Let me preface this by covering a few key points.  First, I will be posting SPOILERS so don’t read past the SPOILER tag below if you don’t want SPOILERS.  Second, yes I did know what I was walking into and had a fairly good time because I knew it would be bad.  Third, don’t expect a video here.  I originally considered making a “reaction” video review like so many other people do these days… but I really felt that this movie didn’t deserve the effort.

The short and spoiler free review of the film is as follows:

It started well enough with sufficiently realistic video effects.  You could let yourself believe the videos had been recorded on 1973/4 film with 1973/4 cameras.  It felt fairly well done and for a moment I was slightly impressed.

I say “a moment” because that is about all it was.  The opening of the film feels tremendously rushed and I couldn’t help but notice this point as the mission is explained quickly with exposition and then slung into space and then the lunar module is on the moon.  Character development was sparse at best and the effects suddenly weakened.

Then the mission on the moon took precedence and the atmosphere of the film completely broke down.  The mission completes as you would expect from a movie like this and as I told KingCobra the other day, “there are too many ways they can mess this up.”

Bottom line, this movie is great riff fodder and I would consider making a rifftracks entry with some of my BWL Team members some day, but if you want a creepy movie or a cool sci fi… look elsewhere.  This movie is a cheap rental at best and not really worth the cost of a theater seat unless you can organize a large group specifically for “riffing” in a week or two when the legitimate audience will be nearly completely gone.

To give you an idea of the quality of this movie, consider that the population of the showing I attended was relatively small to begin with.  That’s on a Friday night at a brand new movie.  Then consider that there were people that got up and left before the end of the movie including one couple which could be heard declaring “what a waste of money”.

Then consider that the remaining audience consisting of the “target” audience for such a film booed the film as they stood up to leave.

I had fun, but admittedly felt as though I had been sitting in my seat for too long.  And keep in mind that I did know what to expect and was mentally riffing the movie throughout.  Perhaps Master Pancake Theater will consider riffing this movie for next year’s QuakeCon or something.  That would legitimately be the best way to watch this one.

It’s short, has some nice big plot holes, misses the opportunity to create mystery and atmosphere, loads up on exposition at certain key points rather then show us the events, feels contrived and poorly executed in general, and very much feels unfinished.

[ SPOILERS BEGIN HERE ]

The showing I attended was scheduled for 9:15 pm.  So I arrived thirty minutes early.

Disappointed to find that hot dogs were individually priced at $4 despite the photo of two hot dogs, I ordered a small popcorn and a large coke.  At the last moment I thought to add a boxed candy… Reese’s Pieces.

My reasoning was that I like said candy and I thought, ‘surely this movie will be bad and this candy will be a fitting addition to my own mental riffs.  ET jokes and all that.”

My popcorn freshly buttered and salted and my ticket torn, I found out that the screen this film would be shown on was ALLLLL the way in the back.

‘Uh oh.’

Entering the room, I found a small group of patrons already seated.  Oddly enough, I had expected more movie goers to be present.

With better then 20 minutes left until showtime, I ate my popcorn and watched the same advertisement slides cycle over and over on the screen.

Did you know that Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts have been in movies before?  Why together even!

Oh, there’s Ryan Reynolds as Ryan Reynolds in “The Change Up: featuring Ryan Reynolds as Ryan Reynolds playing Mitch… the funny one… Ryan Reynolds.”

Hmm… Sprint wants me to be quiet.  Not if the movie gets too bad and I find myself alone in here.

Finally, 9:15 rolled by.  Then 9:16, 9:17, and 9:18.  I sort of forgot that I keep my watch 3 minutes fast.

At last, the lights dimmed and the advertisements started.  Most of the time, you can estimate 20 minutes worth of advertisements will play before the movie starts.  I don’t know in this case, as I didn’t check, but it did feel more like 10 to 15 minutes instead.

The highlight was probably the teaser trailer for the Dark Knight Rises.  The same one I’ve seen several times already.  The one that lifts most of it’s footage from Batman Begins, a pinch of The Dark Knight, and adds just a sprinkle of new footage of Comissioner Gordon in the hospital talking to Batman off screen and possibly in Bruce Wayne form.

Then Bane walks up to Batman somewhere in the city before a jump cut kills them both with falling derbies in Bat-Symbol Plaza where all the buildings are arranged to make a giant Bat-Symbol in the skyline.

And in case you haven’t caught on I am wasting time here because the movie itself was so short and bland.  Length isn’t a problem in a well crafted narrative, but this was in no way a well crafted narrative.

While waiting for the movie, the theater slowly filled to about 75% capacity.  Not bad considering that this is Texas and Friday night at the start of the high-school football season.

The movie finally began with the introductive title card.  In short, it said that Apollo 17 was the last official mission to the moon.  In 2011 a website, lunartruth.com leaked the thematic found footage of the mission and the movie was edited together from that footage.  [NOTE: I can't seem to view lunartruth.com despite the site address being displayed prominently at the beginning and end of the movie.  This means that it was either taken down or is registering with my ad-blocker as nothing but pure 100% advertisement.]

We are introduced to the cast of three astronauts via pre-mission interviews ripe with exposition.  It seems the Apollo missions really were canceled after Apollo 17.  But the DOD wants to put sensors on the moon to spy on the Russians and is funding Apollo 18.

The launch is a night time launch under the disguise of being a satellite launch.

Now, remember, I am a big believer in the “show don’t tell” school of story telling.  Exposition as handled here is therefore excessive and rushed.  To the point that it feels forced at times.

Even so, I sort of ignore that since they seem to be making this plausible in terms of “here’s some footage edited for time”.  It more or less made sense, but the movie would have benefited from a better launch scene and less exposition up front.

Anyway, the astronauts do split up correctly with one remaining in orbit of the moon and the other two landing.  I had worried about that point prior to the movie.

The landing was rushed of course.  But worse, some of the effects shots felt incomplete.  Some lunar surfaces as shown during the landing sequence felt like cheap CG.  This could be because they applied filters to help stock or recreation footage match the movie, or because they used cheap CG.  Either way, it looked odd to me.

In orbit we see a guy… floating around… and talking to the radio.

On the moon we see, the other two astronauts setting up camp for a two day mission… apparently.  And the effects again start to break down as some of the camera footage inside the Lunar Module seems too clear.  It felt digital and artificial.

We also get one of the better jump scares of the movie as it feels more real.  Why?  Because one of the astronauts fake sleeps and his partner starts to record this to prove that he snores.  He basically says boo to the camera.  That scene felt more real then any other.  And naturally, it and almost every other [there are 3 or so] good jump scare is shown in the trailers for this movie.

In the course of all of these sequences, the action is broken up by still images and stuttering video to indicate some of the more damaged footage.  As the astronauts begin setting up the first DOD sensor and collecting moon rock samples, these effects begin to become bothersome and a bit annoying.

We also get the first ‘paranormal activity’ moment.  A rock moves.  Of course, it was kind enough to stand in a spot light for us.

Seriously.

Okay, yes I know it was meant to be like so much documentary footage that shows items in the background by highlighting them, but this felt really out of place.

Our astronauts talk a bit.  The astronaut in the command module talks and floats around.  And nothing else really happens.

Sure there is this strange radio interference that seems to be popping up, but honestly these sounds aren’t as creepy as they are intended.  I really had hoped to hear something similar to Jupiter’s sounds or the audio of the Northern Lights or other decidedly creepy “actual” sounds of various sorts.  You can even drive out in the desert away from radio signals tuned in to random static on the AM band and pick up unique static and EM sounds that are creepy.

All of that in a quiet moment can be really spooky.  Instead, we got a fair bit of noise with what basically sounded like a brief static signal and some flickering lights.

Cameras, they were given dozens apparently which didn’t help the believability in the slightest.  Worse, much of the footage apparently was recorded on their end and appeared not to be transmitted to earth.  Which left me wondering how the video would be recovered in the end.

Again mimicking the Paranormal Activity movies, we see cameras record moving rocks closer to the LM and the moon rover get’s knocked over.

We also have a scene in which one of the moon rock samples is found on the floor instead of in its storage bag.  Yes, they have been collecting moon rock samples and one of the astronauts has even gone out of his way to say that one sample feels different from others somehow.

And by that point I started mentally repeating to myself, ‘please tell me they aren’t making the moon rocks the monster.’

Paranormal Activity has a decided advantage of an effectively invisible entity.  Here, we see the alien life fairly early and in disappointing fashion.  We’re told that they find these rocks near apparent impact craters on the moon.

So they apparently travel through space and collide with our moon to make a new life there free from atmospheres, liquid water, and any form of food other then cannibalism.  Yea moon rocks!

Alien… moon rocks!

The astronauts find space boot prints that are not there own.  Following them, they find a Russian craft.  It is empty and damaged on the inside.  There is blood from a first aid treament and no sign of any cosmonauts.

This leads to further space tracking into a crater that they say never sees the light of the sun.  That sounded sort of strange to me.  But then again, some of the science gets a little fuzzy at times.

For instance, during a sleeping scene one of the space helmets falls from a shelf onto an astronaut and appears to do so with normal earth gravity.  Everything inside the LM seems to happen at normal earth gravity for some reason.  But now I’m nitpicking.

Walking around in the dark crater after being told not too, one of the astronauts uses a flash pulse to see what is around him.  He says that the soil is different somehow and stumbles across a jump scare of the dead cosmonaut.  For a time, we are teased with the idea that the other cosmonaut may still be alive or somehow undead.

Unfortunately, this is dismissed quickly and we are flatly told that there was only one cosmonaut.  Honestly, Russian space zombies would be an awesome movie.  Why didn’t they do this?

Meanwhile, the astronaut in the command module talks to the radio… and floats… and goes to the far side of the moon so he can’t talk to anyone at all.  So he floats… and talks to the camera.  He even goes so far as to talk about how beautiful the far side of the moon is and not show us the view.  And he tells us that he feels like someone on the far side is looking back at him sometimes.

But enough of that, back to the astronauts on the moon.  After the American flag disappears and the rover is tossed around, one of the astronauts decides to go outside to try to fix the damaged [conveniently enough] radio equipment.  He suddenly says something is in his suit and we get an unnaturally clear view of his face from the LM window so we can see a space spider thing crawling on his face.

He space panics and space knocks himself out or something and dislocates his oxygen hose.  This is the commander by the way.  A commander that didn’t notice a space spider thing the size of his own hand inside his space suit and that panics and space knocks himself out, space etc.

His partner goes outside and rescues him and they talk about the space spider thing but he now denies any knowledge of the event.  The commander is shown to be bleeding and has a cut above one of his ribs.  The other astronaut says there is something under the skin and cuts out one of his space rock samples.

Which seems to space explode in a jump scare.  Although, to be fair, they sort of indicate that it actually just transformed and jumped out of view.  Though that doesn’t make much sense because the astronauts just ignore it after that and say something about it contaminating the entire LM.

But if it exploded, why did it do so?  It’s one of those plot holes popping up.

Anyway, the commander is apparently space infected and slowly develops space pink eye and palladium poisoning like Iron Man did in Iron Man 2.  After this, he starts to loose his mind and even warns the other astronaut that he will go mad the way the cosmonaut apparently did.

Despite this, his partner refuses to let the commander leave the LM.  This goes well.

So the oxygen is running out and the commander is getting worse, even space staring at his partner while he sleeps and a space spider thing moves across the camera that is watching him.  He then space freaks out and starts smashing cameras and the like.

Meanwhile the astronaut in the command module is still floating.  He starts talking to the radio again, now trying to talk to the LM.  NASA also has started trying to talk to the LM and notes that they cannot hear the LM but the LM can hear NASA.

Apparently the space spider things only disabled the microphones or something.  But of course, mission control has been silent for some time and cannot really offer any information except in the occasional exposition dump.

The astronauts leave the LM and we are told that they will be taking the tapes with them.  The commander again warns that he should be left behind.  And again this advice is ignored and he has another space freak out during the drive on the lunar rover.   The rover subsequently crashes into a crater.

During this scene, there are flashing moments where you get a glimpse of bolder sized space rock spider things and we begin to see that they actually sort of resemble crabs.

That’s right.

…

The moon has space crabs.

…

The commander disappears and the other astronaut wakes up alone.  He finds and follows the commander’s tracks to another big crater and promptly begins spouting cliched lines about not leaving the commander and making it safely back home.

The commander stands by the edge of the crater and turns his back to it so he can be space dragged into the darkness by an unseen threat… which we have already been shown is space rock spider crab things.  So it’s kind of a weak attempt at a jump scare and an even weaker excuse for his partner to wander into the crater using his flash pulse for flashing lighting effects.

As the remaining astronaut moves along, we see the space rocks opening to reveal their space crab form.  Yet we never again see the bolder sized variety.

After a pitifully long period of the astronaut walking around the crater with more and more space crabs swarming around him, he gives up and runs for his life.

He nearly runs out of air, but the tension is non-existent.  I just wanted the bolder sized space crabs to attack him.  But that didn’t space happen.

The astronaut enters the Russian LK and tries to radio for help.  Only to finally be patched to the DOD by the Russians.

Wait… during the cold war?

Were the Russians in on this or did they not care that we were placing sensors to spy on them on the moon?  Oh… wait… that’s right… the astronauts speculated that the DOD knew the moon had space crabs and were using the supposed sensors to attract them to the astronauts and block the astronauts radio signals.

That makes perfect sense.

Especially since the film makes it perfectly clear that the deaths of these astronauts prevented us from ever returning to the moon.  Basically, the DOD either developed a conscience or completely lost interest in the space crabs.  I don’t know.  It’s kind of a plot hole or space sequel baiting or something.

Anyway, the astronaut sits alone in his Russian LK and listens to a tape recording of his wife and son.  And he does this for a fairly lengthy time until the command module makes contact and the two remaining astronauts plan an escape including piloting the LK and entering orbit near each other and then space walking.

I thought this was leading up to something.

But it didn’t.

The launch of the LK begins and the commander knocks on the space door.  Where he came from is not clear.  But a psychic connection with the space crabs is implied throughout the movie.

He insists that he be let in, but his partner refuses saying that he is infected.  Obviously, he was infected before when his partner promised he would get home.  However the DOD said he was infected so that makes it worse… somehow.

The commander takes it well and starts trying to break in through the window which somehow holds him off.  We then get another close up of his face as the space crabs have turned into space spider things again and are scurrying around inside the commander’s helmet.

Seriously.  Dozens of the things all over the man’s face without him reacting or even causing the fabric parts of his space suit to move or anything.  Finally they break out through his face plate and splatter blood on the window.

Yea!

Wait…

How did they get in the suit without puncturing it?

Whatever… the LK starts flying toward the command module.  Inside the command module the third astronaut is floating and now talking to the DOD representative.  He is told that the other two astronauts are infected and that he will be cut off from re-entry data if he doesn’t abort his rescue attempt.

That third astronaut then goes space crazy and starts talking to himself and the other astronaut about how they will go home.

Returning to the astronaut in the LK we are shown that he too has space pink eye and possibly palladium poisoning like Iron Man in Iron Man 2.  And there are several moon rocks floating around him.

And they are actually space crabs which attack him.

On the command module, the DOD representative can still be heard trying to reason with crazy astronaut #3.  And we hear crazy astronaut #2 screaming on the radio and some loud noises.  Crazy astronaut #3 is still telling the radio that they will be okay.

He then tells dead crazy astronaut #2 to slow down that he is ascending too quickly.  And we see that the LK has apparently turned into a space cardboard cutout.  At least, that’s what it looked like to me.  The ending of this movie easily looked the least finished.

And so the space cardboard cutout of the LK crashes into the command module and kills everyone except the space crabs most likely.  We aren’t told how the videos were recovered.  I had thought that perhaps an after the credits sequence might show another mission performing a space walk to collect the tapes, but I didn’t wait for the credits to end.

You could argue that the tapes they referred to were computer tapes.  And you could assume that everything that was recorded on the cameras had been directly transmitted to NASA, but such was never explained and there are periods at which this would likely not be possible.

We are briefly given a space summary of the cover up story for the deaths of each of the three astronauts and reminded to visit lunartruth.com.  We are also told that lots and lots of moon rocks were brought back to earth by the many Apollo missions and that many, many moon rocks were given to dignitaries.  And of those, thousands were stolen or simply disappeared.

Which of course means…

The moon gave us space crabs.

There is then a lengthy pause while everyone in the theater stands up and several people boo.  Then the credits start to roll.

I walked outside thinking about how I had enjoyed the riff-ripe nature of the movie, but how so many other patrons had been disappointed.  And then I noticed the time.

10:45 pm.

Yes, the movie claims to be 1 hour and 26 minutes in length.  Obviously, the long pauses were accompanied by really long credits or something.  I’m pretty sure that the movie didn’t start until after 9:30 pm.

Anyway, I consider this a bad movie that could be funny with the right riffing.  Otherwise it’s just boring and incomplete.  It had much potential, but they found just about every way possible to fowl this film.

I would recommend only seeing it if you want to riff it.  Otherwise, wait for the rental and then riff it.  As a scary movie or a drama or a science fiction or whatever, this movie fails.  But with good riffing it succeeds as a comedy about space crabs and space pink eye.

We have had this site online since 2001 and seen marginal activity at best.  I’m tired of this lack of interest.  If we can’t be recognized as a classy, quality content site… then fine.  I’d rather churn out the “popular” content then continue to put so much effort into projects.

My plan is basically to start putting just a little less effort into projects and get then out sooner.  Expect a considerable increase in activity over the next few weeks.

Hopefully, this will attract a little more interest.

And yes, This includes our mod projects.  As far as I am concerned the original CL is now finished.  We’re going to focus on CLS now and get that done quickly so we can start work on CL2 and the other mods I have planed.

Videos will also be ramped up a bit more quickly.  Expect one within the next few days… by the end of the day tomorrow if I can edit it that quickly.

UPDATE:

Ncevy Sbbyf!

Unfortunately, time and more current developments in the game’s pre-release days and weeks have changed my mind.  I won’t be playing Modern Warfare 2.

What brought about this change of plans?

To begin, let me state that I was not really satisfied by COD: World at War.  I haven’t played it much since the first few weeks it existed.  To sum my feelings on the subject, here’s my quote from that wish list thread.

“not what I hoped for. The lag in multi-player is unnecessary, the single player campaign(s) are disjointed and bland… but the Russian story was fairly fun, and the zombie mode was not worth much unless you play it in coop. Most folks I know of that still play it play for the zombie mode and updates. I personally stopped playing it after finishing the single-player stories.”

Admittedly, I’ve never really been a big Call of Duty fan.  I prefer the Battlefield franchise.  But I can play a number of different games and game play formats.  This one just didn’t quite find the mark.

It is my understanding that World At War developer Treyarch has actually addressed many of my complaints and mods may well make this game great.  Glad to hear it.  From my understanding, even now they are still patching the game and working to make the PC version more of the game it should have been out of the box.

This pleases me as it shows that the company is interested in its players and working to better their franchise.  Though World At War did not match up with COD 4 in my opinions, the developers are at least trying to improve.

Which is more then I can say for Infinity Ward.

Activision has been on the defensive for a few weeks now and Infinity Ward has effectively alienated the so-called hard core gamers of the PC platform.  Basically, that’s anybody that expects a PC game to play like a… well… PC game.

Allow me to retreat in time for a moment, dear reader.  I want to look back at the start of this apparent feud.

It began with a heightened level of silence on the part of Activision and IW.  News releases were abnormally rare, but the ad campaign was building a great deal of hype, particularly around the single-player campaign.

We saw cryptic trailers that revealed many secrets under close scrutiny.  Every thing from a snowmobile to an apparent group of Russian terrorists exiting an elevator and attacking someone.

As the hype machine rolled along, we soon saw game play that showed us mountaineering and snowmobiles at E3.  Later there was combat in various parts of the world.  Then something of a PR speed bump when the first footage of combat in Washington DC appeared.  It wasn’t anything too serious, but some of the more extreme types felt a bit sensitive about terrorism in the DC area.

Me?  Oh I just chalked it up to a more interesting story in SP.  It reminded me a bit of Fallout 3 and I thought, this could really get interesting.

The latest trailers, including the release trailer, show even more interesting events.  Something happening in an airport and something that causes a space station to explode and the apparent player to be carried away by the blast.

All this could really make a single-player enthusiast really feel good about this game.

Unfortunately, the negative blows, at least among PC gamers such as myself, have continued as well.

Activision increased the price by $10.  That’s not too bad, but for PC gamers that provide their own rigs and hardware support, we feel a bit cheated.  One of the best reasons to buy a PC version, beyond customization and details, is the lower price.  When a PS3 or XBOX 360 game costs $60, a PC gamer in a pinch can save $10 by purchasing PC games.

It isn’t much and I think that is pretty forgivable too.  If only MW2 wasn’t the only franchise to decide their game was worth more.  Battlefield Bad Company 2 isn’t going up in price and neither are other PC titles.

But I myself could forgive this.  The hype machine made this look like the “must-have” title.  I could maybe shell out another $10 despite economic depression events.  So I just sort-of shrugged that point off.

Help, somebody got jelly all over me!

The “Big One” hit when, during an interview with the Bash and Slash podcast, Rob Bowling of Infinity Ward stated that dedicated servers would not be used for MW2.  When I heard that bit of news, I knew immediately that I would not be purchasing MW2.

For me, a big part of any FPS game is the multi-player aspect.  And COD 4 was an excellent game in that respect.  I do not expect MW2 to follow in those footsteps.

Here’s a brief run-down of the revealed negatives, as I view them, over the past few months.  MW2 will not offer dedicated server support.  Though it will use steam for distribution and VAC support, players will be required to use the iwnet service to play online… in conjunction with steam.

fourzerotwo has gone on to post additional information… but in the end, it all sounds a bit like “It’s better because we say so.”   The biggest argument in support of the new system is that consoles have used this for years.

Of course, to that I say “a console is a console is a console.  They are made nearly identical in every way.  PS3′s are mostly the same with the exception of hard disk space and bulk as sleeker models appear.  So are XBOX 360′s.  And they can get fairly laggy by themselves.  PC’s are vastly different and some are better equipped for hosting then others.  You can’t really compare PC’s to Consoles when it comes to net connections and online gaming.  PC’s are good because they have dedicated servers to join to equalize the playing field and operate under better ideal configurations.”

But there’s more.  Modding will not be available.  Customization, beyond upgrades, streak bonuses, and weapon selection will not be available.  Multi-player games will be capped at nine player teams.  Players with a speed or configuration setting that is too low will never be able to host a server.

Hosting will be determined based on match-making for ping and skill level with exception of “private matches” which will be moderately controllable.  And that is the closest to a dedicated server that the game will allow on release.

IW’s representatives have gone so far as to suggest that server admins simply “slap” a graphic card in their servers and install the game and start private matches as a solution to the dedicated server issue.

And to top the entire matter off, after an overwhelmingly negative response from PC gamers, IW responded with a poorly worded message that seemed to target server admins and so-called hard core gamers as bad influences on the rest of us.

This business has been followed most closely by the Bash podcasts which can be found at this address.  They make a fairly good case for player outrage and also try to find the positive in these matters, hoping that IW will listen to player feedback and update with correction for these mistakes.

I… am less forgiving.

One of my coworkers, a PS3 lover, has been amused by PC backlash and can’t understand why PC users are so upset.  His impression was that PC users have been spoiled to all of this “good stuff” and aren’t used to being treated like the consoles.

I’d say that’s a fair statement.  And why should we settle for console quality when we build and maintain our system on our own?  Why should we PC gamers expect less of a game developer when we make the mods that keep these games alive?  We have built the franchise for Call Of Duty and other titles.

Should we ignore that now because IW says “boo”?

Without dedicated servers, I can’t really play a game like MW2 online.  My connection isn’t good enough to host and playing on someone else’s listen servers in other games becomes laggy after the fourth or fifth person joins.  And a single-player campaign isn’t worth $60 to me.  Especially not with outstanding titles such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 on the way.  Not to mention the already released Borderlands.

Even more icing on this sickeningly bad cake comes in the revelation that MW2 took mod code from COD 4 and implemented it in MW2 without giving the mod developers credit or recognition of any kind.

I simply look to VALVe as an example of how such mods should be handled.  Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, indirectly TFC, even hltv were developed by the community.  What did VALVe do?  They recognized the talent at hand and hired them to turn their projects into profitable merchandise franchises of their own.

IW has really shown a lack of judgment, or as one of the BASH podcast guests stated it, a lack of class.

Now, the most recent stink has arisen over an illegal copy of MW2 that was somehow obtained by a French gamer and posted.  IW and Activision have been fighting to have these video clips removed since they first surfaced, but this is the internet.

Be warned, the rest of this post contains spoilers.

Here are a couple of links that seem to be keeping up with these videos.
http://www.modernwarfare2forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1472&p=8514
http://www.mapmodnews.com/article.php/Forced-kil-civilians-Modern-Warfare-2 – german version?

To summarize, during the opening of the game, the player is informed that they are an undercover CIA operative infiltrating a terrorist organization.  They are offered a warning of impending graphic violence and/or harsh images and given the chance to skip that campaign.

Then they are treated to that elevator and airport hinted at during those early trailers.  The player and three terrorists, heavily armed, exit an elevator in an airport and begin gunning down masses of civilians.

The player apparently does not have to shoot anyone, and the German variation of the game may actually give the player a sort of “You Loose” screen if you do kill a civilian.  At the end of the rampage, the player largely looses the need to continue controlling the player as we are treated to the game’s villain revealing that he knows you’re a spy and shooting you.

All of this is intended to set up an emotional experience for the player, but many are disturbed by this.  Many of the “hard core” gamers actually dismiss this scene as being cinematic and motion-picturesque.

My favorite comments come from gamers that say things like “It’s people like you that keep games from become a more mature form of entertainment.”  They usually say this to people upset to see a mass killing portrayed in their game.  Sorry folks, but this isn’t “mature” or “grown up” entertainment.  It’s “shock value”.

And of course, many gamers are baffled as to why any one would be disturbed by an event that occurs daily.

Well, first of all, no… it doesn’t.  Killings happen daily, but not mass slaughters of this nature.  And just because this is intended to replicate a potentially real event, that doesn’t deny anyone the right to feel uneasy about its inclusion in a computer game.

Correction… console game.

And, need I point out that the game apparently includes a space battle or explosion on a space station of some sort during this gripping and realistic storyline?

Of course, there are then those that branch out into movies such as Rambo 4 or games like Grand Theft Auto.  These gamers sadden me.  Rambo is rescuing people from a militaristic regime and most recent GTA titles only have kill streaks for villainous types such as rival gangsters.  Oh, but the original GTA titles didn’t make that distinction?

Well, no… but then again… you’re talking about games that looked like this…

Even then, I can still dismiss this moment in the game.  I think it is incredibly distasteful and could have been handled in a better manner.  It really only marginally strengthens my resolve to avoid this game.

I think the matter of this clip is mostly an opinion discussion and thus isn’t as relevant as shoving PC gamers under the metaphorical bus.  However, I do see much trouble for PC gaming in the near future.  This WILL hit the major media outlets.  CNN has already shown an interest.  And the Jack Thompsons of the world now “appear” to have a more sound argument that these games are “murder trainers”.

How shameful is that?

Some of the supporters of MW2 have even gone so far as to post videos on YouTube in which they play GTA 4 and, using cheat codes mind you, run around killing civilians to prove that MW2 is no worse then GTA.

*sigh*

Do you guys really think that’s such a good idea?

And beside that, GTA 4 was not that great.  San Andreas was better.

In the end, this “scandal” has drawn only idle comments from Activision about how the scene is taken out of context and how the scene doesn’t reflect the scope of the game and how the copy used to make the video was illegally obtained.

*sigh*

Do YOU GUYS [Activision and IW] really think THAT’s such a good argument?

Take it from me, I would never include such a game play element as this in any storyline.  I don’t hold it up as a horrible, despicable, evil action on the part of the developers as many WILL soon.  But… It’s very irresponsible on the part of the developer and should have been handled differently.

Here’s one of a million alternatives of the same scene.

The player could have started, unarmed and waiting in line in the airport itself.  You would move around, visit the check-points and progress through on your way to your gate.  While waiting at the last security checkpoint, the elevator behind you opens to reveal the Russian Terrorists who proceed to gun you down.  Laying there, for a few last fleeting moments, you see the terrorists continue shooting and walking past you as you hear the gunfire and screams.

The violence doesn’t need to be shown as it can be more powerful when implied and this doesn’t make the player an unlikable character from the outset.  You’re not a murderer… your one of the hapless victims.

But I digress. Love the scene or hate it… or, like myself, simply add it to the list of questionable decisions by IW and Activision.  That’s your prerogative and your opinion.

Nevertheless, this may have major political ramifications for gamers and only adds to my distaste for MW2.

Why is it that the official screen shots aren't really screen shots but are PhotoShopped poses?

I will NOT be buying this game.  Perhaps, in a month or two, should the game turn more PC friendly I may consider purchasing it then.  But for now, I hope IW and Activision choke on lousy PC sales.  I say this not because I horribly resent them for making a console game, but because I am sick of developers essentially ignoring their players.

This is particularly disturbing when they ignore the players that built their franchise.  It shows arrogance I don’t plan to support and it shows a lack of interest in improving their games.

COD 4 is still popular, partly because of good game play and partly because of the mod community.  World At War may actually be in that same boat.

Did I mention that the next COD title is already planned for 2010.  Apparently we’re supposed to shell out $60 per year to buy annual games now.  At least the next title will be developed by Treyarch.  I wasn’t impressed by World At War, but they seem to be really trying.  They’ve shown more interest in PC gamers and in developing better games, and not simply throwing greater levels of shock value at us.

In the end, it’s business decisions that make me draw my support away from MW2.  And its business decisions that make me unhappy with developers of games like the modern Sonic titles [I'll explain this on my DA blog] or the infamous Duke Nukem Forever.

Come along now children… are we the modders and creative minds of you’re supposed fan-base really going to be forced to show YOU how to make games…

…because I will.  I have a darker, more grown up Sonic story concept already in the works.  It’s meant for a comic or fan-novel, but I have a mod plan in mind too.  Die hard Sonic fans will likely hate it, but people interested in a grown up, mature version of those games will love it.  I have ideas for a special BWL Duke Nukem Forever also.  A heavy story that remakes Duke in a proper fashion rather then simply ripping off Evil Dead catch phrases and passing strippers around.

I can write circles around your airport holocausts if I really want to.  And the community can produce more talented developers then you currently employ.  Clean up your act, or we the gamers… yes, especially the PC gamers… will replace you with someone better.  Such is the beauty of a free market system and capitalism.

We… the consumer… have the real power.

- End of Rant -

Pardon any typos or errors.  I’m actually very tired and need to go to bed.  But I wanted to make sure that I both explained the issues with the Resource Depot forum and our broken file download links… and to complain about how sorely out of touch FileFront has become.

I received an email today, warning that I had files about to be deleted.  I had four days to request that my files remain, starting at nearly 11:00 pm on the 8th of June.

I only received the email today, but I jumped into action and followed the link to save my files.  The only problem is, the link was outdated already.  All of my files… the custom re-skins, the maps, the old GargArena FGD and prefabs… everything… had been deleted.

It’s all gone.  Wiped out by a process that Google reveals to be fairly common.  Particularly of interest were statements that indicated that logging in could be a prerequisite.  Specifically, if you don’t log in often enough, you could loose everything.

But I also found a number of gamers that had a similar experience.  I could now go into just what I think of our former host, their communication skills, and their current state of service.

However, I’m tired and don’t feel like being so negative.  So I’ll just leave my coments to the important statement… the downloads are all down.  And worse, I have not had occasion to update a few of my file backups.

Files such as Devil1′s Young barney re-skin, and the GargArena FDG are all gone.  For now, none of the links work.

I will be using my ModDB account for some of the fileage, as soon as it

EDIT:

I told you I was tired.  You can’t tell by the post, but the Soprano’s style ending was not the only error.  I’ve just corrected some of the spelling mistakes.  I also made many mistakes that I caught while typing the original post.  I was trying to go to sleep at the keyboard, so random words would pop-up or my text would degenerate into letters and garbled words.

Anyway, the point was that our download links are all down and I will be using ModDB to post some of the files when I get around to it.  I also have plans to possibly use the forum software’s attachment options for smaller files.

As for FileFront, I have no intention of trusting them with my files again.  Not until such time as they clean up their act.  When I tried to host videos there, they would last days at best and then be deleted because fifty or so views weren’t enough.

None of the issues I’ve experienced or described are terribly new.  And many people have had these problems before.  But since the entire April Fools incident, this has become more common practice as the company tries to save money by alienating their users.

Good Job folks!

In fact, it was finished in April.  Written by SquirrelKing, the original Full Life Consequences was epically scrambled.  According to SquirrelKing’s profile and forum posts when it first appeared at FanFiction.net he was learning English and used the writing to help.  He also demonstrated some more simple concepts in writing and imagination, which would lead some of us to the conclusion that he was also very young.

Originally, topics about the series were posted in forums such as the fan fiction forum on PHL.  The story was ridiculed and people such as myself often defended him by pointing out the likely age and ESL issues.  The story was also picked up for a rather famous YTMND “epic reading of an epic fan-fiction”.

This story was amusing and the reading made it great.  A second story appeared as well and then the story remained “to be continued?” for years.

But in the past couple of years, YouTube has brought even more attention to SquirrelKing and his fictions.  There have been several flash animations, gmod videos, and even hand drawn animations depicting the first two stories and some of the other works including Halo: Halos in Space, and Metal Gear Solid: Fight of Metal Gears.

Most notably, Icton Entertainment (creators of the Idiots of Garry’s Mod videos) made an adaptation of both stories.  These adaptations were fairly amusing and worked quite well.

Now, by this time SquirrelKing had been inactive for years.  Halo: Halos in Space 2: Aliens attack was his last story which was published in August of 2007.   Suddenly, a new chapter in the Full Life Consequences saga appeared in February of this year (2009).  Do the math.

Most notable about the later 2 chapters of Full Life Consequences is the recognizably deliberate effort to make them “so bad its funny”.  It is possible that someone may have obtained the account and finished the story.  But I think it is more likely that SquirrelKing was responding to his internet fame.

Basically, there are too possibilities.  Either SquirrelKing was a less successful artificial character, like Peter Chimera, or he was legitimately a kid trying to write and practice his writing that has since turned into a “sock puppet” or fake writer due to internet fame.

I happen to think that he falls into that second possibility.  Why?  Mainly because if this was always a fake writer, he did a terrible job setting up the character.  Using Peter Chimaera as an example, the author created a character that could not grasp the English language and didn’t know much about his subject matter.  Sounds a lot like SquirrelKing right?  The difference is that Chimaera is supposed to speak English as a primary language and not have spent much time reading or understanding the plot of his subject matter.  In short, he’s a newbie, a llama, and a childish writer all rolled into one.

Conversely, SquirrelKing started out as a kid who was learning the English language and seemed to have at least some understanding of his subject matter.  He was believable as an author.  That is, believable at first.  With his latter stories, such as the Halos in Space tales, he seemed to be trying to make bad stories.  And since he suddenly reappeared his two latest stories feel even more forced.

Irregardless, the stories of John Freeman, and eventually his son Henry, are funny.  And the Icton videos are fairly popular, well made adaptations that have undoubtedly been the reason for SquirrelKing’s reappearance.

In fact, these are popular enough that many YouTube patrons have been trying to beat them to the cliched punch by making adaptations as soon as a new chapters are ready.

I won’t bother you with these wannabe-Icton videos… instead I’ll just link you to the real thing.

The complete saga:
Half-Life: Full Life Consequences
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxyZaZlaOs

Half-Life: Full Life Consequences 2 – What has to be Done
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8yHguvYYyQ

Half-Life: Hero Begining
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NiCYPrAoB8

Half-Life Full Life Consequences: Free Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULWgEnnmcv4

This article was confirmed a few times and… well… Take-Two interactive, the company with distribution rights for Duke Nukem Forever, decided to sue 3D Realms / Apogee for not finishing the game.  It was basically a claim of breach of contract for millions of dollars.

The project, Duke Nukem Forever, was the only title in development at the time by the actual 3D Realms portion of the company and had reportedly cost around $20 million dollars at the time of this issue.

Also, it is worth noting that 3D Realms has used internal funding for the project.  They have not had funding for development from Take-Two.

But now things have become interesting.  Executives of “3D Realms” have released a statement.  In that notice, the claim that the company has NOT shut down and has only temporarily halted development on the project.

“Despite rumors and statements to the contrary, 3D Realms (3DR) has not closed and is not closing. 3DR retains ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. Due to lack of funding, however, we are saddened to confirm that we let the Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) development team go on May 6th, while we regroup as a company. While 3DR is a much smaller studio now, we will continue to operate as a company and continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise.”

Instead, according to 3DR, this was a strong-arm tactic by Take-Two interactive.  In the statement, 3DR says that it entered negotiations with Take-Two for funding to finish the game.  Take Two then supposedly waited until the last minute to offer an unacceptable variation of the agreement which included “no upfront money, no guarantee minimum payment, and no guarantee to complete the DNF game.”

“Suddenly, after months of negotiations, Take-Two materially changed the parameters of the proposed funding agreement. 3DR informed Take-Two that it could not financially afford the changes Take-Two was suggesting and would be forced to release the team if an agreement was not reached.”

So… the sum total of this statement is… Take-Two and 3D Realms can’t play nice together and the gaming public gets stuck with the ass-end of their problems.  The only people worse off then the gamers are the poor members of the development team that became a pseudo-political pawn in this matter.

Look, I’m fully supporting of company and creator rights.  Absolutely.  But I can’t stand to see two companies injure their employees in a bid for control of a product line.

It’s simple… Take-Two… if any of this is true then just suck it up and either give 3DR the money to complete the game or shut up.  I mean it.  PUT UP OR SHUT UP!  The game does NOT belong to you.  Publishing license… that belongs to you.

And 3D Realms… GROW SOME.  If they don’t want to provide your funding, then seek it by other means or restructure.  But don’t wait until the last minute and use employees as fodder for the press.  Find alternatives and if all else fails, start fighting the legal battle to break away from Take-Two and find a better publisher.

EA might take the edge out of the game if chosen, but they do rule everything these days… from Battlefield to the Sims.  They aren’t the only alternative either.

Yes, I realize I’m oversimplifying here.  There is big money to be lost in breaking away from a publisher’s contract.  But here’s the most basic point… PUBLISHERS DON’T START ACTING THIS WAY OVER NIGHT!

When I say “GROW SOME” I mean take a little responsibility and watch over your product.  When a company like Take-Two starts using legal and political maneuvering, it’s time to break off relations and look for someone else.  Heck… here’s a wild idea.  USE F%#&ING STEAM!

Make a deal, offer Duke Nukem Forever on Steam.

Yes, again I know I am over simplifying.  However, I have a serious problem with this matter.  It reminds me of some of the old Valve / Vivindi Universal issues from a few years back.   Do you remember that one?

My point is simply that 3D Realms should have had better foresight to begin with.  And they certainly should have started the back-out process at least a year ago.  Negotiations are tricky, but hiring a good attorney… yes… you actually only need one good lawyer but having more can help… will save you a world of hurt when your publisher gets greedy.

And Take-Two, again… if this is true… seriously… that’s just wicked.   Trying to pry a creation away from its creators by any means necessary isn’t just cutthroat business.  It’s a vile reflection of the reason so many people hate “big business”.

I apologize if I seem unreasonable to the casual reader… but this stuff makes me sick.  People lost their jobs… not because of a bad economy or faulty production… rather, they lost their jobs because two business entities couldn’t behave as mature as the very product requires it’s players to be.

After so many years of development, the gamers… the consumers that purchase said product… are dismissing it.  I suggests that both companies at least pretend to be run by adults and reach an agreement soon or the product itself will be outdated once again.  And I don’t think gamers are as ready to wait another decade or two.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to know all of the gory details.  I’m just ranting about a game I was waiting for… it’s on my wish list in the wish list thread.  I’m also considerably disappointed by companies that behave so foolishly.  And I’ve heard enough about this type of nonsense in recent weeks to have a fairly quick temper in this matter.

Read this quote from 3D Realms’ press release that took so damn long to make public.  And on an important side note, remember this lack of public communication problem from the Valve/Vivendi incident and the HL2 delays.  Many gamers grew to greatly dislike/distrust Valve as a result.  Communication is key.  I consider this prime evidence that both companies need to “GROW SOME”.

Anyway, here’s that last quote.

“From 3DR’s perspective, we viewed Take-Two as trying to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise in a “fire sale.” Those negotiations fell through on May 4th, a deal never materialized, and the DNF team was sadly released a few days later.

Less than a week after the DNF team was released, Take-Two filed its lawsuit in New York, seeking immediate temporary injunctive relief. The court denied Take-Two’s request for a temporary restraining order. While we cannot comment on the details of the ongoing lawsuit, we believe Take-Two’s lawsuit is without merit and merely a bully tactic to obtain ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. We will vigorously defend ourselves against this publisher.”

If you want to read the full statement, check out this link on Shacknews…
http://www.shacknews.com/docs/press/20090518_dnf_3dr_.x

Again, I’m sorry if something I’ve written doesn’t make sense… I’m mostly writing out of frustration and I’m tired.

The truth is that 3D Realms’ Scott Miller has stated publicly that the developer would have accepted a $30 million buy-out of the Duke Franchise if it would have resulted in the completion of Duke Nukem Forever.  So either the employees at 3D Realms are lying or Take-Two has become a money-grubbing monster.

I believe that the reality of this matter probably stands somewhere in the middle.  In my opinion, if either company would have acted responsibly… none of this would even be an issue now.

After all the delays and all the rubbish around this entire ordeal… The tangled mess that became File Front has ended.

…

…

With the original founders buying it from Ziff Davis to keep it open.

Here’s an excerpt from the announcement.

1) The March 24th announcement about FileFront suspending its operation was NOT an early April Fool’s joke.

2) This announcement about the original founders buying back FileFront from Ziff Davis Media is also NOT an April Fool’s joke.

3) We’re making this announcement on April 1st because the deal was completed today and we want to bring all services back online immediately.

4) We would NEVER suspend FileFront as an April Fool’s joke.

5) We are happy to be back!

You can read the full announcement here.

To make one point perfectly clear from our perspective… BWL will not be moving back unless something happens with our new host.  I’ve already paid more then $50 in fees to our host for premium service and another more then $50 to my bank in releated fees.

I can’t get nearly that much back.  And I’m going to be skipping a meal or two over the next two weeks until my next paycheck arrives.

This business with FileFront was very poorly managed from the outset.  We as hosted sites had zero warning that the site would close and take us with it.  We also had zero warning that a deal was in the works that might save the old site.

I’m happy to have our new host and be able to expand our functions a little.  Fictions for other games are now more then welcome here and we will be adding at least a handful of additional forums in the gaming section for other popular games our members play.

We have long since passed the point of no return here… and I think we will be better off for it.

Be sure to post suggestions in this thread.  And also indicate if you would be interested in tracking/writing news for one of these games/subjects.  We will choose five by the end of April.  Also, let me know if you have some “feature” that you would like to write about regularly.

We’re looking to take this site a little further then it has ever gone before.  Even so, FileFront continues to offer the best free file hosting option we have.  Therefore, I will continue to use their file services for our downloads.

UPDATE:

It’s official…

I’m sorry to give you the bad news guys, but due to lack of funding, filefront and all network sites will shut down this month (march, 30). Since you are hosted on xx.hl2files.com still, back up your files right away! I’m terrible sorry guys, but even I have been restriced of access on hl2files and I am also fired. This is all suddenly. Got any questions? Email me back.

Regards,
Skyrider

I’m working on setting up a new host now.  Please click the PayPal link in the right column and donate to help with the cost.  I’ll be paying some set up fees and don’t really have the money to spare.

Even something as small as $1 would help.

__________________________________

I haven’t payed as much attention to my filefront account lately as I used to…

Tonight I realized that I forgot to set up my catch-all email in my mail client, so I prepared the needed data and… found a bunch of emails that still went to my old friendlygarg.hl2files.com address.

Among them were notices that my Disorientation 2-part video was being deleted for inactivity and that the other disorientation ziped file was also being deleted for inactivity.

I then decided to check my account and make sure that those were the only files I had lost… then I noticed a link at the top of the page.

http://farewell.filefront.com/

Filefront is shutting down.

Oh dear.

At first, I thought about March 30th being 2 days before April Fools Day… but this could just as easily be legitimate and according to some site’s I have visited… it is legitimate.

If that is the case, this could be bad news for us.

Obviously, all my downloads are hosted on FileFront.   But also… and more importantly… HL2Files is a file-front network site.  That’s right, our host might also be a part of the shut down.  Which means we may need to find a new host.

This is bad timeing as I am low on funds at the moment and would rather pay for a host then go on skipping around the web as we have so often in the past.  Cat-Life, Garg Arena, our stories and comics, forums, and even our SF Studios hosted site will be in danger.

There is a rumor that UGO may be interested in purchasing filefront… but who knows.

Stay tuned… I will be looking at hosting options and am making backups now.  Just in case.

On a side note… one point I have noticed that still makes this suspicious to me is the lack of emails.  I have received no emails regarding a shut down of the file hosting nor a webmaster email warning of a site shut down.  That seems a little odd… but the host could just be careless.

[EDIT]
As far as preparations go, I’ll try to make the transition to a new host as easy as possible.  I’ll be making use of our steam group [ http://steamcommunity.com/groups/BWL ] and our ModDB Profiles…

http://www.moddb.com/groups/bwl-development

http://www.moddb.com/mods/cat-life

http://www.moddb.com/mods/gargarena

http://www.moddb.com/groups/special-forces-source