Horror Games in Georgia Straight

I'm quoted in Vancouver's free newspaper (and the only thing I read when I'm back home) the Georgia Straight. Its a short quote, but its nice to be talking about video games again. I'm really glad he chose this line, I found myself ramblinga lot when I was talking to the writer and I'm glad he didn't quote one of my stupider ideas.

http://www.straight.com/article-266470/chilling-video-games-offer-escape-fear

An open letter to Wolf Blitzer

Dear Wolf Blitzer,

I used to love your show but your epic fail on Jeopardy has made me realize that all you do is read a prompter. Please hand over the Situation Room to Rick Sanchez and join Fox News where intelligence is not required.

Guest Lecturing!

I found out on Monday that I will be guest lecturing a class at Concordia (Sociology of Cyberspace) and speaking on racial representation in video games. While I generally keep on-top of race and games stuff its been a long time since I've re-visited it since the big hub-bub over my honors thesis and man while I'm nervous as hell about speaking in front of 75 students, coming back to this stuff after two years feels like meeting up with an old friend. If you're free tomorow, come on down.

Sociology of Cyberspace
Concordia University
Hall Building 420
2:45

Some very cool news...

The very first Indian-developed console game is on its final leg of development. While plenty of programming has been outsourced to India, this (according to various reports) is the first to be locally made. The game, entitled 'Hanuman: Boy Wonder' is not only targeted at the Indian market, but also at Indians abroad. I found this news to be really uplifting. Not only does it show a growing game development industry outside of the U.S., U.K. and Japan, it also shows a growing interest in gaming in India! As well, I love the idea of games that caters to local cultural context. Lastly, the more game makers there are out there (especially from diverse cultures) the more interesting game play innovations will be brought to the industry.

(Wall) Street Fighter 4

Welcoming in the release Street Figther 4 and the economic crisis comes this gem. Oh web 2.0, is there anything you can't do?

Me in 'The Toronto Star'

About a month or so ago I was interviewed for the 'Toronto Star' by a very cool dude by the name of Raju Mudhar. As a matter of fact, even after the interview we chatted about gaming, journalism and a whole ton of other cool stuff. I forgot about the article but when I mentioned it off-hand to my mom she decided to go try to find it. And here it is! Trust a librarian to be able to find anything I guess!

http://www.thestar.com/article/540687

On a somewhat related note, Paul went out and bought an XBox 360 for Christmas and he's been playing Farcry 2 like a fiend. I on the other hand am glued to GTA IV. On the horizon? Fallout 3, Dead Space, MK vs DC and much, much more. The Parungao boys are saying goodbye to MMOs, and hello console.

Bigotry and Board Games

Okay this is fucking stupid. I loved to play Risk as a kid, and moreover, back when we were dating Leanne would destroy me at the game...and then rub my face in her victory for days on end. Yup, sometimes I miss her a lot.

So its kind of jarring for me to see that the 'new' Risk (seen here) is so chock full of over-the-top masculinity that it hurts my groin. All over the website we have the wonderful tagline 'Man Up!' and the link to the mini-game reads 'ARE YOU MAN ENOUGH' in big bold letters. Gee, considering my ex-girlfriend used to beat me mercilessly into the ground every time we played, I guess I'm not you bunch of jackass misogynists.

Playing the online version of the game is equally stupid. Turns out, you need to earn 'manliness points.' After playing a mini game where I have to avoid my boss and screw around at work I earned a measly 200 points where I got the rank of 'not as manly as you want to be huh?' Gee I guess not. I didn't realize shrugging off responsibility was an indicator of how much of a man I was and ironically, at the all-boys high school I attended, they taught me that taking on responsibility was actually the manly thing to do.

So I'm gonna call you out on this HasBRO. are you gonna 'man up' to the fact that you really fucked this one up and take this shit off the Internet and issue an apology? Or are you gonna run around the office and avoid responsibility like your pathetic little online game.

In the meantime, I'm gonna go play 'Settlers of Catan'.

Azeroth is a blue state!

Well, one of my favorite comedians Sandeep Parikh has put together a funny video that mixes several of my interests into a fun little video (comedy, games and politics). Does the fact that 'World of Warcraft' players support Obama it mean anything? Of course not. I'm not even convinced that gamers are progressives as so many Internet folk have a crazy hard-on for Ron Paul. Man...really? Libertarianism? Sigh.

Anyway, funny video...and the elections are two days away! The whole world holds its breath yet again.

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe

Okay I'm not one to get hyped up over video games before they come out (mainly because I've been burned so many times in the past - 'Deus Ex 2' anyone?) but I'll make an exception when my favorite comic book universe strangely converges with one of my favorite fighting games. In all fairness when I heard about this game initially I thought it was a stupid idea. While granted Marvel and Capcom did a great game in the Marvel vs. Capcom series (which me and Paul still play to this day) there was at least a bit of precedence. Marvel had a string of fighting games that were put out by Capcom back in the day (which we rocked out hard at the local 7-11 by Deer Lake, does anyone even play arcade games at gas stations anymore?). Moreover, mix ups were pretty common for Capcom with games like 'Capcom vs. SNK.' Moreover, practically all of the games that had a DC logo attached to it sucked bad. So I think its kind of fair that on initial glance I thought the Mortal Kombat/DC thing was a bit far fetched. But then again, if there's going to be a book about being caught with your foot in your mouth, I'd be the author.

So as we come off the wake of the behemoth that is the San Diego ComicCon we get to find tons of videos like the one above that prepare us with geeky joy for the coming consumerfest that is quarter 4. I'll withhold from throwing up tons and tons of videos of cool shit I plan to be playing come this winter, but man, am I excited about this, I mean the Flash looks fucking crazy. And if anything else, we're getting yet another Mortal Kombat game which is always fun and entertaining for the Parungao boys. Moreover, I don't really see what the big deal is with peopel arguing that Superman would just wipe everyone out, I mean they had Thanos in MvsC2 didn't they? Yeesh, comic geeks are such nitpickers to sticking to lore. Oh and on the topic of nitpicking nerds, do Batman and Scorpion both have the same low throw? That's kind if lazy...

Anyway I don't like to judge anything based on a trailer so I'll leave off on a high note with this vid which details why me and Paul have played MK games since they came out (does anyone else remember that Bonsor Rec Centre had MK1 in the basement next to the gym?).

Movie Review - Second Skin

Second Skin

Here's a movie that touches on an issue I can claim to know about. Not only do I play MMORPGs pretty regularly (read: daily) but I've even done a bit of academic readings, researched, wrote and even presented papers on gamers. Heck, my honors thesis on race and games got quite an international media splash (search my name in Google and check out all the trash talk I got, don't you just love how 'brave' the Internet makes people?).

But I digress, in essence, 'Second Skin' is a documentary film that takes a close look at the lives of online gamers, centering specifically around 'World of Warcraft' players (but also a few other games too) and are introduced to a variety of gamers who deal with a wide spread of issues. We meet the Fort Wayne boys, a group of friends who live and play together for over 40 hours a week, following their lives as they prepare for the upcoming expansion pack of 'The Burning Crusade.' The undercurrent of their narrative though, is a coming of age story as they struggle to deal with their online responsibilities vis-a-vis emerging 'real life' issues, particularly marriage and ultimately parenthood.

We are introduced to Kevin, an 'Everquest' player who has already had several stormy online relationships and his love interest Heather who is about to meet him for the first time. We are encouraged to think about how online relationships are mediated not only through virtual space (in-game) but also in the material world as they try to establish a life together despite the fact that they live hundreds of kilometers away from each other.

Then there's Dan, a WoW player who's life was ruined as his addiction escalated out of control. He ends up checking himself into On-Line Gamers' Anonymous, who's founder and owner ends up having just as much baggage as he does. His story ultimately becomes one of self-control and his ability to champion his demons on his own accord.

All of these stories are heartfelt, well-documented and very thorough in exploring the nuances of MMO gameplay. Moreover, on top of these main 'players' in the film's storyline there are also some side themes that are explored. We meet the WoW guild 'The Syndicate' to explore issues of community, we meet Andy a man who is confined to his wheelchair and the sense of empowerment he feels from interacting with people online without prejudice, and we visit a 'Chinese gold farm' in Hainan to see the globalizing role video game economics are having across the globe.

With so much to cover in the confines of a feature length documentary, there is only so much time the director (Juan Carlos Puneiro Escoriaza) can commit to each and the film bounces from one person to the other at breakneck speeds and far too much emphasis is placed on dealing with love and personal relationships than anything else, and as a reuslt the film drags on quite a bit.

The causalities? Interesting and previously unexplored issues of video gameplay are tossed in as filler throughout the film. For example, the section of Chinese gold farmers was amazingly interesting and raised plenty of questions not only about the nature of global capitalism through virutal markets, but also in-game racism. The time spent on these issues? Roughly 2 minutes. And then we never see them again. As well, it would have been great to hear more from Andy, confined to a wheelchair and unable to talk, as he is able to transcend his disabilities through friendships and interactions in-game. Again, he has probably less than a minute of facetime in the entire film. In the end, the film explores a few issues in great detail and tosses tons of others in for flavor, but significantly less rigor.

This is not to say however that Escoriaza hasn't done his homework. The viewer is provided with plenty of statistics about the demographics of MMO players and even consults several experts in the field. The movie certainly works well as a documentary and will interest gamers and non-gamers alike. Moreover, it refrains from placing a moral standpoint on gaming, but instead explores it for what it is, both the good and the bad. Certainly it isn't the first documentary done on video game players, and at this moment its probably the best. However, there's still a lot that could have been done to improve it. The film spends a lot of time following the lives of several gamers, trying to get us to understand and relate to their lives, but end up unconvincing and bland. The exception to this is Dan who's ability to overcome his addiction was probably the most emotional part of the movie. Other than that, its a pretty run of the mill documentary that tries to tackle too much and harps too heavily on a far too easy storyline (that of love, relationships and growing up) on a much more complicated issue. While I'd suggest you see it if you get the chance, lets hope this isn't the final say on video game docs.