01.24.08
Posted in Game news, Other media at 01:05
I gotta say, EA very rarely gets the sympathy vote from me, being that they usually fill the role of the Faceless Megacorp who buy smaller successful studios only to squeeze them for every dollar they’re worth and then shut them down. However, I have to give them kudos for their handling of Fox News’ outrageously slanderous segment about the sexual content in Mass Effect. I’ve already discussed the subject to death on the forums I frequent, and I know there’s nothing I could possibly add to EA’s letter itself, so I might as well just link you to Kotaku’s reproduction of it so you can enjoy the experience of Fox News receiving the retaliation their incompetence calls for:
Kotaku: EA Calls Fox Out on “Insulting” Mass Effect Inaccuracies
I especially enjoyed this particular huge burn:
As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.
Ouch. Touché, EA! Touché 
- Game: Mass Effect
- Music: Linkin Park - No More Sorrow
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10.14.07
Posted in Other media at 13:29
Here’s the film I’ve been making over the last two weeks. I stayed up ’till 7 am last night to subtitle it in English and encode it back to mp4 - I tell you, navigating the jungle of video encoding programs is not for the faint of heart. The film is 8 minutes, and I’m moderately happy with it.
Click here 
to download it as an .mpg file in a .rar archive (edit: The sound was out of sync on the .mp4 - this is 20 megs bigger, but the sound fits). I tried to make it stream from the page as well, but the audio was out of sync, so until I find a better solution (possibly YouTube), you’ll have to download it if you want to see it.
Read my comments after the jump, but not before you’ve seen the film, lest I ruin it for you.
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- Game: Company of Heroes
- Music: Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
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09.14.07
Posted in Music, Other media, Personal at 22:53
I’m currently working on the script for my first audiovisual production (that is, short film) at the university. I’ve grouped with two great girls who are really good to brainstorm and bounce ideas back and forth with. Them being female, I expected the worst and brought a love story to the table initially, but one of them proposed a story about a schizophrenic, and I was sold immediately. The story we settled on after a few revisions for some reason reminds me of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails, so I see this as a great opportunity to finally try to write something around a piece of music.
I’d like to establish a certain synergy between the film and its soundtrack, using the song to define and build a particular style in the way the story is presented. As I work on the script, I keep Hurt running on repeat so I remain in that mellow, slightly threatening and sinister mindset. I’ve only written the first few minutes of the film, but I think the intro is really good and I know pretty much exactly how the ending will be structured according to the song. I only hope I can cut up the song like I want so we won’t end up making a glorified music video 
Of course I still have to sell the idea of integrating this song so strongly in the film to the others, but I think they’ll agree when I show them the first draft of the script.
- Game: Guitar Hero II
- Music: Nine Inch Nails - Hurt
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08.20.07
Posted in Games, Music, Other media at 22:13
Boil - Vessel
Excellent album from Danish/Icelandic progressive metal band Boil. For some reason everybody I’ve played this for has commented on its unoriginality, and I’ll agree they sound a lot like bands such as Tool or A Perfect Circle. But I really like that kind of music, so I’m enjoying listening to more of it. Stupefy was the original reason I bought the album, but Abstemious has turned out to be an extremely pleasant surprise.
The Bourne Ultimatum
Watch Identity one day. Then watch Supremacy the next. And then go to the cinema and watch Ultimatum. I know it’s “just an action movie”, but it’s one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen. Of course I read the original comic book series many years ago, so I was a fan of the concept before it ever became a movie. The Bourne trilogy has given me an immense respect for Matt Damon, who is one of the few Hollywood superstars to consistently transcend his own identity and make you forget he’s an actor. Ultimatum’s only weakness is that it’s sorely missing Franka Potente, but then on the other hand it features some moderate political commentary, and that almost makes up for it.
Not playing Knights of the Old Republic 2
…until Team Gizka finish and release their patch. That said, I’m glad I’ve played the original and experienced what a rushed and wounded game it is. I believe I’ve learned something from observing the choices Obsidian made when they had to cut important pieces, and seeing the consequences it had for the integrity and coherence of their story. Also, that game is in need of some serious balance testing.
- Game: KOTOR2: The Sith Lords
- Music: Boil - Masters of War
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07.11.07
Posted in Other media at 23:43
If there is such a thing as an anti-war movie, Letters from Iwo Jima is it.
I have never seen a film in my life that so consistently managed to not make war seem awesome. Platoon was supposedly an anti-war movie, but it was also really cool. Deer Hunter was supposedly an anti-war movie, but it made the Vietnamese out to be sadistic psychopaths. Even Apocalypse Now, one of my favourite (anti-)war movies, had a few (satiric!) sequences that were just really awesome with explosions and helicopters and Ride of the Valkyries and everything.
Iwo Jima shows that both sides have good guys and both sides have bad guys and killing each other systematically is just so goddamn futile. I really don’t know how Clint Eastwood turned out to be such a fantastic director, but I hope he keeps them coming.
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06.23.07
Posted in Games, Other media, Personal at 00:15
Today I finished my first year of university. The end boss was tough, but I beat him and got a 9 in film history to show for it. I drew D. W. Griffith and early American cinema. Not the best question I could’ve got (the top 3 being Soviet montage, Italian neorealism, and European new wave), but it could’ve been far, far worse - I could’ve drawn French cinema in the 20’s, Danish cinema 1930-60, or… the dreaded Swedish cinema. So all in all, I’m happy with my 9. I would’ve been happy with 6, to be honest - I just had to pass and get those damn ECTS points.
I also managed to get 5 stars on the final song (Carry Me Home) in Guitar Hero 2 on medium, and have moved on to Hard, which has indeed proved to be… if not hard, then at least challenging; and I ordered Halo 2 for my Xbox and bought Hitman 4, 2, and 1 via Steam, to reward myself for a job well done. Now, I’m going to start working on a QFG post-mortem. The campaign ended last Wednesday, and I never managed to give it a proper farewell. I will also work a lot on TNM over the summer, especially if Chris manages to finish the last level soon. Mmm, it will be glorious. Just you wait, never have so much entertainment been so free.
- Mood: Relieved beyond description!
- Music: KISS - Strutter
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06.20.07
Posted in Music, Other media at 21:38
I should be reading about Asian films in preparation for my impending exam on Friday (man do I mention that a lot these days… I wonder why), but Call of Juarez has kickstarted a sort of western phase in my film viewing habits, and yesterday I got Morten to send me the theme for The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. I actually have that theme on an old 45 RPM vinyl disc that my mother once gave me; it also has The Ecstasy of Gold on the other side, so it’s a great record, but unfortunately I have no record player, so I can only play it on my parents’ stereo.
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- Music: Ennio Morricone - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
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06.14.07
Posted in Games, Music, Other media at 23:32
I am feeling exceptionally elated after today’s incredibly fun and productive study group meeting which lasted from 3:30 pm to 8 pm and during which we managed to go over French cinema since the New Wave, Danish cinema from 1960 until now, and finally American cinema from 1920 until now (Morten spoke about this for… it must’ve been over 2 hours, it was incredible). Now I’m just kicking back, enjoying some good music, and making ready to test a level editor NVShacker coded up for our Breakout minigame in TNM (yes, we have a level editor for one of our minigames, how cool is that?). I have a sudden onset of exhibitionism, I feel a need to share with the world what sort of entertainment I am currently ingesting:
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- Music: Green Day - Working Class Hero
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03.21.07
Posted in Game design, Games, Other media at 14:07
I stayed home from today’s lecture so I could catch up on the Film History reading. It’s a subject that wobbles precariously between entertaining, fascinating, and boring. But it did get me thinking about the internationality (is that word?) of the games industry - funny how most things make me think about games these days.
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03.16.07
Posted in Other media at 23:15
Wow. I just saw Donnie Darko 
. What an amazing movie. Even my dad liked it, although I’m willing to bet he didn’t get at least half the plot. I say this with some certainty because I’m not sure I got half the plot.
I’m usually not very big on film analysis, mostly I’m studying Film and Media for the Media part. Specifically, Computer Media (to which around 3% of our curriculum is dedicated - not bitter!), but this is one of those movies that could motivate me to pay more attention during our Fiction Theory and Analysis classes. It is also the kind of film that absolutely makes me realize how much the world needs film scholars, because otherwise, how the Hell will we ever come to understand what happened in this movie?
Fantastic film. Gotta buy it now.
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