Bryce Zabel's FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

Wii Are the Champions!

Runners Up:  Wii Are the World -- Wii Will Rock You -- Wii Are Family --

It wasn't easy getting one of the new Nintendo Wii game systems into our house this year as a holiday gift. My youngest wanted to know how it happened at all. I told him, "Things had to be done. Let's leave it at that."

So now the entire family has been reduced to Mii's, or videogame icons. We actually sent out a digital New Year's card this year with all of us next to our icons (yes, that's where we used "Wii Are Family!). I try to give my family a degree of privacy on this blog, that's why you get to see only yours truly above icon-ized as it were.

There have been several people who have compared my icon version to a porn star as seen on "South Park." This hurts enough, but is made worse by the fact that as soon as I completed my icon everyone in the entire house (my family and all the neighborhood kids) pronounced my image as the only one that was "uncanny."

So far, I've gotten okay at tennis, lost a close round of golf, been knocked out in the first round of boxing. I think what I need is more practice. See ya...

Japan Calling: Videogame Nation!

Okay, people blogging about their visits to Japan is maybe a sub-sub set of blogging, but this one is a little different. Lots of pictures, from the POV of a college student whose specialty is East Asian Culture and Videogames, and a direct line into the Global Monitoring Network of the "News!Views!Schmooze!" World Headquarters. Click on the green logo below to go directly there now:

Here -- next to a picture of Jonathan with his Japanese parents -- is his blurb about his blog:

"When I first figured out the Mario Bros. came from Japan, I started studying the culture -- and from then on I was hooked.  After learning the language and going abroad with AFS during the summer of 2002, I've tried to keep up with the latest coming out of the Land of the Rising Sun. 

Recently, I was among the first six to ever be accepted to study for the new USC Interactive Entertainment major. I decided to kick things off (and finish off my East Asian Area Studies major) by researching gender parity in gaming: namely, why it is that gaming is so much more acceptable for females in Asia than it is here in the states?

So keep an eye on my blog, and I'll try to catalogue many, many (mis)adventures attempting to become a Tokyo urbanite."

Jonathan Zabel in Japan -- check it out. I can assure you that the fact that he's my son has absolutely nothing at all to do with this endorsement. In fact, how could you even think that?!

On iChats with Japan...

On the forgotten futurist videogame blog...

Sayonara for now!

Dawn of War - Winter Assault: Improving a Great Game?

You may have heard of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, which blasted away the competition back in 2004 to take Game of the Year honors in Computer Gaming World.  Relic has been making RTS games long enough to know not to fix what ain't broke -- which is why Winter Assault improves by degrees rather than reinventing the proverbial wheel.

RULE #1: Never bring a snowball to a blaster fight.

One glaring flaw in Dawn of War (depending on your play style) was the unforgiving "the best defense is a good offense" multiplayer, in which victory inevitably went to whoever could produce the largest number of cheap units the fastest. 

Winter Assault levels the playing field with the addition of a new faction: the defensively-minded Imperial Guard.  They may be less exciting to look at than the four other races, but the role they play in balancing the game makes up for it.  With the Guard on the roster, heedlessly rushing into combat at earliest opportunity is now a risky proposition at best. While their cousin Space Marines are trained killing machines who live only for combat, the average Guardsmen probably has a wife and kid they write home to -- which means they won't part with their lives unless they absolutely have to.  Couple this with the fact that they're no match one-on-one with any of the other races (even the puny Eldar), and you can see why they prefer to shoot from behind the relatively safe confines of a bunker or ATV. Not surprisingly, this means your squads can be relied on to turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble. 

If you absolutely can't allow your troops to head for the hills, the Commissar unit has the ability to execute a friendly soldier in order to scare the rest into staying put.  Or you could go up the tech tree and produce some Ogryn, who are too stupid to do anything but what you order them to.

Single player boasts some marginal improvements, but still remains less satisfying than the thrill of combating a human foe.  To summarize the plot: a Titan (a weapon of unspeakable power crafted by the Imperium) has crash landed on resident ice planet Lorn V, so the race is on between the various Warhammer 40,000 factions to take control of it before anyone else can. With a mediocre story poorly told through weak voice acting, chances are you're not going to care about much more than grinding your AI opponent into the dust. 

There are ten missions total, divided up evenly into an Order (Imperial Guard, Eldar) and a Chaos (Orks, Chaos) campaign.  On the fifth and final mission you're forced to choose a faction, so I suppose the grand total can be boosted up to twelve if you're motivated enough to play through the last mission again. Also, each race has received a new unit to to make up for their inherent weaknesses: Chaplains can be attached to a squad of Space Marines for a boost in ranged attack power, Chaos Space Marines can augment their close combat abilities by upgrading into Khorne Berserkers, Eldar Fire Dragons quickly take down vehicles and buildings, and Ork Mega Armored Nobz can soak up a great deal of punishment so the rest of the horde doesn't have to.

While Winter Assault doesn't mess too much with formula or add a flashy new alien race, it makes an already great game even better.   If you ask me, that's all you can really hope to get out of an expansion pack.

(****4 out of *****5) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War -- Winter Assault is rated M (Mature 17+) by the ESRB for Blood and Violence.

• {This is the third review from guest-blogger Jonathan Zabel, a student at USC's School of Cinema and Television, majoring in Interactive Media. You can read all of Jonathan's videogame reviews at forgottenfuturist.}

Indigo Prophecy: Is This An Interactive Movie?

New York City, 2009. Heavy snow is falling as the camera pans behind a nondescript diner and through the bathroom window. In one of the stalls sits Lucas Kane, carving some type of infernal symbol into his forearms with a steak knife. Another man walks in, and Lucas emerges from his hiding place, staggering like a puppet on a string. Three fateful stabs down the other man... and then you're in control.

What do you do? Hide the body? Mop up the blood? Conceal the murder weapon? Wash the blood off your hands? Before long, the right side of the screen shows a police officer eating in the diner. You've got to leave, and fast. As I'm about to rush out, the waitress calls me back. I ignore her, and as the door slams, she tells me I forgot to pay my bill.

As the scene ends, the perspective shifts, and now I'm controlling detectives Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles as they show up on the crime scene. How interesting, Carla thinks, that the suspect took time to mop up the blood, even though someone could've walked in on him at any time. How strange, Tyler remarks, that the suspect didn't take the victim's wallet. He obviously wasn't interested in money. So begins Indigo Prophecy, a game that takes the moniker of "interactive movie" very seriously.

Switching between a killer convinced of his innocence and two detectives who have no knowledge of his situation is a fantastic way to instill player agency and build dramatic tension. Every decision feels like it has consequences, and you'll really feel torn when you have to help one side and hurt the other. Director David Cage was fed up with videogames’ emphasis on action and their emotional soullessness, and his state-of-mind led directly to the creation of this game. As Brad Gallaway of GameCritics.com writes:

… the game's goal is to sacrifice neither the interactivity nor the narrative in an attempt to create an experience that is richer and deeper than "killing monsters in corridors and shooting crates to find ammunition." Amen to that. And Cage’s success is due in large part to the well-written story and substantial production values.

My major gripe is simply that there’s hardly any connective tissue between the game’s beginning and conclusion. Imagine if The Matrix jumped from Neo still being plugged into the system to his becoming the One, and you'll get a better sense of what I mean. For a game that aspired to telling a better story, certain story elements in this game are just plain missing-in-action.

On the other hand, it's hard to stay too upset with Indigo Prophesy because it's the first game I've played in quite a while that actually made me care about the characters. Quality voice acting really helps in this area—David Gasman really nails the persona of Lucas with a range somewhere between determination and despair. Angelo Badalamenti's (Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive) score sets the dark, brooding tone, while licensed songs like Martina Topley-Bird's "Sandpaper Kisses" add to the atmosphere. Quantic Dream has taken a leap forward, and that’s something they should be commended for.  But as the flaws in this offering show, the ultimate success of interactive narrative has yet to be written.

(**** 4 out of ***** 5)

Indigo Prophecy is rated M (Mature 17+) by the ESRB for Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol and Violence.  This game can also be found on PC and PS2.

• {This is a second review from guest-blogger Jonathan Zabel, a student at USC's School of Cinema and Television, majoring in Interactive Media. You can read all of Jonathan's videogame reviews at forgottenfuturist.}

DAWN OF WAR: Videogame Review from forgottenfuturist

"On the frontlines, there is but one commandment: THOU SHALT KILL!"  Say what you will about the rest of the game -- Dawn of War -- I think we can agree that someone on the THQ marketing team needs to be slapped upside the head.  Hard.

What shalt thou kill?  Lots of Orks, apparently.
Review by JONATHAN ZABEL

Still, I think you'll be able to get past the cheesy tagline, especially considering Dawn of War took home Game of the Year honors from both GameSpy and Computer Gaming World.  What many people don't know is that this is the first game to really do the Warhammer 40,000 license justice.  I still fondly remember playing Warhammer Fantasy and eagerly awaiting each and every game that had the least bit to do with Games Workshop.  And I was disappointed every time.  Until now.

We've managed to kill ourselves pretty well in our relatively short span of years, but 40K has always been about all the exciting new ways we'll be able to do it 38,000 years from now.  As the entirely more appropriate official slogan reads, "IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FUTURE THERE IS ONLY WAR."

Dawn of War takes the most recognizable races from that distinctive universe--Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, and Chaos Space Marines--and pits them against each other in one entertaining bloodbath.  Consider the fact that when playing the game with miniatures, an average  match takes around four hours.  (Now, you may not believe me, but it still manages to be consistently fun the whole way through.) Why does it take so long?  Say a group of marines is shooting at some Slugga Boyz: you have to roll to see how many enemies are hit, then your opponent has to roll to see how many of his men are wounded.  But a computer can render that same satisfying gunfight into real-time, which is precisely why this game shines.

Amazingly, THQ faithfully translates the mechanics and lore of the game into the mold of an RTS.  Even though you're not rolling dice anymore, the fundamental concepts of the miniature game remain intact.  You'll still be maneuvering units in squad-based (not individual) combat.  Just click a button and spend some resources and an extra man will be added to a squad to "reinforce" it.  Also, your troops can (and will) break and flee due to morale.

To win a game of 40K, a true strategist will be naturally drawn to certain positions on any given set of terrain.  THQ renders this concept into a new genre by placing "strategic points" around the map. You must capture these points in order to build units and research upgrades.  (Once you've taken one of these positions, your "strategic resource" increases--showing that your high command is willing to grant you more troops and technology on account of your success.)  Gone are the days of sitting in a base and farming resources.  I'd go so far to say this game punishes overly defensive players.  The best defense is always a good offense, and that suits me just fine--it ensures constant and intense action.

Now, the single-player campaign serves mainly as an excuse to pit the Space Marines against the three other races featured in the game.  After you've breezed through it, you'll be ready for the multiplayer, which is what this game was made for.  (There's a reason this game was featured at the World Cyber Games, you know.) The four races are controlled in fundamentally the same way, but have unique attributes and unites: the Chaos Space Marines have more firepower but less armor than their mundane counterparts, the Orks build war banners to increase their unit cap, and the Eldar have advanced technology but are weaker than the others.  My personal recommendation would be to face off against human opponents at the earliest opportunity, even if you get trounced a few times.

You really don't need to be a 40K fan to enjoy this game, but I find that you appreciate the little touches more if you are.  The unit chatter (while a bit too frequent and over-the-top) is fitting and, in the case of the Orks, hilarious.  Another good example is the way structures are built: Chaos structures are summoned from the Warp, Eldar structures twinkle into existence, and Ork structures are simply heaps of junk dropped from the sky that Gretchen tinker into semi-functionality.  The unit animations are appropriately brutal and satisfying to watch, especially the big guys. 

In RTS games so far, there hasn't been anything quite like seeing a Chaos Bloodthirster tear into a unit of Space Marines.

Happy hunting, soldier.

(4 * * * * out of 5 * * * * *)

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is rated M (Mature 17+) by the ESRB for Blood and Violence.

• {This is a first review from guest-blogger Jonathan Zabel, a student at USC's School of Cinema and Television, majoring in Interactive Media. You can read all of Jonathan's videogame reviews at forgottenfuturist.}