Moving my blog to...

http://fifthazure.tumblr.com/

:D

Video Game Storytelling

Let's take a step back from social issues and politics... And look at a often forgotten art form- storytelling in video games. Video games single-players campaigns are basically movies which players can interact with the story, experiencing it, feeling that they made it happen, and is part of it. Its potential is HHHUUUGGGEEE. If a movie about risking it all to save another's man's life is so touching, video games can bring that further. And it has been brought further. Who didn't feel shock when the nuke went off in Call Of Duty 4 and you are left crawling on the ground, looking at the mushroom cloud and your doomed existence? It doesn't have to be shocking; the "fuck yeah!" moments of triumph when you stand on a mountain of corpses, accomplishing something vital to the story. For me,  Halo's (except Reach and Wars) endings has always been awe inspiring- the "fuck yeah" moment followed by the beautiful soundtrack of the game.

I am going to focus on FPS for this one, simply because I don't play enough RPGs to fully talk about it. But FPS are the equivalent of action movies, and its storytelling is important, too.

A good video game story does not only take place on the surface- there must be substantial canon to hold the universe (of the story) together. Halo has done this extraordinarily well, even though the execution of the campaigns in the video games has always been slightly weaker. Well, at least the earlier days, before Microsoft and Bungie retcon the shit out of it.

The Halo Universe is extraordinarily dark. Let me give you a synopsis if you have forgotten. In the 26th Century, Humanity has colonized deep space under the hegemony of the UN. However, with this hegemony, perpetual insurrection (read: Current state of Iraq/ Afghan wars) has been ongoing, and by the very best estimates, the rebels will overrun the UN in 30 years. The worse, 10.

Desperate times need desperate measures, and the UN abducted a few hundred kids for the only reason that their genes are compatible for argumentation. These kids were forced into strict military training at extremely young ages than turned into Super-humans, with extremely high fatality rates, while many others became crippled.

But before this Super-Soldiers can be used to fight rebels, an unknown alien empire bounded by religion suddenly attacks and declares a religious genocidal war against us, which we have no chance of winning.

It get much, much darker. Like orphans being turned into suicide warriors, and the religion of the aliens being to ascend to heaven by activating relics from an ancient species. Unknowingly to them, these are weapons used to wipe out life in the galaxy to starve a parasitic race called the "Flood" of hosts.

Of course, these were activated killing its creators because the flood overran them, the arguable master species.

The whole universe of Halo is dark, sad, desperate. There are no goods- and while people who don't read the books do not know about this, you can always feel the huge implications in the games. Its such a powerful backstory that even if the game's storyline sucks, this drags it along extremely well.


On the other extreme end, there is the type of storytelling in Call of Duty and most twitchy shooters in the market today. They are Michael Bay movies, in a nutshell. Paper thin plot devices carrying a player from 1 setpiece (ie. a dramatically epic battle scene).

When scrutinised, these stories just fall apart with glaring holes (Read this if you have played the campaign of Modern Warfare 2), but the huge explosions and OMFG battles make you not notice them, at all. I mean, who the hell questioned the humanitarian implications of the EMP in Modern Warfare 2? You just see planes falling from the sky!

Its bad, there is now way around it, but similarly to Michael Bay's movies, they make a fuckton of money as consumers don't care about the finer aspects of storytelling.

Now, I have neglected Role-playing games, because their storytelling is completely different. While in most FPS, you are just pawn being pushed through a predetermined story, RPGs custom tailor the story for you, with different endings. And this is where the true innovation really lies. The problem here, is RPGs has a niche market- most consumers are more interested in the OMFG setpieces previously mentioned. But games like Mass Effect (I want to play but still don't have the chance, so I can't really comment on it.. Sry) are trying to bring action into the genre, which is a great step forward. The problem? Typical RPG encounters don't need a huge amount of design. FPS/RTS battles need to be choreographed with X type A enemies coming from angle 1 while Y type B enemies coming from the right- very time intensive, and with alternative storylines, the creators do not have enough time and resources to make such a complicated game profitable. But its starting to change now, with better AI.

A typical script for a Triple A RPG release these days is 5 novels long- so you can see how intricate this aspect of video game design can be. A good story in any medium- be it movies, books, TV Shows or Video Games, make the player feel for the character feel for the characters- and video games are at that stage. The potential for interactive storytelling is limitless- and I have no doubts that video games will become the premier form of storytelling in the next 20 years.

Fun fact: The video game business is bigger than Hollywood.

Basically, summed up:

Frankly speaking: Gender equality/gay rights

No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.

-Constitution of Singapore

That phrase single handily sums up my reservations about this issue. All people, regardless of nothing, should have the legal right to strive for happiness in whatever way they see fit. However, there should be moderation by the law- provided the law is drafted if its scientifically proven to harm the user significantly. Period. Not by social or cultural taboos, or some religion.

So homosexuality. Does it cause harm to the body? No. The only thing people can even argue is the (rumored, I can't be bothered to check) higher rate of HIV/AIDS in homosexual males, but thats because the American taboo/prosecution of gays (promoted vigorously by various churches).

If we draft laws to social taboos, this country would be no better than Iran. Will this means gays should be able to get married and have legal sex? Yes. But does that eck you out? Me too. But that does not mean the law should be against them. This logic is called "discrimination".

The difference between "minority" and "prosecuted minority" is huge. In this society, the moment we allow this to slip, its going to spread to other minorities, like people of different race or socio-economic background.

Well, thats my stand. Agree or disagree, its based on the same values of harmony that this country has used for so long.

Than there is gender equality.

All I really have to say is...

Its not only this. There are so many different ways men are socially obliged under chivalry to be double standardized.

For one, men should be legally allowed to be raped. Singapore rape laws explicitly applies to women according to the women's charter and my understanding (correct me if I am wrong).

The above isn't my point, really. I do agree men should uphold chivalry where they can, but women should be expected to do their part in this dance and not just assume only men should be gentlemen.

Each are good at different things- Men are generally stronger, more gruff, but do stuff in a straightforward way while ladies are generally more dexterous, and care more about the details. Not only that, the cultural landscape have different roles for men and women. (ie. dress code, chivalry)

The law should be used to enforce equal opportunities for all regardless of gender or religion or society, and no affirmative action (ie. extra rights to compensate for a perceived lack of rights in the past) should be taken. Thats it. Equal rights. Not pro-women, or pro-men, as it is perceived.

Singapore has already abolished most of the old traditions which oppressed women, and now we need to ensure affirmative action is not carried out to too much of an extent. The old values in Confucius and Shria law regarding women has largely disappeared, but still lingers. But as my generation with generally more liberal ideas mature, I believe, this will disappear completely one day.

But until then, the law must strictly toe the line between bias against either one. Which we have not been doing very well.

Thats what I believe in, anyway

Fear and Stupidity in Singapore Politics

It's arguable if excessive power is a worthwhile traffics for progress, but it is undeniable the PAP held and used it's excessive power brutally for the last 50 years.

Like all systems with excessive power, fear was in the heart of it? Oppose them verbally? They will use ISA and lock you up. Trying to oppose them in parliament? You will be bankrupt with defamation lawsuits in no time.

All this happened. History has not been kind to the PAP in this regard, and anyone who denies this can't see a car if it was about to hit them. However, it's arguable if this excessive use of power is with it, with the growth of Singapore from a slum to our metropolitan city.

However, this fear is fading away. With the rise of he internet, people can comment on the government anonymously. They can now reach the Singapore populist without going through the censored Singapore press (which, by the way, is one of the more censored in the world). Anonymity has allowed voices to be heard, controversies to be fairly expanded upon, and opened the eyes of Singaporeans to the previous fear tactics and torture (yes, the PAP tortured ISA detainees. Torture.)


I am so enraged today not because of that. I am still undecided whether all that fear was worth it for modern Singapore. But instead, I became frustrated at the stupidity the PAP old guard to shut the fuck up. Case and point:

"[Presidential Election] showed strong support for PAP"

-Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Yaacob Ibrahim

Wait... The one so clearly backed by PAP barely won it at ~30%. Woah?

 Pointing out that the combined vote share for Dr Tony Tan and Dr Tan Cheng Bock - both former PAP MPs - was about 70 per cent, Dr Yaacob said: "There's strong support for the party in that sense. But it's clear that there are people who are divided, as explained by the Prime Minister, (who) were basically having to decide between two very good candidates." 

WHAT THE FUCK? >.<


No, PAP. Do not fool yourself. You are on the loosing end. People do not want the close PAP relation to Tony Tan. Thus Tan Cheng Bock, who, ran as an independent, even trying to distance himself from his PAP MP past, championing when he spoked out rather when he agreed.


...As proven by foreign press with sensational and awesome headlines....

"Tantamount to a humiliation"

-The Economist

“There is currently a disconnect between the constitutional role of the president and what people would like to see it evolve to,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Capital Economics (Asia) Pte in Singapore. At first, Tony Tan had looked like “a shoo-in, but the other candidates have come out strongly.”

-Bloomberg

A close presidential election confirms the growing rift between the ruling party and the public

-Wall Street Journal


The PAP old guard has been known to make plain retard statements (repentgate), but this shit has to stop. Don't get me wrong- they are efficient and flat out one of the most effective in the world, but if they continue to think they are in a comfortable political situation, we'll just have to find a new government.

I don't care if a government is good, if it do not have the support of its people, it is illegitimate and must be taken down. I want to clarify at this point I am not anti-PAP, but there must be sufficient opposition to make this democracy a legitimate one (ie. ABLE TO BLOCK BILLS.) before any alternatives can be heard.


If they really don't start implementing some populist measures instead of those aimed at blind growth, or stop making plainly wrong and offensive comments, they will lose more than a single minister in the next elections.

A Reflection on the Presidential Elections

My body woke up naturally at 6 just after going to sleep at 3am. Typically, I just slept in till 11 or even 1. But today was different.

Tony Tan had barely, and when I say barely I am comparing it to the closest elections on an International skill, not the 10% vote difference "close fights" we typically see here in Singapore.
it came down literally, to the wire. 0.34%, or 7269 votes in 1 direction. That's shocking, even to me. I predicted a roflstomp by Tony Tan due to the diluted opposition votes, with Tan Jee Say close 2nd due to his political base.

I was wrong. I underestimated Singaporeans' political maturity. But I am happy to be wrong. Let me explain why:

Now, lets analyze this by vote share, since numbers are too confusing.

Tony Tan: 35.19%
Tan Cheng Bock: 34.85%
Tan Jee Say: 25.04%
Tan Kin Lian: 4.91%

Up until this point I believed Singaporean elections were based on bases, ie. the lowest denominator of each political side. I believed there are 3 demographic bases to appeal to: 1 pro-PAP, 1 anti-establishment opposition, 1 independent.

We never really got to see how big are they, and this election shown them in clear daylight. 25% of Singaporeans who voted for Tan Jee Say wanted a clearly opposition member in office. Thats the opposition base, while 35% voted for Tony Tan, a man who is generally despised by most Singaporeans. I understand the actual bases are significantly different, and I know of people who voted for opposition in the GE but Tony Tan in the PE. But the margins are roughly there, and thats the rough shape we need to make sense of politics. They voted for a clear side while there are alternatives, period.

This means the majority of Singapore is not polarized, instead, will make wise votes. And that is a whole 40% of swing votes in any next election, which give me hope of actually having a substantial opposition stay in parliament, not just that 2 people for show. This shows political maturity, not like what you see in the world's oldest democracy, where both party only appeal to the bases, not moderates, causing polarization. For Singapore, it shows we are indeed listening to feedback about various candidates and making a choice.

This also means the PAP is, indeed, an legitimate government which has been voted in by voters who know what they are doing, not "vote PAP because I don't care". Take this for what you will; personally, I am just reinforcing my notion that the PAP, despite its clear flaws, is a good government which the people indeed want.

It also shows how weak Tony Tan' presidential support will be. I am pretty sure this is the closest election we ever had in Singaporean election, and this is the first one where a candidate with minority votes actually won. Singaporeans have spoken: Tony Tan is disliked, or at least, not preferred by 70% of us.

But this is how elections vote. The diluted votes from the pro-opposition and independent bloc are the sole reason, I believe, Tony Tan was victorious. But I will not have it any other way. In most countries, years of political dilution has caused all politics to condense into a 2 party system, polarizing issues, misrepresenting what people really want. This showed up with the American government failing in spectacular fashion in front of the world just a few months ago. Singapore can't be afford to like that- like the PM said, we are small, and a political deadlock means we are all screwed. I much rather have a bunch of smaller opposition with enough say but not given too much power.

I may not necessary agree with the results, but this is how elections work. Expecting anything else from the cold hard numbers and current political state means you don't fully understand this type of widely practiced democracy. There are NO runoffs, thats just a rule to live by. You can argue its needed, but not for this results. Electoral law supersedes any ongoing debate, and you must acknowledge Tony Tan is the rightful winner.

I may not politically agree with him, but I will support him. Maybe not his policies, but I know he has been the legitimate winner of the ballot. Thats how a democracy works. Someone you didn't like won? Sit down, deal with it. The majority had said otherwise, and fighting would be pathetic. Its the beauty of democracy, of elections, where officials go to office knowing there are people willing to vote them out if the fuck things up too much for either side and must toe the line between various kinds of people. So, lets wait, shall we? Whether is him or Sitoh Yi Pin, they won fair and squared, and should recieve our support, at least until they fuck up in out opinions. Give them a chance, because many of us wanted the other side of the isle to give the opposition a chance in the GE. We should have this double standard.

-Fin. Maybe I'll go back to sleep, but I'am too energized. MLG and revision. :D

A Reflection On The Singapore Spirit

It has almost been 50 years since we became the only country in the world to achieve unwanted sovereignty. We are the child which Malaysia left to die.

But we done pretty well for ourselves. An oasis in a region in the world condemned with poverty, imperialism and political instability, we have come so far. However, the successes of this city state should be common sense to most of us now, so I'll skip this part.

This year's NDP theme is "Majulah! The Singapore Sprit", talking about resilience and determination and all that great political jizz. But is the "Singapore Sprit" definable? Can a single entity, be it government or anyone else really summarise Singapore in a  single buzzword clogged definition? I don't think so.

Behind the smog of propaganda and "National Education", I do believe there is a "Singapore Sprit". But it is not definable. It is made up of millions of people's collective morals and ethos, each different from the other.

Nationalism has came a long way in Singapore. A immigrant nation with mainly 1st or 2nd generation descendants, we are ripe for conflict. Even the Malays are not native- Singapore was practically empty until the British set up a port, and only then did people come down from places like Penang or Malacca.

Nationalism was non-exsistant in the '60s- China is gripping the chinese with cold war politics while Malaysia toyed with the Malay's minds. Our flag reflects this- the five stars are not for the values; they represent the 5 stars of Communist China's flag. The crescent? New nation my ass. It is the Islamic crescent. Even LKY has admitted to this. Our national anthem was Malay for the pure and simple reason of making them feel this Island is still their native land.

Its brutal. We thought merging with Malaysia will allow us to develop a more unified national spirit, but all that did was unleash the UMMO political hounds, inciting violence.

No one believed in this nation when it was thrown out of the gates by a UMMO who gave up trying to convert us. 

Fast forward to today. Boy had we grown. Being Singaporean is no longer something to be ashamed of, we can now say where we are from with pride. Something happened- and it was not natural.

If we were to cherish anything Singapore has accomplished in the last 50 years, let it not only be the economic strides, but the coming together of peoples from far and wide under a common flag. One where we are the beacon where people point to when saying multiracialism is not only viable, but the only way. If there was a single Singapore Spirit, it would be the common patriotism (for most people, at least), not "determination or dedication or competence".

This is my view, at least. You could agree or disagree, and I, as with most Singaporeans, are open to other's opinion and beliefs. That's Singapore.

Happy Birthday, dear nation.

Halo and Me- a Reflection

I believed I had talked about this many times before, but I can't emphasize how big has Halo been in my life. After watching this ViDoc... Wow. Just wow.

Bungie is awesome. This 1 hour long homage to fans has production quality beating 90% of all documentaries. It details the history of Bungie and Halo. If you remotely like Halo, watch it. Its going to be worth your time.

For me, it sparked a strand in my heart I rarely remember. But when I do, I could only reflect on the impact that this game had on my life. Its shocking, how what little social life I had centered around this inanimate object.

But let me start from the start.

So, I don't really know when I actually found this little gem of a game. All I know is long long ago, I found this game called "Halo Trial". I was somewhere around the age of P1-P4, and since I was at that time spending all my free time on free internet games (often trials of full games, since my parents thought  games then cost too much).

More on that later. I loved it but eventually I forgotten about that, and moved on to whatever MMO was popular at that time (Before Maple was even popular) and played it with my friends. Runescape, bitch.

Skip ahead a few years. My dear friend LYX reminded me of that game, and I instantly remembered it. I don't really remember the name, just how awesome it was. So I redownloaded it. And wow.

Inside the trial was a single level level, The Silent Cartographer. I don't remember playing it the first time, but subsequently I loved the beach assault sequence. I would play that over and over and over again, and even today after playing so many other games I still think that is easily one of the best executed gameplay moments ever.

Thing about that level- the 2nd part of it always got me since I can't drive a warthog up that hill. I was very young so forgive me for saying that that sequence scared the crap out of me. I still have a fear of it despite able to easily clear it now. Especially the camouflage elites when you exit the Cartographer. Gives me the chills whenever I replay that.

But than I found Multiplayer. Online 18 player team heavy flag/ Oddball on Blood motherfucking Gulch. Holy crap that was fun. Banshees raining death from above, while I mastered the art of tank on tank combat. In Oddball driving multiple warthogs onto the small hill in the back Red base and set up a fort of rocket and regular hogs. Holy crap it was fun. Never mind no one else plays it, its good enough by itself. That 1 map was good enough for me. I played it almost every afternoon for hours. When I had chicken poxs, I was playing it. It was the bomb.

Eventually, it faded away from my attention once again. New MMOs are constantly getting our attention (Some less commons ones I played with friends are Space Cowboy and Rakion.), including Maple.

But than I was paired in the same class with my old friend Darric (Red Swastika School, 5/7 '06). And I was introduced to Halo 2. At that time, I don't even know Halo Trial was Halo. I thought it was just a awesome Sci-Fi FPS. It took Wikipedia to find that link between the 2 games. And when I found out...

Holy shit. So fun. SSSOOO FFFUUNNN. I remember going to his house during P5/6 nearly daily to play Halo 2 (We both lived practically next to each other and our school is 10min walk away). Lockout and Midship man... 4 player split screen. I was hooked. Holy fuck that was fun. (I probably shouldn't swear, I barely learnt that word yet then). Endless hours of fun. ENDLESS.

Keep in mind what we did play it on a 360 he does not have LIVE, so we don't know the wonders of online yet. But who cares. Its awesome by itself either way.

I literally wasted my so many hours of my life playing that game...

After Halo 3 launched, I got to taste abit of it, but...

...PSLE happened. I won't get into the details, but I remembered riding in my mom's car as we went to pick up that Xbox I always wanted on the exact last day of PSLE at courts megastore. My mom even went everywhere to find that Halo 3 Limited Edition I wanted (Thank you so much <3). She got cheated $30 for that at Sim Lim Square (TT). But either way, I got it.

And the next few months were the best I every had up to that point of my life. Halo 3 EVERYDAY for 5 hours, going to either me or Darric's place. (As I remembered the team was LYX, Darric, me and Aden with occasional guests (correct me if I was wrong)). We played it to hell and back. To the very last day of school, and even into the early holidays. Nirvana.

I eventually plugged my Xbox into Xbox Live. I was the only one. HHHOOOOOOLLLYYY SSSHHHIIITTT. Big team matchmaking with 4 friends. Thats the life. Ultra Nivana, if its a word. And furthermore, I have people to play with when alone. Win-win-win-win!

Then, it stopped. Just stopped. I don't know why, maybe its because we are drifting apart due to lack of school or whatnot, or maybe it was because Darric moved, but it eventually stopped and never really fit again. I still dream for that day I can experience that type of fun with the guys again. Call me guys :) Lets do something wild after the 'O's.

Halo slowly slipped away once again without friends to anchor it down. I was introduced to COD4:MW by Chee Hao. And fuck, thats my new craze.

Eventually, after some bitter argument and SNAFU, I was sent into Maris Stella High School, leaving LYX in Hai Sing Catholic (Sorry dude, I still never wanted it to be this way...), which basically means my ties to old friends was severed. And what's worse is that my parents appealed especially late, and I was sent into a class with no old schoolmates, even.

For someone like me with near zero social skills, I was scared as hell. It took me awhile, but I eventually drifted towards the right crowd. Than I met Joshua and Tristan, which I have to say, is the first other physical persons I met with subscriptions to XBL. I was douchey at first with my elitism of Halo knowledge, but he certainly showed me who boss not too long after. And there I was once again. New Halo buddies, tearing shit up online every fucking day (or weekend, I don't remember). Except this time, via XBL. Not as good as LAN (maybe because of school work), but still unique and awesome in its own way.

And the first trend of illegal gaming in the school? Halo Trial. What a coincidence. Except this time we learnt how to mod it.

We played for 2 years. Custom games all the way. 16 player game was surprisingly different than 4 player, as you expected. However, I did introduce to them Call of Duty 4, which they than found a port for the Mac and commence massive craze in school!

(Insert Halo 3:ODST somewhere here)

MW2 killed our Halo group. At the same time, we changed classes to Sec 3. Gaming was at a backseat now. We just couldn't meet up and LAN in school any longer. I eventually moved on to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which they did not catch on. Halo was no more. We do play once in a while, but other than that, nothing.

And with no one really to play XBL with and than chat about it in school, the social aspect of multiplayer gaming slipped out slowly. Last year, Halo: Reach did bring the magic back a little, but we were too fractured to truly enjoy it to the max.

And I find myself losing interest in Halo. Reach was fun, but it was stagnant. It simply couldn't stand up in depth to newer games, and I find myself running short of time to game anyway. I eventually got a PC, and moved mainly to PC gaming, particularly RTS. I haven't touch my Xbox for a long time. When I do, I hope everyone will have XBL, with the 'O's over. Everyone, not only 1 group. My dream is to get back the times after PSLE. I hope that will happen. I can only hope.

My social life has been Halo. Nothing but Halo. It has been the core and I will forever cherish it as such. I might be repeating this, but I am shocked at how this game can allow socially awkward forever alone me to attain great friends.

This ViDoc really touched me.... I really hope this trend can continue. Guys?

/End 1 hour 30 min post