Big Balls Reviews: Inglourious Basterds

Recently I saw Quentin Tarantino's newest film, Inglourious Basterds. The basic premise is that a group of American Jewish soldiers infliltrate occupied France during World War II on a mission with the simple objective of killing as many Nazis as possible. It stars Brad Pitt as the brash, scowling lieutenant in charge of the operation. It is entirely a work of fiction, particularly as in the final bits when (SPOILER ALERT) Hitler, Goerring, Goebbels, and a good portion of the rest of the Third Reich's upper ranks get killed in a cinema.

The movie takes place in several chapters, each featuring only a couple of scene changes at most. This serves to maximize each scene's effect, especially when one considers how much actually goes on in each scene. Much of the time it's entirely dialog driven, with a surprisingly low level of violence given both the premise and Tarantino's past films (Kill Bill, Grindhouse, Pulp Fiction, etc.). It also featured quite a bit of German and French with subtitles, which was refreshing as many movies take the (rather lazy) liberty of assuming every European during World War II spoke English with heavy accents. All of the actors were well cast, and the dialog was excellent. There is also a good balance of tension and release, and the ending felt satisfying.

Despite being a very well-done film, no review would be complete without some criticism. The beginning felt quite drawn out, and felt like it took a while for the story to get rolling. It was also kind of a long movie, but the whole final 15% or so went by extremely fast. A marker of a good movie is if the only critique one can manage is nit-picky things that are easily passed by, and such is certainly the case here. No one should go into seeing it for the first time with the idea that it's historically accurate, as that could only lead to disappointment. It is, however, a good action flic and Brad Pitt pulls his weight as usual.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Storytelling in Video Games

Recently I purchased and played through a game on my Xbox 360 called Mass Effect. This game is a futuristic action/role playing game, in which humanity has taken its place among several space-faring races and the hero has to save the galaxy. It has garnered several awards since it was released last year, many in response to the storytelling elements like writing and voice acting. Having thoroughly enjoyed the game myself, and it prompted this entry of Big Balls about storytelling in video games as a whole.

It seems like 15 or 20 years ago, very little story was involved in most games. Sure the hope of the player was to rescue the princess or save the world from a megalomaniac at the end of standard-setting games starring Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, respectively. Those two games alone resulted in dozens of cookie-cutter platforming games with a taped-on story with no discernible meaning (Earthworm Jim and Crash Test Dummies help prove my point). For most games of the 80's and early 90's, story in video games was limited to some text scrolling across the screen at the outset and a few simple 8- or 16-bit graphics to move the action along. It seems rather remarkable now, 15 years after I first experienced video games, how far the industry has come.

Mass Effect involved well over 100 people to create, and quite a few of those were solely concerned with how to make it seem as immersing an experience as possible. Needless to say, their hard work was noticed. It was developed by BioWare, a company that has always been about making quality role-playing games. As was mentioned above, the game is set in the future. Humans have encountered several races in the galaxy, and is capable of faster-than-light travel. The developers worked to create a galaxy rich in the various cultures that inhabit it, and the ability to use your ship to explore many different star systems at will make for tons of side content not necessarily relating to the main story. Part of that exploration involves the codex, a library of information that grows as you see what the galaxy has to offer. The level of detail put into making the universe feel alive is quite astounding.

Another aspect that make the story feel deep and immersing is how the story unfolds through the eyes of the player. Much of the time between combat scenes is spent having active dialog with non-player controlled characters. Each time a response is required during the course of the conversation, the player is given several options to choose from which determine where the dialog from that point goes. Often one of the options represents the "Paragon," and another represents the "Renegade." As you choose one of those two, you gain a reputation among the other characters as being more compassionate or ruthless, respectively. From there the main storyline can take multiple different directions, and greatly differentiate one player's experience from another. When every single conversation had during the game can have multiple outcomes, it really makes the player feel like they have more control. The game's writing alone was a huge undertaking in development and makes the game worth picking up. Furthermore, when the sequel to the game is released next year, players will be able to use their characters from the first game to continue the story, and all of the variable events will carry over (i.e. when a player has to choose between saving one person or another).

Mass Effect is just one example of a trend in gaming these days as a result of many players expecting more out of their games than action or platforming. Writing for games is more like that of movies or TV shows than ever. Obviously, some games prove to be more successful in that department than others. However, because content like this has been shown to create quite a deep and entertaining experience, I think many gamers will be calling for this type of storytelling and pushing game designers to find creative ways to oblige the market. Everyone appreciates a good story, and with video games the ability to truly and deeply affect how the narrative progresses really puts the medium on a different level than other forms of entertainment.

New Comic

new strip is now online, as usual at http://www.no-name-creek.blogspot.com enjoy!

Confederations Cup Final

Well on Sunday the final match of the FIFA Confederations Cup was played in Johannesburg, South Africa between USA and Brazil. I was (along with most people watching the tournament) totally surprised to watch USA shut out Spain in the semifinals, 2-0 after an abysmal group stage which saw USA barely squeak into the next round after losing to Brazil and Italy 3-0 and 3-1, respectively. Going into the final, many were optimistic about a confident USA squad even if it was against the defending Confederations Cup champions. Personally I was hopeful, but not totally confident in our ability to pull off 2 huge upsets back-to-back.

As the game began, the US came out strong and limited Brazil's ability to break through our defense, and we managed to have a decent amount of time on the ball. In the 10th minute we were treated with a special moment, as Clint Dempsey put one in the back of the net to put USA up 1-0. We continued to put pressure on Brazil and limit the influence of their stars, Kaka and Robinho. Both of those factors were the reasons why we were able to compete with them actively, and how we managed to go up 2-0 at the half behind a goal by Landon Donovan. Despite my doubts, it was looking good after the first 45 minutes.

Sadly, in the second half my fears came true. We came out with much less energy and drive than the Brazilians, and they were quickly able to find their way through our defenses. Almost immediately after the whistle striker Luis Fabiano managed to beat keeper Tim Howard, changing the game quite a bit. From then on USA had a porous defense, and were not able to counterattack effectively through the midfield. We were made to pay toward the end, with a second goal by Fabiano and the go-ahead goal by captain Lucio coming in the 84th minute. At that point it was basically over, and Brazil were crowned champions.

There was a lot to be proud of, weak second half not withstanding. The USA's run from elimination to the final was admirable, and it showed what heart and ability our players can exhibit. I have only seen 1 or 2 matches in which the USA played better than their win over Spain, back in the 2002 World Cup against Portugal and Mexico. Also, Tim Howard was awarded the Top Keeper of the Tournament. Clint Dempsey also got the Bronze Ball award, given to the 3rd best overall player in the tournament. The pain on their faces was also a form of promise of the future: it shows how bad they wanted it and how they truly believed they could have won.

I'm sure some people will talk this tournament up and hype it to death, saying the USA will be a major contender for the World Cup title in a year. This is probably an overestimation, and I'd hate to see a situation like 2006 when we were so hyped up that it put immense pressure on the team and made it seem worse when we performed awfully and had an early exit. What I hope happens is that we take our performance late in the Confederations Cup as a confidence booster going into qualifying and then into World Cup 2010, but that we don't get overly excited and just play the way we know we can.

No Name Creek #4

As promised, the 4th installment of No Name Creek is now online :)

On the future of video games?

Being a moderate video game nerd, I tuned in last week to the G4 network for live coverage of E3, the Electronics Entertainment Expo. Starting the whole event off was Microsoft's annual press conference, where various developers and department heads discussed new games and tech in production, with a lot of sneak peeks and teaser trailers as well as a few live demos. Nintendo and Sony, the other big console producers, were to have their conferences the next day. However, even after all three had their chance to capture the attention of the E3 crowd, one announcement seemed to stand above the rest. Microsoft unveiled its next big project, codenamed Natal.

For all who saw Natal in action, certainly it seemed to represent a possible future of video games across the board. It's only been a couple years since the Wii was released by Nintendo, and that appeared to be revolutionary with its new take on the video game controller. Now Microsoft has taken that idea one step further, by removing the controller element altogether. The idea is by using a small box attached to any Xbox 360 system equipped with 3D motion-sensing cameras and a microphone, players can use their bodies to manipulate game interfaces and actions entirely without any physical peripherals. This means that fighting games can become a serious work-out, and racing games will be able to be played easily and intuitively without needing to buy a costly racing wheel peripheral like the ones that currently retail for well over $100 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

The power-packed camera involved can scan objects including the user's body into games, making them appear real-time in the software. The idea being that this will bring gamers even deeper into the world of video games than ever before. An example of this was when a teenage boy scanned the underside of his skateboard into his Xbox, then used it in a a skateboarding game in which he would jump and twist his feet and torso to do tricks in-game.

Another demonstration of the Natal's capabilities came in the form of a boy named Milo. This little digital boy was able to talk to real people through the camera and mic on the Natal, with a level of realism that has never been seen before in a video game. Milo was able to remember facts about people and ask them questions about their lives, as well as give real emotional responses in his discussion with those facing the TV screen. The woman demonstrating the program asked Milo if he had done his homework, only to receive a worried and slightly embarrassed facial expression in return. The final demonstration of the powerful technology involved in Natal featured the woman drawing a picture of an orange fish, holding it up to the camera, which was followed by Milo receiving the picture and commenting on it's color and shape.

A few years ago, when the current generation of consoles came out, I noticed how amazing the graphics power has become with video games. In the past a big part of the technological innovation in the world of games has been to improve the looks of games, but I feel like there is a realism wall approaching. At a certain point the graphics will no longer be able to be improved upon, and I wondered where the technology will go from there. Ideas such as Natal may be the answer I was looking for, it certainly represents a departure from the norm of video game development. No release date has been set yet, but I would imagine Natal is expected to be out winter of 2010-2011.

No Name Creek #3

a new strip is up, feel free to check it out!