An urgent call for help!

The earth is in danger!  If only we had known sooner.

Pretty in Pink

The pink Xbox 360 controller I ordered arrived in the mail today.  We have three now.  This one is pink.

Several weeks ago, I bought a TV.  Actually, the first TV that I have ever purchased, and only the second one that I have ever owned.  I took my 5 year old daughter with me to Best Buy to pick it out.  While we were milling around the electronics, she spied a pink Xbox controller. Her eyes went wide, "Daddy, can we get this?"

What father could turn that down?  I mean, your kid asks for bread, right?

So anyway, now Strickle's chick is not the only Tallahassee Lassie with a pink controller.

Psychonauts for Free!

I haven't actually used their service yet, but GameTap has Psychonauts listed as a "free game" until December 2008.  GameTap is a subscription service that allows you to play (mostly older) games.  It's $9.95 a month, which isn't really worth it for me.  Close, but not quite.  The idea is smart, but maybe too late.  Steam does it, I guess, but the last time I tried Steam is was cumbersome. Xbox Live is hard to beat though.

Anyway, Psychonauts is one of those brilliant games that everyone loved, but nobody played.  It's a platformer, along the lines of Kameo, Zelda, etc.  However, the characters, the level design, and the game are brilliant.  I'm not sure, but this game might actually make you smarter. (By the way, I actually did play it.  Er, at least 95% of it).

The game is by Tim Schafer who is highly revered for his past efforts, which include the first two Monkey Island games, Full Throttle, and my personal favorite, Grim Fandango.

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My wife and I played through Grim Fandango together, and when the game was over we actually missed the characters.

If you like thinks like interesting characters and story, combined with clever dialogue, original art and game play that is both innovative and fun, then play this game.

Responding To Ignorance

Sigh...

Here we go again. Masquerading as concern, a conservative columnist is trying to achieve internet fame (and succeeding) at the cost of his credibility. Sometimes merely responding reasonably to an invalid criticism unwittingly grants said criticism validity. I hope this is not the case, because I find it hard to remain silent on the subject.

Kevin McCullough, come on down!

This is the column to which I'll be referring throughout this post.

Either this man is woefully ignorant or deliberately trying to cause some kind of internet controversy. Being the optimist that I am, I'll assume the former.

McCullough's criticisms of the "Sex Box" game "Mass Effect" come from either a place of ignorance or are some kind of unconscious bitter sentiment arising from the ever-widening generation gap between himself and his own son. He probably wanted his son to be Johnny Unitas and ended up with a "gamer". That's just me reading between the lines, though.

"[Mass Effect] allows its players...to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived".

Wow, Kevin, "the most realistic sex acts ever conceived"? More realistic than actual sex? I must have missed that feature in Mass Effect because, having played through the game once in its entirety, I haven't found the sex minigame.

Let me just say that there is some implied sex in "Mass Effect", which is the reason the game publisher slapped a really big "M" on the cover and an explanation for WHY the game has an "M" rating listed on the back as well as actual descriptions of any of the games "objectionable" content. All games have these ratings, Kevin, and all you have to do is know how to read. Don't be afraid to break into your kid's room, and search through his stuff. Look at his game boxes and take away all games with an "M" or "AO" rating. Sure, it's an invasion of privacy. That's what we call "parenting", Kevin. Incidentally, there are two optional sex scenes in "Mass Effect", but they are so tame that they could probably be televised on national television. That is, there's no more sexual content in "Mass Effect" than an average episode of "Desperate Housewives". Less, in fact. Does that mean you should let your children play it? Of course not.

"...one can "create" their own versions of what people look like, removing warts, moles, and bald spots while enhancing - shall we say - the extended features of the game's characters tends to objectify women, sex, and human relationships. Right? We can all agree on this?"

No. No, we can't agree on this. The bodies of the characters that you create cannot be modified. Yes, they are idealized versions of male and female bodies. However, they are not unrealistically proportioned. That is, the women's bodies are not Barbie Doll bodies like Lara Croft Tomb Raider. The only control a player has is over the facial features of a male or female character. This includes adding scars to the faces of the male or female character.

"...an alternate reality engulfs the fifteen year old boy playing it without much objection."

Yes, Kevin, that is why fifteen year old boys and forty year old men play video games. If I wanted to play in reality, I'd turn off the game system and walk outside...which I've been known to do occasionally, believe it or not. "Mass Effect" is about as close as I'll ever come to saving the galaxy from an ancient alien menace. If being engulfed by an alternate reality is innately sinful or wrong, then everyone throw away your fiction books, your dvds, your television, your video games, and don't ever go see a movie again.

"...the player's own character is copulating like jack rabbits with super-models, actresses, and anyone else they can spend the patience to create, name, and 'put into play.'"

WHAT? What game are you reviewing, Kevin, because it definitely is not "Mass Effect". I completely missed the "copulating like jack rabbits" part of the game. I created a pretty good likeness of Lucy Liu but she never copulated like a jack rabbit for me. It sounds like someone handed you some kind of pornography and told you it was an XBOX game. Much like handing someone an "etch-a-sketch" and telling them it's a laptop computer.

"How much moral judgement should the President push into legislative issues that are likely to severely damage our children's innocence, function, and capability?"

I think the President should be bound by his morality. I totally agree that a President of the United States of America should have impeccable moral judgement. Oh, if it were only true, Kevin! Unfortunately, expecting the government to be the moral compass of America is like putting a fat guy in charge all the cookies. I think P.J. O'Rourke phrased it best when he said "Giving money and power to the U.S. Government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenaged boys".

Do you know what will also "severely damage our children's innocence, function, and capability"? Lazy Parenting!

"...I'm being the wild and crazed Bible thumper I've always been."

Hey, I can thump my Bible with the rest of them. I'll drown out your thumping with my thumping. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to turn off your brain. "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD" (Isaiah 1:18a). If you're going to identify yourself as a Christian, have the conscientiousness to be accurately informed about a subject before criticizing it. Otherwise, your blatant ignorance brings us ALL down. People reading your article will group us in with you and assume that we're ignorant reactionaries also. In that way, your article has done service for Satan, Mr. McCullough!

"If a pre-teen, teen, young adult, or adult male plays such a game in which the women DO submit without choice, are made to appear as Barbie streetwalkers, and perform whatever act can be imagined, what's to stop that same male from assuming that the women in his 'other world' shouldn't be forced to do the same."

Again, Mass Effect has none of these "features" you are describing, Kevin. Are you being deliberately obtuse? However, you bring up a very popular argument: If someone can rape a woman in a game, what's keeping him from raping a woman in real life? I have never actually heard of a game where raping women is even a secondary goal of the game. I know in Grand Theft Auto (another game with a big "M" on it), you can have sex with prostitutes (again, nothing is actually shown) and kill them, but this is not a primary goal of gameplay, it's just something you can do if you wish. I think we can pretty much count on "Grand Rape Auto" coming out for the PS3 if we keep asking for it, Kevin. Fingers crossed! There are a couple of things keeping a gamer from raping a woman in real life, Kevin. First of all, context. You see, Kevin, real life is different from a game. Anyone who's not hopelessly insane realizes this. Secondly, upbringing. "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6). You know? That "parenting" thing that everyone keeps talking about? Don't let your child play "M" rated games. When your child sees something "M" rated anywhere, tell him that it is wrong and why it is wrong. You may have to crack open that Bible you're thumping and use your brain some. Good luck with that.

"...'Mass Effect' can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes."

Kevin, do you even know what "sodomy" is? Because there is absolutley none of that kind of thing in Mass Effect. The more I read your column the more idiotic it gets. Is there a punchline in our future? For your sake and for the sake of Christians everywhere, I hope there is.

"And while the makers of such trash seem to be pushing our next generation of young men through the gates of hell as fast as is humanly possible, it needn't be that way."

Kevin, if you're going to publically identify yourself as a Christian, then please open up your Bible. I'm begging you here! I don't think you realize this, but separation of Church and State actually works in favor of the Church. I don't want some school principal or quasi-deist government official inculcating their watered-down humanistic version of Christianity into my child and neither should you. This means that you have to do it yourself. Is the U.S. Government going to say "put God first in your life"? Or are they more likely to say "put God first in your life...incidentally, WE, THE GOVERNMENT, ARE GOD."?

I think the latter, Kevin, and history will back me up on this. Don't give the government power over your family. Don't look to the government for moral guidance. Don't look to the government for help in raising your children. Crack open that Bible you're thumping, Kevin. You'll be glad you did, I promise you!

Ergo Proxy

My wife and I just finished the anime series Ergo Proxy last night, and to cut to the chase: it was fantastic!  Here's my spoiler-free review...

Ergo Proxy is set in dystopian, post-apocalyptic future and reminded me a great deal of things like Blade Runner, The Matrix, and Aeon Flux.  The starts off with your usual conspiratorial mysterious government cover-up, however as the series progresses the show grows more and more philosophical.  A good portion of the middle episodes are almost psychedelic, delving it deep into the main characters' minds and heart. A prominent theme begins to emerge around the "Raison d'etre", and in many ways that the primary question that the show is asking.

The quality of the animation is superb, the cinematography is compelling and drives the story. I also really enjoyed the music.

It's not really a show for adrenaline junkies, there are your typical anime "boss" battles, but they are not a dominant feature.  In fact, in a number of the episodes (there are 23 total) might even be considered slow.  In the end, the story is about the characters (and in this way reminds me of Evangelion).

The show is violent and somewhat bloody, I'd rate it about the same as Heroes in that regard.  They are couple of scenes with one of the main characters in her underwear, but nothing that I was uncomfortable with.

Philosophically, the show has a post-modern bent and struggles with the some Christian ideas such as absolute truth. (Funny enough, a few of the episode are named after Douglas Coupland novels.) Overall, I really liked the honesty and questioning that the show pursues.

The series wraps up a little bit quickly, but it was a satisfying ending. My only other complaint is that two of the episodes are something of a stylistic whiplash.

My wife and I both recommend it.

Anime Glossary: Defining our terms

In order to have a common frame of reference, some terms need to be defined in order that our billions of online fans (hi mom!) who read our anime reviews can understand what's going on. A very good anime dictionary resides here. You can also use wikipedia to get some good definitions. However, I'll define what I mean when I use some of the more common terms right here.

Anime -- (Pronounced "ANN-eee-may" or "AHN-eee-may") -- Simply put, Japanese Cartoons. However, in Japan, animation is not merely for children. A very big industry has developed over there creating animated stories directed at specific demographic groups. There's animation for young kids, animation for teens, animation aimed at adults, animation for teenaged girls, teenaged boys...pretty much every demographic group has an anime show aimed at them.

Anime Series or just "Series" -- A televised anime series. Anime series usually have a beginning, a middle, and an end. An entire story cycle is told in either 13 or 26 30-minute episodes. Sometimes you have anime anthology series that contain multiple episodes of different anime that are much shorter in length, like 7 or 15 minutes.

OAV/OVA Series -- stands for Original Animation Video or Original Video Animation. I generally use the term "OVA". These are anime series that are released directly to home video/DVD. That is, they aren't shown on television. Because of this, a lot more liberty can be taken as far as content and length goes. They don't have to take into account commercial breaks, and they can show nudity and use strong language if they wish, and they're not constrained to the 13 or 26 episode format for the series like they would be if it were televised. In Japan, an OVA generally has a higher budget and a longer deadline than a televised series. Therefore, the animation quality is higher. Also, as a general rule, OVA releases generally cost more for the consumer. Sometimes, a popular OVA will either be remade as a televised series or the plot started in the OVA will be continued in a televised series. Also, if a television series is really popular, after its 13 or 26 episode run the creators of the series sometimes release extra OVA episodes of the series in order to milk it for all it's worth (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

Anime Feature -- This is an animated movie. We have these in the USA, but the way Japan differs is that they'll release a movie which can be a standalone episode of an anime television series. It's kind of like the Star Trek movies in the United States. If you never watched the Star Trek television series, you're probably not going to "get" any of the "inside jokes" or subplot threads in the Star Trek movies.

Manga -- (Pronounced "MANG-ga"; "MANG" rhymes with "FANG" or "MAN-ga") Japanese comic books. Most of the time, an anime series or feature is based on a successful or groundbreaking manga. As a general rule, the manga comes first, followed by the anime version of the manga. The format of a manga is generally the same as a paperback book. A certain issue of a manga series will have a couple of hundred pages and be roughly the size of a paperback book and contain multiple chapters/stories. Also, the art tends to be in black and white, with only a few colored pages, if any. There exist in Japan monthly anthology magazines that contain a few chapters of different manga series.

Hentai -- (Pronounced "HEN-tie") -- A pornographic anime. "Hentai" means "pervert" in Japanese. There exist both hentai manga and hentai anime. A hentai anime is generally a cheaply-produced OVA release and can either be softcore, depicting sex and nudity but no penetration, or hardcore, depicting sex and everything it entails. Hentai anime is pretty much like American porn: any plot contained within only serves to string together the sex scenes. You can pretty much rule out any Hentai reviews appearing here!

Ecchi -- (Pronounced "ET-chee" or "EH-chee") -- It's the way the Japanese pronounce the English letter "H". "H" stands for "Hentai" in this case. In Japan, the two terms are synonymous. "Ecchi" is just a hip way to call someone a pervert. However, in American anime fandom, it has been changed to refer to R-rated nudity in a sensual context. For example, a scene of a naked woman taking a shower in an anime would be considered "ecchi" because of the nudity but not "hentai" because there's no actual sex involved. However a woman getting assaulted and having her top ripped off would not be considered ecchi (unless you're a "hentai"!!).

Fanservice -- This was originally considered to be any animated sequence that would particularly appeal to fans of a character. For example, if you're a big fan of giant robots, a long, lingering animated sequence of a particularly cool giant robot striking a fighting stance would be considered "fan service" or "fanservice" because the animators took the time to animate it for the fans. Included in this would be long, lingering animated sequences of female (and sometimes male) characters in an anime, usually in some state of undress (but no full frontal nudity). In American anime fandom, this term is used to encompass depictions of sexuality that don't fall into the "hentai" or "ecchi" categories, generally something that wouldn't be objectionable in a PG or PG-13 movie. Typically this includes female characters in their underwear, a swimsuit, or in some kind of sexy costume. Generally, in a 26 episode anime series, there's an episode where all the characters go to the beach or go to a hot spring spa so that the female characters appear in swimsuits or nude but with their "key areas" covered up in some way.

Shoujo Anime -- (Pronounced "SHOW-joe") -- This is a special genre of anime. In Japanese, "shoujo" means "girl". Therefore a shoujo anime is an anime aimed at teenaged girls, usually featuring non-threatening male romantic leads and a lot of high school type dramatic situations. "Sailor Moon" was a popular shoujo anime series that found a measure of success here on American television.

Shounen Anime -- (Pronounced "SHOW-nen") -- This is a special genre of anime. In Japanese, "shounen" means "boy". Therefore a shounen anime is an anime aimed at teenaged boys, usually featuring a video game-like plot. Basically, the lead character fights a battle, beats his opponent, and works his way up tougher and tougher opponents, episode by episode, until he meets the big boss during the last episode. This genre is much more prevalent in America. Common examples familiar to Americans are "Pokemon", "Dragonball Z", "Yu-Gi-Oh", and the current fan favorite, "Naruto". Generally there's a lot of action in these shows and a couple of obligatory fanservice-oriented female characters.

Seinen Anime -- (Pronounced "SAY-nen") -- This is a special genre of anime. It's anime intended for an 18-30 male audience. Probably the most famous Seinen anime would be the movie "Akira" followed by the anime television series "Cowboy Bebop". There's usually a mix of action and mature character development as well as some fanservice. This is pretty much the largest genre of anime and manga as the intended demographic is the one that spends the most money.

Bishoujo -- (Pronounced "bee-SHOW-jo") -- This means "Young and Pretty Girl". In anime, most main female characters are bishoujos.

Bishounen -- (Pronounced "bee-SHOW-nen") -- This means "Beautiful Boy" in Japanese. In most shoujo anime and manga, the romantic leads are mostly bishounen. This isn't as straightforward as bishoujo. Basically, a bishounen is a "pretty boy", usually very gangly and thin, with delicate almost feminine facial features: pretty much the opposite of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Essentially, a bishounen is the anime equivalent of a boy band member. These types of visual characters are popular with the young girl fans of shoujo anime and manga because they are non-threatening physically, yet still physically attractive. Unfortunately, there's a large secondary audience for bishounen characters in pedophilic men. If you are a guy, this is why you hate shoujo anime.

Bishie -- (Pronounced "BISH-ee") -- This term generally is a contraction of "bishounen". You'll see it a lot on anime and manga forum message boards. Personally, people using this term are like nails running accross a chalkboard for me; probably because I'm not a fan of bishounen in anime or manga.

Harem Anime -- This is a particularly popular sub-genre of anime in Japan. It is usually a comedy with a young teenaged boy, who is "average" in every way, surrounded by young pretty girls (bishoujos), all of whom "want" the boy in some way. Usually the plot entails this "harem" of pretty girls throwing themselves at the central male character repeatedly over the course of the entire series, with the central male character being too immature or too befuddled/wimpy/stupid to respond to the girls' romantic advances. There exist many variations on this theme, such as a central female character being pursued by a "harem" of male characters. Also, the central male's or central female's harem can contain some (and unfortunately in some cases ALL) characters of the SAME sex.

Mecha -- (Pronounced "MECK-ah") -- This is a particularly geeky term for a giant robot. It's also a very popular genre of anime. Remember "Gundam Wing"? That was a mecha anime featuring bishounen characters; the creators were trying to get both male and female teenage viewers in this case.

Miyazaki -- (Pronounced "MEE-yah-ZAH-key") -- This is the last name of Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki, along with his friend Isao Takahata, founded a famous animation studio in Japan called Studio Ghibli (Ghibli is pronounced "JIB-lee" or "JEEB-lee" depending on who you talk to). Miyazaki is responsible for some of the best and most famous anime features from Japan, some of which were widely released in theaters here in the United States: "Princess Mononoke", "Spirited Away", and "Howl's Moving Castle" to name a few. Miyazaki is considered to be the "Walt Disney" of Japan and mainly works on feature anime films. If you are a fan of any of the Pixar films like "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" or latter-day Disney features like "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King", the makers of these films pretty much worship at the altar of Hayao Miyazaki and consider him to be a very major influence on their work. As Miyazaki once said, his movies are for "those who will be ten years old and those who have been ten years old."

SD or Super-Deformed -- This term applies to a certain slapstick-type situation that arises frequently in anime. Usually the anime in question is a comedy. A character is frustrated or angry and, in addition to vocalizing their anger/frustration by screaming out something (e.g.: "You stupid idiot!"), their physical representation becomes physically distorted (or "super deformed") to enhance the slapstick or non-serious nature of the outburst. The intent of this is to make the anger of the character non-threatening to smaller viewers. Super deformed versions of characters in an anime can also appear in interstitial connecting scenes and/or during the end credits of an anime episode. In my experience, anime fandom is kind of polarized on super deformed elements in anime. Some consider it cute while to others, it is annoying and detracts greatly from the anime. Therefore, people generally like to know if an anime comedy incorporates super deformed character representations ahead of time so they can avoid paying money to watch it on DVD if that sort of thing annoys them.