I’m still exploring the gameplay of this game which I like. I’m also waiting for the next more extensive PC patch. There are some curious elements to the Ego engine, or is it the quality of texturing and artwork ? There are occasional moments of brilliance. The water and sun-set effects are striking if a little simplistic. Some locations have presence and a sense of physicality but some of that is lost in muddy textures (did someone slip with the smudge tool?). Look at the knife. Why would a soldier own a knife that looks like it’s been sitting in the rain for the last few months ? As I said there are some curious design decisions as compared to Frontline: Fuel of War, Far Cry 2 or Battlefield 2. The textures in BF2 look far more sharp and well defined than they do in OFP2 and that was a game released four years ago.

If you examine the above screenshot then the game has an impressive view distance. Compare to the orginal OFP which uses fog to reduce CPU and video card strain.

Yet why are the shadows for the groups of trees left there ? Most games use sprites (flat billboard images for objects like trees, not models) to fill in these details at a distance. Where are they ? It’s like the programmer forgot the most fundamental advances in engine design !

The gameplay and vehicle feel is outstanding so far. Did Codemasters skimp in a few things because they spent too much time tweaking the gameplay dynamics ? Possibly. Overall I’m glad Codemasters decided to be so bold in their approach, maybe too bold as some parts of their vision are substandard, or clash with other parts. Time will tell. Patches may improve or change elements. Players may mod or produce interesting missions.

Borderlands Weapon

Examining this shotgun and noticing how Gearbox have put together the weapon generation system using a very clever interlocking model parts, performance stats and texture system, I remembered something from many years ago.

I used to draw weapons like this ! Many of these designs actually look like creations I made in the early 80’s. I wonder if I still have some of those old drawings somewhere.

“An unloved truth” as my BF2 Vietnam mod says … “is that the evil is also inside us”.

The Voyager episode Cold Fire examines this issue with Kes finding she has some dark impulses she knew nothing about. The Vulcan comforts her with “without the darkness, how would we recognise the light?”. And “the Vulcan heart was forged in brutality” … “to ignore and deny the darkness would give it an opportunity to escape”.

This is what has happened on Planet Earth. So sure are we that we are the good people. It’s always coming from somewhere else. Certain people I know cannot see the destruction and horror they have participated in. The darkness has been denied so it has escaped to rampage around raping and killing. This is what the film Forbidden Planet is about. The Scientist cannot see that the alien technology is manifesting his worst impulses. Do we want to end up lke this ? Destroying ourselves through our own technology ? Because we cannot grapple a balance in our own minds ?

Is anyone out there.

I’m still trying to keep up with this one.

Global Warming. “The Green Revolution”. New Labour will finance and encourage a green economy made up of softly purring wind farms and solar panels.

Then the “Financial Crisis” hits. The asset stripping begins and the rape of Rule Brittania continues. Billions to the banks. Tripple whiskies all round ! I hope our livers can hold out !

Now the wind farm factory in the Isle of White has been removed the Nuclear Industry can come sweeping in with multiple new power stations. We’ll even alter the planning laws for them to rush them through because “they will reduce CO2 emissions”. Hang on. I thought we were supposed to be increasing CO2 for your lucrative carbon trading markets. Oh ! I’m so confused.

Kinda reminds me of the gang rape of my family. A toxic mix of psychiatry, pharmaceutical companies, corrupt Doctors and socio-political experiments gone wrong. Is it lke this to live in Columbia or Gaza ? Maybe they get more peace than here.

Well, fuck em. Fuck you you selfish rich bastards and your self-serving selfish ways. You’ve lost hands down. You don’t understand Love. You don’t understand people. You are a corrupt, crass minority who’s time is over.

Dammit, there is something here …

A central assumption behind psychiatric diagnoses is that a disease has an objective existence in the world, whether discovered or not, and exists independently of the gaze of psychiatrists or anyone else. In other words, neolithic people had post-traumatic stress disorder as have people in all epochs since. However, the story of post-traumatic stress disorder is a telling example of the role of society and politics in the process of invention rather than discovery.

The diagnosis is a legacy of the American war in Vietnam and is a product of the post-war fortunes of the conscripted men who served there. They came home to find that they were being blamed for the war. Epithets like “babykiller” and “psychopath” were thrown at them by some who had watched on television the US military’s atrocities against defenceless peasants. This reception was a primary factor in the well publicised difficultiessuch as antisocial behaviourthat some military personnel had in readjusting to their peacetime roles.

( Source )

The Psychiatrist in his mainstream unrepentant form far from decrying the Vietnam war as unjust makes the Vietnam vet into an unseen figure. This is Rambo mistreated and pushed over the edge until he snaps. Of course picking up the gun is wrong but are we stupid enough to realise why some people do that ?

Far from being a passive act on the part of the Psychiatrist we have a very strong passive-aggressive stance by them using terms like PTSD. In fact far from being passive their acts are highly politicised. In fact they are right in there with the military-industrial complex. This is why ECT was first used on Soldiers after the First World War.

This is soulless. This is the Jackal in Dogon Mythology. An experiment gone horribly wrong. Is the solution there in our world myths ? I think it is. We are led to believe that these horrific acts are banal or just “human nature”. This is the central lie in my opinion. That there is supposed to be no solution. There are answers and if I don’t find them someone else will.

What is it about parts of our modern film and game industries ? Why have they become so obsessed by effects ? While I’m playing a video game I don’t want to be going “amazing models”, or “amazing effects”. I’m so supposed to be so whisked off by storyline and immersion that I don’t know what the fuck is going on !

The same with films. I should not be sat there going “amazing effect”, or “amazing CGI”. I should be whisked off by the narration, the acting and general quality of production. I should not even be aware that I’m sat in a cinema any more so fused with the film I should be ! The same with a game. Look at Quake II, or some other early’ish game creations. They are involving and take you away from this universe into another, just as a good book should do. The engine technology is irrelevant in many ways. We’re in the territory here of pure artistic creation. A gun should feel dangerous. Like it can really kill and hurt and not be some jumping model pumping out effects. Far Cry 2 certainly has achieved much in this area. The lighting model in it is exquisite, but I only noticed that after comparing with a few other games. Actually, in game you don’t notice it. You are just there. The landscape and foliage are set up properly and are artistic. There’s no need for the latest engine technology or shaders, it just works at a level of quality production. This is where Crysis failed on a major level for me. It feels amazing when you run it but it leaves nothing behind. It’s just a sort of plastic experience .. a lot like some of those over blown effects driven movies.

So what’s going on here ? Have we fallen in love too much with the technology ? Partly it’s the commercialisation of Nvidia and EA amongst other companies. They have brainwashed many people into thinking that games are defined by polygon counts and the latest 3D acceleration hardware. So much so that some companies are led into developing, not for storyline or artwork, but in a way that is geared towards being able to quote impressive sounding polygon counts or DX shaders. Seem familiar ? It should do. It sounds a lot like the push in Hollywood towards render farms, digital cameras and even digital actors. Sad really. All it will create is plastic disposable entertainment that is barely enough to provide a quick distraction on a Saturday night.

I think it’s worth remembering that computers are only a tool, not and end in themselves. They are there only to help an artistic experience .. they are not the experience itself.

Downfall. It was the Führer’s birthday. 20th April 1945. In ten days they would commit suicide as Berlin fell around them.

“Mein Fuhrer! The plans to be put into action after your death have been completed!”

“Ja, ja. Das ist gut. Those bohemian fuckers will never forget me! They will believe we fell for forever in this bunker mein commandant !”

Hitler signs the documents.

“Achtung! Herr secretary! Take these signed papers to the I G Farben bunker at once ! Sargent ! Provide an escort !”

So it was that the terrible research that would soon be revealed at the Nuremberg Trials was put into action in a plan missed in the chaos of those days. The world would soon be plunged into a Cold War. There was no time to investigate the post war plans of a dying and dead regime.

<Change of scene to the modern day>

The chemist signed off the last batch of drugs ready for delivery from the new Pharmaceutical factory. It was late and it had been a long day. He said goodnight to his secretary and wandered out to the company car park. He always parked under some trees to keep his car cool. As he fumbled for the key a shadowy figure emerged confidently from the foliage. Oddly he felt no fear despite the recent spate of muggings in the area.

“Hello?”

“You are Doctor Flieschieg ?”

“Yes, what do you want?”

He tensed slightly expecting some kind of attack.

“I am from an organisation. We have some information that you must hear. It is of the highest importance.”

He relaxed. This was no mugging.

“Come. Sit in my car. People will wonder what I am doing speaking to you here.”

“Hello, my name is John. Our organisation is called Friedens Richter. We believe you may be receptive to this information.”

“You have been monitoring me?”

“Your blog ?”

“Oh, that.”

The figure called John (what is this?!) reaches into his coat and removes a small folder.

“These documents contain proof of who we are. We retain strict confidentiality at all times. We will never mention your name. In it you will find the most explicit evidence of what your company is really involved in. We are not a vindictive organisation Dr Flieschieg. We believe in the best in people. They are only misguided. Thankyou for your time.”

Before he could say anything, the figure called John had left, closing the car door softly behind him.

He looked at the folder with an odd feeling of deja vu and forboding. It was time to return home to his wife. This had been an odd sort of evening.

The comedian Bill Hicks called Great Britain a “socialist nightmare” and, 15 years later, I think I’m realising what he meant by those words.

Everything is done for us. If there is a problem the Police are called. Health problem. Doctor or Ambulance. Money problem. Bank. Clothes. BHS. Moral problem ? Self help books. Problem with the mind ? Mental hospital. The entire thing is geared towards a top down approach to treating citizens like naughty children who can’t be trusted to work things out between themselves. A lot like some former East European Soviet satellite state.

Is this why so many people seem so disempowered ? Boring ? Half freakin’ dead ? If I went out onto the street banging a pan shouting about the injustices going on in my society someone would call the police and I would be dragged away ! In South America and other countries people are much more used to getting together and doing things for themselves. The last time this happened here was in the Blitz, over 60 years ago ! Maybe Great Britain will be the last place the revolution that is sweeping this planet will reach. Until then “patient groups” will campaign for cheaper drugs from an NHS that fails to treat most treatable diseases having been sold out years ago to pharmaceutical companies (everyone already knows this I suspect despite the stony silence to such observations).

Our soldiers will continue to be sacrificed in foreign wars that go unexplained. Maybe there is no explanation for them. No convenient conspiracy theory or corrupt minister, just a lot of receipts from the arms insdustry that this country seems to romance .. a bit like The Jackal in Far Cry 2.

Mental patients will continue to be frog marched off to their deaths from “suicides” (read: the drugs killed them) because anyone with a problem must have things done for them, not by the actual society they live in. So apart from the odd kind lady bringing around a casserole for that poor familiy down the street going through a crisis. That will be all you get ! If you can’t survive the social darwinism, then tough. You should have got the state to help you anyway. So like those people from the former East Germany risking their lives going across the East/West wall people trying to escape this crap have become “corrupted by Western decadence” and obviously can’t see the wonderful life that East Germany can make for them.

People will continue to have a great time ! Shopping in their town centers full of commercial messages and mixed advertising telling everyone what a wonderful consumer society they live in. Our schools will continue to be geared towards “careers” rather than telling people what they are … Gods exploring the Galaxy. Unless they are lucky enough to work it out for themselves .. otherwise it’s a life of “careers” and possibly even drugs for you.

The country will continue to fail to notice that the rest of the world is changing around it, making the ultimate solipsistic error of mistaking self for world.

Yes, sometimes I worry about Little England. Will they be able to take it ? Actually I think they will be able to. Once the myth of that “anarchy and chaos” outside of “government control” fades away like a mirage in the desert, then they will find that people power can easily replace “government”. I don’t know what form it would take exactly but isn’t that what makes this fun ?

An old lady comes to the Doctor. She has partial facial paralysis and exhibits unusual movements of her face and tongue. The Doctor diagnoses a blood clot in the brain – a stroke - and refers her for rehab treatment.

Next patient !

A patient on “Treatment X” (a psych drug) walks into the Doctors office. She exhibits partial facial paralysis and unsual movements of the tongue and face. The Doctor diagnoses “side effects” and reduces the dosage and considers swapping to another “Treatment X” drug with sundrie “side effects”.

Duh.

How dumb is this ?