Assignment 1.... Power, Games and Guns

Soooo.... after a spectacular crash and burn a few minutes ago. I've gotta come back to this with both guns blazing. To review what needs to be done:

1. must be something already done in game
2. completable within three weeks
3. viewable on this blog
4. follow the theme of POWER!

The interesting thing was that when I presented that I'd screwed the pooch... I managed to pick up a number of useful pointers. The key thing was to break down the media examples:

1. consider the individual elements:
2. sounds (ambiant, directly related)
3. variety is key for certain background elements (different voices cheering, different ways people clap, different gunshot sounds extra).

In essence, What I want to show is that scene or rather those moments the trashed good guys stagger in to cover, take a break, rest, regroup and then go back in tot he fight. Now if you are looking at where this is done in games:

 

1. Final Fantasy 8 has done this in a number of different ways... but it's not something that is actually showcased in any great detail. For example: Disc 1  just before "serious negotiations" with President Deling.  The screen cap shows the thoughts of Squall Leonhart, with "GF's equipped" highlighted in yellow. This is the moment that leads to the gearing up - the video linked above at 04:15 takes you to the equipment/inventory interface to setup your characters for battle.

 

2. Gears of War 3's opening cinematic has this, but very briefly in the last twenty or so seconds of the video. What comes before that is all a monologue/summary of events, but when she actually spraypaints on the emblem on to the side of her Lancer Assault Rifle. It's a sign of mental strength, not just the physical strength that is innate to her as a soldier.

3. The Left 4 Dead 2 opening cinematic is essentially a gear up, gear up, gear up some more opening cinematic. they start out with only melee weapons, find some firearms, then somebody gets a .50 Caliber machine gun, then a grenade launcher... Of course, this is over the progress of the game but I think you all get the idea.



Now the main inspiration for what I want to do is actually easiest explained in the ending moments of the Left 4 Dead introduction video and the first moments of gameplay from the No Mercy campaign: The Apartments. To sum it up: After having fought through a horde of infected, and killing a Tank with an apartment building's fire escape balconies and stairs, the four survivors are essentially armed with nothing but their 9mm pistols. A pile of ammo, med packs, pump action shotguns and Uzi submachine guns are on a table near by.  So what's the first that happens? Everyone grabs something. In many ways, this is the epitome of what I will be trying to do with my little video project. Indeed, this "power up" moment is possible at the outset of any map in any campaign of both Left4Dead and Left4Dead 2.

Given that this is a game, there are similiar power up points scattered all over the different maps. Sometimes its just an ammo pile to restock, sometimes there's a better weapon or weapons - better not necessarily more effective/efficient/useful weapon in a given situation. Others include pipe bombs and molotov cocktails scattered about in random corners. I think the pictures  describe what I mean:

Now for a shamless self plug/promotion: My fanfiction based on the No Mercy Campaign of Left4Dead can be found here.

In fact, such "weapon uprgrades" and ammo scavenging is prevalent on most First Person Games from Modern Warfare 1,2,3 through to the Left4Dead franchise, the Mass Effect franchise. In games where the enemy are human or humanoid alien, they tend to drop their weapons so you can pick them up when you get close enough and let's face it: If you're killing the bad guys or the other team, you are going to have to scavenge weapons at some point because you just run out of ammo. I'm still trying to find pictures to show this - video just doesn't cut it here... maybe I'll go and replay the gmae to get the shots I want... sigh... there goes my bandwidth for a week...

So in the Left4Dead universe at least - if not in the "world" of most FPS games - there seems to be no real logical reason as to where you can find such caches of weapons, explosives and firearms which fits in quite well with what I'm planning on filming.

 

In other media such as movies, this is easiest seen in war movies and those of the action adventure variety:

1. Battle Los Angeles (from 02:36) and again in Black Hawk Down an example of physical war fighting knowledge and skill and power. Of course, the Battle LA scene is at the end of the movie but it shows the power and skill of these soldiers who have gone through hell, "had breakfast" and go back in to battle. Black Hawk Down shows the Delta and Rangers gearing up before heading to war.  
2. Doom does this very indirectly as shown in this short video clip with a single line of dialogue - I can't find a video of the scene - "Quaratine Cordon is Breached! Situation is no longer containment! Grab all the weapons and ammo you can carry. We, are going through!" That one line makes clear what they are going to do: Gear up and really start hunting whatever creature/mutant/demon/monster thing that has escaped back to Earth.
3. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, specifically Aragon preparing for war at the siege of Helm's Deep, showcases his physical prowess as a soldier, the power of having friends and allies who will fight alongside him. The particular video sequence - which I can't find on YouTube is exactly the display of power, and also prowess that I hope to emulate.

 Now the obvious question is how this is used in games? Well... honestly speaking its not done much in the actual games themselves... this is something that is often left for the players to decide or resolve, as a break in the plot.

 

The Final Fantasy series does this constantly, allowing players to adjust weapons, tweak settings, powers ups, magic, costumes etc at almost any given time in the game, and in some cases will actually make sure players can do tweak and make adjustments before major boss battles or key events/moments pivotal to plot exposition - as long as it's not a cut scene.

 

Some games, however do give you a few moments to setup your equipment and weaponryas you like. one example of this is the various different "training missions" found in a variety of FPS games. Sniper: Ghost Warrior does it, Modern Warfare 2 does it, the entire set of tutorials and "boot camp" from Medal of Honor, Pacific Assault does it as well. Modern Warfare 2 had the best video so I went with that (found here), and a few pictures as well.

 

So... how the "plot" shapes up:

• A group staggering in to cover/shelter/stronghold of somekind, with a few "low level" weapons.

• Rest, recover somewhat
• Upgrade the weapons,
• Heal injuries.
• Relaod magazines
• the kick open the door and go back in to battle.
• Media element:
• The problem with videos and filmiing is that the audience is somewhat limited in what they can experience. They can see, emote and emphatise. They cannot actually feel, touch or taste anything that happens on screen.  So it comes down to the visuals and sound.

What I want to emphasize is the sounds:

• Battle in the background, softer, but eventually getting louder as the fight they ran from comes closer.
• some wounds being bandaged up, grimances, facial expressions
• the sound of magazines being loaded, grenades being slung and so forth.
• knuckle cracking, the cocking/priming of weapons.
• the sound of the door slamming open

Camera angles and lighting and dialogue and audio I've not given too much thought to but I"m keeping it fairly simple for now:

• maybe limited variation in camera angles to get in for close ups.
• dialogue will be limited.
• considering making the room shake (I'll shake a camera)

I see the whole video being about two to three minutes in length. I don't think it gets any simpler or more effective than this.

Assignment 1... SCREWED!

So yeah... having spent the weekend playing around with Adobe After Effects, photoshop, moviemaker is that what I am actually trying to do is not just beyond my ability... but so far beyond my ability at the moment I should be looking in NARNIA for the right skills to do this.

I guess its a good learning experience if nothing else because I've figured out what my limits are at the present time in terms of being able to use video editing software and technology... something for me to work on in the future.

The fact is: I grew up with some epic games, moview and media in general that I CANNOT do yet... so crash and burn on the current plan... I'm gonna need to come up with something new and damned fast...

My landing at this point is going to be remarkably similiar to hers.

Winning and Victory in media these days...

Welll.... here's the thing in almost every sorta book, movie, story, game you play, you play for one reason only: TO WIN! It does not matter if your opponent is a dumb-as-a-rock-AI, or eight-nine-ten-year-olds. It doesn't matter if you have a team of as dumb-as-rock-AI, or eight-nine-ten-year-olds... in 99% of the situations you find yourself playing a game, you are playing to win:


 Nerf Damansara Game in SS2 a few weeks ago. Don't recall if I was at the backof my "army" screaming "CHARGE! TAKE NO PRISONERS!" or cowering and thinking , "Let them all get shot first!"

Getting back to the assignment at hand: Winning, Victory, Games, Movies, Books, etc....
A wise lecturer - said during a Fundementals of Game Development Class last semester that:

"A Game is a play situation with rules

the rules create goals and obstacles

the means of overcoming the obstacles have to be interesting

Interesting means giving players choices"

So in games when you go for the win, how do you do it? The honest answer is that it depends on not just the genre of the game, but on the Game itself. An easy example is to compare Mass Effect 3 possible endings with those of say Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, and Modern Warfare 3: Where Mass Effect gives you the ultimate pseudo choice of how to end things, Modern Warfare does not. but this does not make the victory any less sweet when you achieve it.

RTS games such as command and conquer tend to have awesome cut scenes and cinema/movie quality movies at the beginning and end (when you win) of the games. The same can also be said of various RPG games such as Dragon Age (DAI and DAII), and the very old Dungeon Siege franchise. In essence the ending cinematics are what making fighting/slaughtering your way through HOURS worthwhile. so if they get this part wrong - as they did with the original ending to Mass Effect 3... well let's just say things get ugly FAST.

In contrast, the entire Warhammer 40,000 franchise featuring the Blood Ravens (that's Dawn of War, Dawn of War II and Retribution) has had some awesome cinematics as linked. Even the expansion packs had some fairly awesome cinematics. I particularly enjoyed the Imperial Guard ending from Winter Assault, and there are just too many victory scenematics in Dark Crusade and Soul Storm to choose from. One Thing I would like to point out was that while Dawn of War II's Chaos Rising expansion pack had a solid enough ending to it, it hinted at Darker things to come which were delivered in the Retribution expansion pack.

One of the most cinematic style movie endings I have seen and still remember fondly is the ending cinematics from the Final Fantasy Series: Final Fantasy 8, X, amd X-2, which is also done in Deus Ex Human Revolution. This is a game where the ending was truly the player's choice as to what kind of victory they wanted to win: there are four main choices... but there were sub choices (alledgedly) creating a total of 12 different endings (Jensen's monologue varies).

Other games that give you the happy ending include Starcraft (I'm talking the Protoss Campaign in Starcraft, NOT BROODWARS). Of course, on a rare occassion, the "bad guys" do win - mostly because the player is the bad guy: Starcraft Broodwars Zerg campaign comes to mind, as does Dungeon Keeper 1 and Dungeon Keeper 2, and more recently Dungeons.


In many movies the good guys tend to win - good guys being a relative term because there are such thing's as Anti-Heroes, and the so-called Dark Hero. more on that in a bit. The good guys winning you see in just about every humans versus aliens war movie - most recent would be Battle Los Angeles and others include the likes of Independence Day. Needless to say two recent movies where the good guys basically steamroll the hell out of the opposition would be The Expendables and EX2. Now looking at the anti-hero or dark hero the immediate few that pop in to my mind are: Jack Reacher, Pitch Black, and Chronicles of Riddick and Blade and Blade 2 Bloodhunt.

Fiction Novels are very, very guilty of this of the good guys either the happy ending or (when there's a sequal) hope that they CAN win: Almost any mainstream author and title you mention will have the good guys winning, and saving the day. A few that I can think off right off the top of my head:
Tom Clancy - Patriot Games, Rainbow Six (YES THE BOOK CAME BEFORE THE GAME!), The Sum of all Fears, Executive Decision, The Hunt for Red October, the entire NETForce series.
Dan Brown - Digital Fortress, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code.
Clive Custler - Pacific Vortex!, Atlantis Found, Inca Gold, Raise the Titanic
Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood
Dan Abnett - Gaunt's Ghosts Series, Eisenhorn and Ravenor collection.
Stephanie Meyer - Twilight Series, and of course her other stand alone novel, "Host".

The one thing that has always kinda irked me with a lot of these writers is that they seem to minimize the injury that their principal characters sustain, be it physical, emotional or psychological. It is understandable as killing the central character kills the story - unless you 're writing a tragedy or something to that effect - ending a series/franchise is a common cause of this. Suffice to say that my fanfiction work has gone against the grain here - I kill a lot of characters important to Harry, break up the "Golden Trio," and go so far as to throw in a LOT of heart break and guilt. Link to parts 1 and 2 of this orgy of destruction are here and here respectively. Admitedly, children's writers are even more guilty of this:
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter franchise either has a happy ending for every book (1-3 and 7) or one that ends on an upbeat/positive note despite the gathering storm (4-6)
Christopher Paolini: Eragon, Elder, Eldest
CS Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia
Enid Blyton - Famous Five and Secret Seven series
Franklin W. Dixon - The Hardy Boys series

I could go forever here.... but I think the point has been made on books that you almost always get a happy ending or at least a satisfactory ending. If the ending is neither of those, it's a pretty safe bet that  there's a sequal lurking around somewhere in the author's head. That said, a happy ending does not prevent an author from bringing a character back and tormeting them a whole lot more - Dan Brown puts Robert Langdon through a lot.

Books and movies tend to flow in to one another as books get made in to movies and vice versa the fact that they are different mediums telling the same story does not detract from the genre fact that the good guys or the anti-hero (and on occassion the bad guy) wins.

But like all games there has to be a plot and that plot will involve obstacles and rules that have to be followed so that the player can win.Trainers, hacks and cheats can break the rules of the game... but where' the fun in that? You win without having to work for it which can make even the best game soooo utterly pointless to play.

 So if that is winning and victory in games... just what the hell am I going to do for the assignment? Ideas and comments will be welcome! I am admitedly thinking something NERF Related, but a whole lot simpler than my nutty force powers idea....


assignment 2: winning

Winning. I win! He wins! They win! WIN! WIN! WIN!



The second assignment follows the theme of victory now. What I would really like to do is something related to my other rather bizzare hobby: Nerf. Again because I'm looking to develop my video editing skills, it's going to be a video of some kind. But before getting in to the nuts and bolts of how that assignment's gonna look like/turn out/ feel. I figure I should take a BIG step back and just make sure I understand the concept of winning. So I guess... start with the basics:

So winning as a concept.... myself.. I think winning is a bit vague, especially when you look at it in a multimedia context. Personally, I think this has got a whole lot more to do with victory/being victorious, which would be easier to showcase than just winning.

I say this because winning is a fairly generic state. Victory implies a context/setting and scenario which lets you tell a story, series of events or just focus in on what leads up to a victory or perhaps the victory.

So given that winning and victory pretty much go hand in hand with one another - in that winning is what happens when you achieve victory. Now to figure out how they do that in media and games...This is actually not that hard to do as in most games, this is why we play: We play to win!
It could be to win by defeating the bid bad/bad guy  leader (Modern warfare 3)
It could be that winning lets you make a choice that has devastating impact upon humanity/your species/your race. (they did a shit job of it, but the original Mass Effect 3 ending comes to mind. Deus Ex Human revolution did it a whole lot better)
Sometimes, you're fighting for survival (Left4Dead and of course Left4Dead 2 - I'm gonna skip the DLC packs) or just the possibility of staying alive to fight to survive the next day (The Walking Dead)

so if that is how you win in games... I'm not going to show those final moments. I mean, that would defeat the point of actually PLAYING the game right? So I'm thinking showcasing game play elements, showcasing the mini-wins, achievement unlocks and so forth... now how I'm going to do that... well... I have no idea....

combat choreography versus 1 step 1 kill choreography

Well...well...well.... having watched way too many lightsaber fights over the past eight or so hours... I'm just gonna list the really good ones off YouTube below (not just for saber skill but also for ideas and techniques as well as stunts and so forth):

Ryan vs Dorkman - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NE5elL30w4
CONCRETE HUSTLE lightsaber duel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZM4Hkw5CPk
Ferocity - LCCX's Winning Lightsaber Duel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQO57Iwlo0
Star Wars Lightsaber Duel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dykGRGzzVA
RvD2: Ryan vs. Dorkman 2 -- HD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RATMJ8JH1qo
Chad vs. Jason - Lightsaber Battle Royale! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XI0e1C-0u4
Denial of Self - lightsaber duel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yMxGbBZOYc
Jedi Ninjas Ft. Team2X - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF9Qk6m_b74
Limit of Error - Lightsaber duel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ityky7D_uhk
 Roommates Senior Year: Lightsaber Duel (HD Star Wars Fan Film) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VbAX51oi0c
Lake Central Lightsaber Battle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9isMwsQiQrg

I've come to the conclusion that I am probably hovering somewhere between "just plain nuts" and "completely and utterly insane." I have no doubt that I can find a partner and put together a Choreography in a few weeks time. The question is: Can I get the force powers on film, and edited together in time for a single choreography?

I'm having doubts about this at the moment.... and I'm toying with the idea of doing something a little different that having a choreography of a 1 vs 1 fight: The one-step-one-kil routine. I can't find decent videos of these online to really showcase what I'm talking about but you can get the idea of it here from Chronicles of Riddick. That links you to a step by step analysis of the one-step-one-kill routine on the prison planet Crematoria. now something along those lines, to showcase Force Powers would probably be easier to do... if I can find enough people willing to be mooks to get beaten up - that, and enough lightsabers to go round....

But another look at a similiar concept can be found in Blade (the infamous slaughterhouse rave sequence) and again at the Ritual Site at the end of the movie, and Blade 2 Bloodhunt (the blood bath), Blade Trinity (as he fights his way through the building single handed to face Dracula).

A similiar concept has been applied to Lord of The Ring, the Fellowship of the Ring, and is most clearly visible at the end of the first movie where Aragon then Boromir stand and fight their way through an entire horde of Uruk'Khai singlehanded until the later gets killed.

So the question that remains now is which one I can pull off in a few weeks. I'm think this new approach might work a lot better because one man against an army of foes, is in itself a demonstration of power in and of itself, as opposed to a fight with two people litreally just beating on each other until one of them wins.... what do you all think?

Too Much Power or too many powers?

So I figured I'd take another look at this after giving it some SERIOUS consideration. I mean, these powers can be replicated with some effort.

I find myself wondering if I can actually put together an entire choreography using these eight powers in less than one minute.... it's going to be difficult without having something - a minimal plot structure or something to help sequence these powers... I find myself thinking that trying to cram this much in is just plan not going to work.... but I figure I should probably figure out which powers stay in, which ones go and WHY:

The Force Pull - an example - I'd say this one is plenty do able if you know the trick behind filming it - Nope. Not telling. Sorry. This one is fairly simple to pull off...
The Force Push - an example 49 seconds with a Force Pull at 53 seconds -  follows a similiar principle. The trick will actually be doing this one safely to avoid a nasty accident. Might or might not make the cut given the safety elements involved.
Of course... I could have a Force Push blocked by another Force Push as done in Episode Three's Duel of the fates as shown here at 01:46...
The Force Choke - an example - a classic one from Episode IV starting at about 01:35 - Easy enough to do, especially if you add the right sound effects. so this one is a definate shoe in.
Force Lightning - an example from about 02:40 - the video editing to create this is going to be a nightmare but I'm pretty sure I can do it.
Ballistakineisis - an example from 04:35 - I know the link says multiple small objects to terminal velocity.. doesn't mean you can hurl half an engine block per the example. somebody off screen basically throws a bunch of stuff at somebody else... multiple camera angles and shots... time consuming... should be doable.
Force Barrier - an example -  well it can definately be done, but its gonna be time consuming as heck to do it to perfection.
Force Jump - an example -  a very nice reverse jump but safety considerations about with this one as well. Getting someone who can jump and land safely is also going to be tricky, especially from high ground to lower ground or something unless I composite the heck out of the shots.... practicality concerns abound here.
Force Speed - an example -  playing with camera and recording speed maybe but this one I have my doubts about how to use it in a choreography of any kind. Think I might have to drop this due to practicality reasons: If one guy is super fast, the rest are in slow motion.... not going to be much of a fight is there?

so that kind trims down the list of usable force powers: Force Pull, Choke, Lightning, Ballistakineisis, Barrier.
The Force Push and Jump I'll kinda have to wait and see on that until filming actually starts to see if its practical to do or not.
Force Speed will probably get dropped but lemme see what happens when filming starts...

POWER! MORE POWER! WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Well... yeah... one could be excused for assuming that I finally got clunked on the head a little to hard with some sorta object give the title of this particular post. But I think I've sorta figured out what
I kinda wanna do for that first assignment.

Power in games as I said before is about the player having choices within the boundaries (rules and obstacles) to achive certain objectives (victory conditions). So given my limited experience with cinematography, video editing, special effects and so forth together with the fact I've only done one actual performance with the Force Arts Stunt Team (website is here, video of that performance is here), I figure I can combine the two to showcase Power in games - at least the Star Wars games by doing a choregprahed fight that will have extensive force power usage.

If I could get exactly what I want, this would be a full three minute choreographed fight with dialogue, plot, some characterisation, and some truly amazing stunts like an actual LucasFilms fight.... But that's akin to a pipe dream actually because with three weeks to do it all... that's a bit nuts. so the performance video I linked previously is waaaayyy to ambitious.

I'm thinking more along the lines of this, this, and perhaps this: Straight up fight. without plot or storyline or dialogue which lets the power of the lighsaber and the force powers themselves be the focus of the fight. I'm think a one minute to ninety second fight at the most.

Now as to showcasing force powers... I'm thinking of using a mix of game and movie based powers so that I can get some variety in the fight itself as well as just plain show off and grandstand what I can do with a saber. However, my limited video editing skills, access to professional stunt men, fight choregraphers and so forth SERIOUSLY limits what I can and can't do. There's also the fact that the full list of force powers... well... there's almost a hundred of them by my quick count from the games, movies and also the board game/rpg version. So for powers in a 90 second fight I'm gonna have to go with what I can reasonably do and also expect a partner of sorts to do:

The Force Pull
The Force Push
The Force Choke
Force Lightning
Ballistakineisis
Force Barrier
Force Jump
Force Speed

I figure that's enough to make any short fight fairly epic in stature. That said... I'll have to do more indepth research in to each one and see what really works and can be executed.... there goes my weekend off...

Power of Emotions...

Welll... my last post (which can be found here), was a brief albeit rambling one sided discussion of what is power in media such as movies, games and the written word. however, just what the heck am I supposed to do for an assignment on the theme of power is more than a little tricky for me to concieve. So in desperation, I went with what the modern university student does: I JFGI'ed and went through a certain website that should never, ever be cited as a source for anything in a bibliography despite the fact that there are students dumb enough to cite it.

I got a few ideas and out of idle curiousity I punched in "GBGD209" and THIS popped out: http://artfanatic2011.blogspot.com/#!/2012/10/hunks-day-at-college-official-clip.html Definately worth a look at - but that's my ego talking because I'm actually IN the damned thing... kinda forgot about that until I watched it again...

I found myself going to all random corners of the internet looking for ideas as to what I could do with this assignment... suffice to say that I spent a lot of time on that fanfiction website and I came across a few other things related to power - at least in a fairly lateral fashion: Emotions and feelings. Should have thought about this sooner... but this picture kinda proves the point about me maybe:


Emotions tends to be one of those things that comes across best in written or perhaps spoken (try storytelling sometime. Trust me when I say it is NOT EASY).  but there are too many fanfiction works of varying length that focus on different emotions in different contexts and turn them in to sources of power, energy/strength for the hero(es) heroine(s) to face down the bad guy and ultimately win the day. One story that brought this hammering home to me was this one linked here, written by "Peptuck." He grasps the concepts of emotional turmoil, the doubt and second guessing, the everything that can make emotions seem like an absolute weakness and then turn it in to a source of strength. A more blantant example of channeling negative emotions as power is here (for those who know the FF8 Storyline - this is the Final Showdown between the Six and Ultimecia. The title is suitably fitting) and here (from my own on running Harry Potter Saga). If you have not read either: I strongly recommend spending a weekend on Peptuck's FF8 Novelization. - I've done enough to shameless plug my own work here...

Power... what is it?

Well. I guess that title needs a littel bit of explanation before it makes sense. Based on the outline for the course BGBD209: We have to come up with some kind of multimedia project based on the theme of "Power." Of course beyond the fact that "Each project must have a connection to how media is executed in Games." I felt the need to take a step back and ask one question: What THE HECK is "Power?" Weeelll... let's get basic:
 
Power can take a number of different forms including but not limited to socio-political, purely political, purely physical, psychological, or a physical manifestation of power.

Power as a concept is a fairly abstract one, but becomes less abstract when applied to Games. In a game context, power is something that esstially boils down to one word: Choice.

In any game, the player has the power to make a choice. What choice? Any choice. Literally. Power in games is the ability to cause something to happen, to prevent something to happen, to act or NOT to act. Ultimately, within the confines of the game, the player has the power to do or not do something and then deal with the outcomes of that choice. Of course in most games, exercising power is essentially utilizing the tools, resources (weapons, blades, guns, bullets, bombs, vehicles, starships etc), and units to defeat your opponent(s) through a myriad of tactics and strategies.

What comes to mind immediately is Star Wars and its use of The Force in games, in live action combat choreography, and so forth. The effects can range from the subtle, to the obvious (push, pull, catch, throw stuff) to the awesome and powerful (force lightning and blaster shot deflection), or the somewhat understated yet still terrifying. In terms of a more physical manifestation of power: This is an example from Star Wars the Force Unleashed: The Force Lightning used here is just incredibly powerful - i'd go so far as to say its IMBA. The Force is Star Wars is of course best demonstrated when you see it in action, like right here and here as part of a intro movie or cut scene or something to that effect. But if you watch both of those movies that I linked above, you'll see that there are multiple examples of power in both a physical, military, and also in the use of Force as a weapon and a demonstration of power.

Now... if you take a step back from "The Force" and look at it as power in a somewhat more abstract concept, you'll find that it has a lot in common with something else: Magic. I mean magic in all the myraid of forms that appears in digital games from the Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age II, or even the more traditional/classic styles of magic with witches and wizards. Magic as a form of power has been done quite literally to death in both movies and games of all kinds ranging from the LOTR series to Harry Potter.

But if you use magic as a "base" of power, then you have to consider that technology is also a form of power: Some classic examples of technology as power can be seen in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe which is almost a contradictory blend of genetically enhanced super soldiers with awesome futuristic weaponry together with  magic and sorcery.

Of course, power can be whole lot simpler than that: It can be as simple as an army like this one or this one. That said sometimes you don't need armies of any kind: You just need one man/machine to take out a police station, some really big dude with a sword or perhaps two Champions to settle a dispute...

Movies do this particular showcase of power on a regular basis: The whole "Gearing up to war" routine to demonstrate the sheer power and bad-assery of the supposed good guys or perhaps the pseudo good guys or even the straight up bad guys ready to do what they do best...

I believe the quote, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" (Mao Zedong, "The Little Red Book," 1964) has a great deal of truth to it. But if you are looking at political power or social influence, you are looking at something else. Power here tends to be (generally) speaking, more subtle and indirect. one of the classic examples of this is unfortunately from a book by Anthony Bourdain entitled "Kitchen Confidential" (amazon link here) is when he writes (I paraphrase here), about how he could nod his head a certain way to his Sous-Chef and that thing, whatever that thing was, would be done. Bourdain himself, would never have to follow up or ask about it again. The political power and social influence demonstrated in those few simple lines of text is simply amazing to me. I only wish I could somehow get a copy of that half a page to upload here.

Update on 27/1:
 well.... it occured to me last night I've overlooked one form of power completely: The power of speech. What I mean is the power of oratory. Some of the greatest leaders (statesmen, politicians, military commanders and so forth) have been some of the greatest speakers the world has ever seen. These speeches range from the inspiring, to the motivational, to those that are a call to arms or even revolution. These great speakers tended to have three things in common:

Style: the speaker is a master of the written and spoken forms of language, and are capable to craft something that is beautiful to be heard and read.
Substance: It has to be moving by appealing and inspiring the audience with its theme, values and ideals.
Impact: It must change both the hearts and minds of the readers and listeners, standing the test of time so that whatever it says or mean is as relevant today as it is 10, 50 or 100 years from now.

Among these great speakers (I'll keep my focus to the last 100 years to narrow things down a little) are the likes of Winston Churchill's addresses to the Houses of Parliament during the second world war are immortalized in literature and in film alike: "This was their Finest Hour" and "We shall fight on the Beaches" both were given during Britain's darkest days during the WW2 just before and after the dunkirk evacuation respectively. Others that fit the bill include President Kennedy's innaugural address in 1961: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." A few more just to round out the list:

"I have a dream" - Martin Luther King Jr made August 28th, 1963, Washington DC
"40th Anniversary of D-Day" - Former President ROnald Reagan, made June 6th, 1984, Pointe Du Hoc, France.
"Duty, Honor, Country" - General Douglas MacArthur, May 12th, 1962, West Point Military Academy, New York.
"Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation," Former President Fraklin Delano Roosevelt, made december 8th, 1941, Washington DC

Now the problem: Does such fine oratory exist in Fiction? Ok... too general: let's narrow this down to two specific questions: Does such fine oratory exist in movies? Does it exist in games? In movies, following the three criteria I outline above, I would say yes! A couple of examples: 

Braveheart, William Wallace's Speech on Freedom.
The Lord of the Rings provides a number of these awesome speeches, but two I remember well:The ride of the Rohirrim before the walls of Minas Tirith and Aragon at the Black Gates of Mordor.

All Quiet on the Western Front's "Glory to the Fatherland" speech... I can't find a good quality video or audio of it unfortunately, but I've managed to track a copy of the speech to here:


now in games... that's a slightly tougher call.... but a few do come to mind. One that chilled the blood in my veins was by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4. then there is Mass Effect 3's "Hold the Line" speech by Captain Kirrahe. One of my all time favourites is from Warhammer 40,000 Dark Crusade when assaulting the Space Marine Stronghold.

So power takes numerous different forms. The question is... just how the heck do I do this for a multimedia assignment?

 

The world's most recognizable Sci-Fi weapon

Yeah... from reading, fanfiction and original writing to waving around a Nerf Blaster, ordering my army of 8, 9, 10 year olds to "CHARGE! TAKE NO PRISONERS!", spending too much time glued to a computer screen gaming or messing about with video editing, we come to this:

Welcome to the strange little world of Lightsaber Combat Chorepgrahy. For the record: I am a member of the only Malaysian homegrown Lightsaber Combat Choreography Team: The Force Arts Stunt Team. The group was originally an off-shoot of Fightsaber Singapore, known as Fightsaber MY but after a while, the group decided that we wanted to do our own thing, our way and as such Fightsaber Malaysia disbanded and in its place, the Force Arts Stunt Team (F.A.S.T) was born. Let me just state for the record that the website is a work in progress but can be found here.

Based on the past couple of posts, you've probably noted that my hobbies tend to benefit mostly me or be rather focused on my self enjoyment: Reading, fanfiction and original fiction writing, gaming, and Nerf warfare. So this is something that I really enjoying doing, mostly because the group gets out in public and does a lot of public performances with a focus primarily on charity events to help raise money for a variety of good, worthwhile causes.

So just how good am I with a Lightsaber? Let's put it this way: On a scale of 1 -10, I'd rate myself about a 5... but I leave you to judge for yourself by clicking and watching here.  Since its inception, F.A.S.T has been involved with Hope Worldwide, Star Wars Asia Malaysia Fan Club Charity Auction and maybe involved with the Makna Cancer Marathon scheduled for March 2013.

At the end of the day, having been a part of so many different events has been both enjoyable and rewarding experience for me and is a small but powerful way of contributing, giving back and making a real difference. I won't argue that its a small difference but we still MAKE a difference.

Hmmm... now that gives me an idea for the first assignment.... on the theme of power...now to track down my lecturer....

Gaming, Music, Video Editing.....

So yeah, I won't lie about it: I've been playing computer games on the computer since the infancy of the entire industry - meaning Windows 3.0 (which is probably older than most of my readers), with pixel images, in an era when 28.8 kbps modems were considered ULTRA SUPER TOP SPEED, and IRC, and ICQ were (and still are) AWESOME!

Now as all PC based gamers love to do, when comparing who's the elite of the elite amongst the circle of gamers: We start by comparing computer to computer specifications. Anyone who can is welcome to try and better this particular 5,200USD (Yes, the currency is correct. Yes I know I am insane) build with compliments to FactorGaming:

 

• 17.3" (16:9) Full HD (1920x1080) LED-Backlit Display with Super Clear Glare Type Screen [0.00]
• Intel® Core™ i7-990X Processor Extreme Edition ( 12MB L3 Cache, 3.46GHz, 6.4GT/sec QPI, 6 Cores ) [+790.00]
• Dual nVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory + Opt out additional AC Adapter & Power Converter Box [+1395.00]
• 12GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 X 4GB [+100.00]
• 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Disk Drive [0.00]0]
• Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Edition - Plus Publisher & Access [+349.00]
• Genuine MS Windows® 7 Ultimate 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded ) [+190.00]

For the sake of clarity: The Graphics Cards, and OS were upgraded from their original a couple of months back.

So in terms of games. well.... to summerize what I play I'll start with Genres: RPG, RTS, FPS. That said what are my all time favorite games? I'll go by genre just to keep things simple. For RPGS I have to start with the first game that hooked me in to RPGS: Dungeon Siege was the first, followed by Neverwinter Nights franchise followed by Assassin's Creed as my favourite of the RPG/open world/action adventure games. Far Cry 3 comes in quite high on the list as well but I've just not had enough time to sit down and play it, or Sleeping Dogs that much either.

Real Time Strategy: For me there are only three game franchises worth mentioning: Command And Conquer, Starcraft, and of course the Total Annihilation (TA). It was TA that got me in to RTS originally given the near MANIC speed and micromanagement required to win the game and that was the challenge that I found repeated in C&C and Starcraft which I just love. You can also add to that Age of Empires, and the Total War series as well. But I have to be honest: Command and Conquer 4: TIberium Twilight should have NEVER EVER SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY. My hatred of Tiberium Twilight is described in detail in another post which you can link to here.

On a side note - cos it sorta fits in: The Civilization Series (Civilization 3 is as far back as you can go online) is also an excellent franchise for those who are looking for a slightly slower pace (given that its turned based) but incredibly indepth game with layer upon layer of micromangement that will satisfy or torture the (non)existent control freak within you.

The other one that deserves a mention here is definately X-Com: Enemy Unknown. I actually remember spending too much time levelling up my troopers in the original X-Com and the being forced to use suicide tactics in the final mission to win the game... Sigh... anyways. The remake by XXX is simply awesome, capturing the feel, tension and drama of the original with slick graphics and a soundtrack to die for.

Lastly, we come to the First Person Shooters... that's an easy one to start with: COUNTERSTRIKE! I have spent too many hours of my youth just massacring and getting massacred in Cyber cafes and LAN Parties across Asia and Europe to count, and have had the privellage of facing off against some of the premier clans way back in the early 2000s... Sigh... I'm getting misty again. But moving on: Front Line Fuel of War, Modern Warfare (linked to Modern Warfare 3), and Crysis are some of my personal favorite FPS games.

Now personally, I think that my taste in music is pretty diverse and pretty darn strange.... Ask anyone unfortuante enough to have taken a ride in my car and they'll probably agree with you: I've got everything from Pop, Rock, Rap to Hip-Hop, Techno, the Classics to Skrillex, and the works of some (IMHO) truly awesome YouTube artists such as The Piano Guys and Lindsey Stirling. Having lived abroad, my musical tastes also cross over in to those in other languages including French, German, Spanish, and Russian. The screenshot of my current running playlist probably makes more sense than me blabbering on







Now as to what I regularly listen too, it's really dependent on my mood. A lot of people have learned to associate the music blasting to the mood I'm currently in. For those who can't tell the difference between "Have a Nice Day" and a "Thrift Shop" Cover... well:

 

Now perhaps last of all, the whole vidoe editing/movie editing thing... I'm a YouTube Addict (I did the test, passed it, got a 115% out of a possible 110%). So what got me back in to the whole video editing thing I blame squarely on YouTube. Here's what happenned: I was watching or rather listening to Lindsey Stirling's cover of the Assassin's Creed 3 soundtrack, and then I went across and watched Devin Supertramp's Live Action Assassin's Creed 3 video. Now considering that BOTH artists have worked together on a number of different projects. The question arose from the chaos within my brain: WHY has Lindsey's music been combined with Devin's video? so yeah... I wound up going ahead and doing that, the result of which is linked here.

Of course in the past, I have messed around with a number of different video editing programs, but given that what I neede to do back them was ridiculously basic... well... I used a ridiculously simple program to do it all: Windows Movie Maker. In my defense this was WAAAYYY back in 2002-2004. I sorta stopped and then never touched video or movie editing again until the above question arose in my mind... Tragically, I can't find those videos anywhere - but given that they were taken about FOUR Laptops, TWO External Hard Drives and back home in Switzerland.... well I doubt I'll ever find them unless somebody from my EHL Days of Mispent Youth has a copy? Maybe?  

 

That about wraps this up. See ya all next post!





On the Subject of "Non Expanding Recreational Foam"

So one of the readers of this blog actually asked a question which stated:
"When did u felt for Nerf Warefare?"

Fair question so I gave a fairly short and simple answer:
"Well it started with a girl... and you know how things go from there...."

But to keep things in historical context and brief. you can find the history of NERF online which to my knowledge is accurate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerf AND http://nerf.wikia.com/wiki/Nerf/History).

Now how I got in to Nerf.... well the funny part is that the short and simple answer is actually the truth. There was a girl involved. Now lemme be PERFECTLY CLEAR: She's a very good friend of mine and THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON. I wound up asking her what she does on the weekend when she's free, and she mentioned that she's a part of a NERF Group and there are games every Saturday.

 

 

Now I used to mess around with a few blasters here and there... but I made the mistake of thinking, "Meh,why not? Could be fun." So in preparation for the games I hit the local Toy's R Us, and picked up a The N-Strike Elite Retaliator. (A review of what is a staple in the Malaysian Nerf Community can be found here: http://sgnerf.blogspot.com/2012/07/nerf-n-strike-elite-retaliator-review.html)

 

I thought about it, standing there in Tropicana City Mall, and recalled the so-called "first rule" of infantry combat: You can never have too much ammo. So I added two 18 dart single stack magazines (http://sgnerf.blogspot.com/2012/07/nerf-n-strike-elite-18-dart-clip-review.html).







Then a Bandolier Kit (http://sgnerf.blogspot.com/2012/07/nerf-n-strike-elite-bandolier-kit-on.html) made its way in to my shopping cart.

The moment I saw my first foray in to Nerf Shopping break the RM200.00 mark (some four months ago), I KNEW I was in trouble. That was confirmed when Toys'R'Us started to give me free merchandise (a very nice pinpoint sight) and offered me free membership - which I stupidly declined.

With regret, I joined the one game, did some killing, and got killed as well and the rest as they say is history. I started with the one Retaliator which quickly expanded in to this:

The final count from (left to right): Stock Stampede alongside Stampede Main Battle Rifle (MBR) variant, two Orange Mod Works Massacre Upgrade Kit Recons, a still stock LongShot (The mod plans for THAT blaster need a big budget which I currently DO NOT have) and finally, the Elite Retaliator now restored to its stock configuration after some experimentation. I've got a Barricade floating around somewhere as well as a Jolt Pistol. So yeah... all because a girl invited me to a game one weekend, because I didn't have any plans.

I won't deny its a hobby that gets me a HELL of a lot of strange and weird looks from people - try walking in to a Starbucks with toolbox in one hand, stampede slung over your back with three Mavericks in another bag with a coffee tumbler sticking out of said bag. Heh... I could write a separate post on THAT. Before I go any further, let's just say I am very welcome in that starbucks and they don't mind that I've turned it in to my modding workshop for the simpler easier to do after factory modifications.

Yeah obviously, I do a fair bit of after factory improvements to my blasters... a number of people have been on the receiving end of my Stampede, and now run in fear when they hear it fire. I think most of NERF@KDU actually ducks when they hear it. The next modding project is going to be the Longshot... unless somebody I know is up to selling his MASSIVELY MODIFIED Vulcan. Sigh... I'm getting misty just thinking about getting my hands on it... now if only the price was not quite so high.

If you're looking for NERF games, and you live somewhere in Damansara... I'd recommend: Nerf Damansara (). Yes. I am a member of the group and you can find pictures and even a couple of videos of their games and events.

Until next post: It's NERF or NOTHING!

So.. yeah... I did promise a bit more about my mad collection of hobbies... so here's the first of a couple of posts on these subjects: Reading. It has always been something of a hobby and interest, so much so that I have read the gauntlet of genres imaginable and have a number of favorites and pet hates in most of these categories. Just to give you an idea of what I mean:

Sun Tzu's "The Art of War"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War) was a fascinating read, especially since much of what it says can still be applied today. At the other end of the spectrum, "The State and Revolution" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_State_and_Revolution) by Vladimir Lenin was an enlightening look in to the Communist Party Policy as it should have been in Soviet Russia, just as "Mien Kampf" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf)  was a frightening look in to the mad genius of Adolf Hitler.

If you want references to combat, and warfare then you have to go read the works of those who have been in combat: "Sniper One" by Sergeant Dan Mills (http://us.macmillan.com/sniperone/DanMills)  gives an excellent account of modern urban combat and siege warfare against the backdrop of modern Iraq, where as "Apache" and "Hellfire" by Ed Macy (can't find a decent non Amazon link. Sorry guys and gals!) give an awesome in the cockpit view of flying and fighting from the cockpit of the Apache AH Mk1.

In sharp contrast to modern combat: Try Dan Abnett's "Gaunt's Ghost" (http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/Gaunts-Ghosts) collection set in the dark gothic future of Warhammer 40,000 or any of Black Library's publications to explore  truly dark, gothic and in many ways terrifying universe where humanity is beset on all sides by enemies without and within that encompass the heretic, the mutant and the alien. The same writer's "Eisenhorn" and "Ravenor" Collection (http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/2012-eisenhorn-and-ravenor-ebundle.html) are an in depth exploration of characters now (in)famous - depending on which side of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition you're on.

In terms of romance - yeah you'd be surprised how much GOOD writing you can find in this genre - Twilight I simply could not stomach. But the works of Christina Dodd - The Sons of Darkness series - and Jean Johnson's "Sons of Destiny" series are both excellent sets for those who love a good story of adventure, action and romance.

Needless to say, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is also on my favorites list followed by the works of Christopher Paulini and many others that could fill a couple of pages. So I'll stop with the authors here...

Obviously (at least to me), if you enjoy reading enough, you will read  and find yourself saying to yourself, "WHAT THE HELL IS THE AUTHOR THINKING?!?!" at some point or another.  So that's how I veered from reading in to actually trying my hand at the whole writing thing. I found myself arrogant enough to think that "That is SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! I can write better than that!" Don't get me started on how much agony fanfiction writing is... So in terms of fanfiction work, well, I won't take up too much more space but suffice to say that you can find everything you need to know right here: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/465790/Eristarisis. Read my profile there and you'll get a rant loaded expanation of the process. To date I've written a total of 15 stories for Diablo II, Command & Conquer, Matrix, Left 4 Dead, Neverwinter Nights, Harry Potter, Warhammer, StarCraft, and Dungeon Keeper.

So when you've written enough fanfiction, there's only one other place you can go: Original fiction. Yes I have a novel written - three of them in fact - but the problem with all three is that I feel only one is ready for publication. The second needs a massive edit/proof read/overhaul. The third probably belongs in a trashcan somewhere. The other problem is trying to find publishers to tackle the zombie apocalypse genre of fiction these days is pretty difficult - I'd say most of them went out of business because its January, 2013 and we are still here... And just in case anyone asks: NO. I am NOT sharing the manuscript!

Me... Me... Me...Me 2....

Greetings to the world at large out there.... So I am not too sure just how exactly to make the best use of this particular blog... To be clear: I know what I'm supposed to do. Just not to sure how to go about it. So I figure a good place to start is with a little bit about me - well... a little more about me than what's in that rather limited profile of mine.

So yeah.... anyways.... I'm your typical demented 29 year old guy who has spent the past 21 of his 29 years of life living outside of his home country  - Malaysia - who only returned in January of 2012. What do I look like? Meh... not telling. There is cake for those who can find pictures and provide links to them. I'm currently studying for my second undergraduate degree in Game Development, majoring in Game Design  at KDU University College. You now have the reason for this particular blog: GBGD209  alias Games Media Studies alias "a subject that lets me master the art of tormenting the internet."  Seriously. This blog is actually my semester long assessment....

So... hobbies and interests. Let's say that its an electic collection of hobbies, interests and passions that are individually nothing much to shout about, but collectively, make people think I'm absolutely Insane... and with good reason. So without further ado, here's a list of my madness:

1. Fanfiction Writing - fifteen different works to my credit so far with one in the works, and about seven or eight in various stages of planning and early drafting. more on that... separate post.
2. Lightsaber Combat Choreography - more on that... separate post...
3. Nerf Warfare... this is a separate post
4. Audio/video editing - a new interest/minor curiousity thing which is a bad bad thing.... the minor things always become major with me eventually... maybe a separate post if I get something done.
5. Gaming - as far as I am concerned the PC will RULE for all eternity... those dreaming of the latest Xbox and Playstations consider the following: You upgrade the internals of the consoles anymore, you get PC that hooks up to your TV. All you need is a keyboard and a mouse to replace the gamepad and... well... you get the idea. I sense anger in the internet at these words.... enough said.
6. Reading: classic, modern classics, young adult, adult, romance, novelizations of movies.... strategy, tactics, psychology, weaponry, well you get the idea... I'll try reading just about anything once.
7. Original Fiction Writing - I think you can all sorta get how number six on the list lead to number one, which leads to this one (number 7). maybe a separate post with more info later.

links, pictures and videos will follow in the upcoming posts- soon as I figure out exactly how to do that with Blogger...  But before that... does ANYONE recognize the partial quote that is the TITLE of this post?

So yeah... the blog's created... obviously no content at the moment... I"m gonna try to get some links, videos and pictures up in the next couple of days... guess we'll see how that goes...