Trapped in Falken's Maze (k3nshi)

I finally got round to re-watching Wargames on DVD last night. Talk about a blast from the past. This film was a huge influence on me. I remember when I first saw it how amazed I was by some of the concepts depicted in the film: the internet, multiplayer online games, speech synthesis, artificial intelligence - and all of this available to a 17 year old kid (Matthew Broderick). Almost unthinkable stuff at the time!

Wargames wasn't the only influence of course, I grew up watching things like: Knight Rider, Automan, Airwolf and Tron. All of them impressed upon me the amazing possibilities that computer technology could enable.

Some of my favourite scenes in Wargames revolve around how the main character, David (Broderick) manages to hack into the military computer system he wants to play games on. The actual scene where you see David's many attempts to find a way into the system is the best depiction of hacking I've ever seen in a film, and a real credit to the director. Trying to depict a very cerebral, tedious and yet compulsive process in the cinematic form certainly isn't easy. Similar scenes in Swordfish and other films are a complete joke.

But before David can even begin to hack the military system, he needs to turn to some of his older, more experienced friends for help. David doesn't know where to start in the process of hacking the military system, but one of the nerds certainly does:

"The first game on the list - go right through's Falken's Maze!"

This leads David onto an obsessive path of discovery as tries to learn how to bend the system to his will. I guess I know how he feels.

It's coming.... (k3nshi)

"Then, at the flick of a switch, Minor turns the simulation over from his new Cell processor to a dual-processor Apple Power Mac G5, and the scenery freezes. The G5 almost audibly groans under the burden, though it's no slouch. In fact, it's currently the top of the line for PCs. But Cell is something different entirely. It's a bet on what consumers will do with data and how best to suit microprocessors to the task—and it's really, really fast."

An article for techies only. But the possibilities of sheer raw computation power > possibilities of a gimmicky control system.

Virtua Fighter 4EVAH (k3nshi)

Akira from VF5
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

The VF series has the unfortunate and unwarranted reputation of being "hardcore" and impenetrable. The truth is: VF is an amazing game, not a lifestyle choice.

Its all pretty simple. You have your moves and throws, a basic blocking system (high block, low block), and various counters.

The reason VF differs from other fighters is the way all of this has been implemented. The simplest techniques often work best in VF. Forward + Punch is often all you need to take out some flashy bastard who wants to do some convoluted throw sequence on you.

This results in a game with far more strategic depth than any other beat em up. It's not about how many flash moves you know, it's about how you fight your fight. Can you pick the right strategy and tactics to take out your opponent? Can you adapt your style to beat opponents with varying techniques and styles of their own?

So if you are curious about a legendary game series but have been put off by the nerdcore, I suggest you look beyond that tragi-comedy scene.

VF is made up of simple constituent parts: 1 stick + 3 buttons. Lots of moves, none of which is the special move that lets you beat any opponent. The complexity arises from the depth of options that this system of control gives you.

Roll on VF5. Hopefully there will be some new, saner players along with the usual nerdcore fanatics.

2005 Review (Anonymous)

A tad late as we are now in 2006, but hey, it's been a strange couple of days...

2005 for me was a year of change. Started the year in France (good) stuck in a dead-end job (bad) that was dulling my brain and depressing me. April was the turning point. Found out my project was canned and that I would be returning to the UK. Even better I had the option of taking an excellent redundancy package.

So I did. And now I've started a company and things look good. Insane amount of work, no pay and less than perfect work conditions, but exciting. Exciting, scary, interesting and unknown.

Other stuff? Well May brought news of a new addition to the family. Only 2 months to go now. The last few days have been a bit worrying with Janet getting premature contractions, but everything seems to be settling down and Samuel should be with us in early March.

April also introduced the DS to the spanx gaming stable and it's the only thing I've really bought any games for since. Music wise? Nada Surf, M83, The New Pornographers, The Band, Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Ben Folds have featured heavily (yes, I know they're not all 2005 releases, but they've been my soundtrack). Films? I honestly can't think of one that's blown me away this year. Games? Mario Kart, Kirby, Animal Crossing and Wario Ware on the DS. Most others were disappointing (RE4) or just plain crap (Pro Evo 5)

So 2005, I salute you. The year I finally made a change. 2006 is going to be fucking ACE!

2005: The year Nintendo took over my brain (Wickedkitten)

This year has been pretty good overall. I've become even more of a food whore with loads of new recipes added to my repertoire. Actually, I think we have become a right couple of food snobs to be certain.

Ross has ended up getting addicted to WoW which isn't so bad now. I, on the other hand, instead of joining in the nonsense ended up buying a trojan horse in the shape of a gamecube. It made sense really considering that I could get one secondhand for the same price as Wow, the only thing is that once we got that it was "Oh if I'm playing Harvest Moon - Another Wonderful Life, it makes sense since I have the GBA version to get a link cable, as I can also use it for Four Swords and The Wind Waker", then it was "Oh our GBA really is quite dark so it makes sense to get a SP as it has a backlight".

Worse of all was to come however on boxing day when I ended up becoming the proud owner of a Mario Kart Ds Pack complete with King Kong thrown in free which ended up being traded away for Nintendogs - Lab and Friends.

Oh well, roll on 2006 which will be the year of the PS3.

Year End Awards 2005 (k3nshi)

The Kenshi Institute's Year End Awards 2005

Celebrating the sublime and the ridiculous:

• Man of the Year: Alan Kay


• Woman of the Year: Angelina Jolie


• Film of the Year: Batman Begins


• Game of the Year: God of War


• Book of the Year: "Freakonomics" by Levitt & Dubner


• Website of the Year: flickr


• Undead Website of the Year: smilingkenshi.net


• Technology of the Year: Paper


• Promised Legal Action of the Year: MPA vs Song Lyrics sites


• Anti-Technology of the Year: CSS + Web browsers (all of them)


• Phone of the Year: imate JAM


• Blog of the Year: What would Tyler Durden Do


• Application of the Year: Preview (Mac)


• Shape of the Year: Arch


• Place of the Year: Regents Park, London, UK


• Colour of the Year: Ruby red (##990000)


• Year of the Year: 2005

2005: Got Stuff Done, Got annoyed. (k3nshi)

After an arduous 2004, 2005 started with a bang: all positive energy and the will for action. And fortunately it didn't fizzle out either. I can look back on 2005 with a certain level of satisfaction, as I finally sorted out a fair few things. Let's break it down:

Physical

I lost some weight, gained some strength. Gym going combined with a disciplined diet paid off at the start of 2005. Things stalled towards the middle of the year, and I face 2006 with the need to find that old focus.

Something new

Running. I've never liked running. Never understood people who claimed to like running. This year I ran the Nike Run London 10K. When I started training, I didn't know if I would be able to do it. By the time the official run was over, not only did I know I could run 10K in a reasonably respectable time but I even got to a point where I can enjoy a good run. Who'd 'ave thunk it?

Something long overdue

I passed my driving test. And then I did my pass plus. At last. Fully licensed to drive. Now I just need to drive more.

Mental

I didn't do as much meditation as I should have. In fact it's something I really need to bring back into my life as I can probably attribute a lot of my positive attitude in 2005 to the meditation I started at the end of 2004.

I did a lot more writing this year than in the past. More blogs, more websites, more stuff (less forum posts though). I think its true when people say "writing helps strengthen your thoughts", if only in that it provides a useful tool for reflection.

Professional

Most of 2005 I spent embroiled in yet more political battles at a former employer, desperately trying to salvage my career. By the time more positive influences came into power at that firm (late in the year), it was too late: I had decided to move onto bigger and far better things. 2005 was the year I finally decided to pursue the dream I've held for a very, very long time: to start a company. It's scary, challenging, lots of work and at the moment I have no income.

Nothing great is easy.

"Maybe their dream isn't big enough,"

2005 ends with some sourness and annoyance. This is a very, very good thing.

At the end of 2005 I have to tolerate small thoughts from the small minds of much, much smaller men who think I should simply follow the status quo and Be Like Them. "Why all the effort? Just Be Like Us. It's Easy."

Roll on 2006. I've got scores to settle.

2005: Mostly rubbish (the_debaser)

Thought I'd try and do a review of 2005 and ended up just thinking about my own personal year. Worryingly, not much of note has happened at all. This year's just passed by - I mean, what the FUCK have I been doing? Go to work Monday-Friday, knackered in the evenings. Then go out at the weekend to get wasted and get lucky with some bird every so often. There must be more to existing than this monotonous shite, surely? But then I expect that pretty much sums up everyones life when they're 25.

However, nothing really bad has happened to me this year so I should be thankful for that. I just want to make sure I get back on track in 2006. Try and sort a flat, maybe a new job, and plan a few holidays because holidays are the best thing ever.

Anyway, highlights of the year:

No-one close to me has died this year. That's good.
Going on holiday to America. Wicked country, wicked people. Thought I'd hate the place but I fell in love with it.
Finally finishing all my exams - such a relief.
Er... thats about it.

Roll on 2006! \o/

I am One! (k3nshi)

One year of the hash edge blog. Today.

Some people said it wouldn't last a week, never mind a full year (In YOUR FACE corps).

So today is a CAKE day. You should eat a CAKE to celebrate. I was going to get one and post a picture of it and then eat it, but really I've been eating way too much junk food over the last week or so.

Viewtiful Hope (k3nshi)

[13:07]  corpsicle  =(
[13:08]  corpsicle  anyway, i think im getting the same first impression 
                             about VJ DS that everyone else got
[13:08]  corpsicle  its just _not quite_ the console version
[13:08]  corpsicle  but from what ive read theres a lot more puzzles and 
                              stuff making it a bit different but just as good
[13:08]  corpsicle  lets hope i'll think so too
[13:14]  FunkyDad   we can always hope :p
[13:14] *Kenshi crosses his fingers

Development Thoughts (k3nshi)

So the current gaming scene hold very, very little interest for me at the moment. The only thing of real interest is Geometry Wars 2. A lot of the appeal is that it looks kind of like a game concept I have had kicking around in my head for a couple of years (in fact I was meant to write it after BlastMonkeys). But looking at the videos for it, make me realise that I'd much rather play the game concept than Geometry Wars 2.

So these thoughts have got me thinking on how cool it would be to write another game. Obviously writing a little game would mean having a target platform, and 3 spring to mind: OSX (cos my main machine is a Mac these days), Xbox 360 Live Arcade or the Nintendo DS. The latter two just seem begging for a small dev team to make some amazing games for them. None of the DS stuff that is out really appeals to me, but I'm pretty sure I could have some fun coming up with something quite cool for it (I almost got round to writing some games for my imate JAM smartphone - it has a touchscreen - at one point).

Of course seeing as I have no time at the moment to do any of these things, its all idle speculation and rambling.

Food Porn Interlude (k3nshi)

[21:48]  Van123 "deep filled mince pies"
[21:48]  Van123 "deep filled"
[21:48]  Kenshi stop with the food porn
[21:48]  Kenshi STOP
[21:48]  Van123 they're SO GOOD

A Very Happy Gaming Christmas (Anonymous)

The final two of my holy trinity of DS gaming goodness have finally turned up (Phoenix Wright and Animal Crossing). Which to play first?

Mini Voglie (k3nshi)

Italian Biscuit Closeup
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

Oh and these are the mini Italian biscuit things that are destroying my weight loss agenda at the moment.

They rock.

Food Terrorism (k3nshi)

Food Terrorism
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

Just to give you an idea of what I am facing. I innocently opened the cupboard to see the two bars of Toblerone and the strategically positioned Green & Black's chocolate bisuits.

Nice. Real Nice.

...

360 blog (k3nshi)

360 blog
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

Not So Stealth Gaming (k3nshi)

Image008
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

The SP is way too big for a truly lightweight "gaming situation".

Shame the GB Micro is such a rip off though, eh?

(Also note the Nintendo games: who knew eh?)

Stealth Gaming Hardware (k3nshi)

So yesterday I went out for drinks with some ex-work colleagues. And unusually for me, I decided not to take a bag (usually full of a mix of gym stuff, notebooks, books, gaming hardware) with me. Hell, I would travel light for a change. So naturally I picked up my iPod Shuffle for audio stimulation, and then I figured I'd take the GBA SPastic as well. And The Spastic is all nice and everything but its still a bit too big and bulky. A GBA Micro on the other hand would have easily slipped into my coat pocket and not added any real bulk. Perfect to sneak some gaming action into situations where it would previously not be possible. So, I can see the point of a GBA Micro over a SPastic box. Doesnt mean I am going to pay the extortionate price for one though.

Oh Mobile phone games probably suck before anyone suggests I just play them.

Happy Birthday Mr Miyamoto (k3nshi)

Yes thats right, the "Nintendo hater" is saying Happy Birthday to Mr. Nintendo himself. Look he even has a shrine (click the link fools).

Clearly the man has a touch of games designing genius. Whilst I never have been fond of the Mario aesthetic, there is no denying that fact that the series has encompassed some of the greatest games made. Mario 64 is still untouchable as a 3D platformer, Mario Sunshine failing to get anywhere near its quality. And as for Mario World and the others in the 2D series, in a word: AMAZING.

In fact I am currently playing (on and off), one of my favourite games of this generation: Mario vs Donkey Kong on the spastic box. Whilst I dont think Mr Miyamoto had a hand in this one (actually I have no idea), his influence on this excellent little game is clear. In some ways a bit more limited than its GB forerunner (Donkey Kong), the newer game still features incredibly tightly designed levels and is fantastically playable. In fact it harks back to all the great things of Mario games, and the playability overcomes the retarded and incredibly annoying art direction. Sorry Mr Miyamoto, but the best character you designed was Donkey Kong.

Any way, the guy has created some amazing works and brought pleasure and frustration and delight to countless gimps around the world. And that's quite an achievement. So happy birthday, and I expect a guest editorial post by the end of the week. Do you hear me now?!!!

Beyond Hype and Syncophantary* (k3nshi)

(* may not be an actual word)

Yes I completed a game the other week. Ubisoft's critically acclaimied commercial flop: Beyond Good and Evil. You could read q's ridiculously sycophantic opinion of the game here or you could just read a review of it from Edge or something. The two are usually interchangeable (more or less).

The game itself is a pretty nice adventure game, the bulk of which consists of some sneaking around action. I actually liked this bit the best and so really enjoyed a lot of the game. The controls put MGS to shame, I might add. The difficulty curve for the most part is pitched on the easy side, and its a nice no-fuss kind of game to play. Its not all sneaking action though, there are some genuine surprises with some sections, which are done to a good standard. Yes thats vague, but any more and were deep into spoiler territory. AM I NOT MERCIFUL?!

Of course it all goes pear shaped on the end of game baddie level. I almost gave up at this point. From a primarily stealth based game, to a lame, stupidly boring boss level. Still the urge to complete the game (I want closure dammit!!!) meant I tried again later and managed to do it. Cue a cutscene or two for a lame ending to the story, and the hint of a sequel that will never be released. Nice.

Oh and I cant leave this blog post without talking about the atmosphere of the game. Qazimod might harp on about the emotional attachment he had to the characters, but you have to remember that he is emotionally stunted to begin with. I mean, he forms emotional bonds to his consoles, so what do you expect? God knows what would happen if he ever saw a Disney film - there would almost certainly be tears. The only game that I would say has had any kind of emotional resonance or impact on me was Ico. And BG&E is no Ico. Not even close.

The art style of BG&E is far too twee for my tastes, as are some of the characters. Its a kid's cartoon basically. There are some nice touches though, and it distinctly has a European flavour to it, which is a Good Thing. Maybe Ubisoft will do some kind of follow up but make Jade darker and give her some attitude (ie turn her into bikinni clad game slut with boobs at least three times bigger). They might sell more than 3 copies that way. Hey it worked for the Prince of Persia...