The Lair of the Monkey

Developed by Black Rock Studio, Disney Interactive Studios’ award-winning development studio in Brighton, England, Pure takes off-road action sports to a new level. Featuring vertigo-inducing massive aerial jumps and spectacular airborne tricks in photo-realistic real-world locations all over the globe, Pure delivers heart-pounding experiences unique to the genre.

“We expect Pure to set a new standard for off-road action sports that delivers adrenaline-inducing vertical experiences with spectacular aerial tricks and intense wheel-to-wheel racing,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “Pure will appeal to a wide audience based on the game’s jaw-dropping aerial tricks, breakneck racing and vast environments.”

Players start by choosing among a variety of male and female character riders. They can then either race against deft A.I. opponents or online players (up to 16-player multiplayer) in frenetic races and freestyle competitions all over the world.

“Black Rock Studio has established itself as a leading developer of racing video games and we expect to continue that heritage with the creation of Pure, our first game since becoming part of Disney Interactive Studios,” said Jason Avent, game director at Black Rock Studio. “Pure combines the best features of both extreme sports and racing to produce an extraordinary and unique experience.”

The studio continues to be advised throughout development by Wes Miller, pro rider and the founder of H-Bomb Films, known for showcasing his team’s incredible stunts. Miller has been involved with development to assure the game adheres to the sport’s culture and authenticity but still allows creative liberties.

Black Rock Studio, formerly Climax Racing, is known as a leading developer of racing games, including its critically acclaimed work on the best-selling franchises Moto GP and ATV Offroad® Fury. The studio and its products have won or been nominated for dozens of awards, including winning four IGN “Best of Show” awards at E3 2006. For more information, log on to www.purevideogame.com.

Well, this blog is about computer games so I don’t want to go and ruin it by talking about politics.  In fact, I’ve rarely ventured into the ‘a lot of politicians talk about computer games yet know nothing about them’ argument.  The reasons are myriad, not least because I was thinking of doing a politics website/blog.  Yet here we are.  This topic has just hit crossover.

For my American readers who aren’t sure what I mean, we have pretty much two parties in the UK.  The Labour party (who tend to be more left, or rather more open, less reactionary and less hard line).  We also have the Conservatives, who tend to be the opposite.  Not just because they are normally the ‘runner up’ party, but because they are, as the name suggests, rather more conservative than their Labour brethren.  Of course there are other parties but much like the US system, there tends to be just two who really have a chance.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we’ve got this prime quote over from MSN: “Fundamental social change was needed to fight back against “gangs, guns and graffiti”, he said.”

Fair enough.  I happen to believe that things have gotten a little out of hand here.  However, the idea that “Companies which make film, music videos and computer games could be subject to tighter controls to stop them influencing young people for the worse.” seems a bit of a nonsense.  Has anyone categorically proven that film, music, videos(?) and computer games are responsible for anything?  How about the idea of needing tougher sentencing for harsh crimes and better rehabilitation for criminals who would benefit?  How about providing better education and extra curricular activities for those most in need of it, i.e. those in deprived areas?

Now, far be it from me to tell Mr Cameron, or really any other MP their job.  Someone, in fact a majority, has voted them into the seat they hold in their local area.  I am however just an armchair pundit if you will - someone with an interest but not yet the drive to run for anything like a party.  However, I ask of you all though, do you really think putting tighter restrictions on entertainment is really going to fix the root causes of the problems with society?  Do you even think it will fix one thing?  I really don’t.  I think we’ll have money spent on a white paper of some sort, it’ll be bottom-drawered and finally someone will come up with a good idea.  Putting a limiter on electronic entertainment however ain’t it.  Can you name me a person who has died because of a computer game?  Well, I could name you one.  To use his name here though would be against some of my principles.  I know of the case - it wasn’t in this country though.  I bet David Cameron doesn’t.

This is the first in a new series, where I take an in-depth look at at a franchise, console or series. Silent Hill was originally released in 199 on the PSOne. Since then, we’ve had these incarnations:

1. Silent Hill (1999)
2. Silent Hill 2 (2001)
3. Silent Hill 3 (2003)
4. Silent Hill 4: The Room (2004)
5. Silent Hill: 0rigins (2007)
6. Silent Hill 5 (TBA)

There’s also been a movie, a few spin-offs, comic books and novels. That’s quite a few for a game that’s only been around for seven years. So, why has this particular gaming franchise proven so popular, as well as spawning probably the most successful (in terms of dollars and being a decent movie) game-to-film conversion ever?

The world of Silent Hill is a location in the games; a place where the protagonist in each game goes spiritually, mentally, physically or all three. On the ‘making of’, the various artists, producers and programmers suggest how the world is similar to our own, but twisted and dark. One of my all-time favourite game endings was the originals’ car crash. Seeing Harry Mason slumped at the wheel sent shivers down my spine. Harry had been lost to this strange and deviant territory. (more…)