Mario, Get Yer Guns

What are the odds I will go off subject in this post? Still, I will try.  After reading yet another article calling yet another videogame a "burglary sim", I had to put pen to blog.  Why? Because its lazy journalism, sloppy and winds me up. Hell, the same could be thrown at television but for some peculiar reason we don't do that.
I don't watch television but from the clips I've seen on the interwebz and things I hear on forums, nothings changed from when I did used to watch it. Scheming, plots, adultery, revenge, murder, and bloodshed. Its all there, played out by glamorous women and guys with chiselled physiques. Gotta look your best when you're knee deep in sin right?
And so it goes that videogames have followed that same path. Those age restrictions on the box aren't there to make the case look pretty, videogames have matured and its illegal for soft parents to give in ("for ten minutes peace") and buy wee Jimmy a shooter with a bloody big red 18 stamped on the box. Is that ten minutes peace really worth a hefty fine? Dont think it doesn't happen because it does (more often than you'd care to think).
So we have a burglary sim now do we? What about Grand Theft Auto? Armed robbery sim? Dishonored? A murder sim?
These are games fer Crissakes, but the way some journalists describe them make them sound like guides on how to raise hell for real. One of my current favourite videogames is Thief, a game where, yep you guessed it, you skulk around an 18th century London inspired city, pilfering gold watches and clubbing hapless city guards over the noggin. But I don't play the game to train as a cat burglar, anymore than a fan of 24 watches the show in hope of becoming a CIA agent (or whatever the heck Kiefer Sutherland is meant to be).
And what frustrates me more is that I read this on a gaming website not the Daily Mail  (where one expects such petty sniping). Honestly, videogames have become a massive business in these last few years and deal with mature subjects. Can't we be at least as responsible when writing about them?

Joan Rivers

As is customary these dys, the death of American comedienne Joan Rivers at the age of 81 was announced on Twitter like the mad, new town cryer that social meia has become. Chances are, if there's a story to be told, good and bad, then you'll rread it on Tweetville before BBC or CNN. Its the pulse of a new generation. Joan used it herself, she was one of the only few celebrities I follow on that site (gossip and bickering between two famous clowns isn't my idea of fun).
I will actually miss her Tweets partly because, much like myself, she spoke her mind, offend or please and I greatly admire that. Don't stab folk in the back, give them both barrels in the chest but im in danger of losing my thread of thought here so back to Joan. If you visit her Twitter page now, it lies eerily quiet, like that of late director Michael Winner (another famous Twitter user).
Words at end, reminding us about our oh so fragile mortality. Enjoy every passing minute, life is for the living.
I sent Ms Rivers a mesage via Twitter once. It was on her last birthday, and being a fan of older ladies, I remarked to her of how great she still looked despite being in her eigheieth year. Of course being a global star, having to deal with hundreds of people every day, I wasn't sad I didn't get a reply. Indeed looking back, if she did read it (and these people have egos the size of war ships), she probably thought I was 'trolling' and having a dig at her age.
Well Joanie, if you are able to read blogs from wherever it is you have departed to, know this: I wasn't kidding around, I genuinely thought you beautiful and a rare instance of plastic surgery actually working for a change. It turns most into melted gargoyles more fitting to sit on a cathedral tower than appear on a red carpet but Joan Rivers was different. God knows this planet needs more people unafraid to speak their mind.

Rest in peace Joan, I shall miss ya gorgeous x

The Hero Game

With the release of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception today (and even more truly great titles due this month), the videogame has evolved into something more than just a game. Its been happening for a while of course but with this current crop of new releases, we can safely say that videogames are no longer mere games with hi-scores, they are interactive films, the natural extension of the movie with brilliantly written/scripted stories which contain convincing characters and fabulous looks.
What started in the late seventies/early eighties with the likes of Pac Man, Bombjack, Bubble Bobble, etc, has now turned into a bona fide, fully fledged successor to cinema. The digital tadpole has found its creative legs so to speak and could well sprint past film as the more popular form of entertainment (if it hasn't already). And why not? Its as 'legimate' as the silver screen as ever been.
People want more immersion into stories these days, one only has to look at the popularity of Wii games and 3D movies to see evidence of this. Im not knocking film but the thirst to get more involved is a real one, one that Hollywood cannot quench. We don't want to be swooning over the leading man or lady anymore, we want to be them, want to fire their guns and defeat the arch villain ourselves. The audience is no longer content with leaving it all up to Stallone & Co.


Nathan doing what he does best

Take last years Western game Red Dead Redemtion for instance. That was more than a videogame, it was an experience. The player actually felt as if they were in their very own Wild West adventure; we hunted animals, rescued damsels in distress, captured wanted men, played poker in typically Texan styled saloon bars. We lived like the games (anti)hero, John Marston lived. It was a hell of a ride and no offence to Josey Wales and all celluloid cowboys, it reached further into the spirit and tickled the emotions much more than a mere film ever could. You see as my fellow countryman, the folk singer Max Boyce would say, "I was there!"
Videogames have been constantly evolving; one of my first 'real life' games was Shenmue on Sega's Dreamcast and it is a title that holds wonderful memories in the games files in my brain. The hi-score table, while still very important to games, isn't everything. Not anymore.
And we have grown up too which makes games even more equal to the big screen. The Playstation 2 had games like The Getaway and today we see the likes of Alan Wake, Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire selling like fresh Welshcakes. All of these have fantastic stories and are produced to the highest quality. Alan Wake plays out exactly like a television series, in fact its impressed myself and others way beyond television. Its brilliant!
I have been saying this for a while now, but movies today have a very short leash. Im not trying to convince you that they are finished, im simply putting videogames in their proper place; equal (but more satisfying) to film. Game on!