Defiance – How not to be ‘groundbreaking’

Defiance. It’s a novel idea really. Take one post apocalyptic TV show and make a game that interacts with the same world. Add thousands of players completing missions day after day so that you generate enough results to work out actual repercussions of these actions and you have what they wanted to achieve.

The problem is though, it’s boring.

The characters you get to play have as bout as much depth to them as the paper someone wrote ‘bad ass dude with guns’ on for the bio, the missions themselves are repetitive and don’t seem to scale well and to top it all off the game play features some of the clunkiest controls I have ever seen.

Mission objectives seem to vary between rescue this dude by standing next to them and pressing x to shoot everyone in the head till they die. When you try and summon your car (yes that’s right, you have to summon your car) sometimes it just doesn’t bother turning up and often struggles to go over slightly uneven terrain. Then there is the voice acting, but I’d really rather not have to think about that ever again.

There were a few plus points though. The way they re-populated the world with bad guys is quite cool. Rather than having them fade into existence like most games there are a number of access points across the world. Things like van doors or bunkers will open up and people will jump out of them with guns and start trying to kill you. The way non story line missions are actually given out to you as well are also quite good. You have an AI of sorts implanted in your brain and it points things out to you that you can do in the world which fits far better than having some random person standing around all day waiting for people to accept their quests. Sadly though as with the main story missions these too lack any sort of imagination, usually being either racing or killing missions with little to no narrative behind them.

So, I didn’t like the game but that doesn’t make it a total write off. If the TV show can pull the right numbers, even though this attempt failed as an entertaining launch for the concept we might see better versions of the same idea in the future. It has always been one of the major failings of MMO’s – world development. So when you have a TV show actively driving the story forwards, and much of that content is being generated by players it could in theory become one of the greatest gaming developments since the internet. Imagine that no longer must you complete the same mission over and over again, or watch the nth player kill the same boss just because no one could be bothered to actually alter the world a little.

I suppose every good idea has to start somewhere though, I just really hope it doesn’t kill off the concept if the show does fail.

Enigmatic away!

Technology and why we like shiny things

Today I saw a preview for the Xbox ’720′ and its projector upgrade for the Kinect. Honestly to say that I was underwhelmed is something of an understatement. I’m sure that the actual machine, like the PlayStation 4 will be quite handy as a multi media tie in console, but the gimmicks being thrown about really are just that.

I’d really like to see technology on the market that is actually worth something to us, helps us develope as people while it entertains us and not just cause us to ooh and ahh at a glorified projector, that months after release will probably have an upgrade to do the things that were promised in the first place.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it will be wonderful. But after years of apple trying to tell me their products are literally made of magic, the Wii U providing new ways of doing something we never needed new ways to do it and now this, I can’t help but feel a little jaded and treated like an idiot by large entertainment companies.

Is it really too much to ask people to create and sell a product based on its own natural merits that also actually exist? Apparently so…

Enigmatic away!

My craziest plan to date (probably)

As some of you may know, the islNd attempt had to go on hiatus after moving house and having no place to continue storing the materials. However, the project that drove the creation of such insanity is alive and well. Ive only spoken briefly about it on here before so indulge me and I shall go into more detail -

As a working title I dubbed it my ARC project, as it was my attempt to preserve something likely to otherwise be lost in the future. Essentally I wanted to create one of the all time great libraries, and while the books I can foreseably attain may not hold the physical wealth of the vatican library, the information and entertainment value is what I am looking to preserve.

so how has this taken a step forwards today (I pretend to hear you ask), well I have now found a way to start keeping a record of what I have, including a function that will be helpful in the future – the ability to keep a record of what has been lent out to people and when.

So, I will mostly be scanning barcodes tomorrow while trying to work out the best way to expand the library in the future. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions would love to hear them!

 

Enigmatic away!

A little late starting

As the title acknowledges, this isn’t exactly the earliest I could have written my first blog of the year, but it’s here now and at least it isn’t December. That would just be embarrassing.

So, what has been going on? (I pretend to hear you all cry out) Well my avid fans and followers I shall enlighten and possibly even amaze you with a story so true it might sound like something I made up…

So last week when I was taking my annual stroll down past Buckingham palace I decided to take a little nap in St James’s underground station. Nothing odd about that of course except when I woke up there was an odd man talking to be over a walkie talkie I didn’t remember picking up. Also my name was now James and I was a newly graduated teacher, but that was by the by as apparently the zombie apocalypse happened and now I had to stop it using my trusty cricket bat and a pistol.

Things were all going rather well, considering, and I had just finished caving in a few undead monstrosities when I came across a machine gun nest. I hope it goes without saying that I spent the next few minutes gunning things down (pretty sure they were all zombies) and then made my way into the palace where I met this wonderful doctor who was busy cutting up some zombies. He decided it would be a great idea if I went to fetch a book from upstairs, which was going fine until I was eaten by a zombie.

So as you can tell it’s been an interesting couple of weeks, that and I played zombiu recently and it wasn’t terrible, except the bit where I died.

In other news I’m back at Cex (don’t think I’ve mentioned this before) and I’ve finished the first draft of part 1 of the Unmentionables, so more about that soon when I have pretty pictures to show you all!

In even more other news I’m going to be attempting to write a bit more in the way of reviews on here, considering I can now effectively rent everything for free from work. Yay I’m cheep!

Enigmatic away!

Twelve o clock and all is still mostly there

So it has been a little while since I made an appearance on here, partly because I forgot my password and was a little lazy recovering it and also because life gets strangely busy towards Christmas.

Apparently it isn’t long now til the end of the world, unless you flip the calendar over or buy a new one, then we have a whole new year to play with before we have to start panicking again.

To be honest there isn’t too much to report on at the moment, work is work and as the days get longer social time diminishes. Writing is still ticking along though. Nearly finished the script for part one of the Unmentionables and chapter two of my novel has given me a whole new wave of ideas.

I have a new computer now too, which is fancy and glows blue. My life is slowly becoming wireless and interconnected with things working and talking to other things. THE FUTURE IS HERE!

Anyway, now that I’m back on here updates should be a little more regular. I shall leave you with the following thoughts -

If we ever wish to become more than what we are, have we already failed by trying to too closely define what we are right now?

Probably not,
Enigmatic away!

Politicians are people too (mostly)

I was thinking of putting this up the other day but have been a bit lazy, but with the new scandal over some photos taken of Kate Middleton what was a random rant has become kind of at the front of the news when it comes to relevance.

Everyone has the right to feel safe in their home, when they are outside and when they are working or relaxing. On top of this, no one is perfect, we’ve all had one too many drinks at some point, or fallen over, or hired several hookers and enough goats to make them play goat water polo.

We also have the right to say what we want but not do what we want and this is where tabloids seem to be trying to blur lines. I don’t care if they guy who delivers my pizza has slept with 80 people, 5 people or no one at all (as long as he recently washed his hands) so why should I care if the prime minister has? A common response is because whoever is leading the country is a role model but this somewhat falls to the side when you point out that we wouldn’t know about it if some paper hadn’t gone digging about for it just to make them look bad.

It would be different if it actually affected their job, or if they did something very publicly or illegal. In those cases they are on their own and need to sort themselves out or get out. But say they are swingers, who practise this very discreetly with other consenting swingers, what right does a paper have to take photos just because the top floor window was left open and if you stood on the neighbours roof you could just about see in. Obviously none at all. They wouldn’t like it if you did it to them and just because someone is popular enough to be considered famous it doesn’t make them any less of a person or grant them fewer civil rights.

Sadly the problem doesn’t stop at the papers who pay people to take these pictures and write these stories. We also have to worry about the people who give these companies money in the first place, usually by buying their products.

The power of the consumer to vote with their money has become more noticeable recently, to the point where getting enough people to stop buying something will actually make a difference. So if you care about your future privacy and the freedom of other people to just be themselves, don’t buy magazines or papers that are full of ‘reveal all’ stories. Don’t even visit their websites or make parodies of their work as this just furthers the illusion that someone somewhere actually still wants to read their dross. We are better than this though, we deserve actual news and real stories that might mean something to us or teach us something new.

Maybe one day we will be able to welcome a whole range of politicians who won’t have to lie from day one about who they even are, no longer will they be forced into a corner of lie or be in a scandal. At least a person can but dream of such a day.

Enigmatic away!

Probably never happened

I’ll be honest, (it’s a good starting point, although does raise the question of when have I not been honest in the past) I’m mostly only writing this post because I feel like writing but lack the inspiration to do a few pages of any of my current projects (which are otherwise going quite well actually). So you get the pleasure of reading my ramblings as I bounce from random topic to topic, probably not making too much sense as I go.

So the Olympics, people are talking about them right? I quite liked the way we did all those sports things. Good job people. Though I think next time we should introduce some new events;

Olympic staring – kind of speaks for itself, no blinking allowed though (as apparently there are variations of the rules that mean it’s all about not looking away aka easy mode).

Olympic commenting – where we round up all the people who criticize athletes for not doing as well as they ‘should’. They are then heckled by the crowds as they give sub-par comments about what is going on around them.

Olympic dodging – this is sort of an ongoing event throughout the whole thing, where competing athletes narrowly avoid getting in the way of the other events, with a score system based on how likely a collision would have been and how dangerous it could have been.

Finally, Olympic bungee – another ongoing event where potential Olympians are tied to a bungee chord and made to bounce up and down till they ask to be set free, last one bouncing wins.

I’m also giving serious thought to becoming an airship pirate, so if anyone knows where I could find one lying around and maybe a crew who know how to use one so I don’t crash into a mountain and slowly deflate the whole thing that would be great. I’m thinking we could fly around the world and raid other airships and slow planes that hang around for too long, maybe we could get that house from up too.

I’m also covered in tiny bites, which I’m assuming are either from tiny insects or a microscopic vampire. To be on the safe side I’m sleeping with a shotgun tonight. Maybe a chainsaw too, not sure about that one yet as it’s not very environmentally friendly and I’m all about saving the earth and what not.

Actually I suppose that takes me on a bit of a tangent to an almost real point – still bloody well ill. Still coughing, which leads to my ribs hurting at times and I get a wonderful headache for most of the day now too. Yay. This is probably why rather than failing to sleep I’m typing crap online instead. So it’s not too bad, I do quite enjoy typing crap online. I think the headaches are stress related, which is ironic considering I’m still basically doing nothing as no one in the universe wants to hire me.

I’m trying to get into shape at the moment, in the vague hope that if I do I might stop snoring (that’s right ladies, that’s not Thor getting pissed off, just me having a nap.) It’s actually going quite well, I have managed to shave off most of my hair which means I’ve lost at least 5kg.

I’m also giving thoughts to a new tattoo, but considering all the bites on my back and a lack of money I’m going to settle for giving someone a set of marker pens and seeing what happens, I suppose it could be good, right? Also at the moment if I did have the money I would much rather buy the Unlimited Sandman collection as they are very pretty and contain an awesome story. This is why I need to become an airship pirate. Or a pimp, but I’m not sure I could pull off the purple velvet look.

Anyway, that’s enough from me for one night.

Enigmatic away!