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GTA V YES

Rory Vs. 118

Here is the transcript of several texts sent to and from myself and 118118, the common-place British inquiry service. Let me set the scene; I was tired and mildly drunk and had been waiting for a bus to show up to go home for about 20 minutes, bored with my lack of a timetable I decide to ask 118.

“When is the next N26 or N44 from this time at York Place, Edinburgh?

118: Please give your departure point so 118 could provide the details you need. NO Charge.

York Place, Edinburgh

118: We can’t find a match for N26 or N44. Please supply us your Departure Station and Arrival Point instead. No charge.

Right you, listen here. I’m at York Place in Edinburgh and I’m waiting on a NIGHT BUS 26 or 44, which go by here. So let me know the bloomin’ timetable please.

118: We can’t find a match for N26 or N44. Please supply us your Departure Station and Arrival Point instead. No charge.

If you’re having bus problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a stop ‘aint one.

118: We’re sorry you weren’t happy with your answer. Please accept 1 free credit - already enabled on your phone. No charge for this text!”



Fuck 118. 

We’re all 17 years olds waiting to be 25.

Sitting in my friend’s flat while one is sleeping on the couch and said friend is watching Football may not be the most opportune moment to greet paper with ink but I digress:

Now, my life may have changed from the age of 17 but my sensibilities definitely haven’t. I still use the internet as a 5th limb, confide in friends more so than family and ponder on how my life can make an impact on other’s. How I could have a legacy, or inspire others. But to no surprise but my own, no such legacy has been handed to me on a silver platter. I’ve left University, to much of the distain of others, because I feel that I haven’t given myself a shot. I’ve spent 19 years with myself and I still don’t know me. So it’s time to take a year out, write, draw, work, heck maybe buy a video camera and direct something like I’ve always wanted. But as these things take time, I’ll be 25 before I’ve made sense of my life. So until then, I’ll be myself as I know him. I’ll try different things and fail. Rinse and repeat until something sticks to the wall. Then continue to boil, adding salt if necessary. Add sauce and leave to cool.

Serves 3.

And I’ll eat god damned all of it. 

The Damsel in Distress

Let’s get one things straight: The main Mario series is a strictly gameplay orientated franchise. I wanted to make that clear so that my incoming argument has some weight. Nobody plays Mario for the Damsel in Distress story, not only because it’s a gameplay orientated game but also because the story is so thinly spread on to the game it never gets in the way of the gameplay. I completed Super Mario Galaxy 2 not knowing what the narrative was at all, because in essence it’s an arcade game: All about the gameplay. Point made.

When I play a video game, I take on the role of that character. When I play Mario, for all intents and purposes, I am Mario. The same is for every other videogame with a protagonist. In a gameplay sense, this is fine and isn’t interrupted at all. They go where I tell them to go, shoot what I want them to shoot and so forth. But in a story and narrative sense, this is a deal breaker. When the story is heavily pushed in a game such as Alan Wake, where the Damsel in Distress card is used as the main plot - things can get a bit bumpy. Let’s catch you to speed; Mr. Wake’s wife has been kidnapped and you need to find her. But when I play Alan Wake, instead of being pushed forward by the thought of missing my wife, I play it for the gameplay - like an arcade game. Because Mrs. Wake isn’t my wife. I don’t care if she’s kidnapped - but it’s a good excuse to fight demons with a flash light. Instead of the driving force of the narrative, she is a prize at the end of the tunnel - just like Princess Peach. I would have no gripe with this if it wasn’t such a story based game and shoved a cut scene in your face every 10 minutes showing Alan Wake give a shit about his ball and chain. But the other plot devices, the darkness and the previous author unfortunately play second fiddle to Mrs. Wake, which is a lost opportunity as those are both very intriguing. 

Cut-Scenes in Videogames

There’s always this heated debate about cut-scenes in Videogames and a lot of people are either PRO cut-scenes and ANTI cut-scenes - and this is where my gripe with this entire situation lies. 

Cut scenes do have their place in videogames. But right now, they are not being used to the player’s advantage. Because a videogame is incomplete without a player to run through the world and interact with it’s indigenous life. Whenever the game tries to be it’s own beast by taking complete control away from you this is, by definition, failing as an interactive medium - unless the antagonist which you are playing as has the same motivations as you, and you agree with the dialogue he or she is spouting out without your (the player’s) green-light. This is why the cut-scenes in Devil May Cry feel detached from the gameplay, but the cut-scenes in Mass Effect not only feel like, but are, part of the gameplay. Although Danté may look cool doing flips and slicing demons in a cut-scene that looks like it’s being directed by the world’s biggest Linkin Park fan, it’s not me doing that action - it brings me, as a player, no enjoyment whatsoever. But when Shepard shoved a mercenary out of a window in Mass Effect 2 I felt like such a badass because I chose to do that action. That action had not only my complete input but also my emotional weight. 

I’m not saying that interactive cutscenes are the only answer or solution to this “cut scene problem” but I’m saying that it’s one way that they can be implemented successfully and not take away from the player’s agency in the game.

Let’s touch upon the way Valve have “revolutionary” implemented cut-scenes in to their games, beginning with Half life 1 - the cut-scenes were happening around the player in real time instead of cutting to a different camera angle.
But was this so revolutionary? I say; No. Not at all. They just took the same premise that game developers had in the retro days and then lost solely because of out technological advancements. Since developers had the chance to mimic film, they did and then didn’t look back. Think back to the Sonic 1, Dr. Robotnik’s machine blew up and flew away after an end zone battle in real game time, not disrupting the flow of gameplay what-so-ever. Or when Knuckles tired to kill you in Sonic 3, no need to interrupt flow of gameplay even though that is a key plot point in that game. You see, for seamless cut-scenes to works the player has to be in a state of gameplay where they are not even aware that they are watching or participating in a scripted cut-scene. To disturb game-play just to convey the narrative should be a crime, as it goes against all foundations the medium of gaming were built upon.

But if you are sure that your game will benefit from a cut-scene (See: Zelda, Tale of the 3 gods from the great Deku Tree), then it better not go against player agency.

The Good, The Bad and the Necessary

I often hear people say “Oh, I wish every film could be as good as n”. No! Don’t ask for that you silly, silly human being. (more on this later) Also, I’ve heard people complain about how there are still bad items of media, a recent example of late is Green lantern. Millions of pounds have been shoved in to the process of creating that film from scratch, with the process being constantly filtered by numerous creative minds contributing. So surely, with so many people somebody down the line should have thought; “Wait, this doesn’t work. Can we change this?”

But maybe it’s just a hard truth that some directors and/or producers simply can’t control a crew and have clashing ideas. Ideas so clashing, in fact, that the end product ends up being a mess of compromise. Too many artistic visions trying to be put forward which negate one another in their attempt to be a full vision. The example of the Green Lantern would be the writer was attempting to forge the Green Lantern in a down-to-Earth (or, space) human story. But a producer or director or Uncle Phil thought it was paramount that Hal Jordan had to wear a super-imposed suit and cause the entire aesthetic of the film to clash with it’s emotional writing. Maybe not the best explanation but you catch my drift.

Malcom Reynolds wore a green suit to have another green suit super-imposed on to him. Think about that for a moment.

But, maybe you enjoyed the film - and hey, who am I to argue if you derived enjoyment from it. You most likely think The Phantom Menace is a masterpiece whilst masturbating to pictures of your mother before she let herself go. You filth.

But, I enjoy things being bad. Some things are like a trainwreck, you can’t look away and damn straight you’re enjoying it deep down  feeling sorry for all of those poor people. I’m a big fan of good/bad films, such as Saegal and Schwarzenegger, but that’s because the team that created them all had the same vision in mind (albeit a cliché one): “Let’s blow shit up and be badass. Also a sex scene if we’ve got somebody willing.”. Human emotion and artistic merit go out of the window in favour of unintentional comedy and fireworks.

What I’m getting at is that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, Green lantern. You can’t try and be several things you’re not. Stick with one thing and go with it - and hey, people might enjoy it. A lot of half good ideas is a lot worse than one singular bad idea. And that, is why Hard To Kill is such a great film.

Tumblr, we need to talk.

Tumblr, it’s not you. It’s me. It’s not that I don’t like you, just posting on you takes up a lot of my time as I like to articulate my thoughts when they’re more finitely documented. I love twitter for this reason; I post small thoughts and then they are lost. Lost in the sea of unimportant tweets tweeted by thousands of people every second. Or maybe it’s just because it’s 140 or less then there’s no commitment to that thought, it’s posted and then it’s gone. It’s only 140 and characters, right? So who cares?

I don’t want to be that guy who just solely re-posts pictures of women I find pretty or other awesome shit I find. But I know that this page will most likely degrade in to that unwanted cascade of pop culture references over time, just in order to pass that time. Time time time. Taking up so much and using so little to my advantage. Ce la vie I guess, except I’m not French.