I need your clothes, your boots and your iTunes password!

Cancelling my game of thrones preorder to opt for iTunes . No optical drive who cares? Digital rights and taking your iTunes password to the grave. 

I need your clothes your boots and your iTunes password.

Not long ago ,infact little over 2 years I recall having a long and some what heated debate in a local pub with my friend, colleague and fellow DoomRay writer mr Robert Sharl. The topic of discussion contrary to the oft most discussed pub subjects of football,women and "broken Britain" was digital downloads or hard copies?

Now I understand this is a well trodden topic of conversation, but it is well trodden because to so many of us This genuinely matters, if not in a professional manner a deeply personal manner.

I am and always will be a hoarder. From my "bagged and boarded" comic book collection to my   unnecessarily large blu ray collection, since I first completed my Star Wars Tazos Collection way back in 1995 I have been hooked to collecting and ,also thanks to said Tazos,  completely OCD about my collection 

Anyway I digress. Back to the topic in hand. during this talk with Rob I argued fervently that I would "never be converted to digital downloads entirely". Music download distribution made sense to me. I recall when I first realised it made more sense after spending 2 weeks solid hunting down a particular modest mouse album, I gave in, searched on iTunes and 2mins later was listening to my hotly sought after album in the warm comfort of my living room without having listen to the man who owns my local record shop evangelise about radio heads latest album.

However I always maintained that when it came to films and games that was a different metaphorical kettle of fish. Ive always adored limited editions. Nothing brings me greater pleasure than removing the cellophane from the latest "collectors" or as my wife lovingly entitles them the "sad bastards edition" with surgeon like precision armed with little more than a scalpel.

This however is when the Trauma begins. Take for example my special edition Battlestar Galactica box set, freshly relieved of its cellophane in the manner explained earlier, I place it lovingly on the the designated "tv box sets" shelf of my blu ray collection. These shelves are placed by the back door to my house. Now I'm not sure its out of a genuine feeling of mischief or by a phenomenon I have dubbed the Magpie effect but every one who leave via the back door be it for a cigarette or a casual kick around feels genuinely compelled to leave the back door keys on it tarnishing it's once pristine surface and leaving me aggrieved that I didn't choose different friends throughout the course of my life. 

This brings me onto digital downloads. There have been many contributing factors that have slowly but decisively converted me to digital downloads in all there glorious form. Following is my reasons as to why I have. Firstly and probably most importantly is space, or as the case may be lack thereof. Living in a two up two down Victorian house means for some shocking reason that the architect for some unexplained didn't factor in intelligent storage for many household objects such as Blu-rays, comic books, and large collections of star wars themed Lego. The lego I can do little about, however when it comes to films and comic books I have found a new and effective storage method. Its a little silver box about 9" by 9" and it called a mac mini. You see the simplicity of storing all my films, music , comics and games etc on one device is surely a more elegant, efficient and not to mention green solution. Honestly if you can tell me the last time you bought a CD that you didn't burn onto iTunes the instant you got home. I personally cant remember. My old arguments for hard copies used to be along the lines of, "it will be worth something one day" and yes in years gone by when limited runs of records or comic books where the norm perhaps one day they would have been. But alas these days nigh on every comic book is so overly supplied that the majority end up being sold a few years later for the retail price or in many cases sale price by stores across the land. this is the same for games, films and music over saturation of the market means residual value of pretty much everything you buy will plummet the instant you buy it and in the vast majority of cases continue to do so.


Also thanks to the evolution of iCloud and similar remote back up options available (Backblaze is a personal preference). You can be safe in the Knowledge that all your media files even photos are in a safe place and storage capacity of solid state or hard disk ceases to be an issue. I remember once reading a survey that asked " in a house fire what would you grab to save". a staggering 82% of people said Photographs. Now thanks to the wonders of modern technology in a house fire you can walk calmly to a window, gauge the weather conditions see if you need a raincoat or not and walk away knowing all your family photos are somewhere in California on a hard-drive  waiting for you. As a foot note if you have children or pets grab them with the arms now freed up by a lack of family photos.


Finally I have been hearing recently a lot of arguments about digital ownership. i.e if I die do my loved ones inherit my digital collections as they would hard copies. the answer is the license in most cases is personal. Meaning no, the rights are yours and not anyone else's. So on peoples death beds with there final death rattle people will now impart there itunes password to get one up on the man. Or disgruntled parents and spouses will leave there passwords out of there wills just to get the last laugh. But lets face it at times like this there are larger issues than digital music rights. 


All in all I never thought this would happen but I am not only all for digital downloads but an advocate of them. 

Drive: A violent reaction.

****Spoilers**** 

Drive was with out doubt my favourite film of 2011. Anybody who knows me will attest that I talked and remain to talk incessantly about this film for months since I first saw it. Anyway i am not here to review drive as i can do that in one sentence.

Drive review... see it...now...why are you still here?...

Have you seen it yet?

I could talk for hours about the incredible aesthetic of the film or Ryan Goslings man crush inducing performance. However the weeks and months that have superseded the release of the film the one aspect of the film I seem to here about more than any, is the violence it contains.

Over the past few weeks I have read a number of articles. However to my dismay they have focused solely on the violence contained within the film. Now I personally believe there are two types of violence in film, justified and unjustified (gratuitous). Wether violence is justified or not I feel is a question of a characters journey through the story of a film. Drive is not violent from the out set, not by any means. In fact on the contrary it first act is a slow ponderous one. We are introduced to the unnamed driver as a man of cool disposition and of strict rules. It is only in the disequilibrium of the second act that our heroes hand is forced. It is by the actions of others and Gosling need to preserve the relationship of a young family that his violent side is seen. 

The perfect example being the lift scene. Gosling and Mulligan enter the lift and Gosling actions are reactive to the fact their fellow lift occupant is a gun toting hit man. However unlike a Bond film where Gosling would now doubt cunningly steal the hitman's gun and with a hilarious quip shoot him in the chest, or a Bourne film where he would kill him with a pen or a paper clip. Gosling kills the man in the only most ordinary men would be able to. brute force and sheer aggression. In a film that had up until this moment been simmering with cool intrigue this out burst is terrifying to witness. This is how ever primal a man protecting a woman he loves. You see most men, despite what we all like to think are not trained assassin and killers. We are instinctive and this is the genuine fight or flight reaction to the situation our protagonist finds himself in. Also adding to the honesty of this scene is Mulligans reaction she does not thank him for saving her life, she walks away not saying anything she is the personification of the audience reaction. However as the film goes by she realises his action are reactive and ultimately he men are products of circumstance not vice versa. In the finale we see Mulligan clearly reflective and ultimately forgiving. This is what I ask of the viewer. Don't think of violence as good or bad, think of it contextually is it a reaction to the characters circumstance or is it in contradiction. 

But ultimately see Drive as it is absolutely incredible. If it does not sound your cup of tea then watch Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as everyone knows murder, rape and erotic asphyxiation are fine as long as its arty,in Swedish and subtitled. Oh and just so you know its original title in Swedish: Män som hater kvinnor literally means "men who hate women". Nice..."but anyway the book was better"...hypocrite

   

Journey (PS3) Review

Ok first things first. if you have a Playstation 3 stop reading this review immediately and log into PSN and down load this game as quickly as your bandwidth allows. For those unfortunate readers who are not lucky enough to own Sonys premier home console beg , rob and steal, do what you must to play this game(Alternatively go to a friends house who owns the game...thats probably a better solution).

So you've all left now and are either at a friends house or on your own console so really there is little point in me continuing. However if there are any of you left allow me to tell you why I am so evangelical about this game.

For as long as I can remember the debate has raged on as to wether video games are genuine legitimate art form. Journey lies this debate to rest by ultimatly answering the question with a resounding yes. 

Journey has no dialogue and no written narrative. There is no Complex array of slider ridden character creation screen with backstory selection and name entering. It starts in such an elegantly simply way. A cloaked figure stands alone in a vast desert. The scene is constructed of warm earthy oranges and yellows. Our androgenous protagonist is kneeling in the glistening sand they climb to there feet and we are subtly introduced the controls, simple, effective. This is now when Journey sets itself apart from its from other games as it introduces its objective system. 

The game relies on one of the most basic human instincts, Intrigue, it relies on and plays with our curiosity to drive us on. Using almost ethereal visual cues, tomb stones shattered steps or sunken temples, it encourages you to explore just beyond the next horizon. Each laboured step draws you closer to the distant light emitting  mountain. It soon becomes evident this is not just a Journey, this is a pilgrimage.

The key tool utilised by Santa Monica studios to comunicate the struggle of this unamed protagonist is the artful and genuinely breathtaking animation. When ascending a steep dune our character exerts every last iota of energy, there legs straining with every step as the terrain deformation allows for the sand to give way and crumble under their feet. Even down to the gorgeous way the charter dips their head to walk into the wind as the coarse sand skims of the peaks of dunes. One small but expertly exceeded element of the game is the way in which they keep player progression linear whilst maintaining the feeling of the nigh on infinite desert. if the player wanders to far and deviates from the path the wind picks up and howling sends the player tumbling head over heal back into the defined level. This simply implemented mechanic rids the game of invisible walls meaning the player is never snapped out from the reality of the games world.         

In terms of how the narrative is told, its hard to discuss this without giving anything away and this is a game that really needs to be experienced in order to be understood. From haunting "belly of the beast" mid section to its genuinely enlightening ending this is a masterclass in visual story telling. Subtle paths are laid before you at the commencement of each level, hinting at the path you will be required to take. Kneeling before an angel these are presented to you by a series of hieroglyphic tableaus. Possibly hinting that you are adhering to some form of prophecy. 

The game even has a expertly intergrated co-op system. Here player don't go into a match making lobby or sign in. You simply see other pilgrims on your journey the only method of communication is a series of chime sounds you can make to make each other aware of your presents. their only other function is that they can recharge your characters ability to jump. A depleting ability thats amount available is measured by the length of the characters scarf (the scarf almost acts as a boost bar). So together you are stronger in many ways but ultimately the choice of wether to work together or fly solo is your own. 

I assure you this review barely even scratches the surface but it is hard to talk of this game without spoiling the genuine wonder you will feel if you play this game. I haven't even mentioned the games stunning soundtrack or the strange abstract creatures that inhabit Journeys world.

In my humble opinion however, this is possibly the game of this console generation. No its not 150 hours long as the likes of Skyrim are. Its not got the hollywood set piece moments of Uncharted or Call of Duty. But it does however have something which I have never experienced in a computer game, it has soul, like a Nina Simone song or Rembrandt painting it speaks to part of us with which we don't ordinarily listen, Our heart. I recently suffered from a bout of depression and this game was the single best piece of therapy I could of asked for. A comment not on the negativity of the perception of the modern world that most media seems to feed on, but a comment on the struggle that is being human, of hope and faith and i promise you if you play this game you will see this is not an exaggeration, this is an observation and what i hope is the dawning of a new era, where the medium I love so dearly grows up, matures and finds a meaningful, intellectual voice.