First post / E3 / M review

Yeah... hey. I have no idea if anyone is actually going to read this, but I'm going to start a blog nevertheless for the following reasons:

1. Some guy actually recommended keeping a blog as a way to hone your writing skills.
2. As Bender would say, "Everyone was doin' it, I just wanted to be popular!"

Perhaps I should use this first post to introduce myself, but that would make entirely too much sense. A lot of what I post here is going to be cross-posted with the blog I started on IGN, and thus if I start ranting about something that you don't know or care about (the next 2 paragraphs perhaps) you can probably chalk it up to that.

Anyway, the first E3 press conference was tonight, as Sony sort of meandered through a montage of farily ho-hum looking first party games, followed by some more interesting looking third party games, notably MGS4. Then there was the inevitable moment that seems to happen every year that turns normally rational people into crazed morons. In this case, it was Sony's announcement that the Playstation 3 will be able to be tilted, allowing for 6 direction movement by moving the controller itself. This is, of course, less than a year removed from the reveal of the Revolution (or Wii, whatever) controller which is entirely based off of its motion sensing.

Personally I think this is a non-issue and a cool addition to the Dual Shock design which I've always liked, (moreso than a lot of other people from what I hear) but as soon as it was announced people started flipping out, accusing Sony of stealing Nintendo's idea. Personally, I think this is absurd, as the two controllers aren't that similar, and the concept of sensing motion certain didn't begin with the Revolution controller, and this is far from the first example of companies in the game industry acting purely as a reaction to what another company did. At any rate, I don't see why people take this stuff so personally.

M
***1/2

I've developed quite a bit of interest in film, and I forsee a large portion of this blog, if I keep up with it, being devoted to movie reviews. I'm currently in a May Term course (if you're not familiar with this concept, some schools have a 4-4-1 schedule where after spring semester you take one course for like a month) on film noir and today we watched the German film M, which is not really a film noir, but its certianly a precursor to it.


The premise of M is set up for us early on as we see a notice posted in the street explaining that a serial killer has been targeting children. In this scene we first see the killer as a shadow against this poster as he approaches in unsuspecting little girl. From this point, the film branches off in a number of different directions, following the frightened citizens, who begin to point fingers at one another, the police investigation, a separate investigation carried out by members of a mob syndicate, who wants to get rid of the killer to end the police raids that are hampering their business. Many of these scenes are interesting, but I think the film jumps around a bit too much, and begins to lose momentum after the first hour or so.

To me, the film's real strength was the end, which allows the viewer to see the killer up close and in the light of day and allows him a chance to speak. It reveals that the killer is actually pretty pathetic, compared to his ominious presence earlier. He pleads that he's insane and that he can't control his actions, and it seems genuine. At this point a degree of moral abiguity is added to the film, which to this point cast the killer in a purely villainous light. Most everyone, understandbly wants the killer dead. The head of the mob syndicate, Safecracker, has a particularly empassioned speech at the end of the film in which he claims that the killer's insanity is actually more of a reason for him to be executing, saying that he believes that people such as him have no place in society and should be exterminated. His speech conjures up images of speeches given by Hitler, and it may not be coicidetal that this film was made in 1931, just as the nazi movement began. Thus, the proper fate of the killer, which seemed cut and dry at the beginning of the film, becomes a provocative debate at the film's conclusion. This more than anything is what I believe makes M an effective movie.

And I'm done.