Author Archives: Burek

About Burek

Burek (AKA Josh Bury) is a Tabletop RPG, Video Game and Board Game enthusiast. His non-gaming related interests include journalism, photography, graphic and video design, and computer technology. You can find him on Twitter as @ThrownGauntlet.

Why You Should Try DOTA 2 (and Other ARTS Games)

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The rise of the ARTS (Action Real-Time Strategy) genre has been meteoric indeed. Earlier this month, data provided by XFire showed that League of Legends had become the most played PC game in the world, with over 1.3 billion hours played and surpassing even the mighty World of Warcraft.

For many of us though, the ARTS genre remains a mystery. There is no doubt that it is popular, but many of us just haven’t had the chance to engage with it. Where did this phenomenon begin? What’s the hype all about? And, perhaps most importantly, why start playing now?

The Mod that Started a Genre

The first commonly-accepted example of a ARTS was Aeon of Strife, a custom map for StarCraft. In the map, each player controls a hero that levels up during the course of the battle.

This concept was further refined in the form of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a custom mod for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. The objective was to destroy the other team’s ancient, located in their base. Still using an RTS-style interface, each player took on the powers of a particular hero. These were based on units from Warcraft III, but the player controlled no other units–just the hero. Automated NPCs called “creeps” travelled on predestined paths toward the enemy base, and there was no base management since these “creeps” spawned automatically at set intervals. Defeating enemy computer-controlled units as well as enemy players granted XP and gold, allowing heroes to level up and purchase powerful items. The unique composition of each team and the tactical decisions made during the course of the match would determine the outcome.

The mod was intensely popular and spawned several spin-offs. One of the hallmarks of the mod from the very beginning was the emphasis placed on game balance and on keeping the game competitive. This aspect of the mod’s design would carry over to its successors and is part of what made the genre so popular.

The Genre Emerges

Demigod was the first commercially-produced standalone title in the ARTS genre when it was released in 2009, but a troubled release including bugs and server problems meant that it received mixed reception from both critics and users. In addition, while it was definitely a member of the genre, it was evident that it was trying to appear aesthetically and thematically different from DotA. It also lacked some of the highlights of DotA, like a large and varied character selection.

The first standalone game that was both a title in the genre and a spiritual successor to DotA is undoubtedly League of Legends. While Riot Games, the developer and publisher of the game, tried to redefine the genre’s name (opting to call it a MOBA, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) to move it away from its DotA heritage, the experience was undoubtedly based in the original mod.

Riot Games also managed to make the game a resounding financial success by appealing to their players’ competitive nature. Some heroes were free to play, but others required that you purchase them from the store in order to play them. Some heroes would have limited free periods, so you could see the hero in action before you purchased it. Though you could technically play League of Legends and spend nothing to do so, not many people did. Riot showed the world that the model worked and that the genre held great profit-making potential.

On the other hand, Riot’s monetization of hero selection was criticized by some players. The dedication to balance and a competitive environment that began with DotA was harder to maintain, since a player would need to spend money to get additional hero choices. In addition, some players claimed that new heroes tended to initially be (or to seem) slightly more powerful than older ones. Some theorized this was an attempt to encourage players to purchase the new hero to gain a power advantage.

Still, you can’t argue with results. The impact of League of Legends’ emergence had been felt, and other companies would answer.

The Next Wave

The next major title to be released in the genre was Heroes of Newerth, from S2 Games. The game featured a steeper learning curve and was less forgiving than League of Legends, and in some ways this was more in line with the original DotA mod. Active abilities were used less on creeps and more for harassment. Mana conservation was more important. Like the original DotA, there was no way to recall to your base outside of specific items.

The game did gain significant converts and showed that multiple games in the genre could co-exist if they were mechanically different enough. Though both games were undoubtedly based on DotA, they each had a niche: HoN was trying to cater to the more competitive, original DotA audience while LoL had expanded the genre and pushed it to the forefront.

Heroes of Newerth did eventually convert to a free to play model, as well–however, unlike League of Legends, the purchasable items are now mostly cosmetic and S2 has announced that in the future no restrictions will be placed on hero selection (besides early access to the hero).

Dota 2 Arrives

Dota 2, produced by Valve Corporation in association with IceFrog (one of DotA’s creators), shows promise as the next entry in the ARTS genre. As with so many of their games (see: Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Portal), Valve hired the talent and worked with them to make sure they got the game that they wanted. They also went with Dota 2 as opposed to “DotA 2”, as they believe that Dota has become its own concept.

It is currently in beta, so while you can’t guarantee a free invite, you can guarantee yourself a paid one. Basically, if you buy an invite to the game via Steam, you’re paying for a bunch of cosmetic items for heroes in the game. The game is currently slated to be free to play, and hopefully will release this year, so if you wait until it is released generally you won’t have to pay anything to begin playing. You can sign up for a chance at beta access here.

And what a game it is!

Valve’s well-known talent for polish takes the ARTS experience to a whole new level. The spectating system is easy to use and allows you to learn the game by watching others play. There is a full in-game encyclopedia of all heroes and items available. It is clear to me that Valve has designed this game to be playable and user-friendly from the moment the floodgates are opened and it becomes publicly available. High-profile tournaments are held and advertised within the client itself, on the main page. The main page itself is beautiful and easy to navigate and the UI generally is just a thing of beauty. And, as a kicker, all the heroes are free.

That’s right, all of them. The purchasable items in the Store are cosmetic or fun items. Think of it much like the inventory system in TF2, except that the items have no additional effects. Valve has continued their crate metagame, wherein you can pay for a key in the Store to unbox a crate containing a random item that you may sometimes receive after a game. There are also extremely entertaining Announcer Packs, which change the default announcer’s voice to a different one. Again though, these are entirely optional.

I’ll get this out of the way right now: Dota 2, as a game, is less forgiving than League of Legends. The difficulty and technicality of the gameplay is much more in line with the original DotA than with LoL. There are critical moments in the game like during early-game gank attempts, or during mid- to late-game team fights that you’ll have trouble identifying at first. If this is your first ARTS, you will probably suck badly in your first few games.

I know I did, and I still do.

There is some learning to do if you’re new to the genre. Initially, you’ll probably struggle with some of the following: risk management, which items to purchase, how much punishment you can take, and what the other heroes around you are capable of.

That may sound like a lot, and it is, but these things come with experience, so you shouldn’t be discouraged if you aren’t an instant professional. What I recommend is finding a group of friendly people to help you along. Unfortunately, these types of games aren’t known for friendly, welcoming teammates when queuing for random games.

If you don’t have friends to play with, look for a regular group or just watch some games for a while. If you want to get used to a particular hero, you can play a practice game against bots. The bot AI in this game is actually pretty decent, too.

Having said that, if you can push past the initial frustration, there is incredibly deep gameplay waiting for you on the other side. Communication, coordination, and proper use of abilities are crucial to success. Again, I confess to be terrible at the game still, but I am starting to see the little strategies and tactics that can make a difference. The detail-oriented gamer in me squeals with glee when I see these in action.

I really think Valve’s model and their beautiful, user-friendly client are the future of this genre. World Cyber Games thinks so too, replacing League of Legends with Dota 2 in this year’s tournament. The game is amazing, and for all the reasons listed above, you should check it out. If the initial $30 for an invite and the aforementioned cosmetic items is too prohibitive, you can always wait until the floodgates open later this year.

How do you feel about ARTS games, or League of Legends or Dota 2 specifically? Let me know in the comments!

 

Objection! Girls Can Be Geeks, Too!

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Joe Peacock really ruffles my feathers. You may have already had the misfortune of reading Peacock’s newest tirade against what he calls “geek posers”. This newest installment is specifically against those geeks who just happen to be female. In it, he claims that attractive girls who cosplay or wear “geeky” attire at Cons are “poachers.” He claims these poachers are women who resort to wearing skimpy outfits because they are incapable of finding companionship outside of the legions of mouth-breathing, desperate nerds. The outfits, according to Peacock, supposedly make these women feel better about themselves and impress the basement-dwellers at the Cons.

Wait, back up. How exactly can he make this argument, anyways?

The Clubhouse

Let’s start with what we know about Joe Peacock’s stance on the matter generally. Joe has already made his views clear on how he believes the geek community should be regulated in previous articles. Mr. Peacock has this belief that, if you now become interested in the geek community or its myriad topics, you must be a “poser”.  For Peacock, this is doubly-true if you are an attractive woman, since you’re here just to boost your self-esteem (more on this later).

See, according to Joe Peacock, if you weren’t in the clubhouse already, you must only be in it now for the popularity contest, because you had ample opportunity to get in before it became cool, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to do it.

I contend that this is just factually incorrect. Geeky pursuits of all varieties have had varying (but mostly low) levels of public exposure for a long time, and much of it has been negative. Sure, people outside the “inner circle” knew about these pursuits–but were they actually exposed to them?

Let’s also not forget that everyone has to come to this community somehow. I am lucky in that my Dad made me watch Star Wars as soon as I was old enough to understand the plot, but that doesn’t make me a better geek than someone who watches Star Wars for the first time today and throws themselves into it–it just makes me an older geek. Why is it less legitimate for someone to come to enjoy geeky pursuits now?

The insistence of people like Joe Peacock on holding aloft their geek credentials like some kind of rallying point is troubling. When did this community become a clubhouse, anyways? We should be welcoming new minds and hearts to our geeky pursuits of choice, not discounting them based on timing or gender, as Joe would have us do.

We can’t exclude people based on their gender, physical appearance, or their relatively new arrival to the community. What we should be doing is encouraging new geeks, not trying to shut them out of our clubhouse. Joe does state that he is willing to teach the “posers”, and I believe that what we’re seeing from him is likely a genuine love for “geek culture”, or whatever you want to call it. He states:

“‘Geek’ is what happens when passion overrides your need to be accepted or fit in. It’s loving something so much that you throw yourself wholeheartedly into it.”

This is an interesting (if somewhat poetic) description. The sad part is that Joe feels that he is able to both define the parameters as to what constitutes a “real” geek and also to decide who fits this description ahead of time, thus regulating the whole community. The argument he presents is basically “if you’re not as passionate as me, you must not be a real geek.”

The Poachers

Specifically, he shows us his lurking fear of geek girls.

I give Peacock credit for identifying the entertainment industry’s increasingly common attempts to reach the geek demographic, but this fact does not an argument make (or at least not this one). Is the entertainment industry trying to introduce more geek-friendly programming and icons (including female icons)? Sure they are: they see it can make them money. Love it or hate it, that’s how capitalism works.

But Peacock takes this and runs too far with it. Does this mean that the attractive girl in the Cammy outfit is only at the Con because she has low self-esteem and wants to be idolized by nerds? No, that is a leap even Mario would have trouble making.

Yet here Joe finds himself:

“I get sick of wannabes who couldn’t make it as car show eye candy slapping on a Batman shirt and strutting around comic book conventions instead.

I’m talking about an attention addict trying to satisfy her ego and feel pretty by infiltrating a community to seek the attention of guys she wouldn’t give the time of day on the street.”

Joe tries to soften this blow by stating beforehand that he knows beautiful geek girls who are “bona fide geeks.” That’s great Joe, really great. Couldn’t you consider that the girls you dismiss offhandedly as being “attention addicts” could also be legitimate geeks? Why is that so difficult for you to believe, and what gives you the right to act as ultimate arbiter over the status of any geek girl you see at a Con that you don’t personally know?

Why does anyone have to prove anything to you?

I am not a champion of the cosplay community, so I allow for the possibility that this kind of person could exist. Even so, you cannot pre-judge someone based solely on their appearance. Even if you positively ascertained that someone is a “poacher” by talking with them (again, this is a stretch and no one is obligated to prove anything to you), wouldn’t it be better to try to show them the joy that is our hobby rather than kick them to the curb? And ultimately, even if they were one of these mythical “poachers”, what harm have they done to you? Matt Dukes (@direflail) of Critical Hits echoes my sentiments on Twitter:

Joe does betray some of his feelings on the topic by using the word “Infiltrating,” though. He seemingly views geek girls as invaders or outsiders. What damage they are doing to him, or even to the community at large, is not elaborated upon with any amount of clarity:

“They’re poachers. They’re a pox on our culture. As a guy, I find it repugnant that, due to my interests in comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and role playing games, video games and toys, I am supposed to feel honored that a pretty girl is in my presence. It’s insulting.”

I can’t speak for Joe or anyone else, but not once have I ever been at a Con where an attractive woman in a costume walked up to me and demanded that I feel honored in her presence. Of course, no one is actually insulting Joe–he’s just threatened or maybe confused by the fact that an attractive woman at a Con might actually enjoy the same things as him. I don’t know why this is difficult for him to believe. Anyone can be a geek.

Perhaps even more disturbing is that Joe equates these women with Olivia Munn immediately afterwards, claiming they have no investment in the culture. Reality check: regardless of your personal thoughts or feelings on Olivia Munn, she was being paid by organizations with a vested interest in expanding the types of viewers they could attract. You can argue whatever you want about Olivia Munn, but an attractive woman cosplaying at a Con does not have anything in common with her besides her gender, as far as you know.

And I can’t help but feel that this is part of Joe’s real issue.

Though he gives props to Felicia Day and allows for the existence of “real” attractive geek girls, it seems like he is unwilling to implement these beliefs at the ground level. To him, these new attractive geek girls are poachers, until proven otherwise. He’s already counted them out. But then, he ironically goes on to claim that he is not the one objectifying women:

“However, you “6 of 9s” out there? You’re just gross. There’s an entire contingent of guys in geekdom who absolutely love you, because inside, they’re 13 year old boys who like to objectify women and see them as nothing more than butts and a pair of boobs to be leered at. Have fun with them, and don’t be shocked when they send you XBox Live messages with ASCII penises.

Those of us who actually like substance? We’ll be over here celebrating great comics, great games, great art, great movies and great television, because we’re actually attracted to a completely different body part: the brain.”

Honestly, it was a shame that this section was left until the end of Joe’s piece, because if he had put this at the beginning of the post, it would have been better for everyone involved. Joe has excluded these women and reduced them to nothing but “butts and boobs” by dismissing them as poachers without allowing them the possibility to just be attractive geeks. Perhaps my favourite and most telling reply to the article came via Twitter, from Felicia Day (@feliciaday):

Inclusivity is what the geek community needs, and what will make the community a stronger and better place to share all our geeky joys. Any man or woman can be a geek. No one person has sufficient geek cred to pretend like they get to decide that.

Unfortunately, inclusivity is the one thing that Joe–and people like him–are not willing to compromise on. They’re too busy deciding who the “real” geeks are.

Have something to say about the state of modern geekdom? Sound off in the comments!

Batstravaganza! – What does it mean to be the Dark Knight?

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In my previous Batstravaganza article, I discussed how the “Dark Age of Comics” changed both Batman and the genre of superheroes forever. The change was one of themes, but also one of aesthetics. In this article, I’m going to look specifically at the Batman of the Christopher Nolan movie trilogy: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises. Much of this commentary is applicable to other iterations of Batman including the comics, but I’ll focus specifically on examples from the first two films. As such, there are no spoilers from The Dark Knight Rises, but if you haven’t seen the first two films you may want to do that before reading.

 

What makes Batman the Dark Knight?

The visual connection to bats and use of dark shades may be an obvious guess, but really these are just aesthetic elements to the character. Sure, you can point to these, but that isn’t what being the Dark Knight really means, it’s just a visual expression of the fact that Batman has based his visual appearance off of bats, which happen to be creatures of the night.

The visual element is not completely unimportant, though. In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne explains why he chose bats:

Alfred: Why bats, Master Wayne?
Bruce Wayne: Bats frighten me. It’s time my enemies shared my dread.

Batman, as an idea, begins as a frightening concept. Bruce Wayne specifically seeks out an image that will inspire fear in his enemies. However, Chris Nolan does a good job of letting this idea evolve over the course of the movies. Originally, Bruce Wayne seems a lot more optimistic about what his alter-ego will represent:

Bruce Wayne: I’m going to show the people of Gotham that the city doesn’t belong to the criminals and the corrupt. People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can’t do this as Bruce Wayne. A man is just flesh and blood and can be ignored or destroyed. But as a symbol… as a symbol, I can be incorruptible, everlasting.

The interesting thing about this passage is the “incorruptible” part of it. True, a symbol could have serious potential when it comes to inspiring the city. But really I think we’re seeing foreshadowing from Nolan here–After Batman Begins, The Dark Knight looks very closely at what it actually means to be Batman and finds that Batman really has to step outside the laws to be the Dark Knight he was intended to be. The Dark Knight also shows us that sometimes the right thing to do is to become, at least in the public’s eye, the villain (more in this later).

Batman’s willingness to break laws is highlighted in the interaction and contrast between Batman and the District Attorney Harvey Dent (referred to intentionally as a “White Knight” a couple times in the film). When Lau, a Chinese criminal, escapes to Hong Kong, Dent can’t do anything about it. There is no way that China will extradite him to the United States, so all legal avenues are out of the question. Batman on the other hand has no compunctions whatsoever about going after him on his home turf.

This contrast remains throughout The Dark Knight until, ultimately, Harvey Dent is finally broken by his girlfriend Rachel Dawes being brought into the Joker’s city-wide conflict. Dent threatens one of the Joker’s men at gunpoint and threatens to kill him, but this is witnessed and interrupted by Batman, who scolds him for his actions:

Dent is shivering with frustration.

Harvey Dent: The Joker killed Gordon- and, and Loeb. He’s going to kill Rachel…

Batman: You’re the symbol of hope that I could never be. Your stand against organized crime is the first legitimate ray of light in Gotham for decades. If anyone saw this, everything would be undone- all the criminals you got off the streets would be released.

Batman knows that though his vigilante style has a place and a purpose, people want to believe in institutions and the rule of law. If Dent is discredited, the progress he’s made on the streets will become worthless.

To me, that’s really the essence of what being the Dark Knight is: the ability and willingness to step outside the law and do the right thing when needed so that traditional law sources can maintain their credibility and purity. He’s doing the hard things so that the police don’t have to.

Batman ends up making a very serious sacrifice at the end of The Dark Knight as well, sacrificing his own image for that of Harvey Dent, who went on a killing spree after the loss of Rachel at the Joker’s hands and is ultimately killed when he is thrown from a building. Batman accepts responsibility for the killings and becomes a hunted man. This is foreshadowed earlier in the film in a discussion between Alfred and Bruce Wayne:

Bruce Wayne: People are dying. What would you have me do?

Alfred Pennyworth: Endure. You can be the outcast. You can make the choice that no one else will face – the right choice. Gotham needs you.

 

Why is the Dark Knight an important concept?

So we’ve established that the essence of the Dark Knight is that he can work outside the law when needed and can make choices that traditional law enforcement cannot consider as legitimate. He respects and believes in the mandate of the police but believes there are times when the police can’t handle the situation properly. In addition, the Dark Knight can be the “fall guy” when traditional institutions fail to act appropriately and can be the outcast. The Dark Knight is intentionally a frightening symbol–he is using fear as a weapon against crime.

When you think about it, this is pretty different from a lot of other superhero roles. A lot of heroes take on what is basically a straight policing role or are drawn into greater, catastrophic conflicts. But Batman, as the Dark Knight, takes on a “parallel structure” to the Police Department and fights criminals at their own level. Criminals are afraid of him precisely because he refuses to follow the rules of the long-fought war against crime:

The Joker: Where do we begin? A year ago, these cops and lawyers wouldn’t dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened?

Gamble: So what are you proposing?

The Joker: It’s simple: Kill the Batman.

The other side of the coin is that Batman is not just up against standard, run-of-the-mill criminals. In The Dark Knight he faces the Joker, a crazed anarchist who literally describes himself as an “agent of chaos”. Batman is uniquely suited to deal with criminals like the Joker. He sees the inner workings of Joker’s modus operandi because he is used to working on the other side of the fence. He can make moves that the police department simply won’t. And, though Batman’s frightening persona seems to have little to no effect on the Joker, Batman’s insight into his mind (as well as some well-placed faith in the people of Gotham) are enough to get the job done.

In the final scene with the Joker in The Dark Knight, for example, Batman determines that the hostages in the building have been forced to wear clown masks and have guns taped to their hands. The police don’t anticipate this, and Batman has no way to communicate this to their snipers and SWAT teams–instead, he engages them hand-to-hand to stop them from killing the hostages.

Imagine if Batman hadn’t been there. Hostages sniped, SWAT teams ambushed by people dressed like hostages… not pretty. Yet more grist for the Joker’s chaos mills.

 

The Dark Knight Falls (?)

Another reason that the idea of a Dark Knight is important is that it brings up a compelling question about justice. While it is easy to argue in favour of Batman’s actions in the films (he is, after all, a hero), his style of justice becomes much more controversial in real life.

There have been numerous times in history (some of them very dark) where vigilantism become commonplace and was tolerated (or even supported) by governments because it brought them some kind of secondary benefit. These organizations, too, built “parallel structures” to existing institutions in order to integrate themselves into the greater socio-economic structures of their times. And while their actions were often well-received by the population at large at that time, they later went on to become sinister organizations because too much trust was placed in their intentions until it was far too late to do anything about it.

Today, few people would argue that what happened in Italy in the summer of 1920 was handled properly. The government allowed the National Fascist Party essentially free reign to destroy workers’ organizations and their members. But, at the time, many people viewed this as necessary. The economy appeared to be almost completely in the hands of socialists, and without intervention a general economic collapse was feared. Add to this that the Fascist platform in Italy did not seem all that sinister at the time: they advocated for an eight-hour workday, female suffrage and a minimum wage. The people and the government were mostly happy for the intervention of Mussolini’s bruisers. By the end, they wouldn’t be.

The only point I’m trying to make here is that when people take justice into their own hands, it often turns out badly–especially when they have something to gain from doling out said justice.

That Bruce Wayne, with his own self-appointed Dark Knight persona, is able to make huge personal sacrifices and save the day (in one way or another) is a testament to the fact that he is a hero. He already has personal wealth and fame, he doesn’t need or want Batman to bring him that. He is bringing justice for its own sake, not for personal gain. His selflessness is one of the things that allows him to operate so effectively as the Dark Knight.

Rise

Hopefully I’ve given you some food for thought before you see the conclusion to Nolan’s take on Batman. I can’t wait to see what kind of horrible choices he is forced to make to protect the people of Gotham against one of my favorite Batman villains in The Dark Knight Rises. I had a lot of fun writing this article–feel free to leave me your own thoughts on what the Dark Knight means to you.

Batstravaganza! – A Primer on Batman and the Dark Age of Superheroes

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Today’s Batman is a dark, somewhat-brooding character that is faced with morally ambiguous decisions and has his ethical structure continuously tested. It is easy to forget that it wasn’t always this way, especially if your experience with Batman (or even superheroes in general) doesn’t extend past the most recent films.

See, Batman was one of numerous heroes who underwent a significant change in image during what has been called “The Dark Age of Comic Books”. And while the Batman of the comics of today may have moved slightly away from the grittier feel of the late eighties and early nineties, the Batman movies (and, one might argue, superhero movies generally) have mostly stayed there. More on that later. For now: how did this happen? How did Batman go from Adam West to Christian Bale?

The Dark Age Begins

Batman’s transformation and the dark metamorphosis of comic book heroes generally started in 1986, with the release of The Dark Knight Returns. In it, Frank Miller takes a harder and frankly darker look at Batman.


In The Dark Knight Returns, Bruce Wayne is 55, having spent the last 10 years drowning his guilt from the death of the last Robin at the bottom of numerous bottles. He is ultimately convinced to bring Batman out of retirement by a series of events that threatens Gotham.

The art style held nothing back, showing violence in more graphic detail than before, and dealt with themes that had hitherto been ignored by superhero fiction. Batman was re-cast, and was less the white-bread hero he had been previously. Although the Adam West Batman of the 60s TV show was made to be intentionally campy, this Frank Miller miniseries represented a serious change to the Batman of the comics as well. Batman was a flawed human being faced with terrible events and ethical gray areas.

The other watershed graphic novel released around the same time was Watchmen which, in addition to the graphic violence, depicted a sexual assault. You could argue that the “heroes” in Watchmen have good intentions, but all of them are heavily flawed people facing real ethical problems and Alan Moore pulls no punches regarding the often-brutal violence that takes place.

This tone in comics continued well into the nineties. Both Marvel and DC rushed to make changes to existing heroes. In some cases this fit, in others it became truly bizarre. The Dark Knight Returns was a good story that put Batman into a dark situation, and he reacted and developed accordingly. But a lot of the changes started with a “hero-first” approach, where it was obvious that the intent was to first redesign the hero to be darker, rather than letting the circumstances of the narrative do that. For example, Aquaman:


His hand is eaten by piranhas and replaced with a hook. He grows a suitably-gross hobo beard.

Yeah.

The Legacy of the Dark Age

Love them or not, the comic books and graphic novels of the late eighties and early nineties were greatly influenced by “The Dark Age.” Spawn and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman are products of this period, and several heroes received succesful and well-received mature reboots during this period of time including Animal Man and Doom Patrol. Iconic characters like Carnage were introduced, and prior “dark” villains like Venom were given their own comic series.

Depending on your viewpoint, this period of time either ended back in the mid- to late-nineties, or it never did. I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. The tendency to make things graphic for the sake of making them graphic has mostly gone away in mainstream comics, and most of them are now normally at least readable by younger readers (which was very much not true for much of the Dark Age).

However, it is alive and well in superhero films. Chris Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are good examples of the use of darker themes. The Watchmen film was also fairly well-received, and as one of the graphic novels that started it all, the film was suitably dark. The Dark Knight Rises shows no signs of deviating from this style, and if the possible plotlines with Bane are any indication it could indeed be even darker.

Other films have tried to riff on this visual theme, but much like in the comics, it was often poorly received. Superman Returns decided to make Clark Kent appear to be a desperate stalker of Lois Lane, who has already moved on and wants nothing to do with him. Perhaps the worst example of this is Spiderman 3, which somehow confused a dark and flawed character faced with moral ambiguity with an angsty teenager with emo hair.

What about Batman?

We’ve looked a bit at the Dark Age as a phenomenon, but what about Batman? We know The Dark Knight Returns was one of the works that started it all, but what did this actually mean for Batman in a visual sense?

Check out this image for an example.

Specifically, let’s look at the difference between the 1970-1980 “Bronze Age” Batman characters and the 1986-1988 Alan Moore and Frank Miller era characters:


As we discussed earlier, 1986 was the beginning of the Dark Age. I think this image speaks for itself–you can see how much darker the characters became during this period. Miller’s influence extends, in some form or another, to today’s visuals. You can see that this is the beginning of the Batman you know today in the films, continuing all the way to today’s Batman as interpreted by Chris Nolan. Though the change originated in comics, it inevitably carried over to film depictions. Even the Tim Burton depiction of Batman is significantly darker than the Batman of the Bronze Age period.

So when you’re sitting in the theatre this weekend and you hear the growly Batman voice again for the first time, you’ll know how we went from Adam West to Christian Bale.

Mobile Gaming Review: “Dungeon Village”

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Mobile gaming is a steadily-growing market. An estimated 50.4% of Americans (as of March) now own a smartphone. But I’ll be honest–when the whole discussion on mobile gaming started, I wondered whether or not it would ever really appeal to me and to gamers like me. Sure, Facebook had shown that social and casual games could be successful for the population at large. My concern was whether or not there would there be games for those who counted themselves as gamers, or whether we’d just be stuck emulating old SNES games.

Gradually though, I saw that the game selection could indeed cater to “gamers”. While there are of course many games designed for a more casual market, we have seen solid products aimed at the more traditional gaming crowd. And perhaps it is little wonder that one of my new favourites was produced where so many of the favourite games from my childhood were: Japan.

Dungeon Village (iOS $3.99, Android $4.99) takes the typical Fantasy RPG formula and turns it on its head. No longer are you the brave adventurer heading into dungeons: instead, it is a town simulation, and you play the guy who runs the town. You offer quests, sell magical items, and eventually (if you’re doing your job properly) host the homes of adventurers. The game itself is not a massive departure from other Kairosoft games in terms of structure or art (you may already be familiar with the first major release from Kairosoft, Game Dev Story).

They definitely are not trying to rewrite the book here, but the formula works and is fun to play. Your adventurers level up and you can spend money to upgrade their equipment or gift them items that they find in dungeons. They also have cheeky names that are references to famous RPG or literary heroes. Clown Stripe and Gilly Gamesh were both pretty amusing.

The town itself is also of great importance, though. Your heroes need facilities to buy weapons and armor, and an Inn (obviously). Later, you can gain access to more advanced buildings like restaurants and combat training areas. These facilities will boost your adventurers’ stats, but they also increase their satisfaction with your town, making them more likely to choose to settle down. Adventurers living in your town generate tax revenue at the end of the year, so keeping them in your town is a good goal to have.

As your town grows in popularity, you’ll find more and more adventurers lining up to defend it. Time to hand out those powerful magical artifacts to complete strangers and pay them to defend your lands and enter strange caves!

The game uses the tried-and-true pixelated graphics from previous Kairosoft titles. I personally love this art style, and as someone who has played through Final Fantasy VI more times than I’d care to admit I am definitely used to it. It fits the genre and feel of the game very well. There’s a fairly good variety of sprites, with different enemy types popping up steadily throughout the game.

The music is repetitive and you will turn it off almost immediately, but that’s essentially par for the course with Kairosoft titles. I recommend cooking up a playlist on YouTube with all your favourite RPG soundtracks and just running that in the background.

As with most Kairosoft titles, you get some excellent first value for your first playthrough, but secondary playthroughs may not be as interesting. Still, for $5 you get your money’s worth in one go, especially if you’re already a fan of the RPG genre. Make no mistake, this game is a gamer’s game. Not only would many of the references be lost on players who are not fans of the genre, but the concept of the game itself is probably not very appealing to them.

I give Dungeon Village a solid 4 out of 5. If it had better replay value and adjustable difficulty levels, I’d bump it to a 4.5. The lack of a decent soundtrack doesn’t really bother me since this is largely something that mobile gaming has yet to anyways.

Have you played Dungeon Village or other Kairosoft titles? Let me know in the comments!