Monday, February 02, 2009
Spoiler Alert (I Must Be)
Due to the peculiarities of our little planet, Sunday night in New York equals Monday morning in Japan. As millions of Americans sat down with their delicious drinks and their salty snacks to watch the Super Bowl, I was riding a bus to Hana Town so I could get to work. Once I arrived I was forced to restrain myself from using any kind of Internet application, else I learn the results of the game before I could get home and see the rebroadcast myself. While I sat in the office, purposely isolating myself from information I wanted to know, I thought about the nature of "spoilers."
Mako and I have just recently gotten into two American serial dramas on DVD, Prison Break and Battlestar Galactica. Admittedly, I'm more into the latter than the former (with Mako feeling the exact opposite) but we are actively renting both shows right now. While the subject matter couldn't be more dissimilar, both programs focus on a long-term story over individual, self-contained episodes and both shows are coming to an end this year. In the case of Prison Break, I know for a fact that they spend every season after the first on the run so they must manage to get out of prison sooner or later, yet I am on board for every sudden twist and failed maneuver along the way. It doesn't matter that they're going to escape, I still don't know how, when or who makes it at this point and I am really enjoying the ride.
I am one of those people who takes spoilers pretty seriously. Whether it's the end of a book, a major story arc on TV or even an impressive stunt in a film, I don't want to hear about it second-hand. I want to experience that moment, whatever it may be, on my own terms when I watch/read/play it myself. My outlook is this: people make these stories with an audience in mind. Every surprise, every joke, every tragic death has meaning only because of the narrative that surrounds it. Every element of the story is tied to some other element. The whole is more than the sum of its parts: take one part out of context and feature it in commercials or plaster it across the internet, and the whole is diminished.
Using this admittedly broad definition, it would seem that almost every detail about a book, TV show, movie or video game qualifies as a spoiler. Does this mean that every story I encounter is "spoiled" because I know what actors appear in it or how many seasons the show runs for? Not necessarily. A spoiler is not a black and white concept to me; there are many subtle levels. Given that there is so much media out there vying for my attention, I must take in a certain amount of sensitive information in order to develop an interest in any given piece of entertainment. Something must be "spoiled" in order to establish a story as one I care about.
Take Cloverfield as an example. Would I have rented that film based on nothing but the title? Not a chance, it sounds like a Jane Austin novel. It was only after I found out it was a monster movie (with a gimmick) that I decided I wanted to see it. At the same time, I can only imagine the incredible evening I would have had watching it without knowing a giant creature was going to attack Manhattan by the end of the film. There was also a substantial amount of buzz surrounding one shocking moment, leaving me to sit and wait for it to happen rather than actually be shocked when...no, I won't say it.
So where do I draw the line? What's the difference between a "enjoy the ride" spoiler versus a "sit and wait" spoiler? I wish I could tell you but there simply isn't a way to tell ahead of time what is or is not a cataclysmic bombshell. That's why I'm so cautious about investigating any story and why, once I know I'm interested, I actively avoid learning anything more. When I go to the movies, I close my eyes during nearly every trailer. When I watch Battlestar Galactica, I turn away from the opening credits because they are, bizarrely enough, packed with dramatic moments from the episode I am about to watch. And when a video game podcast starts discussing the highlights of any narrative-driven game I'm hoping to play, I fast-forward until I'm convinced they've moved onto another topic.
Video games are a curious case because they should, in theory, be spoiler-proof by virtue of their interactivity. Enjoying a video game requires you to pick up the controller and actually play through it, so no amount of plot points revealed in advance should rob you of that entertainment. I certainly can't think of any sensitive information I could have heard about Portal, a phenomenal game that I first played months after it became a "huge success," which would have detracted from the experience in any way. There are also scores of video games that have no narrative to speak of, making the only potential "spoilers" being the solutions to the levels. Yet entire websites devoted to video game strategies and solutions exist to answer players' questions. I know I wouldn't have gotten all those PixelJunk Monsters trophies without the occasional tip from GameFAQs.
Contrary to all these points, I am perhaps more paranoid about video game spoilers than of any other media. Much of this revolves around the issue of time. It takes a lot longer to finish a video game than it does a book or a movie, so it's harder to think of myself as "caught up" with what's popular. I may have a chance to see all of the Best Picture nominees by the time the Oscars are handed out, but it's unlikely I will ever finish more than one (if that) of the Game of the Year candidates for 2008. Serial television dramas are similarly hard to catch up with and can run for years, but they also unfold at a uniform pace for everyone. Nobody knows how Lost or Heroes will end yet because the public knowledge of the story is limited to those episodes that have already aired. Once a game like Resident Evil 5 hits the shelves, I expect people to be chattering about major plot points within days, if not hours.
That "chatter" is the other major issue with video games compared to other media: the integral role that the internet plays in gaming culture. The only way to be informed on what new releases look promising or potential additions/updates are available for the games you own is to be online. I don't need to visit any message boards or read any blogs to know when House airs, so the odds that I may come across spoilers is pretty slim. With games, I exist in a constant flinching state when I read through sites like Kotaku, hoping that the page I'm reading does not casually reveal why that plane crashes at the start of BioShock. Yes, it did and no, there was no warning. It wasn't even an article about the game!
Of course, when it comes to sports, the line is pretty easy to draw: knowing the final score before watching the game robs me of all interest. If I had read last year about the Giants' incredible upset of the Patriots while I was at work, I would have been very happy as a Giants fan but I doubt I would have actually turned on the game when I got home. So in the interest of enjoying this year's Super Bowl, I'm just going to shut out the world for a few more hours. I hope it's worth it.
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Mako and I have just recently gotten into two American serial dramas on DVD, Prison Break and Battlestar Galactica. Admittedly, I'm more into the latter than the former (with Mako feeling the exact opposite) but we are actively renting both shows right now. While the subject matter couldn't be more dissimilar, both programs focus on a long-term story over individual, self-contained episodes and both shows are coming to an end this year. In the case of Prison Break, I know for a fact that they spend every season after the first on the run so they must manage to get out of prison sooner or later, yet I am on board for every sudden twist and failed maneuver along the way. It doesn't matter that they're going to escape, I still don't know how, when or who makes it at this point and I am really enjoying the ride.
I am one of those people who takes spoilers pretty seriously. Whether it's the end of a book, a major story arc on TV or even an impressive stunt in a film, I don't want to hear about it second-hand. I want to experience that moment, whatever it may be, on my own terms when I watch/read/play it myself. My outlook is this: people make these stories with an audience in mind. Every surprise, every joke, every tragic death has meaning only because of the narrative that surrounds it. Every element of the story is tied to some other element. The whole is more than the sum of its parts: take one part out of context and feature it in commercials or plaster it across the internet, and the whole is diminished.
Using this admittedly broad definition, it would seem that almost every detail about a book, TV show, movie or video game qualifies as a spoiler. Does this mean that every story I encounter is "spoiled" because I know what actors appear in it or how many seasons the show runs for? Not necessarily. A spoiler is not a black and white concept to me; there are many subtle levels. Given that there is so much media out there vying for my attention, I must take in a certain amount of sensitive information in order to develop an interest in any given piece of entertainment. Something must be "spoiled" in order to establish a story as one I care about.
Take Cloverfield as an example. Would I have rented that film based on nothing but the title? Not a chance, it sounds like a Jane Austin novel. It was only after I found out it was a monster movie (with a gimmick) that I decided I wanted to see it. At the same time, I can only imagine the incredible evening I would have had watching it without knowing a giant creature was going to attack Manhattan by the end of the film. There was also a substantial amount of buzz surrounding one shocking moment, leaving me to sit and wait for it to happen rather than actually be shocked when...no, I won't say it.
So where do I draw the line? What's the difference between a "enjoy the ride" spoiler versus a "sit and wait" spoiler? I wish I could tell you but there simply isn't a way to tell ahead of time what is or is not a cataclysmic bombshell. That's why I'm so cautious about investigating any story and why, once I know I'm interested, I actively avoid learning anything more. When I go to the movies, I close my eyes during nearly every trailer. When I watch Battlestar Galactica, I turn away from the opening credits because they are, bizarrely enough, packed with dramatic moments from the episode I am about to watch. And when a video game podcast starts discussing the highlights of any narrative-driven game I'm hoping to play, I fast-forward until I'm convinced they've moved onto another topic.
Video games are a curious case because they should, in theory, be spoiler-proof by virtue of their interactivity. Enjoying a video game requires you to pick up the controller and actually play through it, so no amount of plot points revealed in advance should rob you of that entertainment. I certainly can't think of any sensitive information I could have heard about Portal, a phenomenal game that I first played months after it became a "huge success," which would have detracted from the experience in any way. There are also scores of video games that have no narrative to speak of, making the only potential "spoilers" being the solutions to the levels. Yet entire websites devoted to video game strategies and solutions exist to answer players' questions. I know I wouldn't have gotten all those PixelJunk Monsters trophies without the occasional tip from GameFAQs.
Contrary to all these points, I am perhaps more paranoid about video game spoilers than of any other media. Much of this revolves around the issue of time. It takes a lot longer to finish a video game than it does a book or a movie, so it's harder to think of myself as "caught up" with what's popular. I may have a chance to see all of the Best Picture nominees by the time the Oscars are handed out, but it's unlikely I will ever finish more than one (if that) of the Game of the Year candidates for 2008. Serial television dramas are similarly hard to catch up with and can run for years, but they also unfold at a uniform pace for everyone. Nobody knows how Lost or Heroes will end yet because the public knowledge of the story is limited to those episodes that have already aired. Once a game like Resident Evil 5 hits the shelves, I expect people to be chattering about major plot points within days, if not hours.
That "chatter" is the other major issue with video games compared to other media: the integral role that the internet plays in gaming culture. The only way to be informed on what new releases look promising or potential additions/updates are available for the games you own is to be online. I don't need to visit any message boards or read any blogs to know when House airs, so the odds that I may come across spoilers is pretty slim. With games, I exist in a constant flinching state when I read through sites like Kotaku, hoping that the page I'm reading does not casually reveal why that plane crashes at the start of BioShock. Yes, it did and no, there was no warning. It wasn't even an article about the game!
Of course, when it comes to sports, the line is pretty easy to draw: knowing the final score before watching the game robs me of all interest. If I had read last year about the Giants' incredible upset of the Patriots while I was at work, I would have been very happy as a Giants fan but I doubt I would have actually turned on the game when I got home. So in the interest of enjoying this year's Super Bowl, I'm just going to shut out the world for a few more hours. I hope it's worth it.
Labels: BioShock, BSG, Cloverfield, football, movies, Portal, Prison Break, sports, television, video games
つづく...(Click here to read more)
Friday, October 03, 2008
Friday Night Rapture
I saw this Japanese guy the other day with "F*CK" written across the ass of his jeans. Pretty funny on its own, but what killed me was the placement of the star. It was almost dead center, lying on the seam as if it was a guide - or a bullseye - to his crack. If I had bigger balls I would have just snapped a picture but cellphone cameras are, by design, extremely non-discreet. I would have had a hell of a time explaining why I was surreptitiously photographing him from behind.
As predicted, I had a busy week. Beyond the usual work issues, the weather was so unpleasant that we had to leave our laundry hanging inside and perform multiple loads mid-week. It felt like I was coming home to a laundromat every day and nothing seemed to be drying as it should. It wasn't much, but juggling soggy shirts and towels felt a little taxing this week when combined with job stuff. Of course, the gloomy weather that forced our laundry inside in the first place wasn't helping my mood either.
Today was different. Very, very different. Sure, I was busy, but on Fridays I don't mind busy. Yes, I had to scold several children who were ignoring me or fighting with each other in class, but on Fridays I don't mind discipline. And when I was teaching class entirely by myself because the teachers either left the room or sat completely silent while I struggled to explain things in Japanese (that's their job, of course), I smiled and reminded myself that on Fridays I don't mind doing everything myself. Little did I suspect what this particular Friday would have in store for me once work was over.
I came home and clicked on the PS3 to check out what new offerings, if any, were in store for me. The PSN Store is updated every Thursday but that's on US time. Here in Japan I'm asleep when those changes are made, so my first chance to explore it is on Friday afternoon. I didn't have anything particular in mind that I wanted, so if nothing of interest popped up I guess I planned on buying Mega Man 9 so I can stop wondering how hard it might be, geek out, and just play it already. But I discovered there was something that is definitely "of interest" to me: a demo version of BioShock.
Let me explain the situation a little bit for those unfamiliar with this game in particular or video games in general. BioShock was released last year on PC and Xbox 360 to tremendous professional acclaim, so much so that its reputation as a must-experience title became a given among gamer-types on the Internet. Much like Portal, its quality was so widely praised that it became an "instant classic" of sorts and I found it repeatedly pushed before my eyes as something I should be playing. After a little research and a lot of tweaking, I did purchase and play through Portal this spring. It didn't look so hot because I had to compromise some settings in order to get it running on my two-year old laptop, but it certainly lived up to the hype. More than a great game, I felt it was one of the greatest science-fiction stories I had ever experienced. If I ever find the funds to get myself back into PC gaming-proper, I will definitely play through it a second time just to experience it again with the proper aesthetics.
BioShock, on the other hand, proved to be beyond my reach. No amount of tinkering would get it to work on my computer and it's not even available for sale in Japan, so the monetary and logistical investment needed to play that game was simply out of the question. Contrasting console platforms and PC system requirements are among the most frustrating elements of being an avid video game enthusiast, for these barriers are unique among major forms of entertainment. International-release schedules aside, there's nothing to stop me from selecting any film in the local DVD store and watching it at home, because I own a DVD player. Video games are only available in specific formats that require specific hardware. If you don't have it, you cannot play that game. I could do nothing but continue to hear of it lauded as a magical superlative of gaming while I sat around and played other, non-BioShock games.
At least, that was the case until this evening, when I discovered a demonstration version of BioShock available for download. It's coming soon to the PS3 and this was going to be my first hands-on experience with the ferociously-celebrated game. When I fired up the demo I was immediately impressed by the art-style, a kind of Miami art-deco mixed with The Hudsucker Proxy. It was a snap judgment on the most basic of elements, but I took it as a good sign.
More importantly, the publishers made sure to launch the player (um, that's me, I guess) directly into the environment while still maintaining a user-friendly system that explained to me what control options were available. I've played a lot of very poor demos on the PS3; some that felt way too hard (Mega Man 9 for sure), some that didn't clue me in on what the game was about (Mercenaries 2 and Haze just toss you straight into a war zone with virtually no orientation or guidance) and some were just plain boring (Star Wars: Force Unleashed). While I have no confirmation on this yet, I suspect BioShock did the right thing by making the demo the same as the opening of the real game. On-screen prompts and a mysterious voice on a radio gave me a steady stream of necessary info and the Pause menu featured a ton of material on the rules of the game.
Best of all, the whole thing just explodes - literally - from the start and demands your full attention. When the opening animation featured a guy sitting on a plane and thinking out loud, I was preparing myself for a long backstory or a text crawl of exposition. Instead, the plane crashed and my character was alone in the water, gasping for breath and surrounded by flames. Again, I expected some animation to show my guy find his way to shore or be rescued by a passing ship. Not at all: this is the beginning of the game. I was stunned to find myself in control when I tapped the joystick out of curiosity.
It didn't take me too long to find my way onto some sort of island where the story started to unfold one step at a time while continuing to leave me in control at all times. No long cinematic sequences (save for a brief, creepy encounter with a little girl), no prophetic documents explaining who I was or where I was going; I took what facts I could from my surroundings and kept moving forward, gathering what little new information I could. The demo doesn't go very far (as one might expect) but when it ended I felt positively exhilarated. My heart was racing and my mind was flooded with anticipation - I was, rather, I am roaring to experience more of this world. I know I've only played a minuscule portion of the game thus far and the story or gameplay may yet turn out to be more repetitive or laborious than I might enjoy, but considering the mountains of recommendations the game has received combined with the stellar opening chapter (or possibly half-chapter) I saw this evening, I am sold. Bring it, BioShock. I want it.
That would have been a very exciting end to a post mostly about video games, except my evening wasn't over. Hell, it was less than two hours later when I got the e-mail telling me I qualified for a free beta trial of LittleBigPlanet, another upcoming game I have a considerable interest in. Of course, as video games go LBP couldn't be more different than BioShock and my head is spinning from the juxtaposition of the two titles in a single night. However, it is getting quite late right now and LBP is the kind of game that needs a lot more than a summary of why I want to play with it (note my choice of words). So I'm going to go to sleep and I'll let you know what I think of that game in a couple days. It deserves that much.
Still...even at this hour I am positively blown away by what I saw tonight...BioShock...you son of a bitch...what if you are as good as they say?
つづく...(Click here to read more)
As predicted, I had a busy week. Beyond the usual work issues, the weather was so unpleasant that we had to leave our laundry hanging inside and perform multiple loads mid-week. It felt like I was coming home to a laundromat every day and nothing seemed to be drying as it should. It wasn't much, but juggling soggy shirts and towels felt a little taxing this week when combined with job stuff. Of course, the gloomy weather that forced our laundry inside in the first place wasn't helping my mood either.
Today was different. Very, very different. Sure, I was busy, but on Fridays I don't mind busy. Yes, I had to scold several children who were ignoring me or fighting with each other in class, but on Fridays I don't mind discipline. And when I was teaching class entirely by myself because the teachers either left the room or sat completely silent while I struggled to explain things in Japanese (that's their job, of course), I smiled and reminded myself that on Fridays I don't mind doing everything myself. Little did I suspect what this particular Friday would have in store for me once work was over.
I came home and clicked on the PS3 to check out what new offerings, if any, were in store for me. The PSN Store is updated every Thursday but that's on US time. Here in Japan I'm asleep when those changes are made, so my first chance to explore it is on Friday afternoon. I didn't have anything particular in mind that I wanted, so if nothing of interest popped up I guess I planned on buying Mega Man 9 so I can stop wondering how hard it might be, geek out, and just play it already. But I discovered there was something that is definitely "of interest" to me: a demo version of BioShock.
Let me explain the situation a little bit for those unfamiliar with this game in particular or video games in general. BioShock was released last year on PC and Xbox 360 to tremendous professional acclaim, so much so that its reputation as a must-experience title became a given among gamer-types on the Internet. Much like Portal, its quality was so widely praised that it became an "instant classic" of sorts and I found it repeatedly pushed before my eyes as something I should be playing. After a little research and a lot of tweaking, I did purchase and play through Portal this spring. It didn't look so hot because I had to compromise some settings in order to get it running on my two-year old laptop, but it certainly lived up to the hype. More than a great game, I felt it was one of the greatest science-fiction stories I had ever experienced. If I ever find the funds to get myself back into PC gaming-proper, I will definitely play through it a second time just to experience it again with the proper aesthetics.
BioShock, on the other hand, proved to be beyond my reach. No amount of tinkering would get it to work on my computer and it's not even available for sale in Japan, so the monetary and logistical investment needed to play that game was simply out of the question. Contrasting console platforms and PC system requirements are among the most frustrating elements of being an avid video game enthusiast, for these barriers are unique among major forms of entertainment. International-release schedules aside, there's nothing to stop me from selecting any film in the local DVD store and watching it at home, because I own a DVD player. Video games are only available in specific formats that require specific hardware. If you don't have it, you cannot play that game. I could do nothing but continue to hear of it lauded as a magical superlative of gaming while I sat around and played other, non-BioShock games.
At least, that was the case until this evening, when I discovered a demonstration version of BioShock available for download. It's coming soon to the PS3 and this was going to be my first hands-on experience with the ferociously-celebrated game. When I fired up the demo I was immediately impressed by the art-style, a kind of Miami art-deco mixed with The Hudsucker Proxy. It was a snap judgment on the most basic of elements, but I took it as a good sign.
More importantly, the publishers made sure to launch the player (um, that's me, I guess) directly into the environment while still maintaining a user-friendly system that explained to me what control options were available. I've played a lot of very poor demos on the PS3; some that felt way too hard (Mega Man 9 for sure), some that didn't clue me in on what the game was about (Mercenaries 2 and Haze just toss you straight into a war zone with virtually no orientation or guidance) and some were just plain boring (Star Wars: Force Unleashed). While I have no confirmation on this yet, I suspect BioShock did the right thing by making the demo the same as the opening of the real game. On-screen prompts and a mysterious voice on a radio gave me a steady stream of necessary info and the Pause menu featured a ton of material on the rules of the game.
Best of all, the whole thing just explodes - literally - from the start and demands your full attention. When the opening animation featured a guy sitting on a plane and thinking out loud, I was preparing myself for a long backstory or a text crawl of exposition. Instead, the plane crashed and my character was alone in the water, gasping for breath and surrounded by flames. Again, I expected some animation to show my guy find his way to shore or be rescued by a passing ship. Not at all: this is the beginning of the game. I was stunned to find myself in control when I tapped the joystick out of curiosity.
It didn't take me too long to find my way onto some sort of island where the story started to unfold one step at a time while continuing to leave me in control at all times. No long cinematic sequences (save for a brief, creepy encounter with a little girl), no prophetic documents explaining who I was or where I was going; I took what facts I could from my surroundings and kept moving forward, gathering what little new information I could. The demo doesn't go very far (as one might expect) but when it ended I felt positively exhilarated. My heart was racing and my mind was flooded with anticipation - I was, rather, I am roaring to experience more of this world. I know I've only played a minuscule portion of the game thus far and the story or gameplay may yet turn out to be more repetitive or laborious than I might enjoy, but considering the mountains of recommendations the game has received combined with the stellar opening chapter (or possibly half-chapter) I saw this evening, I am sold. Bring it, BioShock. I want it.
That would have been a very exciting end to a post mostly about video games, except my evening wasn't over. Hell, it was less than two hours later when I got the e-mail telling me I qualified for a free beta trial of LittleBigPlanet, another upcoming game I have a considerable interest in. Of course, as video games go LBP couldn't be more different than BioShock and my head is spinning from the juxtaposition of the two titles in a single night. However, it is getting quite late right now and LBP is the kind of game that needs a lot more than a summary of why I want to play with it (note my choice of words). So I'm going to go to sleep and I'll let you know what I think of that game in a couple days. It deserves that much.
Still...even at this hour I am positively blown away by what I saw tonight...BioShock...you son of a bitch...what if you are as good as they say?
Labels: BioShock, Portal, PS3, video games
つづく...(Click here to read more)
