Over the weekend I read Mass Effect: Deception, by William C. Dietz, in preparation for the release of Mass Effect 3.  Thanks to blogs like Joystiq I was aware of the “Errors with Mass Effect: Deception” Google Doc (which contains a list of errors compiled by fans of the games/comics) but figured that most of the complaints other people had would pass me by — after all, I’m not an expert on Krogan biology or fictional future history.

…I was wrong.

I was able to forgive the minor errors in the lore (since I wouldn’t have picked up on them without the document), but there were much bigger problems: one character’s name changed from Nankin to Narkin in the space of three pages; Gillian Grayson’s autism is dismissed as her being simply an “awkward teenager”; there are lots of events that don’t fit in with the events of previous books; and literally hundreds of grammatical errors (one page describes the difference between “an Level 1″, “an Level 2″ and “an Level 3″ biotic).

The overall story is kind of interesting, and I’m sure that some of the events that take place will feature in the next game, but that’s not a good enough reason for me to recommend the book to anybody.  It is, in short, rubbish.

Copied and pasted from my inbox, for your enjoyment…

BABE… i guess your not getting any of my email huh? ive been
tryign to email u so many times but this dam laptop is such a piece of
garbage and keeps freezing.. anyways how u been? In case u dont know
who this is its ME ADRIANA.. we used to chat a bit on facebook and then
I think u deleted me haha.. anyways guess what… I got 2 things to
tell u.. both good news.. 1) im single now.. yup me and my bf broke up
about 3 months ago… and 2) guess where im moving? RIGHT EFFING NEAR
U.. lol… ur actually the only person im gonna know there.. well 3
cousins too but i cant chill with them lol..I remember when we chatted
u told me u thought i was cute and u wanted to chill so now we finally
can HAHA! im kinda scared to move.. im hoping this email addy is still
the one you use and u can chat with me ebfore i get there.. maybe even
help me move my shit in…are u still on facebook? i cudnt find ui was
soo confused…anyways im gonna need someone to show me the town and
take me out so u better be around bebe…we only chatted a couple
times but i remember thinking to myself i wanted to get ot know u
better when i was single..a nd i thoguth u were cute too but cudnt
tell u cause i wasnt single lol…ok so more info about me.. well im
23.. virgo.. love the outdoors and love to socialize, go out for
drinks, restaurants, movies etc.. travel.. i have a lil kitty named
BOO and i luv her to death… uhhh oh im a super horny gurl too but
every gurl is they just wont admit it. so ilove watching p0rn and all
that.. love sex etc blah blah blah…who doesnt..I really hope we get
a chance to chat for a bit either online or on the fone before i get
there enxt week.. i hope u remmeber me and still wanna chill and arent
married yet lol.. OH YA also.. i need to find a job when i get there..
do u have any hookups or know anybody hiring? id LOVE to work in a bar
or osmehting like that…really anythgin cause my current job is fun
and all.. and technically i CUD keep doign it but i want a change.. i
currently work from home and well thats cool but i need ot be out
meeting people.. oh wait. i dont think i ever actually told u what i
did? hmm shud i……???? ok WELLLL… and dont get all weirded out
on me.. i work on a webcam chat community site and i get paid to chat
with people and get naked HHAHA… BOMB right ? I KNOW.. like i
figure iim horny anyways why not get paid to chat with people and play
with myself heheh…anyways i hope u dont look down on that and NO
THATS NOT WHY IM CONTACTING U RELAX URSELF lol… i actually need help
once i move and i remembered u live there so im reaching out….like i
said before this computer is a complete piece of CRAP and freezes NON
STOP.. ive tried ot send this email to u maybe 3 times already and im
hopign this time i can hit SEND before i run into trouble lol..
ANYWAYS.. heres the deal….every month natalie (my boss) gives each
of us 3 VIP codes to give out to whoever we want.. so with this code u
can lgoin to watch me at work for free and dont have to pay like
everyone else… the only way i can give u one of the codes (so we can
chat) is if you absolutey DO NOT give it out to anyone else and u ONLY
USE IT FOR URSELF… i only get 3 a month and she gets pissed if more
than 3 people use them so DONT SHARE IT MISTER… i figured u cud
always email me back instead but my email account doesnt even let me
login half the time.. so the bets palce ot chat me is my chat room…
if theres anyone else logged in when u sign in ill boot them out.. but
remember DONT SHARE THIS PASSWORD PLEASE BABE IM BEGGING U.. I TRUST
U… im online most of the day now to try and save money for my move..
also since im in such a huge debt already form my student loan I
really thingk we need to chat before i get there and make sure u evern
remember me hahha.. anyways ive rambled on and on now and ur probably
soooo annnoyed with me so ill stop now.. im gonna go start work.. i
really hope u come chat me. it wud make my day and releive a lot of my
stress about the move… REALLY i mean that….anyways once i see u in
insdie ill shoot u myc ell number and u can gimme yours.. if u dont
wanna come chat i understand but its really the only palce to find me
now days.. if u email me abck ill probably get it once i get there
after my internet is setup so about 2-3 weeks fomr now.. but im hopign
to see u in my chat room.. rmemeber its 100% free with this code im
gonna give u.. just DONT GIVE IT OUT OR ILL KICK U IN THE BALLS
INSTEAD OF LICK U IN THE BALLS WHEN IS EE U hahahahha…k babe im out
for now msg me before the New Year… chat ya soon.. kisses xoxo ADRIANA

…But now that’s out of the way, I can say that I didn’t think Size Matters was as good as the other games in the Ratchet & Clank series.  A lot of the same gameplay is there; some pretty solid platforming; a reasonably good selection of fun weaponry; and some comedy from Captain Qwark, but the whole game seems somewhat rushed and disjointed.

Ratchet really hates crabs.

The bulk of Size Matters (at least the way I played it) consists of the sort of run-and-gun platform action that I’d expect from a Ratchet & Clank game.  However, there’re an awful lot of minigames, too: use Clank as a robot in a destruction derby; use Clank as a gun to defend Ratchet from afar; use Clank as a spaceship; beat a purple lion in a hoverboard race; a Lemmings clone featuring small robots.  I didn’t find these minigames particularly fun, and only really bothered to play those that were necessary to complete the game — there were several more “challenges” available for each minigame type, but after attempting just a handful of them I was pretty bored.

"Let's enter Clank in a destruction derby with robot sheep!"

The platforming sections are also let down by an absolutely abysmal camera and poor control layout. The game plays like it was designed for the PS2, in that the absence of a second analog stick and L2/R2 buttons on the PSP is really noticeable — whilst the analog stick moves Ratchet (or Clank) around, you need to switch to the D-Pad to strafe, whilst using the shoulder buttons to control the camera, Square to shoot and X to jump and avoid enemy fire.  Most of the game’s guns don’t lock on to enemies, either, so I often found myself playing with my hands uncomfortably twisted around my PSP struggling to shoot at nothing in particular.

A combination of these poor controls and enemies with a lot of health makes for an incredibly steep difficulty curve.  I think I died more in Size Matters than I’ve died in any other platform game ever.  Worse still, it’s nearly impossible to beat these difficult sections by correcting one’s tactics — rather, the game seems to depend on the fact that experience points carry over between deaths.  Boss too hard?  Just keep trying again and again and again; your weaponry and health will marginally improve each time and eventually you might survive the battle.

Even with all of this constant dying and re-playing of levels, the game is still incredibly short — I completed it in 5 hours — and I couldn’t really recommend it to anybody but hardcore Ratchet & Clank fans.

Basically, it had a lot to live up to.

Grandia does a good job of blending 2D sprites and 3D environments.

Playing as Justin, a young boy who dreams of being an adventurer, the beginning of the game sees you running around your home town on a fetch quest.  I found this pretty dull (and started to feel cheated out of my £5) but stuck with it because of what I’d heard.  Thankfully, the story does get going eventually — even if it is pretty standard fare for a JRPG; young boy sets out to discover the history of an ancient civilisation, yadda yadda yadda… and ends up saving the world.

One of the things that surprised me most about Grandia is just how well it has aged.  Whereas FFVII‘s chibi-style characters look absolutely ludicrous by today’s standards, and the constant back-and-forth between blocky chibi and detailed battle model is a little jarring, Grandia‘s combination of 2D sprite-work and 3D environments is superb, and ensures a consistent feel in both the field and battle.  Even in FMVs, characters are rendered in 2D as high-quality cartoons.  The battle and level-up system are also different enough from the norm to feel innovative even compared to recent RPGs, and I will give a basic rundown here.

Battles (of the “collide-with-an-enemy” rather than “random encounter” variety) are a mix between turn-based and real-time.  Between turns, characters and enemies cycle between three states (Wait, Command, Act) at a speed dependent on their stats, and the action pauses whilst issuing commands in order to give the player some time to think.  All the usual commands are there (Attack, Magic, Defend, Item, Escape), but Grandia also includes a Critical Attack option.  This doesn’t deal more damage than a usual attack (as one might expect) but potentially causes the opponent to stagger, interrupting them if they are in the Command or Act stages or increasing their Wait time otherwise.  If played tactically, it’s possible to time your Critical Attacks such that the enemy never gets a chance to retaliate — and this makes for some very interesting battles indeed.

Like in all good JRPGs, the world is teeming with monsters.

As for the level-up system, simply fighting and winning battles is not enough to make your characters stronger.  Use of a particular weapon or magic attribute will affect the way your character grows (every 100 Sword points will increase your Strength stat and Skill Points, whilst every 100 Fire points will increase your Wit stat and MP, for example), and this system is completely orthogonal to the experience you gain in battle.  Learning new moves and spells is dependent on this system (rather than your character’s level), and so without switching weapon types regularly, or mixing up the roles of each character in battle, you’ll find yourself severely underpowered before long.

Unfortunately, the game is let down by a few minor flaws.  The voice acting is pretty terrible in places; the dialogue can be pretty corny; and the plot doesn’t feel as epic as some other games in the genre.  Additionally, towards the end the game suddenly seems to decide that a consistent party line-up would be boring; characters decide to leave for no reason, or join for such a small amount of time that it’s difficult to become attached (or care when they eventually depart).

Nonetheless, Grandia is charming, challenging and (thanks to the PSN re-release) great value for money.  If you’re a fan of JRPGs, there’s really no reason not to play it.

The theme for the competition was Escape – which I initially wasn’t happy with, having voted for Adaptation, Genetics, and Immortality – but after a few hours of brainstorming I eventually came up with what I thought was a reasonably simple (and possibly fun) game idea; a sliding block puzzle, where you have to reach the exit without being caught by the enemies chasing you.

By the end of Friday, I had all the sprite-work done, a player that could move around the screen and some basic level collision stuff.  Saturday was much more productive, and by mid-afternoon I had most of the game mechanics finished.  Saturday evening was divided between making music/sound effects, making title and instruction screens and trying to come up with more levels.

After posting the first version of this blog entry, I eventually decided that there was still plenty of time to improve things and dived back into the code. On Sunday I made the animation smoother (originally characters moved an entire square with each step; a quick hack changed this to a fluid motion over several frames), added some slightly better music and re-designed all of the levels to be more fun.

…here it is:

This is my first Ludum Dare, but my second or third independent entry into a 48 hour competition. I’m slowly gaining more confidence with my ideas and am happy to see I’m getting much faster at developing prototypes — but there’s still a long way to go.

Here’s a list of things I’ve learnt from this competition:

• I am capable of coming up with simple ideas.
• My sprite-work doesn’t completely suck — some people have said they think the characters are cute. ^_^
• I suck at composing music and/or using LMMS/Musagi. I definitely need to practice this.
• Running all the way across the screen to reach a puzzle is not fun, and neither is a puzzle so dependent on perfect timing that it frustrates people.

If anybody has any feedback on GaolBreak, please leave a comment.

The ground floor of the museum wasn’t great; their current exhibition is about homeless people, with all three of the galleries containing only drawings or photographs of people living on the streets. Some of them were very powerful, others less so. In my opinion, the basement exhibit was much better — there was information about the history of Santa Clara and the university, items from archaeological digs and a room full of Christian stuff.

Unfortunately there were some people getting married in the church, so I couldn’t look around, but I did manage to snap some pictures from afar.

The campus is pretty beautiful, too. See for yourself.

Picasa Album - Santa Clara University

It was owned by Sarah Winchester, who married into the Winchester rifle company. She was told by a psychic that the deaths of her husband and daughter were caused by spirits, and that the only way to escape them was to buy an unfinished building and continue working on it until the day that she died. She was also four foot eleven and had arthritis.

The result is a bit of an architectural oddity. There are doors that lead nowhere (except to eight foot drops); windows in the middle of floors; stairways where the steps are an inch high at most; and doors which are either tiny or open onto brick walls.

Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to take photos inside the house, but I’ve tried my best to capture how weird it looks from the outside.

Picasa Album - Winchester Mystery House

The book details how Andrew Wiles, a mathematician at Princeton University, came to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem (x^n + y^n = z^n has no integer solutions for n > 2) in 1995, around three centuries after it was originally stated by Pierre de Fermat.

It covers not only the theorem and its proof, but also related mathematical breakthroughs throughout history and those behind them. The importance of the work of mathematicians like Pythagoras, Euler, Gödel and Turing is explained in simple terms and several mathematical proofs are presented as appendices which, although slightly more technical than the rest of the book, should be accessible to anybody with a basic understanding of algebra.

Although I haven’t done any proper mathematics for several years, I personally found some of the book’s explanations to be over-simplified. However, that does mean that I can happily recommend it to people who aren’t from a mathematical background.

In fact, some of the most interesting material in the book isn’t about maths at all, instead focusing on the personal lives of the featured mathematicians.  Though I recognised many of their names from various theorems and problems, I knew almost nothing of who they were, when they lived or the hardships that they faced.  For instance, I had no idea that Fermat was a lawyer by trade, nor that Euler was left largely blind towards the end of his life.

But by far the best thing about the book is that it has reminded me of just how nice mathematics can be, and has rekindled my love for the subject.  Foolhardy though it may sound, I’m toying with the idea of reading more pure maths and algebra papers to try and school myself further — at the very least, I’ll certainly be reading more books like this.

The eight stories in L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories are penned by eight different authors: The Girl, by Megan Abbott; See the Woman, by Lawrence Block; Naked Angel, by Joe R. Lansdale; Black Dahlia & White Rose, by Joyce Carol Oates; School for Murder, by Francine Prose; What’s in a Name?, by Jonathan Santlofer; Hell of an Affair, by Duane Swierczynski; and Postwar Boom, by Andrew Vachss.

The book contains ”eight thrilling tales of crime, deception and murder”, if you believe the front cover.  I’m not sure I do — in my opinion, only five of the stories are actually any good.

Of the three stories that I didn’t enjoy, two of them (The Girl and Postwar Boom) I simply didn’t find engaging, but would concede that they were at least well written; the third story (Black Dahlia & White Rose), on the other hand, made me want to tear my eyes out.

These stories are the first noir fiction that I’ve read, so it’s possible that the author’s decision to remove almost all punctuation and connect every sentence with an & symbol is a common stylistic choice, but I found that it detracted from the underlying story (which wouldn’t have been half bad if presented differently).

That said, the book’s hit-to-miss ratio is pretty good — and it’s particularly good value for money (I downloaded it for free, but its price has since risen to $0.99).  I’d recommend it to anybody that has considered getting into noir fiction at some point; even if, like me, you find that some of the stories are not to your taste, you’ll at least know which authors to avoid.

I recently finished reading a book called

The premise seems pretty wacky and more than a little “out-there”, but after reading the book I must admit that I’m coming around to the idea.

Quite a lot of the book’s content simply confirmed things that I already knew (or thought) about gaming — for instance: that people who play games are training themselves to be better at games; that games are much better at making people happy and motivating them than real life (because they are designed to); and that those who play games are typically quite good at puzzle solving.

It was ideas like these that I had no trouble accepting and seeing them explained from a psychological point of view was very interesting. The argument that applying years of game design experience to life could lead to being more productive at school, or at work, is sound and I have no doubt that the book would be capable of convincing even the most stubborn of non-gamers (at least in part).

Having said that, there were times when I found myself losing faith in McGonigal’s argument — usually when she started to describe games that she had designed to solve particular problems, simply because I couldn’t picture myself ever playing them.  A game called SuperBetter, for instance, was designed to help her recover from concussion; at the end of every day, she would meet with a superhero “ally” (one of her real life friends) to tally up which bad guys she had escaped from (which things she knew she shouldn’t do that she hadn’t done) and which of her superpowers she had used (which things she was allowed to do that she had done). Even though I completely understand the point behind it — and am sure that it would work for many people — I just don’t think that I could bring myself to roleplay as a superhero when I was ill.

Personally, I found the description of many of the games to be like this.  Would I play a game that allowed me to track my recovery after an injury?  Sure.  Would I be more likely to do things that are good for me if I could get achievements for everyday things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or eating five fruits and vegetables a day?  Definitely.  Would I be more likely to do any of the above if they were somehow shoe-horned into a fantastical setting?  No — but I accept that this may just be personal preference.

The back of the book proudly claims that is written for gamers and non-gamers alike. As a gamer, I can say that I only found this to be partly true — whilst I certainly didn’t dislike the book, McGonigal spends more time defining concepts like “epic wins” and describing particular videogames (such as Halo, and World of Warcraft) than would be required for an audience made up of just gamers.

Despite its few flaws, I found Reality is Broken to be a very good book and would recommend it to anyone — especially those people who think that playing games is pointless.  Even though I may not agree with the author completely on what shape these world-changing games will take, I do now believe that games can (and should) have some role in shaping the future.