tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22090027537918296222024-02-19T14:23:05.204+11:00Hyperbole DriveWeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-12811847711409512152013-02-11T22:31:00.000+11:002013-02-11T22:33:22.119+11:00A thing about Hotline Miami.<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been procrastinating about writing a big piece about Hotline Miami, looking at every level and the interstitial segments of unconvincing normality. But like I said, procrastination.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'm going to just put one thought out there - and I haven't seen anyone else raise it yet. Hopefully I'm not thinking this is some great gaming epiphany that others pointed out on day one. But it convinced me there was much more darkness to Hotline Miami's design than just what's in the plot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here we go:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hotline Miami (with a few unfortunate boss fight exceptions) is one hit, one kill. So a single click of the mouse and you have dispatched your adversary. Except when your victim is helpless. Then you must press "Space" and then click. And then click again. And sometimes again. And again. And again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And sometimes it's forcing you to do this to a clearly innocent individual. That's when it first struck me. When I realised that here I was, clicking away almost mindlessly, trying to squeeze (well, more gouge) the life out of some poor innocent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What devious, evil design from Dennaton.</span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-713036275300790452011-02-26T20:04:00.000+11:002011-02-27T08:35:50.385+11:00The triumphal tale of TFC1<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">[A disclaimer - I won't be talking about the fights here, more about my experiences in watching the event come together. If you want the details of the fights, <a href="http://www.fightnewsaustralia.com/component/content/article/1-latest-news/583-coull-submits-oliver-in-main-event-of-tfc">Fight News Australia</a> has an excellent story on those.] </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[Another disclaimer - I grew up in Launceston. I've spent enough time running like hell from mobs in City Park when trying to get home from a night out or getting bailed up by four guys with knives to have earned the right to be at least slightly rude about my childhood home.] </span> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tasfight.com/"><img border="0" src="http://infinitemma.com.au/images/sized/images/sized/remote/www-fightnewsaustralia-com-images-stories-Posters-2011-Tasmanian_Fighting_Championships_1_-_19_February_2011_Small-300x158.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing makes you sound like a complete spanner more than shilling for something with an awful name. Back in the nineties, the venue was called Elphin Sports Arena. It's the home of a women's semi-pro basketball team - the Launceston Tornadoes, as well as some local volleyball and badminton leagues. At some point, that obviously changed. Gone is the innocuous venue name, replaced not with an awful piece of corporate branding, but with the title: "Action Packed Stadium". I don't know about you, but watching solid fundamentals of basketball or badminton on display isn't really what "Action Packed" is all about to me. So on Saturday the 19th of February, when the <a href="http://www.tasfight.com/">Tasmanian Fighting Championship</a> held their inaugural show there and I ended up sitting at the commentary desk, having to use the phrase "Action Packed Stadium" made me flinch.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, there was a lot of flinching going on in the lead-up to the event. It seemed that up until the moment that the first strike was thrown that the show may not go on. But let's go back to a quieter time - the afternoon before on a quiet Launceston street. I'd flown back to the city where I grew up in the hopes of getting some MMA judging experience. Tasmania doesn't have a commission, while my home state of Victoria does. And the Victorian commission is violently protective of it's domain. In order to get licenced as a judge, I needed experience judging. In order to get experience judging, I needed to be licenced as a judge. So when I heard that Tasmanian Fighting Championship was coming up I contacted the promoter, Heath Ewart of Launceston Combat Club, directly in the hopes of being able to do some shadow judging. When I was offered a slot as a judge I jumped at the opportunity. Training would apparently, be provided prior to the event.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, last Friday I flew down to Launceston and made my way to the weigh-in venue, Extreme MMA (a MMA speciality retailer) where the diversity of MMA fans, enthusiasts and participants could be seen (at least if you're not Bob Arum). I recognised some faces from BJJ tournaments and other events, but primarily it was faces that I recognised from my twenty plus years in Tasmania. As more and more camps arrived (many of whom I'd not heard of before) I was impressed by the variety of gyms who have developed in Tasmania in the past decade, not to mention the mix of people who were either competing or supporting. I'd tell you that there were shoulder and sleeve tribal tattoos on a good percentage of these folks, but you've probably guessed that much anyway. As I had never met the promoter face to face yet I introduced myself and asked one of the guys in a Launceston Combat Club top if he could point him out. "I've got no idea where he is. He just left a few minutes ago to do something." This line was repeated to most new arrivals who were eager to check in.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/b/b7/Abaddon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/b/b7/Abaddon.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="250" /></a></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>True story: there's a Muay Thai/MMA team in Launceston called Abaddon's Legion.</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span></span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Their logo also feature Cthulhu for extra win.</i></span></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I looked around the room, admiring the diversity of MMA clothing available (skulls and chains - now available from five different brands) I noticed that everyone was avoiding a point in the centre of the shop. I then realised that the weigh-in scales were sitting in the middle of the floor. On the carpet. This may set me apart as being overly nit-picky, but it immediately put the wrong impression into my head. The fact that they were on the carpet was hardly as much of an issue as when guys did start weighing in, they were so excited that they could wait for the scales to calibrate between each person leading to some guys initially weighing in thirty kilos underweight. Thankfully, the right eyebrows were raised by this and after the over-exuberance of the weigh-ins causing multiple delays everyone tipped the scales just right.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkHhYpbMc4oTtHCc-iw9UHrlQU6qadIQ4X17xJNHDIixkV1NSOL_mJV_V3tn_yCHbE0sKs8OGXLOHxkxOb77mfAB4QohpxAYuFuo3nlnuMMbAQCI_cosorCN51e5aVx_c79cacyKuH8hSx/s1600/IMG_20110218_173613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkHhYpbMc4oTtHCc-iw9UHrlQU6qadIQ4X17xJNHDIixkV1NSOL_mJV_V3tn_yCHbE0sKs8OGXLOHxkxOb77mfAB4QohpxAYuFuo3nlnuMMbAQCI_cosorCN51e5aVx_c79cacyKuH8hSx/s400/IMG_20110218_173613.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="300" /></a></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Stuart-Dare-69051">Stuart Dare</a> initially weighed in as a sub-flyweight.</span></i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was now time for me to be trained as a judge. Pete Hickmott, who had been brought in to be the lead official and referee went over the rules and judging criteria and then, apparently satisfied with my knowledge, put on a few fights to watch asking me at the end of each round for my score and reasoning. For the first time, my statements regarding how a round was scored and why counted for more than just postcount on the interwebs. This was why I had come. This was what I wanted to do. An hour later, the seminar ended. None of the other judges had attended, they all being notable personalities in martial arts around Launceston and not needed the anointing. There was nothing left to do, but grab some food and wait for fight day to roll around.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Action Packed Stadium was certainly action packed when I arrived on the Saturday afternoon - the lighting and sound rigs were still being finished, the seating was being sorted and the fighters were generally milling around looking a little lost. Most notable though was the ring. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ring rose like a monolith in the centre of the venue. I stand 6'6" and the canvas was only just below my eye level. As I eyed off the ring ropes and posts, I contemplated the kind of damage that would be caused by someone falling out of that ring. Needless to say, the fighter briefings by Peter Hickmott featured some impressive language on the dangers of putting someone through those ropes and the penalties that would ensue. This towering setup necessitated having both sets of entrance stairs stacked on top of each other to form one larger staircase in order to allow people to climb into the ring. This might sound terrible, but in reality, what it meant was amazing pro-wrestling style exits of the ring by cornermen and cameramen who needed to get out quickly and couldn't make it to the neutral staircase. An unintended consequence, but a great one to be sure.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHF5SX86HFC4uTnDbeLVXP-JcSuST70wCr7OH-joDhydYVxttraaeaS1mly_CIvFfxCiyI0Gr0sz2VY_zDHMPJLwuUH1KIWbK9NYWvw9FbIhLyWD4o99vwgG0LuH-YfMaMKDjp4gbY3-i3/s1600/IMG_20110219_181104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHF5SX86HFC4uTnDbeLVXP-JcSuST70wCr7OH-joDhydYVxttraaeaS1mly_CIvFfxCiyI0Gr0sz2VY_zDHMPJLwuUH1KIWbK9NYWvw9FbIhLyWD4o99vwgG0LuH-YfMaMKDjp4gbY3-i3/s400/IMG_20110219_181104.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Remember when I said I was 6'6"? This was my eye-level at ring-side.</span></i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with the weigh-ins there was a lot of confusion as to where the promoter was. Heath was once again jumping feet first into the last minute organising, apparently trying to organise numbering for the seating, and then as the night went on, disappearing out the door with a grimace on his face on a mission find bandages and tape, ice and I'm sure at some point a moment to try and regain a bit of sanity. Eventually all the fighters and their coaches arrived the fighter briefings began. During the pre-show fighter briefings I caught my first glimpse of a man I initially assumed was a farrier who had come into the wrong building. When he was introduced as the physician for the evening my heart skipped a beat. "What if someone does a Corey Hill?" I thought, "Will he know what to do, or will he just set up the screens in the ring and then make the long slow walk up the stairs with shotgun under his arm?" </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjigsKCT-C9ukFtXmxWf6JddSq3BNWKuZnbQwx4E_jJshHDm9dnElbTdvstTEgLnLUSywso3UxzIeZS37vfV-3MiDib2NTc54RY1majDAE7t0mPf2P6UMUzaw9_fA8xnPGHjfwPS-51PHI/s1600/IMG_20110219_175645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjigsKCT-C9ukFtXmxWf6JddSq3BNWKuZnbQwx4E_jJshHDm9dnElbTdvstTEgLnLUSywso3UxzIeZS37vfV-3MiDib2NTc54RY1majDAE7t0mPf2P6UMUzaw9_fA8xnPGHjfwPS-51PHI/s400/IMG_20110219_175645.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="298" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>The doctor is in.</i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the fighters made their way past the doctor for final check-ups and onto their dressing rooms to prepare, I made myself comfortable along a wall and watched as the crowd began to trickle in. I'd been told that they had sold a little under 900 tickets in pre-sales, a fairly impressive number for a debut show in Launceston. And as the crowd filled the seating it was clear that this show was going to be a success for TFC in creating a local brand. Even at this late stage </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the identities of the other two judges were still unknown to Peter and myself and he set off to find Heath and get the judging situation sorted. It was ten minutes until the curtains were scheduled to come up. A few minutes passed and Heath came over to me: "How do you feel about doing commentary?" I hesitated for a moment. I'd come here with the express intent of getting some judging experience. But I had done all those years of community radio. "I liked the way you broke down those fights we watched last night. Give it a shot." And with that, I was the commentator. After overcoming my momentary shock I chased down Heath, "Is there a second commentator?"</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"No."</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"OK, I've got a friend here, is it alright if I grab them?"</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"That's fine."</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"What kind of commentary do you want?"</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Just go with what you feel like." And with that Heath took off again. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grabbed my friend Gerry from the crowd and we made our way over to the production tables to find out more about what we were going to do. With the crowd nearly all seated, the music pumping and the officials all in place around the ring, it seemed that TFC1 was actually going to happen.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then the building's fire alarm sounded.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turns out that having smoke machines going for about half an hour in a stadium without great airflow tends not to end well. Heath, on hearing the call from the building's manager that the place had to be evacuated at the very moment of his presumptive triumph looked the closest I've ever seen in reality to someone ready to Hulk out.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi75OzHEWZ9cwtDSpImACi3YWSMO2T74lgjzZJM4cxjyyoOxk4j9PliNtmaeETJU55ptxdadSP4T-6p4y-KOFY_hrau3LCD3j5rFzil23zkIz7gk9rKmbWxHv1Eos5tQVah9i2i2NNFj6Q/s1600/hulk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi75OzHEWZ9cwtDSpImACi3YWSMO2T74lgjzZJM4cxjyyoOxk4j9PliNtmaeETJU55ptxdadSP4T-6p4y-KOFY_hrau3LCD3j5rFzil23zkIz7gk9rKmbWxHv1Eos5tQVah9i2i2NNFj6Q/s400/hulk.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Heath about 30 seconds after the alarm.</i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, no one must have been setting fire to stolen cars in Ravenswood because the Fire Brigade response was swift and even before the evacuation had been completed the crowd was being turned around to re-enter. Gerry and I received a quick briefing on the equipment, where we learned much to our relief that there was not going to be any live commentary and that it would all be edited in during post-production on the DVD. The lead producer gave us a quick brief on where the commentary would be inserted and said that we needed to plug the sponsors when we could. "Who the fuck are the sponsors?" The producer could only give us one name. Gerry ran off on the first of his fact-finding missions and returned with a list of sponsors, some of them phonetically spelt because he couldn't be certain what the actual name was he had been given. But at least after just five minutes notice, we were ready.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we sat at the desk though a sudden realisation dawned. "Who the fuck is fighting on this card?" We scrounged around and came up with a list of the fighter names and their match-ups. A few minutes of running around his contacts in the local martial arts scene and Gerry had a partial list of their gyms as well. That was it. My 3G connection was spotty (gee, thanks Vodafone) and so we couldn't reliably access the Fight Finder or event Google in time to get details on most of the competitors. For the most part we were scrawling notes on the back of a snaffled scorecard or in a tiny notebook as the ring announcer introduced each fighter. Thankfully there was a Pride style walkout prior to the first fight so if we missed them the first time, we had a chance to get these details when it came to their fight. Sometimes we had a clue who they were. Sometimes we just didn't. And sometimes they both had amazing nicknames - case in point: Andrew "Big Sexy" Nash v Colin "Stinky" Finger.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.wikia.com/prowrestling/images/b/bc/Kevin_Nash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://images.wikia.com/prowrestling/images/b/bc/Kevin_Nash.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="209" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Let's be honest with ourselves, who can hate on a Kevin Nash reference?</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By the end of round 1 of the first fight there were furtive glances exchanged amongst all the judges tables (we shared a table with one of the judges). We all had the same problem - even with the tables a good six feet back from the ring we still couldn't see a lot of the action, such was it's Cyclopean splendour. As one, the judges tables we shuffled back another few feet until we sat directly in front of the first row of seating. Now capable of being able to mostly see the fights without having to stand up the call continued. In the interlude between the first and second fight we had pizza and ice cold water delivered to the commentary position. It was a bounty which we had not expected and looked forward to savouring as soon as we could go off mic at the end of the next fight. Then in a long range mission designed to deny the enemy resources and comfort, which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stirling">David Stirling</a> himself would have been proud of one of the other judges snuck over and stole these precious victuals from under our noses. Knowing this judge's background, Gerry advised we let the matter go and asked one of the waitresses if we could kindly have some more water please.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/arnold-schwarzenegger-in-002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/arnold-schwarzenegger-in-002.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Not pictured: our goddamn pizza.</i></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few more fights passed and the crowd was truly pumped. We were encouraged in the commentary position by a life-affirming Bas Rutten re-tweet. And thus far, the fights had all been solid. And then the action paused for the first time to allow a charity auction. As we were to find out, this was going towards a good cause, but we hadn't really expected it. To be honest I don't think the ring girls had either. The strain on their faces as they carried around the boxing, MMA and AC/DC memorabilia in frames the size of them was evident. Especially as the bidding on some items dragged on. Whoever selected the items for the event had a keen grasp of the intended audience. And it seems that the intended audience was people who wear motocross t-shirts, because I'm pretty sure that everyone who bought something that night was wearing one. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A later interlude provided a chance for Heath to take a mic himself and thank everyone who had helped bring the Tasmanian Fighting Championship to fruition. He gave an </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over sized</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> novelty cheque to charity and then he proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of the ring. When his proposal was accepted, we had what I'm pretty certain was the biggest cheer of the night. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the final brace of fights occurred, we realised that we must have been sitting in front of the 10th Planet section, because some people in the crowd were clearly getting blazed. In a space were 6 of the ringside tables had apparently been bought out by the Tasmanian Police I'm not sure how bright this particular move was. Nevertheless, as the final bell rang after an textbook armbar it was evident that the audience had by and large been well behaved. For all the mullets, rats tails and back-hawks in attendance at an event in Launceston, the fighting had remained within the ring. Impressive though that fact was, what was more impressive was the Tasmanian Fighting Championship 1 had been a success. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the crowd emptied out of the building and everyone grouped together to discuss the outcomes of the night it was all positive. The crowd had a great time, the fights were impressive and, well, it happened.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure, there were no UFC champions crowned (in fact there were no TFC champions crowned either), but what it exposed was a wealth of local talent. There were gyms and academies that until the weigh-ins I'd never heard of. Hell, there were gyms that even some of the other fighters and trainers hadn't heard of. MMA in Tasmania is exploding at the moment, with not just academies springing up, but also with multiple promotions running in a state of just 500,000 people. There are so many schools now producing fighters who have the opportunity to fight locally now to test themselves before moving up to the larger shows such as CFC. This can only be a great thing for the local scene and I hope that Tasmanian fighters will be given the right opportunities to develop. Also, for any promoters out there, there's a commentary crew who would like some opportunities to develop too.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayPBXDf77jv_iEgVfUFBOeQNtSCcVrqAS7L-t072U5GA-_d7aPEvckAiMs5sz18equ3vW6cvThSaW4jOW-jJMcB0K_cAC501Auh4NKY2w-SJTaLHbT-fOGnXekUpCNZc119vqzBiAt1XX/s1600/TFC1+by+debbie+cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayPBXDf77jv_iEgVfUFBOeQNtSCcVrqAS7L-t072U5GA-_d7aPEvckAiMs5sz18equ3vW6cvThSaW4jOW-jJMcB0K_cAC501Auh4NKY2w-SJTaLHbT-fOGnXekUpCNZc119vqzBiAt1XX/s400/TFC1+by+debbie+cameron.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thanks to:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heath Ewart of Van Demon Fight Gear & Promotions, Tasmania</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">n Fighting Championship and Launceston Combat Club, Peter Hickmott of RINGS Toowoomba, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hybrid Training Centre, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kaos Dojo, Team SKB MMA, Tasmanian Wing Chun Academy, Huon Valley MMA, Abaddon's Legion Muay Thai ... And I'm sure I've forgotten some of you, but thank you for making this such a great event.</span></span></div>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-92104257608982519442010-12-11T15:44:00.000+11:002011-02-27T07:36:19.084+11:00Poor judging and poor performance<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to start this column with a thought experiment. You're in the last round of a fight. Your opponent has been all over you the whole fight - and not being Leonard Garcia, you’re damn sure the judges don't have it in your favour. The bell rings and you come out. What do you do?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's completely reasonable to assume that for some fighters, they might keep working on their game plan - especially if it involves waiting for the opponent to slip up or leave a gap. But what if you opponent is some kind of killer space robot with English as a second language like Aldo, GSP or Silva? Can you really afford to wait for him to make a mistake? Will they even make a mistake?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So you keep on waiting for them to make a mistake and in the meantime, you're getting beaten up or getting taken down. There's now a minute left in the fight. There is no way that you can win this with the judges. What do you do now?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is there a certain point in a fight, where you have to abandon your game plan, caution and self-preservation and just go hog wild? Lead with a flying knee and when you land, you land squarely in the giant footsteps of an angry Wanderlei Silva?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MMA is different to other sports in this case. In hockey, pulling the goalie in the dying moments usually doesn't risk you getting knocked out. In the NFL, that last second Hail Mary pass generally doesn't have a 50/50 chance of ending with you being medically suspended for 8 months while your brain, jaw and orbital recovers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But by the same measure, not going for it has its own risks. We've recently seen Gerald Harris being fired (allegedly) for failing to do anything in this sort of scenario. We've seen fights go down, especially those involved GSP and Anderson Silva, where the fight has been so dramatically lopsided that it's almost incomprehensible that their opponent hasn't thrown their game plan out the window, fired their cornermen and taken the shouted advice of the guy in the crowd with "JUST BLEED" painted on his chest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In every sport, martial art and competitive event of any type that I've been involved in, there will often come a time when you have to admit that your only real hope lies in throwing all your chips on the table at once and hoping like hell that when the dust settles, it's gone in your favour. Sometimes this can take a hell of a lot of work to do, especially if you have spent weeks or months planning and preparing and then find all your hard work negated or even find yourself completely outclassed by your opponent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However it seems that there is a tendency in MMA, for completely understandable reasons, to stick to the original game plan. First - people don't like getting knocked the fuck out or having someone rip their knee apart. Second - MMA truly is the home of the flash finish (usually by KO), sometimes that monster across from you will make that tiniest mistake on which you can capitalise. Third - you never know your luck with the judges.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd like to pretend that this third point doesn't play into the fighter mindset, but at this point I don't think that you can. Dana has built the UFC empire upon two lines: "Do you wanna be a fucking fighter?" and "Never leave it in the hands of the judges." One of these is a platitude. The other is completely disingenuous.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You should be able to leave it in the hands of the judges. The judges are there to make a decision about the fight using very specific criteria. When judges offer up mind bogglingly bad scorecards, the response shouldn't be "Well, they do say 'never leave it in the hands of the judges'." It should be, "Who were the judges, is there an appeal process and failing that, is there a disciplinary or review process for these judges?" We'll be honest here and say that most athletics commissions are political animals, primarily concerned with maintaining a delicate balance between public opinion, government interests and the money of the promoters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spats, like the one that has come from The Ultimate Fighter finale serve little purpose. Joe Rogan calls some folks idiots. Dana White expresses disbelief. Keith Kizer points out the glaring holes in their arguments and then says something dumb himself. And then the fans dogpile everyone with a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rogan and White were correct to point out the absurd wrongness of the scoring of the Phan/Garcia fight. However the fact that they said several things that just weren't true gave Kizer all the ammunition he needed to shut down the argument for judging reform once more. Kizer is correct in that the UFC, when operating in areas where there is no specific regulation pick and choose their judges and other officials. And the fact that repeat offenders in the awful scores department keep on getting selected shows that there's problems on both sides there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I personally feel that the 10 point must scoring system can work just fine for MMA (even without the hallowed 10-10 rounds). Doing half-points, Japanese style scoring or anything else just gives the Tony Weeks, Cecil Peoples, Adelaide Byrds and Douglas Crosby's of the world a different manner in which to make an awful decision. The problem is that these decisions are being made and there is no accountability for the people who make them. Judge's need to be made to account for controversial scorecards, not just by "making an argument", but by going through the fight round by round, providing frank and clear reasons for their choice of scoring, given the criteria against which the fight is being judged in front of an impartial panel. And if they fail to satisfy the panel that they made a reasonable and logical decision, then it's back to being a back-up, watching over someone's shoulder and doing shadow scorecards until you can do it right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, this action is reliant of the 400lb gorilla in the room wanting change. And if you'll allow me my moment of tin-foil hattery, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the UFC doesn't want judging to change. They love the fact that the judges seem to be so bugfuck crazy that they might give the fight away to someone who just got plastered all over the cage for 3 rounds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why? Because, as TJ De Santis of Sherdog has said repeatedly "in MMA, sloppy is spelled with a dollar sign". Take any of Leonard Garcia's fights. He gets lit up like Hiroshima in most of his fights, yet walks away with a win. Does Zuffa give a shit? No. Because they just got a fight of the night out of him. Their viewership went up. They had bums in seats in the arena. And most importantly, at most it cost them a few tens of thousands in bonus money for the unlucky other party.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being able to say: "don't leave it in the hands of the judges" is a nice way of saying: "chase that bonus money". Because if you catch a KO of the night bonus, then sure, that's good for you. But it also means that Zuffa has filler should the event run short, they've got highlights to try and shop to Sportscentre, they've got something tailor-made for UFC Wired and more material for UFC Knockouts Twenty-Seven (or whatever they're up to there). A knockout is a strong motivator to get someone who's just watching casually to tune in for the full broadcast.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For promoters, a killer finish (be it a KO or submission) is a goldmine - imagine if Bellator's first season had not had Toby Imada and Yahir Reyes setting the world on fire with their highlight reel finishes. The picture is probably none too pretty. And by selling the idea that the only way to be sure that you aren't going to be robbed is by finishing, and then they are just making a safe investment for the future. However cruel that might be to the fighters who get robbed in the meantime.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-16194676100619753742010-12-02T11:11:00.000+11:002010-12-02T11:18:33.948+11:00MMA: the status quo and the mainstream<pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Monday's <a href="http://www.sherdog.com/radio/Beatdown-Bonnar-and-Hendo-1718">Beatdown</a> (29 Nov 2010) on the Sherdog Radio Network, there was a lot of talk about "The Cult of the Status Quo". The idea that fans of something don't want it to get bigger because they feel special for being a larger part of something small. In the case of MMA this translates into at best a distaste and at worst outright loathing and rudeness towards new fans. According to some UG dwellers and other "hardcore" fans, I'd be a TUF n00b. A fairweather fan. My love for the sport don't count because I wasn't there in the dark ages.
Here's some background on myself as a MMA fan. Back in the 90s I was aware of this thing called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I'd seen pictures and read some articles in magazines about guys like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn. But I never saw any of the early UFCs until much, much later - as this was a time when unless you knew someone who had the tapes (and in Tasmania, there weren't that many of those people around and I wasn't yet in those circles), you didn't get to see them. In fact the first MMA show that I ever saw was a Japanese MMA show. A friend and I were drunk one night in 2000 and watching some cable TV late one night at our residential college at university and came across this amazing broadcast which was labelled "Bushido" (possibly a relabelled Pride product, as their actual Bushido shows weren't til later). For a few minutes we were debating as to whether it was real or just some really well faked pro-wrestling, as of course neither of us had heard of Pride or even the term “MMA” at that point. And then someone had his arm broken while checking a kick (if my ten year old memory serves me correctly). And being two drunken uni guys, awestruck at the sight of this dude wanting to continue to fight with a broken arm we were hooked. For a few weeks there was a regular showing of this "Bushido" on cable late at night and then it stopped. I still occasionally got glimpses into this world, but it wasn't until years later that I got back into the sport.</span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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In 2005, a friend showed me the first season of TUF. And I was hooked again – say what you want, but this show has done more for the sport than all the hardcore fans combined. By the end of 2005 I'd cleaned out all of the local video stores of their available MMA collections. Mostly it was Zuffa era DVDs, but with some gems in there. Including one that to this day, remains my most fondly remembered MMA event: IFC Global Domination. A classic one night tournament who's list of competitors reads like a who's who of the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight division nowadays.</span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></pre><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://31.img.v4.skyrock.net/312/sherdog/pics/159677138_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://31.img.v4.skyrock.net/312/sherdog/pics/159677138_small.jpg" width="272" /></a></div><pre style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The face of a champion.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Since being introduced back into the sport by the emergence of TUF, I have seen every UFC show that has been put on. The majority of Pride, Dream, Strikeforce, Elite XC, Sengoku and K-1 as well. I watch Inside MMA and The Voice versus. I've watched Shooto amateur matches and followed NCAA wrestling and high level submission grappling to see where new talent might arise from. Hell, I even watched Yamma. Every single day I trawl through RSS feeds and front pages of nearly a dozen MMA news and opinion sites, I listen to MMA podcasts, I follow fighters, promoters and journalists on twitter. I evangelise MMA to my friends and colleagues who show an interest, giving them advice on what to watch, where to read up on the sport or lending them events from my collection to enjoy.
So what if their first experience with the sport was catching an out of context highlight on UFC Wired last night? Or watching Tony Bonello head-kick a guy on Bully Beatdown? The fact is that they saw something that interested them and it'd be a damn shame to quench that spark just because you feel that this new fan isn’t worthy because they didn’t watch the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix back in 2000. Sure I've corrected people that the sport isn't the UFC, but in fact MMA. But I did it by explaining to them the history and facts, not just by shouting them down. But I suppose none of this is valid as I am, according to UG mouth-breather logic, a TUF n00b.</span></pre><pre style="word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></pre><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.yorkblog.com/mma/img/imes.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.yorkblog.com/mma/img/imes.jpeg" /></a></div><pre style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; white-space: pre-wrap;">Damn you if you think that this isn't awesome.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Is this an impediment to the mainstream advancement of the sport? I doubt it. I mean how many of the 1 million who buy the larger UFC PPVs actually ever wonder "what is this UG that Rogan just alluded to?", let alone actually follow up and decide to go and wade into that particular cesspool. Hell, how many of the UG even buy their PPVs rather than torrenting or streaming them? There’s a reason that Dana hates the internet. But this segues nicely into my next talking point: how mainstream can MMA go in it's current state?
I suppose we've got the fact that it's not yet mainstream to both thank and blame for avoiding any real ramifications from the Rogan/Rios spat of the past weeks. I'm not going to bother going into details here as you probably already know what happened if you’ve gotten this far into this post, but suffice to say that a journalist and a commentator after exchanging some initial unpleasantries online decided to keep on going rather than just letting it go. This was an ugly moment, by no means as ugly as Strikeforce: Nashville or Paul Daley proving that you can be a bigger heel than Koscheck, because it didn't happen live on national television (insert Gus Johnson joke here). It was hidden from all but the hardcore fans who follow these folks on twitter and read a bunch of MMA sites. Imagine for a moment if Chris Collinsworth were to react in the same manner to being called out by Jay Glazer. Because that's the equivalent scenario in the NFL - the premiere commentator gets in a blue with one of the most well known MMA journalists. You can bet your arse that Collinsworth would have found himself without his sweet Sunday Night Football job anymore and Jay Glazer would probably be looking at updating his resume too. Because of the level of exposure that those two have as a consequence of the level of exposure of the NFL, the repercussions would have been much, much greater. Meanwhile, an ill-considered exchange in MMA goes unnoticed by all but the most attentive of fans.</span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></pre><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.geekologie.com/2010/11/09/red-shirt-autotune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://www.geekologie.com/2010/11/09/red-shirt-autotune.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><pre style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Don't try and pretend that just because it's a MMA forum you're any less of a dork.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">
This kind of behaviour has to either stop, or at the very least be seriously addressed before MMA can really go mainstream. All sports have their douchebags and troublemakers, but usually the faces of the game are kept squeaky clean. True, Dana cuts an impressive PR figure, despite his irrepressible language and Brock manages to be a massive draw despite have an erect penis tattooed on his chest. But can you really expect a major UFC event to rate similarly to a Superbowl when you apply the same (albeit ridiculous) moral standards to both events? If you have a goddamn congressional hearing into some not-boob being perhaps flashed during a Superbowl, then pause for a moment and imagine what happens should you treat America to five minutes of Chris Tuscherer rolling on the floor dry-retching while Rogan and Goldberg try and find a way to not talk about how hard he just got hit in the nuts or have BJ running around a cage licking Joe Stevenson's blood off his gloves while screaming. Hell, if you want an even better example, imagine Shinya Aoki celebrating a victory in his own inimitable way live on network TV with the Superbowl demographic watching.</span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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</span></pre><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pancakelanding.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/K-1_Dynamite_Shinya_Aoki_vs_Mizuto_Hirota_2009-12-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://www.pancakelanding.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/K-1_Dynamite_Shinya_Aoki_vs_Mizuto_Hirota_2009-12-31.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><pre style="word-wrap: break-word;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Arm breaking optional.</span></span></span></div></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
The limits of MMAs penetration into the mainstream are a direct product of the sport itself. A child of any age can sit and watch nearly any stick and ball sport for as long as their attention span holds out. But recently I watched a niece get freaked out (I won’t go as far as to say “traumatised”, but others would) when she saw Chuck's latest KO, where he was laying on the canvas, eyes wide open, but with no one at home. It took a lot of explaining to both child and wife by the father to deal with the consequences there. I've discussed this issue with many friends and family, trying to figure out "when is a good time for a child to start watching MMA?" </span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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</span></pre><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i42.tinypic.com/2uzuf48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://i42.tinypic.com/2uzuf48.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><pre style="text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Pictured: Not a good time.</span></span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></pre><pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My son watches some now and then at age one, but for how much longer? I'd like to say that he'll be able to keep watching for as long as he is interested and my eventual conversations with him about it keep him responsible. But you can't just go and play a bit of pick-up MMA down at the local park, like you can with most other sports. My son, should he be interested, will get to go to BJJ classes (as I do), and can try other sports as he wishes. But the lack of a casual weekend bunch of buddies version of MMA only enforces the separation between the fan and the sport.
The gap is narrowed in other ways though - MMA fighters remain the most approachable athletes I've ever encountered. In no other sport is there so much opportunity for interaction, in person or electronically, without having to put up $40 to get some douchebag at a desk to sign an autograph or pose for a picture. If MMA gets bigger, can we still count on guys like Mayhem, Mr Wonderful and Big Country to reply to all their messages on twitter and the like? I hope so, but in a larger MMA world, with more fans and more media attention will there suddenly be a barrier of PR and talent managers between the fans and the stars? Probably - but unlike many in the cult of the status quo, I don't see this as an entirely bad thing. Because unlike them, I don't value myself above the sport. I'd rather see Phil Davis doing a sitdown interview on network TV to talk about his next fight than responding to a tweet from me. Because the sport may not be bigger than all of us yet, but it is more important.</span></pre>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-18013918188059924802010-10-03T09:20:00.000+11:002010-10-03T09:23:58.804+11:00The $500 challenge.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've decided, based on my finances, serious gaming backlog and a discussion that I heard on Gamers With Jobs to give something a try:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the next year (that is from Oct 1 this year, to Sep 30 next year), I am going to budget myself $500 for gaming. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It sounds like a lot, but it's about 10 bucks a week. And I'll be interested to see what I end up trying in terms of new genres, purchasing methods and outlets that I had not considered before.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's five hundred Australian by the way. So that's 4 full priced retail games. Guess what my plan won't be.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exclusions from this budget are:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">XBox Live Subscription</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Replacement hardware - in the unfortunate event of a console or PC dying, then a replacement will not count towards this.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps in a future challenge I'll try to include both those too.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, from my starting $500, I've got:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MS Points to the value of $16.50</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From that I picked up the two expansions to Toy Soldiers, a XBLA title that I adore.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remaining:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">$483.50</span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-70933987512960137322010-04-09T16:44:00.000+10:002010-04-09T16:46:04.358+10:00How can anyone argue for Fedor being no.1 in Pound for Pound?<div style="margin: 1ex; font-family: arial;"><div> <span style="font-size:100%;">There are 4 guys who are clearly heads and shoulders above all others when people compile their Pound for Pound lists: Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, Fedor Emelianenko, Georges St Pierre. But how would you rank these four? There are several metrics for Pound for Pound discussion which I’ll break down.</span><br /> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The first is very creative, and as a result the hardest to rationalise: imagine that all fighters are magically scaled to be in the same weight division - who wins? This isn't a very popular metric, but is one that is used by some in their arguments as you could say that if it wasn't for size, then Anderson would beat Fedor on the feet every time, or that if BJ hadn't been undersized compared to GSP, his skills would have let him control that fight. In this scenario Anderson Silva's striking is too good for anyone else in this list, and even should someone get him to the ground it's been shown that he can do enough not just to survive, but to win. BJ's boxing is a serious threat to most and his ground game is probably the best of anyone on this list should they all be the same size, but against Silva, his boxing will still fall short and against GSP he'll likely get pinned against a cage by a fighter who will still be physically stronger and a much more skilled wrestler. GSP has shown time and again that with his ability to get the measure of his opponents and then wrestle them through the mat for five rounds that should he get hands on his opponent, then they are going wherever he wants them to be – but first he has to get inside Silva and though GSP has good stand up, he’s not at Silva’s level and on the ground, after the Hardy performance it’s clear Silva or BJ at his size would give him fits. So when you have 3 guys theoretically the same size as Fedor, each of whom outclasses him in his given area, what do you think can happen? He can definitely throw a brilliantly timed, hand-pulverizing counter or pull off some sneaky sambo, but on a virtual, level playing field, he's going to lose to all 3 of his fellow Pound for Pounders nine times out of ten.</span><br /></p> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>Assuming everyone is the same size</b></span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">1) Anderson Silva</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">2) GSP</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">3) BJ Penn</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">4) Fedor</span><br /><br /><br /></p></ul> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">The second, more popular metric is to look at their accomplishments relative to each other in their divisions. This is a better measure, but can be further confused by asking the question "if this is Pound for Pound", then what have they done outside their weight division?</span><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">In that case, we have to immediately move GSP and Fedor down the list as they haven't had any fights outside of their weight divisions in what we'll call "relevant history". Sure Fedor beat Aoki in an exhibition grappling match, but if someone wants to claim that as a pound-for-pound relevant bout, I will personally laugh in their face. Meanwhile both BJ and Anderson have fought above their weight division with great success. Indeed, the argument can (and has) been made that BJ could beat anyone at Welterweight except for GSP. Meanwhile Anderson has embarrassed two Light Heavyweights, including a recent title holder.</span><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">So the list using these metrics would probably look like this:</span><br /></p> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>Accomplishments outside their weight division</b></span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">1) BJ Penn</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">2) Anderson Silva</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">3) GSP</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">4) Fedor</span><br /><br /><br /></p></ul> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">But why is GSP above Fedor in this list? Because of the third metric: dominance in their division. This is where I (and many others) feel the most weight should lie. First in this list is probably GSP as, since the Serra fight, he has never looked in trouble. No opponent has come close to finishing him and though he mightn't have finished fights emphatically, there's never any question of who won or lost. Add to this that there is no legitimate contender at this time for the welterweight crown and you have as close to the definition of divisional dominance as you can get. Second would be BJ Penn, as he is close to cleaning house in lightweight, which is a much deeper division - and again, no one has really had him in a bad spot. </span><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Anderson and Fedor sit in an interesting position here. Fedor has dominated the division available to him, with wins over such "luminaries" in the past 4 years as Coleman, Hunt, Lindland, Choi, Sylvia, Arlovski and Rogers. He has been unquestionably rocked on a few occasions during these bouts, but ended all of them in fairly decisive manner. Meanwhile Silva has fought more than twice as many fights in that timeframe, many of them against top 10 competitors. The issue here is that in the eyes of some, he has failed to dominant in some of these performances. But I'm going to rule against Fedor here as his "dominance of the heavyweight division" has been against fighters who are at best, able to be described as on the decline, and at their worst, freak shows. Fedor’s management has locked him away from what is currently the deepest pool of heavyweight talent in the sport's history and without any real test against them, then Fedor will have to continue to sink in these rankings as no one should seriously rate Werdum or Overeem at this time.</span><br /></p> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>Dominance in their division</b></span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">1) GSP</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">2) BJ Penn</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">3) Anderson Silva</span></p></ul> <ul><p><span style="font-size:100%;">4) Fedor</span><br /><br /><br /></p></ul> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">So, does anyone have any observations about these 3 lists? I'll point out the obvious one. That in each of them the 3 top guys have all switched positions, so that they all rate first, second and third in the respective metrics. Meanwhile Fedor finishes in fourth place every time. In fact, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that by the end of this year, Fedor will not feature in the top five of any realistic pound for pound list as the quality of the competition he will face cannot stand up against guys who are testing themselves against fellow top competitors regularly. Sure, he will in all likelihood go undefeated, but when you last match against a truly relevant opponent was back when Pride was still around, you have to do more than fight Werdum to get back into contention. At this point I'd say that the winner of Lesnar/Carwin is more deserving of Fedor's spot on this list than he will be, unless he somehow beats Werdum so badly that we all forget to play six-degrees-of-MMA-separation and look at Werdum's history and those of his wins and losses and realise just how irrelevant that fight really is in the heavyweight division.</span><br /></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Before anyone jumps on me for it - I'm not a Fedor hater. I love watching him fight because it always turns into some bizarro world where the most outrageous things happen and I find that to be outstanding. But I can't and won't take him seriously as a top heavyweight contender, let alone a pound for pound contender until he takes on some real competition again.</span></p> </div> </div>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-21491174538170466872010-03-12T16:24:00.001+11:002010-03-12T16:29:46.132+11:00A lost hobby<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">It was interesting to revisit Tasmania recently and see how much and how little had changed. It also reminded me of how much I miss pen and paper and tabletop gaming. Not over Skype or using IRC or anything like that - but actually face to face, around a table.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This was mainly triggered by seeing the finest collection of ADnD 2e that I have personally witnessed in a long, long time. It was also the first time that I ever saw a Birthright boxset in the wild - rather than mocking me from the shelf in Birchalls in 1996. This collection was all in the hands of someone who I knew was an old LAN hand, but had no idea was into RPGs. And apparently they still play. It made for a nice sideline to the conversation which up until then had been dominated by our respective wive's baby talk.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It was also triggered by walking through an arcade in Launceston - vaguely remembering that there was a store there that I wanted to check out that wasn't open the last time I visited, and then discovering that it's a goddamn LARP supply store. In Launceston. With no less than 3 different sign up sheets for LARP organisations around the town. And that's a city and surrounds of only 100k or so still. If that isn't the sign that somewhere has a serious gaming population I don't know what it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But desite that store exisiting and there being so many groups, there is no more Electric Adventures/Legends, no more Robot Boy, no more comics stores - indeed Birchalls seems to be the only retailer that stocks any of the actual gaming products anymore. So what had once been at least an apparently thriving town for tabletop gaming now appears fairly desolate. Similarly with Hobart, where there was once Ellison Hawker/Area 52, Electric Adventures and Just Games (was that it's name?) - there is now only Area 52. Not to say that these stores don't have a fairly impressive range of miniatures, rulebooks, RPGs and more. But Birchalls in Launceston lacks on thing - tables.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I remember when Legends occupied a large corner in Launceston, with the whole ground floor being it's retail area and upstairs were tables and terrain galore. It was the focal point for the games community - a place where you could have games, watch games, meet other gamers, have notices put up and arrangements made. Area 52 in Hobart still fills this role with it's Battle Bunker, where even early on a Sunday morning I was still able to run into people I know having (or attempting to have) games. For most of us though, the internet does the organising now. In Melbourne I found gaming groups online as there is no "Friendly Local Gaming Store" - sure Mindgames has a notice board, but most people don't look at it that much, and there are so many people who never even go into the store - instead choosing to shop online. Local also has a completely different definition here - having to commute nearly half an hour (by car) to get to your gaming venue is a different story to when most people live within a few blocks of each other (or at the very least a few suburbs).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It's also very difficult to find a good group. It turns out that years of playing together through university and beyond and slowly adding and subtracting people from the group means that everyone interacted and got along well. It wouldn't have worked if they didn't. We all generally agreed on the type of games that we liked and weren't afraid to give and receive feedback. The groups I've spoken to and played with over here - they've been fairly varied. Some were excellent and introduced me to new games, styles and ideas, but the timing and location of their sessions were just a little too difficult. Others I gave up on after e-mails or phone calls made it clear that it just wouldn't work.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As such, most of my gaming since I moved to Melbourne has been done via Skype or various chat programs. But this lacks a lot - it's hard to game when everyone has a computer in front of them and is probably browsing their RSS feeds and e-mail. It's harder still because everyone is talking over everyone else because there's not the non-verbal cues and communication.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Also - you feel like a bit of a dick sitting in a room with a headset on talking in character. Especially if your wife is on her laptop next to you. Most of all I miss the social aspects of gaming - having regular get togethers with friends and acquaintances, or open invite days at Area 52 to play card or board games. In fact, most of my socialisation came during these game sessions - because that was when you could guarantee you'd have your friends together in one place.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Because really, when you get down to it a copy of a RPG is really a social device as much as it is a game. It's there to bring people to a table around it. Those people will just as often talk more about everything else than they will about the game. For me, gaming was my version of going out for drinks with friends. And I realised that it'd been more than a year since I'd played an RPG. I hadn't played a wargame since I lived in Hobart. And the only reason I'd played some card/board games in the past year was because SDnet Aussies had a geek-together in Melbourne for the Star Trek reboot.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But despite all of this, I don't want to cut the cord with gaming. I remember just how much fun it is and want to get back into it. But it's all about finding the people, the time and the place.</span></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-67490398127904417892009-05-26T16:20:00.000+10:002009-05-26T16:31:23.521+10:00Surviving the Horror<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >I <a href="http://hyperboledrive.blogspot.com/2009/01/wallrunning-out-of-deaths-reach_28.html">frequently complain</a> that some developers seem to be stuck in a rut when it comes to game design relating to save and death mechanics. It seems that many choose to punish the player with the punitive measure of "time loss". This was supported by this <a href="http://www.digitalunrestcomic.com/index.php?date=2009-05-18">Digital Unrest post</a> and seems to be the underlying reason behind changes discussed in an <a href="http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=215652">interview with Alyssa Finley</a> from the Bioshock 2 team. I believe that there are better methods out there for dealing with these mechanics - not just in theory, but ones that already exist in practice.<br /><br />The core problem that I want to point out, is that such a punitive measure as "time loss" is pointless. Survival Horror games (the example cited by Digital Unrest) are tightly scripted and events happen in a very specific way in order to increase tension and ratchet up the "shock factor". The idea that the best way to implement the death mechanic in these games is to force the player to replay a segment is at it's core, stupid. The player once they have experienced a segment for the first time, on being forced to immediately replay it following their death and a load, now knows exactly when and where the enemies will come from, knows when certain audio cues are going to kick in or when scripted events will occur and because of these things there is no tension anymore. That repeated section of the game becomes nothing more than an exercise in memory retention and the feelings and reactions engendered by the initial play-through are lost. Should the player be forced to go through this process repeatedly it also becomes a serious test of patience.<br /><br />The point that</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > Digital Unrest</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" > seem to be trying to make is that the player has no connection to or investment in the game other than their time, and thus to create any suspense or feeling of loss the threat and implementation of a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">punitive</span> time penalty must exist. I find this idea repugnant in it's inherent laziness. If a developer is incapable of making you care about what happens in a game on a level greater than your time investment, then that game should be seen as the massive failure that it is. I've previously addressed why death in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">video games</span> is an outdated concept and shown where some developers have moved beyond this is new and interesting ways. But I'm going to go in a slightly different direction in addressing the concept of a "penalty" for dying.<br /><br />If death in a game is not going to be a permanent event, such as in the "hardcore" modes of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Diablo</span> or in all manner of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Roguelikes</span> - then it should not exist. This is not to say that your character should be invulnerable, merely that the implementation of the incapacitation and events leading to your characters untimely exit should be better controlled. Look at Monkey Island 2 back in the day, with the method of delivery of the story being used to explain why <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Guybrush</span> never actually died. More recently we can look at Far Cry 2, which has in my opinion the best implemented death mechanic in gaming - where your "death" is part of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">gameplay</span> experience serves to increase <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">NPC</span> interaction and advance the certain <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">sideplots</span>. Most games (and by most I mean all but a tiny handful) assume that the character never dies during the course of the narrative. Thus, we have the "LOADING LAST SAVE" screens which you encounter to let you know: "Oops, you fucked up but it's OK, because none of that really happened. So we'll just all collectively ignore it, pretend it never happened and move on." If death was such an important event in these games, why isn't it acknowledged as such? I'd argue that death is not an important event in games as it's never addressed in anything more than a cursory "YOU DIED - GAME OVER" screen.<br /><br />So if death doesn't serve a narrative or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">gameplay</span> purpose, then I have to ask the obvious question - what makes death in games such a "good" idea in these people's minds? It seems to be that they feel that death is a necessary punishment, that a game where they aren't forced to waste their time in replaying segments is somehow less challenging. That the best thing to do is to take away the player's time. I feel very strongly that it's a stupid argument because, as previously stated, these games are so linear that the setback exists only as time loss and that there is no real threat to the player, nor any real engagement in the game by the player during the repeat of the segment up until the point where they were killed. From a narrative perspective it makes no sense as the story of the game continues to assume that the player never actually died. Look at movies - when was the last time that a movie had it's lead character die midway through an action sequence, then fade to black, fade back in - and we're back at the start of said action sequence and the character has to go through it all again.<br /><br />This has all come to a head in the latest interview from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Bioshock</span> 2 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">dev</span> team. Alyssa Finley talks about the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">VitaChambers</span> and addresses the perceived problem of them making the first game too easy. It may just be a matter of opinion, but the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">VitaChambers</span> were well implemented in my opinion, they offered a way to allow <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">gameplay</span> to continue without resorting to a more traditional death mechanic. I ask then, just how will not having <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">VitaChambers</span> make this a better game? The fact that when someone is killed that they will have to go back to their last save doesn't make it better. It makes it an exercise is wasted time. Yes, you could "game" the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">VitaChambers</span> if you wanted - but this is within the concept of the game. In fact, I'm fairly certain that such an obvious exploit didn't escape the attention of the original development team and perhaps allowing players to utilise such a mechanic to advance past a section where the otherwise might have failed was their intent. Finally, let's not forget either that both System <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Shock's</span> also offered the "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">regen</span> chamber" mechanic as part of their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">gameplay</span> and neither of those ever suffered accusations of being "soft".<br /><br />The idea that the only way to punish a player in a game is through the loss of time invested is outdated, stupid and counterproductive. Nothing will get people to stop playing faster than the feeling that they are wasting their time on a game. The key is for developers to find a way to integrate "death" into their games narrative and find new mechanics to nullify the thirty year old brain-bug of the "GAME OVER" screen, not to have to waste their time pandering to a vocal group of whiners who think that the industry should stay stuck in the same conceptual rut that it's been in for three decades.<br /><br />It seems that this whole "issue" is just another in a long line of beat-ups and whining by people who feel that they are too hardcore for all these traitorous "casual" games of today. You're welcome to play a game of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Diablo</span> 2 on the Hardcore setting at Nightmare difficulty or bang your head against Armed Assault, where if you are really lucky you can die in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">cutscene</span> where you don't even have control of your character. These are just two of a multitude of "hardcore" options you can play if you really want to show off your e-peen, but the rest of us are happy to play games for enjoyment.</span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-84354120524239749842009-04-22T16:09:00.001+10:002009-04-22T16:09:37.609+10:00Madworld ramblings...<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since Madworld came out there's been distinctly little talk about it in any circles that happen to overlap with my own Venn Diagram of experience. In fact the sole piece of reporting that I've really seen on it post-release relates to how "poorly" it's sold thus far.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Correct me if I'm wrong, but I saw no advertising for this game. Not online, in print, on TV or in the cinema. It seemed that they were solely relying on the buzz created by the art and the fact that it was a "mature game on the Wii".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Oooh, yes. How positively shocking. A mature video game. It doesn't seem particularly mature to me. In fact it seems positively juvenile - but I suppose that's half the fun of it. I really consider it a sad state of affairs if "gallons of blood explode geyser-like out of a stump from a chainsawed limb" is considered to be the defining factor in what is "mature" and what is not.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Another bit of buzz in the lead up to the release of this game was that was being developed by some new American/Western development house created by SEGA. Part of a new wave of games designed to break the trends of old. But for the most part I feel like I'm playing a game so firmly rooted in the tropes of the 16bit era that I have to remind myself that this is 2009.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The story dialogue in this game is presented in the classic Japanese unskippable-floating-text-box-with-character-portrait-cutscene style. Don't tell me that you budget was so tight or room on the DVD so sparse that you couldn't get some voices in there for these scenes. They are few and far between and the fact that I never hear the voice of anyone actually in the world puts me off. And the fact that the story has to be delivered in such a way is even more disappointing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Then we have the fact that this game still has lives. Yes. Lives. As in you die, you use a life and get to continue. Last I checked my Wii doesn't have a slot for me to pump coins into so this is an automatic devaluation in my mind.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Levels aren't particularly long, but for me anything more than 10 minutes without a save is annoying. And this game doesn't have saves. If you don't finish all the sections of a level before quitting then you don't have your progress saved. You get to go back to the very start. Personally, I think that if you have to have a load event to move into a new area, then the very least you can do is have a goddamn checkpoint there to allow the player to restart from there.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">The gameplay isn't particularly deep, instead relying on player creativity and the visuals to keep interest going. And combining this kind of uninteresting combat with the quite frankly awful control scheme that this game has just results in frustration. The way the controls are in this game seems to be tailored to make them as unfriendly and unresponsive as possible. All too often you will end up facing the wrong way and attacking the air or having one of many, many, many context sensitive actions fail because you couldn't keep the camera aimed at exactly the right spot.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">In combination, all these factors make me feel like I'm playing a B-grade brawler on the Megadrive. In fact, I'd be tempted to label Madworld as "The Wii's Altered Beast" if it wasn't for the fact that the game has style on it's side.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">A few games have been accused of putting style over substance and only rarely has this accusation been more accurately levelled or the crime been more egregious. And I can take a lighter approach to sentencing here as Madworld revels in it's style - through the gritty black and white lense they're able to get away with a lot more. This ultra-violence is at the heart of the game's commentary, the focus is put on why ultra-violence is an accepted spectacle and supported. But this "social commentary" seems a bit off-the-mark, especially given how actively the game tries to alienate you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Really, Madworld should be so much better than it is. All it would have taken is someone to take a stand and go: "It's not 1992. We have the technology. We can do so much more than Streets of Rage now." But it seems at every turn the easy decisions were made - to fall back on cheap, stale and boring design which ultimately saddles this game with so many issues as to make it unenjoyable. Combine this with some ridiculous technical issues - like how the game plays at some weird resolution giving you a top, bottom and sides letterbox effect cutting your viewable screen area significantly, and the continuing inability for Wii controllers to reliably pick up what's being input in gestural commands and the game enters the realm of painfully disagreeable. And for a game that should have been the perfect stress-reliever, this outcome is just criminal.</span></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-2867330175028968422009-04-17T17:41:00.000+10:002009-04-17T17:44:15.221+10:00Eminently stoppable Force Unleashed meets immovable opinion.<span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >I've been playing The Force Unleashed - and though I'm only about an hour in I feel that I can already unload some baggage on this one way train to wreck-town. Being a massive Star Wars nerd I could bitch and whine about how this game is inconsistent with the existing canon, or that it just recycles the same environments from every game, novel and film without a hint of originality or thought. But those would be easy swipes - and cheap ones too. Playing as Vader's apprentice is a cool concept and it is the recognisable environments that create an immediate impact and association, which separates this from "generic space game X".<br /><br />No, the problems I have are with the game mechanics and even the design. None of these make it a bad game, as it is still fun, playable and thus far, it works - but they do prevent it from being anything more than average.<br /><br />I'll start with the obvious - I have a Lightsaber. Why the hell do my enemies have health bars? When it takes me a combo or two to drop an enemy we know that there is a problem. Because it's a Lightsaber. I should wade into that crowd of rebels and emerge on the other side amongst a light shower of cauterised limbs. Now, like most Star Wars games which have come before it is choosing not to play the dismemberment game, which I find disappointing given it is one of the few settings where you can have a limb cut off and there be no blood to scare the censors, because it's a goddamn Lightsaber. The concession was undoubtedly made for ratings - and as much as I hate that, I can understand it. But it still doesn't solve the health bar problem.<br /><br />Why have a health bar at all? I can't see many people becoming so deeply invested in this that they are worrying about force power micromanagement and going: "Oh, he only has a 1/5 of his health left, not 1/4 - so I shouldn't use my Sith Slash on him and instead do a Sith Slam to ensure maximum efficiency." The health bar shouldn't even be there, it's distracting and serves no real purpose. I couldn't give a crap what their current health is - they're still standing up and thus I'm still going to liberally apply Lightsaber until they fall over.<br /><br />I would have preferred to be mowing down greater quantities of less "healthy" enemies - have the game focus on you feeling like the Force-throwing Lightsaber-swinging bad-boy that you are meant to be. Instead, I'm stuck being the only character in the Star Wars universe for whom Stormtroopers are actually a threat. I just cannot get over how incongruous and immersion-busting it is to unload a flurry of Lightsaber death upon some Rebel Scum (TM), only to have them kick you in the chest and knock you down, because they've still got half their health left. It's stupid and I don't want to have to talk about it, but here we are. Thankfully with the terrible "lock on"-system and lack of decent camera controls, you'll rarely see a health bar for the person you're actually trying to hit with your Lightsaber so the whole point is really quite moot.<br /><br />It just strikes me that the lack of dismemberment in any form and the use of a healthbar has really undercut what could have been a remarkable chance to show off the Euphoria physics/AI stuff. Lets look at GTA IV, where an injured person reacts to their injury or physics interaction and then attempts self-preservation in the environment accordingly. Compare this to Force Unleashed, where Euphoria for enemies is little more than a hopped-up rag doll system and the closest your enemies come to reacting is occassionally grabbing something when you Force Grip them.<br /><br />And this brings us to the core gimmick of the game: Force Grip. One upon a time when you were stuck in a game, you looked around for the airvent to shoot in order to crawl into it. In this game, you look around for something with a great big glowing aura (or better yet - great big yellow arrows) which you need to Force Grip. And it's here that the game bogs down, as the first time that you drag a yellow arrow across a door it's a case of "heh, that's pretty cool", but the second time you go: "Really? Again? So soon?" Then, by the tenth occurence in the first level of a puzzle relies on "use the Gravity Gun (sorry "Force Grip) to pull the power cord out of the shield generator" you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's 2004 and you're playing Half Life 2. You know, back when this crap was still somewhat new and different.<br /><br />This tedium is what I fear will stop me from going too far with this game, no matter how much I love Star Wars. Every aspect of this game feels focus tested, like it is was developed to be as safe an investment as possible. And I'm under no illusions that this is how things work and that this is definitely the new LucasArts way. It's just that this board-room-generated-checklist approach has never been as painfully obvious. I'd like to hope that the occassional flashes of inspired design that are in the game haven't been totally wiped out by this lowest-common-denominator approach to development and that I might find something to love. But other things about the game make me question just how well made it actually is.<br /><br />With the ability to Install to HDD now available on 360, I haven't played a game of disc in quite a while - and being able to hear my 5.1 sound system over the console is a lovely change. And in several games I've noticed a real performance increase in terms of both load times and framerates. Well, if the load times for Force Unleashed when installed are anything to go by, then I am ecstatic that I have it installed and am not just running from the disc.<br /><br />How can it take the same amount of time to load an options screen in the pause menu as it does to load a level? In a game that relies on upgrades and character advancement, this is not just ridiculous, but passes into the realm of totally goddamn unacceptable. Every time I go to a menu or select and option from a menu it actually has to bring up an honest-to-goodness load screen. And not a quick flash of one, but a nice long load screen. Enough time for you to consciously think: "Man, this is taking a while, has it locked up? I'll check to see if any Friends are online. Oh, only three - and none playing anything I want to. Ah well, back to the game. What? STILL? Come on! How can it take thi- Wait, there we go. Hurrah, now I can adjust the brightness."<br /><br />And this isn't just while playing the game, this is from the main menu too! It's like someone there thought that Mass Effect's elevators were the greatest innovation in game design since CGA colour and the world needed more of that crap. When a game takes as long to load an options menu as it takes GTA IV to load a city, you know that there is a problem. And I might forgive it if the menus were works of art or somehow remarkable. But they aren't. They're drab and derivative, there is no conceivable reason that they should take so long to load.<br /><br />I feel like I shouldn't play this game, like I shouldn't waste me time on another pandering grab at my fan-whore money. Maybe I should just go and get Conan or Hellboy or Viking to get my brawler fix. Or go back to Madworld, actually no. Lets not go back to Madworld right now. I'll leave that for next rant.</span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-81946360408513402452009-03-11T06:39:00.000+11:002009-03-11T06:40:24.110+11:00The Eidos Purchase - a hyperbolic perspective.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What follows is my visionary and cautionary tale of what will come to pass as Square Enix takes over the reins on some of gaming's most beloved franchises.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Hitman 5: Penultimate Zeigeist of Kings</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">We join Number 47 in his latest adventures, his trademark black suit now features many chains, buckles and pouches. Jesper Kyd is replaced by Nobuo Uematsu on soundtrack duties. The opening cutscene is 12 hours long and features at least 8 hours of longing staring by 47 at love interest. His first mission is given: "Assassinate John Smith, local drug lord", you attempt it but fail miserably as you get defeated time and time again by the first guard you encounter. You try and try and try again, each time being doomed to a half hour cutscene showing your pitiful demise to swelling orchestral chords. A hint box pops up: "If you are having trouble, try levelling up before the fight." You spend the next 12 hours hunting rats for XP. Then, once you have enough levels to face off against the boss safely, you try once more and as soon as you come face to face with the boss the game goes to a cutscene and you die of sleep deprivation before it is over. And that's just the first level.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Deus Ex 3: Crystalline Dreams of Oepdipal Schadenfraude in the Sky</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">JC Denton returns in this thrilling turn based RPG. Progress through more than 2000 hours of content, of which only 2 are actually relevant! Watch as JC Denton's hair becomes blonder, taller and more outrageous in style with each level gained! Thrill to canned combat animations featuring a sword 5 times taller than Sears Tower! Remain disengaged and impassive for hours on end as you watch cutscenes! Go and make a cup of tea - they're still going! Walk the dog too - this might be a while, he's still crying about that girl, you know, the one who got ganked by that guy who was totally evil, but JC Denton was obilivious to. Actually, you should probably get some sleep now, we lost enough people with the first boss cutscene in Hitman. It's OK, by the time you wake up and get back from work tomorrow, he'll almost be done crying. Sure there's nano-tech and the ability to restore her to perfect health using technology, but don't question the writers - she's dead. She was stabbed in the middle of the hospital ER by the badguy and she's dead. Now stop poking holes in our plot and watch more cutscenes because you're asking too many questions.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Thief X-12.2[b]s9 (paragraph 4)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Garrett travels through time to help popular Disney characters defeat the evil ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Innovative and revolutionary new controls for the series mean that you can only move in one axis at any given time! This changes the entire dynamic of the genre as the controls suddenly become another layer of depth which you need to conquer in order to become the new spirit of Christmas.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Tomb Raider: Underworld</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Lara Croft battles her way through yet another adventure, coming face to face with her arch-nemesis - herself. The pseudo-mysticism kicks up a notch as she battles her doppelganger for . . . Wait a minute, that was the last Tomb Raider game.</span></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-45657661095614775412009-03-04T17:16:00.001+11:002009-03-04T17:16:31.206+11:00A time for skill<span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >It's one of the things that inevitably comes up every time I talk about playing games:I have a lack of time in which to play them. But I still try and play as often as I can and as great a variety of games as I can. Which naturally leads to my time being spread a little thinly amongst them all. Directly related to this is my hate for unnecessary padding and the usual grind and dissatisfaction it incurs.<br /><br />These issues are perfectly addressed by many games, which offer skills based gaming. That is, a gameplay experience which rewards skill rather than time. It's one of the reasons I've been enjoying Skate 2 so much. Right from the very start you have available to you every trick and the ability to do it, your skater will never level up, or unlock new abilities. It is purely up to you as a player to make it work.<br /><br />This means that when I fail a challenge I know that it is on me. I failed because I couldn't find the right line, or fucked up in some way. Not because I haven't levelled up my skater enough and need to go and play for another few hours to get the points to unlock a new level of skills or get a better board. That way, when I do finally nail a trick, kill a spot or win a competition, there is a real sense of achievement to it. I know that I got that outcome because of my skills or because I figured out where a better line was. Sure, there is some time aspect to it - as time goes on I've learnt more and more little tricks to get better and better at the game. The fact remains though, that the game is not artificially limiting me because I haven't spent enough time with it yet.<br /><br />Where I've encountered the most issues to do with this split between games that reward time vs skill is in unlockable stuff - why do I have to play through story mode in a fighting game 20 goddamn times to fully unlock the main roster of characters when I've already bought the game? Why do I have to put 20 hours into Call of Duty 4 or World at War to unlock all the weapons and perks. Certainly I have no problem with having bonus characters and special items as unlockables in fighting games. In the CoD games - having some unlockables is fine but can we please speed up the advancement curve or give me a better selection to begin with?<br /><br />I've recently gotten back into Team Fortress 2 (a by-product of finally having a gaming PC again) and it has become very apparent to me that I am far behind the curve there. Previously, I had been able to drop in occasionally and enjoy the game - but now, because I'm not playing every night and whoring achievements every time a new release is made, I'm feeling left behind. I don't have a lot of the alternate weapons and items which most players seem to be using and that certainly seem to be just plain better than the basic stuff. What was a skills based game has now been tainted for me by the inclusion of such unlockable items.<br /><br />If I am already behind the curve on a game where time spent is not the core mechanic, as I am in Team Fortress 2, then I am already naturally disadvantaged as I am not familiar with many class and map related tactics. To increase the gap between casual players like myself and the dedicated players by then adding unlockable items seems more like punishment for not playing often, rather than an incentive to keep playing. This isn't World of Warcraft where at a glance I can see that the player over there is way above me in levels and likely to be able to eliminate me with a single strike and is pimped to the max with items. Frequently the first you know of an alternate item being used in play is when you get killed and it shows you the special stats on what killed you.<br /><br />Perhaps my problem here isn't so much that there are unlockables - but that the requirements to unlock them are so high. It is patently ridiculous to expect a casual player (or even anyone who doesn't fall into the hopelessly addicted category) to obtain some of those achievements which are critical to unlocking items. I can see myself slowly inching towards these unlocks, but the fact is that I know I will never actually get there. I might get the first tier for one or two classes, but that's it.<br /><br />I will credit EA's intentions, but not their implementation of the "Time is Money" DLC for Skate 2. I didn't purchase it, because Skate 2 isn't the kind of game where unlocks are critical to my enjoyment. But if Valve offered me the chance to pay $5 in Steam to unlock all the new items - then I would do so without a moments hesitation as it would drastically improve my game experience.<br /><br />There are certain games and genres in which I avoid in their entirety due to the central gameplay mechanic being "Spend time playing to advance". Hence, JRPGs and MMORPGs are off the table for me. Sure, every game requires a commitment of time, but for me at least, being the cranky gamer-with-a-job that I am, any game that rewards time played over skill or thinking is not worth my time to start with.</span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-51887317882045702402009-01-28T20:44:00.002+11:002009-01-28T20:45:57.328+11:00Wallrunning out of Death's reach.<span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >I was going to do a big breakdown on the details of the average gamer, but in December we got a huge statistics and research dump on this anyway and now the whole project feels a bit passe/pointless. I might still drop in a column showing the notes and stats that I had collected though.<br /><br />But for this column I wanted to quickly compare and contrast two games with a similar design but different motivations. These are Mirror's Edge from Dice by way of EA and Prince of Persia from Ubisoft. Both of these games have a focus on running, jumping, sliding and acrobatically puzzling your way through an environment with a very distinctive art style. Both have received their fair share of positive and negative reactions. And to be honest, I'm not sure which I've enjoyed more than the other.<br /><br />A disclaimer first - I'm playing both on PC, using the 360 gamepad for Prince of Persia and mouse and keyboard for Mirror's Edge. I had tried the Mirror's Edge demo on the 360 and just felt a bit let down by the controls. The game seems to require amazingly tight control - especially when jumping for pipes, ladders and the like and I just could not get it happening on the 360 controller so I decided to wait for PC so I could use the mouse and keyboard.<br /><br />I've heard on a lot of podcasts and read on a lot of sites that Prince of Persia has very forgiving controls - I must be some kind of freakishly untalented player then, because I just am yet to get the hang of them - perhaps I'm yet to learn the rhythm of the game as I am very early on still.<br /><br />Again, contrary to the touted opinions, the control's of Mirror's Edge have been wonderful - very tight and intuitive and it is probably my many years of playing FPS games with arbitrary platforming sequences on PC which has made me much, much better at such a thing than those gamers who have never had such an experience. There have been the occasional irritation (such as trying to time an up-wall-run to sideways leap to grab), but for the majority of the game the movement and controls mesh perfectly.<br /><br />The main point I wanted to reach on this however is the accusation that Prince of Persia is too easy. Which I first want to point out is a stupid opinion to hold. These people say that the removal of death means that there is no challenge. Death hasn't been a challenge in games since quick-saving was introduced and before that - when limited lives went out the window. In fact, thus far in both Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia I'm yet to be hindered by death. In both, when you fuck up, you die. Prince of Persia then quickloads you back to the last checkpoint with a graphic of Elika grabbing your hand. Mirror's Edge quickloads you back to the last checkpoint courtesy of a loadscreen.<br /><br />There is no fundamental difference here aside from the fact that some people must think that having a load screen means that there is in fact a penalty for death. Actually - I've only seen the Elika animation a few times and already the music and animation is getting old. I think that's a going to be a bigger punishment in the long run than a white loadscreen.<br /><br />Using the logic implied in the "not being able to die makes it easy" argument I can make any game as easy or as hard as I want now because the death mechanic has been negated by saving. I could go through a game saving only every 2 hours and thus have a big punishment for dying, in the form of being forced to replay a significant chunk of the game again. Does that make a game better? No. Does that make a game fun? No. Does that actually make the game longer? No. This is one of the reasons why I hate Ninja Gaiden.<br /><br />People need to understand that the inherent nature of the death mechanics in gaming has been undercut by saving. If I wanted to I could play through the whole of HL2 and both episodes and never "die", because I can quicksave and quickload at will. It's a puerile argument to say that just because you can't die means a game is simple. If you want to stick with that argument then Planescape Torment would like to say: "Hello and fuck you buddy."<br /><br />And even if it is "easy", does that make it bad? No. No it doesn't. Not every game needs to be ruthlessly hard and with a decade between checkpoints - no matter how emotionally repressed, dateless and with hours and hours to waste you might be - you should be able to recognise this as simply bad game design. Sure artificial inflation of gameplay length is probably my greatest pet peeve, but even looking at this objectively you are kidding yourself if you think that such inflation actually makes a game better.<br /><br />Personally I'd like to see more games pick up on the negation of the traditional death mechanic that Prince of Persia has introduced. Sure, the setting of Prince of Persia makes it a perfect contender for the implementation of such a device, but there's no reason it couldn't be adapted to other settings or genres with a bit of work. Just look at what Far Cry 2 with it's death mechanic - it removed the traditional punishment for death and introduced a "rescue" mechanic which I've already found useful for expanding my contacts and knowledge.<br /><br />If within the next few years we can see the elimination of my need to compulsively quicksave and quickload (thanks Halflife) and replace the traditional punishment of "You Died. Game Over. . . . Press space to load your last save." (how FUCK is that "Game Over" then? Stupid fucking 1980s gameplay hangover!) then myself and my HDD will be happier for it as I won't have to worry about accumulating literally thousands of quicksave files over the course of games.<br /></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-80041560080337638402008-04-09T16:47:00.000+10:002008-04-09T16:50:32.341+10:00Recession - the best thing for the games industry?<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">OK, time to get into some controversy. Is a recession the best thing for the games industry at the moment? We've seen the stats that show that industry sales are going against the traditional recessional downturns for luxuries, but will this last once things actually do get really tight?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'll put this out straight away - I haven't had any formal training in economics for a few years and even then, I really haven't specialised in it to any great extent. But then again, it seems that having zero ability to understand economics is a prerequisite for world leaders nowadays, so it's not like I'd be talking out of turn.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The conventional thinking has always been that as money becomes tighter for people they would shrink away from spending on luxuries, something that seems to be defied by the recent stats. But I ask the question - how conventional are the people who are spending the most money? I know that my gaming budget is quite high - I try and budget to get at least one game a fortnight, usually at full price. Many others will also partake in such buying habits. In fact, I would wager that a goodly proportion of the income of gaming industry comes from those of us who work full time, probably don't have children and may or may not have a spouse/partner. In other words - those with plenty of disposable income. We are the ones who are more likely to purchase a game at full price in a launch window. Sure, there are the nagging kids who use their pocket money - but they will certainly be more immediately effected by the tightening family budget. And even then - a parent in that tightening budget scenario is likely to encourage trade-ins, purchasing of second hand games and rentals above purchasing a brand new copy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thus I would put forward that those who have the greatest real purchasing power in the games economy are the ones who are least likely to really feel the pinch of a recessional economy. But this isn't really my point.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am certain that if things continue going the way which they have been trending we will see a definite change in the overall turnover in the games industry. The hardware sales will likely be the first to take a hit given the significant costs involved in purchasing the hardware (and just as often the HDTV to go with it), and consequently we will likely see a plateauing in software sales as there will no longer be the rapidly expanding market to sell into. Should these trends continue, it would rapidly reach a point where the potential market for a game is going to be small enough that break-evens are no longer certain. So what would this mean for the industry, and why would it be a good thing?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">My hope would be, given this situation, that we'd see a change away from the Hollywood "one blockbuster covers our losses on all the other crap" model which the games industry is moving towards. Instead, my hope would be that we'd see a lot of the filth dredged out of the bottom of the meme pool. How would shovelware cope with a recessional market? With the declining sales base, and consumers likely to become increasingly selective in the application of their hard-earned, shovelware may face a dark future. It is likely that reviews of games would become critical (possibly leading to the creation of that mythical "new games journalism" which those "respectable" writers at places like Rolling Stone always crap on about), for the outlay for a fullpriced game would become such a significant financial event that people would want to be damned sure of the quality of their purchase. The downside of this is we would likely see many repeats of the Gamespot/Eidos debacle and the Ziff Davis/Ubisoft tantrum where negative press is greeted with indignance and infantile outbursts.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But the main change which I would anticipate in the move away from the blockbuster model is towards sustainable development costs for all titles. What if you were to be buying a new game for your 360 or PS3 at a pricepoint significantly below the current full price? And I'll use Bully as a demonstration here - what if it was an excellent game, but with graphical standards well below the current gen? Would you accept that - a sacrifice of graphical fidelity on the altar of affordability? Where else could fat be trimmed from the development process - would people accept "speech bubbles" instead of voice acting? How about relying on user-soundtracks instead of licensed/original music for the most part? All of these things could help trim those development costs to allow games to be made for less and, in theory, retail for less. After all - not every game has to be GTAIV with tens of hours of content, amazing graphics, sound and writing with a price tag to match.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think that the key here is developing an understanding with the publishers and probably moreover with the game buying public that not every game needs to be a full-priced Michael Bay inspired masterpiece. People are willing to get less when they pay less and perhaps that "mid range" is what they should aim for to keep themselves in the black in the face of the "R-word".</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I must say that EA and some other publishing houses are very prescient in this respect with the move towards free-to-play with pay-for-bonus games coming in on the horizon with an additional ad supported model incorporated. Hopefully things like Battlefield: Heroes and the proposed re-model of Company of Heroes into a free-to-play game will lead the charge here. If Sony and Microsoft were prepared to investigate new methods of dealing with these concepts through their stores and online services it could be a way for them to guarantee themselves a massive revenue stream and player base through the darker economic times. Just imagine something like Battlefield: Heroes on 360 or PS3 as a free game. The pay-for-bonus system can be worked in through Marketplace or PS Store, but having a free game like that to appeal to the player base would give either console a great boost. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In relation to Marketplace and PS Store, I would definitely envision that DLC would reprice itslef into oblivion. After all, in a recessional economy people who are paying full price for a game are going to be less than pleased that they would have to pay to get what should have been in there to start with in some cases. Perhaps we may even see something remarkable happen with sequels becoming available for download via these venues for released games. Look at Tomb Raider Legend and the DLC packs for Anniversary. Look at how Vegas 2 could well have been a big update pack for Vegas 1. This kind of electronically distributed expansion pack is the first step towards the creation of an on disc engine and resource pack for DLC games. That kind of future is pretty out there, but it is something that I think we are moving towards, especially as the budgetary belt is pulled tighter and tighter.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The essence of my ramble here has been to point out a number of ways in which I think a recession could really help the game industry pull itself back into shape. Whether its a remodel of the distribution and sales models, or a fundamental shift in the approach to development - if even some of my hopes (masquerading as predictions) come through then we will likely come out the other side with a much better model. After all, look at what the thirties did for Hollywood.</span><br /><br /><br /></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-25430156425720575762008-04-07T16:15:00.001+10:002008-04-07T16:15:36.436+10:00That un-fulfilling feeling.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I</span><span style="font-family: arial;">'m sure anyone who plays games as a way of debriefing, relaxing or otherwise escaping the drudgery of the day-to-day grind that is the fate of so many of us will be of a similar opinion to me, in that they hold a belief that a game needs to be fun. Now, I don't want to devolve into a discussion on difficulty levels, length of games or even the casual/normal/hardcore gaming "genres" that have plagued these discussions in the past. What I want to get to is the feeling of playing a game and afterwards feeling good about the time you spent playing it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Everyone has done it at some point, be it that game of Civ that went on just too long, grinding through to a conclusion in a game you'd stopped enjoying or finally quitting in frustration far too late after countless attempts to defeat the same segment. All of these (and many more) can lead you to that point where you ask yourself: "What was the point of all that?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm more that willing to debate (at length) the merits of gaming and more importantly the validity of gaming as a hobby and also a medium (again - I don't really want to get into that here). And this is where I must say that at times I've "burnt out" on gaming. I reach a point where I just say: "That's enough." Then for several weeks I'll be in a state of malaise where I just can't play any game for more than a few minutes (even seconds sometimes) without a sense of "I really can't be bothered with this" setting in.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">I'm thankful for these periods of downtime - it lets you sit back and get some perspective where you may have previously been lacking it. It gives you an excellent opportunity to catch up with other hobbies that you may have been slacking off in. And finally - when the bug finally bites you again, you have a renewed passion and can come back into gaming with a vengeance.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">However these attacks of CBF syndrome are usually associated with that un-fulfilling feeling which I mentioned earlier. What makes something un-fulfilling? For me it is usually when something stops being fun and starts being a chore. It's why MMO's have never appealed and aside from very brief but intense dalliances with Diablo 2 and Titan Quest, grinding RPGs remain something which I hold no small degree of disdain for. But I can get fulfillment out of some intense grinding too - because sometimes to get that feeling you just have to overcome something. Finally beating that boss or level or even the game after so many failed attempts can give you that rush (however mild).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">For many non-gamers this can be hard to quantify. The most frequent question I'm called upon to answer is: "but what do you get out of it?" The best retort to these people is usually: "what do you get out of reading a book or watching a film or completing that sudoku challenge or finally seeing that plant you've been raising flower?" Because that's what this can be. The book and films analogies are obvious - because entertainment across many mediums from reading the highest levels of academics literature to partaking in a lap-dance can be a fulfilling experience. Completing the sudoku puzzle is also obvious - you have a concrete sense of achievement in what you've done. And thus we lead into the plant, you can experience this victory across many senses, smell it, see it, touch it, in some cases taste it, you have a prize to show for your struggle.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Sadly, this is where I must give credit where credit is due and praise Microsoft for leading the charge with achievements. Even mindless grinding is rewarded with these, and having that little bar flash up at the bottom of the screen is often enough to bump up my feeling of fulfillment to a point where I'm happy that I've just spent an hour trying to get my car to flip just so in Burnout Paradise, despite all the frustration that I've felt in the meantime. If I'd quit at any time up to that point, that game would have been back on my gameshelf and gathering dust for the next few months, but with that feeling of achievement and that quantifiable object to show for that time spent it somehow all seems somehow worthwhile. Until your wife cracks the dirts with you for not helping hang up the washing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Am I saying that having achievements makes crappy gameplay excusable? Hell no. What I'm saying is that achievements, live scoreboards, taunting e-mails (damn you Audiosurf) and things like ranks in CoD4 and Vegas all give you something to show for that time spent gaming. And even that tiniest bit of justification can make all those hours of gaming feel that little bit less like time ill-spent.</span></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-46261695565738880932008-04-07T16:10:00.000+10:002008-04-07T16:17:17.488+10:00On the recurring issues of clown car terrorists and the effects of teleportation on counter-revolutionary warfare operations.<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Given that most of my friends list seems to have been playing it a fair bit I can assume that most people are aware that <span style="font-style: italic;">Rainbow 6: Vegas 2</span> is out and it is actually quite a lot of fun. But my most closely clutched pet peeve has returnd to inflict untold aggravation upon me. That peeve is spawning enemies, or more correctly: inappropriately spawning enemies.<br /><br />In my comments on the original R6:V I questioned the ability of literally thousands of mercenaries, terrorists and other no-good-niks to descend on the city while remaining completely off the collective radars of every single intelligence and law enforcement agency in the US. Vegas 2 addresses this somewhat by showing that there was some investigation into the presence of smugglers, but seriously - how the hell did they miss the fact that this "covert warehouse exchange" contained what had to be close to, if not more than one hundred armed goons? We know for a fact that thermal scanning was available. The sheer ridiculousness of the entire premise of the Vegas games was, and remains, atrocious.<br /><br />But we have been given at least one good reason why the massed hordes of bad guys weren't present to be counted by thermal surveillance. And that is because they could be teleported into an area with precise efficiency and timing. Whether this was through scientific or occult measures is yet to be determined. What is clear though is that Rainbow have absolutely no countermeasures for this kind of technology, meaning that your pathetically undersized team of 3 gets to run into ambushes over and over and over.<br /><br />I will say something now that should be a mantra for anyone developing any kind of tactical or "realistic" game:<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">If it has jarring, pointless or otherwise obvious spawning of enemies then you are doing it wrong.</span></span><br /><br />How the hell can I plan a room takedown when the enemies don't spawn until I cross the threshold of the door? At least Vegas has the good graces to occassionally conceal the obviousness of the spawning by having people rappel through skylights and windows.<br /><br />Sure, sometimes the enemies will be in place and patrolling the room when you peek in via camera, but when you sprint in and they just appear in your field of vision? That's sloppy, sloppy work. True, this occurs in Terrorist Hunt more often than in singleplayer, but the fact it happens at all is a terrible indictment of your game's quality.<br /><br />I'll try and break it down for those still struggling with the idea.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blatant spawning appropriate:</span><br />Fighting minions of hell or other supernatural entity.<br />Battling against immensely technologically superior aliens.<br />Games that don't take themselves seriously and pride themselves on "realism".<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blatant spawning inappropriate:</span><br />Any game not featuring supernatural/hell themes or involving aliens set before the year X (where X is the year in which reliable human teleportation becomes possible).<br /><br />So, besides the crap spawning and enemy spam to artificially inflate the difficulty - oh and the sudden decision in the refinery level to move the distance between the checkpoints and really ramp up the encounter difficulty as well as removing AI companions in what can only be described as a last ditch attempt to make the single-player campaign that little bit longer (I'm still yet to finish, mainly because that refinery is ridiculous) - how does the game hold up?<br /><br />Fairly well. Playing dress-ups like a 8 year old girl with a gun fetish is as much fun as it should be. And the fact that they've integrated the experience points and levelling system into every facet of the game is the single biggest improvement in my book. Is that enough to redeem the shoddy, cheap gameplay decisions though?<br /><br />Sure they've added "penetration physics", but I should remind everyone that SWAT 3, back in 2000 had the most detailed penetration model I've ever seen in a game. And it wasn't until Call of Duty 4 last year that anyone really decided to follow up on it. And even then, it's still not as what was available 8 fucking years ago.<br /><br />The core gameplay is pretty much unchanged. Move forward until enemies spawn, then do the "stop and pop" thing until everyone is dead. Repeat ad infinitum. Though at least they've made your team mates into mere morons rather than terminally retarded apes with a suicide compulsion. The ongoing direction of the gameplay does mean however that the game continues to move further and further from the series original concept. Perhaps they can finally cut the cord and rebrand it "Tom Clancy's: Vegas: X" for future iterations and return to making the pure tactical games that I preferred.<br /><br />My limited exposure thus far to the adversarial side of it convinces me that it is largely unchanged. If you like hyperactive morons with no concept of teamwork or tactics or keeping their festering gobs SHUT, you'll love it. Otherwise, avoid like the plague and only play with friends.<br /><br />Overall - given that this is nothing more than a glorified (and full price) patch/expansion pack, I find it hard to be generous with any given facet of the game. The fact that I was actually hoping to get some resolution to the goddamn cliff hanger at the end of R6:V was about the only reason I picked it up. That and my slowly dwindling support for the rapidly eroding "Tom Clancy's" brand name. I won't say it's not a good game, because that's a lie. What I will say is that it's an excellent piece of DLC that's about $80 too expensive.<br /></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />It's better than: </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Rainbow 6: Vegas</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />It's worse than: </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rainbow 6: Rogue Spear</span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Try it if you like:<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Army of Two, Gears of War, SWAT 4<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Best played... </span>without thinking about the fact that this totally should have been DLC.</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><br /></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2209002753791829622.post-45760548507012567942008-03-17T14:17:00.000+11:002008-03-17T15:03:11.810+11:00This Army of Two is not Army Strong.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This will be the first of my "reviews" here. And I use that term as sparingly as possible given my tendency towards hyperbole, exaggeration and even outright lies. The aim isn't to give you a "fair and balanced" (that phrase has no meaning since Fox News hijacked it) indication as to the quality of the game, but instead to say whether it is enjoyable or not.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For those with no knowledge of my gaming habits and feelings you can read much of my previous work on my <a href="http://au.gamespot.com/users/weemadando">Gamespot user page</a>. But I'll give you a quick summary of it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have limited gaming time and thus a low-threshold for bullshit, wastes of time, filler and anti-fun. This can include stuff like crappy save systems such as <span style="font-style: italic;">Ninja Gaiden</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Grand Theft Auto</span> and any other games that don't allow me to save when I damn well need to. Not want, but need - after all, unlike the pre-teen emotional retards to whom most game developers seem to pander, I can't commit to fifteen hour gameplay marathons where I may only see a single checkpoint. At least give me regular checkpoints like those which <span style="font-style: italic;">Call of Duty 2</span> introduced, where even a compulsive quick-saver like myself felt at home. I hope to hell that <span style="font-style: italic;">GTA4</span> has a decent mid-mission checkpoint system so that I can at least resume from a point within the mission rather than heading back to get the briefing and starting from scratch all over again, otherwise that game is going to find itself shelved quicker than you can say: "Mayor Bloomberg is going to sue somebody."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Similarly, I don't want filler or crap. I don't care that your game has eighty fucking hours of gameplay if seventy-eight of it is going to spent backtracking through every area that I've visited previously because you think that needless padding is good. Same goes for pointless "cut-and-paste" level design to extend your games length. For examples of this, see <span style="font-style: italic;">Zelda</span> (in fact, every goddamn JRPG ever), Halo and my personal whipping-boy: <span style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft</span> (what - you want me to play the same goddamn thing over and over and over in the hope of getting some "phat lewt"? Fuck no).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Finally, I ask that the game be fun. This "fun" of which I speak is a difficult thing to define. My personal taste for fun varies wildly from day to day. Some days I feel like playing a very realistic sim, other days even the most bombastically over-the-top arcade game will still be too little to keep me engaged. Really, fun for me is that mystic quantity that makes me want to play the game. Fun is essential to me as gaming is a hobby, it is one of the things I do for enjoyment. A perfect example of how seriously I take "fun" can be seen in the fact that I play (and have played many more) miniature based war-games. But assembling and painting all those things never really rated that highly on my list of priorities. It was all about the play experience. So what if my Fallschirmjager company or High Elf army or Goblin Blood Bowl team or Norse Mordheim warband or Eldar Aspect Warrior army or Orlock Necromunda gang or Assault Gun company were very poorly or even unpainted, it wasn't that which I was in the hobby for. It was for the game - not for the craft.<br /><br />Any how, back to the topic at hand, which happens to be <span style="font-style: italic;">Army of Two</span>. Not that you would have guessed it from the story so far.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Army of Two</span> is of course, the recent "topical social commentary" from EA. And it shouldn't have been. Because I want to get straight down to the problem with this game. It takes itself too seriously. And I must ask: "How did this happen?" This game has all the cliches - the mismatched "buddies" from every cop movie ever, the hilariously low grade plot (more on that to come), villains who munch on the scenery more than Dennis Hopper and lets not forget the fact that you can make your weapons into something worthy of being displayed next to a Fabergé egg.<br /><br />So how did any of this end up as "serious social commentary"? I have no idea. Someone at EA obviously developed Jane Fonda syndrome about mid way through the script writing process, because it goes from perfect <span style="font-style: italic;">Team America</span> style piss-take on the entire "War on Terror" to this ridiculous thriller that even Tom Clancy's current team of chained to the word-processor ghost-writers wouldn't want to take credit for.<br /><br />Seriously, how do we move from a super-stylised Somalian warlord soliloquising on American Imperialism (in the precise manner that the enemy in a 1980s Chuck Norris movie would) and the chemical weapons obsessed Al'Qaeda leader to suddenly having "I'm being serious, can't you hear how I've lowered my voice an octave and altered my tone?" discussions of US domestic and foreign policy? Oh, and saying "Conspiracy theory" about 40 times per dialogue certainly doesn't help matters. If the game had kept the ridiculously over-the-top, moustache twirling villainy throughout, then it would have been a much better game.<br /><br />Thankfully the switch in tone only occurs when there is about two hours left in the game. Which places it about halfway through. Which brings me to my next point. It's short. Like four hours short. Thankfully, it is a joy to replay, as long as you have someone to play co-op with. But still - that is damn short. Especially considering the monster delay.<br /><br />And it's not like the delay did much, in fact, one thing that seemed to happen in the delay is that a lot of the stuff that was in the game was taken out. Really, much of what this game was allegedly about was cut. The co-op stuff is there as a way of ensuring that you don't separate too much, and even if you do, the occasional mandatory "snap you both to the same location" sequence will occur. On the bright side, it doesn't have quick-time events.\<br /><br />The weapon customisation is kind of fun, and really the only incentive to keep playing, in order to unlock it all. But by the same measure, the actual customisations look like the concepts were done by a angry 13 year old who was scribbling school massacre fantasies in the back of his Home Economics text book. And with every bit of hateful disrespect intended, I say this to you, whoever you are: "Your designs look like shit." Some are better than others (for example I love the .44 and its upgrades) but the overall quality of them is bad. And their implementation is worse, as a friend pointed out, it's like a shoddily made mod for something, they just whack another model and skin over the top and damned if it's not noticeable when suddenly a texture alters, or hideous overlaps are evident. As for outfit customisation, you have a choice of Light, Medium and Heavy armour and about twelve equally crappy masks. Again, these look like the results of the same 13 year old's sketches. Why not give us a little toolset like <span style="font-style: italic;">Need For Speed</span> (I won't mention <span style="font-style: italic;">Forza</span> as <span style="font-style: italic;">NFS</span> has what I want and it's a goddamn EA product) to allow us to customise our masks and armour? If I can carry a diamond encrusted Stinger missile, then please explain why I cannot put some sweet designs on my face mask and armoured shoulder pads? I'm assuming that a few hours of airbrush work by someone is well within my budget. This applies in single player only though. In multi-player it's a much bigger criticism, there is no customisation beyond choosing a character model and at some point during the round purchasing a new weapon package. You can't even mix-and-match beyond swapping with your partner. It's a poor design choice given the depth of options in single player.<br /><br />So, how does it play? Pretty well overall. I'm assuming that you've played <span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War</span>? It's like that, but the controls aren't quite as tight, and there are some terrible button placement decisions. Putting <span style="font-style: italic;">every</span> action on the "A" button? Not a good start and leads to some unfortunate events. Having melee and ranged attacks on the same trigger as well as putting on "slap your team-mate upsides the head" on that trigger too? Let me just say that I was forced to replay a segment several times after a furious gun-battle ended with my parter and I both dead after we head-butted each other into oblivion while the enemy who we were trying to kill blasted us with impunity from three fucking inches away.. Campaign mode is alright for a run-through by yourself, but for any prolonged play, you really want a friend to play with. Adversarial is quite a lot of fun, being that it is just like co-op, but it actually has things like drivable vehicles and all these other bits that were meant to be in the single-player originally (and I'm not counting the hovercraft sequences in China and Miami, because it's crap).<br /><br />Of course, the problem with the multiplayer is that at any given moment you have a nine-in-ten chance of being suddenly and violently disconnected. This has happened too many times to too many people that I've spoken to for it to be isolated cases. But then again, we're all in Australia and I doubt that EA squandered any money in putting a server here for us to connect through, so that's probably at least half of our troubles.<br /><br />Finally, I'll put in one last criticism - the Miami level stinks to high heaven. It's lazy design and writing at it's worst. For a game that wanted so badly to be "serious social commentary" by that point, it missed the boat completely. What could have been a beautiful take on the mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina and the profiteering by certain groups in its aftermath is instead reduced to nothing but a level in which to play. The fact that the city is 6' underwater is never even mentioned. It's just like that so you have to use your hovercraft. It's this kind of laziness that really epitomises <span style="font-style: italic;">Army of Two</span>.<br /><br />Now, because some readers are lazy oafs who can't be bothered digesting such a solid block of text as that above, I will provide a quick summary for you (this will be the way I end reviews, with a hefty dose of thanks to <a href="http://www.pcpowerplay.com.au">PCPP</a> for the great concept)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">It's better than: </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Conflict: Denied Ops</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />It's worse than: </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Try it if you like:<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Gears of War, Kane & Lynch, Brothers In Arms<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Best played... </span>with other humans, preferably those who realise that the entire game should not be taken seriously and that the characters are not, in fact cool.<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>WeeMadAndohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03972358725785864630noreply@blogger.com0