Game Invader - When Role-Playing isn't Role-Playing

I've cribbed for a long time that modern role-playing games are increasingly moving away from the core role-playing aspects of the genre, focussing instead on the action, strategy, storytelling and exploration aspects.

Read more on the subject at the latest installment of 'Game Invader'.

Elsewhere , Videep Vijay Kumar reviews Assassin's creed. He always gets the nice graphics. I get a bad caricature. Eh? Oh. Buy Zeitgeist (the Indian Express Saturday Supplement) and you'll understand.

Game Invader - handhelds and fanboys

Two more links to my columns on zeitgeist :

• Why you should buy a handheld
• Gamers, don't be fanboys, try something new.

Actually, the second one is based on an earlier post on this blog, but I can be forgiven for plagiarizing from myself ;)

The Importance of Being Earnest

Yes, that's right, i said "earnest", in the age of L33t and all that. It's an old fashioned word for a rather old fashioned thought - one that I, and the esteemed Vinay Nilakantan, have often been expressing to the founder/editor/bossguy of this blog (and many other gamers) for many years now. Which is this: If you find a game that you enjoy, for whatever reason, try to take the time and trouble to finish it.

I'm obviously referring only to games that actually have an ending. If you're one of those gamers whose only purpose is to rise to the top of leaderboards in online deathmatches and CTF and whatnot, you can stop reading now. But if, like me, you occasionally lean a little more towards the entertainment side of the games as armchair sport vs. interactive entertainment debate, you'll find playing games through to the end to be an utterly rewarding and satisfying experience.

For starters, there’s the incomparable, bittersweet, I’m-such-a-dude-to-beat-this-but- I-wish-it-wasn’t-over-now-what-will-I-do-with-my-life feeling that you get at the end of an epic quest like Baldur’s Gate 2. There’s simply no other feeling like it. Or there’s games like BioShock, with strictly middle of the road action until that one, staggering moment, 80 per cent into the game, which makes it all worthwhile and will make it one of your most memorable gaming experiences. Even in a consistently brilliant, emotional experience like Shadow of the Colossus, the most gut wrenchingly resonant moment occurs right before the very last level. And who doesn’t want to grab that cake at the end of Portal??

It’s not just about story, either. Some of the best action sequences, and obviously boss fights, occur deep into games, beyond some numbingly boring, backtracking heavy sequences (fanboys, you know what I'm talking about). And even when the ending isn’t up to scratch and seemingly not worth the effort, there’s a unique sort of in-joke kind of pleasure to be derived from discussing with fellow sufferers how an otherwise great game could slip up like that, or leave you hanging. Anyone remember Xen from the original half-life? Or played God of War 2 to the very end?

One of my greatest gaming regrets is not playing very far into any of the GTA games. The lack of a retry option for mission failure, forcing you to often get waaaaaay across the map just to pick up another thing to do kept getting to me. I’m happy to hear that GTA4 fixes this and I’m queuing up for my copy, but I’ll never experience the awe that the entire gaming world almost has felt for GTA3, and San Andreas, and now I never will. I can’t help feeling that my lack of patience (earnestness??) has denied me something, and I'm the poorer for it. It's certainly not keeping Rockstar awake at night, so who's the loser here?

So the next time you need to find your way past the occasional ridiculous level design, or reload for the umpteenth time because of an insane difficulty spike, or tear your hair out because of a seemingly unsolvable puzzle, or repeat the same actions over and over and over again because of brain dead checkpointing, try to grit your teeth, and Finish the Fight. The best may well be yet to come.

Game Invader : Everybody knows that worms can't swim!

This week, Game Invader (my weekly gaming column for Zeitgeist, the Indian Express Saturday paper) looks fondly back at one of the greatest PC strategy titles ever made - Team 17's Worms 2.

Read it here.

Arsenal conveying teh_pwnage after defeat!

This has got to be one of the funniest crap-i-mations that I've ever seen. Brilliantly done. My favourite is Wenger, but the others aren't too bad, either.



I haven't the foggiest who created this, or from whence it sprung, but if anyone does, let me know and I'll link to the source. Bound to be some more such teh_br1ll14nc3 there.

It's somehow just not the same if he's V.Kennedy

P.James is actually V.Kennedy. Here's proof.

If I have to explain that to you, then you probably won't be interested in this post anyway.

But for the enlightened, how are we going to deal with this? Does 'V.Kennedy Magic Show' have the same ring? Didn't think so.

Some of us lucky ones have seen the actual P.James, who was an ancient human being even 20 years ago. Videep Vijay Kumar remembers having James perform absurdly impossible feats at his (Videep's, not James') second birthday party. Aditya Khanna has seen him live at Spencer Plaza, revelling in the magnificence of the venue in a manner that would have made Yanni proud.

To the rest of us, he's a mystery man who will always be associated with his iconic piece of graffiti that greets Chennaiites from Redhills to Injambakkam.

But he was always P.James.

And now, he's V.Kennedy. At least, his grandson is. And Kennedy continues to call himself P.James, at least when he's performing. Like Phantom, it passes on from generation to generation! What fun! The 'P.James Magic Show' graffiti is like the world famous 'Skull' mark of the Phantom. The Ghost who Walks! The Magician who Writes on Walls!

And before we end this delightful train of thought, let's take a moment to dwell upon the mysterious man who links the two P.Jameses, by virtue of having been born to one and fathered the other. By studying the naming patterns in the family, one can safely conclude that he must be called J.Vincent. Yes, that will do nicely.

Game Invader - My Weekly Gaming Column in The New Indian Express

It's official - I'm now an official game journalist! I have a weekly column (Titled 'Game Invader'. Nifty, eh?) in Zeitgeist, the Saturday paper from the all-new, zippily redesigned New Indian Express.



The first one was called 'A call to non-gamers'. You can read the online version here.



But, seriously, if you're interested in gaming, you must get the actual paper. Editor-in-chief Aditya Sinha has done gamers a huge favour by taking a leap of faith and devoting a full page every Saturday to gaming, the first newspaper in India to do so. It's a spanking new redesign, and has tons of great content (no, I'm not returning a favour or anything. I honestly believe that Zeitgeist, and the new Express, are a breath of fresh air for newspaper readers in the city. Try it for yourself.). Go out and get one this Saturday, and you'll see what I mean.






This is what Zeitgeist's gaming page looks like. That's me in the corner. That's me in the spot . . . light . . . losing . . er . . .sorry.




And besides my column, there are other great articles on gaming as well, written by excellent individuals such as Videep Vijay Kumar and Sumit Mehra.



So, does this make me India's first weekly columnist on gaming? At least in a print newspaper? Can any of my readers point me towards any others?



I'm enjoying this thoroughly - it's a dream come true. Hope you guys enjoy reading my stuff even half as much.

This Blog has moved.

Hi,

Thanks for reading 'Papayas are people, too.'

I've split the content into other blogs :

pwnage.in for general stuff

sacredcow.in for comics

bossfight.in for gaming

bosey.co.in for Son of Bosey.

Thanks for visiting. See you over at the other blogs.

The Shah Rukh Khan Rap

Shah Rukh Khan. He's everywhere!

Ever since I came to Mumbai to work on a number of projects involving his company, there's been no escape. Open the morning paper, and he's staring at you. Flip the TV on - you can't surf channels for more than five minutes without looking at his mug. Take a walk, and he's observing you from various billboards at every turn, almost as if to say "Taking a walk, eh? Just thought you'd goof off from working on my stuff for a bit, eh?", with his trademark wit and sarcasm.

And hence the following ode. You are welcome to set it to a rap tune. Or hard rock. Or villu-p- paatu if you prefer.

He stares at you from the TV screen

From every damn ad that you've ever seen

Selling you phones and cars and stuff

I'm sick of his face – enough's enough!

He's on all the billboards and posters and signs

Spouting those moronic, unfunny lines

How can I escape? Lock myself in the loo?

I won't be surprised to find him in there, too!

How do I escape from Shah Rukh Khan?

Any more of him and I can't go on.

I'll gladly suffer Jeetendra or Pran,

Just get me away from Shah Rukh Khan.

His hamming and preening just drive me insane

again and again and again and again.

The same old cliched, shoddy expressions,

Turning whole movies into torture sessions.

You'll see him on some TV channel quiz.

Flip through the channels and guess what ? Gee, Whiz!

He's singing and dancing and smiling at you

On every frickin channel up to 122.

How do I escape from Shah Rukh Khan?

Any more of him and I can't go on.

Give me anyone else – yes, even Salman!

But please do something about Shah Rukh Khan.

Synergistic Metabolism! Mr.Vada is teh_Pwnage.

Presenting Mr.Vada. The most impressive vada-based sales effort of all time. You can check out teh_re4l thing at the delicious Mr.Vada Web Site. And don't miss the pictures of strange looking sandwiches and vada-pavs that look like they may suddenly wake up and go about their business of conquering the earth, or whatever.

"This information is for educational purposes only"! Good thing they warned us. We were about to use it to build a bomb! And make millions in the capital markets!

P.S. - Sorry - comments were disabled for some strange reason. Fixed now. My bad. Comment away.