Consider Phlebas - May 2, 2000 - Chris Jones
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of
the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There
is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Tater tots with cheese for
lunch today. Tasty. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Once more, E3 has left me news deprived, so let's talk about one of my favorite subjects,
technological evolution. There are lots of really good works on the subject, from James
Burke's brilliant "Connections" television series onward. But right now I'm only
interested in one particular piece of technology: headphones.
I'm a coder, which means I spend hours a day in front of a computer typing. I like to
listen to music while I do this, and headphones are a key part of how that happens. For
some years now I've been relying on the standard Sony earplug type, which are essentially
large beads containing the speaker and often a rubber rim and cavity for resonance.You
stuck 'em in your ear, didn't have to mess with a headband or anything. Good sound,
reasonable price. They might fall out during strenuous activity, but coding is hardly
that.
So I was relatively content in my little world, until my boss recently showed me a pair
someone had loaned him for a trans-Atlantic flight. These were similar to my ear beads in
much the same way a Sopwith Camel suggests an SR-71 Blackbird. The phones in question were
ridged rubber tubes about three-quarters of an inch long that were inserted into the ear
canal, blocking it completely. And the sound was perfect. I could still hear a snap at
arm's length, but very muted. The acoustic qualities of the phones were something along
the lines of having 3dB down points at 10 and 25k Hertz, which is well beyond normal human
hearing in either direction. The only problem was the price - about $300 bucks for the
pair.
Which brings me to the new pair I have. No, not the $300 model, but something along the
same lines Sony came out with, possessing a small rubber intrusion into the ear canal. The
design seems somewhat more robust (my old headphones never lasted longer than a few
months) and sounds better, even if they have to be adjusted just right to fit in my ears.
And it makes me think that even pieces of technology I had seen as being relatively stable
(ie headphones) still evolve. Someday I may buy little blobs of semi-organic goo that
crawl inside my ears to fit perfectly and deliver 100% accurate sound. But for now the
music sounds really great.
I don't really have to rant about these kind of things, I just enjoy making you read it
on the off chance I might say something interesting and on topic like the fact that I'm
less than 500 meters away from a Playstation 2 devleopment kit.
Onward.
| If Snake dies of frostbite, it's probably cold |
| Hey, Simulating temperature and humidity in MGS2 will be easier than
you think. All you need to do is implement:
1) wavy heat distortion
2) more accurate "breath" when it's cold
3) sweat on the characters
Cheers,
Alan Dang
GadgetSquad |
Ok, here we have suggestion 1, namely improved environmental clues. Essentially an
extension of the temperature key puzzle from MGS, this wouldn't tell us the difference
between a room being 60 degrees and 80 degrees, but it might be sufficient for any other
reasonable temperature variant. And the PS2 might actually be powerful enough to show
sweat. Very interesting, Mr. Dang.
| Can we have a column without a Dragon Quest
letter? Didn't think so. |
| Well while we are throwing out sales numbers for big time RPG series I
might as well mention the Dragon Quest stats. According to Enix of America at the DQ/DW series has sold 22
million copies so far. According to you Square claims to have sold 25 million FF's so far.
Of course that brings up the question of whether or not that 25 million includes FFTactics
and FF Mystic Quest. Think about it. The DQ/DW series has sold 22 million copies with only
6 games from the series compared to FF's 8. Plus FF's numbers (more so with 7 and 8) had a
lot of help from the non-Japanese while that has not really been the case with the DQ
series. DW1 sold pretty damn well in North America thanks to Nintendo's publishing
efforts, but DW2 sold only moderatly well I think, 3 and 4 were pretty bad thanks a lot to
almost non-existant advertising and 5 and 6 were no shows. In fact most people I know
don't even know there was a DW3 and DW4. I think Red XIV is either a RPG newbie (as the
name might imply) or doesn't have his head on quite right. The DQ series INVENTED the
console RPG. How much more innovative can you get!?!? Plus there are numerous other
innovations the series came up with but I'd probably go over my word limit mentioning all
of them and some of them have been mentioned in this column before anyway. In fact you
could claim some of Pokemon's newer elements are ripoffs of the DQ series. In DQ5 (which
was out way before any Pokemon game) you could capture and breed monsters. I know DQ5
wasn't the game to invent this concept but knowing the popularity of the DQ series in
Japan it may have popularized the idea actually helping spawning the idea of monster
breeding in future Pokemon games.
Pendy (that wacky, zany DQ/DW freak)
Maintainer of the Dragon Quest Dragon Warrior News Network |
Some of your sales points are valid, but on the whole I would call Final Fantasy
superior saleswise to DQ. It's true that 2 DQ games never made it out here, but it's also
true that 2 FF games (2 and 3) never made it out here. It's true that Final Fantasy has
two more games than Dragon Quest, but it's also true that DQ has far more remakes and
rereleases than DQ. I don't know if Square's numbers include FF Tactics or FF Mystic
Quest, but I don't think either of those titles sold all that well comparatively speaking.
(Yeah, I love FFT too, but it's the truth.) Japanese people are fanatics about DQ, it's
true, but German people apparently love David Hasselhoff's music, and I'm not inspired to
go buy one of his albums.
You have no right to call Red a newbie, because you don't know. I don't now if he's a
newbie, but I do know a couple of old school gamers with handles like "Gustave"
or "Feena", who call themselves that just because it suits them at the moment.
Yeah, DQ invented console RPGs as we know them, but IBM invented PCs as we know them, and
I don't exactly consider IBM to be cutting edge anymore. (Big, some interesting hardware,
but not cutting edge.) I wasn't aware you could breed monsters in DQ5 (capture, yes) but
the exact collect/train/trade mix in Pokemon is pretty original even so.
| Words from the boss man |
| You quoted the Wasteland! You quoted the Wasteland! My favorite poem ever
after Prufrock!! 733 355 3L107 RU13Z J000000000000000000000000000000000000!!
- Andrew
P.S. you can post this ;) |
I'm sure it's immensely comforting for all of you to know that one of the key founders
of this site both reads great poetry and speaks 13375p34k - a true renaissance man.
But that brings up an interesting question. Yes, I was quoting Eliot, but as lots of
people already know, that particular line was also used in a Stephen King novel. So who
was I really quoting? And today's title - also Eliot, but also the title of an Iain Banks
novel. So who am I really referencing? It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a...
Ah, screw it. Yeah, it was Eliot both times.
| And of course I've never played Silent Hill... |
| "If true, then I deeply fear the drug Silent Hill's writer must have
been on." That's what you said yesterday waaaaaaay at the bottom of the column
about Silent Hill. I want to use this oppurtunity to take advantage of a slighty humorous,
quasi-clever pun.
Silent Hill's writers were on White Claudia. ;)
You'd have to have played the game to understand. :p
--Toby,...the real one.
P.S: Barq's root beer is the devil! >:( |
Heh. I like that.
And Barq's rocks, fool. What do you want, some weakass crap like IBC? *scoff*
| If Psycho Mantis is a regular guard, what's a
boss like? |
| Alright, when discussing the possibilities of what Metal Gear Solid 2
will be about, we must first accept the following two rumors as fact. First, there will be
two playable characters (Snake and Meryl, since she's not green anymore), and second, that
it takes place in New York City. The elements of temperature could come into play if
the game does indeed have two characters. Since Snake wears quit a bit of armor, if he was
in a warm building (like the broiler room in MGS), he may become to hot. Meryl, who would
be wearing less armor simply because she's a female character, may get cold (especially on
a roof top where the chill-factor would really have an affect). These problems with the
temperatures would cause the characters to slow down a bit, and could possibly affect how
fast they fire a shot.
Kojima also discussed using enemies like Psycho Mantis in the game. These would make
for very challenging opponents. Ninja was difficult enough, but fighting a bunch of
invisible telekinetic enemies would be a real pain (though probably a lot of fun...).
Temperature could also play a factor here. Make it too hot or too cold in a room where one
of them is located, and they may become distracted by the temperature change and won't be
able to concentrate as much, making them easier to defeat.
I would really like to see a bonus area (or something along those lines) where you had
to play it with two-players via split screen. One person could be Snake, and the other
Meryl. The premise could be a hostage rescue. One player will make his way to a control
room, while the other finds a good hiding place. Player 1 throws a switch and shuts down
the power, alerting the guards to his presence. The guards run past Player 2 (and don't
see him if he's hidden well enough), so Player 2 now has the opportunity to rescue the
hostage while Player 1 either stays to fight the enemy or runs off and hides until the
comotion dies down. That would be great fun, since either player could mess up and be seen
too early, causing the entire plan to change, leaving you with a ton of possibilites on
how to complete the mission.
There's so many other things that I hope to see, but this letter is getting pretty
long. I'll save 'em for a rainy day, I suppose.
-CTZanderman, wishing he was going to be at E3 for MGS2 |
I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but there are some interesting possibilities.
For example, if an enemy is wearing Ninja-style camo, would he become visible in very wet
environments? Which brings up the question of what nifty particle effects Kojima might use
in the game.
The idea of split screen or multi-player is also very interesting. While I can't see
MGS2 breaking away from the immersive single-player experience, a well-designed engine
could also support online play. I'm not sure what a stealth-style deathmatch would look
like, but it'd be cool to try.
Lastly, I'll wager right now that in classic James Bond fashion Meryl will not return
for MGS2. Rather, Snake will endanger an entirely new hapless female in his next mission.
| Fear this man |
| If you recall, back when Allen hosted the Double Agent column, I sent in
a letter under the monicker "The Mystery Jew" stating that I could get Chrono
Trigger 2 (at the time, it was nameless) released. I also have the power to keep it from
being released. Be afraid. Jon |
A lot of people wrote in about the Arch Nemesis position, but the fact that Jon could
even suggest such a thing makes him the top contender. Very well then, go ahead and do it.
Stop CC's US release. I'll then assemble a crack team of operatives bent on destroying
your evil reign of terror, and we'll have a thrilling final showdown on top of a large
Tokyo skyscraper, resulting in your (supposed) death and my last-moment save of the CC
English gold master.
Gosh, I'm looking forward to this.
| The world is Square. God help us all. |
| Yo Chris, I've been thinking lately. Yes, it's highly unorthodox, but
it happened by accident, I swear. After spending a few weeks in France, I can say that
their culture is completely different than ours in many ways. From bathrooms to
telephones, there is much strangeness.
So, when Square makes an RPG, I don't think that any of us realize just how universal
it truly is. These games are enjoyed in many different countries, all around the world.
Yet there are rarely moments that are so confusing that you just pass it off as Japanese
culture.
Moral of the story? Most people never even take this into consideration. Even though
Xenogears takes place on another world, with even stranger customs than ours, it still
seems normal enough to us. And the actions of the characters and all, all of it feels
normal enough to us that we don't even focus our thoughts on it.
So next time you see a typo and complain, just think of how much work went into the
entire process of making the game universally understood. Quite a feat.
--The Steve
P.S.-- Should I be scared that I'm feeling mildly attracted to the Olsen Twins? |
I don't know that Square's quite as good about that sort of thing as you think - the
way-far-out premises behind the plots of FF7 and 8 still had a very Japanese feel to them.
However, now that you mention it, by and large Square's done a very good job of
producing products that don't feel as incomprehensible as a lot of anime and manga I've
seen. That could be merely the case of Square making a more universal product to begin
with, but that's still something to be thankful for. If all of Final Fantasy played out
like NGE, we'd have real problems.
And unless you're 12, Steve, yeah, I'd say so. Even then you might want to talk to a
shrink.
| Be afraid of this man too, for different
reasons |
Catch 'em, catch 'em, catch 'em; gotta catch 'em all:
Animals! It occoured to me in an unprecidented flash of logic that pokemon are really
just the animals of the Pokemon world, and anyone that is obsessed with them is really
just obsessed with animals. Thus, I deemed, if I wanted to live the life of a pokemon
trainer, all I'd really have to do was go out and get some animals.
So far I've managed to get an ant, a snake, my dog Indiana, and a fish. They won't fit
into the special Ani-balls that I made (except for the ant), so I carry them around in a
largish backpack. I haven't found any other animal trainers that want to fight me yet,
even after wandering around my hometown for several hours, but I think my fish is
unconcious. Still, I'm going to keep my hopes up...we've got a gym downtown, and I'm
headed down there now. I hope some of those muscle-builders are also animal trainers. I'll
write back and tell you how I do.
-Aaron L.
Animal Trainer |
Please do, Aaron. I'd love to hear what some Arnold-wannabe has to say when you pelt
him in the face with a red and white hollow shell containing a dead goldfish. Heck, I'd
pay to see that.
| Are you saying you DON'T like lame sexual
innuendo? |
| Wait, what are we supposed to call the next Metal Gear game, anyway? It
feels weird to call it Metal Gear Solid 2, thanks to Konami's CLEVER idea to call Ghost
Babel "Metal Gear Solid" (I wonder how many people will pass it up because of
the name - "Oh, I already played that on Playstation."). And I don't know if it
counts as Metal Gear 5 or 6, because I'm not sure if I'm supposed to include Snake's
Revenge in there (I'd rather not, but...). It's enough to make a grown man cry -
especially after I start kicking him in the shins out of sheer frustration. Anyway, I
guess the temperature/environmental reaction thing is interesting... especially if there's
the chance Snake could actually contract hypothermia from being in the cold for too long,
or have to have limbs amputated for frostbite. One leg, one arm, three fingers and a nose
later, he's STILL a badass. Most likely though, we'll just have to suffer through more bad
"humor." Imagine this being read by David Hayter and Some Sweet Young Thing:
SNAKE: It's so hot here I can barely stand it.
LATEST GIRL TO WANT TO SEX SNAKE UP: If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
SNAKE: It's not the heat, it's the humidity.
*awkward, forced laughter*
Hurts, doesn't it? Or maybe Natasha will call and give a five-minute lesson on the
history of atmospherics: "Shnake, did you know that humidity ish caused by water
dropletsh sushpended in the air?..."
Oh, who knows. Maybe it will be fun. But if it follows the history of most
"innovations" (day/night cycles and the like) it will mostly be a nuisance. But
coming from Hideo Kojima, a man who once said "I'd like to create a game that hurts
players," I guess it's to be expected.
Skeptically yours,
J. Parish |
Hypothermia... I like it. But the best way to combat hypothermia is to climb into a
sleeping bag with a naked person, and I think we all know where that's gonna lead. And if
you don't, I'm not telling you.
I personally think they should ditch the whole Metal Gear name anyway (I mean, how many
has Snake blown up by now?) Considering the game's set in New York, a better name might be
"Snake Takes Manhattan", but that feels like the last nail in the coffin of a
deeply troubled series for some reason... Ahem. Anyway...
Speaking of Kojima design goals, I gotta wonder if Kojima's much-mentioned mutual
admiration with the Wachowski Brothers will lead to any interesting design twists in the
game. Snake is Snake, but we could have Agent-like bad guys with funky temporal effects
for bosses. Nifty.
| 5. Use foot to kick guy who points out your
mistakes |
| Medical Instructions for false claims: 1. Remove foot from mouth.
2. Scrub mouth with anti-fungus soap.
3. Rinse, repeat.
4. When the claim is not false, please refrain from the previous instructions.
Pokemon is a big seller, no question, but it barely can see the pedestal upon which the
Tetris series sits. Heck, I think at least 70 million alone were sold as part of the game
boy bundle, and then there is god knows how many remakes/alterations/sequels out there.
Of course, if you changed it to "more copies than other RPG in history", you
might be right.
KZ |
You're right, I'm wrong. I should have said "more copies than any other RPG in
history", but I got greedy. And now I'm reduced to a slobbering wreck who watches
Nick at Nite and eats tofu. How the mighty have fallen.
Closing Comments:
A couple of people came up with some legitimate challengers to Watchmen's supremacy:
Nausicaa and Barefoot Gen among them. Good call, folks.
We've got more Metal Gear goodness (solidness?) lined up for tomorrow, so keep it
coming. See you tomorrow.
-Chris Jones, writing slower than usual |
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