Why putting Bioshock on hold is great news

According to various news sources, the planned film adaptation of Bioshock has been put on hold, possibly indefinitely. The film adaptation of this award winning video game was to be directed by Gore Verbinski and was budgeted at around Eleventy million dollars. (The budget is being oft cited as the reason for the production’s troubles.) I loved Bioshock probably more than any other game last year, and I love movies. However it's clearly a good thing that this adaptation will most likely not come to pass.

I was as excited as anyone else to see the movie version of Bioshock. It was without a doubt the best-written, designed and conceived game of the last year. But because it was so good, doing a movie version does damage to serious game innovation. Once a great source material is co-opted into a film it can really tarnish the image of said source (see Watchmen.)

This is obvious, but while comics are getting more and more mainstream respect every day and have a serious level of proper criticism these days, the game world seriously lacks such introspection. Chuck Klosterman recently wrote in Esquire about this very issue. He wonders aloud where is the Lester Bangs of games journalism and how much longer will it take for him to arrive?

So as we search for better game criticism in the world, it will inevitably be games like Bioshock, the best of the best which call out for a deeper appreciation and understanding of game design. When these games are then converted into film it makes it all the easier to write off the need for serious game criticism. After all, people with serious critical faculties can then just wait for the inevitable linear adaptation, which is much easier to apply standard critical tools to. The constant adaptation and re-appropriation only further delays the creation of new critical thought for the interactive medium. Klosterman himself acknowledges this difficulty in analyzing artwork, which takes on different form for every audience member.

Therefore, yay to Mr. Verbinski's troubles. My apologies for the Scradenfrude.

Real life Portal gun

A man who is a much better boyfriend than I built this real life Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device for his cosplay girlfriend. This baby looks so good!

More pics here on Kotaku.

Nintendo Nostalgia

Susan got a Wii and I started downloading some classic games from the Virtual Console. It's incredible how powerfully fun these old games are to me. In fact, I could see myself lazing a whole weekend away with buddies on these older games much easier than on a new game. I don't know if the game designers knew what they were doing but these are more powerful than a Proustian Madeline to me. Especially the music. I downloaded this game this morning and the song sent me into a fit:

The Legend of Kage - NES Gameplay
by NESguide

Another game with killer music was BreakThru. As my brother pointed out, one of the best things about this game was that you could beat it fairly easily.

Break Thru - NES Gameplay
by NESguide

Sadly, that game is not available on the Wii Virtual Console yet. It's a genius idea, because they are essentially getting you to buy the same game twice in you life, and I am doing so GLADLY.

Another game not currently on the Wii VC is Blaster Master. I would snap this up in a second. Check out this killer opening sequence:

Of course this list would not be complete without a plea to release the game I played more than any other, Contra.

I might get amnesia and forget my name or get Alzheimer's and forget where I am but I will never forget that code...

Nico Bellic wants his money

This story over at the New York Times is kinda interesting. The voice actor who portrays the tough protagonist Nico Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV is complaining that actors get a bum deal from the game industry. Basically his argument is that in the games medium there is no scale pay rate or additional compensation for his performances being used in advertising. I don't really know enough about the situation to weigh in but if the voice of Nico asked me for something, I'd get it! That dude is terrifying!

As I continue my progress in the game I'm becoming more and more impressed by the narrative. I'm about halfway through and no longer worry about better weapons or vehicles, I'm too engrossed in the expanding novelistic storyline unfolding around Nico and his struggle to survive in the city. Every time, I think the story is going to zig, it zags. It's so impressive that with all the technical skill they put into this game, they chose (wisely) not to skimp on the writing either.

Grand Theft...of all my free time

Well there have been about a billion game critics reviewing the game Grant Theft Auto IV already and the reviews range from very high praise to all-out worship. Most critics have been unable to compare the game to other games, choosing instead to reference the brilliance of CITIZEN KANE or the feeling of first seeing THE GODFATHER.

For my two cents I would offer this: the reason I have found GTA4 to be so wonderful is that it is a completely adult experience. It has to be. Playing in virtual worlds like this at least in these early years of virtual life, have to be escapist. Killing and stealing with impunity, or at least without really hurting anyone or yourself is the ultimate escapism experience. This shrugging off of responsibility even extends to the ability to dodge phone calls and blow off social responsibility, a brilliant inclusion in the game.

This game is not for kids, and it doesn't have to be. A creation like this game which took 1,000 people and 100 million dollars should not then have restrictions placed on it to make it safe for all ages. But the feeling of that much talent and resources going into an entertainment experience which I can access for 50 bucks is unreal. Literally.

Ricky Gervais in GTA IV

Ricky Gervais will appear in the game Grand Theft Auto IV. He recorded a (mostly) original short set and was motion captured for the game. So as you are going around killing people or whatever, you can pop into a comedy club and just happen upon Ricky doing his stand-up. And then you can pop him in the head with a lead pipe I suppose, although I don't know who would want to. (Except Karl.)

Craig Zobel

Craig Zobel is one of the co-creators of the Internet animated series Homestar Runner. He also made one of my favorite films from last year, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND. It is one of those incredible cinematic gems that straddles genres and defies descriptions, fueled by amazing performances (especially the underrated Pat Healy) and an incredibly authentic background.

The premise is simple, a guy down on his luck lands a job with a record company. The job is to travel the country with his new partner and sign local talent to the label. Of course the musicians need to put up a little bit of money to prove their dedication to the recording label. It's a dryly funny look at the broken state of music recording, salesmen and the American dream. It won a bunch of independent awards around the country and is available on netflix right now.



Craig's next film sounds incredible. It's titled TURKEY IN THE STRAW. I could give you a brief description of the plot but instead I'll just mention two cast members, Amy Sedaris and Paul Rudd. Yeah.

What got me thinking about Craig today was this news that there is a Wii game coming out based on Homestar. It's called Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. Like I needed another reason to get a Wii.

Ms Pac Man is a feminist icon and is haunting a Boston family

Found via Kotaku is this story of a man who is trying to get rid of an arcade version of Ms Pac Man because it is haunted:

"Got a bad feeling the day it was delivered. Game started on its own in the middle of the night several times, had a tech service the machine three times (very pricy housecalls), but he couldn't find the problem. Three-year old daughter started talking about the 'man in the video machine', didn't think much of it, then my wife saw a dark figure move across the basement and into the machine."

Also this gives me the excuse to post the below video about Ms Pac Man. I know I've been posting too much video lately, I'll stop soon.



"She kept her own name motherfuckers!"

Spore on the iPhone demo footage

How excited am I for the game Spore? Very. How crazy is it that they are making a version for my iPhone? Really crazy. It seems we have definitely diverged from the normal space time continuum and entered into an alternate dimension of super awesomeness. Check out this demo footage:

MMOG film at SXSW

Via IO9 I just learned about the film SECOND SKIN premiering at SXSW. Before I got this job I was unemployed for 6 months and I'd play City of Heroes from the second my girlfriend left the house until I heard her car coming up the driveway. And when she went out of town, it was all day and night. I haven't played in months but I'll open the account back up if there is a double XP weekend I'm in town for. Sometimes I miss those days and seeing the trailer for this film makes me very nostalgic for that other world.

Gears Twooooooo!

I'm pretty excited for this announcement for the sequel to Gears Of War. I liked the original a lot although I never got good enough at the multiplayer to beat the random teenagers online. Mostly I'm excited because it gives me an excuse to post this photo of a Gears statue from the Toy Fair. It's sick!

Outside The Orange Box

I finished playing The Orange Box over the weekend (Thanks MLK!) and I highly recommend it. I've blogged about it before here but I also love the Half-Life games included in the box which I never got a chance to play all the way through before. It's expansive and immersive at once with great writing and clever controls. I also liked the linear nature of the game, having a single path to find and follow was comforting and fun and the open sandbox games can seem a bit draining and exhausting at times, making me lose interest. So I think that's it for me and The Orange Box, I'm not that much into the online multiplayer games like team fortress 2 which is also included (unless someone twists my arm.)

Rock Band light and smoke machine kit?!?!

I'm trying to steer this blog more towards film and festival related bits, but I never promised anything (hence my sub-header of "culture reporting".) It's impossible to resist throwing a quick rumor out here. According to this post, there will be an "Interactive Light and Smoke Stage Show" offered for Rock Band this summer. We spend a good amount of time playing Rock Band this weekend and I often like to joke that this game was made specifically for households like mine (three male roommates, hard partying lifestyle.) I can't imagine how this would work or why anyone would ever need one. Still, I'd probably buy it for laughs if it is indeed a real product.

Do want companion cube!

I wanted to buy this for my friend's 30th birthday. (If you have not played the most excellent game Portal, then you probably don't know what I am talking about.) Sadly the price skyrocketed well past my comfort level. Probably because it was blogged about on boing boing and kotaku. Oh well, all the money went to a charity anyway so it's probably all for the best. Still I want one now!