Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

E3 is out again. And they have new trailers, and stuff.

And they start with .... Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

I'm sorry, call me cynical, call me borderline depressed, but is it just me, or does this feel like "Hey! Let's steal concepts from the past ten years of gaming to make a game that could have felt fresh about five years ago?"

No, seriously, they're stealing from Rogue One (Forrest Whittaker), the wall-walking of Titanfall, the platforming of the current Tomb Raider franchise, all to have another "this Jedi didn't die."

And I see Microsoft's name all over it. Yup. This isn't a winner by my lights.

But it looks shiny.... is this supposed to be a system seller?

The answer is no -- it's also available on PS4.

And it's also brought to you by EA. Expect this to be 4 hours of gameplay, and 12 hours of DLC and endless hours of multiplayer.

So you don't feel deprived, here, have some gameplay footage. It'll probably be all the entertainment value you're going to get from this.  There you'l get to see that they stole finishers from the Shadow of Mordor series, too.

Rating: Buy it used from somewhere other than Gamestop.

One last note: "A jedi, this is what I've trained for"? The Jedi are supposed to be dead. Why would you train for this?

Here, have something less depressing than the last echos of a dead franchise.

Either: Take a look at a real superhero.

Or

 Contribute to something fresh and new -- take a look at our Dragon Awards Discussion.

Review: Tomb Raider

Bland rocks vs artistic temple
Sums up the different in a nutshell.

This will actually be a dual review. In large part because the film is trash. Garbage. I have never in my entire life walked out of a movie before. The only reason I didn't walk out of this one and into Death Wish down the hall is that my fiancee wanted to see the end of the movie.

Let's get this straight: Tomb Raider (2013) was a magnificent game with a beautifully crafted story, well-developed and rendered setting, and had depth of plot and character that I will set as a standard against other movies. Not other games. Films.

Yes, it is that good. If you don't believe me, play the game. If you don't feel the same way after you leap from the top of a burning temple, into a helicopter, seconds before the temple explodes .... then you're just lying.

Now, I know what you're going to say. "But, Declan! A film can't jam 10 hours of gameplay into a two-hour movie."


Excuse me, but Tony Stark had a character arc and growth in Spiderman Homecoming, and he was barely on screen for 5-10 minutes. Don't tell me that two hours of screen time isn't enough for a character arc of your protagonist.

Which brings me to the film, Tomb Raider, starring Alicia Vikander.

In the video game, we start on the mysterious island of Yamatai, home of the Sun Queen, Himiko, a legendary empress of a long-deceased nation in the Pacific that makes the Bermuda Triangle look like a theme park. Why? Because Lara is a newly-graduated archaeology student, and she's assembled a team to go in search of the island. That's it. That's the motivation.

Get used to this view of Lara.
She spends a lot of the film like this.

In the film, we spend at least half of the movie just getting to the island, with no fewer than two gratuitous chase scenes ... a lot of talking at one another... and instead of Lara doing all of the research herself, showing off that she's a bright woman with a future ahead of her .... she's merely following in the footsteps of her father. She's not doing any of the heavy intellectual lifting, and it's fairly boring to watch her plod along.

Because that's what we expect from a Tomb Raider movie -- Lara Croft, running through paperwork, audio tapes, camcorder footage, and dusty offices in her family's mansion... which, come to think of it, was DLC, not the main campaign. Why have her running through tombs, or pretending like she actually knows her ass from a whole in the ground.

Good God, man, Angelina Jolie did a better job.

Oh, and of course, Lara's an MMA fighter, because of course she is. Let's check box all of the "Strong Female Character" tropes needed in the movie .... but yet, somehow, the film infantilizes Lara by making her unable to take charge of her own damn life (oh, she's the heir to a billion-dollar Croft empire, but she works as a courier because she won't touch a dime of Daddy's money because "I can't believe he's dead." Sigh).

Also, she gets her ass kicked in the fight. Because that's how a badass rolls.

Ow, I hurt my eyes with that roll.

Oh, and the flashbacks. So many flashbacks. You know what? I don't care how she grew up. There was exactly one flashback that added anything.... and you have to believe that, just because Lara had some training with a bow and arrow when she was 12, she can hit what she aims for over 20 years later.

And then, an hour in, we finally get to the freaking island of Yamatai, the thing they focus on in every muthaf**king trailer.

In the game, they very subtly hint that Yamatai is haunted by supernatural dealings. The boat Lara's team arrives on is taken out by a horrible storm that tears the ship in half. It is a gloriously rendered sequence, taught with tension. And this is the first few minutes of the game, where you don't know any of the characters, and you barely even know Lara -- technically we don't even know Lara, especially in this version / reboot of the franchise. It is tense, gripping, and makes your pulse race just watching it. It's pure Indiana Jones.

In Tomb Raider, 2018, the ship is a rust bucket that's sunk because Lara browbeats some poor drunken schmuck into trying to find their fathers, because both of their parents were lost trying to find Yamatai. (Coincidence!!!!!)

I will give the film props for at least trying to get the same cinematic feel as the game. Except that, even though we're an hour in, I don't feel any connection to the two characters who are supposed to be at risk in this situation.

A lot of this film from here is paint-by numbers.

Tomb Raider (2013) has Lara crashed on Yamatai, and immediately kidnapped by insane cultists. We eventually learn they believe that Himiko lives, and that the Sun Queen will never let them go unless they find a sacrifice that will make her happy.

Tomb Raider (2018) has Lara land on Yamatai ... and she encounters an evvviiilll organization who is evil for the sake of being evil, led by a sad man who is running an archaeological dig at gunpoint by his shadowy bosses. They want to find Himiko because of her "powers," that she could kill by touch.

Tomb Raider (2013): Lara escapes and begins a desperate journey of survival, collecting weapons, learning to kill, in order to saves her friends. She goes from apologizing to a deer she kills for food, to killing a cultist, to eventually becoming a badass with an array of weapons and eventually goes on to cut through over 400 gun toting lunatics..

Tomb Raider (2018): Lara escapes, gets dropped off of a cliff, wounded, and kills a man three times her size with her bare hands without so much as a whimper on her part (despite having been run through the abdomen with a bit of tree branch). There are a collection of slaves on the island that we don't know and have no connection to, and I don't think even the protagonist cares.

She then trips over her father, who is alive, has been on the island for years trying to prevent our villains from making progress. And "It's a good thing I told you to burn my notes, otherwise they could use them" ... I think I liked it better when Sean Connery said it in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as "Why did you think I sent you my diary? So it wouldn't fall into their hands! I should have sent it to the Marx Brothers." Our hero's father is kidnapped by the bad guys, and they threaten to kill him unless our hero does their bidding; at which point, she navigates through a series of booby traps, where the floor falls out from underneath their feet and "In the Latin alphabet, Jehovah begins with an I."

Did I mention paint by numbers?

... Lara kills a few people with a bow and arrow, because guns are bad? I guess?

It is also LAUGHABLE to see Alicia Vikander threaten a helicopter with a bow and arrow.

SPOILERS (game and film)

Tomb Raider (2013): The ghost of Himiko is real. Not only is she a witch who can control the weather, but she is an evil monstrosity that leaps from body to body. She's been trapped in a corpse for centuries, and the cult that runs the island wants to give Himiko one of Lara's friends as a fresh body.

Tomb Raider (2018): Himiko was just so misunderstood. She was a Typhoid Mary whose touch was death, and she sealed her corpse away behind all of these booby traps because she cared just so much....  yet couldn't be bothered to arrange for her body to be burned? What? Even Europe figured out that the Black Death could be destroyed by fire.

Tomb Raider (2013): The final battle is Lara cutting a swath through monsters and beasts and cultists using an array of guns, grenades, fire bombs, as well as a bow and arrow. She has learned to survive in a brutal environment.

Tomb Raider (2018): Lara takes on a guy about a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier in hand-to-hand combat, using skills she had at the opening of the film. No evolution happens. I would say this film was made by Anita Sarkeesian, but our heroine is attractive.

Tomb Raider (2013): Lara has learned that the supernatural is real. Her father wasn't crazy when he talked about legends being real. Because legends are real and they just tried to murder her.

It's time for her to go out and fight legends, and prove her father's legacy, as well as start her own.

Tomb Raider (2018): Lara knows that her father is dead, and he was totally insane for believing in the supernatural. But there's this evil organization out there that she is going to personally hunt down and destroy, setting up a sequel that will not happen, because no one signed the actress to a three-movie deal, and she's already moved on.

I can only imagine how the script writing worked for this film.

HEY! I KNOW!  Let's take this AWESOME, truly cinematic game about Lara Croft's survival on a mysterious island, haunted by the ghost of a witch, and witness Lara's growth from a timid, scared college girl into a woman hardened by circumstances as she uses multiple guns and weapons to cut through legions of insane cultists. ..... 

And then make a movie about Strong Female Character wood carving #3, that spends most of her time getting to a bland island, overrun with cardboard cutouts, so they can get their hands on a glorified biological weapon, and then take EVERY SINGLE PLOT POINT from Indiana Jones at the Last Crusade.

Gee, I wonder why "video game movies make no money."

They made a thrilling, gripping game with character depth into a bland, boring, aggravating exercise in naval gazing. They made Lara a "strong female character who needs no one," losing all of her evolution in the game, giving her almost no character development in the film. Her only super power is "solves puzzles and wins fights for no reason."

I'm not even saying "They didn't mimic the game perfectly." I'm saying that there was NO CHARACTER EVOLUTION OR DEVELOPMENT AT ALL.  But then again, it would help if she had a character to start with.

And you know what? The marketing people knew this movie was going to suck. They knew it. Because none of the trailers, none of the behind the scenes interviews, none of them focused on the entire first half of the movie. They all focused on the Yamatai sequences, and the handful of images and set pieces that mimicked the best parts of the game.

I actually liked Vikander. I don't like how she was written, but she definitely put an effort into being Lara Croft. She put more effort into being Lara than the writers put into the script.

Oh, and the visual design people. You know they played the game. The makeup, the wardrobe. Any side-by-side comparison shows you that the visual design people did their damnedest to make Alicia Vikander look like Lara Croft. You want effort, it's here.

There were obviously a lot of people who worked their hearts out trying to make this film look awesome.

But the writing team?

And yes, it was a team. Three people developed the script. Two people worked on the story. Two people worked on the scrip. Only one person worked on both. Oh, and that one person who worked on both? She wrote the screenplay for Marvel's upcoming Captain Marvel film, a D&D movie, and Sony's Silver & Black film for Silver Sable and Black Cat. Because Womyn.

Oh, yeah, and this woman, Geneva Robertson-Dworet? This was her first writing credit, and yet she's already part of another major franchise. Who is this woman, and who did she have to blackmail to be put on this film?

And the director is ... Norwegian. That's it. That's his claim to fame.

I hated this movie. At this point, you can make a better investment paying $10 for a used copy of the video game for Playstation or Xbox.

Film rating: 2/10

Honor at Stake & Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

#E32018: #NintendoE3

We open the last presentation of #E3 with ... a game rating? Are you seriously going to have a film that isn't perfect for children of all ages? Huh.

Daemon X Machina ... Mechs and lightsabers?  Huh. Okay.

Then next is ... what the heck? Umm... did someone get a new art director for Final Fantasy?

Xenoblade Chronicles 2? I knew that some of those voice actors sounded familiar.

Apparently, some Pokemon game. A Super Mario Party game.

Another Anime game.... Fire Emblem: Three Houses?  I heard good things about Fire Emblem.

And it's apparently a strategy game..

A few indie games, like Hollow Knight. Minecraft, Mario and Rabbit? Dragon Ball Z. A Crash Bandicoot Nintendo version? Hmm. Okay. Some Fallout and Dark Souls. Wolfenstein 2... I guess they really want all the money all those other games are making. 

Then there's more Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate, now with a few hundred characters... okay, only every character they've ever had. Literally.

And that's it. Huh. That's odd. I would have expected more in depth reveals.

Oh well.

If you're not interested in this, then you might want to try these books instead.

Honor at Stake & Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

#E32018: #UbiE3, #PlaystationE3

I continue to look at this week's E3. First, I want to finish looking at UbiSoft's presentation....

I didn't get through all of For Honor .... they still seem to lack a story, in favor of gameplay.... and they want to convince us that people wearing Crusader-level armor includes ... women.

Sigh. You know what people? I play Tomb Raider and don't have a problem with certain level's of "kick-ass kick" (99% of that gameplay is shooting, anyway), but do you people even understand how heavy medieval armor is? And they're not even using chainmail. They're using plate mail. Do you know how heavy that is? Are you kidding?

I'm not even going to be bothered with putting up that trailer.

Next is...Well, this looks very much like we're doing Greek mythology ...

Oh, wait, it's another flipping Assassin's Creed game.  Screw this. I'm out.

And yes, it looks beautiful. but I gave up on this POS series after a fistfight with a Pope in Saint Peter's for a plot point that wasn't about the main plot of the game, but the "overarching" subplot that's the weakest point in the whole series. We won't even go into history so terrible that Dan Brown is going "WTF?"

Okay, to heck with this. Ubisoft just fed a lot of time to Assassin's Creed. That was a waste of time.

On to Playstation. Let's see what they're doing.

They're going to open with The Last of Us 2.

They made the entire opening trailer that added nothing to our knowledge of the game except for "Ellie's gay now"?  Really? While I don't object, given what we know of her history from the DLC ... they dedicated an entire trailer to that? Really?

The really worrisome part of this is that I'm getting a distinctively Walking Dead vibe from the setting ... what very little I'm getting of the setting, because a quarter of this trailer is dedicated to setting up the "Ellie's gay now" stuff.

... And then she's stabbing someone in the neck. Well, that was a tonal shift designed to give me whiplash.

Why does this feel like they've decided to make Ellie even more vicious than Lara Croft? Do they really have Tomb Raider envy that bad? I'll grant that she spends most of her time dodging and running, but as far as continuing the story -- which was the most important part of The Last of Us part 1 -- this is fairly disappointing.

Next up a few teasers that barely even tell me what the games are. Something that is obviously Destiny 2 oriented.... I guess they couldn't afford Nathan Fillion to come back.

Then there's Ghost of Tsushima

What is this? Kurasawa directing a Batman Arkham game? Not that I'm objecting to that or anything...

A teaser for something called Control. Coming out in 2019. You'd think they'd have more content for it if it were coming that soon.

.... What is this? Mouse simulator 200?

No. It's apparently another Resident Evil game. A Resident Evil 2 remake. In January of 2019?

And, finally, Kingdom Hearts 3 ...

And we're going back to the Pirates universe, acknowledging the next chapters of that terrible franchise (seriously, how did it get past movie #3?). They, too, have gone the Black Flag pirate simulator route.

The graphics have become borderline photo-realistic with the live action actors.

The other day, I thought they were cutting back on the Disney worlds in their game. Apparently, I was mistaken, with Pirates, and Toy Story, and Wreck-it-Ralph, and Frozen, and Tangled, Monster's Inc., etc.  Oh well. At least they look like they're going to wrap-p some of their own mythology.

January, 2019.

And then, from Hideo Kojima ... a really beautiful game that seems to make no sense at all.

I think this is some sort of survival stealth horror?

Anyway, there is also Nioh 2, which looks like Samurai Dark Souls.

And then, there's ... Spider Man.

The game play looks very much like Spider Man Arkham Asylum with some DMC beat 'em up. And I'm good with that. Heck, they even start with a prison break at the Raft, using a plot point in New Avengers #1.

Cinematics look good, gameplay looks good. Costume .... looks stupid, but I'm sure there's a skin for that.

And that's the end of the Playstation conference.

Honor at Stake & Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

#E32018: #UbiE3, part 1

My continuing coverage of E3 this year moves on with UbiSoft at E3. Ubi is known for Assassin's Creed, every game with Tom Clancy's name on it, Prince of Persia, and even the lackluster Watch Dogs.

... WTF? Was someone on drugs during this presentation? Because the opening act in the panda bear outside and the marching band ... huh?

Anyway, the first game looks like ... Hoth?  Hmm. I'm guessing it's the sequel to Beyond Good and Evil from ... many moons ago. Funny, I have some vague recollection of that game being set in a more tropical setting.

While I have no horse in this race, I will say that it looks far more interesting than the original game did...

And for some reason, the protagonist from the first game appears to be the villain of the sequel? Huh.

......... and the people on stage inform us that this is a prequel. Okay.

Let's see ... Rainbow 6: Siege contests. Racing games.

Sigh. And we're back to The Division 2. The Graphics are okay. Though "The Government Agency is going to save you" feels a lot less realistic than it's supposed to.

They're promising a story. But they also want to talk about American dictators.

Skull and Bones is coming, at long last. It was announced a while ago.

They're billing this as "There are no heroes" in this game.

It's almost as though they decided to make Assassin's Creed: Black Flag boating sections into a full game.

Transference seems to be a mystery- horror game backed by a video game company owned by ... Elijah Wood.  Who knew?

Well, this looks ... creepy.

And then there's ... Star Link

Starring ... Star Fox? I know it's called Star Link, but it's a furry at the helm of a space fighter.

Also, more "For Honor."  Eh. They couldn't get me interested the first time.

I have to get going, and UbiSoft is doing a two hour presentation, apparently. So, more later.

Honor at Stake & Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

E3 2018: Bethesda

Next up on today's agenda: E3's Bethesda studios conference. The people who brought you a lot of RPGs, as well as the new Doom and Wolfenstein games.

Rage 2 ... more freaking dystopias. Okay. That's it. Now, they're all just starting to blur. In the gameplay footage, it looks even more like a Mad Max movie.

Sigh ... more Elder Scrolls online. I'm bored now.

An announcement trailer for Doom: Eternal ... which tells me nothing about the story, but shows off some nice graphics.

Quake ... again... sigh.

Prey? Again? The first game didn't work. The second game I heard no reviews of. Now, there's another.

.... And yet another Wolfenstein game: Youngblood. Set in 80s Paris. It'll be co-op. That's about the extent of the trailer, too.

They talked more about Fallout 76. Again, it looks okay.

Now with more nukes.

Also, they're releasing a BETA: "Break it Early Test Application."

Coming in November

.... And if you still have no horse in this race because you'd rather read than play games, have my novels.

Honor at Stake &Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

E3 2018: Microsoft

For those of you who remember, whenever the video game conference E3 comes around, I make it a point to look at what's coming.

Only this year, they decided to start E3 ON SATURDAY.  The bastards

There's Anthem ... which really looks like a combination of Titanfall and Destiny. I'm not sure that any of it is interesting enough to entice me for it it comes out in February.

Crackdown 3 ... does anyone care by now? Aside from Terry Crews chewing the scenery? They've only been piming this thing since ... I can't even keep track.

Sigh. Anyway, Microsoft started with an amazingly lackluster Halo: Infinity announcement trailer. And let's face it, that's all it was. An announcement...

And yes, this is lackluster to a guy for whom Halo actually brought me back into gaming.

We were then lectured for what felt like an hour (longest three minutes ever) and "artisans" (sigh).

And then there's Ori and the Will o the Wisps

I'll admit, this looks cute. It's the most impressive side scroller ever. I like the artwork and visual design. Though really what carries this is the music.

Then we had a trailer for Sekiro Shadows Die Twice

Holy ... well, they have some nice fire graphics. To be honest, this first trailer that makes me think "Wow, I might want to try this." Then again, it has gameplay.

On the one hand, this looks like a cross between Onimusha (which was an awesome game with a strong story) and Dark Souls (which was dark as hell for no story).

On the other hand, this looks an awful like like another game, Ghosts of Tsushima.

Let's see, more Fallout 4 updates, again.

Fallout 76 ... a prequel? Supposedly 4x the size of Fallout 4. Set in West Virginia.

Graphics are nice. But then again, at this date, they better be flipping photo realistic....

Then again, my first Fallout game is my only game thus far. Fallout 3 was just that inspiring.

Captain Spirit is... cute. From the same people who did Life is Strange, so that be entertaining.  No, I don't see that the trailer is worth sharing, really.

Metro Exodus ...

While I like the graphics, in an in-game engine. this looks too much like a Fallout setting with Wolfenstein: the New Order gameplay, all with a Russian accent.

And Kingdom Hearts 3 ... on Xbox?

Is it just me or are the voices off? Especially on Sora?

Anyway, the visuals are pretty nice. And obviously, they're doing their darnest to jam in as many Disney properties as possible. Also, a little too much Frozen-esque music, and too little feel that this is a Kingdom Hearts game. One of the nice things with the KH series is that it felt like it's own thing, with a layer of Disney on top. I had actually considered that KH3 could do without Disney, and just use the lore they already have.

Obviously, someone insisted MUST BE MAOR DISNEY.

Then again, I've only seen four Disney properties total around KH3 (Frozen, Monsters Inc, Tangled and Toy Story), which is a lot less than I recall in the other games.

Sigh.... They have a Sea of Theives expansion. How nice. They may even have a story this time. Are they going to admit that the initial release was just a beta that they wanted to test out first? Also, why does it look like that Pirates of the Caribbean is sailing into Mordor?

And then there's an EA game.  It looks nice. It's in Japanese for some reason ... eh, it's Battlefield V, and it's only there fore a few seconds.  Sorry, but EA has burned through most of my goodwill a while ago, and I've been waiting on Battlefield: Bad Company III for years now.

Forza Horizon $ ... Nice graphics. Nice cars. Cute trailer. About it.

And then there's this....

Why does it look like Bioshock's latest dystopia is being run by the Joker? Let's see, it's in the British isles, and emotions you can take in a pill. Sounds like a Doctor Who episode.

Is anyone else suffering from Dystopia burnout?

Let's see, there's another commercial for glorified MMO shooter Battlegrounds.  Again, eh.

Am I the only one decidedly unimpressed by some of these reveals? Or am I just cranky.

Tales of Vesperia ... hey, someone tell Jon that we have his next year's Dragon Award video game. It looks nice. But I think you're supposed to know what's going on to understand anything.

Then there's this ... I could tell what it was going in. The Division 2.

Oh look. they may have plot this time.

But no thanks. I don't think so. Fool me once .... well, they tried, but didn't succeed. And IT'S STILL AN MMO.  I don't want another MMO. I would like a plot please.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

... Oops. It looks like Lara just started the end of the world by accident.

It also looks amazing.

And ... Devil May Cry? 5? So they're not doing the reboot? Or are they? I can't tell  Because their reboot was simply Devil May Cry.

And ... is that the brunette from DMC3? Because I don't remember her being Southern.

Okay, I'm a little confused....

Okay, according to the rest of the conference, this is actually a sequel to DMC4.

About time.

And ... an Anime based video game called Jump Force. With Dragonball Z and .... Death Note?

Jump Force ... huh.

Let's see, a Dying Light 2 trailer that makes me even less interested than in the first game. Meh.

And... what the hell? Battletoads? They're bringing back Battletoads? I wasn't even that good at the first game, and I'm getting Nostalgia flashbacks.

Just Cause 4 ... [shrug]. Part of the problem I have is that this looks like a dozen different games, and our hero is so visibly interchangable with every other action hero trope, I have no interest.

ANOTHER GEARS OF WAR GAME? Geez. Aren't they done with this series yet? And mobile? AND a tactics game?

And Cyberpunk 2077 .... apparently, it's coming eventually. But no, this isn't grabbing me as much as the previous trailer. Sorry guys.

So, there are four of five games here that have actually caught my attention. We'll see how well they develop.

.... And if you have no horse in this race because you'd rather read than play games, have my novels.

Honor at Stake & Demons are Forever

The Dragons are coming.

If you don't have your ballot filled out already (either IRL or in your head,) here's my list. It includes the lists of other people, so there are options.

Just remember to vote.

Video Games: The Latest Scapegoat

There they go again.

Every time there is a shooting under the age of 25 (sometimes even older), there is a cycle to the pattern of blame.

Blame the NRA: They don't even sell guns, and have been adding suggestions to "gun safety" for as long as I've been alive.

Blame Republicans: Because "They haven't done anything about guns." Ignore that all of the shootings happen in gun free zones, and more laws won't stop anybody who is already committed to a spree killing.

Blame Video Games. "Because Video games are violent."

Oh please. These are the people who will usually never blame the shooter. They will never blame the pharmaceuticals that the shooter is on or should have been on. They will never blame the permissive environment created by public schools that allow bullies to torture the freaks / nerds / geeks / outsiders without any recourse. They'll blame guns, they'll blame Republicans, then they'll eventually blame video games.

This is getting to the point where I should put together a "shooting press pack," starting with all of the arguments against all of the usual stupidity, and just repost it on the blog every time someone mouths off.

Even without a shooting, every few years (or every few months, depending), there is someone out there who spends a lot of time and energy trying the place the blame of the world’s ills on video games.  Right now it's President Trump and Matt Walsh, two people who I usually haven't disagreed with.

But now it's back. “Oh no! Video games are violent and will warp the brains of poor little children! We must ban / control / destroy them!”  Didn’t you hear? “Studies show” that video games turn your kids into werewolves, or some such nonsense. I suspect these are the same people who declared that “90% of Catholic women use contraceptives!”

If you believe either, I’ve got a Bridge in Brooklyn to sell you if you like.

If one were to believe this incredibly stupid theory, I should be a mass murderer. I have been killing turtles with fireballs since I was eight-years-old and the game was Super Mario Brothers. The amount of aliens I’ve slaughtered in Halo easily number in the hundreds, if not the thousands. Mysteriously, I manage to go to Mass every Sunday and eight holy days a year, and other strange and abhorrent things in this society – like believe most, if not all, of your standard Baltimore Catechism (I put in “most“ because I skimmed it a little).

Now there are modern games that deal with much more mature themes.  The premise of the Hitman series is obvious by the title, but they are mostly a matter of, well, murder puzzles. Think of it as playing through an episode of Columbo from the murderer’s perspective.  I’ve played it, using it mostly as a thought exercise before I go back to writing.

The Mass Effect series is one that combines an epic storyline (violence) with the option for a love story (sex), but with surprising amount of character thrown in for fun. For the most part, that last bit is the real fun for players.

Mass Effect — an epic science fiction choose-your-own adventure where your morals are your character’s morals.
My body count? 300,000. I’m still sane. Ish.

It is, at its core, amoral when it comes to the romantic aspects – in this case, it’s a moral as you allow it to be. That actually caused a bit of a stir a while ago, with religious groups condemning the game for allowing same-sex relationships.  The response from the game designers was simple: If you don’t like that option, don’t play that option, have a nice day. The entire premise behind the series is that the whole universe is dictated by the player’s actions, where you can show apathy, interest, or utter disdain.

Are there video games that are too violent? Sure. Look at a recent Mortal Kombat game, if you have a strong stomach and don’t mind people being decapitated or cut in half. But I’m not that big into horror movies either. Are there games that focus too much on sex? I’ve heard that they exist, but I think they’re only available in Japanese.

They’re just video games. They are what you make of them – and if you don’t like the content, don’t buy them. They're, as a whole morally neutral, they are what you make of them, and the violent, profanity-ridden video games are clearly labeled for your protection. Now please shut up and let me violently murder these alien hordes, okay? Thanks.

But there are always, ALWAYS two objections from the knee-jerk cliché department. “Well, I played video games and there are no positives. It makes you anti-social.”

And where we are now: “video games are a prevalent factor in mass shootings” argument.

Both arguments are so full of inaccuracies, it is obvious that neurons have died just reading those words – some of those neurons are mine, by the way.

VIDEO GAMES MAKE YOU VIOLENT.

I love this argument. I truly do. I've been killing turtles with fireballs since I was eight and the game was Super Mario Brothers. I have yet to find time to plot out my murder spree between going to Catholic school from K-PhD, and going to church every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.

First, a constant issue in discussing video games is that people seem to think that video games are still for children. I was the first generation to play the first Nintendo Entertainment System. In fact, I still have it. Guess what – my generation grew up, and we're still playing.

As of 2011, the average gamer is between 32 and 37 years old.

Now, 82% of gamers are adults, and 72% of American households play video games.

42% of gamers are women – in fact, 30% of all gamers are women over 18 years old.

Hmm, 72% of American households. So that's 72% of 300,000,000 people means that … over two hundred million people in America play video games (Yes, I rounded down).

“Yes,” says the critic who may have a clue, “but how many of those are family games, like Wii games?” Well, the top ten best-selling video games for 2012 were violent, rated M(ature) games for gamers 17+ only.

So, to say that “video games are a prevalent factor in mass shootings” is roughly the equivalent of saying that “having the ability to speak English is a prevalent factor in American mass shootings.” When nearly three quarters of the country plays video games, it is almost certain that you're going to get a crazy or two in there.

If video games make you into a psychotic mass murderer, we should be hip deep in blood and the planet should have looked like the book of Revelations sometime after the first Mortal Kombat games were released.

The usual counter is to say that it will bring out the inner crazy in people … so might a commercial for Mountain Dew, does that mean we unplug all the signs in Times Square? Or shut down Las Vegas? Either of those might be a good idea, but I can make better arguments than inspiring one or two people with sociopathic tendencies.

Guess what? The ECA – the Entertainment Consumer Association -- released an open letter to the Vice President in 2010 entitled “Policy Considerations post-Newtown, CT School Shooting”. (You can see the full letter here.)

Studies show that media does not cause violence. Christopher J. Ferguson, Chair of Texas AM International University’s Department of Psychology &; Communication, has shown through his work that there’s no link between violent video games and real world violence like mass shooting, bullying or youth aggression ….

Media consumption has risen as the number of violent crimes has dropped. While video game sales have increased, violent crime has been steadily decreasing according to FBI statistics. In 2011, video game sales increased to over $27 billion dollars and violent crimes nationwide have decreased 3.8% from 2010. Since 2002, violent crime has decreased 15.5%. This is all during the time when games like Call of Duty and Halo have dominated sales.

Oops. Someone should check their numbers.

Luckily, I already checked it for them. So there.

Now, of course, there is the argument that:

VIDEO GAMES ARE ANTI-SOCIAL

Oh, for the love of …

Usually when I have this discussion, I'm not sure which is more fun, being told that I was using only my personal experience, and my argument was therefore garbage, or if someone told me my argument was garbage because of their personal experience.

I'm going to limit this to a format that everyone can understand – the infographic on your right (click to enlarge, otherwise it will take up half the column length).

When eHarmony, the #1 dating site in the world, isn't as successful at bringing people together as World of Warcraft (WoW), telling me that video games make you anti-social and isolationist is the punchline to a bad joke.

The argument that “well, I played video games and it was a waste of time and kept me from talking to people” only tells me either 1) the person saying this is a liar who just wants to score points on the internet or 2) a statistical abnormality.

Another point I've heard, this time on a Catholic website,  was that "video games can't be used for evangelization."

Really? Playing WoW can people one player in touch with over twelve million fellow players. If someone really wants to spread the Word, I'm sure they can figure out something. Otherwise, they just suffer from a lack of imagination.

If you don't believe me, then I recommend you read Infinite Space, Infinite God II for some ideas – particularly “Otherworld,” by Karina Fabian.

This of course, assumes that everything one does must be to spread the Word.

THE WORST TYRANNY

At the end of the day, this entire argument comes down to your standard, boiler-plate thought control. Even the “discussion” on guns -- which consists of a gun owner being yelled at for a period of time before having his property taken away – is a joke in itself.

I mean, heck, the guns least likely to kill anyone … happen to be the ones everyone talks about banning.

Banning video games – that have nothing to do with violence – or banning rifles that have even less to do with mass murder, is just playing to the ignorance of people in general. It's one part Orwellian thought control, and one part finding a scapegoat – be it video games, media violence, rock music, bullying, etc. The Sandy Hook shooter was also Catholic, so I guess we all dodged a bullet on that one.

As C.S. Lewis once noted, "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

Awards season is here (again)

Awards season is here.... again.

Again? Really? I feel like we just finished with awards. But yeah, it's kicking around.

Anyway, a quick look at what's coming.

The Happy Frogs

This one is by Jon del Arroz and a panel of decision makers creating a collection of nominations... He's got the details here. I'm not perfectly clear on the final vote-- I think it's public voting, so check it out.

I mention this because it's by Jon. I don't have a horse in this race, so don't worry about me asking for votes on this one.

The Planetary Awards

A book blogger's award. They have two categories: short and long. Click on the above link for the instructions.

But if you have a blog and write about books, knock yourselves out.

I have only two books from last year that qualify, I think: Live and Let Bite and Good to the Last Drop, books three and four of Love at First Bite.

Yes, I only released two last year. I suck. Everything else was in a short story collection.

Also recall that Richard Paolinelli's Escaping Infinity came out last year. As did Another Girl, Another Planet. And Starship Grifters book 2, Aye, Robot, Jon's For Steam and Country, and Jagi's latest.

Though JD Cowan has already put Drop up for this award. Who knew?

The Dragon Awards

Technically, this has been open since October, 2017. In part because nominations are first published between 7/1/2017 and 6/30/2018. You can click above.

Technically, I've got a book that is eligible: Good to the Last Drop, book 4 of Love at First Bite....

This, of course, will be a problem with having Silver Empire rerelease Love at First Bite: Good to the Last Drop will not be available for purchase for the majority of the voting process. So, sure, I'll throw my hat in the ring, but I'd put this as less likely to even get the nomination this year than in previous years ... and I was 50/50 on whether or not that would happen.

If you want my thoughts on the Dragons, they're not many. My reading speed this year has been severely compromised by nonstop work.

Best Science Fiction Novel

Karl Gallagher: Torchship Captain.  Yes, really. I haven't enjoyed a book series so much since David Weber's earliest Honor Harrington. I'll hopefully get a review up before Hell freezes over.

Nope... that's it. That's all I have. Most of the others that I mentioned for the Planetary award aren't available for the Dragons -- they were too early in the year.

Best Fantasy Novel (Including Paranormal)

Since Larry doesn't want it for Monster Hunter International, I don't have anything offhand. Good to the Last Drop if you want it for fantasy instead of horror?

Best Young Adult/Middle Grade Novel
 
The Awful Truth About Forgetting .... seriously, can we get Jagi an award for this series already?

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel

I want to say David Weber. But I suspect that this might sooner go to Timothy Zahn for the Honorverse prequel novels. Just a guess.

Best Alternate History Novel
 
.... Someone tell Lou Antonelli to hurry up and finish his sequel to Another Girl Another Planet already. Other than that...

Okay, I may have a good one for this soon, as soon as I hurry up and read Hans Schantz' Hidden Truth series-- more specifically, book 2, A Rambling Wreck.

Best Media Tie-In Novel


Well, this is new. The category probably opened up as a good way to avoid having a flood of Star Wars or Star Trek books flood a category. I know that Timothy Zahn will be coming out with a new Thrawn book next year, so let's hope that it comes out a little earlier, so Zahn can get nominated here.

.... And after a quick check on Amazon, the answer is no. Thrawn: Alliances is coming out on June 26th, which is hardly enough time for people to get it, read it, and vote. Hell, a lot of people are going to have already voted by then.

But now that we have a Media Tie-in category, can we have a best comic book movie now? That way it's not a Marvel Vs DC knock down drag out every year?

 Best Horror Novel

As usual, I have nothing. The only horror I go near is what I write. So, there's Good to the Last Drop. Again. Yes, sorry about that.

Best Comic Book  & Best Graphic Novel
 
I am so far behind on both of these categories, don't even ask.


Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series, TV or Internet
 
 The Orville. No, nothing else, just The Orville. Lucifer has gotten better, but it wasn't as good as Orville at its best... At its worst? It's just mediocre.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

Justice League?  No

Ragnarok ... maybe

Spider-Man: Homecoming ... not out of the line of possibility.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy PC / Console Game

This is a problem when you have so many games doing loot boxes.

Middle Earth: Shadow of War? Depends on who you ask.
X-Com 2: War of the Chosen -- ditto
Cuphead
Super Mario Oddessy.

There are, of course, Persona and Yakuza games that came out this year.... just don't ask me when.

So, if you liked any of these, look up on the release date and make certain I didn't just suggest something that came out too early.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Mobile Game

Middle Earth: Shadow of War: Yes, I liked the mobile. Move along.

Best Board Game & Best Miniatures / Collectible Card / Role-Playing Game

Another category I'm useless in.

Anyway, the Dragons are coming. Knock yourself out. 

Music blog, Super Mario Bros Medley - Sonya Belousova

Enjoy

Music blog: Street Fighter - Sonya Belousova

Ah, nostalgic video game music.

Enjoy.

Yes, I know it's a little lazy, but I've done six other blogs this week already. I may not even do something for the rest of the week. We'll see.

Have fun.

Some books to read this to. Try some of the below.

Love at First Bite

    

Music Blog: Nightwish - Wish I Had An Angel

If you listen closely to the lyrics, some people might have a problem with it.

I don't listen closely, so I'm good.

But you can understand why this is a Nightwish that hasn't been posted sooner.

Also, I had to find a version that didn't have clips from the Uwe Boll film Alone in the Dark.

Music blog, Lindsey Stirling and Dragon Age

Yeah, I ran out of content for the blog. Though doing all that TV review ate up a ton of time.

But here, have some Lindsey Stirling

And while you're listening to this, you can read my novel Honor at Stake. Heh.

And ... enjoy.

The Catholic Geek: On Gaming with Daddy Warpig

The Catholic Geek: On Gaming with Daddy Warpig 07/17 by We Built That Network | Video Games Podcasts:




At 7:30 pm, EST, on this Sunday, the 17th,  Jasyn Jones, the great and powerful Daddy Warpig of Geek Gab, will be joining Declan Finn for a rousing conversation on gaming. Along the way, we'll probably have some conversations on GamerGate, the state of gaming in general, possibly movies, and whatever else strikes our fancy. Expect hilarity to ensue.

#E32016, #UbiE3 and #PlaystationE3 Rule Day 1

So I covered Xbox's abysmal opening.  What about the rest of day 1?

Ghost Recon: Wildlands

You may not recall this from a while back, but it looks good, really.

And then some gameplay

They went into depth. They had details! Not just a CGI trailer!  We have plot: SpecOps taking out Bolivia and the drug dealers. And the graphics are almost exactly what the CGI trailer looks like. Yikes.

However, it's not showing off the multiple level approach to each level that was promised in early trailers, but other than that, I'll take it.

My problem? It's a four-player co-op demo.  So ... it looks like more Multiplayer. Argh.

And then, time to find some brave new worlds.

Yes, VR Star Trek.  With Levar Burton, Karl Urban, and Jeri Ryan. Yikes. Not bad for just a stae reveal.

And then, something from a while ago... For Honor

I saw this last year, I think. It's ... basically a hack and slash. But it looks shiny as heck.

And then there was ... this.

And for the love of God, they should tone down Watchdogs 2. It's coming off as way more pretentious than it has any right to be.

Granted, the world and the graphics look GORGEOUS, but then again, from a AAA game had better be at this point. And if they screw up this time, this is a dead franchise.

They've added parkour, but they're still apparently using a politician as a bad guy. Again? Why? Also, An evil social media network rigging an election?  Are we kidding? It feels like this theme is being driven into the ground.

We can hack vehicles this time.  Oh yay.  [I'm sorry, my eyes rolled so hard, they nearly fell out of my head.] I mean, seriously, "Screw the man! People are drones plugged into THE SYSTEM!!!! SCREW THE MAN!"
Hmm, wait, Anonymous and San Francisco. Really? Are we kidding? I thought San Francisco was the lefty capital of the universe, and they want to have us believe that the anti-Establishment hackers are the good guys? They basically ARE the establishment of San Francisco.

Honestly, I know that Ubisoft is run by the French, but this just takes the pretentiousness to a whole new level. "Oooh, a hip young black guy who comes with his own iPod mix. How trendy ... For the 1990s."

Sigh.

PLAYSTATION

DAYS GONE

Huh. Interesting. On the one hand, more zombies? On the other hand, the tone is different.

Then again, I halfway expected this to be a Walking Dead game. Again.

Then, to my great surprise, there was this.

A God of War game that looks interesting, and I don't even like the series. It seems that after Kratos, ghost of Sparta, is done with his vengeance, he tries to settle down and be a person. Good luck, dude.

Horizon Zero Dawn looks even BETTER than last time.

Detroit Become Human

How very blade runner. I don't know how you become human in Detroit, but I try to inquire too closely.

Batman Arkham VR

Yes, I know this is just an announcement, but it's worth it just to listen to Mark Hamill chews the scenery.

VR Star Wars X-Wing VR missions

Sadly, it'll probably suck, just like the last Battlefront did.

And finally, Farpoint 

No, don't worry, I don't know anything more than you do right now.

And finally, guess what film is coming up.