Saturday, July 24, 2010

Movie o' the day: Inception

I'll keep this brief, because, as many have said before me, trying to describe this movie adequately is a fool's errand. The basic structure is a "heist movie", but dealing with secrets and beliefs in dreams (and dreams within dreams, and...), but, much like the action in the movie itself, there are multiple layers beyond that. All in all, it's great sci-fi, or maybe fantasy, without devolving into space opera or swords and sorcery. Better still, I only left the theater with one hole in the mechanics of the film, which could have been explained away with a throwaway line of dialogue, but they chose to focus on the action at hand instead, and I honestly can't fault them for that. So, if you're looking for action, intrigue, sci-fi, or a nice dense mix of the above, go see this film.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

DVD pick: Negima!

If I had to choose one trait about myself that stood out beyond all others, it's my capacity for suspension of disbelief. In day-to-day life, that trait pairs nicely with my intelligence to let me find ways to do things, system-design-wise, that others would deem impossible, impractical, or only feasible with large teams and layouts of cash for software. In relaxation, it allows me to enjoy some truly ridiculous things... like this anime series I stumbled across called "Negima!", thanks to Netflix.

The premise is bizarre enough, to be sure. The main character is a ten year old boy named Negi, who is a wizard-in-training from Wales. He is sent, as part of his training, to an all-girls academy in Japan, where he is to serve as a teacher for junior-high students... and, of course, keep his magic a secret from his students. It doesn't take long for him to slip-up in front of one of his students, at which point damage control, and hilarity, ensues.

As the series progresses, you discover that few, if any, of the students in Negi's homeroom class are "just" junior high students. While many present initially as broad stereotypes, you get to discover more about their true personalities (and true natures, in some cases) along with Negi, which makes a charming addition to the individual episode storylines.

Of course, suspension of disbelief isn't without its hazards, either... Negima! is a six-disc series, and the first five are reasonably happy affairs, with a fair share of comedic bits and action sequences. By the end of disc 5, they appear to be setting up a storyline about one of the central characters getting sick from overworking herself, but, in the general flavor of the series to that point, it shouldn't be anything too terrible, and it will all work out in the end. In disc 6... it turns out that the character knows the time of her approaching demise, which she doesn't look forward to, but, believing that nobody can do anything to help her anyways, keeps quiet about it to the very end. They go through an entire sequence of holding a funeral for her, nailing her coffin shut, then cremating her remains... which, in my case at least, hurt a lot more than it had any right to. The follow-ons of watching the class try to get back to normal, with different individuals blaming themselves for her death, and Negi basically suffering a breakdown while trying to figure out how to make her not dead, and the lengths he contemplates and attempts to meet that goal... well, it's much darker than what came before, but all the more powerful for that. As an added bonus, everything does turn out alright in the end... but that would be way too much detail for this review.

So, overall, Negima! is a worthwhile watch... but, be forewarned on a few issues. First, on content... as I stated above, it's not entirely a happy show. Also, given the general type of anime involved and the cultural differences between Japan and the U.S., there's some material that might be a bit risque for some (e.g. somebody threatening Negi getting "pantsed" accidentally when he sneezes), but the "perv factor" is really very low. Second, getting the show... "Negima!" is the show I watched, while "Negima!?" is a "reimagining" of the original material... I haven't watched the other one, so I can't say anything about the show's quality or perviness at this point. Also, as of this writing, Netflix apparently doesn't have disc 3 of the series any longer... but, if you watch the first 2 discs and want the rest, I was able to find a box set of all 6 discs for about $15 new on Amazon.

If you're still on the fence as to whether you want to explore this show, here's a link to the Wikipedia page. As for myself, I think I'm going to hunt down the manga source material... knowing there's more to the story, I want to see where it goes, for a while at least.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Mix and match - my ideal game system

So, I've had one of the new Xbox360's for a couple of weeks now, and both the PS3 and Wii have been my toys for a couple of years now... and I've been exposed to home videogame systems of various stripes for decades, all the way back to the old Pong machines (gosh, I'm old!). I got to thinking, what should an "ideal" home videogame system look like these days?

Start with the box itself... small, quiet, and unobtrusive should be the order of the day. It seems that most game manufacturers get that right on the second major physical revision of their systems (the exception being Nintendo, who got it right the first time). Since optical drives are still the method of choice for physical game sales, slot-fed drives are the way to go, in support of the pursuit of quiet (it surprised me how much noise the drive on the new Xbox360 made... then heard that the old one was even louder). An internal hard drive is almost a must... and best good would be to be able to install games from disc onto the hard drive, to minimize noise from and wear on the optical drive (my Wii drive makes odd noises on occasion now, and I dread the day that happens on my PS3, since it's my Blu-Ray player). Wireless networking for multiplayer gaming is now standard, thankfully, so stick with that. Finally, since we're talking about an ideal, build a high-efficiency power supply into the box itself, use a standard power cord to supply AC (your standard PC power cable would do nicely), and vent waste heat to either the front or rear of the box, where you can expect a cabinet-installed box to either have open access for cables or the optical drive and power switch.

Controllers are a trickier matter... if you go by sales figures, the masses like the simplicity and full-body-motion use of the Wii's primary controllers, while "dedicated gamers" still prefer the standard handheld controller style. To add to the confusion, Microsoft is ramping up to push their Kinect system, eliminating the hand-held controller entirely, and there are a slew of game-specific controllers out there for things like Guitar Hero. Since Kinect is still an unproven concept, I'm going to work on the theory that an ideal system would still need a "standard" controller, and try to get the best of all worlds while I'm at it. That said, here's a breakdown of what I think an ideal controller should be:
  • No Wires - one of the few hardware design pieces on the PS3 that always made me question the designer was needing a USB cable to connect a controller to the PS3 for charging... and charging only works when the console is turned on. Contrast that with the Xbox360 or Wii controllers, which both never need to touch their console to work properly. Of course, the Wii doesn't get a free pass on this one either... that cable between the Wiimote and Nunchuck was a necessary design evil at the time, I'm sure, but there has to be a better way.
  • Motion Sensing - I recall, a few years back, letting my brother (who has owned an Xbox360 for years) know that the controller on the PS3 was motion sensitive, which blew his mind a bit. Even without the on-screen-cursor fun of the Wii, motion sensitivity can add greatly to a game, or even be the heart of a good game (Flower for PS3 springs to mind).
  • Rumble - physical feedback, even as crude as controller rumble can be, generally helps with game immersion. Even on the Wii, I can't help but think how much better a sword-fighting game would be if you got that little physical nudge when you crossed swords with your opponent.
With that in mind, here's what I think would be about an ideal standard controller. Start with your basic PS3/Xbox360 style handheld controller, use the PS3-style analog stick layout (the Xbox offset version was just a patent dodge, if I recall correctly, not an ergonomic decision), but use the Xbox-style sticks, plus the Xbox-style bumper/trigger controls. Then, for your Wii-style pointing-and-flailing games... I don't know if you would do this with a physical or magnetic lock, but set up the controller with a twist-lock down the center of the controller, letting you separate it into two roughly chicken-drumstick-shaped parts that still work in tandem, much like the Wiimote and Nunchuck on the Wii. I know there's some serious ergonomic work to be done to make such a multifunction controller comfortable to use in both configurations, but it would start to rein in the Wii's problem of too many controllers, especially when it comes to things like their "classic" controller, which plugs into the Wiimote, and initially came with only the bumper buttons, until they released a version with triggers for a specific game within the past year. Oh, and I'm not even sure if it's possible, from a gameplay-feel perspective, but it could be pretty cool to make those analog sticks into "paddle" controllers as well... there are a fair number of games from the past that analog sticks, as they are now, simply don't handle well... and, if the controller supported that feature, there could easily be some new games to take advantage of the control option.

Well, there's my ideal game system. Note that I didn't get into certain details, like graphics power or how it connects to your TV, because that all tends to be "what's the best we can justify cramming in, price-wise, at the start of the console's life-cycle". Of course, there's at least one service starting up now that's aiming to replace the home game console entirely, so we may not even get the box in years to come. It'll be fun to see what comes along next.