Category Archives: Culture

The Patriotism Game: Completely Disgusting

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I’ve tried not to watch any of it, but by chance I caught a bit of the Republican National Convention this evening, while trying to relax after work.  As you’ve probably guessed from the title of this post, I am completely disgusted by the whole thing.

I try to stay away from the topic of politics here for the most part, but the tiny bit of the convention that I happened to see (Mitt Romney’s portion of the show) made my blood boil, and I simply have to say something about it.

During my brief viewing, Mr. Romney continued beating the desperate drum of nationalism and fanning the flames of division and hatred between countrymen.  Over and over, he stated in so many ways that the Republican party is the party of patriotism and love for country, and that to be anything else is anti-American, supporting terrorism, ad nauseum.

I’m tired of this utterly stupid stance.  It’s a pathetic attempt to appeal to your fears of the unknown, and it makes me sick that anyone in any political party would find need to wield this ridiculous argument against his fellow American.

We all want this country to be great.  We all want this to be a good place for our children.  We want the U.S. to be a prosperous country where anyone who’s willing to put in the work can make something for themselves.  That is the “American Dream,” is it not?

To suggest that someone who strives for the same things as you, but by slightly different means, is completely against the U.S. and ideals that drive it is completely insane.  I’m perfectly happy sharing this country with others who have all sorts of different ideas from mine – that’s what makes the world work, after all.  Working together with people who don’t share the same thoughts as me helps me grow as a person, and helps us all accomplish many otherwise impossible goals.  Anyone who has any sort of relationship with other people can recognize that compromise is the corner stone of progress, and yet instead of encouraging people to work together and help maintain unity during these trying times, the Republican party would rather see the nation’s citizens bicker amongst themselves.

Demonizing one party or the other for striving to make this country great in a different way than you accomplishes nothing but create divisions between neighbors, relatives, and friends.  It makes people look upon others with fear, and it prevents people from enjoying life.

Neither party wants bad things to happen to this country.  Neither party is helping terrorists.  Neither party is any more patriotic or “American” (whatever that means) than the other.

Let’s stop this shit once and for all.  Whether you’re liberal, conservative, or somewhere in between the two, I urge you to look past all this superficial patriotism garbage, and look at the real issues.  The people who use this rhetoric are crooked liars, and you are a fool if you fall for it, no matter which party is pushing it at you.

Photo courtesy of Ana Schaeffer

A Rhythm Too Far

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As a gamer, I’m not normally the type to look down upon the gaming habits of others.  Sure, I’ll make the odd quip about “freestyle” DDR players now and then, but generally I don’t give my fellow gamers too much grief for doing whatever it is they choose to do.

This stance has lead me to defend Guitar Hero / Rock Band, games which I have played very minimally, whenever someone brings up the “you should just learn a real instrument” argument.  I’ve even argued this point with my dad, who is an actual musician (he plays bass guitar).  I had an epiphany at a GameStop which changed my views on this slightly, and which makes me wonder about how far the rhythm games can go before they’ve gone too far.  It also makes me wonder if I’m the only person who’s ever had an epiphany at GameStop.

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An Entertaining Weekend

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Though it still feels like I got the required amount of relaxation this weekend, I look back on all the stuff I did (or played and watched, to be more specific) and almost feel like I couldn’t have.  Throughout the weekend I’ve watched two movies, beaten one game, played through a good amount of another, spent a good portion of time with my girlfriend, and even got some work done on some web / game stuff I’ve been meaning to do.

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Braid Is Incredible

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Every now and then a game comes along and takes you by surprise.  I had the pleasure of experiencing this a few days ago, and I feel that my horizons as both a gamer and a developer have expanded because of it.

The harbinger of my elation goes by but a single name: Braid.

By now you’ve probably heard a little bit about Braid here or there – it seems impossible not to.  After only a few days on the XBL Marketplace, Braid became the highest rated game on XBL Arcade, and entered the exclusive list of top 10 all-time highest rated games for the Xbox 360, which includes titles like Grand Theft Auto 4, Gears of War, and Bioshock.

While notable in itself, this is quite an accomplishment considering the game was made by only a small team of indie game designers and artists, on an infinitesimally smaller budget than any of the other AAA titles it’s contending with.

So what’s all the hoopla about?  At the outset, it’s simple enough – Braid is a 2D platform game where you traverse an assortment of levels to find and collect jigsaw pieces.  Delve a bit deeper though, and the game quickly sets itself far apart from most other platformers you’ve played.  Time, and the manipulation of it, plays an important role in the narrative of the story, and more importantly, how puzzles in the game are solved.  Braid’s development team went to great lengths to craft smart, unique levels that take advantage of this element of the game.  Each chapter of levels offers a different take on the way time affects you and the environment, with each puzzle more devious than the last.  And even though most of the puzzles seem to have only one or two possible solutions, each one will leave you with a feeling of deep satisfaction for solving it.

At this point, I could stop writing and you’d have a pretty good idea of why Braid is a good game, but I really feel that merely describing the game for its amazing technical presentation isn’t fully doing it justice.  There’s a lot more to Braid than that.  The entire presentation is mentally stimulating.

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Massive Geek

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Yup, that’s right – that small collection of Mass Effect paraphernalia is indeed mine.  Including the two books.

I’ve never really been much of a fan of this sort of thing.  You can count me among the ranks who look down on the Halo novel crowd with disdain, and don’t even get me started on the horde of people reading World of Warcraft inspired librams.  I may be somewhat of a geek at heart, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.

But now I find myself in possession of not only the Mass Effect game, but also the soundtrack, and two books.  I’ve always been a bit of a game music connoisseur (a quirk that extends itself to the occasional movie soundtrack as well), but never a book guy.  Novels based on games always seemed cheap to me – like milking a franchise and its fans rather than paying worthy tribute to any redeeming values the original work may have had.  Not to mention the fact that I wouldn’t want to be spotted in public with my nose stuck inside a book with Master Chief plastered all over the front cover.  Despite all this, however, I found myself in Barnes & Noble some months ago, and on recommendation from a few friends, walking out with a brand new copy of Mass Effect: Revelation in hand.

The novel didn’t take me all that long to finish, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had reading it.  Revelation might not be as engrossing as a full-fledged, self-contained science fiction books like Ender’s Game (one of my favorites), but it makes a great companion piece to Mass Effect itself, and helps flesh out a lot of the backstory that was merely alluded to in the game.

My misgivings over game-based fiction are mostly gone now – Mass Effect: Revelation was a good read.  I don’t want to say too much about it, in case anyone out there is planning on reading it in the future, but I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the game and wants to learn a bit more about the characters involved.

As for Ascension, I’ve yet to read it.  The book was only released a week ago, and between the two books, I decided I’d finally read one of the largest books I own (and one of the most famous): The Lord of The Rings.  I got it as a Christmas present from my parents a few years ago, dug it out of my closet the other day, and began reading.  I’ve got about 1,000 pages to go, and it’s all good stuff.

I’m sure though, that if Ascension is anything like Revelation, it’ll be worth the wait.  Drew Karpyshyn did an excellent job with the first book, and I have no reason to believe the second will be anything less.

And with so much to read before I even get to start on Ascension, maybe we’ll be close to another book release by the time I finish with it!