Silent Hill 5
Was reading a gaming magazine yesterday and noticed an article about Silent Hill 5. It pointed out that the original developer Team Silent has disbanded and The Collective are now the team with the task of creating the 5
th iteration in the series. The magazine seems to be worried that the game may lose the unique atmospheric feel of it's predecessors. Personally, I'm not sure what to think. The magazine does have a point, considering the plot outline and supposedly 'empty' monster designs but Silent Hill has never really disappointed.
This magazine also seems to think SH2 was the best in the series. Strange, what about the original...?
4th Year Project
Been working on my project more than anything else lately. The synopsis asked me to research the developments in Mathematics that took place in the 19
th and 20
th centuries. These developments turned out to mainly revolve around set theory, which has indeed formed a very strong foundation in modern Maths. It's obviously difficult for me to explain in a few lines, but many concepts wouldn't exist had it not been for set theory. In a (very) naive way, you think of a collection of objects as a set, before refining it with more rules and conditions.
ie. A set is the 'bare bones'.
Another interesting thing I discovered was the idea of infinity as thought of in the 19
th century. Apparently, infinity was not thought of as an entity in existence, as such. This is not a particularly good way of describing it, but this idea meant that you could say x tends towards or approaches infinity, but to say x = infinity meant nothing. It takes a minute or two to get your head around the concept, but pure maths is full of brain teasers.
Anyway, enough Maths for now.
Karate in Wales
I'm just back from the weekend
Shotokai course in Wales. It was a fantastic experience, as well as just a chance to get away for the weekend.
It all started with an 11 hour drive to the South of Wales, so as you'd expect, by the time we arrived at our accommodation, we were all shattered. Amazing how tiring sitting down is!
The next day began with a 2 hour training session on the beach, followed by lunch, and then another practice to conclude. As Glasgow was the guest club, we all took the chance to explore the
Gower and do a bit of sightseeing in the latter part of the afternoon.
These residential courses always involve a club dinner, which was first class, and also gave everyone the chance to relax and socialise with people from other clubs (Bristol, London).
The course concluded on the Sunday with a demanding 7 hour practice, part of which ended up being actually in the sea! The idea behind this was to change the practice environment and effectively put everyone in a situation to which they weren't accustomed. It really is a true test of balance, when you're trying to move and turn with your feet constantly sinking into the sand...
The car journey home was made especially tough by practice beforehand, and my contact lenses meant that I had to stay awake for the duration!
All in all, I had a great time, and I'll look forward to the next course in April, which is in Loch
Lomond, and just that little bit closer to home...
A Long Drive
I'm off to Wales today with the karate club for a weekend course. Really not looking forward to the 8-10 hour drive...
Still Life
Still Life is really a whodunit in video game form, it was originally a PC game but console versions followed. This is certainly a dated title, and even in it's day, it was a budget game, but one specific aspect of it makes it blog worthy, to me, at least...
Throughout the game, you control 2 central characters, a female detective in modern Chicago, and her grandfather in 1920s Prague. The game is structured with 7 chapters alternating between Chicago and Prague but both tie in nicely with each other. The basic plot revolves around 2 serial killers. Victoria McPherson is the modern day detective who reads an old report from a case her grandfather Gustav McPherson was working on back in Prague. It becomes apparent that the modern killer is in fact a copycat and this is the main factor which drives the game forward.
I'm sure you can imagine what makes up the bulk of the gameplay - finding items, talking with other characters, puzzle solving, etc. However, it's the climax which I want to talk about...
You'd hope that after playing through the game you'd get some answers to the mystery, kind of like every detective tale. Not Still Life though...
Before I complain any more I will say that the 1920s killer is actually revealed, but this was very much a secondary objective for the player. It was blatantly obvious who it was! I assumed this was to add flavour to the story, building up to a shocking revelation at the very end.
The real crime of this game was the fact that it encompassed a masked villain, whose mask was even knocked off at one point, although his head was turned (the first thing that came into my mind was "It's gotta be someone we know"). It built up to an unmasking at the end, then decided not to bother. Quite possibly the most unsatisfying ending ever!
Been Busy Recently
Seem to have been on the go constantly for the last few weeks. Ok, so this is my excuse for having not blogged in nearly a week.
I've been trying to get my teeth into my project lately, along with maintaining the martial arts and the rowing. Anyway, this is really just a quick post to get me started again...
Alien
Watched the original Alien film last night. It reminded me of one of my earlier posts about Halo, where I briefly mention how the game borrows certain ideas. It's awkward to define exactly how the ideas are reused, but the general feeling of the 'Pillar of Autumn' (which is a great name for a space cruiser, by the way) is very similar to the military vessel from Aliens. I also noticed how similar the sergeant from Halo is to the sergeant from Aliens...
Coming back to the original Alien, I think this film was the birth of a general 'formula' of sorts. There have been numerous films and even games of the survival horror variety, which involve usually a team investigating an installation (ie. the whole setting), possibly under the rule of a tough but fair team leader, they then discover something terrible, and fight for their lives. In the end, only one or two of the cast survive. The mechanic obviously differs between titles, but the general spirit is the same.
I am really aiming this post at games and films, and games are always going to be slightly different in nature, usually involving a more isolated character, rather than a team working together, but the formula nevertheless holds as supporting characters are ousted one by one.
Of course, all of the above is not necessarily a bad thing and if a formula works, then why change it?
Video Game Protagonists
Although there have been many attempts of late by developers to blur the boundary lines between film and video games, there are some unique aspects to video games which will always remain in place. Some of these are fairly obvious, and many films could never really be translated to the video game world & vice versa.
However, one characteristic which many don't notice is the development of the protagonist in video games. Because you, the player, assumes the role of the main character, he/she therefore cannot have too much depth. This character must be an 'empty shell' to a certain extent, and allow the player to be this person in their own, individual way. Having said that, this concept is fairly loose and differs depending on the type of game, although the central character must always have attractive traits for the player to be able to enjoy the game and relate to him/her. Typical RPGs are at the extreme end of the above concept, where you create a generic character from a template at the beginning and develop them throughout the game. Each to their own, but I always feel that no matter how much customisation the game allows, the character will always be a little 'numb'.
Realism regarding Video Games
Realism in video games is an interesting topic.
Many gamers criticise certain games for lacking realism without really stopping and thinking. First of all, it's important to notice that realism can to be interpreted in different ways, depending on the game and even the genre. By this, I mean that if you are considering an action game, then after the player throws a grenade, I would expect it to explode and maim anyone in the immediate vicinity. On the other hand, if the player character has to stop for bathroom breaks every so often, the game would be terrible! There has to be a balance, but it's only a game after all! Unrealistic aspects of games almost always add to their appeal. Flashes of lightning don't happen in the dojo too often but they make fighting titles infinitely more aesthetically pleasing.
Earlier I mentioned varying degrees of realism depending on genre. This is particularly applicable to sports titles, where a recreation close to the real thing is often much appreciated. However, I'm inclined to believe these games don't really try to simulate the actual sport, but try more to make the gamer feel as if the are controlling a televised match. It's a strange one, but it rings true with football and tennis sims in particular. Play one and you'll start to see what I mean...
