I was going to do a bit of not thinking this weekend. It is, after all, Super Bowl weekend in the States, and what better 48-hour period to eschew both introspective and extrospective rumination, opting instead for the triplet vices of carbohydrates, saturated fats and American sports spectacle. Unfortunately, however, I had one of those chain-reaction moments Thursday night while watching about 15 minutes of the television program CSI -- not TV snobbery; I really did watch but 15 minutes. One of the principal characters -- a forensic pathologist or microbiologist, some sort of academic type judging by the chin-stroking way he speaks -- quoted Sigmund Freud, "The only abnormal sex is no sex. Everything else is just a matter of time and preference." (Or something like that. Via cursory research, I can fairly attribute the first sentence to Freud; the second sentence is highly suspect, but it's the first sentence that is essential for my purpose.)

This isn't the first year that a film associated with a tie-in video game has been nominated for an Academy Award; but it is the first year the collaterally marketed game has garnered very good if not outstanding notices from a wide variety of game media. Yes, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King marks a milestone in the -- pardon my use of this eye-smacking word -- convergence of film and video games: good film; good game.

For those of you who give a damn what I think about the other nominations: kudos to Alec Baldwin for his shot at best actor in a supporting role; likewise, Johnny Depp for best actor. For what it's worth, my pick -- not a prediction but the desire of my heart -- is a Lost in Translation sweep: Coppola for director (she'll have the statuette to whack Spike over the head with if they run into each other at the ceremony); Murray for best actor; and, finally, it takes best film (Coppola will then have an Oscar for keeps that isn't all bloody -- like a tiny model murder weapon from Clue -- due to her estranged husband encounter). Sofia, if you are reading and I know you are, when the ink dries on your divorce decree, I will be lamentably unavailable. Pass by, my dear; maybe in another life, a different time and place.

An aside, ever since Gandhi, doesn't Ben Kingsley just automatically get nominated every year? Must be built into AMPAS's vote-tallying software or something.

by Anne Pinckard

I dream of you, my Prince. The memory of you still haunts me, beckoning to me from the shadowy corners not yet pierced by the light of day. Your image flickers before me, a phantasm lost in a ripple of water. At night, I lie awake thinking of you. In my mind I can remember every moment we had together, relive our hardest struggles and our most profound joys. Some days, it brings tears to my eyes, knowing that we must live apart. A wise poet once said that it is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all. I knew, from the beginning, that my heart would be broken.

Do you remember when we first met? No, you would not. You scarcely noticed me, though I was there, watching you. I was nothing to you, but you were a dream for me, a vision of godly light. You entered the room, and instantly, the world around me broke out into the sweetest music. Where ever you went, the song would follow, a fitting accompaniment to beauty such as yours. My soul, too, burst with the melody as your fingers gently plucked the strings of my heart.

I get sick a lot. It's a bummer. Downsides? Lack of energy, loss of focus. Upsides? I have a ready excuse to drop out from society and devote myself to videogames.

Last time I was sick, I was playing a lot of Deus Ex: Invisible War. And I loved the game. I bought the PC version because I have a nice computer, so I figured I should use it for good-looking gaming. But after another solid six hours of Deus Ex in an evening, I thought - jeez, I wish I was playing this game on my couch instead of an office chair.

When I'm sick, I want a little bit of hand-holding from a game. Some pacing maybe, not just nonstop action, but action and repose. Knights of the Old Republic would have been a good choice if I hadn't already solved it nearly twice - I could have made some tea, blown my nose and used the bathroom during any of the long loading times.

So when I got sick last week, I was looking for a game that I could play on my television, a game that would stimulate me and provoke me, and then leave me alone. Deep but not relentless. A game with a story that I could play through. Fortunately a friend Austin had left Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne at my house with a warm commendation. And fortunately, I waited until I'd finished the game to read Sanford's scathing critique posted here earlier this month. After a few long days of Max Payne, I'd say this is a great game.

Excerpt: "Here you will find the shelves containing your DBE components. In this mini-puzzle, you must fit all of your merchandise onto the cart so nothing falls off as you proceed to CHECKOUT. It's like Tetris, minus the catchy Russian music and the fun. DON'T SPEND MORE THAN THREE OR FOUR HOURS WORKING ON THIS!"

Finally! A FAQ for shopping.

[via Kat Hunter]

I thought that some GGA readers might find interesting a recent public spectacle on MacRumors, a site, as the moniker boldly suggests, dedicated to news and rumors about Apple's Mac platform and the company's peripheral products and services, as well as the technologies behind these items. A news item discussion about Xbox 2 and possible 65 nanometer process IBM microprocessors or some such double-E nonsense -- apologies to EE track students and professionals; you people are a cut above, really -- quickly devolved into a console wars thread replete with thinly veiled, censor-evading expletives in the vein of "Xbox is sh**!" and "GameCube is for p**sies!"

I just ran across this on a tech newswire and thought it might be of interest to some people. Not as much hype as GarageBand, but still, perhaps, intriguing.

The news has dropped from Nintendo - their upcoming new device is a portable with two screens, the "DS" (double-screen).

This is unexpected, but brilliant. How many times playing Final Fantasy Tactics have I wanted to see my party's stats on a separate screen as I picked troops for a battle? Or wanted to look over the equipment list as I'm picking a character's weapons and abilities? How about Star Wars KOTOR - having a map on another screen at all times? Maps and stats - a second screen is the perfect RPG/Adventure game accessory.

I am more enticed by the prospect of Double-Screen information more than immersion.

Besides the self-contained action on Nintendo's own Game and Watch series, the Dreamcast VMU was the first device I saw where a second, albiet tiny, screen complemented the action on the TV. And then Nintendo's GameBoy/GameCube linkup. Supposedly the GC version of Splinter Cell will display a level map on your GameBoy if you play that console game through your portable.

I recently played Deus Ex: Invisible War on a computer with two monitors and I wasn't able to pull up any extended action, let alone extended stats. Even if the second screen had just run advertisements for NG Resonance or Pequod's Coffee it would have added to the ambience. Fallout? Director's cuts of games you love - while you play on one screen, fake advertisements and concept sketches flash by. Yum.

These are computer game fantasies. Ninendo's device is designed for portable play. And the first wave of titles have not yet been announced. Let's see what Miyamoto has in mind. And let's hope this innovation doesn't go the way of the Virtual Boy, an aborted gaming platform that's become a curiosity and collector's item.

My GBA SP, even chicken-style, it's eminently portable. Will most people want to add a second screen to their pocket-load?

For now I'm thinking of this as a conceptual revolution - that Nintendo is helping spread the idea that games are going to take over your devices, across devices, across screens. I was at the Consumer Electronics Show this year and there were flat-panel TVs everywhere, with little PDA-type controllers. Let's hope Nintendo proves that games can use multiple panes of information, pushing the envelope for interface and information density in games.

(More analysis from GameSpy, if you click on the "commentaries" link at the end of that news story)

Today I started an internship at Electronic Arts, the world's largest game company, but before that I found myself faced with a long weekend where I had moved in to my apartment, but had no obligations. To put it another way, I was facing a three-day battle with boredom. From my small arsenal of distractions I pulled Doug Pray's excellent documentary, Scratch, about the history and culture of DJs within hip-hop.

Well, me being myself and all, I got to thinking about hip-hop and videogames. Then today, I was talking to some co-workers over lunch and one of them mentioned that EAs games are getting pushed now by MTV types as part of "the lifestyle." He marveled at how games had moved up in social acceptability (something we've discussed a few times here) to get to that point.

Now personally, I didn't see such a problem. The elements of hip-hop: DJ, MC, B-boy/girl, and Graffitti each require their own kind of geekiness (normal people don't pour through record shops for hours looking for a good 30-second break somewhere in a record, for example). So, other than probably being too invested in their own geekdom to have time for gaming, there really isn't so much of a disconnect.

What this got me thinking about then was did videogaming have much in common with hip-hop besides geekiness and being common targets for the blame for society's woes? Something beyond Parappa and Frequency? Does "gamer culture" have values? There are some companies out there trying to sell "gamer culture" but what does that mean other than playing games? Penny Arcade's recent toy drive, calling for people who consider themselves "gamers" to donate toys or money to help sick children in an effort to show that "gamers" are good-hearted folk, suggests that there is at least a little internal desire to explicitly create a gamer cultural identity, rather than simply rely on outsiders to classify and describe as they choose. Are there others out there?

Now I think I'm going to go price a set of turntables on ebay.

Project Gotham Racing 2. It's more than just a great race game. It's also a virtual tour simulator.

After playing through half of the cities in the game (and noting how beautifully they're modelled), I noticed that I was about to race in Chicago. "Wabash and Lake. Sure," I muttered as I started the race. I had doubts as to how accurately they'd get the city, and even more doubtful about the finer points.

And then I lost the race because I was staring at the amazing background details (and my apologies for not having screenshots of these items in the game. I can't get my screenshot utility to work right. If I can, I'll revisit this with pics from the game).

"Oh my god, the House of Blues is inbetween those buildings! Look, there's the Eddie Bauer on Mighigan! Marshall Fields! The Tribune Building! The R. R. Donnely Building! Nordstroms!" Then I saved a replay (of a race I won, thanks for asking), and went into even finer scrutiny.

People, they photographed everything. There's a Walgreens on Michigan avenue that I've been in. There's Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robins stores. Delis that are privately owned (i.e. not chains). Driving down Wabash was almost a let-down because they put up guard rails to keep you from ramming into the support poles from the El Train overhead (think of Blues Brothers where they're driving down a street underneath that steel structure overhead. This is a picture from on top of the platform. You can drive on the street below). The Lower Wacker underground. The Chicago River scenic bridges along Upper Wacker. The Central Office Building. Harry Carey's Restaurant. The Leo Burnette Building. The Wrigley Building. I'm sure I'm forgetting at least half of the recognizeable structures, let alone the small shops. I was depressed when they stopped having me drive in Chicago and moved the races to Washington, D.C.

And then I thought: are the rest of the cities this well realized? They must be! Now when I drive through the cities, I like to take long, paused looks at the replays (since the replay camera can be moved around while you're driving) and look at the towns. It's like having your own virtual tour guide.

Do you live in a city modelled in PGR2? Can you find places you've visited in your city? Does it meet or exceed your expectations?

On a side note: how did they get the licensing to do all of those buildings and stores? Did Microsoft pony up the millions it surely would have cost? Just for one city? Or did they just take a risk and hope that everyone represented in their game wouldn't sue them? The fact that real life is represented in the levels is what makes it that much more entertaining for me. I want to see more of this in the future, but I'm pretty sure Microsoft took an insanely enormous risk of just putting all of these things in the game without permission.

So when do we hit the all-time comments record for GGA? My look at Max Payne has generated quite a slew of thoughtful commentary (this is the part where I suck up to everyone before slamming them). Indeed, I'd guess the majority who've commented enjoyed the games' narratives and dialog as they, and this is the important qualification, relate to the overall gameplay. Taking this into consideration, apparently you're all a bunch of dolts. You should go read books.

While we've all been sniping a bit lately about writing about games (nice tie-in with Justin's recent shooting post, that "sniping" bit, isn't it?) I thought we could perhaps start a discussion cooking on writing in games. And to that end, I begin with the venerable Max Payne.

But there's no money involved, so I don't feel bad about it.