Support Your Local Podcasts
A recent discussion between the various contributors of The Gaming and Entertainment Network highlighted a recurring g theme; that of listener comments and reviews. My own experiences are that you only get any real feedback and an indication of whether you’re doing a good or a bad job, when you announce that you’re quitting. This issue never seems to go away and despite a wealth of tools to make the process easier, it’s still hard to address. You can’t force your readers or listeners to leave comments and you don’t want to start badgering them over it. Often if your audience is listening to your show while at the gym or commuting, then they can’t always address any call to action immediately. Yet feedback, both good and bad, can have a positive impact upon bloggers and podcasters. Creativity abhors a vacuum and echo chambers are also unhealthy.
Hannibal Brooks (1969)
POW Stephen Brooks (Oliver Reed) is assigned to work in a Munich zoo, where he becomes the keeper of Lucy the elephant. After a heavy bombing raid, it is decided by the Zoo’s director to transfer Lucy to a safer location in Innsbrook. The journey must be done on foot, so Brooks is accompanied by two German soldiers and a female cook. Brooks however has other plans. He intends to follow in the footsteps of the Carthaginian general Hannibal and lead Lucy over the Alps, to Switzerland. Along the way, Brooks frequently runs into an American saboteur named Packy (Michael J Pollard) with his team of misfits and often ends up involved in the war he’s trying to escape.
DPS Meters – The Gateway Drug of Gaming?
DPS meters are often perceived as being controversial and divisive, especially in the MMO community. Like most tools the problem doesn’t lie with its function but how it is used. A claw hammer is not inherently evil per se but it can be used to bludgeon your Grandma to death. Similarly DPS meters provide data which can be used either positively or negatively. They can inform and prompt change or they can be used as a means of segregation and discrimination.
The Island (1980)
After the commercial success of Jaws and The Deep, Universal Studios decided to explore the works of Peter Benchley a little further and adapt his novel The Island. Benchley wrote the screenplay himself and director Michael Ritchie was given the job of bringing this rather dour tale to the screen. A substantial budget of $22 million was assigned to the production and a somewhat eclectic cast was assembled. The resulting movie was very poorly received and subsequently pilloried by the critics who found it both risible and revolting. 35 years on is The Island as bad as some would have you think?
Gaming and Time
Time is a very unique factor in gaming. It is also a very personal commodity that is far from equitable. The player that has more time to invest in a game has an advantage. It is the one factor that game developers can’t really mitigate through game mechanics. In fact often the opposite is true. In the MMO genre most titles are positively skewed to favour those with more time at their disposal. Time is a gating device. If used wisely it motivates players to pursue in-game goals and keeps them engaged with the overall product. However, if time based gating is clumsily implemented it drives a wedge between the player and the game.
The Naked Prey (1966)
In 1951 Hungarian-born Cornel Wilde became the second major Hollywood actor after Burt Lancaster to form his own production company. A travelled man, proficient in six languages, he considered the two-dimensional heroism of Hollywood an insult to audiences. Tiring of the studio system, Wilde wanted to make movies about characters with substance and stories that challenged, rather than preached, so he created Theodora Pictures.
Same Meat, Different Gravy
After a short break the time has come to relaunch Contains Moderate Peril. Ironically I've returned to blogging just as the Blaugust has started, so bang goes my plan to reduce my writing schedule. So for the next month I shall be writing everyday but once this event comes to an end on the 31st, I will defer to my original idea of writing several times a week.