infoxicated – Page 152 – Digital infotainment from the life of Rob Foxx

Electronic Arse

Tuesday May 3rd 2005

After spending some time this weekend playing TimeSplitters Future Perfect, I’ve come to the conclusion that; as a developer EA creates some pretty decent efforts, but, as a publisher, they tend to sugarcoat anything that passes their way to the point of ruin.

Cases in point for me are Burnout 3 and TimeSplitters Future Perfect. In both cases EA took over as publisher, and in both cases they’ve served only to tarnish once fine franchises in their quest for the mass-market.

With Burnout they introduced a sickening teen-angst soundtrack and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, they got Criterion to add in some assclown Crash Radio guy (as featured in SSX3), who serves only to annoy, but can thankfully be turned off.

With TimeSplitters FP they’ve added a similar announcer guy, who gushes in dude-americana each time you kill or are killed in arcade mode. Worse still is that you can only turn him off in custom games, meaning that working your way through the arcade leagues is simply excruciating, due to the deluge of banal “Boom-Shakka!” or “Chimp-icide!” comments that punctuate every kill.

It adds nothing to the game, serves only to puke sugar-saturated barf onto the once slick presentational style associated with the TimeSplitters series and, for me, is the very worst of what EA has to offer the games industry.

Having EA own, or indeed p0wn, every single license out there is akin to Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer directing and producing every movie that comes out. One or two in a while is okay, but when you can see they’ve dipped every title in hype-flavoured syrup for reasons only known to themselves, it starts to make me wonder if both industries are heading for the same ends.

And, since I lost interest in going to the movies a long time ago, save for special occasions like LoTR or Spider-Man, I’m wondering how many more years I’ll be a gamer before the franchises I love are shat-on to the point where it just isn’t worth the annoyance?

If you’re free on the 7th of May 2005

Monday May 2nd 2005

And you’re interested in time travel, then the Time Traveller Convention might be of interest to you. Of course, if you’re a time traveler yourself, then you’ve probably been there and done that. Or will have been there, will have done that.

And, if you’re John Titor, then the chances are you’ve already dropped a hint about how it all turns out on some forum somewhere, years ago.

The dust settles

Tuesday April 26th 2005

We’re in the new house almost two weeks now, and I’m pleased to report that we’ve settled in quite quickly. Although Fliss has ended up with an epic bus journey to and from work, my commute has expanded only slightly in duration. Other than that, and the loss of a couple of rooms, the place feels very much like home already.

Initially I was kind of sad to wave farewell to the old joint, but focusing on the negatives, like the leaking roof and the fact it wasn’t ours, made it easier to hand back the keys and walk away for good. I think we’ll miss the neighbours more than anything else, as it was comforting having such nice people right next door to help us out in a fix, or mind the place while we were away.

Anyhow, as a wise man once said; onwards and upwards.

The new place is almost palatial in comparison to the old one, except in size. It’s warm once the heating is on, doesn’t have drafts, and the fact that it’s just that much more modern a house, with a decent size garden, makes it feel homely right away. Of course, there are things that bug us about it, such as the ticking noise from the central heating pipes, the noise all the assorted pumps make when it comes on in the morning, and the absence of a shower in the bathroom. Yet, anything that annoys pales into insignificance when compared to the satisfaction of owning our own home after so long.

I’m wondering if that nice feeling I get when I arrive home at night will wear off at some point, like a novelty toy. Fliss pointed out that it felt like being in a holiday home, for some reason, and although I cant quite put my finger on why, I agree with her.

Perhaps it’ll be stuff like the shower mixer exploding on me that will bring us back down to Earth with the reality that we’re responsible for paying for things like that now, rather than calling some estate agent to get it sorted. Even so, there’s no place quite like your own home. :o)