Burke's Joystick

Can you smell the liberty in the air?  Isn't it wonderful!  The 18 trillion dollar, liberty destroying behemoth that is the American federal government is shut down (really, slowed down ), and liberty is prospering!  Woohoo! One of the things I have found fascinating about this most recent shut/slowdown is how the internet has basically been having a ball with it.  As that anti-Big Government "Grumpy Cat" meme (above) demonstrates, contrary to all the inside the beltway doom & gloomers, most Americans are finding this political deadlock to be less of an opportunity for fear and more of an opportunity for humor.  Good for them!  Just like the dreaded "sequestration cuts" proved to be much ado about nothing, so has this "shutdown" proved to be a lot of fear-mongering nonsense.  American's are learning that the chattering classes inside DC live in a very different world from most Americans.  While we fear not being able to put food on the ...

One of the things I have tried to show via this blog is how modern video games, like a good book or a good movie, can shed light on geopolitical events.  This is not that startling: military and political scientists have been using "games theory" for a very long time to simulate the world of realpolitik.   Games are very good at this because they can smartly abstract the salient military and political principles that are operative in our world, thereby making them easier to digest.  So, for example, in my last post I showed how DICE's first-person shooter Battlefield 3 captures an essentially correct vision of high-intensity warfare in the Persian Gulf, making it a game I believe every politician should play at least once before glibly voting for another Gulf war (especially in light of the fact that a mere 21.8% of congress have actual military experience).  In the specifics, it might not come close to real combat, but it does capture the fundamental...

Did you hear?!?  American troops have engaged Russian forces in combat in Syria!  It's true!  Here's the footage: Darn intro text got cut off!  I am still not good at video editing! Okay, okay, that wasn't actual combat footage, but footage from one of my recent sessions in DICE's Battlefield 3, a first person shooter that revolves around American and Russian troops fighting it out in the Middle East.   So that wasn't real...but I find it a strangely compelling vision of just what a larger international conflict might look like in Syria.

Something unexpected happened the other day:  I was watching the following stage demo for the yet to be released Saints Row 4 when a tear came unbidden to my eye.  Why?  Because it reminded me of when this great nation actually had a manly president.  Check it out: " You think you could *$@! with my country?!?  This one is for Uncle Sam!"    Now that is a take charge and take names president!  Unfortunately, we are currently saddled with this guy instead: Barak Barry Hussein Soetoro Soebarkah Obama...if that is your real name Thanks a lot, effeminate America. Could you imagine what would happen if aliens attacked during Obama's presidency?

It's all going down the drain. That's the best way I can describe what is happening to my beloved hobby of gaming.  Right down the drain. I guess it is is apropos seeing that the same thing is happening to this great nation of ours.   Republican, Democrat, console dev, or PC dev...it doesn't matter.  It seems everyone is content to watch the train wreck happen rather than do something about it. Hence, the reason why I haven't written in a long while.  It's not that I didn't want to write, it is just that there has been absolutely nothing to write about.  Even my leftist opponents in the gaming press have run out of things to talk about - don't blame 'em, after all how can to inject militant feminism into a platformer??? Gaming, it would seem, is dying. Now, why would I say that?

Well, Memorial Day is almost here, but you wouldn't know it around these parts seeing how unseasonably cool it is!  So much for global warmi...er, "climate change". With that in mind, I guess it isn't out of the equation that I am going to be spending less time grilling and more time gaming.  But what type of gaming is suitable for a national holiday? Memorial Day is all about remembering the valorous fallen who have given " the last full measure of devotion " while defending this nation throughout its glorious history.  Well, that is what most of us understand Memorial Day to be about, but apparently not President Obama who seems to think Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was a documentary....

No matter how hard I try to keep this blog updated, it seems like life is determined to side-rail me.  First, I had that family emergency that dominated September and most of October, and then my area gets hit with a possible candidate for Storm of the Century!  But I must persevere, for in the words of the great Catholic G.K. Chesterton: "An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."  Having quoted that, Hurricane Sandy was certainly more than an "incovenience" (does that make it an epic adventure for the optimist?  Am I now Bilbo Baggins?).  This storm blew through my community like an iron fist, toppling countless trees, smashing roofs, smashing cars, and, of course, destroying the electrical grid. Speaking of which:  for all of you weekend survivalists - you know, the ones who like to pretend they are starring in their own episode of The Walking Dead - being with...

Still trying to get caught up with this blog after a trying month and a half.... One bit of old business concerns the results of the last poll I conducted.  If you recall, the question was: If Mitt Romney was a character from a video game, which character would he be? The people have spoken!  The winner, with 66% of the vote, is....

  I missed so much over the past month.  Sorry about that.  However, I did come across two things that have been stuck in my craw and I just need to address.  First, this guy: Yeah...Glenn Beck.  I have a love/hate relationship with this guy.  On the good side, Beck did yeoman work on his (alas, appropriately) short-lived show by bringing the wisdom of the Founding Fathers to life like no one has on television in a long, long time.  On the bad side, Beck fell victim to Bill O'Reilly-itis (the demagogue O'Reilly being his mentor at FOX News, of course) and quickly developed such a huge ego that he brashly took credit for everything good that occurred in this nation's political life since the start of his television show, including the rise of the Tea Party, the rejection of Obama, and the re-discovery of America's brilliant founding principles. Nonetheless, I still feel compelled to defend Beck for no other reason that the Left hates him...

As I watched (suffered through?) the Democrat National Convention, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't watching a gathering of people expecting a November victory as much as I was watching what is sometimes referred to as an "Irish Wake" - that is, a raucous celebration during a time of mourning.  As with the biblical amalgamation "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", I had the distinct impression of people forcing themselves to be happy on the eve of a crushing defeat.  This feeling was only reinforced when there was that whole platform controversy that resulted in the following awkward moment for the party:

The above image is one I concocted for the 2008 Democrat National Convention.  At the time I wrote: I was going to write a blog entry on all the shenanigans going on at the DNC Convention. You know, the bald-faced lies; the radicalism; the Marxist rhetoric; the vicious verbal (and almost physical) assaults on some FOX News correspondents and conservative columnists; the consistent portrayal of America in the worst possible light by leftist demagogues; the Obama cult of personality; the Clinton cult of personality… well, you get the idea. But in keeping with the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, I decided just to post this pic.... Turns out I was right then.  Unfortunately, it looks like I am going to be right again, judging by the conga line of freaks (as The Great One would say) who are going to be headlining 2012's convention.  What has become of the party of Truman? In other news....

The results are in for Burke's Joystick first official poll!  If you recall, the poll question was: If  Barack Obama was a character from a video game, which character would he be?  The choices were: Pac Man Capt. John Soap MacTavish from Call of Duty John Henry Eden from Fallout 3 Jim Raynor from Starcraft Kane from Command and Conquer Gordon Freeman from Half-life Arcturus Mengsk from Starcraft Commander Shepard from Mass Effect Vladimir Makarov from Call of Duty The people have spoken!  The result:  Arcturus Mengsk from Starcraft! This is a wise choice.  Truth is, the political rhetoric of Arcturus Mengsk, versus the latter reality, are quite similar to what we have experienced from Barack Obama.  

"This week Vice President Joe Biden spoke at a senior center in Iowa. Which explains why the seniors were like, 'Is this Hell?'" –Jimmy Fallon   Poor Joe Biden.  Personally, I think our VP is a rather nice fella.  Unfortunately, he just isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.  We knew this long before he was ever VP - I mean, he was caught plagiarizing time and again.  Then there are all those wonderful gaffes caught on film: And liberals like to make fun of Palin.  Wow.   Well, ol' Joe did it again with this incredibly racist statement a few days ago: Remember when Bill Clinton complained that Team Obama "played the race card" on him?   Well, it looks like they were planning on going back to that well in their desperation to talk about anything but Obama's abysmal record.  Unfortunately for them, this time they went too far and needed to put Joe back in the attic .  Now, what has this got to do...

Tomorrow looks to be a fun day as the long expected Beta 4 for Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is due out.  I know what you are thinking:  isn't that the sequel to 2010's biggest gaming flop?  Well, not exactly.  To be exact, Fallen Enchantress is the ambitious stand alone expansion to Elemental:War of Magic.  That is, it aspires to become the game we all hoped EWOM was going to be before the whole thing crashed and burned, and then some!   And let me tell you something: based on Beta 3, there is good reason to be optimistic that it will succeed.  Initially, I wasn't that optimistic - Betas 1 & 2 were merely marginal improvements on the EWOM formula at best.  However, Beta 3 surprised me with its noticeable shift in quality.  Instead of coming across as a grade 'C' Civ clone, Beta 3 made FE finally feel like its own game - and quite an interesting one at that.

Ya know, when I first started this blog I was doubtful that I would have much fodder to work with on a day to day basis.  It really was just a lark for me to combine two of my passions - politics and gaming.  However, if the last two weeks or so are any indication, it looks like I might be on to something as I haven't been at a loss for material lately.  Even more interestingly, others have begun to mine the political-gaming angle since I started this blog - you can thank me later. ;)   The most recent foray into the world of politics comes from Kotaku .  In a recent entry entitled Some Americans Think A “Super PAC” Is A Video Game. Most Don’t Know What One Is , they write the following....

Well, this is interesting.  It seems Frank Woods, one of the devs of the original Call of Duty: Black Ops , has been spilling the beans regarding all sorts of details concerning what content will be packed into Black Ops 2 .  Amongst the many tidbits is a reference to the Commander-in-Chief himself, Barack Obama: U.S.S. Barack Obama – An aircraft carrier. Clearly, in the near future world of Black Ops 2, the current president will have an aircraft carrier named after him.  Interesting, that, seeing how Obama might preside over the most damaging defense cuts in US history due to Obama's inability to balance the budget during his four years in office. I will say that I am a bit disappointed that Obama won't actually be more of a part of BlOp2.  I mean, I would love to have a mission where the player needs to quadruple the US deficit in three years!  I wonder what type of kill streak that would earn you? I also wish VP Biden would make a...

This one sort of sneaked past me.  Seems Stardock's US presidential election simulator The Political Machine has been released!  I haven't played this game since the 2004 version was released...or was it 2000?  Regardless, I do recall enjoying my experience with that title since it did seem to capture the essence of a modern political campaign, dirty tricks and all!  Unfortunately, I never did devote as much time to it as I should have.  Why?  Well, because I am a political junkie.  Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but here is the thing:  when you are an avid watcher of politics like I am, the last thing you want to do after slaving over a hot political stove all day is sit down and game politics!  I guess it is sort of like a football player leaving the grid iron after a long, tough game and then sitting down in front of their Xbox to get in some time with Madden NFL.  I need a break!  

Time for a new poll!  Here it is: If President Obama was a character from a video game, which character would he be? Pac Man Capt. John Soap MacTavish from Call of Duty John Henry Eden from Fallout 3 Jim Raynor from Starcraft Kane from Command and Conquer Gordon Freeman from Half-life Arcturus Mengsk from Starcraft Commander Shepard from Mass Effect Vladimir Makarov from Call of Duty If I missed your choice, let me know in the comments section.  You can find the poll at the bottom of the page.  I look forward to reading the responses. ...And yes, I will conduct the same poll for Romney.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen!  Only 100 days to go before this nation gets a chance to correct a big mistake!  Boy, how the "hope and change" time flies.  Almost four complete years into President Obama's first (and last?) term, and he has yet to create anything.  Oh, I know how he likes to tout all those jobs he saved or created, but the truth is that America is suffering a net loss of about 1 million jobs (the link shows a net loss of 1.6 million, but as of June the figure is now closer to a 1 million net loss.  Just trying to be fair here.), making President Obama the worst job creator in American history (with a net loss of almost a million jobs, perhaps "job destroyer" would be a more accurate term for him?).  I guess that $800 billion Keynesian "shovel ready" jobs bill wasn't so "shovel ready" after all (even Obama has conceded that! ).   So what has Obama managed to create? Well, quite unexpectedly...mem...