Learn more about Tim Schafer than you ever wanted to know.

Ok - quite frankly, Tim is a video game God in my eyes.  He started with 'Day of the Tentacle' and went from there.  Shortlist?  Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Psychonauts, Brutal Legend (trust me) the list goes on an on.  Seems Gamespot in their brilliant gamer spirit has done a documentary about Timmy.  If you do know about Tim then you've already clicked on the link.  If you don't, educate yourself on one of the greatest game designers ever known.  He's nuts - but brilliant...and he ensured that gaming didn't have to be about 'bang-bang-boom-boom'.  5 stars in my book.

Japanese Goverment holds PSN restart - Thank god SOMEBODY is asking questions.

Joystiq is reporting that Japan is not willing (alone in that it seems) to allow Sony to just start up PSN again until it is satisfied that things are up to scratch this time around.  While gamers are chomping at the bit to get back online, I'm sure most of them would rather wait for adequate measures to be applied, tested and proven before PSN services come back to life (*tongue in cheek*)

Well actually, we know that is a load of crap.  Most gamers don't care what happened, why it happened or who is even truly at fault - because they're too busy sucking back 10 times the recommended limit of cola and candy to allow their fried, halfwit brains and blistered thumbs rest long enough to actually think about how serious the PSN breach truly was. (Hint - 'Anonymous' is a scapegoat in all of this even if they WERE responsible for the firmware corruption)

Fresh off of another disaster caused by years of a major Japanese firm saying 'Don't worry, everything is under control...' - I guess the Japenese government has finally had enough and is standing up for its citizens at last.  Too bad then that they seem to be the only ones while the rest of our capitalist, moronic governments let Sony's PSN reactivate without prejudice even though Sony is under investigation in many countries for the original breach!  

Personally, I'd say go back to PSN if you like - but remove your credit cards, change your names and alter your birthdate into something far removed from the truth.  Do you really think that Sony has 'fixed' PSN after all this time?  No doubt things are 'better' but believe me, from all that I and others in the trade have read about the severe lack of proper security infrastructure, there is no hope in H-E-doublehockeysticks that Sony has suddenly created a secure PSN after only two months.  This will take YEARS to resolve properly.   To use an analogy, 'Rome wasn't built in a day' and neither was PSN - but if Romulus found out that, after years of building, none of the structures had proper foundations, do you reckon he'd believe the workers if they told him that 2 months would solve all of their problems?

London had the right idea a couple centuries back - burn it to the ground and start again.  I'm afraid that's what was probably needed.  Sony won't do that of course - but don't kid yourself about PSN being fixed any time before 2013.  Keep your confidential data to yourself until Sony gets 'all growed up' and actually accepts that running a Commercial 'cloud' requires top people on top wages, not a bunch of pimple-faced, intern cowboys that they just pinched fresh out of boot.

FEATURE: The definitive 'Dune' game is now ready to be made - and Ubisoft Montreal is the studio to do it.

"Arrakis...

 Dune...

Wasteland of the Empire, and the most valuable planet in the Universe. Because it is here and only here, where spice is found. Without the spice, there is no commerce in the empire, no civilization. Arrakis. Dune. Home of the Spice, most valuable treasure in the universe. And he who controls it, controls our destiny..." 

- opening narrative of the John Harrison's mini-series adaptation of the 'Dune' saga for the Sci-Fi Channel.

Dune.  It is indisputably one of the greatest Science-Fiction stories ever told.  While not as down-to-earth as Roddenberry's 'Star Trek', as bold and brashy as Lucas' 'Star Wars' or as stylish as the Wachowski Brothers' 'The Matrix', few franchises capture such a unique and 'space-noire' quality as the atmospheric worlds of Arrakis, Caladan and Giedi Prime and the beings that inhabit - and ultimately - battle over them.  It's blending of ancient messiah themes and revolutionary tales juxtaposed against a vast, futuristic and colourful empire,  smash a multitude of elements from all sorts of genres together in one, enormous and magnificent saga.  

While some of you might be thinking: "Didn't 'Star Wars' do this?", remember that 'Dune' pre-dated 'Star Wars' by more than a decade; and while 'Star Wars' is certainly the 'Left Bower' of Science Fiction franchise, it's storytelling seems paper-thin by comparison to Dune's multi-faceted backdrop of evolved societies, houses, clans, tribes and heroes.  If Star Wars is a reflection of the 'inner-Jedi' of ourselves, as individuals, struggling to break free of Empirical tyranny - Dune can be held as a reflection of us collectively as nations and as a species trying to survive in our planet-bound 'universe'.

I myself have a reserved love for the books but was certainly baptised into the world of Dune by the infamous 1984 cinematic misfire created by David Lynch.  Almost appallingly bad at times due to terrible editing and some rather bizarre and irrelevant homoerotic scenes involving the Baron of Harkonnen and his cronies, it was largely criticised by the reviewers of the day as a confused mess and ugly to the core.  Frank Herbert was largely disappointed in the film and some of the directions taking by Lynch at the time.  In fact, Lynch himself even admitted sometime later that he never should have directed 'Dune.'  However, while there are many reasons while Lynch's film failed, it did manage to capture an essence of the dark mysticism that surrounds Herbert's universe and is still loved by many as a cult classic as a result.  If anything, Lynch's film was too ambitious in trying to tell too much of the story in a single, cinematic outing.  A decade and a half later, John Harrison more or less redeemed the efforts to bring Dune to life with his much more balanced and charming mini-series.  It also demonstrated that by removing the 'Blockbuster' pressure and providing plenty of time to tell the story as Herbert intended, Dune can be a wonderfully fantastic world to be immersed in.

For a long time, there has been a bit of a fire dance with the Dune saga and gaming.  Arguably, the best versions date back the early 1990's beginning with the self-titled 'Dune' RTS/Adventure game by Cryo Interactive (under Virgin).  Many attempts were made to capture different elements of Dune's unique blend of story-telling, mythology, spirituality, strategy and raw science-fiction until a final disasterous, studio-busting 'Frank Herbert's Dune' attempt based on the mini-series of the same name.  Game technology has long played a role in what parts of a story could be told (and how it would be told).  In the 90's and early 2000's - a studio had to pick a direction and go with it.  You had your hybrids but usually, a game was either an FPS, a platformer, an RTS or something else - and every experience was constrained.  Since the last real attempt at recreating 'Dune' for gamers, so much has changed and yet no one has thought to approach this amazing franchise.  Perhaps it is too big.  Perhaps it is too diverse; too many directions to look at.  Perhaps.  However, it struck me the other day as I was wrapping up 'Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood' that there is one studio who would fit Dune perfectly:

Ubisoft Montreal.  

Narrative

Of course, I'm not purely talking about recreating Assassin's Creed as a Dune game - rather, look at how Ubisoft has told the story of Assassin's Creed including the mechanics and environments introduced.   When the game first loads, you see a quote stating that Assassin's Creed was created by a team of 'various faiths and beliefs' - almost as a disclaimer to push off any would-be critics saying that they are targeting Christianity, Islam, etc. with their games.  This objectivity towards faith and belief is exactly what a Dune game needs - and deserves.  The stories of Dune are very relevant to present-day if you choose to make the comparison.  Ubisoft has already demonstrated that they understand both the good and bad sides of faith and religion in that they acknowledge that which can be de-constructed; but also accept the unresolvable mysteries of that which cannot. (where science-fiction plays its role)  From a pure narrative point-of-view, Ubisoft has shown that they can quite easily create multiple stories that converge at various threads.  Each individual story is populated by characters with their own tales to tell, yet all narratives always stay in pace with the overall, ongoing saga.  In each of the key games, you always feel as though you are playing another chapter of the same story regardless of which game you are playing or whether you have branched off to do a side mission.  Everything you do is relevant and each facet of Assassin's Creed plays a part in contributing to the focus of the game and the greater story that ties the series together.  Ubisoft can give you a satisfactory sense of completion while still enticing you to reflect on what happens next in the saga: that is a very admirable and highly desirable skill for any studio wanting to take on the Dune franchise.  Should an adventure arise, you would certainly want the same approach: a game that in itself has a key quest to fulfil (along with side quests and activities) but ties to a greater, longer-term plot-line that spans across the saga.

Taking all this into consideration, what I would like to see Ubisoft do with a Dune narrative is simple: pay respect to the overall saga as outlined in detail by the books and subsequent films (moreso the miniseries than the motion picture) but engage in their own individually-crafted story-lines with characters appropriate to them according to their timeline in the Saga, the environment that they co-exist and their relationship to other aspects of the Dune universe.  In this sense, it would be quite obvious to focus a first game on the initial departure of Caladan and eventual arrival at Arrakis from the perspective of House Atreides.  A second 'proper' sequel (ala AC2 style) would continue that narrative - but the second game need not be the proper sequel.  A second game might focus on a different narrative that splits time between the worlds of Geidi Prime and Kaitain, focusing on the dark dealings of the Emperor and House Harkonnen.  A third game, the proper sequel, would then pick up back on Arrakis culminating events from the first and second game.  A fourth 'Sidequel' might return to Caladan, stop off at Corrin and involve a rare venture to the Tupile (sanctuary of planets thought to protect the remnants of rejected houses).  A fifth proper sequel - and so on and so forth.  This formula would provide Ubisoft with very clear direction of what they should focus on: environment, culture, fashion, suitable story; but would give them immense flexibility to tell any tale they want in the way they would like to tell it.

Environment

Although there is still much more to see (I suspect), Assassin's Creed has, so far, produced four distinct environments to tell the story: that of modern day, the medieval era of old Jerusalem, 16th century Italy and the timeless setting alien chambers of the alien ancestors.  On that note: my secret hope is that Assassin's Creed III will take place in and about Victorian London as it would make a wonderful backdrop for the next story - but I digress.  What particularly impressed me about these various environments was two-fold: first that they were incredibly detailed and second, that no matter what time you were in, you knew exactly how to interact with each environment even though they were vastly different from one to the next i.e. Altair would look for an uneven wall-face to climb in old Jerusalem just the same as Ezio would do in 16th century Italy.  Ezio also uses his skills to navigate a futuristic vault just as Desmond does in the present day although Desmond also has the benefit of jumping over parked vehicles or vaulting up modern scaffolding.  You may think that many games do this - which is true, but with limited success.  Only two games really come to mind: Star Wars: Force Unleased and Grand Theft Auto (4) - in both case, these games present variety in their environments but some are certainly more intuitive and well-presented (the streets of Liberty city or the halls of a Star Destroyer) where other are somewhat awkward and limiting (navigating small buildings of GTA4 or finding your way through the forests of Kashyyyk in SWFU).  Assassin's creed has no such hang-ups.  All environments work well without looking patchy, or proving awkward or limiting in use.

This is clever.  It is clever because it brings a thread a commonality to each environment and through that a thread of comfort to the player.  Yet this is done to no sacrifice of detail or atmosphere.  In Assassin's Creed, there are distinct differences between urban, barren, subterranean and inter-dwelling areas yet again, each area shows its distinction at no cost to gameplay or interaction with the environment at hand.  Such a quality would be key to Dune as the environments vary wildly even on a single planet.  Imagine the first game.  You start on Caladan: a vast, open-sea world with 19th-Century German 'Gründerzeit'-style architecture and severe weather patterns.  You are then whisked away to the cold, mechanical yet grandiose halls of the transport ship only to end up at the gothic entrance of the Grand Palace of Arrakeen on Dune itself.  Eventually wandering into the barren wasteland of Arrakis after arriving by 'Thopter' (airborne shuttle), exploring the unforgiven rock dwellings of the Sietches or discovering the subterranean water caches of the Fremen.  Ubisoft's approach to environment provides the flexibility required to stage a story as big as Dune without compromising or alienating the gamer who can continue to interact in each environment in context.  Ubisoft's technical accolades in environment art design combined with their functional achievements in integrating those environments into gameplay mean that Dune's diverse universe can be conceived and managed extremely well.

Gameplay

The Assassin's Creed series succeeds as an immersive game because it makes good use of environments but also uses third-person perspective so you can so your character existing within that environment.  Whereas first-person games only reveal your character during cutscenes or action sequences, third-person designs allow you to see your character all the time - and to see your character as equals to other NPCs as well as how they appear to those NPCs.  This gives gamers a closer, more emotional connection to their character as well as the opportunity to customise his/her appearance.  Ubisoft's character control system is also one of the most refined in the industry today; it's splendid free-running functionality ties seamlessly into an equally-impressive combat system accommodating both melee and projectile attacks, all the while demonstrating artistic flair in movement and combat style so that the player can fully appreciate the elegance and lethality of their character's fighting ability.  

All of these qualities are essential to Dune.  Despite Dune's grandiose universe,  the saga very much focuses on the power and strength of the individual rather than the machine or craft.  Central to the Great Houses of the Dune universe is a highly-disciplined and carefully-crafted mixed martial-arts heritage where the social elite are taught in the ways of deadly combat from the age of young children.  Scores are settled in the combat arena and House colours are flown proudly as each side cheers their fighter on.  Each House has its own style of fighting and suitable fighting attire and colours.  Furthermore, on Arrakis, there are even more fighting varieties from one Fremen tribe to the next which ultimately evolve into the deadly 'Feydaykin' (pronounced 'Fuh-die-kin'), personal guards loyal to Muad'dib.  Ubisoft's resources and talent could not only bring forward the culturally-rich technical fighting elements of Dune hand-to-hand combat, but also the beauty and elegance of its ceremony; from its detailed wardrobe to its tribal paraphernalia and décor.  

The ceremonial combat of Dune is so rich, in fact, that it could individually become one of the greatest multi-player gameplay mechanics of its generation as it would sit very well at the very heart of the 'bragging rights' culture of competitive on-line gaming.  Given some strong customisation features to adjust costume, flag and signature moves, the very notion of a gamers' fighting 'Clan' of could take on a whole new literal and exciting meaning.  What's even greater about Dune is that there's still elements of air combat and sci-fi field combat to draw from (think 'Star Wars Battlefront).  Based on what we've seen with AC2 and Brotherhood with the introduction of Leonardo's flying machine and projectile weapons, this could be easily taken on by Ubisoft.  Those bored with ceremonial combat could venture into the skies for a 'Thopter' slug-out or have a COD-style battle royal in the winding caves of a Fremen Sietch, the long corridors of a palace or the middle-eastern style streets of Arrakeen.

The only final challenge - one that I think Ubisoft could take on - is that of worm-riding.  This is one mechanic that would stand well apart from everything else, but then again, they need something to expand their horizons and why not this? 

Cinematic Design

If Ubisoft's environments and gameplay are the sugar and flour of the cake, then their cinematic design is surely the icing.  Ubisoft has won many awards for the Assassin's Creed series because of the wonderful way it tells a story.  Excellent voice acting, detailed facial animation and expert cinematic-style 'camera' movement come together in beautifully-crafted cut-scenes than interlace seamlessly into the game without ruining the flow or the feeling of 'intermission.'   

Dune requires such a competency because of its dialogue-rich and emotional storyline.  You won't see any cheap jokes or 'woo-hoos' here.  The elegance of Dune's culture is accentuated by the clever and intricate use of language.  To capture the essence of the Dune sage, a team must perfectly execute the 'Jihad' calls of the Muad'dib, the clever and evil rhyming puns of the Baron Harkonnen, the veil'd insults of Duke Atreides or the quiet tribal ferocity of Stilgar.

Summary

Yes, it's a license to be sure.  Most studios go running for the hills rather than take on something as big and rich as 'Dune' - but there's no doubt in my mind that Ubisoft Montreal has the capability, style, storytelling, artistic talent and scalability required to make something like Dune work in gaming.  Dune has always been about the rich saga of intertwining narratives.  I would like to see a game that serves that core strength and I feel, having become familiar with Ubisoft's approach to 'Assasin's Creed', there is much potential in telling the story of 'Dune' in a similar and equally poignant manner.

Fingers crossed that someone in UbiSoft will read this.

What is Microsoft's New Storage Format??

Edge is reporting  that a new 360 dash update is due in, but unlike the last uneventful 'Hulu' update which only applied to the U.S., this new update adds Paypal as an option (huge win for me) as well as a 'new game disc format' which allegedly contains additional storage.  I'm rather intrigued to see what exactly Microsoft has pulled off with this new format.   There are several additional formats of DVD beyond the current DVD9 which could theoretically expand the 360's storage capacity up to 17 gigabytes (presuming the existing drives can read them, of course).  While this is still no comparison to BluRay, adding DVD14 capability (17GB) would extend the life of the 360 for at least another year or so as most current AAA games rig in at 10-15 GB.  It would also put the 360 in reach of BluRay busting games similiar to 'Metal Gear Solid 4' where only 2-3 discs would be required to level the PS3.

 

 

Brand Wars: Microsoft's OTT bid for Skype Good or Bad?

Reuters is reporting that Microsoft is launching an 8.5 Billion USD ($) bid for Skype in an effort to....well, no one really knows.  While past acquisitions by the big 'M' have always been strokes of master strategy (i.e. Hotmail, etc) it has arguably been a while since the company seemed to do anything of consequence other than chase existing business models (cue 'Bing' and Windows Mobile 7)

  

So what are we to make of Microsoft's ridiculous bid for Skype: a company that was only valued at 1 Billion USD 2 weeks ago?  Answer: not sure really.  Some might argue that Microsoft is on the verge of a new era, but then some have been arguing that for years (including me) and quite frankly, the layer of dust is so thick on Microsoft's momentum these days that I highly doubt this new acquisition is anything other than an act of desperation.  Microsoft's biggest issue is what used to be its biggest strength: branding.  The name just doesn't excite or hold water anymore apart from what is generally considered a begrudged necessity for anyone who wants a PC and a productivity suite for business.  Over the years, Gates and co worked the plan to get Microsoft cash cows on the 'have to have it' category.   On paper, that sounds great - but in reality, it creates resentment and possibly even anger amongst your customers; especially if they feel towed along unwarranted product releases.

 Skype, on the other hand, is a 'happy' brand that people know and love.  I'm sure there are thousands who say that Microsoft is simply harvesting the 'superior' tech from Skype (and to be honest, a skype audio codec on Xbox LIve is NOT a bad thing) but the fact is, Microsoft doesn't really need them for that because they have a decent-enough video and audio codec for their own platform.  So what is it then?

  

My thoughts (and worry) is that Microsoft is looking to harvest Skype's popularity instead.  In a manner of speaking, you could say that 'Bluto' just paid off 'Popeye' to get to 'Olive.'  If that plan sounds a bit daft and transparent, then welcome to the view of the majority.

Jobs on path to meltdown?

There is no love lost for me when it comes to Apple.  I cannot fail them for their innovation, but I despise the whole lifestyle approach of the company; especially when the underlying motive is to introduce tons and tons of proprietary hardware and software that isn't compatible with anything practical and designed to shut out third-party electronics altogether.

Having said that, credit where credit is due.  Jobs came back to Apple and found a company in ruins.  In a relatively short period of time, he turned Apple from mediocre PC-wannabe manufacturer into a consumer electronics powerhouse.  However, recently things have not been calm waters at Apple.  Despite the success of the iPad, iPhone has lost tremendous marketshare in recent months to the increasingly popular Android platform (iPad should watch out for Motorola's new 'Xoom' as well) and the Macbook Air is obviously suffering against its much more popular iPad sibling.  Jobs repeated attempts to get onboard with streaming video services also continue to falter with some studios still shunning Apple in favour of other providers.

Perhaps the cracks are starting to show with this outburst reported by Cnet covering a rather bizarre statement by Jobs giving hell to the MobileMe team saying "You've tarnished Apple's reputation.  You should hate each other for let each down."  Ok, we all know bosses have to kick ass from time to time, but on this occasion, the team involved apparently had a very good explanation as to why what ever Jobs wanted wasn't happening.  In context, his outburst was not only considered rude and odd, it was unwarranted.  Clearly, the whole incident has surfaced to the public because of an increasing discord within the walls of the Fruity electronics company.

My only thoughts are that, in terms of tarnishing Apple's reputation, Jobs is doing a bloody good job all by himself.  He's obviously not well and perhaps somewhat burnt out from all that's going on in his life.  It would seem a priority that Jobs finds a replacement; for himself.

Ezio to return in next Assassin's Creed

 

Gamespot has reported that Ezio will make a third appearance for Assassin's Creed Revelations.  Despite the title being a bit of a ill-tasting rip off of a certain Keanu Reeves trilogy, I must admit that I'm actually quite intrigued with this direction as I'm sure most will admit that Ezio is a fun and likeable character.  Although there will certainly be some disappointment that a new protagonist is not yet on the horizon, the setting for Revelations will see Ezio trace the path of the Altair in a bid to uncover further secrets about the Apple of Eden and the mysterious forces that guide its power.