Wookie Porn Machine

On the old BPC blog, I made a post for the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shootings. In the wake of the devastating events in Connecticut, I'd like to repost it:


10 Years On, Columbine and Video Games: A Direct Link to Nowhere

At around 11:20 in the morning on April 20th, 1999, 18 year old Eric Harris and 17 year old Dylan Klebolt entered the Columbine High School grounds in Littleton, Colorado armed with semi-automatic weapons, shotguns and ammunition. Their initial plan of using various homemade explosive devices to destroy the school having failed, as part of an elaborate plan of revenge against a world they no longer felt a part of, they embarked on a shooting spree that by the end left themselves and 12 students and one teacher dead, along with 25 more people injured.

In light of such a horrific event, the obvious question repeatedly asked is "Why?". In the inevitable rush to make sense of the seemingly senseless, a lot of links are made as to what might have motivated the killers, and these days no link is more voraciously touted than violent video games. 10 years on, USA today has published a story supposedly debunking the myths that surround the shootings. In it they appear to absolve video games as a cause by disassociating Harris and Klebolt from "The Trenchcoat Mafia", a group of gaming students at the school But if you want to ask the question of whether, in this infamous case, there is a videogame connection, the answer must be an unequivocal "yes".

Both killers played the popular first person shooters of the era, most notably id Software's DOOM games. Harris was the more dominant personality and planner of the operation, and at the expense of being accused of dealing in the hyperbole that usually surrounds an event such as Columbine, was completely obsessed with the game. It's abundantly clear by examining documents collected by the police after the shootings that DOOM was ubiquitous in Harris' life. In the archive of his idle sketchings numerous DOOM related doodles are drawn, and in his personal correspondence and assignments one can constantly find references to the game. He was an avid designer of DOOM game levels, and had even written a fan letter to id Software and asked them for a job. One school assignment dated 8/24/98 is titled "25 things that make me different". Here is Harris' number one thing from that list:

"My love for a computer game called DOOM. Doom is such a big part of my life and no one I know can recreate evironments in DOOM as good as me. I know almost anything there is to know about that game, so I believe that seperates me from the rest of the world."

Harris elucidates further in the assignment:

"Doom is so burned into my head my thougths usually have something to do with the game. Whether it be a level or environment or whatever. In fact a dream I had yesterday was about a "Deathmatch" level that I have never even been to. It was so vivid and detailed I will probably try to recreate it using a map editor. It had 3 ledges and a very high tree house like area also, but describing it would take forever. What I cant do in real life, I try to do in doom, like if I walk by a small building I would recreate it as good as I could and then explore it, go on the roof, under it, or even shoot at it. The fact is, I love that game and if others tell me "hey its just a game" I say "ok, I dont care""

Dylan Klebolt played FPS games as well, but apparently not to the excessive extent of Harris. This leaves us with a clear, direct link between two young men who murdered 13 people and violent video games such as DOOM. But as far as connecting the dots between the cause of mass shootings and video game play, where does that leave us?

Nowhere.

Harris and Klebolt were obviously into Doom, as well as Duke Nukem 3D, Quake and other FPS's. But even if there had been a note left that said "We are doing this act to recreate playing DOOM.", you'd still have nothing. An obsession with a first person shooter video game is not the cause of real-life violence, but a symptom of a possibly troubled and even sick mind. Like everything in life, there is no easy answer, no magic key, no straight path to lead you directly to what you're looking for. It was a tapestry of issues that led to the Columbine massacre, including a fixation on guns and easy access to them (through a Brady Bill loophole that neglects background checks for private gun sales), inattentive parents, teachers and school administration officials, and a couple of suicidal, loner kids who fell through the cracks.

It's so much easier to pick one possible aspect of "why", wrap it around you like a shawl and take comfort that you've found the answer. So much easier than deconstruction a person's life and taking a close look at all the things that serve to alienate them from their family and peers, that serve as bricks in the wall between. But the fact is, Harris' obsession with DOOM was not a cause of the violence, merely a symptom. DOOM sold tens of millions of copies as shareware and was an intense, involving game that drew the player in through the character's eyes, like no other before it. By its very design it invited hardcore gamers' fixations, so where are the hundreds of mass school shootings as a result of young people being exposed to it (or even preoccupied with it)? Columbine was a tragedy and surely a personal holocaust to the families involved, but it is hardly representative of a pandemic of violence. And DOOM's connection to it, while palpable, is NOT a major contributing factor.

I post this game not because I have a soft spot for hunting games, even though I do; iffy AI, lousy graphics and all.  I post it because this next iteration is such a bizarre beast in itself.  

First off, it comes with the "Fearmaster" plastic shotgun peripheral. This piece of ordinance includes a motion sensor, as well as a biometric pad placed on the forward grip that measures your heart rate as you play.  If, while being accosted by angry timber wolves, you manage to keep your breathing steady, you are rewarded with more accurate shots.  This is actually pretty nifty, and it would be pretty neat if some of the developers of modern war games like Battlefield support the tech.



But what really had me chuckling was the fact that this iteration of the hunting series features a story mode written by none other than Andrew Kreisberg, writer and producer of such TV shows as Fringe and Boston Legal.  Here is how this backwoods drama would play out:

Two brothers are torn apart after the death of their father at the hands of a grizzly bear. Ten years later, the estranged brothers reunite for the hunt of their lives. One beast tore them apart. Can another beast bring them back together?

Seriously.  

There is also a co-op horde mode, where you and a hunting buddy can face off against a never ending series of animal attacks.  Better clear space off the mantle for all those animal heads.  I'll leave you with the spectacularly over-dramatic official trailer.

Out of the ashes of Computer Space, an unpopular first attempt at an arcade video game which was  released by Nutting Associates in 1971, 27-year-old Nolan Bushnell, along with partner Ted Dabney, incorporated Atari, Inc. today in 1972.  Their next attempt, the first game released by the new company, would be a slightly bigger success: PONG.

Bushnell and Dabney had created Computer Space under the auspices of an informal company they dubbed Syzygy, pronounced siz-eh-jee, a term meaning the Earth, Moon and Sun in perfect alignment.  Thankfully a candle-making commune had already registered that name, so Bushnell took a term from the Japanese game Go he liked to play, and Atari was born.
                          



PONG was an instant success, a quicky paddle-ball video game hammered out by Atari employee Al Alcorn, the immense profits of which would carry the company for years.  Five years later Atari would create the Video Computer System (later renamed the 2600) home console, which initially struggled but would eventually come to define home video games after the licensing of the Taito/Midway hit arcade game Space Invaders for the games machine.  Bushnell eventually sold Atari to Warner Communications, and was muscled out by management in 1978.  The name Atari became synonymous with home video games, with the company ruling the roost until the great video-game crash of 1983-1984 would utterly destroy the entire industry.

                                  




Atari was eventually split into two companies: industry stalwart Jack Tramiel, fresh off his departure from Commodore, would pick up the consumer division of Atari in 1984 to form Atari Corporation, with Warner continuing the arcade division separately as Atari Games, Inc..  They would eventually sell to Namco in 1985.  The Tramiel-led Atari would move more deeply into computers with the Atari ST line, while Atari Games made such arcade games as Marble Madness (1984), Super Sprint(1986) and Hard Drivin' (1989).

Tramiel eventually merged Atari Corp with hard drive manufacturer JTS, who in turn sold remaining assets to Hasbro in 1998 for a paltry 5 million dollars.  French software maker Infogrames would end up purchasing Hasbro in 2000, and rebrand the entire company using the Atari, Inc. name in 2001.  Coming around in a neat circle, Nolan Bushnell eventually joined the board of Atari in 2010.

So raise a glass to the company that created the video game industry, 40 years young today.  As always, for more history of Atari and the games that helped define it and the rest of the video game landscape, consult your local The Dot Eaters article.

I just signed up for Gamespot Total Access, the paid subscription tier for the gaming website.  The process of how this came to be is a weirdly circular one which I'd like to note because it's such a strange trip to take.

The reason I joined wasn't because I wanted to pay for the service.  Nope.  The reason I joined was because I was a Giant Bomb Premium member.  You see, I was subscriber to Gamespot Complete back in the day, until what became known as the Gerstmann Affair.  In 2007, longtime Gamespot employee Jeff Gerstmann, who by then had the Editorial Director spot at the video gaming site, was fired over his pushback against the steady influence of the marketing department over editorial content.  This pushback game to a head after Gerstmann put up a fight over his review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, which he gave a "Fair" rating, essentially a mediocre grade.  Publisher Eidos threatened to pull advertising on Gamespot, advertising which had actually progressed to wrapping the entire site with ads for Eidos' game. For my part, I cancelled my Gamespot subscription in protest over Gerstmann's firing.

In the wake of the dismissal came the obligatory lawyerly suppression of information, a suppression that of course allowed naysayers to cry conspiracy, insisting that the whole thing had nothing to do with Eidos or Kane & Lynch.  Gerstmann himself went on to found Giant Bomb, a competing video game website that has steadily grown in prominence, to which I eventually paid for subscribers access in support for Gerstmann's efforts.  And here is where the story takes a hilarious turn.  Recently, parent company Whisky Media has sold off Giant Bomb to none other than CBS Interactive, owners of CNET, who operate Gamespot.  So Gerstmann ends up back with his former company, and I end up back with a Gamespot Subscription, converted from my paid access to Giant Bomb.  Funny, yes?  And all the while, the stakes in regards to big game companies eroding the editorial integrity of video game journalism keeps getting higher.  

Via the terms of Giant Bomb's purchase by CBS Interactive, the gag order on the details of Gerstmann's firings was nullified, and he revealed that marketing's pressure against negative game reviews was indeed the reason for his dismissal.  But the question remains: will game publishers continue to influence gaming sites' game ratings?  And if so, will the public do anything about it?

Over at The Dot Eaters: Video Game History 101, we have a retrospective of the life of Jack Tramiel, who has passed away at the age of 83.  He founded Commodore, creators of the great C64 personal computer, and went on to helm the consumer division of Atari during the Atari ST years.  He will be missed.

From my website, The Dot Eaters: Video Game History 101:

From Elite Systems Ltd., the guys who made the classic space exploration and trade game Elite in 1984, comes World of RETRO Computer GAMES, an iOS app featuring a collection of  near-100% accurate replicas of classic computer games.

And classic is the operative word here. In the free version of the app,  Datasoft's action platformer Bruce Lee (1984)is provided free of charge, with three packs of three games each available as in-app purchases for 99 cents a pop.  Paying 99 cents up front for the app gets you all the game packs included, along with Bruce Lee.  Any self-respecting computer gamer from the 80's will remember Bruce Lee, running and jumping through multiple screens collecting lanterns in order to open up secret doors in order to progress, all the while chased by a stick-wielding ninja and the green Sumo menace Yamo.  The game packs contain such gems as Freefall's chess-by-way-of-Tolkien Archon (1983), Epyx's one-on-one fighting game Barbarian a.k.a. Death Sword (1988), and the original The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown (1985) by EA.

As almost always with these things when gaming on iOS devices, the app falters slightly with the control scheme, although this is mitigated somewhat through what Elite calls their iDaptive controls.  What this amounts to are contextual buttons that pop up in-game and are completely customizable by the user. You can increase their size and position, adjust transparency to see behind them, and switch from keyboard directional keys to a simulated joystick.  The stick is definitely a necessity for most of the games here, in particular for action games like Bruce Lee.  The ability to move controls to a more comfortable position is key to keeping things from getting too frustrating, although the low-resolution response of the joystick takes some getting used to.  Even with this stilted response, I'd have to say that the controls aren't a dealbreaker with this one. The ultimate workaround for the virtual joystick, of course, is to use ION's iCade, a nifty mini-arcade cabinet that connects with your iPad via bluetooth and provides 6 physical buttons and a solid joystick.  Retro Games supports the iCade, and using this feature makes all the difference in the world when it comes to controls in the game.

There's so much to love here.  The games feel spot-on, and give one a visceral thrill to be able to play these classics on a modern mobile device.  There are separate apps for both iPhone and iPad, but the latter is the best way to go, as buttons get crazily cramped on some of the games on the small screen.  A much appreciated ability to save and load games at any time is another big plus.



It's promised that 100 more games will be made available through in-app purchase,  touting such pleasures as Ozark Softscape's seminal M.U.L.E.and Archon's sequel, Archon II: Adept.  With a lineup like that, Retro Games should have the mobile classic gaming scene in its pocket.

Had he not been so rudely taken from us in 2001, famed author Douglas Adams, the man responsible for the immensely popular Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, would be turning 60 today.  

Over at my video game history site, I pay tribute to the man who gave us Vogon Poetry, the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon VI, and the number 42, as well as a few computer games.  Grab your towel and head over if you like.

Douglas Adams Remembered

Someone who grew up during the birth and golden age of video games would also have to be at least passingly familiar with the electronic pastime it replaced... pinball.  In practically every arcade there would be at least a few pinball machines vying for the attention of someone looking for something a bit more physical than Pac-Man.  I remember one of the troika of video game palaces here in downtown Toronto being the Pinball Spot.  After carefully traversing down the slick-tiled steep and dark stairway, one would be greeted by a huge square basement of video delights, as well as a long line of pinball machines stretched back along the left wall.  It was a pinballer's paradise to be sure.

Hoping to recapture that sultry allure is FarSight Studio's Pinball Arcade for iOS devices.  There is no shortage of pinball game simulations for game devices these days, so how does Pinball Arcade shape up against the competition?  PA's main hook is the painstaking detail that has gone into the recreation of the featured tables.  Tales of the Arabian Nights is unlocked when the game is installed, with The Black Hole, Ripley's Believe It or Not and Theatre of Magic available for paid download in-game.  These games range from between $1.99 to $3.99, and you can pick up all three in a pack for $8.99.  The app itself is 99 cents.  Other classic tables are promised in future updates.

The tables are great to play, lovingly constructed with no detail overlooked.  Each table also features a tutorial to take you through the scoring system, as well as an interesting text screen outlining the history of the machine.  Problems arise, however, with the game's physics.  Pinball games are the epitome of 'feel' in coin-op amusement.  How the ball interacts with the flippers, the speed it travels around the board, and the player's ability to influence these events are all critical elements to a pinball game's success.  There is a tangible connection between player and pinball.  I believe it is possible to recreate this connection and 'feel' in a computer simulation, but Pinball Arcade doesn't quite feel like it.  For all the love and care that the creators obviously poured into the tables, they skimped a bit on ball physics.  It moves wonkily quite often, changing speed or direction for no good reason.  The ball's movement off the flippers feels a bit strange too, all of which equals a bit of frustration on the player's part and failure to close that gap between the physicality of pinball and the cold calculations of computer simulation.

Wacky ball movement notwithstanding, I would still heartily recommend this app to all you Pinball Wizards out there.  Pinball Arcade sure plays a mean pinball.

The venerable Commodore 64 turns 30 this week, having been first introduced to the world at the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The C64 had a profound impact on two industries.  Not only did its low price ($525 at retail, compared to $1200 plus for the base Apple II model) further Apple's work at popularizing the computer for home use, the C64 became an incredibly prolific video game platform, on which many future game programmers cut their teeth.

It was a quirky system, especially the enormous 5140 floppy drive accessory, which was nearly the size of the computer itself, about 4 times the weight, and often seemed like it was going to shake itself off your desk while accessing information off 5 1/4" disks.  Despite this, the Commodore 64 became one of the most popular single computer lines ever, selling over 22 million units.

Although the 64K of internal memory in the C64 seems infinitesimally small, this powerhouse helped change the face of computing.

I've recently hammered out four new videos in my Video Games Evolved series.  I pay tribute to Bump 'N' Jump, Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Zaxxon.

Usually I do a run-through with the game as practice and then start recording gameplay footage, but of course with the arcade version of Zaxxon it took maybe 5 plays before I could survive long enough to get useable footage because the game is so bloody hard.  The Atari and Intellivision versions are the most dramatic departures from the arcade, at least graphically.  Sure, you can understand why the limitations of these two warhorses require a scale-back from the cool isometric pseudo-3D of the original, but still.... belch.  That ain't Zaxxon.  They come off more as a sparse River Raid, without the river.

One game where the INTY comes off surprisingly best is its Jump 'N' Bump port.  Usually the ColecoVision runs away with these arcade translations, but here, the Intellivision definitely captures the look and tone of the original arcade better than the CV.  Heck, even the 2600 version holds its own.  Will wonders never cease?