Second Shot

Yay!! Sparksters back with new adventures! Loved this game when I was younger. Wow, 15 years have just flown by…

Have you seen this fantastic site, yet? It comes highly recommended by myself…

I’ve only just started it but Second Shot | Photography is coming along quite nicely so far, and now all I have to do it populate it was some pictures. If you’re thinking of using a blog to host photo galleries, I must absolutely applaud and highly recommend you use Nextgen Gallery as your first and only port of call. It simply provides everything you would need to get photos collated together in an orderly fashion, and provides even more in having a file uploading module, photo resizing, integration with popular photo viewing plugins, and much more. For this and more, I thank you Alex Rabe.

Not content with causing mass hysteria, Apple let a baby killing application onto their online shops.  Idiots.

Well, the British Government seem to be at it again; let’s attack one of the most common forms of entertainment by stating it leads to death.  Not just death, but DEATH TO YOUR CHILDREN!!!

Fucking twats.

Seriously, why lead the advertisement by depicting gaming as one of the forms of entertainment that could lead to premature death.  What about reading a book, listening to music, watching a film?  All of these lead to nothing more than sitting down and doing nothing.  But, oh no, just because it’s what all the kids seem to be doing now, that’s got to be it.  Kids don’t go around biking anymore, not like they used to.  They don’t go outside anymore; they’re the modern day vampire.

Because, quite obviously, gaming can’t beat reading for intellectual improvement; listening to music is cultural diversity; and watching a film is… well, something else.  But gaming?   Oh no, we can’t be doing that.  We can’t be inviting friends around to our homes, interacting with them, having a SOCIAL life, having FUN and make a noise about it!  Nope, you must sit and be quiet.  You must not discuss matters.  Do not pass Go; do not collect £200.

Really, it’s all utter crap.  I can’t be bothered to go through all the pies that the gaming fingers are in, all the diverse forms of entertain that are rolled into one single package, that there might be something for everyone to enjoy.  Can’t be arsed, because the UK government can’t be arsed to research into gaming before making it the lead cause to early DEATH OF YOUR CHILDREN.

Watch the banner advert; they couldn’t even be bothered to get the children to concentrate on the task at hand without them looking at the camera and attain eye-contact to make sure that they’re doing the right thing.

Surely the government is more of a RISK TO YOUR CHILDREN!!! than those aforementioned forms of entertainment.  At least we’re not out there stabbing people.

On Saturday 20th January 2008, The Times ran a Comment article (p.21) by Janice Turner, titled ‘Xbox is crack cocaine for the playground‘ (also online). Talking about the tail-end of Christmas and how her kids and their friends were tearing around the house, she wanted them to stop for the sake of some quiet but soon went against herself because they were being active. Why tell them to sit in front of the television if they are enjoying themselves and getting fit at the same time?

And so begins the rather topical (and boring and repetitive) issue of getting kids off of their arses, away from the television and out into the real world for some real interaction. And if you allow them multimedia funness, then it must be with strictly allocated times, rotas, special circumstances, yadda yadda yadda.

You could micromanage them till the cows come home but is it really worthwhile? The battle between multilmedia technology and the ‘days of old’ (when you went out and made your own fun) are classic enemies. If it’s all about them getting fit then they will understand for themselves when they interact with other kids in the playground. And it’s not as if they aren’t learning anything whilst watching television. Equally, using the computer can quickly open up their creativity. It won’t be like what you remember but they’re being mentally active, just in a different way – and quite possibly, much more so in some cases.

But this isn’t the problem. My gripe – and it’s something that is so quite blantantly yet blindly put forward by the uninitiated – is Janice’s comment on video gaming:

“Once, such kids [who don't have access to television] would be the playground outcasts, but no longer. Mine are. Because, unlike the TV-hating parents, I refuse to buy them portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s. These are Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life. Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains. And they play them – beepety-beep – on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.”

So, Janice – who seemingly hates modern technology – would rather have her children watching absolutely fucking crap television, soaps like Eastenders or sitcoms like those early-morning American canned-laughter shows. Shows that have plots so weak that a day of real-life work is actually more interesting, and humour that invokes a wry smile only when intiated by unemotional laughter. What is there to learn from these? There is far more crap than good on television these days. The only thing I look forward to is the daily news, but how would you ever get a child to be interested in that?

If her children are ‘mentally imprisoned’, then it surely shows more about Janice than the medium itself. Can she not interact with her kids when they are playing? Ask them what they are doing, get them to tell you the story and the reasoning behind their actions. And maybe, just maybe – if you want to listen – you might realise that some games are a hell of a lot better than written than your everyday soaps. I mean, even my Mum sometimes shows some interest in what I’m doing – and she doesn’t like gaming either. And if they are in their rooms playing, then only Janice is to blame. As a parent, surely you know better than to cave in and put a television in their room? If you want them to interact with the world, why did you set them out not to in the first place?

And it’s quite clear that Janice Turner irrationally hates videogames and quite probably dropped the names Guitar Hero and Super Mario Galaxy without actually knowing what they are. You tell me how Guitar Hero doesn’t teach about rhythm, improve hand-eye coordination, and make people interact with others. Furthermore, surely having them listen to proper music and not the pop-shite we have these days is a good thing – the origins of music and where influences upon modern songs can be felt. And Super Mario Galaxy? Are lateral thinking problems, understanding and utilising the effects of gravity, and just plain old fun not good enough for you, Janice?

These ‘evil creators’, as she labels them, generate a huge revenue for an industry that is growing faster than any other – just look at the recent Christmas business of HMV and Game. They create fantasy and down-to-earth stories (some that are more believable than your average programme); they create visual identity and worlds beyond many a person’s imagination; they coordinate audio and immerse you into an experience. They are a band of merry men (and women) who share a common goal and gather together to produce something for others to enjoy. And what about the jobs they create? Quite how you can classify them as evil is beyond me. Are you, Janice, just thinking about Grand Theft Auto or the more recent controversy over Manhunt 2 (which I believe is currently under reclassification)?

Janice, like many others, seems to jump on the Daily Mail bandwagon on things she just does not fully understand or appreciate. Have you actually played any modern videogames for a length of time and, as a result, are adamant that they really are ‘Satan’s Sudoku’ (whatever that is supposed to portray)? Let your kids just play and regulate them as you do with the television. I used to play quite a bit when I was younger, but as you get older there are better things to do than just play games. And when I do play, I try to find games that have two-players because it makes things that more fun.

I really don’t think that there can be any excuse for such blantant shortsightedness, because it’s people like Janice who willy-nilly about the subject and show videogames in bad light. Why bring up this subject as part of a cause and effect with such little basis and even less clarification in its influence?

I think it’s time for her children to say: hey, this is the bit where you pick up a copy of Edge and understand the culture and work that must be put into creating videogames. Or game over, Janice: get a life.

See, between Holby City and Half-Life Portal, I know how I’d like to spend 30 minutes.

Two more reviews up at Gamesrant. Firstly, Assassin’s Creed that sees you play an assassin in the Middle Ages killing people for the greater good. Beyond the rather simple combat mechanic is the really-quite-good Parkour element that provide proper, automatic interaction with your surroundings. Other games must take note.

Secondly, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men . New IP from Eidos that is also quite good, violent fun. From the breakout of a police van to the revenge killing of those that put you away, it’s quite a kinetic romp and all the better for being made with co-op in mind.

Gaming has always had it’s (unfair) share of put-downs with being somehow childish or related to it. Otherwise, they are considered the polar opposite where any violence is seen as some sort of teaching aid to maim and kill.

BioShock has the fundamentals of the latter, but uses it in a way that must really be praised. It is, without a doubt, a properly made horror story first and foremost. It’s not quite the perfect creation, but it’ll damn well do.