I still remember it so vividly: the day my mum took me to the store to pick up the Sega Master System II, my first ever console and a moment that inevitably influenced my gaming life for good, culminating in me. The console’s box design and game covers checkered in predominant white with black stripes and adorned with Times New Roman font. We sure have come a long way since then, but in the early 90s when Hypercolour t-shirts constituted taste, it was magic.

All my friends had NES’s – all of them – but there was something about Sega that struck me. Maybe it was the futuristic logo which has never aged, even now, or maybe it was the appeal of supporting the underdog. Perhaps it was even the built-in game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Regardless of what it was, there was certainly something special about it and I simply couldn’t wait to rush home to unbox it along with my first ever non-built-in game that accompanied it, Enduro Racer.

Glorious it was, curvaceously compact with a shiny charcoal finish and smelling like fresh plastic. Cables were connected and old CRT TV channels were manually configured, on it went and there it was, the most unforgettable theme song in my entire life. Enduro Racer and all its isometric angle cruelties which I would come to learn of later could wait its turn for now.

Photo from RetroJunk

Alex Kidd in Miracle World had several pivotal aspects. The awfully harsh difficulty scale. The skill required to swim against the flow while underwater, avoiding that Octopus boss’ tentacles in order to get close enough to punch him. The punishment and fear it conditioned into young impressional minds by morbidly offering special question-mark item boxes which were possessed – at random – by ghosts that would fly straight through every on-screen obstacle and kill you with a touch. The number of times I died and replayed straight away, watching that same title screen and hearing that same jingle. The shame I still feel in never finishing it, always losing the last Scissors-Paper-Rock boss fight without even a hint of the luxury afforded us today via modern-day FAQs or, dammit, even the internet. I must have played that game over 200 times and it always ended up (and immediately restarted) in frustration and that friggin’ theme song.

Now when I look back, 20 years later, the game wasn’t that great, even by 8-bit standards. It was always going to be remembered as a mediocre Mario rip-off, just with oversized-fists and big ears and a relentless level of difficulty. As for the Master System II itself, the console’s controller’s sharp edges used to give me blisters and you could only pause by pressing the big round white button located on the actual machine. And ever since then I’ve witnessed, as we all have, the rise and fall of Sega, with memorable characters and games coming and going and often fading into obscurity, with Alex making way to Sonic as Sega’s mascot and being promptly adandoned, but that bloody music, my God!

Still catchy and no longer rubbing in the fact that it was game over yet again, the theme song to Alex Kidd in Miracle World takes me back to a wonderful time of my youth and for that it’ll always hold a special place in my memory, bringing a smile to my face whenever my brain decides to turn back the clock, overlooking the trauma caused not only by the lack of save function with those old game cartridges, but also the painful injustice of predetermined Scissors-Paper-Rock contests resulting in two fingers stuck up at you followed swiftly – and memorably – by death.

(Spoilers of course.)

It was all over far too soon. With barely a moment to rest or let your guard down to admire the amazing environments and graphical details of the year’s biggest release, the campaign mode of Modern Warfare 2 – whilst inarguably exhilarating from start to finish – wasn’t quite what I was hoping it would be, nor was I as profoundly affected by the controversial airport level as I was building myself up for. The emotional resonance of the original story in the first Modern Warfare, set in current times and grounded (somewhat) in reality, has given way to fantasy in the sequel. By way of comparison, MW2 has pretty much turned into Metal Gear Solid 4.

Not to say it’s not a good game – it is, but only in a purely aesthetic manner. But in very much the same way the original MGS changed the industry as we knew it by introducing blockbuster film productions to gaming before taking a ridiculously confusing turn for the worse as  the plot descended into madness as the series progressed, I fear that, this time round, Infinity Ward “did a Kojima” and opted more for the spectacular rather than the subtle and meaningful surprises; great gameplay masking gaping plot holes.

My gripe is with how inadequately explained it all was.  The airport level was still shocking, yes, but any real meaning or conscientious questioning to be derived from it was overshadowed by the sheer unbelievability of the story, particularly with this vital aspect of it upon which the game’s plot hinged entirely – the process of becoming an undercover agent:

So, an American soldier gets hand-picked by the CIA to infiltrate the Russian ultra-nationalist terrorist group, and presumably he’s learned how to speak Russian fluently (the mission is named No Russian, after all) and been trained in Russian culture so as to make it all the way up close and personal to the world’s most dangerous man, Vladimir Makarov, in the space of, what, a few months? Half a year? It seemed as if the airport stage had been designed beforehand for the shock value with the plot as a mere afterthought, particularly given that the objective of that level was to “earn Makarov’s trust” – which just doesn’t make any consistent sense given that you were already in his posse. Worse still, the rest of the game’s story charges you with finding Makarov and killing him, and yet if you shoot at him during the airport stage you fail the mission (!). To make it even more exorbitant the next stage is set in Brazil. Why? Because shell casings from the bullets used to kill those civilians are tracked to somebody in Rio; in other words, how can we find a link between a massacre in Moscow and a cool looking place to put in the game for action purposes which we haven’t used before, like somewhere in South America? A flimsy plot device, that’s how!

So by the beginning of Act II, I had simply turned my brain off. Arguably it shouldn’t have been on in the first place for Modern Warfare 2, perhaps, but why have mature and controversial content in the first place if the rest of the story plays out like James Bond directed by Michael Bay? By the end of the game, with twists and turns and, sadly, the odd predictable moment or two of corniness, the brain was well and truly comatose. Having said that though, I did enjoy it greatly in the same way I would a cheesy action movie from the early to mid 90’s: playing through the gulag level not only reminds you of The Rock but also contained a somewhat appropriate self-referential Hollywood-style payoff with the Sean Connery character turning out to be Captain Price. And that’s simultaneously the problem I have with MW2 and the thing I miss from MW1: the original had the tragedy as well as the commentary on war – particularly with the nuclear explosion seen from your perspective. MW2 tried to capture that same level of “thought” but is let down by going for the overly  spectacular extreme. It definitely still succeeds as a pure action game and a guilty pleasure – I would have just preferred something deeper as hinted at with MW1 and the Cain & Abel voiceover from the MW2 trailer.

Overall MW2 deserves its praise for extremely high production values, marvellous technical and visual achievements, great pacing and action setpieces. In particular I greatly enjoyed the focus on the connection with that great cast of supporting characters – particularly with Captain Price taking on the role of his former mentor Captain MacMillan from the first game, as well as seeing Soap MacTavish from the third person perspective for much of the game before finally “being him” at the end –  again quite reminiscent of techniques used in the Metal Gear series. Shame about the story and the poor use of the airport level, though, because I think Infinity Ward missed a really good opportunity here to do something in the name of videogames. Something special. Maybe I was just hoping for a bit too much. So while I contemplate the future of COD, no doubt still playing through the campaign again a few more times, my mind falling asleep amidst the explosive excitement and developing an ever-increasing addiction to the even less meaningful but totally spectacular multiplayer, I will still grasp onto that hopeful notion that games can truly promote an important message through its medium. But oh what might have been…

Okay then. Here’s my two cents on this whole lack of R18+ classification in Australia and, since it’s the popular topic at the moment and will doubtless prove even more controversial once the game is officially released, the Modern Warfare 2 airport stage. Warning: long rant ahead.

The Australian Classification Board – Censorship and Banning

I, like most other Aussie gamers, was upset when the zombie-killing game Left 4 Dead 2 was banned. Indeed the ratings system here is backwards, yes it’s outdated, but the real key issue we have with it is that it is a hypocritical decision because the original game, containing practically everything the sequel has been banned for, came out without a hitch. After an unsuccessful appeal by Valve, the makers of the game, the title was modified and passed the ratings system with the highest MA15+ age gate, however if the Classification Board – or just South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson – is going to insist on there being no R18+ rating for videogames then so be it, the arguments against the lack of the classification (which cannot be granted without the agreement of all state and Commonwealth attorney generals) will continue, but the least one could ask for is that consistency is shown in the meantime.

It’s these double standards that have many gamers foaming at the mouth; Fallout 3 was initially banned because of the game’s drug references but not because of the violence and gore which included features such as the Bloody Mess perk which increased the violence and, should the player utilise the abilities granted to him/her, pick up decapitated heads and place them, say, on dinner plates. Rather ludicrously, once the drugs in the game were renamed to no longer reflect their real-life counterparts (i.e. Morphine changed to Med-X), even though their properties and effects within the game were still the same, it made it past the ratings system with no further problems.

My own personal dilemma is that I really enjoyed Fallout 3, and yet I absolutely acknowledge that if I had young children then I would never, ever, want them to play through it; blowing people’s heads off through VATS or having them explode their enemies into a red mist. So that’s where choice comes in: once over the age of 18, they would have every legal right to watch an R rated film because the rating system’s purpose of existence is to appropriately screen material from the underaged public. But for the Board to completely take away the choice of purchasing games in their full uncensored form is akin to a condescending pat on the head of all those gamers over 18 years of age, essentially claiming that we are incapable of telling the difference between fact and fiction, even though we are trusted to be able to with film.

Violence and drugs aside, it was the immersive experience of Fallout 3 that stood out along with the game world’s system of moral code and consequence which made it such a powerful medium of escapism from ‘the real world’. Arguably the violence within the game, while gory and excessive to the point of ridiculousness, may have been relevant to the post-apocalyptic, fictional world of the Capital Wasteland, much like how the Mad Max movies (an inspiration of the series) and many other film worlds have been depicted. It was portrayed in such a way in order to capture the lawlessness of a world stripped down to its base survival instincts, and presented via a biting satire of 1950s Americana in a fantasy setting tinged with black humour.

To some extent however, I do have to ask myself whether the experience could have been as memorable and as fun without the weapons and the violence and the excessive gore and drug use… who knows? But the main thing about Fallout 3 as a game was that there was a deeper role for the player, built around a gameplay system where terrible things could be done, including the murder of civilians, should the player choose to do so. Similarly with the Grand Theft Auto* series – to speak in film terms, essentially the videogame equivalent of an overblown mockumentary on modern American society – the ultimate decision as to how to approach the game was up to the player and direct consequences would occur as a result. Games have come a long way since the days of linear plots and distinct fixed boundaries as to what the player could and could not do, but the whole concept of choice – the lack of it through real-life censorship and banning as well as in-game options – is still a divisive topic. Yes, violence has been around long before videogames, but sadly the industry’s argument for “games as art” has not been done any favours by those titles that have deliberately sought the controversy.

* (Interestingly with GTA IV, the Classification Board had initially banned its sale before a modified version adhering to an MA15+ rating was accepted for release. The changes? You could still kill people by shooting them or running them down in a car but no pools of blood would appear afterwards beneath their corpses. You could still hire prostitutes and engage in sexual acts in vehicles but you could only see the car rock up and down with a fixed camera angle as opposed to a controllable one, which somehow makes it all okay. Furthermore, the downloadable episode The Lost and Damned featured the completely uncensored content above and still somehow made it past review – if the Board is going to enforce censorship of material, it could at least do so with common sense and, again, consistency.)

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The Snuff Film Equivalents of Gaming

Why does gaming carry with it such a stigma within Australia then? Perhaps because of its history of attracting controversy, rightly or wrongly, and with good intentions or entirely self-serving ones. Games such as Manhunt 2, a title fundamentally built on the premise of executing enemies in the most vile and revolting manner possible, was deservedly banned here and heavily censored elsewhere.

Inspired by snuff films and containing just about the same amount of substance, I managed to get my hands on the first Manhunt via a friend who bought a copy before the decision was made to retrospectively ban it several months after its release, and I have to say I was utterly disturbed by its violence. It was a glorification reaching a level of vile desensitisation, and with no reason or purpose in the game apart from achieving, again, the most graphic kill animations possible. The gameplay mechanics were solid from a functional point of view, but Manhunt was pointlessly sadistic in every other respect. The worst thing about it and particularly the likes of baseless games such as Soldier of Fortune, Postal, and going back as far as the controversy Mortal Kombat courted and thrived off, is that they give game critics the ammunition they need to pigeon-hole videogames as a medium to such an extent that knee-jerk reactions without proper context (or even playthroughs) are far too common, ala the ridiculous furore with Fox News’ infamous take on Mass Effect, completely ignoring the qualities of games that promote moral thought and decision making in the midst of strenuous situations, along with the impact on the player’s conscience. These snuff games do nothing but take morality out of the equation altogether, fully warranting their bans and sullying the image of videogames in the eyes of the government and the mass media.

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The Modern Warfare 2 Airport Level Controversy (Spoilers)

It had been strongly hinted at in the trailers, but until the footage leaked onto the internet (for the short period before it was removed) no one was at all prepared for the fact that the airport level of Modern Warfare 2 had players engage in the act of killing civilians from the terrorist’s point of view. It must be noted that the stage is entirely skippable and features constant warning messages of disturbing content, but in these cases it helps to take a step back to think about the ramifications and purpose of such an inclusion before making an uninformed decision and leaping for the panic button.

Curiously in terms of Australian banning, the game received an MA15+ rating from the Classification Board months ago and is still scheduled for its original worldwide November release date just over a week away - despite how, as stated in its report, “civilians are shot with blood burst bullet wounds; civilian corpses are strewn across the airport floor, often in stylised pools of blood; injured civilians crawl away with lengthy blood trails behind them,” but because “no post mortem damage can be inflicted on victims and, in other missions in the game, killing a civilian results in mission failure,” the violence in this context is okay. Which makes one wonder why killing zombies in Left 4 Dead 2, hardly realistic targets, is not.

In all honesty I appreciate Infinity Ward taking a huge gamble here with the level; so long as that, in whatever manner this airport stage does play out and in the full scheme of things, it does not trivialise terrorism and the fact that innocent lives have long been lost as a result of it. And judging by the aims of Modern Warfare 1 in showing the horrors and loss of war – and even just trusting in the developer to display basic human sensibilities of what constitutes good taste – I predict that it absolutely will not.

I fully expect it to turn out to be an utterly devastating and tragic moment in the game – it appeared as if the level was the finale to the first chapter where you play as an undercover CIA officer who has infiltrated the group but is powerless to the events of the massacre (which has unfortunately lost its shock value having been spoiled) – carrying with it a deep emotional resonance with the player. An impact never before seen in gaming albeit a talking point for years to come.

The quote from the president of the Australian Council on Children and the Media is:

“The consequences of terrorism are just abhorrent in our community and yet here we are with a product that’s meant to be passed off as a leisure time activity, actually promoting what most world leaders speak out publicly against” – which completely misses the point and provides a good insight into how games are seen in this country. It is obvious that the developer’s aim here is to ensure that people will not enjoy playing through the stage, contrary to the entire point of playing a game in the first place which, considering the Classification Board’s approval of its release, indicates an agreement in the purpose of this level.

Indeed, if we are shocked to the core as we ought to be, Modern Warfare 2 could prove to be a positive step towards the further exploration of videogames in testing the potentials of its own medium; using its uniquely identifying feature – being in control – to create a palpable sense of morality and enforcing the shocking and disturbing consequences of the player’s actions in a digital representation of the real world. In other words, a significant advancement from games being constantly referred to by others as a mere “leisure time activity,” and meant for those with easily-influenced minds without the ability to discern from what is right and wrong, as opposed to more “serious” art forms. Sadly, Atkinson continues to argue otherwise whilst at the same time enforcing inconsistency, saying that “Expecting game designers to be responsible by not glorifying terrorism will always lead to disappointment,” and yet still granting its unedited release as an MA15+ title.

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Close

The major problem in Australia, if it isn’t already plainly obvious, is that games are not taken seriously. The argument against the incongruent rating system is that it is somehow okay when other mediums such as films depict graphic violence and disturbing content matter when there is indeed an R18+ rating to advise the public of the content, but as soon as such material is in the hands gamers the rules immediately change. The conundrum? Games are dismissed as child’s play; mindless folly and embarrassing source of silly, meaningless “entertainment” incapable of achieving irony or bringing a proper discussion to the table. So when the odd title does come along, trying to add a conscience and tackle the bigger and more controversial issues – much like what any art form aims to do – out comes the stigma of videogames where the accusations of “glorification of violence” pour forth from the media, completely misunderstood and hastily judged before anyone has even had a chance to experience it for themselves.

Not everyone will get the point, of course. There will no doubt be videos posted on Youtube after Modern Warfare 2 comes out of players deliberately and happily killing civilians without the slightest regard to what Infinity Ward are trying, optimistically, to achieve. But just like the Paul Verhoeven films Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, etc attempted to challenge one’s sensibilities – to move the viewer out of their comfort zones – the critical response manifested in conflicting forms: face value (senseless violence) versus subtext (parody and satire of violence), all dependent on how one interpreted what they saw. Videogames obviously differ from film in that films take their audience on a fixed rollercoaster ride whilst games tend to offer a plot-driven ride whilst also allowing player control in their progression, but because of a selective and inconsistent R18+ classification system we Australians are given access to the former but often denied the chance of interpretation for the latter.

In taking risks with its content, hopefully time will show that Infinity Ward made a brave choice in an attempt to create a new level of emotion and deeper understanding of real life cruelties via the videogame effect. But maybe the world, and especially Australia, just isn’t ready for the medium of gaming to do tongue-in-cheek or convey poignancy, irony, or a realistic videogame representation of the world because it is, apparently, too real for gamers to be able to tell the difference, regardless of their age.

Upon its release I am confident that Modern Warfare 2 will shock and disgust within a proper narrative and context, because it’s these feelings – a sense of guilt conflicting against and challenging the actions of the player in that scenario – that will really help gaming achieve the same emotional connection of other art forms, and hopefully the industry’s attempts at doing so are analysed appropriately by the public and the powers that be. Even if it is only by those who really get it… which doesn’t look like it will include the Australian Classifications Board nor Michael Atkinson anytime soon.

Selfish housemates getting on your nerves? Time to move out?

Well ahoy there!! I, Landlord Lucantile of Alexandria Arms, am extremely pleased to offer you – YES YOU! – the investment property opportunity of a lifetime!

An absolutely stunning three storey complex. Of course, only one of those floors is operable and there isn’t much of a ceiling, but hell, THREE STOREYS!!

Situated in a pleasantly quiet spot next to the motorway, this home offers shrubbery and plenty of parking space but, MY WORD! It’s the fully furnished interiors that’ll really get your mouth watering:

A classic antiquated and mint-condition rug in the bedroom, along with smoking area

And who has time for wardrobes, seriously!? I, Landlord Lucantile, am also willing to part with all my own garments and hat collection for your comfort; to make this offer sound just that little bit more enticing!

“Pfft!! Why would I want to wear your blood-stained clothes anyway, you fool?!” I hear you exclaim pessimistically. Well then, how could you possibly say no to my collection of Nuka Cola Quantums? Similarly friend, how could you even humanly – you’ll like this one – bear the thought of rejecting the beautiful prospect of your very own Rumpus Room filled with – yes! – teddy bears and beverages?

Not to mention my library of bedtime reading materials and, the true gem of this offer overlooking the magnificent cityscape: the Weapons Cache (plus pitching machine)

Okay I know what you’re thinking: “With all those goodies in there, what about the raiders then?” I’ll be straight with you and confess that, yes, the place has had a single incident of burglary in the past, what with, in hindsight, the previous complacency in security measures.

You’ll doubtless be pleased to hear that the culprit was apprehended.

And that a new, cutting-edge system of home protection has since been installed!

An ingenius, custom-made Home Anti-Burglar System governed by Owner Recognition Software (made up of no less than 531 sensor modules – FACT) which makes entering these fine premises absolutely, perfectly safe, as I shall demonstrate for you now.

Similarly, the Weapons Cache has also received a complete security overhaul.

And if none of those above methods prove successful, then this piece of artwork on the way up the ground level stairs is bound to put off any would-be home invaders.

So there you have it, friend – and I, Landlord Lucantile, will proclaim it happily to the Wasteland: “It’s the deal of a lifetime!!!”

* Landlord Lucantile is open to offers this coming Saturday from sunrise to sundown, with the property expected to be sold for offers of 750 thousand bottle caps and above, or 100 slaves and over. We ask that you do not bring weapons, however if you choose to do so then please DO NOT fire them around the Weapons Cache. Or at Landlord Lucantile. The safety of all applicants on their way to and within the home is not guaranteed by Lucantile Properties, and Lucantile Properties will not be held culpable for any injuries or crippled limbs visitors may incur during inspections of the residence. Should you wish to purchase the property, Lucantile Properties is not responsible for any retaliation you may receive from Wasteland Regulators.