This from an interview on the WarCry Network about EVE Online's expansion:

The title of the next expansion - revealed here for the first time - will be 'The Empyrean Age,' the same as the EVE novel by Tony Gonzalez also slated for the summer. The reason is simple, this is the first EVE Online expansion where the story of the game and its universe will play a key role, a lot of it based off the novel.

That sound familiar? How about The Dark Wheel, released with Braben & Bell's Elite years ago. I'm not sure if I've ever read all of mine (though you can read it all right here), but it was in there to try and create a little plot to go with the randomly created planet names.

I've always wondered about plot in MMORPGs. In WoW, there's really no requirement to understand the plot of your quests nor does Blizzard create the quests so that you have to learn it, which bugs me. "Why am I killing X of Y and giving you N Zs from their loot, again?" In UO, you were, for the most part, supposed to create your own. I hope EVE pulls it off, even if you don't bother to read the latest scifi space trading [almost] pack-in novel.

Labels: history, story, UO, WoW

--ruffin at 20:43

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Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP)

In about the last year I've played God of War and its sequel God of War 2 to completion. The former is better with plot and the latter with combat, but both are well above average in both departments. With blood and nudity and a mythological soap opera, the God of War series strikes me as the modern male escapist fantasy equivalent of Burroughs's A Princess of Mars.

Last week the PSP received its own God of War game and I'm pleased to say that it recreates everything I loved about the PS2 games, including a decent story. Frankly, with external developer Ready at Dawn creating this prequel, I was concerned the plot would be second-rate. However, its proficiency at storytelling lags the original slightly while outdoing the sequel. This time we follow the adventures of Kratos, the superhuman servant of Ares, just prior to the events in the first God of War.

While Chains of Olympus succeeds at many things, I was most impressed by the pacing:

• The opening level presents the game's biggest boss (but not the toughest one).
• The third is full of puzzles.
• The fourth provides you with the truly enjoyable hit-reflection ability.
• The sixth takes you to a whole new setting, with several new enemies.
  
• The seventh introduces a new and immensely rewarding weapon.
  
• The eighth is a series of strenuous battles, a plot twist, a final battle, and a clever little conclusion that leads directly into the story of the original God of War.

I don't care how much people complain about the length of the game (which I completed in just over six hours), it's really packaged quite well. As for the length -- I don't want to spend more than six hours playing any handheld game, even over the course of several days.

Interestingly, my favorite moment in the game didn't involve combat or a puzzle. As you may know, heavy doors and objects are lifted in God of War by pounding the circle button repeatedly. Near the end of Chains of Olympus, Kratos has to commit a difficult act of personal sacrifice which is acted out through circle-button mashing. It's a simple variation on a common mechanic, yet I thought it was effective in conveying the emotional weight of the moment.

All around, I enjoyed God of War: Chains of Olympus a great deal -- both for its gameplay and its furthering the story of Kratos -- and I recommend it.

Labels: psp, reviews, sex, story, violence

--jvm at 20:41

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Maybe Ebert's Right

I enjoy the movie reviews in The New Yorker. This week, I read David Denby's review of "American Gangster", a movie about 1970s drug kingpin Frank Lucas, and this passage stuck with me. It's all worthwhile, so I can't really boldface any specific line:

Our loyalties are split between the hero of virtue and the hero of vice. We don't have to choose, which is fine -- irresponsibility is one of the pleasures of narrative movies. But can we accept the movie's glorification of Frank Lucas in the terms in which it's offered? It's true that movie audiences have always relished gangsters. They act out our fantasies of unlimited aggression, and when they are punished with death we are purged of the guilt we've felt from enjoying their rampages. The greatest gangster movies, however, deepen this transaction, taking us closer to the gangster's hopes and illusions, and then turning them inside out. In "The Godfather: Part II," Michael Corleone grows in power and then ravages his family -- the thing he most wanted to protect -- and we can see him rotting like a dead oak.

Things that came to mind after I read this:

• There are no heroes of virtue in GTA. It really is a one-sided portrayal.


• We don't have to choose in GTA either, except not to play or just play driving/stunt games with its cars. Movies have an excuse for lack of choice (linear media) while games don't.


• Unlimited aggression is rewarded handsomely in GTA but death is never a real, serious punishment. It's a minor setback, nothing more.


• There is nothing even close to a character like Michael Corleone in GTA, or really any game. The GTA games are all scenery (to mimic specific movies) and no character.

Maybe Ebert's right.

Labels: characters, movies, story, violence

--jvm at 22:27

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