I have noticed that while anime sci-fi may go too far into the giant robot territory, the over-the-top weapons, starships, and robots are fun to watch. Star Wars has the same attitude, although its more of a fantasy than a sci-fi.
Science Fiction doesn't mean trying to look "realistic". But Hollywood seems obsessed with stripping away the weirdness. Star Wars aside, most sci-fi is set in the modern world, or a dreary, depressing future. Its settings are so boring, I wan't to fall asleep. They can sometimes keep me awake with explosions, but can we please have a happier science fiction?
OK, this is for the writers that have a chance to get published (this is a consumers request): Don't whimper about the weak economy, or make up BS excuses. When you find yourself trying to be topical, stop. Its tempting, but whats happening now is whats happening now, and should have nothing to do with science fiction.You'll look like a moron in twenty years, I guarantee ya.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Post-Apocalyptic
I have always liked the magical "after the ancient empire fell" worlds of Final Fantasy and other Japanese games and shows. They have beautiful forests, shining medieval style cities, and wandering monsters. COmpare to the burnt wastelands of American post-apocalyptic worlds. These barren wastelands are completely unrealistic, if you look at places hit by superweapons/toxins in the real world.
Sites where dioxin has spilled have regrown, even if it killed many animals when it spilled. Chernobyl is a forest with wolves and owls prowling overgrown schools and soccer stadiums.
Then the biggie: Hiroshima. Looking at Hiroshima today, you cannot tell it got nuked, which is probably why the Japanese understand the truth that life goes on.
OK, so nukes are not a good lifecleanser long-term. Radiation doesn't make monsters, so if you want a world with monsters and old tech, whats a writer to do? Easy, get creative with the cause. OK, a world where trench warfare stretches on huge fronts, until one side invents a new poison gas. However, this stuff reacts with another poison gas, which no one expects. The strange substance created gets into the environment, twisting animals and plants, and the resulting mess led to the modern world of nomads and cities walled to keep out toxic creatures. Kinda close to Girl Genius, though.
A sci-fi world, where reality cracking weapons are used is another way to mix up post-apocalyptic fiction. Reality crackings lets us go full magitech mode. We can have biotech knights, mutant wizards, and robots fighting alongside and against each other. I know, kinda silly, but I'm just tired of the laziness. Evil robots and nuclear war are sorta overdone, after all.
Sites where dioxin has spilled have regrown, even if it killed many animals when it spilled. Chernobyl is a forest with wolves and owls prowling overgrown schools and soccer stadiums.
Then the biggie: Hiroshima. Looking at Hiroshima today, you cannot tell it got nuked, which is probably why the Japanese understand the truth that life goes on.
OK, so nukes are not a good lifecleanser long-term. Radiation doesn't make monsters, so if you want a world with monsters and old tech, whats a writer to do? Easy, get creative with the cause. OK, a world where trench warfare stretches on huge fronts, until one side invents a new poison gas. However, this stuff reacts with another poison gas, which no one expects. The strange substance created gets into the environment, twisting animals and plants, and the resulting mess led to the modern world of nomads and cities walled to keep out toxic creatures. Kinda close to Girl Genius, though.
A sci-fi world, where reality cracking weapons are used is another way to mix up post-apocalyptic fiction. Reality crackings lets us go full magitech mode. We can have biotech knights, mutant wizards, and robots fighting alongside and against each other. I know, kinda silly, but I'm just tired of the laziness. Evil robots and nuclear war are sorta overdone, after all.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Witch Hunter Robin
Witch Hunter Robin is, so far, an excellent anime. The Japanese branch of some organization called STN gets a transfer from Italy, Robin Sena. She was raised on a convent, and has a powerful, if not always accurate, flame blast ability. She is a modest and decent main character who doesn't revert to empty tough girl rhetoric or mousy submission. The series is fairly dark, and so far reminds me of CSI with magic. A murder, or freakiness, followed by an investigation. So far, so good.
The people seem decent, even the lazy one, and I slightly dread the fact that something awful will happen to them, this being serious anime. Please note, anime newcomers, anime directors are not after infinite shows (Unlike Americans), and thus, will gleefully murder the most lovable characters if the plot calls for it. But the only way to d=find out is too watch!
The people seem decent, even the lazy one, and I slightly dread the fact that something awful will happen to them, this being serious anime. Please note, anime newcomers, anime directors are not after infinite shows (Unlike Americans), and thus, will gleefully murder the most lovable characters if the plot calls for it. But the only way to d=find out is too watch!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Weird
Why would Obama send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, then ask the Pentagon to reduce spending by 10% (55 billion)? Yet he wishes to pass a 800 billion spending plan. This guy is not even logical.
Update: Turns out to be BS. He's going to increase it by 8% instead of original 18% Army wished for. Liberals did the same thing to Bush, saying he cut programs when he merely increased them at a slower rate, or cut emission standards when he increased them (But not enough for the eco-nuts).
Update: Turns out to be BS. He's going to increase it by 8% instead of original 18% Army wished for. Liberals did the same thing to Bush, saying he cut programs when he merely increased them at a slower rate, or cut emission standards when he increased them (But not enough for the eco-nuts).
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Naruto as Horror
Naruto would be Horror if not for the power of the protagonists. We have, fer instance, the kid who has bugs living in his body. He is one of the good guys. Admittedly, he is the only really scary good one. The enemies are terrifying, and could kill Dracula for fun, and one of them would even stuff him afterwards to make a new puppet. In the original series, we have a body switching madman who wants to learn everything, and his pet freaks. The second series enemies are all as powerful, and all as insane.
Thankfully, its brightly lit, and the cute chick can break boulders with her gloved fists, so it is not Horror. Which is good, because Horror stinks.
Thankfully, its brightly lit, and the cute chick can break boulders with her gloved fists, so it is not Horror. Which is good, because Horror stinks.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Robots as the good guys
Why is it that evil robots are more prevalent in entertainment? R2-D2, Autobots and Johnny 5 are the only blatantly heroic ones I can think of. In modern American science fiction movies, robots are all going to kill us, for some odd reason. The realistic robots in Iron Man that have weird quirks and dog-like intelligence are the best treatment robots have gotten in a while.
Now, maybe I am being unfair, but Terminator, The Matrix, the horrible "I, Robot" movie adaptation, Cylons, Star Wars battledroids, and their assorted rip-offs have painted robots as psychotic killing machines. Somehow, artificial intelligence always decides to emulate Stalin, and commit mass genocide. What is cold, calculating, and logical about genocide? In reality, genocide is usually very emotional, and ridiculous. It seems kinda desperate to portray robots as having such a human failing.
Now, too be fair, I have no idea how AIs will turn out. True AI requires emotions to prioritize behavior, so perhaps they get mental disorders. But unless the makers are very sloppy, that should be kept to a minimum. Perhaps you can't program human level reasoning, so they make logical leaps and get to weird results. But I guess that wouldn't be exciting enough. It might be that humans want to see themselves triumphing over machines, and thats fair, but I wish we'd have more good robots in entertainment.
Enter the MULE. A unmanned ground vehicle designed to assist ground troops, this next gen weapon system has no AI as of yet, but one day it might. This will terrify some people, but I think it should be given a chance. Sadly, people have been so programmed to fear robots with guns, it might never get the chance to fight terrorism and save soldiers lives. But I don't think it would randomly decide to kill us all. I would like to see a similar robot in a scifi movie, and I hope the evil robot stage will pass. Transformers, for all its faults, has made money on good robots, so I hope more follow suite.
Now, maybe I am being unfair, but Terminator, The Matrix, the horrible "I, Robot" movie adaptation, Cylons, Star Wars battledroids, and their assorted rip-offs have painted robots as psychotic killing machines. Somehow, artificial intelligence always decides to emulate Stalin, and commit mass genocide. What is cold, calculating, and logical about genocide? In reality, genocide is usually very emotional, and ridiculous. It seems kinda desperate to portray robots as having such a human failing.
Now, too be fair, I have no idea how AIs will turn out. True AI requires emotions to prioritize behavior, so perhaps they get mental disorders. But unless the makers are very sloppy, that should be kept to a minimum. Perhaps you can't program human level reasoning, so they make logical leaps and get to weird results. But I guess that wouldn't be exciting enough. It might be that humans want to see themselves triumphing over machines, and thats fair, but I wish we'd have more good robots in entertainment.
Enter the MULE. A unmanned ground vehicle designed to assist ground troops, this next gen weapon system has no AI as of yet, but one day it might. This will terrify some people, but I think it should be given a chance. Sadly, people have been so programmed to fear robots with guns, it might never get the chance to fight terrorism and save soldiers lives. But I don't think it would randomly decide to kill us all. I would like to see a similar robot in a scifi movie, and I hope the evil robot stage will pass. Transformers, for all its faults, has made money on good robots, so I hope more follow suite.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Diaroma simulation
LittleBigPlanet is a great game, considering its a diaroma simulation. It uses the amazing graphics of the PS3 to replicate real world materials, fabric being the most impressive. To the basic function of making levels, they add tutorials, a wideranging story mode, and the ability to play other peoples levels. This wouldn't work unless the game was a platformer, as nearly everyone has played that sort of game. Add to this the support of their entire Sony machine, from Metal Gear Solid to Resistance, in everything from costumes to gadgets, and the creativity of bored humans, and its simple gameplay, and you have a winner.
But the diaroma part is a very important part of all this. People who would never attempt to make use of level creators in other games, and non-gamers, see the diaroma based levels, and remember old first-grade projects. The polished story levels don't look too advanced for them to create, so they go for it. It's a fair bet most people will never be as good as the developers, but I have seen levels almost as good. Other gamers will then try to replicate the best customer levels.
The end result is an infinite game, as players feed off of one anothers creativity, and the developer continues to release new items, backgrounds, and costumes. Recently, a paintball gun was added through a Metal Gear add-on, and you can be sure similar gadgets will be released. Sony has a great item on their hands, although it might not sell the console, it does give it one great reason to exist.
But the diaroma part is a very important part of all this. People who would never attempt to make use of level creators in other games, and non-gamers, see the diaroma based levels, and remember old first-grade projects. The polished story levels don't look too advanced for them to create, so they go for it. It's a fair bet most people will never be as good as the developers, but I have seen levels almost as good. Other gamers will then try to replicate the best customer levels.
The end result is an infinite game, as players feed off of one anothers creativity, and the developer continues to release new items, backgrounds, and costumes. Recently, a paintball gun was added through a Metal Gear add-on, and you can be sure similar gadgets will be released. Sony has a great item on their hands, although it might not sell the console, it does give it one great reason to exist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)