Tell, don’t show.

It’s a little ridiculous that I’ve been writing on this blog for a few weeks now, but I haven’t really mentioned video games that much at all.  Maybe it’s because with the election in eight days, my thoughts are elsewhere.

However, I’ve been playing a lot of games lately.  I just haven’t been writing about them.

Dead Space is number one on my list at the moment.  I’m only about two hours or so into the game, but it’s shaping up to be pretty incredible.  They really get the atmosphere right, from the music cues whenever enemies appear to the in-game advertising for fictional products.

I do wonder what the focus group and playtesting data must have shown for the game, however.  Within the first few minutes, you’re told by no less than three different sources about OMG STRATEGIC DISMEMBERMENT.  It is a pretty fun concept, especially with weapons that do damage in a visible line.  But… I get it.  I need to shoot off limbs.  Thank you.

I don’t remember the exact sequence, but I’m pretty sure the first hint you get is a visual cue.  We’ll call this one…

GOOD:

"He wouldn't bother to carve 'aaaargh'..."

This is nice.  The top of the “C” in “cut” is thicker than the bottom, which gives a nice mental image of the guy sticking his hand in a fresh wound to get some blood-ink, and ending up with a lot more than he’d thought he’d get.  I’m not really sure why the author has two right hands, though.  Or why, if he was losing that much blood, he would bother to waste it on a possessive pronoun.  I think “CUT OFF LIMBS” gets the point across.  No need to get flowery.

BETTER:

Right around the time you see the WARNING WRITTEN IN BLOOD, you also receive an audio transmission from another survivor:

“Isaac — be careful.  Shooting them in the body didn’t seem to work.  Go for the limbs.  Dismember them.  That should do the job.”

It’s times like these that I wish we had reached the point in games where you could talk back to the characters.  ”‘Shoot for the limbs’, okay, I get it.  Did you not think I knew what ‘dismember’ meant?  I’m supposed to be controlling an electrical and mechanical engineer.”

As an aside, hats off to EA for naming the main character “Isaac”.  When I chose to name the main character in Space Siege ”Seth”, I met with resistance from the dev team.  I thought it was a great name for its “father of humanity” connotations, and because Seth Bullock was a badass.  But I got told that “Seth” was “too nerdy”, among other things.

In the end, it was the right decision — as was changing his last name to “Walker” from “Kendrick”.  That would have been bad.

I just wish we’d had the same inspiration when we named the main character in Unreal II – “John Dalton” isn’t exactly the most memorable appellation I’ve ever heard.

But yeah, “Isaac”.  Good show.  I hope that Matt’s wrong about why they named him “Isaac Clarke”, because that’s a little cheesy.  Still, it’s a good name nonetheless.  Also a good name?  ”Necromorphs”.  Punchy, and it sounds like something we’d actually call aliens.  We had a similar problem on Space Siege with our aliens — I originally called them “The Hunters”, since they were originally from the Beta Canum Venaticorum system… which is Latin for “Hunting Dog”.  Unfortunately, when I realized that Halo and Half-Life had already gotten there first, I had to change it.

Unfortunately, none of the replacements worked that well.  We eventually settled on “Kerak”, which every single actor initially mispronounced in the studio.  I’m still not sure how humanity figured out that they were called the Kerak, since they never communicated, but… I don’t want to go down that road.

Anyway, when I say “Tell, don’t show”, examples like this are what I mean.  The visuals are nice, but the audio communication gets the point across better, without being nearly as on-the-nose.

BEST:

There’s one other audio log that you find around the same time.  If this was the only clue, I think the experience would have been even stronger:

“This is Benson, Tram Engineering.  We think we’ve figured it out.  Smith killed one!  Listen — forget about shooting them in the body.  You gotta cut off the limbs.  Grab a cutter, anything like that.  Cut ‘em apart!”

Perfect.  Much more evocative than “Dismember them.”  And the guy’s plainly terrified, which sells the mood really well.  I’m not wild about “cut” being in there three times in eleven words, but that’s just nitpicking.

So yes.  More awesome audio logs, please.  System Shock 2 can’t be the undisputed king of audio logs forever.  Can it?

Now, back to using my upgraded plasma cutter to shoot off legs.

Paging Don Draper

So while browsing a clothing web site while looking for the last piece of my Halloween costume, I clicked on their “store locator” link.  And let me tell you, they had me with the first item in the bulleted list.

However, the list looked a little anemic, so I humbly submit my additions, free of charge.

Tangled in a Webb. On the back Burner. It’s a bomber.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that it all goes back to the Redskins. I am from Fairfax County, after all.

See, the greater metropolitan D.C. area is football crazy. It was always kind of shocking to me when I moved to San Francisco in ‘97 – I literally didn’t see a single 49ers bumper sticker the entire time I lived there. Granted, I only lived there for nine months, but that’s another story.

So yeah, the ‘Skins. When I was a kid, the head coach of the Washington Redskins was a guy named Joe Gibbs. Yes, the same Joe Gibbs who was brought back twenty years later to re-coach the team, and the same Joe Gibbs who believes “that electing John McCain and Sarah Palin will spark a return to God’s Word and a spiritual revival that will bring our nation together”. That Joe Gibbs.

Anyway, he was the coach when I was a kid. But when I was a toddler, the Redskins had another coach by the name of George Allen.

Now, you may have heard this name before. However, George Herbert Allen, NFL coach, passed away eighteen years ago. His son, George Felix Allen, became a United States Senator in 2001.

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Like most Democrats, I was unpleasantly surprised by the results of the 2004 elections. If I hadn’t been over at my then-girlfriend’s house on our second-ever date, I would have been even more depressed than I already was. I made a vow that I would be a lot more active in the next major election, which I assumed would be in 2008.

Boy, was I wrong.

I still remember the 2006 midterm elections very clearly.  I mean, who can ever forget an image like this:

While I was delighted to see Senator Man on Dog cruise to flaming defeat (so to speak) that year, I didn’t have anything to do with it personally.  After all, you don’t get into game development for the money, and I had to pick my battles.  Maria Cantwell wasn’t in any danger of losing to “Mike!” McGavick.  Seattle is pretty safe.  So what could I do to actually follow through on my vow from 2004?

Well, as you know, I was born and raised in Virginia — a state that hasn’t gone blue since LBJ (although recent signs point to the end of that streak).  So when I realized that the Democrats actually had a chance to make significant gains in the Senate in 2006, and that I could help to annihilate George Allen’s presidential hopes in the process… I put my money where my mouth is.  I donated to Jim Webb’s campaign.

And you know the rest.  Yes, that’s right.  Because of me, the Senate switched to Democratic control two years ago.  You’re welcome.

Of course, it’s not all wine and roses.  Webb has certainly had his good moments, but nobody’s perfect.  The Democratic-controlled Congress has been a pretty massive disappointment to almost everyone in the last two years, caving to President Bush far more often than they should have.  Even progressive darling Russ Feingold seems to have taken crazy pills.

But things are different now.  Obama’s lead in the polls is looking insurmountable.  The Democrats are poised to make big gains in the Senate, and a couple dozen more House seats.  I learned in 2004 to not get my hopes up too much, but at some point you have to acknowledge the reality of what’s happening.  We’re going to have a Democratic president in January.  We’re going to control at least 55 Senate seats, which will render Lieberman irrelevant and allow for some progress, finally.

So I’m choosing to focus a bit more close to home.  As I mentioned earlier, I’m in the 7th Congressional District of Washington state.  My district is pretty safely blue.  But just across the lake to the east is the 8th Congressional District — which has been held by a Republican since its creation back in 1982.  It went for both Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, but Dave Reichert has been outperforming its PVI in the last two elections.

We’ve heard a lot about hope and change in this election.  And while I do agree that Obama does occasionally make me feel hopeful, and while I believe that he’s going to change the way presidents do things, I’m saving a little hope that things are going to change in the 8th Congressional District.

That’s why I’m a strong supporter of Darcy Burner for Congress.  I was planning to donate to her campaign even before her house burned down back in July — she’s been one of the most exciting progressive voices in the country over the last few years, but she needs all the help she can get.

So we’ll see what happens.  I think we’re about ready for some good news.

And maybe, just maybe, on November 4, this is what we’ll hear:

It’s Obama.  It’s Obama.

(from Sadly, No)

Sunday night bedtime blogging

So I start a week-long freelance gig tomorrow morning. In about eight and a half hours, actually. But I can’t sleep yet, because I’ve been out of work for two months. During this time, even though I’m thirty-three years old, my sleep schedule has slipped more and more into the “night owl” realm.

So I’m awkwardly leaned over the side of the bed while I type on my iPhone,, so as not to wake my lady friend. Who is totally not snoring. Nope.

PLAYING: Hot Shots Golf 2 for the PSP. I’ve been playing golf video games since the original PGA Tour Golf for the Sega Genesis. This is the first one that I’ve really enjoyed playing since then.

Like most people, I’m waiting on Fallout 3 at the end of the month.

Oh, and of course, I’ve been playing the hell out of Rock Band 2. Meanwhile, Resident Evil 4 and Bully are sitting in their Gamefly sleeves.

WATCHING: “Veronica Mars”, season 1. I finally see what all the fuss is about.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, season 2. Ditto.

“Mad Men”, season 1. Same goes for this show. What interesting characters and well-written dialogue.

“Heroes”. Stop making the characters say the word “villain”. It sounds ridiculous.

“Fringe”. FINALLY had what I would call a “good” episode last week.

“House”. Completely wasting the momentum it built up with last season’s final two episodes. In danger of dropping off the “must watch” list.

“The Shield”. Walton Goggins is an amazing actor.

Jesus, I feel like I’m writing a Larry King column here.

LISTENING: Giant Bomb podcasts. Always interesting to see what the third pillar of the video game industry is thinking.

WANTING: To travel to Japan again. Seeing TGS coverage makes me want to get dazzled by Shinjuku all over again.

Well, VA is groggily muttering my name. I think the iGlow may be keeping her up. So I’m signing off. Tune in next week, mighty readership.