Mythology and Video Games. My return from a long Hiatus

     

Hello everyone!! it is a damn pleasure to be back. A lot has happened in my life in between my last post in 2014 and now 2021. So, I am excited to get back into some writing in my spare time and speak on some great topics. I will continue to review games going forward and speak on the intricacies of what they mean to me on a profound level. I am now married and have a child, so my time has been wild it is interesting to reflect on what I was doing then vs now. I would not change it for the world. Oh, wait, a global pandemic, who would have thought? A ton of accredited scientists apparently. No one listened and here we are still not listening as much as we should. Perhaps there is some validity in scientific thought. I digress, no need for me to project my common sense onto others.

Anyway, let us talk about going forward considering that is where we should be heading. I want to lay out my intent with this blog now that I am a "new and improved" person.

I am currently working on a degree in history so that I can teach one day. I have a passionate interest in mythology of all kinds from fables and Legends to true run-of-the-mill mythologies. I am very early in my mythological study, however, so I hope to broaden my horizons in how mythology has affected our overall trajectory as human beings from a historical standpoint. I think viewing video games with a mythological lens along with my own personal opinions through playing them, it will allow me to better understand their profound effect on human beings especially so in how they have affected me.

Historically, we have always relied on storytelling for a variety of reasons ranging from a purely entertainment standpoint to abstract concepts like teaching our children language, cultural origin, morality, or belonging. We often seek to learn lessons about ourselves and the world through the eyes of others told through mythological tales. They are an intricate facet of our existence, one that society often dismisses as pure fantasy. But I argue to the opposite of this and with more gusto than I would commonly muster. Mythology may have embellishments, but it also holds truth peppered across its varied pages. Storytelling originated to educate the generation preceding the storyteller to prepare them for the journey of life that they are about to face. The prescribed idea is that storytelling began with cave paintings and then once language began to develop oral traditions were the method for some time when on to written language from there, we hosted plays, from plays, we came to film, and from film, we came to video games. This of course is a shortened timeline of events in regard to mythology however it at least makes sense in my mind. I am sure there are various mediums of artistic representation in between that I left out but that path can be sought later.

Regardless of what the story attempts to communicate there is an overall pattern amongst mythologies particularly ones that involve individuals and the challenges they face. These stories have been studied often enough by people like Lord Raglan the hero: a study in tradition, myth, and dreams, sir James George Frazer in the golden bough, or my personal favorite Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This pattern is known as the Hero Archetype coined by Joseph Campbell. This archetype follows a prescribed circular path one that can vary by the story but often follows a general path. We use this archetype in our storytelling even today. 

Lisa A. Paltz Spindler makes a wonderful diagram based on Joseph Campbell's theory

    So, after my very brief crash course into the world of mythological theory. Let me explain how this applies to video games. Whenever we write a story that involves a character who struggles with some external or internal pressure and somehow comes out of it a better or worse person. That is this mythological theme that we have been applying to our worldview for thousands of years. When Kratos in God of War learns to be a father after being a merciless god killer for Three games, When Shepherd in Mass Effect 2 dies and is reborn different than he/she was. Or even in a game like Skyrim where one creates a character, and you start as a prisoner about to be executed your past unknown to you and the dragon Alduin destroys the imperial fort and effectively thrusts you into an adventure. My point is this, as we establish narrative throughout my reviews, I challenge you, my readers to start looking at the videogames you play in this different light and you will see that they have a profound effect on our human nature and can certainly enlist us to do better in our lives and ascend beyond adversity. We are powerful, capable, and intelligent beings’ part of a collective narrative that stretches back to our very first ancestors. This lineage of existence is profound and has many layers that require us to look inward as well as outward to grow as human beings and I think video games are a very powerful medium for us to engage with these ancestors. Now to pull me out of the philosophical I also just love to talk about video games and their effect on me as a person and I hope to communicate that to all of you going forward.

I say play games for whatever reason you like be it entertainment, relaxation, or to find profound meaning and self-reflection. Whatever you play games for just remember their narrative, their very existence is in no small part thanks to our ancestors and their mythological tales.  

Stunts!!!

 

A Need For Speed...Ha I have a Need For Stunts

        This game is a game my brother and I played endlessly. Thanks to Baur's!One A Day Tech! blog post on a game called Track Mania. I was suddenly inspired to write about this game of which I had forgotten until reading about Track Mania. Pretty cool!! Follow him  he has a great many things you'll want to be updated on! 

I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes

        Anyway on to the game Stunts was made in 1990 by Broderbund. If you don't know this company, Myst, Lode Runner, Prince of Persia, that is all... I digress however Stunts is a pioneer of it's genre. If you ever played racing games during the time then you know that there wasn't a whole lot to them at least in my opinion. Stunts was nothing short of pioneering. Most racing games consisted of racing along a pre-made track trying to avoid crashing into the cars in front of you or beside you. Let me remind you I played very little amounts of racing games so I could be way off on the innovation department. However Stunts is somewhat your run of the mill racing game with a huge difference. It had opponents in which to race as well as pre-made race tracks to race them on. Which I can attest to being a really hard achievement to beat any of the racers within Stunts enless you give them the crappiest car even then it can be tough to beat them.

Don't give him this vehicle he will win!

     Now i'm sure your thinking to yourself "Well this stunts game is turning out to be your run of the mill racing game it seems this fellow is lying." Well one of the unique part of this game is the fact that you can pick from a wide(for the time)variety of vehicles to drive from 11 in total. It also had Automatic and Manual control which for the time was pretty new from my knowledge. Also there was a record feature in which you can watch and save your races to view them at a later time perhaps new for the time as well.

A boat in the middle of nowhere what is happening?

     The biggest reason this game is so damn innovative is the fact that there is a custom race track feature. I know it's crazy. 1990 and so much customization in a racing game. You bet your bottom dollar! The regular editor includes the track pieces themselves, The Terrain editor is only accessible by pressing Shift-F1, I don't think many knew about this terrain editor as it's not in the manual. But with the knowledge to make your own terrain and tracks is the greatest part of this game.  I remember my brother and I spending hours making tracks with loop to loops and sidewinders, only to end into a large lake or fly off a ramp into oblivion. I absolutly love the tracks you can make. You have a lot of freedom in this regard and are given a wide area to create your tracks. Also the amount of options you get to use are outstanding.

 
    I've always had a special place in my heart for Stunts it's one of the many games I played as a child that really pushed the limits of my imagination and influenced what I expect from games. Stunts is a game that holds a whole lot of innovation for the time. The racing can get difficult, although the racing with the A.I. is rather dull and gets old quick as do the pre-made tracks. The custom track makes up for the standard tracks in every way, shape, and form. If you don't like the main part of the game you will love the custom made tracks. I give Stunts a 9 out of 10 this game is worth a great deal of time I really don't care for racing games and this game is why. It's set the bar for me and no racing games I have played after have given me what Stunts has. But we will see with track mania! Thanks again Baur for digging up some childhood memories!
 

Pickle Wars an oddity of Platforming or Genius? You decide!

Dazed and Confused

       Pickle Wars is perhaps one of the most obscure platformers at least to me. I've never heard anyone talk about Pickle Wars except for my brother and friend. They are the only two people I know that have played it. Which makes this game all the more sweet in it's uniqueness and obscurity. Pickle Wars was made in 1994 by a company called Redwood Games a little know company founded by Karen Crowther, Redwood Games is known for making gender neutral kid friendly games that are pretty fun regardless. Their 4 biggest games are educational games with Pickle Wars being perhaps the least educational but still somewhat educational. Regardless this is perhaps my favorite platformer ever. Not only is the story great it's also quite funny how things pan out and besides Pickle Aliens trying to take over is fun in itself. 

Look it's Dave on the LED HD TV of the Future!

      The premise of Pickle Wars is this, You begin your adventure on the planet Arcadia, The planet is a peaceful one yet it is besieged by Pickles and their alien cohorts. You play as either Dave or Linda and alternate between the two through out the episodes. There are 3 episodes in total like most 90's platformers. The levels are filled with all sorts of traps, pitfalls, pickles, robots and monsters that seemingly pop out of areas you least expect. Also the one of the funniest features is the mail service which you lose points for accidentally blowing up. You get funny messages if you catch the mail that floats around as well as helpful hints and a few points. 

Yep that's the mail bot through rain, sleet, snow, or invasions by pickles

They are everywhere!

It's Linda and some soda pop

Now you may be wondering what exactly do you use to defeat the pickles and save the planet of Arcadia from utter annihilation. The Salad Shooter now those of you who lived in the 90's know exactly what i'm talking about now if you don't i'll give a brief description. A Salad Shooter is a miraculous device that in fact "quickly slices or shreds vegetables, fruits, cheese and more for sensational salads, perfect pizzas, terrific tacos, and delicious desserts." Also it destroys Pickle aliens and obliterates machinery with the said projectiles of destruction above. The objective of each level is to get all the salad shooters and thus continue to the next area. Quite simple also obtaining carrots for health, junk food for points all along the way to defeating the evil pickle invaders.

It looks innocent enough until it kills you

Now with the game generally explained, my review follows as this. At times the jumping can be difficult for getting around it's not the worst but it's not the best. Sometimes dodging the monsters that pop out of random holes can be hard as well although it's easy to determine which random hole they are going to appear out of. The games uniqueness and fun greatly out weigh it's flaws I've always enjoyed a nice romp through Arcadia knocking out pickles from time to time and as a platformer it has remained a timeless classic with perhaps one of the most outstanding stories for a platformer of it's day. I give Pickle wars a 8 out of 10. Like the title says oddity or genius? Give it a go and see what you think some might like it some might not but you'll never know until you try!

So It begins\Microsoft encarta 95' review

I haven't posted anything lately because today I start school and work, I've been preparing for my break to end. i'm going to be writing whenever I get a chance however that chance is unknown when it will occur. But regardless thanks to those who read my page and are following it and I shall write more soon!!

I played a game in 1995 called microsoft encarta 95' my grandpa would get things like this for free as he was a professor of geology and is now retired, now i'm sure you are thinking encarta isn't that an encyclopedia? Yep it sure is but it was also a maze puzzle called Mind Maze with questions you had to answer in order to continue on the maze it was pretty fun here is some screens to enjoy  an educational game sure but still lots of fun and you learn something in the process

Give it a go I don't know if it's freeware or abandonware in fact I doubt it. But either way if you find it, it is something worth experiencing so, enjoy and have fun, don't let the jester touch you, he is creepy as all jesters are. I give Mind Maze a 7 out of 10 for being a random maze generator but the questions do eventually turn into the same questions if you play it enough but believe me there are a ton of questions so it takes a long time to get to that point.

UBIart Framework/Rayman Origins Review

                I wanted to do a quick post on an video game engine that I personally think is going to revolutionize gaming. Making video games stand out more as an art form rather then just entertainment. When I was a kid I played video games that were awe inspiring in the art direction with hand drawn backgrounds and characters such as Legend of Mana, Rayman, Suikoden, etc. The game engine i'm talking about is UBIart Framework. I recently bought Rayman Origins for my girlfriend for Christmas, as Rayman was both our childhood firsts on the Playstation and hell we needed Rayman Origins. As we have played it I am so enthralled with the engine itself it has a cartoon feel but with that comes a great many things we can mold that into. I wanted to show a few examples from the UBIart Framework blog the link is show here for reference UBIart Framework Blog 


    You can see for yourself how amazing this engine really is

looks like a painting to me

I feel if I had a child and they drew me a picture I could take it and make a game out of it for them

Reminds me of Metal Slug for some reason

I'm not a fan of Tim Burton but if this was made into a full scale video game i'd buy

   

Classic

Things have changed

                   Some screens of Rayman Origins the top one is a bit blurry but it's till pretty to me.




       Things in the video game industry are changing all the time, but I really hope UBIart framework is recognized and utilized to it's greatest potential I promise i'll be watching for the next crazy game you come up with or the next game that's made with your free to use engine. You did well Ubisoft you did well




   I figure while i'm talking about Rayman Origins i should review.


             The Review: Rayman Origins is not only a beautiful game it is perhaps one of the funnest platformers I have played in years. It even outshines the original. It's not as hard as Rayman but it certainly becomes quite challanging also all the things you get to collect throughout the game is a fun way to pass the time. Also it is 4 player and not online 4 player. 4 people in a room 4 player. Which is something I miss, don't get me wrong I like myself some online but I greatly miss having people come over and play a game with me, It's a lot less lonely then sitting on my ass eating cheetos and crying cause I got pwned for the 30th time by a guy with a 30 kill streak. But I digress this game is simply genius it can get hard at times which can be a put off for some as there are some levels that you have to race through. But to make up for it there is a side scrolling shooter with the mosquito every 4 levels or so which is a nice break from the regular platforming. I give Rayman Origins a 10 out of 10 defiantly made it on my top 20 list of greatest games of all time

Pool of Radiance

Wait for it...Wait for it

          Today i'm going to be talking about Pool of Radiance one of the the first computer games I had ever seen or played. This game began the gold box series for SSI(strategic simulations inc) and TSR(Tactical Studies Rules) It was the very first pc adaptation of a D&D game as well as the first game to use the "gold box" engine it was released in 1988 and was the beginning to a very long line of D&D games. This was the first of a 4 part series including The Curse of the Azure Bonds,Secret of the Silverblades, and finally Pools of Darkness. These games revolutionized the Rpg genre and created a world of D&D no one could have imagined except of course the people that created them, but that's just a technicality we will over look anyway on to the game

          This game does have a copy write password doohickey of which is rather annoying but most downloads already have a bypass built in so don't worry about it too much. If you have a rune wheel you are luckier then most because that is the most ancient form of knowing the passwords 

My nordic ancestors would know how to play pool of radiance

             Pool of radiance was based off of the AD&D dungeons and dragons rule book or better know as the second edition rule set, which at the time wasn't even fully developed or published until the following year, in 1989. So this game was the coolest thing back then certainly for those fans of the series and for young aspiring nerds like myself.

Pop-eye up there says it best

       It's pretty standard AD&D stuff. You get Six party members in which to create your own mishmash of mages,fighters,thieves and clerics, being the main classes as well as cross classes for example the wonderful and versatile fighter/clerics, or the rogue/mage/fighter. Not a ton to choose from class wise but either way it gets the job done. 

I have a feeling this isn't natural

          There are several races to choose from, Human,Dwarves,Elves,Half-Elves,Gnome,and Halfling.  Each race has it's own level cap for each class. To me that is a huge short coming as sometimes elves are fighters too. But since their level cap is 8 I would rather have a dwarf fighter who can be level 9, or an elf who can be a level 12 mage then a dwarf who can be a level 9 mage. Either way you get my point here. After you get done changing the body and head to your preference you get to make your characters battle image. 

        This is where it gets really fun you can change what weapons they are holding and every color, so if I want a character that's blue and weilding a two handed flail I sure can, or a green armor wearing berserker red head I sure can. But this just really allows you to become attached to your characters, because you basically have all the say in what they look like you can even change them from tall to short considering there are wee folk in this game. For most games of the time this was not a possibility. here are some examples

I know it's hard to see but you can see the difference kinda

      Anyway you hit exit then it takes you back to the main screen then you add that character to the party and can either start out with just him or make the rest of the party. It is possible to play the whole game with a few people and then gather up npcs to fill up the rest of the party but to me it's more fun to make your whole crew and then jump into Phlan and mess things up.

Some men just want to watch the world burn

         The story is decent you are mercinaries sent to figure out what is going on with the city of Phlan and all the resurgances of monsters in the surrounding areas. A lot of the game takes place in Phlan but eventually you do leave and explore the countryside tracking down the ancient evil that is causing the ruckus. The art in this game is exquisite its like an moving second edition monster manual the monsters are all hand drawn and really cool looking. Exploration is fun as there is a map that helps you to navigate although it has no markers or anything of that sort it still helps by having.

Here is a partial map of Phlan and the surrounding areas

        Combat is perhaps the most interesting part of Pool of Radiance as it's turn based strategy made famous by SSI. You can fight using weapons or spells. Spells must be memorized at the camp screen seen below you can camp at any time to heal and memorize your spells and if your lucky you won't get interrupted by the various denizens of Phlan.

Thats a small looking fire

       Combat is based off of what a d&d game would look like if you happened to use die cast figurines and a grid board. In pool of radiance you can move a certain number of steps until you have to make an action. You can either run up to your enemies and attack or do ranged attacks from afar with ranged weapons or spells. There is a lot of different variations to do this but it is pretty simple so don't feel overwhelmed.

That's a whole lot of crazy going on

    The Review: Pool of Radiance is a great game for people who enjoy the box first person rpgs of yester year and even for those just beginning to play rpgs this is a good way to get into d&d as well. There are a lot of things I left out due to time constraints but this is an indepth rpg for it's time and the graphics are horrible. The character customization is fantastic and allows you to get into your characters and feel like your part of the adventure. There are a few things I wish were different such as markers for the map and a higher level cap since the game is rather long. Also the game can get extremely difficult as the monsters don't joke around about smashing your face in and setting you on fire however you just have to take it easy and work your way to the top and you will live strong. 

    You tend to collect tons and tons of loot which weights you down tremendously, making it hard to move around but then again. I lack the ability to buy things and tend to horde all the gems and jewels I find. Either way it's a solid game with many things to explore and plunder, if you have never played the old d&d games start here and your journey will be the most amazing one you could ever imagine I give this game a 10 out of 10 for making me the role playing person I am today and for making the dreams of d&d players come true 

The treasure being pool of radiance duh

 

Bethesda vs Interplay. Sucker punch numero dos for Interplay

FALLOUT® MMO RIGHTS RESTORED TO
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS® IN INTERPLAY LITIGATION

All Fallout® Intellectual Property Rights Belong Exclusively to Bethesda

January 9, 2012 (Rockville, MD) –ZeniMax® Media Inc. today announced that a settlement had been reached in the lawsuit filed by its subsidiary, Bethesda Softworks®, against Interplay Entertainment Corporation in 2009, Bethesda Softworks LLC v Interplay Entertainment Corp., seeking cancellation of the license granted to Interplay to develop a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) based on the Fallout brand. Bethesda maintained in its complaint that Interplay had failed to meet the conditions for the license and the license was therefore of no continuing validity.

Under the terms of the settlement, the license granted to Interplay to develop the Fallout MMO is null and void, and all rights granted to Interplay to develop a Fallout MMO revert back to Bethesda, effective immediately. Interplay has no ongoing right to use the Fallout brand or any Fallout intellectual property for any game development. ZeniMax will pay Interplay $2 million as consideration in the settlement, each party will bear its own costs of the litigation, and Bethesda will continue to own all Fallout intellectual property rights. Interplay will be permitted to continue to sell the original Fallout ®Tactics, Fallout® and Fallout® 2 PC games through December 2013, after which time all rights to market those games revert to and become the sole property of Bethesda. Under the original agreement pursuant to which Bethesda had acquired the Fallout property, Interplay was granted certain merchandising rights to sell those original Fallout games, but those merchandising rights will now expire on December 31, 2013.      


The lawsuit against Interplay arose after Bethesda Softworks acquired all Fallout intellectual property rights from Interplay in April 2007, and conditionally licensed back to Interplay certain trademark rights to make a Fallout MMO, provided Interplay secured $30 million in financing for the MMO and commenced full scale development of the game by April 2009. Bethesda alleged in its complaint that Interplay failed to meet either condition of the license back agreement but refused to relinquish its license and insisted it would develop a Fallout MMO.  Bethesda filed suit to declare the license void.

In a separate but related matter, Bethesda commenced a second action against a purported developer of the Fallout MMO, Masthead Studios, Bethesda Softworks LLC v Masthead Studios Ltd. In the course of the original lawsuit against Interplay, Interplay had claimed that it had engaged Masthead Studios to develop the Fallout MMO under its license, and contended that Masthead was engaged in full scale development of that game. Bethesda filed its separate lawsuit against Masthead to assert copyright infringement and other violations of Bethesda’s intellectual property rights. Under the MMO license granted to Interplay, Interplay was not permitted to sublicense any rights granted without the prior approval of Bethesda, approval which had never been requested or granted.  In responding to Bethesda’s lawsuit, Masthead denied that it had been using any of Bethesda’s intellectual property in developing an MMO. Masthead and Bethesda settled that second lawsuit on December 29, 2011.  In the settlement, Masthead acknowledges it has no legal right to use any Fallout intellectual property, and agrees it will not use any such intellectual property of Bethesda in the future.  No payments were made by either party as part of this settlement. The two settlements resolve all pending litigation over the Fallout intellectual property owned by Bethesda.

Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax, expressed satisfaction on behalf of the Company with the resolution of the two lawsuits saying, “While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP. Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others’ legal claims.”



Good thing, bad thing? Yes, No, Maybe so. give me your thoughts on this ground breaking news on the future of a beloved franchise and lets see what road it heads down.

As long as we have the Ron Perlman Perk everything will be alright