Second-Guessing Physical Media in a Rambow and Street Fighter World

Posted by Kyle Stallock on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

“DVDs suck,” I once again surmised in a fit of frustration. The disc for the delightfully inspiring Son of Rambow arrived damaged from Netflix.  Of course, the flaw didn’t reveal itself until an hour after I made some popcorn, cracked open a sodie pop, found my favorite spot in my couch, and pressed “play.”

But before I dust off the heavily worn soapbox, let me provide a little context…

Son of Rambow is about an artistically creative pre-teen boy named Will. Born into a no TV, no music, Plymouth Brethren way of life, he entertains himself by drawing colorful, but crudely charming, pictures of flying dogs, evil scarecrows, and other common creatures with a fantastical twist. One day at school, after graciously agreeing to wait in the hallway until the teacher finishes showing the other, non-Plymouth Brethren, students a video documentary, Will meets Lee Carter, a bright student who seeks trouble like a mid-to-late ’90s Robert Downey Jr. At first, Carter takes advantage of Will’s naiveté, but quickly gives in to his persistence and honesty. In a pivotal “neither of us have friends let’s be friends” moment, Carter invites Will to be the stunt double in his movie. Despite having never experienced the wonders of cinema, Will enthusiastically accepts.

In an unexpected turn of events (and the basis for the entire movie), Will’s life is changed forever when he sees Sylvester Stallone portray a psychologically damaged Vietnam veteran in Rambo: First Blood. Drunk on ’80s action-movie testosterone, Will flees the scene and meets a towering scarecrow guarding a nearby field. After giving the inanimate sentinel a quick once-over, he stabs it and his imagination explodes. What follows is a Michel Gondry mise-en-scène -inspired dream sequence with the  hyper-religious boy self-cast as the son of Rambo on a mission to save his father. The following day, Will pitches his revelation as a script to Carter, and he agrees to film it instead of…whatever he had in mind.

Cut to ¾ into the film: Shortly before a tear-jerking scene where the mother, played by an uncharacteristically morose Jessica Hynes, spills the beans to Will about her childhood passion for music, the disc spontaneously paused  itself. As I scrambled around my room trying to get a handle on  what I’d pressed, bumped, or nudged, violet and lime green artifacts started frolicking on the screen. Then the film skipped to the next chapter.

By outsmarting my PlayStation 3’s search tools,  I managed to catch a sliver of what I’d missed and concluded I probably would’ve ended up sympathizing with Will’s mom and admiring her honesty. But who knows? Some careless customer wrecked my moment and now it’s lost forever. If I’d instead been viewing a digital copy; I wouldn’t be sitting here, bitter, assuming, and once again hating on a distribution method.

Coincidentally, a videogame (surprise!) has curbed my hatred for physical product. Last week, Capcom revealed the most spectacular collector’s edition since Bungie released the Halo 3 cat helmet. The deluxe fanboy version of Street Fighter IV includes a collectible figurine, a new 65-minute anime movie, a comic book-style hint guide, and five downloadable costumes, all for just $20.00 extra. Oh, and you get the game, too.

A few weeks earlier–before the company rolled out the list of goodies–I  preordered this monstrosity, expecting only a “making of” featurette. Now, Capcom has overwhelmed me with fan service.  Still, to some degree I remain undecided.

Here’s the dilemma: Although the Xbox 360 and the PS3 versions are essentially the same, the 360 has Xbox Live, an online service vastly superior to Sony’s PlayStation Network. Plus,  nearly everyone I know favors the 360. On the other hand, the more durable PS3 version includes a high-def copy of the anime movie (thanks to Blu-ray), and a statue of series star Ryu (The 360 gets newcomer Crimson Viper.) I’m torn between a potentially more fulfilling gaming experience versus prettier tchotchkes and a rugged disc. This should be an easy decision, but it’s not.

The European version contains both figurines and a snazzier box. With jealousy comes shame; deep, deep shame. 

How is this happening?  I find myself asking nobody in particular. I’ve been a good proponent of digital distribution all year long. I’m not supposed to like physical product, even when it’s the only option.  Okay, even if it wasn’t the only option I’d completely forego the digital option and drive the eight grueling minutes to my local brick-and-mortar to pick up the collector’s edition.

To make up for my moment of weakness, I think I’ll buy a game on Steam, Valve Software’s digital distribution service . Better yet, I’ll snag a community-developed title on Xbox Live’s “Community Games” marketplace and support some struggling designer. (In my head, he or she sneaks into homes, hides in closets, and consumes seaweed for sustenance). Through this wonderful digital world, I can channel my inner, late-night , altruistic infomercial and and help these poor artists upgrade to ramen for only five dollars a title. Maybe it’ll turn into a monthly thing, like a videogame version of sponsoring a child.

Posted in Gaming, Industry, Multimedia | 1 Comment »

Holiday Shopping Guide I: Seven Exemplary, Locally-Owned, Brick ‘n Mortar Operations

Posted by Rod Smith on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

The patron deity of shoppers grows stronger with each passing year.

I take a back seat to no one when it comes to love for online commerce. As the universe’s greatest shopper, I’m compelled by the very forces of nature themselves to leave no retail arena unexplored. Craigslist, eBay, AbeBooks, Biblio, GEMM, tons of free-floating sites and random, Google-assisted finds–even Amazon in a pinch–I’ve dallied with all and, sooner or later, end up trafficking with most. For me, shopping is a sport, and everything is shopping–right down to choosing the link that ends the sentence you’re just finishing…now.

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A little advance research always helps us avoid wasted time.

Nonetheless, brick-and-mortar holds a special place in my heart. Not all: big boxes (Target excepted), leave me feeling as if I’ve blundered onto the set of a They Live remake, and the sight of once-glorious, corporate-owned entities in decline (say, the downtown Minneapolis Dayton’s Marshall Field Macy’s) saddens me immensely. It’s killer independent retail and mini-chains that flip my gizzy and the Twin Cities offer plenty. Being able to physically walk into physical spaces and physically assess the merits of physical objects is especially handy during holiday shopping season, when many of us are pressed for time and shipping schedules slouch toward iffyness. Below lurk introductions to seven magnificent facilities, alll easily accessible via public transit.

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The Yardbirds performed at Dayton’s way back in the ’60’s, but the department store retained its cool for two more decades-plus.

General Nanosystems

You don’t need mad skills to assemble a PC, just patience, good screwdrivers, and assistance from one of countless online tutorials. Assuming sufficient dough, wouldn’t it be great to be able to pass on the usual crafts projects and make your favorite gift recipient a computer? With dozens of component and peripheral prices posted on a huge white marker board to accommodate an ever-changing array of specials, General Nanosystems is a DIY enthusiast’s dream-come-true. If you’re daunted by the prospect or pressed for time, the company offers a full range of customizable systems, along with a platoon of friendly supergeeks dedicated to making sure you get exactly what you want.

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Putting the right stuff in a desktop tower; easier than brain surgery, knee surgery…even tree surgery.

Khazana

Conveniently located just across from the downtown Minneapolis Hilton, Khazana is as much cultural resource as retail outlet. No place in the metro has a more extensive selection of Indian and Nepalese art, textiles, jewelry, books and CDs. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, by all means ask. Not only is the shop’s expansive warehouse right downstairs, owners Ashu and Anju Kataria will gladly special-order pretty much any southern Asian item imaginable.

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In their free time, the Katarias help bring the likes of master drummer Zakir Hussein to town.

Treehouse Records

Contemporary, independently-owned record stores in America almost invariably fall into one of three frequently overlapping categories. A few–the mighty Amoeba, for example–actually function as tourist destinations and pilgrimage sites. No metropolitan area on the globe has more than one of these; we have exactly zero. Still, we should thank whoever or whatever for our abundance of specialty and neighborhood facilities. Like many of the latter, Treehouse boasts a hefty destination component, thanks largely to its killer vinyl selection. That the longish, narrow room’s bins encompass everything from blues and folk to all kinds of experimental music by way of the Upper Mmidwest’s best indie rock section doesn’t hur one speck.

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Beardrock prodigies Akron/Family perform at Treehouse.

First Amendment Gallery

Don’t be fooled by First Amendment’s size. The compact Northeast Minneapolis exhibition space is just the tip of an artberg dominated by graphics powerhouse Burlesque of North America, conveniently located in a much larger adjacent room (several, actually). While neither entity shies away from fine art, both emphasize graphics in a manner that’ll leave your wallet’s contents almost intact and your lucky giftee glowing.

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Don’t be afraid; the First Amendment complex isn’t always quite this crowded

Magers and Quinn

Like Powell’s, Strand, and Elliot Bay, Magers and Quinn offers a massive selction of new, used, remaindered, and collectible books in pretty much every category imaginable. Unlike its fellow indie behemoths, the sprawling store is conveniently located in Uptown Minneapolis. While prices generally skew reasonable, M and Q sometimes slips shocking bargains onto its shelves. Need an example? At a time when everyplace else in the country was asking at least $150.00 for softcover copies of Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama, I found one there for a measley 35 bucks.

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Magers and Quinn does double duty as a cultural hub and source of free entertainment.

Lula Vintage

Snuggled into a cozy boutique node just off bustling Snelling Avenue stands one of Minnesota’s most charming mysteries. How Lula proprietress Haley Bush stays afloat asking near-thrift shop prices for fabulous attire from yesteryear is anybody’s guess.Maybe the tiny shop’s stock turns around quicker than the Farmers’ Market’s, just as it should.

Lula: if you can’t find it here…

Magus Books and Herbs

This 16-year-old, Dinkytown supernatural superstore’s vast subterranean chambers boast the Upper Midwest’s biggest, most eclectic selection of metaphysical supplies. While its inventory emphasizes alternative spiritual approaches, even Christianity gets the kind of ample shelf space that makes holiday shopping at Magus downright pleasurable no matter how stressed you feel upon entering.

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At Magus, you don’t just shop, you delve.

Posted in General Media, Multimedia | No Comments »

Failure in Trailers at the Spike Videogame Awards

Posted by Kyle Stallock on Friday, December 12th, 2008

Game designers catch a lot of flack from outside the industry for often creating what amount to second-rate films sexed up with limited interaction. In many cases, the haters have a point: few titles insist on exploring the medium’s unrealized potential.

Given the industry’s herd instincts, it’s no wonder so many ads skew heavily cinematic. This year’s Spike Videogame Awards boasted loads of  trailer debuts, all for unreleased titles. Had they featured truly photo-realistic graphics and more recognizable voices (Terrence Stamp can only be in so many places at once), the previews might easily have moved some of the over-medicated thespians in attendance to text their agents in pursuit of future roles. While I don’t expect much from any awards show airing on a self-described “channel for men,” most of these 90-second bidget-busters surprised me with their lack of individuality.

Given that one reviewer got away with calling Grand Theft Auto IV the “Godfather of videogames,” what’s to stop me from referring to upcoming expansion Lost and Damned as the medium’s Stone Cold or Roadhouse. Even though I have yet to play the biker-themed 360-only DLC, I can already tell my comparisons hold more water than the one made to Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece.

With very little  boxing footage, Fight Night Round 4 depends almost entirely on showcase fighters Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali. for its allure. Although it may revive a few Sunday afternoon “what if” discussions (especially now that “Jason vs. Freddie” is forever wrecked), the trailer reveals nothing suggesting franchise progress. Round 4 smells like just another sequel.


Skip to 0:37.

Not surprisingly, the trailer for industry icon Tim Schafer’s Brutal Legend stands out like a giant emerald among cowpies, if only for its inclusion of relevant gameplay footage.

A humanoid creature gets a cross rammed into its forehead just before “go to hell” appears on a pitch-black screen? Think Dante’s Inferno might be, uh, “loosely-based” on its source material?  After sitting through the trailer, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game had an an armor-clad Dante taking cover behind broken pillars and yelling “Yo, Virgil! Toss me another clip!”

EA, FYI: Either of these trailers for David Fincher’s Se7en make the seven deady sins seem more terrifying than your quick cuts and clips of babies with butter knife arms.

Gears of War 2’s trailer for the new map pack doesn’t count because…well…it’s a map pack. Nonetheless, I give it points for showcasing level individuality and  featuring narration from the Cole Train.

Judging by the scenes depicted, Watchmen: The End is Nigh mostly features a Batman wannabe and his friend (let’s call him “Mr. Browncoat”) flying low over bodies of water in a bug-eyed spaceship. From time to time they land to electrocute some of a nearby metropolis’s citizens and bash their faces in with crowbars. I think we’re meant to question the duo’s behavior, but right now it sounds pretty awesome.

Thanks largely to a picture-perfect recreation of 1930s America, the original Mafia showed that Grand Theft Auto-styled, open-world games could provide a strong narrative experience. As the late 1940s seem equally well-represented in the trailer for Mafia II, I think it succeeds, but just barely. (All footage looks pre-rendered.)

Terminator Salvation belongs to the movie tie-in club. As I said in the first paragraph…

When it’s eventually released, God of War 3 will almost surely be one of the best selling titles on the “sinking ship” (think: PlayStation 3). Everyone’s expecting more of what made installments one and two so popular, and, for better or for worse, the trailer delivers.

Atypically free of “creative” fonts, Hollywood voiceovers, and objectified women, the video for Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2 appropriately reflects protagonist Nathan Drake’s devil-may-care attitude .  It also makes most of the awards ceremony’s other trailers look like over-produced, viewer-insulting garbage.

Despite being pre-rendered and well over a year old, the powerful imagery, first-person perspective, and inclusion of particular game elements make this trailer for Bioshock one of the medium’s best. Anybody still wonder why creator Ken Levine bailed on Hollywood?

Posted in Gaming, Industry, Multimedia | 1 Comment »

Google’s 2008 Zeitgeist Report Reveals…Uh, Pretty Much What You’d Expect

Posted by Rod Smith on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

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Britney Spears tops Yahoo’s list for the second consecutive year. At least the folks who searched on Google global leader and top ten newcomer Sarah Palin had good excuses.

While way more interesting than the Yahoo equivalent, Google’s newly-released breakdown of the year’s most popular search terms mostly tells us what we’d already know about ourselves if we actually kept track of what we have to search for versus what we’ve commited to memory. To wit: Like most good liberals, I know  the Huffington Postt’s URL by heart and  regularly bookmark relevant stuff. But why would I memorize the Drudge Report’s when doing so would only take up space better devoted to some worthier outlet.

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Heath Ledger worked hard, died young, and topped Google’s roster of the year’s most popular fatalities.

Posted in Blogging, General Media, Multimedia | No Comments »

Street Fightin’ Fan Answers Call to Re-Enlist

Posted by Kyle Stallock on Monday, December 8th, 2008

While gearing up for my final piece on Wrath of the Lich King, I figured I’d go ahead and come clean about where I’ve been…and with whom: While my copies of Silent Hill: Homecoming, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space, and Gears of War 2 all gathered dust during Thanksgiving weekend, I spent way too much time catching up with a dear old friend.

I’m seven years old again, sitting in my older cousin’s well-furnished, wood-panelled basement. Sure, it looks old-fashioned, but in a timeless Napoleon Dynamite kind of way. Not that I’m really seeing anything more than vaguely brown walls and a blue shag carpet. How many little kids know anything about period design?

After 13 rambunctious matches in the Super Nintendo version of Street Fighter II, with numbers 11 and 12 cut short by the traditional late-night “snowball” fight (with my younger cousin’s plastic toy eggs serving as ammo), my friends all fall asleep. Blessed with Nighthawk syndrome and early-onset, videogame-centered OCD, I tell Mr. Sandman to bring me a dream some other time. It’s only 3:00 a.m., plus, despite having easily annihilated my older peers, I don’t yet fully understand Ryu’s Hadouken, E. Honda’s Hundred Hand Slap, or (especially) Zangief’s near-impossible 360 piledriver, so I decide to stealthily turn on the television, lower the volume, and play in the dark. I end up not sleeping at all.

“Polter schmolter,” my 1992 self tells the TV. “Unleash the spielgeist and be quick about it.”

Sixteen years later, though Street Fighter’s aesthetics have changed, I’m still learning my way around its characters’ capabilities. With the release of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, my thirst for knowledge has grown exponentially, and I repeatedly find myself glued tighter to the TV screen and controller in pursuit of competition more capable and efficient than Kasparov could imagine in his darkest Deep Blue nightmares.

I blame lead designer, MIT graduate, and former professional gamer David Sirlin. Without his talent for character balancing,  Zangief, the bear-wrestling Russian with the chest hair mural, would be far less viable at high level play, and choosing Akuma would still be considered unfair in a competitive match.

Most gamers won’t see or care about the long-awaited changes Sirlin has made; they’ll just download this $15.00 title to the console of their choice, note the upgraded graphics and remixed soundtrack (more on that in a second), and call it quits. To the Street Fighter community, that’s totally fine. The game is genuinely both for us and by us.

Even the new soundtrack is covered with players’ pawprints.. User-supported videogame audio site OverClocked ReMix (an essential resource for any composer looking to break into the business), worked with developer/publisher Capcom and twenty gamers around the world to update the title’s audio “in styles including jazz, hip-hop, reggaeton, spaghetti western, garage rock, big beat, and electronica.” Decide for yourself if the community delivered; the album is a free download on the official site. Better yet, purchase the game and see how the songs are implemented, but do so in a mode other than “Ranked Online.”  You almost surely don’t want to risk meeting my Zangief, who you’ll find (after three humiliating five-second rounds) doesn’t care for your listening habits…unless your name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.

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Never Mind the Diploma, Here’s Kyle Bylin!

Posted by Rod Smith on Thursday, December 4th, 2008

IPR students and faculty celebrate Bylin’s ascent.

Never let it be said Bruce Houghton doesn’t know talent when he sees it. Back in September, when we noted Kyle Bylin’s first guest appearance on  Hypebot, who knew he’d become a celebrated regular on the Skyline Music president and music industry visionary’s influential  blog?

 Our friend Magnapinna gets the news and hurries off to spread it.

Not even our usually clairvoyant selves guessed, despite knowing full well how Bylin can turn any worthy narrative  into thought-provoking marketing theory. Lapse aside, we couldn’t be more delighted.

Posted in Blogging, Industry, Multimedia, Music | No Comments »

Love’s Labor, Updated Weekly

Posted by Rod Smith on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Light electronica pioneer Gershon Kingsley plays Joe’s Pub (NYC) next week.

All too few potentially interested parties know about David Cotner’s massive, globally comprehensive list of impending shows by adventurous entities in music, video, visual art, film, and related realms. While the Los Angeles-based writer and musician maintains the behemoth in blog form (WordPress in the house!), his weekly emails– complete with links to artists, venues, and general strangeness, as well as relevant birth and death info, announcements, and pretty much anything else Cotner thinks might interest his readers–runs a bit more up to date. For a clearer picture of the monster compendium’s scope, check out the latest edition’s listings, pasted in after the jump.

Tomorrow (Dec. 3),  Negativland take Boulder.

(more…)

Posted in Art and Culture, Blogging, Multimedia, Music | 1 Comment »

Exploring Virtual Worlds (Lich King Chronicles II): A Howling Community

Posted by Kyle Stallock on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

“This is so much beter than Halo 3,” observes one player in the Howling Fjord’s general chat. Though fresh off the boat from Menethil Harbor, I instantly feel way more oriented than somebody new to these parts should…not in an altogether good way, either. Even though World of Warcraft and Bungie’s meal ticket inhabit different platforms and genres, dude announces his conclusion like it’s science. I’d normally feel obliged to slip into my cynical fanboy suit and torture the poor sap with equivalent insanity, but I’m in a good mood. Besides, we’re both members of the Alliance! We must stand together against the Lich King and the always-nefarious Horde, right?! Well, that’s half-true…kind of.

Let’s rewind just a bit: With the release of WoW’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade, nearly everyone wanted to only complete quests, gain experience points, and generally enjoy the fruits of Blizzard’s labor without engaging in player vs. player combat, so the Horde and Alliance agreed to an unwritten truce: “We won’t bother you if you don’t bother us.” But some wiseacre slipped in one exception: “it’s okay to mess with the Dwarven priest who goes by the name ‘Dorben’” (my highest ranking character at the time). Maybe I’m being cynical, and maybe I kept getting ganked because my gear sucked and because I chose one of the weakest (in pvp) talent specs (discipline with some holy) possible, or maybe Horde players are just mean, whatever. The very notion of a truce made me laugh.

Northrend heralded a new, better chapter in my WoW life. I changed my identity to Coyotegrey, a powerful Draenei Shaman who typically emerged victorious from overwhelming odds in both PvP and PvE. At my side walked two well-equipped adventurers: a holy Paladin and a damage-oriented Rogue. If somebody called a truce, I wouldn’t even know. No soul would dare mess with us. Or so I thought.

My comeuppance arrived almost immediately. After just a few quests, an undead rogue obliterated my meager 10,000 hit points in just a few well-executed blows. I should’ve known better, a half-dead Shaman with no mana and with no group in sight is an easy target. Realistically, given the chance, I’d probably have done the same.

Accepting defeat, I clicked the on-screen prompt and teleported to the nearest graveyard as a ghost. After making the all-too familiar walk of shame back to my body, and subsequently resurrecting like nothing happened, my brother, the rogue in my group, told me he had already eliminated my murderer and we were going to stick around for a few minutes to kill him some more. We weren’t being immature, or “taking things too far.,” but simply teaching this truce-breaker a valuable lesson in newly-released-expansion manners. It felt good.

After our display of Alliance justice, further attacks by members of the Horde were minimal, and always fruitless. Together, the three of us couldn’t be stopped. Yet, with our greatest enemy gone, another source of irritation quickly emerged: other members of the Alliance.

It’s truly astonishing how the natural human susceptibility to greed is as apparent in virtual worlds as it is in the real one. In WoW, completing certain quests requires the retrieval of particular items or elimination of an enemy or group of enemies, but doing so becomes difficult when 30 other players with no sense or care for organization are simultaneously attempting the same thing. This tendency is probably most apparent in the act of mining, a pursuit that entails right-clicking on various mineral “nodes” scattered around the world. Since so many people were trying to level this popular profession, nodes were scarce in the Howling Fjord. Normally, the miners in my group would type /roll , generating a random number between one and one hundred to see who would “win” the opportunity to grab a spotted node, but we agreed among ourselves that whoever saw one first could take it, as other players didn’t care for our procedures. Still, being the first at a node didn’t guarantee exclusive mineral rights.

In Outland and Azeroth, simple etiquette said to leave another player to mine whatever minerals from a node. In Northrend, five or six players frequently compete for a single cobalt node, which only yields between two and four pieces of cobalt. Admittedly, this could be an American thing and might not occur on the European servers.

Many hours later, my group disbanded, and I remained alone in the Howling Fjord. Still feeling dissatisfied with my experience, I set out to further explore the continent.

First, I traveled to the western edge of the Fjord and took a lift down to the peaceful fishing village of Kalu’ak. There, I met the Tuskarr, a race of turtle-riding walrus-people who are WoW’s equivalent to the Eskimo, just as the Taurens are its surrogate Native Americans.

After picking up more quests (but not actually completing them), I proceeded towards the Grizzly Hills. While passing through, I noticed the lush pine forests next to the snow-covered mountains and rivers seemed almost too natural to be designer-architected. Even the music’s nuanced choral arrangements and melancholy fiddle interludes reflect the game’s emphasis on organic design.

At 5:00 AM, with very few people still playing, I continued to explore, ultimately arriving upon Dalaran, the mage city in the sky. Before heading to bed, I checked the price of the Traveler’s Tundra Mammoth. Early reports were correct, the mount costs a sobering 20,000 gold. With only 1,600, I felt poor. Feeling defeated by a deflated pocketbook while all too aware that Blizzard has probably already charmed another year’s worth of subscription fees out of me, I went to sleep.

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