"This Generation"

Rather than write a "Game of the Year" feature or some other Top 10 to close out 2012, my approach this year was to take a look at "this generation" of hardware and games and attempt to figure out five hallmarks or touchstones of this generation. The Wii U is the harbinger of the "next gen" and rather than look ahead at "What might be" I decided to take a look back at what this generation would be remembered for.

I probably could have added a couple more aspects of this generation that fit the bill as helping to define this generation, but I felt the five I picked were probably the strongest. These aspects will be the hallmark of what this gen is remembered for:

Part I - Meaningless Rewards 

Part II - Motion Controls 

Part III - Co-Op Gaming 

Part IV - Episodic Games and DLC 

Part V - Open World Games

I tried to be "on point" with my observations and make the pieces easy to read; and offer some evidence for why I picked those aspects.

Leave a comment here or smack one down on your article of choice.

HYDROGEN GAS IS EXPLOSIVE

Sometimes I read something that just catches my attention. A billboard with a controversial slogan, the ingredients of most canned variety of soups, whatever, something grabs my attention and sometimes I learn something new. In this case I was reading a "Quick Start Guide" for a frontload clothes washer. And I got this part:

Under certain conditions, hydrogen gas may be produced in a hot water system that has not been used for two weeks or more. HYDROGEN GAS IS EXPLOSIVE. If the hot water system has not been used for such a period, before using a washing machine or combination washer-dryer, turn on all hot water faucets and let the water flow from each for several minutes. This will release any accumulated hydrogen gas. THE GAS IS FLAMMABLE. DO NOT SMOKE OR USE AN OPEN FLAME DURING THIS TIME.

Who knew doing laundry could be so hazardous?

Of course, that kind of thing isn't a danger in my house, where it's an exception that the clothes washer isn't in operation.

It's also one of those warnings that I'd like someone to independently verify. How easy it to cause an explosion in such a way? How does the hydrogen build-up in the first place? Common thought is that warnings that appear on products are there because some moron without two IQ points to rub together used the product incorrectly. That's why so see those, "This bag is not a toy" and "Poison DO NOT EAT" on those little silicon packets found with new shoes. My imagination takes me to that moment when some repair guy showed to look at a busted washer only to have the whole thing explode in his face when he lit a cigarette. It's straight out of a Daffy Duck adventure.

Killing, A-Okay. Naked Breasts, No Way!

In playing Hitman: Absolution I was struck again by this really weird thing that exists in popular media, like television and games. It is absolutely okay to gut your enemies in every gruesome way possible but showing a naked breast is a wild exception.

I can only think of a handful of (mainstream) games that have included nudity in this regard: God of War, The Saboteur, The Godfather, Dante's Inferno, uh, there might have been some in a Larry 6 (my memory is foggy).

Nikola Tesla

The second time a game ever got me to go to the library and start reading a book, was Red Alert 2, which featured a defensive structure that zapped incoming opponents with a burst of electricity called a Tesla Tower. (The first was Gabriel Knight II and King Ludwig II of Bavaria.)

I actually meant to pick-up a book about Nikola Tesla ages ago, but when I saw "Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius" on the new arrivals shelf at the library I finally had the topic thrust toward me. I'm interested in the topic and it was free. A perfect storm.

Besides examining Tesla, what I find so fascinating about the book is how well it situates Tesla in the larger world around him and the kind of profound technological changes that were happening at the turn of the last century.

People didn't have electricity, even in the cities and this was a time without radio. Books, newspapers, and magazines were the principle purveyors of information and news. And at that same time in different parts of the world there's the onset of wireless communication, electricity (Tesla's AC current winning out over the DC advocated by people like Thomas Edison), and flight technology. All of this would bring profound social, commercial, and economic changes to the entire planet, but the author, Marc Seifer, argues convincingly, I think, that Tesla -- a single person -- had more impact on those three than anyone else.

I Just Thought it Was Funny

It was the "Touch and Feel!" part that got me chuckling, but the exclamation mark that got me laughing out loud.

Halo 4 Review Coming Soon

My Halo 4 review is "in the can" as it were.

That means I have only to hit "Publish" and the review will be live. It's not a glowing review. In fact, the tone is quite negative all-round.

As is my habit after writing a review, I peruse the Metacritic and Gamerankings collection of reviews, both "professional" and amateur. Not so much to confirm my own thoughts but to gauge the reaction the review might receive, when put alongside these other reviews.

While the review doesn't dig a hole for the game like the one on Quarter to Three, it sure doesn't align with the early reviews from last week, which seem to trip over each other to heap praise on the game. There are things I like about Halo 4 but as you'll see in the review on ae-infinite.com this is definitely one of those games where I wasn't feeling it.

Game Design and The Number 3

I got so irritated with Halo 4 last night that I actually turned off the game. In a move that is definitely not restricted to the Halo series or the fine folks at 343 Industries, Cortana, the digital desire of nerdy fetishists the world over, informs Master Chief to disable 3 relays.

This after I'd just spent a chunk of time taking out three other things and disabling three force field installations.

Another "three directive" and I was out. It just struck me as utterly lazy and I turned off the game -- just pressed the power button and was done with it.

But thinking about it for a handful of minutes while brushed my teeth, the number 3 is endemic to games in general. Right back to Super Mario Bros. on the NES, which most everyone has played, as an example. World 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, then the castle level, "Our princess is in another castle," then onward.