EXP Podcast #721: Nostalgia for Sale

Captain Price doing his Groundhog's Day thing

This week we emerge from our holiday haze and talk about the ways in which some large publishers are trying to foster a fuzzy feeling by appealing to a sense "the good old days" of established games and franchises.  This kind of packaged nostalgia is clearly popular; just ask the people paying actual currency to play the original version of World of Warcraft.  But what does it mean that we're drawn to these time capsules and does it mean we're headed toward a looping cycle where we reset franchises once every seven to ten years?  If so, then I can't wait for my Cow Clicker remake.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

 

 

Show Notes:

- Run time: 37 min 29 sec

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #673: Call of Duty: Essential Warfare

Maybe Soap can buy himself a new haircut post-acquisition?

Corporate machinations make for some strange arguments.  This week in bizzaro mergers and acquisitions land, Microsoft is trying to downplay any potential regulatory roadblocks to the Activision deal by threading a hilarious needle: Call of Duty (while clearly valuable enough to be worth billions of dollars) isn't important enough to put them into anti-monopoly danger.  Sony is of course twisting the knife and claiming Call of Duty is an "essential" franchise within the gaming sector and beyond.  Regardless of who wins, we decided to take it as an opportunity to talk about the long-running franchise, its current influence, as well as what other franchises seem essential in today's landscape. 

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

 

Show Notes:

- Run time: 31 min 16 sec

- "Sony Says Call Of Duty Is An ‘Essential Game’ Series While Microsoft Argues It Ain’t," by Zack Zwiezen, via Kotaku

- Music by Brad Sucks

EXP Podcast #407: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Debrief

Oh E3N, your eye is so dreamy.

Hey everybody, it's E3N: your fun-loving Robro, inter-planetary guide, and remorseless killing machine!  We've finally finished Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and it's time to debrief.  Strap in for some angry Martians, incompetent captains, and shaky cameras.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 35 mins 33 sec
- Music by Brad Sucks

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Infinite Duty, Part 2

In the future, the cameras are shaky, the spiders are explosive, and people from Mars are real jerks.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Infinite Duty

Fighting in space sure seems loud and confusing. Also: that Game of Thrones guy was really mean to us. Can't we all just put this space skirmish aside and marvel at this robot that seems to have been programmed to warm our hearts?

EXP Podcast #378: Trailer Warfare

A mustache for any era of war

Horse warfare or robot warfare?  You must choose a side.  Unless you're like us and are holding out for robot horse warfare.  The recent Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare trailers whipped the Internet in a frenzy, so we're here to help.  And by help I mean reveal our new pitch for a basketball dating sim starring Prince.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 37 mins 21 secs

- Music by Brad Sucks

- Trailers for Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

EXP Podcast #357: Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Debrief

Don't even think of parallel parking that thing.

It just wouldn't be the holiday season without a little Call of Duty, now would it? Black Ops 3 is coming at you like swarm of angry bees. Don't worry though: we're here to guide you through this near-future dystopia. Rule number one: don't ever trust robots.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed.
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 37 mins 27 secs
- Music by Brad Sucks

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3: A Brutal Beta

We expected the robot uprising, but nothing could prepare us for their deadly alliance with wizards. May God have mercy on our souls. Also: Black Ops 3 is pretty weird.

 

The Mixed Messages of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

They do have some excellent MoCap though.

This week on PopMatters, I jump back into the politics of the Call of Duty franchise.

I actually did this once before when discussing Black Ops 2 and the ways it addresses specifically American fears. Every Call of Duty seems to me a push-pull battle between developers who genuinely care about addressing interesting and important themes in their games and developers who just want to make a hardcore bro-shooter. Apparently in the latest entry in the franchise, those who genuinely care have lost ground.

There are of course really interesting themes in the game, especially in regards to international corporations and their lack of accountability on the world stage. But Call of Duty pulls its punches. It fails to embrace the theme and actually hammer it home. Instead of a puppet-threat that actually represents some of the middle-class disenchantment that many Americans feel in particular towards the power of corporations in society, we have a vague indescribable Chechen terrorist organization. Instead of fully criticizing Atlas and their nefarious ways, we see a world genuinely better off than it was because of their wise use of capital.

How does Atlas get all their money? When the UN turns against them, are we meant to assume they are self-operating now? Do they collect taxes from their employees? Why do the majority of soldiers fighting for them do so? The game has no interest in exploring these themes because it relies on Kevin Spacey hamming it up in a caricature of greed-infused villainy.

At the end of the game, the bland soldiers walk away saying it's "only the beginning." Why? What is meant to happen next? Irons represents a singular corporate interest, one managed by an individual not stakeholders or a board of directors. Who is carrying on his lineage and what philosophical ideas drive the remaining employees? We have no answer because, surprisingly, the newest Call of Duty game is also the most conservative thematically.

Listen to our EXP Debrief here.

EXP Podcast #302: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Debrief

Frank Underwood has come a long way.

The yearly barometer for shooters and the games industry at large is out! Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare just hit store shelves we are heeding our own call of duty by reviewing and discussing the latest in the multi-million dollar franchise.

How advanced is it? Will we ever defeat Robo-Putin? What is the most user-friendly design of a grenade? All this and more in this week's episode!

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 49 mins 50 secs

- Music by Brad Sucks

The Spirit of 'Call of Duty'

Image from PopMatters

This week at PopMatters I decompress from my annual return to Call of Duty.

The column is an expansion on a question Jorge raised in this week's podcast: why bother having a campaign in Call of Duty: Ghosts? To be fair, the question was asked partly in response to this year's mediocre showing. A completely nonsensical story, trite characters, and a critical path that makes Autopia seem like the open road doesn't come across as a compelling argument for creating a mode most people view as an afterthought.

However, there are those weirdos out there (like myself) who think the opposite. I know I'll never get good enough to be competitive or even enjoy the multiplayer very much. The campaign is where I get my fix for new equipment, tweaked mechanics, and manufactured bombast that does an acceptable job at seeming spontaneous (as long as you don't wander from the main path). It's a big, dumb palette cleanser from the independent, emergent, and open-ended games that take up so much of my time these days.

On a larger level, I actually think the CoD singleplayer remains important to study, even if it's increasingly irrelevant to many players. It continues to be the tip of the spear for the CoD marketing machine: the games are always debuted and initially marketed as scripted stories about terrorism and patriotism. Playing them is a glimpse into the shadowy psychology behind American exceptionalism and the blockbuster video game scene (not sure which is scarier). Every once in a while, they make an interesting point (even when they don't mean to), which separates the games from competitors that are unapologetically multiplayer driven.

By the time Ghosts wrapped up, I was at that point where I remembered both why I play the CoD campaign every year and why I was happy these things only happen once a year. CoD campaigns let me be a tourists in the land triple-A games and virtual jingoism and that's something I appreciate in small doses.

EXP Podcast #250: Call of Duty: Ghosts Debrief

Riley as an Xbox Live Companion

Who let the dog out!? Infinity Award apparently. This week on the podcast, Scott and I are joined by Riley, our lovable canine companion, to discuss Call of Duty: Ghost. This Triple-A behemoth is always worth a visit, and now maybe more than ever. Join us this week to chat about the best new addition to the CoD formula, the political ramifications of "Space Rod Technology", and the death of single-player shooters! As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes
- Find the show on Stitcher
- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.
- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.

Show notes:

- Runtime: 40 min 46 sec
- Music by: Brad Sucks

The Real World in 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II'

David Petraeus in Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Activision, 2012),

image from PopMatters.com

This week at PopMatters, I talk about Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's relationship with reality.

Maybe it's all in my head, but I always feel a little sheepish when playing and analyzing a Call of Duty game. As I noted in the article, Call of Duty is almost a punchline for a certain subsection of the game community. "What are you going to next," someone (like me) might ask, "explore the subtle themes of a Michael Bay movie?" I can't deny that there's some merit to this. Black Ops II has enough 'splosions and Hoo-rah for a couple of games.

Still, the games never fail to interest me. The Black Ops series particularly so, since it tackles actual historical events and people. If I told you that there was a video game that addressed CIA ties to terrorist organizations and put you face to face with Manuel Noriega, would you think that I was describing what will be one of the top selling video games of the year? It sounds more like something you'd find in the independent scene. Few other games acknowledge our reality in even the most general sense, let alone call out specific people and events.

The problem is that Black Ops II plays fast and loose with the real historical topics it leverages. In the marketing and in the game Oliver North is presented as some vague authority figure. There are always hints that the CIA is up to some shady business, but the game rarely takes a definitive stance on its actions. Jonas Savimbi is all soldier and no politician, and his ties to neo-conservative U.S. groups are ignored. China is a continual lurking threat, but the roots of the conflict are hard to follow as you frantically strafe through the levels.

Folks like Jorge and me routinely express our desires to see video games branch out to tackle more diverse topics. For every ten games about wizards, we're lucky to get one about politics. At best, I think Black Ops II goes halfway: it's not afraid to reference historical events and figures, but it doesn't offer much in-depth insight. Still, that's more than most games do.

Black Ops II and The Unfinished Swan

Image from GiantBomb.com

I usually like to play a couple games concurrently. Being able to switch back and forth helps me think laterally about the games I play. Oftentimes I'll notice common design techniques or different ways to implement similar systems.

Of course, this habit also leads to some hilarious juxtapositions. Case in point: I spent last week alternating between Call of Duty: Black Ops II and The Unfinished Swan.

I've talked about "gaming whiplash" in the past and the transition between Black Ops II and The Unfinished Swan is a classic example. Shifting gears from a Tom Clancy-esque murder fest to what turned out to be a modern fairy tale was a bit bumpy. Thematically and aesthetically, it's hard to find two different games. For a good illustration, check out the trailers:

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

The Unfinished Swan

Both games are striking in their own ways and both do a good job establishing a tone. Black Ops II embraces a realistic art style that makes its constant bedlam even more stressful. Whether it's the campaign, multiplayer, or zombie mode, the game rewards twitch reflexes. As is the case in the game's plot, unseen threats are everywhere and even a moment's hesitation means failure. It's a shoot or be shot world where victory is as much about quick reflexes as it is strategy. My neck tenses up just thinking about it.

On the other hand, The Unfinished Swan largely avoids moment-to-moment pressure and instead challenges the you to discover and then master unfamiliar tools. You're dropped right into a completely blank world and left to experiment with how to fill it in. Devoid of any button prompts, quest markers, or specific objectives, you're left to both reveal and then make sense of the environment. Along the way, you experience a story about personal growth that mimics the way you enhance the world.

I didn't think about it at first, but your method of interacting with the world in Black Ops II and The Unfinished Swan is essentially the same: you shoot things from a first-person perspective. Of course, in the former game you're shooting people's faces with bullets, while in the latter you're lobbying paint balls at various targets in hopes of enlivening the world.

When it comes to categorizing games, I'm often biased towards perspective and mechanical classification: I'm much more apt to think of something as first-person shooter or a platformer than as a horror game or a political thriller. However, Black Ops II and The Unfinished Swan make a strong argument for taking into consideration themes, visuals, and narratives when comparing games to one another. You may play the games from the same perspective, but their core viewpoints are vastly different.

Missing in Action, part 3: Anonymity in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

This is the third post in a three part series dedicated to analyzing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Feel free to read the first part, Civilians in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and the second part, "Seeing the Elephant" in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Beware of spoilers in this post.

The question about whether games can and should have overarching messages is a contentious one. Video games, perhaps more so than any other medium, foster an environment in which both the author and audience are highly active participants in creating the meaning behind the final product. Even in the case of highly scripted games like CoD 4, individual player choices and experiences have the potential to elicit a myriad of interpretations regarding the work's themes.

My experience with CoD 4 was affected just as strongly by what was present in the game than by what was not present. Over the past two posts, I have argued that CoD 4's thematic strength comes from its omissions. The game's lack of a civilian presence highlights the ways in which non-combatants are transformed from people into abstract justifications for war. Also absent is combat's aftermath and wider ramifications: CoD 4's dramatic, chaotic battle scenes may give us a glimpse of "the elephant," but this view comes at the expense of a wider exploration of the beast's true destructive nature.

In searching for the larger message of CoD 4, I was again drawn to the gaps in its construction of reality. After the initial shock of the nuclear explosion and the death of Sgt. Paul Jackson, I began to see the broader lesson of the character's death. While spectacular from the player's view, Sgt. Jackson's death fades into obscurity against the backdrop of the larger conflict, thereby highlighting the anonymity imposed on those touched by war.

Jackson's death is jarring in terms of its suddenness and its aftermath. It is surprising enough to witness the failure of the "good guys," but even more unexpected is the sudden erasure of a character the player had grown to know. Not only is the player's relationship with the character terminated, the character's identity is stripped down to the barest details.

While the spectacle of the nuclear blast was impressive, the most shocking part of the event was how quickly Jackson faded into obscurity after his death. The early portion of the game was spent following (and controlling) Jackson and his comrades. After the blast, Jackson becomes a single name on a huge casualty list and simply fades into history.

The casualty list has no room to mention the many dangerous missions he took, nor does it state that he died trying to save a fallen soldier. In fact, unlike the Sgt. Jackson in the video below, my Sgt. Jackson immediately turned around after waking up from the blast, crawled over to one of the other soldiers in the helicopter, and tried in vain to rescue them. Only after seeing they were dead did he/I exit the chopper and begin searching for other survivors.

Regardless of the particulars of his or the player's story, Jackson is distilled into three sterile letters: "KIA."

Perhaps shamefully, I knew more about Sgt. Jackson's exploits than most of the actual soldiers who die in today's real wars. Some get their names read on the nightly news, but it is exceedingly rare to learn about the context behind their death or the life behind the name. How many names on the Vietnam Memorial are those of people who died as anonymous heroes?

Those fortunate enough to escape death, fall victim to a similar kind of societal amnesia. In the Iraq war, some soldiers were whisked from the front only to find themselves dropped into the battle of Walter Reed, a fight in which reinforcements are sorely wanting. Although some people avoid incurring physical scars, it is hard to make it out completely unscathed.

CoD 4's ethos is a slippery one: sometimes over the top, other times poignant, the game seems to take pleasure in sampling a variety of sometimes contradictory, sometimes hypocritical philosophies. Every time the player fails, they are greeted by a quote about war. Some of these lament war's existence, others partake in militaristic pride, while several engage in gallows humor. Taken as a collection, they serve to illustrate war's existence as a set of conflicting notions mashed together to create a single ugly entity.

CoD 4 shows us how the separate pieces of this creation can become lost after they are combined. Although CoD 4 highlights the characters' and the player's specific contributions during the story's pivotal plot points, the game is ultimately about the subsumption of the individual. Civilians and soldiers alike become abstract entities, the grisly realities of battle are abandoned in search of the next fight, and heroes become marks on a casualty list.

In their absence however, these details become conspicuous. Simply because Call of Duty 4 leaves certain things out does not render it useless for understanding war's cultural importance. Things that start out as missing in action instead become points of learning and reflection.