Batman: Arkham City Miniseries to Accompany Game

I said back in this post way back in 2010 that Batman: Arkham City is one of my most anticipated games for this year. Browsing through some blogs I came across James at AnimeSentinel who has posted about how there will be a six part miniseries of comics to go with the game. The miniseries will tell the story of the time between the end of Arkham Asylum and the start of the new game.

"No.more.Bieber"... "Aw but!"... "No buts!"

Following the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum; Quincy Sharp (the one time guv' of the asylum and now Mayor of Gotham) has shut down the institution and widened its influence to a large fortified chunk of the city. The inmates are now free to roam the area as long as they don't try to escape. Oddly, Sharp has employed a character named "Dr Hugo Strange" to run the whole joint. 'Cus that sounds like a good idea... Come on Q, think it through! He's called Hugo STRANGE! Jeees... get genre savvy mate.

Anyway, seems as if the first set of two issues of the miniseries will be available in May. I'll be ordering my copy asap. Jump over the AnimeSentinel for more details.

Oops. clumsy.

Battle of the MMOs! DCUO, SWTOR, GW2!

I fear very much that I will be torn this summer. My MMO allegiances and fantasies will be stretched thin across a number of platforms. There are three seperate MMOs for 2011 which are vying for my attention, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to satiate them all, I'm just not that manly! Firstly, there is DC Universe Online, then Star Wars: The Old Republic and finally Guild Wars 2.

DC Universe Online is a game which actually came to my attention through the adverts before YouTube videos on Machinima. The idea of a superhero MMO appeals to me (although I've never tried City of Heroes, DCUO's closest comparitor), and I can imagine the modern backdrop would provide a nice break from the ordinary fare of medieval style hack and slash. I've watched a fair number of videos over the past couple of days, including the pre release teasers and now some of the "Let's Play" style ones on Machinima and other YouTube directors, and from what I can see there are some things which draw me to the game, and some which sort of put me off.
Firstly, I love the character creation and design, you seem to have a huge amount of freedom when it comes to character creation and I can imagine spending a good couple of hours creating my hero to look just right.


From http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/755/755358/imgs_3.html

 In addition, the world in which the game plays out seems pretty expansive - the videos often show characters clambering to the top of buildings and looking out across the city. Similarly, using their various powers (acrobatics, flight, super speed) characters have a nice amount of freedom of movement, scaling buildings and rocketing across the ground.

from http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/109/1098846/dc-universe-online-20100616102956875_640w.jpg

However, my Guild Wars background has made me automatically wary of P2P games - I worry that I'll spend the money and then have no time to get the full use of it - this is exactly what happened with Aion (well, that and Aion was terrible after about 2 months). I have other concerns, I read an article by Aitch at CNN where he says:

It’s a straight forward button masher and if this is what you like, then this is for you.

I kinda don't like button mashers - I want my game to feel immersive and intricate. I suppose thats why I've always leaned towards the skill-based MMOs such as GW. DCUO is on the fringe of my mind and I might buy it and try the first couple of months to see how I feel.

Secondly, we have Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now, just to add to my geek-cred, I am a huge Star Wars fan. Having grown up with the first three movies (the first three, he adds with a knowing eye), it is a universe which holds a lot of nostalgia for me, but its not an area into which I've explored my gaming passion (short of buying the first Force Unleashed game on PS2, and a demo of one of the X-Wing piloting games I got from a Playstation magazine when I was a kid).
From what I've seen of ToR, it looks pretty varied. There are a number of different classes, on the light side of the force we have Troopers, Smugglers, Jedi Knights and Jedi Consulars and on the dark side there are Bounty Hunters, Sith Warriors, Imperial Agents and Sith Inquisitors. If you have a sharp MMO mind you can fairly quickly divide them up into the holy trinity which come hand in hand with MMOs. I don't know nearly as much about this game as I do the other two addressed in this post - but that adds to the mystery of it.

Watching the videos for this game it just feels more rich and immersive than DCUonline, it will definately be a contender for my final game...

Guild Wars 2. Now, lets not beat around the bush - this will probably be my 2011, 2012, 2013 and if they do a good enough job 2014, 15, 16 and 17. I've already gave a good summary of what I think of this game - but, comparing it to the other releases of this year (particularly The Old Republic) I think its going to have to compete for my affection.



She can have my affection anyday - http://static2.videogamer.com/videogamer/images/pc/guild_wars_2/screens/guild_wars_2_20.jpg

 As I've said before, the art in GW2 is quite astounding and I fully expect the finished product to be a truly beautiful game, I just hope they pull off the combat in a real-time non instanced world to the highest quality. Out of the 5 races - Human, Charr, Norn, Sylvari and Asura - I am totally flummoxed about who to choose. I'm waiting on a bit more information before I make my final choice, but I am so excited about this game I squee a little whenever the slightest bit of information is released. There is supposed to be a new class reveal early this year and the whole community is holding its breath - myself, I am waiting to see which class can dual wield pistols.



Ultimately, each of the other two will have to truly astonish me to beat GW2 into my heart - I'm a true GW enthusiast through and through. DCUO looks a bit flimsy for me atm, and SWTOR needs to give me a bit more info on the "day to day" play which the game will involve before I'll invest my time in it.

Inception Director - The Folly of Ambiguity

About a year and a half ago I subscribed to the UK edition of Wired magazine. It was mainly to get me immersed in the techie culture which surrounds modern life but that can be sometimes difficult to penetrate unless you are willing to invest (sometimes literally) in the medium, to inform the research I was doing for my postgrad dissertation. Since then, I have really enjoyed getting the magazine each month and often I will read it cover to cover within the first couple of days.

One of the articles in January's edition is an interview with Christopher Nolan (the director of The Dark Knight and Inception) he discusses his view on the ending of Inception and what he thinks happens to the characters after the curtain falls. The final paragraph of the interview interested me the most and it is the reason I'm posting it here:

I've always believed that if you make a film with ambiguity, it needs to be based on a true interpretation. If it's not, then it will contradict itself, or it will be somehow insubstantial and end up making the audience feel cheated. Ambiguity has to come from the inability of the character to know -- and the alignment of the audience with that character.

(Christopher Nolan, 2011, Wired.co.uk)

This, I believe, is a concept with which a lot of ARG's need to get to grips. Too many Slenderblogs and Blargs and other games end on a note of ambiguity, its seen as tension or suspense - perhaps they are leaving it open for a "sequal" or hoping the players will fill in the gaps - and all that is very well and good. However, what the PM needs to understand is that this approach can often be frustrating.

When we are invested in characters, perhaps following them over a number of months, years even, maybe even interacting or meeting with them - and then for them to just drop off the map is often a rather disappointing ending. If you choose not to communicate a concrete conclusion to your game and leave conflicting clues to convey that their fate may have been one thing or another, you must at least have an idea in your own head on how everything ties up and what happened to them, otherwise when you are putting it together it won't make sense and your own uncertainty will show through.

If you are interested in the entire article, it can be found here: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/01/play/inception-director-lives-the-dream



Btw, no I'm not talking about 15 Days! You've wrapped it all up nicely thanks! Carrots are tasty.

Gaming in 2011 Part 1

There will be a bucketload of posts like this across the web as this year comes to a close, and I'm hoping to get mine in nice and early! Set up shop and see what everyone else thinks. I thought I'd tackle Gaming in its many and varied guises in this post, and say what I am looking forward to over the next year or so. I'm splitting this into two parts, one for Video Games, one for Alternate Reality Games. Here goes:

Video Games
I really don't like the name "video games", it feels like the term "movies" - do we really need to define the film by the fact that the pictures are moving? However, no other term seems to fit "computer games" doesn't really cover consoles, jumpy-shooty-flippymajigg doesn't match either. So, video games it is. For me there are 3 exciting events (and one honourable mention):

Anywho, 2011 is a pretty big year for me. There are a number of titles on the horizon which get my juices flowing and to start off I think I'll go with Portal 2. Ho momma, Portal is a beast of a game - its funny, clever, witty, frustrating, mind bending, disturbing, scary and most importantly it is a whole troughload of fun.

Spicy! I cannot wait to see what GLaDOS (not sure if the capitalisation is correct here!) has in store as she informs us over the end credits of the first game (through song) that she is "I'm doing science and I'm still alive". If you haven't been HERE, then do so, and then tremble in fear at the last scene.

[EDIT=07/12/10] Originally watched this with the sound off - having watched it with sound I now realise that the voice is Stephen Bloody Merchant! First Danny Wallace in Assassin's Creed 2/Brotherhood and now this! Big few years for British comedians! My money would be on Harry Hill voicing the lord of the Sith in Star Wars: The Old Republic[/EDIT]

[EDIT 2=07/12/10]Oh, and Stephen Fry in Fable III[/EDIT]

Secondly, we have Batman: Arkham City. Arkham Asylum was one of the first games I got for the PS3 this year and I played it through in about a week. It was a game that just felt like all the little bits just worked, the combat was fluid and fun (particularly slowing down the final punch on a badguy just to watch his jaw break) the scenery was wacky enough to be almost Kilmer era Batman, but also dark and brooding enough to stick to the canon, and Batman himself was suitably gadget-filled to make the game varied and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience (even if it was somewhat let down by a final boss fight which could have been competantly completed by a blind 3 fingered sloth who'd just woken up).
I love games like this, quirky, a little scary, with a tongue in cheek way of approaching violence and horror. Fun. Can't wait for the next installment.

Thirdly and most importantly: Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars has been my almost constant companion now for about 5 years, I love this game, I love the lore, the combat, the characters and storylines, its awesome. Guild Wars 2 is shaping up to be awesome on a whole other scale. I'm hesitant about the persistant world (the only other foray I've had into persistent world MMOs is Aion, and, well, it wasn't good!), nonetheless, I'm squeeing with delight knowing its coming at some point next year. ANet are holding their cards characteristically close to their chest re: release date, but most people are predicting first/second quarter 2011.
I won't go on about it too much here as I could talk for hours, but I will make a post nearer the release date and when we have a little bit more info.

Honourable mention: American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns. One of my quite early gaming loves was the prequal to this game. It was downright scary on a fundamental level, not just jumpy and gory, but it was more like that time in the park in Amsterdam when I had a whooooole spacecake to myself and I fell into a Dali painting - it was kinda like that. I am looking forward to where they go from there.