Irrational Games has released what amounts to a very full-featured cinematic trailer for the fifth game in their loosely-related series of Shock games:
Is it just me, or does this seem a bit… conservative? As always, no judgments are laid upon a mere trailer, but a lot of the thematic elements in this clip – the elitist exclusive society, the nigh-magical city hidden from the common world via fantastic technology, a hulking mechanical monster, the young girl in need of rescue, the haunting sensation we get from a dangerous place redolent of naiive American protoculture – seem terribly familiar. I’m willing to cop that these are themes that have been explored in pop literature for some time. Still, I would have been more excited to see the creative folks at Irrational pop out something that suggested a bit more reach outside of their comfort zone.
My husband is an anthropology student and brought this book home. I caught him giggling and outright laughing as he read it so I picked it up as soon as he was done.
The early chapters deal with different means of body disposal, burial, dismemberment, etc. Other chapters focus on specific cases or famous corpses. No detail of the anthropologists work is spared and triumphs and enduring mysteries are presented side by side. The most affecting chapter is the one dealing with the identification of the remains of Tsar Nicholas and his family. Maples presents the most probable circumstances of their deaths. I was horrified when I read that the women had hidden jewels in their corsets that then acted as bullet proof vests. When the bullets didn’t kill them the Bolsheviks bludgeoned them to death.
Maples is the kind of person who should be in charge of everything. His elegant and inspiring prose evinces a passion for the truth, a clear vision of duty of the scientist and a commitment to the equality of all people. Each chapter begins with a passage from a poem. Not just fragments that seem pithy but truly affecting passages, evidence of a sensitive mind and a well read scientist. Instead of being gross or off-putting his candor regarding everything from how maggots consume a corpse to the effects of shark stomach acid on human bone had me smiling throughout the book. At times I laughed out loud at incredibly gruesome details. At other passages I wept quietly, moved by his sincere depth of feeling towards the victims he strives to identify.
Books like this are obviously inspirations for procedurals like Bones. Unlike Temperance Brennan, Maples is not hiding from humanity in academia. He is bringing humanity into it and restoring it to those who some other has stolen humanity from. Even as he is literally re-membering their corpses and returning their identities, he is confirming their membership in the human race.
If you like police procedurals such as C.S.I. or Bones this is a must read. Inspirational and fascinating!
I was playing Modern Warfare’s singleplayer campaign last night (yes I fucking know), and was struck by the incongruity of the health regeneration in the game. It’s basically the same damage forgiveness system as Halo’s shield regeneration, right? If you take fire, you can either tough it out or duck into cover and rebuild your strength for another go. As a game mechanic it treats the player a little more kindly than simply giving her a static pool of life points that only renews or depletes in response to interactions like getting shot or stepping on a medical kit with her boot. Sure, you got shot, but you shook it off after a second; maybe it was just a graze that stunned you, or the adrenaline kicked in. These are rationalizations, really, for a strangely gamey system that softens the difficulty of the game a bit.
On the other hand – big stupid what if question incoming – the only reason that the player needs forgiveness is that taking too much damage results in a fail state. You die, get a pithy anti-war quote from some who ought to know, and restart in ludus res at one of the game’s generously-distributed checkpoints as though the death had never actually happened. The only way to end a mission is to keep soldiering through until you complete all of the objectives given to you.
I have never wanted so fiercely for someone to kill themselves as I wanted for Bucky Bleichert to blow his fucking brains out. Read the rest of this entry »
FyreHaar: I don’t know man FyreHaar: my energy just got sapped SonicRob: I am tired SonicRob: I don’t want to be here anymore SonicRob: today FyreHaar: ditto FyreHaar: let’s make a pact SonicRob: we must bring salvation back SonicRob: where there is love SonicRob: I’ll be there FyreHaar: what song is that SonicRob: “I’ll Be There” FyreHaar: did you just wuote Michael Jackson at me? FyreHaar: WTF man! SonicRob: uh FyreHaar: and why do you know that? SonicRob: would it be better if I quoted Mariah Carey at you? FyreHaar: no! SonicRob: The Baker listens to Kiss-Fm! I can’t help it!
