The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time--keeps on slipping into the future

The Legend of Zelda is an epic video game series by Nintendo about a princess, (who the game is named after) a hero in a green tunic named Link, and there enemy, the always evil, sometimes porcine, Ganon.  That's three major characters battling for the mythical land of Hyrule.  As in many mythologies, three is a significant number in this tale.  Hyrule was created by three goddesses, and the main symbol of the series is The Triforce which is constructed from three triangles.

   The most groundbreaking entry of this series came in 1998 with its fifth installment, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  Taking advantage of the R4300i processor of the Nintendo 64, it was the first Zelda game to be rendered in 3D.  It was more than a graphics upgrade however--while the previous Zelda games certainly had storylines, much of which had to be read in the manual, they focused more on gameplay than weaving a coherent narrative.  Ocarina of Time managed to balance story and exploratory gameplay, presenting the deepest look into the magical world of Hyrule at the time.  Most importantly it forced us all to learn what the hell an ocarina was.  Well played Nintendo.

The Genesis of Hyrule via the goddesses Din of power, Naryu of wisdom, and Farore of courage.


In this game the player experiences Link in two forms: as a child in the relatively peaceful land of Hyrule, and through the power of time travel via The Master Sword, as an adult.  Only as an adult the sunny skies of Hyrule have been enshrouded in darkness.  Ganon a.k.a. Ganondorf has taken over the land and must be vanquished.

Little did we know at the time what a big impact the time traveling elements of Ocarina of Time would have not just within the game--but with the entire Zelda franchise.  In December 2011, Nintendo released a book titled The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia which contained within the one thing fans have been constructing, speculating, and even reconstructing for years, the official timeline of the Zelda series.  All the major Zelda titles have been placed in chronological order, which is not to be mistaken with the games' release date orders.  This may be confusing for newcomers to the series as the release date of the games do not correlate with where their story falls into the timeline.  For example the latest Zelda for the Wii, Skyward Sword, was revealed to be the beginning of the world of Hyrule.  On the other hand, the Zelda games that were created back on The Nintendo in the 80's, take place well after Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time in the chronology.  Further more, from one Zelda adventure to another, the player is typically not controlling the same Link or interacting with the same Zelda (though that bastard Ganon seems to keep surviving--evil never sleeps).  Link and Zelda are beings reborn through the ages who come to assist Hyrule in its times of need.



To add to the complexity of the Zelda timeline, there are not two, but three divergent paths, all of which occur thanks to Ocarina of Time.  When Child Link pulls the legendary Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time (King Arthur style) he travels seven years forward into the future.  Here, we play as Adult Link who, Master Sword in hand, must rid Hyrule of Ganondorf, which at the end of the story leads to three possibilities:

• The Hero of Time fails to defeat Ganon.  This creates "The Fallen Hero Timeline."  Ganon has free reign with no hero to oppose him.  This would lead to The Seal War, which connects to Zelda: Link to the Past released on the Super Nintendo.

•  The Hero of Time succeeds.  An adult Zelda rewards the matured Link for defeating Ganondorf by sending him back seven years to his childhood so he could live a normal life.  Now following Zelda, this is "The Adult Link Timeline."   Unfortunately Ganondorf returns to life and wrecks havoc on Zelda's kingdom.  There is no Link to stop him as he was only recently sent back in time.  Rather than let Ganon have the world, the goddesses plunge Hyrule beneath a vast ocean.  This leads to Wind Waker, where players follow a new Link who sails the flooded world.

•     The Hero of Time succeeds.  Same as above only this time we follow things from Link's perspective as opposed to Zelda's.   Sent back to his original time, he is a child once more.  This little Hero of Time would have another adventure in the sequel Majora's Mask.  This is known as "The Child Link Timeline."  Despite having minor conquest, no one would truly know that Link was the great hero who went forward in time and saved all their ungratefully hides from Ganondorf.

Ocarina of Time would not be the last we see of this incarnation of Link, The Hero of Time.  In The Twilight Princess (which follows along the "Child Link Timeline") the new Link takes guidance from a ghostly figure known as The Hero's Spirit, who teaches him seven hidden skills, making the new hero into a better swordsman.  The Hero's Spirit turns out to be Link from Ocarina of Time.  His ghost stays in Hyrule begrudging the fact that he had no heirs to pass his skills onto, and that he was never recognized as a great hero.   Twilight Princess marks the first time we get to see one Link interact with another--hopefully it won't be the last.

A left-handed swordsman?  It is The Hero of Time!  Oh Link what woes have befallen thou?

  

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Clearly Nintendo realized what an impact Ocarina of Time has had on the series and released a remake for the 3DS on June 19, 2011

Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda who thankfully lacks her father's hairiness.

Hotline Miami--Let's make those white suits RED! pt. 2

"Right after you pass me the Cheerios you rude, dead, man."

 Things get bad--Jacket enters a convenience store to find a strange bearded clerk (who also seems to work at a pizza shop, a bar, and a VHS rental store) as well as the corpse of his enemy, Biker.  The creepy clerk informs us, "All this is not really happening" which may be a wink at the player, this is a video game after all.  To prove that this isn't reality, the corpse of Biker, and what's left of his head, attempt to speak...but mostly he just gurgles--and he's not the only member of the talking dead we'll encounter.  Corpses of the slain mafia men pop up all over the place.  Outside shops, in Jacket's apartment, pleasant stuff really.  Also it would appear that Jacket is being observed by a pair of green suited janitors who seem to have little to do with the plot (and have a strong resemblance to Hotline's creators Jonatan Söderström and Dennis Wedin).  One even has the nerve to enter his apartment and when the player attempts to speak to the janitor his reply is "......" nil. 

This game has more talking corpses than a Chan-wook Park film

 Things get worse--raging through the levels to a funky electronic soundtrack that may be as addictive as the high octane gameplay, Jacket continues to leave blood splatters all over the flashy neon tackiness that was 1980's Miami.  The beats keeps the player flowing through what can only be described as an eerie murder trance.  It's all routine until Jacket returns to his home to see the unspeakable happen.  Another assassin in a rat mask named Richter has broken into his apartment and slain his new found girlfriend.  That rattin' bastard does him another favor by putting a bullet in his head--Richter too is following orders from his answering machine--the protagonist has outlived his usefulness to this shadow organization.

                                       Mega 64's hilarious take on Hotline Miami

Things get weird--the player gets an automatic Game Over.  The end...that is until we wake up in a hospital.  We learn that while the events we've seen did actually happen (though to what extent who knows) we have been witnessing a coma dream up until now.  Surviving a bullet to the head will do that to you.  From the rest of the game onward Jacket is in the "real" world.  His first mission in reality, escape the hospital and return back home. 


From here the storyline gets a change of tempo.  This is now a tale of revenge.  Jacket wants to wipe out every mafia bastard as well as the rat-faced Richter, for the death of his girlfriend.  Even though he succeeds in offing the rat (though you can show Richter mercy), plus the Russian's and their leader, Jacket's story ends with a dangling plot thread. Who the hell was leaving these threatening messages on the answering machine that led to the slaughters in the first place?  To find out Hotline Miami uses a unique character switching mechanic.  Time literally rewinds before our eyes.  Controlling the pink vested hitman Biker, we are led back to the fight between he and Jacket--only this time around Biker wins the fight and executes the game's hero with a not-so-gentle stomp to the head.  Unlike the mute Jacket, Biker wants to get to the bottom of things and find out who has been ordering him, as well as the other assassins, to murder the Russian mob.

Biker, getting to the bottom of things, like bikers do.

Gameplay as Biker works a little differently from Jacket.  He maintains the cleaver and three throwing knives he used from the earlier boss fight, and can not pick up additional weapons.  After following address leads from his own answering machine, and threatening the right people, Biker comes to the house where the assassination orders are being made.  Upon entering the house we see one of the janitors who was spying on Jacket flee into a sewer manhole.

Biker follows him down and confronts not one, but two of the janitors who are hiding down below.  "Who are you working for?" he demands

"No one" the blonde janitor with a smug smile says.
"We're independent, we did it ourselves!" replies his brunet accomplice through his jackal grin.  This statement is a reference to the production of independently made video games.  In this case the company who created the game Dennaton comprises of just two men.  The janitors jerk Biker around and give him no straight answers.  Biker is left with the option to kill or spare these men, but will never know why exactly all this killing had to happen.  But wait yet, there is a proper ending, we just have to rewind one more time, only not so far.

Back to the surface level of the janitors' hideout is a password protected computer.  There are sixteen puzzle pieces hidden throughout Hotline Miami, each a different letter that when combined reveals a phrase that works as the password for the computer.  Discovering this code reveals what is known in the video game world as The Golden Ending.

This password is brought to you by The Boss!



This time around having hacked into the mysterious janitors' personal computer, Biker confronts them without having to ask questions.  He already knows all he needs to about the shadow organization they run known as "50 Blessings."

Wiping the self-satisfied grins off the faces of these jingoistic bastards is one of the most satisfying moments in video game history.

50 Blessing it turns out is an overreaction to the 80's return of The Red Scare.  The janitors have been blackmailing and coercing people through phone messages to go on killing sprees against what 50 Blessings saw as a looming Russian invasion.  Now that he has his answers, once again Biker has the option to kill or spare these men.

 This was one weird ride, but it is definitely one I'll be willing to take again when Dennaton finally releases the sequel they're currently developing.  Hotline Miami is a series where the corpses don't fade away after you kill them.  They just lie there dead, lifeless and destroyed.  It's a design choice that one of the creators, Jonatan Söderström, expressed in an article by International Business Times, "There are moral implications in trying to sanitise violence and we just didn't want to do that.  It's better to make a violent game than to try and tone down the violence. We wanted to show how ugly it is when you kill people."

Hotline Miami--It's like that 80's song pt. 1

Hotline Miami by Dennaton Games

Another daily message on your answering machine, "This is 'Thomas' from the methadone clinic. We've scheduled a short meeting for you tonight. We're at NW 184th street, APT 105. And don't worry... We know discretion is of importance to our clients."  The only truth in this message--and all the other messages you receive--is the address, the rest is a lie.  When you arrive at the address in your stylish Delorean, you choose from a variety of animal themed masks, put one on, and lets the bloodshed begin.



Hotline Miami is set in the late 1980's (guess in which city). The ultra violent retro adventure was so inspired by the movie Drive that the creators mention the film's director in the game's credits under special thanks.  It is not the video game it seems to be at first, both from a gameplay and narrative perspective.  It's a top down game that has you playing as a nameless, violent, assassin who has access to a large variety of weapons.  Many are impromptu: baseball bats, lead pipes, golf clubs, and in one case a pot of boiling water.  Others are more official killing tools: katanas, uzis, and shotguns.  However the player must use these items with caution. 

Kill--but kill carefully.
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Running into a room guns a blazin' will only attract more members of  the Russian mob you've been contracted to kill.  A stealthier approach may be needed.  Precision, speed, and planning are necessary if one wants to survive Hotline Miami.  You don't want to go rushing into a room with four armed mafia men who want your head.  Instead you'll find yourself waiting for one to walk by a door--then you'll swing that door open from the other side knocking that gangster to the ground.  You throw a knife at one of his accomplices across the room cutting his life short.  You rush back over to the downed man and bash his head into the ground before he can recover.  Grabbing  his weapon you run over to finish off his two comrades before they finish you.  That's what the gameplay is like--fast paced and quick thinking--and you might want to leave a little room for improvising in case things go wrong.  This isn't just action, it's a puzzle game as well. You'll constantly ask yourself, "how do I best navigate through this maze of mafia men without them handing my ass to me?"

The storyline begins in a fog.  We don't know why Jacket (the name given to the main protagonist by the fans) is going from one mafia safe house to another killing the dangerous men within, but we know what's motivating him, mysterious answering machine messages he receives in his home giving him the address to his next "appointment." 

Hotline Miami tells a story in subtle ways all while using Nintendo era graphics.  In the level titled Decadence, Jacket rescues a junkie/prostitute from the clutches of the Russian gangsters.  He takes her home out of sympathy and we see them living together between chapters.  While not a word of dialogue is spoken between them, we see the hitman's home getting a "woman's touch" overtime.  The apartment gets cleaner, and we see their two beds being moved closer together over time.  It's story telling at it's most subtle, but also at it's finest.  Here lies the strength of indie games, they can tell a powerful narrative without the photo-realistic graphics of mainstream titles.


Nah man, nothing is alright in this twisted tale.
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The cut scenes in the game are chilling and confusing like a David Lynch movie.  Within each of the game's four acts, Jacket is confronted by three masked beings in a creepy undisclosed location.  Much like the disturbed protagonist, they wear animal mask.  The rooster Richard (representing the superego), Ramsus the owl (the ever brutal, ever rude, id), and Don Juan in her horse mask (the ego).  Richard, clearly the leader of the group, ask Jacket (and by proxy the player) these four questions:  

1. Do you like hurting other people?
2. Who is leaving messages on your answering machine?
3. Where are you right now?
4. Why are we having this conversation?

Whoever is leaving the messages on Jacket's answering machine guarantees one thing--the hitman is not alone on his masked massacre.  There are others running rampant at the orders of this mysterious organization.  Jacket will encounter a few of them, and it won't be pretty when he does.

In a chapter titled "Neighbors" the protagonist faces one of these killers.  The pink vested, helmet wearing, cleaver swinging, rival assassin has been dubbed "Biker" by fans.  Assuming Jacket has come to kill him, a boss battle ensues, and if things go well for the player, Jacket ends up playing a friendly round of golf with Biker's head.  With a fellow assassin dead you'd think things would be getting better for Jacket, but from here things only get weirder....

to be continued....

Proteus Effect: You! Are! Avatar!

 Proteus Effect: describes a phenomenon wherein the behavior of an individual operating under a digital persona, adapts to conform to that persona. This is an effect associated with digital self-representation.  Source

In 2012 (the year our world ended) a study was done titled, The embodiment of sexualized virtual selves: The Proteus effect and experiences of self-objectification via avatars

 The study took 84 women from 18 to 41 and placed an HMD (head mounted device) on them.  Looking into a virtual world they were presented with a digital character to control (in some cases they resembled the player and were referred to as "virtual doppelgangers.") 

"We wanted to determine whether self-resemblance of the embodied avatar moderates the Proteus effect. Thus, in this study, participants were embodied in an avatar that was either sexualized (wearing tight and revealing clothing that accentuated a voluptuous body) or nonsexualized (wearing conservative clothing on a non-voluptuous body). Additionally, the face of the avatar was manipulated in that participants either saw their own face (Self) or someone else's face (Other) on the virtual body." (Fox et al., 2012)

After the virtual experience a questionnaire was given to the test subject in regards to the woman's perceptions on rape myths: the belief that when a woman is raped she is in some way responsible, because of the way she dressed, her behavior, etc.  The study found that the women who played as the sexily dressed avatars were more likely to agree with the absurd rape myths.

Let's walk it back some to the 2009 study  The Proteus Effect Implications of Transformed Digital Self-Representation on Online and Offline Behavior.   The study featured Nick Yee and Jeremey Bailenson who first coined the phrase Proteus Effect in 2007.  Building on their prior research they monitored online worlds such as the ever popular World of Warcraft and discovered an interesting find:

   "Overall, the findings suggest that avatar height and attractiveness do play a role in an online game, and tall attractive avatars do outperform other avatars... these findings show that an avatar’s appearance can influence a user’s behavior in an online environment." (Yee et al., 2009)

Damn, no wonder the dude in Avatar was so confident.  His was like ten feet tall!

I would definitely like to see research like this be expanded as it is only in it's infancy (hell, MMO gaming itself is still a fairly new phenomenon). An article on the 2012 study on NBC News says of the researchers, "Fox and Bailenson said that these are preliminary findings, emphasizing that critics of video games should not jump to hasty conclusions before more research can be done on the subject."


 My question for the 2012 Proteus Effect study is, would the results be different if all the women selected were experienced gamers?  Could they better differentiate between reality and fantasy?

It may be tempting to think that a gamer might be more susceptible, but could the opposite be possible?  We've played as Tommy Vercetti, Lara Croft, Commander Shepard, the list goes on.  Could trying on various skins and wearing many hats weaken the Proteus Effect?

In World of Warcraft it doesn't matter if the player is a hulking tauren or a squat dwarf--they'll hit you in the face with a blunt object all the same.

An interesting aside, the 2012 study also found that women who controlled the sexy avatars often felt the same physical insecurities as women who tried on swimsuits in real life body image studies.

Which is why TECMO decided to combine these elements into DOA Xtreme Beach Vollebally: The coup de grace to female self-esteem!

Oculus Rift--Plug into The Matrix!

For so long gamer-kind has been teased with the idea of virtual reality.  Some of us remember Nintendo's attempt with their system The Virtual Boy.  With its odd red and black image display, and the burning sensation players would feel in their eyes after 30 minutes of use. It was clear--we weren't viewing video games through those ruby lenses, but the blazing depths of Hell. 



Virtual Boy Born: July 21, 1995  Died: March 2, 1996

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                    Rumor has it that the Virtual Boy's creator, Gunpei Yokoi, was punished for the system's failure by being made to man a booth for the dead system at a 1996 gaming convention.  Despite the appearance and title of the console, it was in no way virtual reality.  The experience was more akin to sitting really, really, close to your TV while playing your Super Nintendo--after having been punched in the eyes.


The only other bit of virtual technology I could recall was back in the way rad early 90's.  When I was a little kid on a trip to Disney World I was lucky enough to be selected to beta-test a virtual reality game based on the movie Aladdin.  I remember putting on the virtual goggles and flying through the streets of an animated Agrabah on a rig that reminded me of a stationary motorcycle.  Thankfully a blog post by one of the men who worked on the project, Avi Bar-Zeev, confirms that the project was real and not one of my childhood hallucinations. 

Fast-forward to present day.  Not a lot has happened with virtual technology--that is until one hell of a Kickstarter project occurred in 2012.  Enter The Rift!  The Oculus Rift's goal was to reach $250,000 in pledges...it made it to $2,437,429 within 30 days.  It gained an additional $16 million in funding from Matrix Partners and Spark Capital.


Much like Gangnam Style and Miley Cyrus antics, The Rift has even attracted The Today Show's attention.  The system will be the first affordable virtual reality set to be used in households.  It should be interesting to see how this will change gaming, as well as other aspects of our lives.  An article on the Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry site explains future healthcare possibilities,
"The idea behind using VR for healthcare is to completely immerse patients in a computer-generated world where they can undergo therapy and training in a safe, artificial environment controlled by a clinician."

Some major games will be supporting the device.  Imagine how much creepier Ravenholm will be in Half-Life 2 when you walk through a dark room, turn your face, and see a headcrab leaping at you!

Virtual reality will allow us to immerse our selves in fantasies.  Some light, some oh so dark.

How realistic will VR become? What other sensations will we one day feel beyonds sights and sounds?        Throw in the omnidirectional treadmill and we're that much closer to having Star Trek's holodeck.

Speaking of sensations...not two seconds after the whole, "Hey they'll probably make porn out of this thing," joke was made, it stopped being a joke.  A naughty little Japanese title called Custom 3D Maid will be Oculus Rift compatible and will come with a special controller called Ju-C Air which can only be piloted by males--if ya know what I'm sayin'!  

Ah the human sex drive, well I believe Jeff Goldblum said it best in Jurassic Park "Life, uh... finds a way."

First we resurrect long-dead prehistoric beast, then we make sex with dead-eyed, virtual characters a reality.  For this we must endure the judgmental gaze of Goldblum!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengance--Our future wars pt. 2

Raiden is the Robin to Solid Snake's Batman...okay he's more of a Nightwing--a Robin who grew up and came into his own acrobatic heroics.

"I am my own man--I AM!"

Raiden (it's a codename, his real name is Jack) made his first appearance in Metal Gear Solid 2 where he upstaged Solid Snake in the role of main protagonist.
Metal Gear Rising is an action game that takes a departure from the Metal Gear Solid series.  Stealth is possible, but it's way more fun to engage the enemy and chop them into tiny little robot chunks with your samurai sword.

Raiden's childhood was a traumatic one, raised as a child soldier in Liberia by the evil Solidus Snake (not to be mistaken for his fellow clone from the Les Enfants Terribles project, Solid Snake), Raiden was such a vicious fighter in his youth he earned nicknames like "The White Devil" and "Jack the Ripper."  Fortunately he was able to get away from his sinister adoptive father and move to the United States.

Raiden: Child soldier, PTSD victim, cyborg-ninja, and... African American

Growing up Jack could not escape from the horrors of his past, displaying symptoms of PTSD (on top of constantly suppressing his Jack the Ripper persona), he felt the only thing he could do was be a soldier so he enlisted in FOXHOUND--who he would eventually leave for a private military security organization known as Maverick, as the lovable crazy-ninja-cyborg he is today.

Four years after Metal Gear Solid 4, Metal Gear Rising is set in the year 2018.  Things have escalated since MGS4--anybody who's anybody on the battlefield has been fitted with cyborg enhancements.  It makes sense considering this is a world were armies have robots with advanced AI's and Metal Gears: bipedal tanks capable of launching nuclear missiles.

There are futurist who believe that as technology advances around us at exponential rates, the only way humans will be able to keep up with it will be by integrating the technology within ourselves.  This future moment is called The Singularity.   In a way the story of Rising can be seen as a very physical version of The Singularity as soldiers must upgrade their bodies to stay in step with battlefield technology, as well as their enemies.  In the introduction of the game Raiden takes a major thrashing from rival sword swinging cyborg, Jetstream Sam.  Upon losing the fight (and some body parts) Raiden's first realization is--he needs to upgrade.  It's a funny thought, someday in the distant future we might be upgrading ourselves like we do our cellphones. 

As far as implementation in warfare, robotics are starting on the outside.  Exoskeletons, like the HULC, meant to increase a soldier's strength and endurance are in development.

And what of the other technology that is so prevalent throughout the Metal Gear franchise?  What about "Nanomachines son?" 

The final boss in Metal Gear Rising, who happens to be a U.S. Senator and 2020 shoe-in for the presidency, Steven Armstrong, is loaded with nanomachines making him a nearly indestructible foe.   

The Nanotechnology Initiative defines the science on their website:  "Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering."

In the Metal Gear universe the abilities granted by nanomachines in the blood stream range from the practical: monitoring the body's vitals, releasing painkillers and other medications, and links to personal devices; to the freakish: telepathy between soldiers, telekinesis, enhanced strength and healing, and just about every move Raiden's archnemesis Vamp makes.

It's impossible to say what the limits of nanotechnology will be:  Will they be able to perform micro-surgery?  Can someday nanorobots be injected into a patient to attack cancer cells?  Most importantly, will they allow us to stick to walls like Spider-man?

We have to keep an open mind when it comes to science even if certain achievements seem impossible in the present.  As science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once said,"If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

Keep an open mind, or Arthur C. Clarke will return as a cyborg-ninja and kick your ass.
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The Metal Gears keep on turning--Our future wars pt. 1

The Metal Gear franchise has been with us since 1987 making it almost as old as The Mario Bros. series.  It wasn't until 1998 when it added the tag Solid (in reference to going 3D and to the main protagonist Solid Snake) to the title that it gained the popularity it still enjoys today. 

The creator of the series Hideo Kojima, is credited for inventing the stealth genre of video games (and has the Guinness World Record to prove it) where instead of constantly engaging in combat, the character must remain hidden from patrolling enemies. While he has made many sequels and prequels to the Metal Gear Solid franchise, it is the concept of war machines in Metal Gear Solid 4 :Guns of the Patriots (2008), and continued in Metal Gear Rising: Revengance (2013) that feels almost prophetic as technology marches forward.

In the opening of MGS 4 Solid Snake gives this now classic quote: "War has changed. It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles fought by mercenaries and machines. War - and its consumption of life - has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed. ID-tagged soldiers carry ID-tagged weapons, use ID-tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities."  Set in the year 2014, how far off are we from the world Solid Snake describes?



"The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurr....oh god please don't step on us!

 The idea seems far fetched at first,  scientifically enhanced soldiers fighting on the battlefield along with killer war machines.  Proxy battles being fought by machines?!  Kojima does the science fiction well but maybe he should dial back a little on the fiction and......

Oh...oh wait...those guys.

PBS.org recently published an article titled Empathy for military robots could affect outcomes on the battlefield.  Soldiers have grown used to having robots in war zones, and are even empathizing with them.

Drones of course are still controlled by humans unlike the robotic units, like the Gekkos, seen in MGS.  X-47B--the first autonomous strike plane--intends to change that.  As described in an article by Bernie Lopez in the Philippine Daily Inquirer:  "In the past, US drones launched in the Middle East were mainly controlled via satellite thousands of kilometers away at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. But recently, for the first time, the United States showcased the new carrier-based superdrone X-47B. That it has a longer range than existing drones and that it is based on mobile carriers mean it can achieve deep penetration of enemy territories."

X-47B--like the movie Stealth only people will actually want to see it.

What makes the X-47B special is it isn't automated, it is autonomous.  While most robots are automated, capable of doing the same repetitive task over and over, the autonomous X-47B will be capable of making it's own decisions thanks to A.I.   

How will robots reshape the battlefield in terms of ethics?  On December 1st 2012 a policy review was written by professors Matthew Waxman and Kenneth Anderson titled Law and Ethics of Robot Soldiers.  Here's the money quote in regards to our future, shiny, robot soldiers:  "As lethal systems are initially deployed, they may include humans in the decision-making loop, at least as a fail-safe — but as both the decision-making power of machines and the tempo of operations potentially increase, that human role will likely slowly diminish." 

"Ethics schmethics, I nailed it down to three rules."

MGS4 serves as Solid Snake's swan song.  The result of a cloning experiment in the 1970's known as Les Enfants Terribles, his body is breaking down prematurely and he is old beyond his years.  As an old school soldier he appears a bit outclassed next to the robotically enhanced enemies he faces (though I'm sure he's grown accustomed to that by now).  Snake's protégé Raiden however is all about getting jiggy with the cyborg enhancements.  Next week I'll discuss Raiden and his spin off game Metal Gear Rising and what happens when we do more than fight along the robots--we become them.

to be continued.....

 

The Last of Us--What is the measure of a zombie?

With the success of the The Walking Dead (both the show and Image comic book), and video games like Left 4 Dead (and Call of Duty!  Even Call of Duty has to have zombies now!) we are in a Zombie Renaissance.  Naughty Dog's The Last of Us does it a little differently however. 

The story starts off in Texas in the year 2013.  It's the lead character Joel's birthday and his 12-year-old daughter presents him with a watch as a gift.  When he ask her where she got the money for such a present she facetiously responds, "Drugs, I sell hardcore drugs."   These are the two main things the player will come to expect from The Last of Us, realistic, human interactions, and smart-ass teenagers.

Of course as any savvy player who paid attention to the promotional material before the release of The Last of Us might have noticed, we didn't see this character Sarah--which means of course, Sarah was destined to die early on.  Not ten minutes into the disease-ridden apocalypse, Joel, his brother Tommy, and Sarah are running through the streets of Austin when they're stopped by a soldier wielding an assault rifle.  Radio orders tell him to execute the fleeing group in case they are infected.  Bullets are fired, Joel survives, Tommy takes out the military man, but unfortunately little Sarah does not make it in one of the most traumatic openings to a video game ever. 

What is the definition of a zombie?  In the original context, zombies were a part of the Haitian tradition--magically resurrected dead who followed the commands of a voodoo master.  The modern day zombie has been redefined thanks to George Romero and his film Night of the Living Dead in which the mindless hordes of walking corpses were controlled by nothing but their hunger for living flesh.

 The infected humans that appear in The Last of Us are technically not zombies as they are not undead--though they function in similar ways.  One must be alive to become infected by the fungus that causes the disease--and oh what a fungus it is.

The Infected--like zombies, but less handsome.
The Last of Us

Because Mother Nature has a love-hate relationship with all living things she decided to handcraft cordyceps, a bizarre fungus that enters inside various insects, causes them to behave sporadically (pun!), until the bug dies and the fungus grows throughout them.  Worse yet is the corpse burst into spores infecting other insects around it.




"So I was just hoppin' along when...aaaaah! Aaaaah!  What is this John Carpenter horror growing from within me!?"      

In reality cordyceps have no affect on humans--but being as twisted as Mother Nature herself--Naughty Dog's developers thought the concept of such a fungus that infects humans would make for a great video game.  Instead of killing humans however it keeps them in that crazed sporadic state as their skulls and bodies mutate over time.

The Last of Us takes a unique approach to the zombie/zombie-esque apocalypse in a few ways. 

• While the first few minutes of the game take place in 2013, the majority of the story is set in 2033, it is rare to get a glimpse into an end of days infection scenario.  Typically such stories follow the origins of the outbreak.  In this story however it is fascinating to see how humans live with the outbreak in the long run.  We see a young Joel briefly as a gentle architect who loves his daughter, then we flash-forward to a brutal grizzled Joel who is now a smuggler.

• The government has not collapsed completely as it usually does in end of the world scenarios.  They're still around, in a way they have more power than ever.  They now enforce draconian rules to keep the healthy folks within quarantine zones, and the infected on the outside.

• Similarly to The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later (which features zombie-esque creatures infected by the Rage Virus) at the end of the day, the biggest threat isn't the roaming monsters, it's competing against violent human beings for survival.  This is implemented into the gameplay as you must switch between quietly sneaking past The Infected, and having shoot-outs with bandits (referred to as hunters) who want to rob you of everything you've got...including your life.

Luckily for the player, Joel happens to be a very violent human being, if he wasn't he wouldn't have come this far.  His latest smuggling job is to protect and escort Ellie--a teenage girl with an adorable potty-mouth-- who is mysteriously immune to the cordycep virus.

Joel is a people person.
The Last of Us

It's a cross-country journey to get to a medical facility run by an anti-government group known as The Fireflies.  It is through Ellie that they hope to find a cure for the infection that will save humankind.  The experience is full of emotion, Joel is very gruff, and cold toward Ellie initially.  He's become a man who's shielded himself from emotion.  Worse yet, now he has to spend time with a teenage girl who reminds him of what he's lost.

There is a clever correlation between the storyline and in-game combat.  The closer Joel and Ellie become, the more she is willing to do for her grouchy friend in a scrap.  For example if Joel finds himself struggling in a fight with a Hunter, Ellie might sneak-up and use that pocket knife she's always carrying to stab the bad guy in his side.  When their relationship grows even stronger, she might hop on top of that baddie and stab him to death like a little murder-monkey. 

Through this gruesome expedition you'll be willing to commit all kinds of crazy acts of violence for this girl who feels more and more like a surrogate daughter--and when Joel finally refers to her as "baby girl" like he did to Sarah 20 years ago, it's hard not to go misty-eyed.

     

No More Heroes--The Circle of Death pt.2--this game is for the Wii?

A motley crew of sociopaths

                                   


With its adult themes, No More Heroes debuting on the Nintendo Wii was an unusual choice giving the system's reputation for "kiddie" games.  Not to mention that it was created by a kooky director who typically wants to push video games in a more artistic direction.  From the start of the game Travis Touchdown says, "I know a lot of gamers out there who don't have much patience, 'least that's what Bishop the dude at the video store said."  The player is pushed into the bizarre plot at a breakneck speed.

We continue with assassin #4 Harvey Moiseiwitsch Volodarrskii who is a stage magician that resembles a certain Mindfreak!  Here Harvey presents violence as a theatrical form of entertainment, throwing knives into his lovely assistants during his performance.  Eventually he calls Travis to come up as a volunteer--not surprising since he's one of the only two people in the audience (the second being Sylvia Christel whom Travis is still hoping to score with). 

Harvey tells Travis Touchdown that he must owe his spectacular name to his parents.  "My parents are dead," Travis replies as he grins at the non-existent audience before him.  This is the first insight into Travis's backstory.   

The 3rd ranked match features the misandrous old woman known as Speed Buster.  The phallic imagery is through the roof here as her weapon of choice is an extremely elongated cannon which has a base that resembles a rooster's head.  Cock-a-doodle-doo!


Despite being a few blocks away from his target--Travis manages to close the gap and castrate the cannon--making up for the missed opportunity he has against prior assassin Letz Shake.  He approaches the now defenseless Speed Buster who has changed her harsh tone--Travis she deems a worthy man.  She kisses him on the cheek and wishes him farewell before he lops her head off.  It is a grisly form of character development as it is Travis's first time killing a female assassin.  Sylvia shows up to admire the decapitation stating in her French accent, "It is really cool how they all die," a jab at how we as gamers (and media consumers in general) have a thirst for blood when it comes to entertainment.


Ranked match #2 is the most bizarre encounter in the game.

--and that says a lot in a Suda 51 production

                                              

We meet Bad Girl in the basement of a baseball stadium beating bound men to death with a bat in some scary BDSM ritual.  Even Travis is puzzled by her sadistic behavior.  "You have no right to look at me like that!" she shouts at him as she sits on her couch--legs spread and panties clearly visible.  Is she talking to Travis or the player?

Travis Touchdown: You're no assassin, you're just a perverted killing maniac.

Bad Girl: In essence they're the same--don't go on thinking you're better than me.

Travis is disgusted with Bad Girl's actions.  Perhaps his character is developing...or maybe he's just a hypocrite who can't recognize the atrocities of his own ruthless behavior.


Finally Travis reaches #1.  In a desert he is approached by a man in black, cape blowing in the wind, dark helmet over his face.  This is Dark Star, and he claims to be Travis's father.

Also worth mentioning, he wields the biggest beam sword in the game.

Dark Star's false paternal claim causes Travis to search his memories for a moment and he thinks back to the day his real parents were killed. Our "hero" seems to have had a bit of amnesia.  He suddenly recalls that he didn't enlist in this string of death matches to be number one, he did it in hopes of finding the assassin who killed his family.  In his mental flashback, behind his parents' corpses stands a bloody blonde woman. 

Before Dark Star can make a move, a fist breaks through his chest killing him instantly.  The killer fist belongs to the blonde from Travis's nightmarish memories--Jeane, the girl who murdered his family.  But why?  Travis wants to know who she is and why she offed his mom and dad when he was younger.  She refuses at first claiming the story alone would raise the age rating for this video game even higher.

Travis tells her he'll fast forward through her story--sparing we gamers from its contents (remember earlier he claimed that gamers have no patience for this kind of thing).  Jeane's story is a tragic one--turns out she's Travis's half-sister, she was regularly molested by their father (who's indiscretions with Travis's mother drove Jeane's own mom to suicide), and eventually sold her body into prostitution--all before becoming the toughest assassin on the planet.  These are very serious plot points in the story, by having Travis fast forward through them, Suda 51 is challenging the player--are we really ready for mature story lines in video games? Sure we can handle the gore, the swearing, the half-naked chicks, but can we develop beyond this into deeper thematic elements?

As the fight begins between Travis and Jeane, the energy from the deceased Dark Star's sword sprouts an energy dragon which forms a circle from head to tail around the fighters. This is reminiscent of the ouroboros, the ancient symbol of the serpent eating its own tail expressing the cyclical nature of life.  Suddenly Dr. Peace's quote comes back to haunt us,

  The Ouroboros--The cyclical serpent--the dragon of destiny--looks hip on t-shirts

                     

  "The words reservations only apply only to those outside the circle--it's getting into that circle that matters."  Congratulations Travis you made it into this circle of death--you'll never need reservations again.  Notably, the circle shrinks tighter and tighter as the fight against Jeane continues.

Of course Travis comes out on top vanquishes his sister and retires happily as assassin #1...except for the fact that, that Henry bastard is still out there waiting to lock horns with Travis.  Before the game can end the player is forced to confront Henry in a final battle right outside the protagonist's motel room.  Here the villain reveals himself to be Travis's twin brother much to the main characters confusion.

Also Henry turns out to be Sylvia's husband.  Travis won't be sleeping with her anytime soon

  He responds, "Why would you bring up something like that at the last minute of the game?"

So in the past few minutes we learn that Travis has parents who were murdered, a half-sister, a twin brother--the plot is getting crazier by the moment but there's no end to the story in sight--our protagonist can't see his way out.  Like the hell bound cast in Sartre's No Exit, or Patrick Bateman at the end of American Psycho, there is no way out of this damn thing.

 Travis concludes "I want to bail but where the hell's the exit?  There's no way out is there?...Then let's find that exit they call Paradise."   Hey--Death Metal warned him.

No More Heroes--The Circle of Death pt.1

"I feel as if I'm looking at my future self. Mega bucks, big-ass house, fast cars, dining in style with a world class chef and a trusted nutritionist counting every calorie!"  Travis Touchdown's manic inner monologue races through his head as he battles rival assassin Death Metal.

    The plot to No More Heroes is intentionally simple.  Travis Touchdown is a broke otaku who manages to purchase a beam katana (with a very unorthodox recharge mechanic) on some internet auction site.  Naturally he decides to become an assassin and enters a series of ranked matches for depraved killers, sponsored by the United Assassins Association.  Starting at number 11, Travis wants to kill his way to number 1.  Oh--also if he succeeds to make it to first place, Sylvia Christel, a representative of the UAA, promises to sleep with him...probably...maybe--you know there's a crude name for the kind of person Sylvia is.

And I only have to kill 10 people for her?  Worth it!

In his battle with assassin #10, Travis sees the man he wants to be.  The tattooed Death Metal has got the mansion, the women, the money--he even has a bigger beam sword than Travis's.

Sometimes a beam sword is just a beam sword...but not in Travis's case.

   The moment Travis approaches Death Metal in his sweet villa, the seasoned killer gives him a warning.  While the younger one looks about his surroundings and believes this beach side home must be paradise, Death Metal corrects him, "This is no paradise," it's actually, "a place to die."
 
   After a well fought duel, Travis manages to lop off Heavy Metal's arms and just before decapitating him shouts "Here's your ticket to paradise old man!"


   #9 on this hit list is a gun tottin' corrupt detective (who has a striking resemblance to Charles Bronson) named Dr. Peace.  


   Peace starts an unexpected conversation with Travis about a meal he had last night at a fancy
restaurant--you know one of those kinds that are really hard to get into.  Dr. Peace explains,
"What's important is not the fact the reservations are hard to get, in fact no one gets reservations.  The words reservations only apply only to those outside the circle--it's getting into that circle that matters."

   And there's the important line to remember for later "it's getting into that circle that matters."  After a bloody battle in a baseball stadium of blade vs. bullets, Travis manages to finish off Dr. Peace by slashing open his abdomen.  Taunting his dying opponent he says "It's open mic night in hell old man, sing all you want down there."  For the record that's one assassin he sends to paradise, and another he's sending to hell.  Little does our hero know, the path he's on will lead him to a place that is neither Heaven nor Hell. 


   Through his matches we learn a little bit about Travis.  Though he may be callow and stupid, he does have his own honor code.  He has a tendency to spare his female combatants--a problem considering 5 out of 10 of his opponents are women.  He spares the young girl Shinobu (#8) claiming it's due to her inexperience--though later we'll learn better.


  #7 is a hilarious (and pathetic) deconstruction of the superhero concept named Destroyman.  His dual identity, mild mannered mailman one moment--psychotic superhero the next, appears to be a mockery of what video gamers themselves experience.  As gamers we're always taking on personas of heroes and badassess who live lives we can only dream of.

  During the fight Destroyman's tough guy persona is soon seen to be a facade, he's just as wimpy as he was in his mail carrier uniform as he begs for mercy.  It's all too appropriate symbolism when Travis bisects the coward with his beam katana.

   Just look at that uniform--he got what he deserved

During his match with #6, Holly Summers an interesting line of dialogue occurs between the lead and the female assassin he's fighting.

Holly Summers: Death is the only truth. You are still a mere bud.

Travis Touchdown: That's not a good thing you know, seeking meaning in everything, especially killing.  That's a bad habit among smart little girls these days.

 Feels like a direct challenge to the player's sensibilities doesn't it?  Is the game's creator, Suda 51, questioning our values when it comes to media consumption?


   For the most part Travis makes his way through the ranked assassins without a hitch until he gets to #5, Letz Shake and his giant robot which resembles a large...well you can figure it out I'm sure.  Before the otaku can even take a swing at the robot and its master, a man comes flying down from the sky with his own beam sword and slices Letz Shake and his phallic machine in half. 

The intruder goes by Henry and he is every gamer's worst nightmare.  By slicing Travis's target in half he has castrated him.  Worse yet, before Touchdown gets to counter with an attack, Henry has vanished--but don't worry he'll be back.    



to be continued...