Tag Archives: Opposable Thumbs

Man of Steel review: A surprisingly human superhuman story

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Most of Man of Steel‘s best scenes don’t have Clark being very super at all…

“Can you imagine how people would react if beings like that actually existed?”

Daily Planet editor Perry White’s question to reporter Lois Lane about half way through Man of Steel neatly encapsulates the key question that the movie tries to answer. In examining this question, the movie becomes as much a study of the mortals living with gods among them as it is about those gods and their awe-inspiring powers. By taking the focus off of the “super” and putting it on the “men,” Man of Steel effectively sets itself apart from most run-of-the-mill superhero flicks to become a thoughtful, touching, and exceedingly human story.

It takes a while for the film to begin to find its groove in these strong suits, though. First, audiences have to suffer through 20 minutes or so of plodding backstory focused on Superman’s parents and the last days of his birth planet, Krypton. While there’s a tiny bit of necessary exposition here, as a whole the opening seems like an unnecessary effort to show that super-dad Jor-El (played by actor Russel Crowe) was actually a bad-ass fighter and dragon-rider (yes, he has a tiny dragon for some reason) in addition to being a prescient scientist that predicted Krypton’s explosion.

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The failure of BioShock Infinite: Writing games like movies

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As is my unhealthy obsession, I waited impatiently for BioShock Infinite to unlock on Steam—then I played the game through in a single sitting. It took about 11 hours (on normal difficulty), though I didn’t “complete” the game in the sense of finding all the secrets it contains. I left some doors locked, and I didn’t find all the codes, but I did fully experience the game’s main draw: its story.

While many first-person shooters have a story that’s incidental at best, either because it’s barely developed and irrelevant (see early titles such as Doom and Quake) or because it’s badly written and still irrelevant (see the Call of Duty series), that’s not the case with BioShock Infinite.

You play Call of Duty to see the next spectacular special-effects-laden set piece lifted from one Hollywood blockbuster or another. BioShock Infinite doesn’t really have these set pieces. What it has is an interesting universe (a probabilistic multiverse in which you can leap between timelines), at least one compelling character (the mysterious Elizabeth who you’re sent to rescue/kidnap/protect), and a bunch of unanswered questions. The whole point of the game is to find out the answers to those questions, and that means playing it for the story.

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Ars video: The most beautiful, surprising, and sexist things at E3

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Gaming Editor Kyle Orland and I will be on our way home from this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) by the time you read this, but that doesn’t mean our coverage is over—we’ll continue to write up everything we saw at the show today and into next week.

Our videos so far this week—one after the big reveals from Sony and Microsoft, one on Nintendo’s much smaller press conference, and one on the new consoles’ input methods—have been brief conversations intended to add a little more depth to the rest of our coverage. For the final day of the show, we’ve put together a short-and-sweet highlight reel of the things that made the biggest impressions on us as we navigated the show floor. Check it out to hear about our favorite booth, the show’s most welcome surprise, and the always-disappointing sexism on display at the show.

Gaming Editor Kyle Orland and Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham recap the highlights from a week of E3. (video link)

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PS4’s used game policy isn’t “because some other company is doing something”

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Andrew Cunningham

The most dramatic moment of this year’s E3 (and any E3 for the past few years, arguably) came when Sony’s Jack Tretton took a jab at Microsoft’s game licensing policies live on the press conference stage, forcefully declaring that disc-based games would work just like they always have on the PS4. But even though Sony’s policies were marketed as a sharp contrast to Microsoft’s, Sony President of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida said the decision was not made as a direct response. In fact, it was set in stone well before any Microsoft announcement.

“We didn’t make a policy decision because some other company is doing something,” Yoshida said in a roundtable discussion attended by Ars. “It’s not that easy. Developing a system, it takes time and effort. We always planned [this]. We made this decision way back that we’re going to treat the disc games like PS3 because there are lots of people who still like the ability to share games or lend in the office library. That’s part of the way people enjoy games.”

“We expect more people will gradually shift to all-digital, but it isn’t going to happen overnight,” Yoshida continued. “There are some parts of the world that still don’t have robust Internet infrastructure. We want to do business worldwide, so it’s very important to provide people what they want.”

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Ars video: Controlling the Xbox One and PlayStation 4

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When Nintendo introduced the Wii in 2006, it helped to change the conversation about console gaming. Graphics are still a big draw for any new game box, but the way that you interact with that box has become just as important. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have taken that lesson to heart.

Now that we’ve gotten some extended hands-on time with each console’s games, Gaming Editor Kyle Orland and I discuss how controlling the new consoles is different from the old ones. I’ve also included some embedded pictures and video of the controllers and of Sony’s PlayStation Eye augmented reality demo. Enjoy!

Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham and Gaming Editor Kyle Orland recap their impressions of E3 on June 12, 2013. (video link)

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E3 in pictures: The crowds, the costumes, and our first look at the PS4

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Gaming Editor Kyle Orland and I are still in Los Angeles for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (see all of our coverage here), and while most of our attention so far has been devoted to liveblog madness—along with Sony and Microsoft’s PR battles (and gaffes)—there’s still plenty more to see.

This is my first E3, and our combined photo gallery from days one and two should give those of you who have never been to the show an idea of what it’s like to be on the floor. Highlights include the trip to Nintendo’s booth on day one and, of course, our first up-close-and-personal look at the PS4′s enclosure. For those of you interested in seeing Microsoft’s offerings, its booth largely mirrored what was available at the private game showcase we chronicled in our Day Zero gallery.

No turning back now!

The LA Convention Center on the first day of the show. Two full halls plus a gaggle of smaller meeting rooms are devoted to the show.

Andrew Cunningham

25 more images in gallery

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Hands-on with the Xbox One: A mixed start, with some interesting games

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Last night at an extremely green-tinted event in Los Angeles, Microsoft finally allowed the world to play Xbox One games for the first time. Here are some quick impressions of the games I got to try out at the event. Look for more detailed takes on other Xbox One games throughout the week.

A hearty “meh”: Ryse: Son of Rome

The very first game I ever played on the Xbox One was a pretty awful way to show off a new system. This title was originally designed as a Kinect-powered game, and it shows a bit in the highly linear, simplistic, button-mashy battles that are sprinkled with tons of quick time event style button prompts to activate brutal finishing moves. The faces on the enemies looked better than we’re used to and the smoke and fire effects in the background looked great, but the gameplay on display felt like a sub-par Xbox 360 game.

A phalanx in Ryse: Son of Rome.

A portion of the demo has you marching with a phalanx of spearmen, alternating between marching, blocking incoming arrows, and charging up to throw auto-aimed spears. While the graphics and sound of ducking behind a wall of shields were thrilling, the on-rails, simplistic gameplay did not really sell the “next generation” vision very well.

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Liveblog: Microsoft’s pre-E3 2013 press conference

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The Xbox One definitely puts the “box” in Xbox—it has none of the contours or curves of the various 360 models.
Kyle Orland

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Following the practically game-free announcement of the Xbox One a few weeks ago, Microsoft has its work cut out for it  in convincing gamers that there will be plenty of interactive entertainment for their new TV-watching box. We expect the company to talk up most if not all of those 15 “year-one exclusives” it teased at the reveal event, including eight that are supposed to be all-new franchises (and seven that are the sequels you’re already expecting). There’s an outside chance that we’ll hear price and release date information, but Microsoft waited until August of 2005 to reveal those details for the Xbox 360, so don’t hold your breath.

Microsoft won’t be neglecting the Xbox 360 either; the company has already promised a major announcement about the older system for its E3 event. Could this be another price drop? A subsidized price? A split into two new models that focus exclusively on gaming or multimedia features? You’ll know as soon as we do if you follow our liveblog coverage. The festivities start on Monday, June 10 at 9:30am PST (find out when it starts in your area).

Mon Jun 10 2013 09:30:00 GMT-0700 (PDT)

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