playing the old Konami Aliens versus Predator, along side groups of people pushing Yen into SF4. I witness the new Gundam panoramic pod game, which I cannot decipher. I see the famous konami music comeback game Ju-beat and marvel at it’s 2 handed complexity. I see guitar freaks 11 and Drumania 7. This is a place of huge contrasts, but it is amazing to see a place that has a large selection of different machines. I then discover, in the hall of crane machines, a claw device with a NBC Jack Pocket Watch; wanty want. I start putting in Yen. This was a bad idea. I think I spent £10 trying to get the thing, as it dangled annoyingly on the edge. I really wanted it. A lady came to watch me. I had heard that they like to keep customers happy, so if they see them putting in too much money, they hand them the prize anyway. No such luck. I walk away, defeated, hoping that we will meet on the field of battle again later… We never do.

 

I wander through the Neon streets and drop into the DVD/CD shop and browse the games for an hour. It is about 1.30am. Back in my noisy room, I spend a little time writing this diary before totally collapsing, with power rangers like action fading in my peripheral vision. Go rangers… go…. Snore.

 

RETRO REVIEW: Starblade

This is the first of what I hope becomes a series of reviews reflecting on games which I felt had an impact on the way we are playing today. This is from memory, so you can also see it as either a gushingly fond memory or a series of digs at something lurking in the past. Enjoy!

Starblade (ARCADE, NAMCO)

Define epic. Epic means something so amazingly sprawling and all encompassing that it involves the viewer in a deeply meaningful experience that feels like it has been happening around them long before they got involved. When something is described as epic, it is usually just applied as a buzz word to evoke the idea of what I described, without ever qualifying it. It is an overused phrase, but some things deserve the medal.

Back in the 80s games still looked very crude, mostly sticking to the 2D based sprite style, avoiding 3D due to processing power and graphical feel. It’s also fair to say that there weren’t many genres that could work in the arcade environment that would make sense in very early 3D, though some tried racing games with mixed results. So how do you solve a problem like 3D graphics. Cheat a bit.

Starblade was an epic game that put the player in the cockpit of a star fighter, going up against a very real sounding armada of aliens in a style that echoed through movie theatres around the world. In some ways, it was the first actual interactive movie experience that worked; it was like a big cutscene with gameplay. It was an AV tour de force, creating a bubble of cinematic splendour around the player that made them feel like they were a pilot in a lone ship, flying into a one way mission to save the Earth.

It starts with the cabinet, which enclosed the player in a pocket of audio, with stereo speakers that filled the space. Then there is the control stick, like the one in e STAR WARS machine, cementing the connection between real pilot and real ship. Add to this the controllers voice, issuing commands, a staple of Japanese shooters that creates that gorgeous moment of “are you ready?” This seminal gaming tool, used in the likes of AXELAY (SNES, KONAMI) is like a starting pistol, firing you up, making you crack your knuckles and exclaim, “this time…” I love it, and I hope to use it one day.

In goes your 50p. 1 credit, 1 full energy bar; is is the way of the arcade machine. The mission is then explained to you, Jedi style, with orchestral music playing as you rotate around a planet and are shown where to concentrate your fire in the end game. Then… Then you hear e name of the ship, and the shivers ran down my spine every time. Geo-sword. What a cool name of a lone fighter. Hearing the downbeat, electronic voice tell you are ready, just as the launch tube lights up (like Battlestar Galactica) you feel a sense of epic importance. There it was, the word used correctly. But as you exit the tube the real game emerges and reveals something unmatched at it’s time of popularity. An immense battle is playing out, and you are in the middle. Epic. Most recently, in NAMCOs Starfox game, I felt that same feeling, in what seemed like an homage, and it made me yearn a true nextgen version. But, Starblade set the bar for cinematic space battle experiences and the net effect was breathtaking and enough to get me to come back and play the beginning again and again.

In terms of gameplay, this on the rails shooter was no more or less that a target hunter, simply firing as much as possible as anything that got too close or flashed red. Though I am sure this was not the first, the flashing red mechanic was used here not just to ask the player where to shootout as a stylistic tool to make dangerous things stand out from an otherwise blue world. The flashing red was used to great effect, creating a strange juxtaposed art style that really makes it memorable and identifiable. I always felt this was a very Namco of the 80s thing, and always associated it with the company. Back then, each of the major Japanese games makers had a particular, defined style, mostly through their logo, but for me, through their style of presentation. Namco was Namcoy, and Sega was Segay. It is less well defined today (discuss).

Making your way through the game was hard, and this was the point. To make money an arcade machine needed to constantly ask for cash, and with Starblade, you never minded. It cost me about £15 to beat it in one sitting, but it was worth every penny. The end is wonderful and truly exciting. You are so far into your one way mission that the only thing to do is sit on the edge of death and finish the job. As you blast red hexagon after red hexagon, the awesome music rises, the commentator warns of imminent doom and the whole thing delivers; big time.

Inevitably you either liked THE LAST STARFIGHTER or you didn’t. You either built a cardboard box X-Wing cockpit with Lego control sticks and cling film canopy or you didn’t. You either rode your bike down a hill at terminal velocity, imagining it was the trench run or you didn’t. For some young boys and girls, it’s football or ponies. For me, it was space battles and laser guns. For me, the ultimate childhood fantasy was lived out inside the dark, audiotronic cockpit of the Geo-sword, parked in the middle of my local flea pit, but gloriously in the corner, away from the noisy fruit machines of doom.

In closing, if you ever get the opportunity to play this game in it’s original arcade format, please grab a handful of pound coins and take a seat once frequented by Luke Skywalker and Alex Rogan.

Get ready Geo-sword.

Take The Trip

Honestly, there is a point to this post…

My TV recommendation for the week is The Trip, a rather surprising comedy… thingy.

I mention it here because it is something quite strange, that reminds me of the type of person I am. I am a geek. Though I am perhaps not smart enough to actually be a nerd, I am still obsessive about small plastic things, game orientated, and use the word TRON too often for everyone to tolerate. So, what I find amazing and gut tearingly funny about epsisode 2 of The Trip, was the frightening geekery of impressions that they improvised in the restaurant scene.

You see, this show is really about 2 geeks fighting it out to be the best geeks. Yes, they mostly talk about films, but the conversation structure is oh so familiar. Fighting to do the best impression, not finding it weird to do funny voices, or sharing a moment from a film… this is my life (though I suspect I am less funny).

Anyway, hope that episode 3 is as good whilst you search for episode 2 on BBC iPlayer.

You’ll know the Bit I mean…Stephen Hawking… go find it

 

Deal of the Day… or Hidden Truth?

So, I just went to pick up some Mayo and a lightbulb from Sainsburys, and I watched a lady buying a game and nosey being my middle name, I looked at which one it was. Surprisingly, it was Black Ops, and I noticed she was confused, and then I noticed why. No price sticker. Instead it had some smaller writing and a price. I grabbed one to discover that you could buy the game for £27.99 if you bought £30 worth of shopping. What a strange deal!

So, as I bought drinks, cereal and milk, I pondered this new deal, and felt I should share the thought it rustled up.

For years, the hardcore has wanted games to be more mainstream, and as this fairytale slowly came true, the hardcore began to get nervous. The more games slipped into TV ads, or TV shows, or TV debate, or political debate, or your Grans annual conversation, or your postman’s monologue, or your till meetings, or your Mums excited attempt to be on your level, the more they changed and became less like the idea you had in your head. You see, the more you want people to share your niche hobby, the less you realise that the fact that it is niche is what makes it cool (for you).

When you were importing games, enjoying a Japanese text RPG, your friends were out playing football or riding their bikes; but these are your fond memories. When you had pumped your last pound coin into Galaxian 3 in the Namco Funpark, surrounded by like-minded nerds at an office party for nerds, your mates were getting drunk in the bowling alley, trying cheap pick-up lines; but these are your defining nights out. When you were clutching your DS, on a busy train, beating the living daylights out of Pikachu, Micro Gameboy in one pocket, Wonder Swan in the other, your mates were texting their girlfriends, asking them for football results; but these are the gadget dreams you had when you were 10 years younger.

Face facts. The Wii. WiiRemotes. Move. Kinect. Sing Star. Lips. Rockband. Rockband The Beatles. The DS game that monitors the distance you walk each day. Wii Fit. Boggle on my iPad.

Games are mainstream. Shop at your local supermarket for a discount on the hottest game this month. Seriously, one of the hottest. Not something trivial. No. COD: Black Ops. Massive midnight launch at shops, people queueing, celebrities flocking, and now, available for cheaps with your weekly shop.

We have reached the top of that hill now.

The Measure of my Gaming Ability

Here’s a new concept.
Last night I decided to measure my living room relationship, to ascertain the future of my new wave gaming ability.
It’s like:

TV vs Obstacles: The Epic Battle for Living Room Real-estate!

The results are in (pour yourself a drink):
TV to Sofa – 2 meters exactly…
Meaning: Single player Go! for launch, 2 player… nope
The problem is, I would like to test if 2 player is possible, but I don’t want to find out that I have to move it, because it cannot be moved. Its a quandary.
I think its the same issue with 3D TV, in that there is a distance sweet spot.
So we have created a new set of space changing ideas, and the real question is: How long will these take to integrate and become a deciding factor in the arrangement of the average tech-savay living space?
Feels like a whole GDC talk right there (TM). “How and when games changed our living space,” copyright me!
Imagine the first time you moved your coffee table to play Wii Tennis… you know you have…