9: The Videogame

I saw 9 over the weekend.  I’ll spare you the full review, but suffice it to say that it’s the first movie that I actually thought might be better as a game.  I’ve often been critical of the idea that games should try to adapt themselves into film form, largely because they’re entirely different media with different strengths and weaknesses.  I don’t know if the creators of 9 are gamers, though, because they owe an enormous debt to a whole variety of games.  Just a few of the striking similaries (I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum):

• The characters: the ragdoll-esque main characters are straight out of LittleBigPlanet.  The exact design, of course, isn’t identical, but it’s notably close, right up to the zippered front.  Compare Sackboy with 9.
• The world: I’m not sure that I’d go so far as to say that the resemblence is as obvious on this front, but I couldn’t help but think of a cross between the LBP and Bioshock (or even Fallout 3) universes.  One scene: where the characters are fighting a mechanical monstrosity in a wrecked, hollow futuristic shell of a factory while playing physics-based tricks with local scenery.  The scale of the ragdoll characters’ world, coupled with the abandoned, rotting sci-fi wasteland, is enormously evocative of the games.  I half-expected to see a Big Daddy.
• The plot: the plot of 9 is paper-thin, but the striking part is that it’s essentially a number of survival set-pieces.  Much like a platformer, the characters careen from one dangerous action-oriented encounter to the next, without much in the way of linkage between the scenarios.  I suspect that had I been controlling them, it would have been a more compelling experience.
• The story arc: Without giving too much away, 9 is about a problem that is almost self-created before being solved by the same protagonists that caused those issues in the first place.  There are a ton of game-related archetypes for this type of arc, although I suppose they’re variations on the Pandora’s Box theme.
• Inventions: Crafting has always been an important element of many post-apocalyptic RPGs, and 9 doesn’t disappoint.  Created items pop up regularly as key elements of the film.

There are a few other debts to be noted, but this gives you a flavor for just how much the contemporary game landscape has contributed to the game - in spirit, if not in practice.  (There are also a ton of similarities with Tim Burton’s last film, Coraline, but since those aren’t game-related I’ll let you consider them on your own.)  I’d bet there’s a solid game to be found inside the unremarkable movie.

A Brief Digression On Business Travel

Look, Scott of Crispy Gamer got profiled in the Times!  He’s talking about his ability to play games on airplanes, thus rendering his travel much more palatable.

There’s a personal and nitpicky objection below the jump.

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9

I went to see Coraline tonight (I liked the book and enjoyed the movie at least as much - see it yourself), and one of the previews was for the Elijah Wood movie 9, coming out at some point in September.  You can see the trailer for yourself, but it seems like it was basically conceived as the hybrid love child of Fallout and LittleBigPlanet.  My understanding is that it’s really based on a short movie, and of course the movie must have been in devleopment for some time, but it seems odd that it would be so reminiscent of two recent, popular games…

Some Consumer Research

So as part of the work I’m doing right now, I’d like to pose a question to the readership: user experiences, whose is the best and why?  I’m interested in hearing opinions comparing the PS3, 360, and Wii user experience, which might include comments around: user interface, intuitiveness, feature set, and/or general problems.  I’m not specifically talking about content - just how well you feel that each of the consoles meets your needs as a consumer.

Thoughts around access to non-gaming media in particular (trailers, videos, etc.) are particularly valuable, but anything would be helpful.  Thanks!

When 2 Becomes 4.5

I’m flying back home to Chicago tonight and had to connect in Denver.  I originally had a 2 hour layover between flights, which was bad enough, but just before taking off to Denver I got a text message from United telling me that my flight had been delayed another 2.5 hours, with absolutely no explanation.  I do a quick check of the weather in Chicago through my phone and it looks just fine.  A call to Megan and my parents to ask about the weather only elicits the response “It’s only bad if 60 and sunny is bad”.  Various gate agents are unable to tell me why my flight has been delayed 2.5 hours, as no reason is given to them either, apparently.  The last information I received is that the plane that was originally going to be used, which arrived a good 1.5 hours before my scheduled flight, was being swapped for a plane that arrives 2 hours after my flight was scheduled to leave.  Man, I hate airlines sometimes.

I still have no explanation for the plane change, and it still seems possible that my flight could be cancelled outright.  I suppose the only positive, for the moment, is that Denver Airport now has free WiFi.  Still, there’s only so many web pages to go to and read over and over again, particularly on a Sunday night.  I have the seemingly endless Picross with me, but I’ve played it so much in my downtime the past week that I feel like I could give it a break (and besides, I’ll still have my flight with no WiFi availability).   I’m also, frankly, far too tired to read my book.  It’s times like these that sometimes make me miss WoW, which would probably be a great time-killer right now.  Seeing as I still have at least another hour before boarding, maybe I’ll try some Mythos out instead.

You can consider this an open thread.

Microwave popcorn sucks

Ok, this is non-gaming related, so you can just skip this post if you’re not interested. But we almost never post non-gaming related stuff and this story is, unfortunately, the big event in my life since last night. Besides, this is still my site (and Geoff’s), so perhaps you’ll afford me the occasional non game-related post.

First, some background: I almost never make microwave popcorn. The last time I made microwave popcorn was probably over 5 years ago in college. Since then, on the rare occasion that I enjoy popcorn at home I will typically make it in our Stir Crazy, which typically makes quite delicious popcorn.

A few years ago in a grab bag my fiancee and I got a DVD movie (Cinderella Man for the curious, which we still haven’t watched) along with some microwave popcorn from my parents. My parents told me that it was microwaveable “kettle corn” and was actually much better than the normal microwave popcorn. Because we had our Stir Crazy, we still never made it. It just sat in our pantry for the past few years waiting to be made. For whatever reason, last night I decided to make it for myself rather than deal with the Stir Crazy. The “Best By” date on it was August 2006, but I just figured since it was a “Best By”, it would probably just be a little stale or old tasting, similar to an old beer or soda. So, I read the instructions which said to put it in for 4 minutes on High (and specifically said NOT to use the microwave’s “Popcorn” settings). 4 minutes seemed kind of long to me, but I figured I had never made microwaveable “kettle corn” before, so maybe it just took longer than other popcorns to make. Still, I thought I better check up on it about halfway through just in case. The story continues after the jump.

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You Win Some, You Lose Some

Over the holidays, I became the new owner of both a Sony PSP as well as a Toshiba HD-DVD player.  The former has proven quite satisfactory - I only have a handful of games for it, but it’s been really fun playing both Jeanne D’Arc and Ratchet & Clank (which I’ve been wanting to play for some time).  There definitely seem to be enough of a library to keep me occupied for the foreseeable future, and the slim design is quite nice - although the analog stick feels a little flimsy.  My only real complaint is the anemic battery life, which just looks worse relative to the DS’s never-ending power supply.  I don’t think this is anything you haven’t heard before, though.

On the other hand, my joy in owning an A3-HD was considerably dulled by Warner Bros.’ announcement today that they are discontinuing HD-DVD support.  Whether this puts the nail in HD-DVD’s coffin is still, I suppose, up for debate, but things don’t look great.  I have two reactions: first, waiting until after the holiday shopping rush to make the announcement was a pretty classless move on Warner Brothers’ part, and one that is likely to engender some ill will with consumers.  And second, I don’t see myself buying a Blu-Ray player in the near future.  The cost difference between HD players and BR is still enormous - standalone Blu-Ray players are starting on Amazon at around $320, whereas I bought my A3 for only $170 with 10 free discs.  I had - and have - no real preference for one format over the other per se, but this cost difference is prohibitive for mainstream consumers.  In my opinion, at present the PS3 is far and away the best Blu-Ray option out there.  But it’s still going to take a while for the cost to drop into a feasible range for me… the A3 does a great job with upconversion and it’s still not worth it to me to go fully HD when the media themselves are still much more costly than a DVD (and likely to remain so if HD-DVD goes away and removes that competitive pressure).  In sum, I’m rather irritated with Warner, but I don’t see this having a big impact on my short-term purchasing decisions.

Happy Labor Day

I’ll be out of town this weekend for a wedding, so probably won’t be updating.  Hope everyone has a good Labor Day weekend!

Consider this a weekend open thread.

Suggestions on Internet Radio Player

Today I received a widespread e-mail from my company stating that any non-work related audio/visual streaming is not allowed. This includes all internet radio as well as Youtube.

While I work from home most of the time I need to VPN into work every day, meaning that I’m effectively on their network and subject to their policies. I doubt the occasional Youtube/Gametrailers video or small download would really raise any eyebrows, but if I’m listening to internet radio all day that could definitely trigger some some less than polite responses. So, I have a few options: use my personal laptop to play my internet radio, which would crowd up my work desk a bit more than I’d prefer; or invest in an internet radio player. The only devices that I really found that would work are the Roku Soundbridge and the the SlimDevices Squeezebox. For some reason, the Squeezebox is twice the price of the Soundbridge, but other than a few supported format differences (which can be remedied by using a different server) I haven’t found anything that would make the Squeezebox worth as much as it is. Does anyone have any experience with these two devices and have any suggestions regarding them?

Power Outage

No, that’s not just a clever title. My power is actually out after a crazy storm just swept through Chicago. It only lasted about 5-10 minutes, but the 65-70MPH wind that accompanied it was enough to knock my power out, a first for me in Chicago.

The good news? My UPS has amazingly been functioning for over 2.5 hours already, letting me continue to access the internet (and continue working). It’s a pretty old UPS and not even a really good one, but somehow it has enough juice to power my router and cable modem for apparently hours. I think this is the first time that I’ve actually had to use the UPS for it’s original intent of providing power during a power outtage, and the investment is definitely paying off now.

The bad news? I may miss out on my Bioshock tonight… ugh.