The Way it Should Be

The fantastic open world racing/crashing game Burnout Paradise has been on store shelves for almost a year now, and in my own collection for almost as long. Burnout allows you to race around the fictional city of Paradise, a fantastical world filled with almost as many street racers as it has ramps decorating its city streets. For the last ten months I have continued to sporadically pop Burnout Paradise into my Xbox 360 and play for large chunks of time. This differs from most of my game collection, which typically sits on the shelf after I have either completed the game or grown tired of its multiplayer modes. The reason I continually go back to Burnout Paradise is because its developer, Criterion Games, has figured out how to make games that to stay relevant beyond its release window. Criterion actually supports its game, continuously adding new modes, challenges, and content FOR FREE (a phrase I hate to use in this situation because many developers forget that we did actually pay 60 bucks for the game). The most recent updates added new cars, a whole new class of vehicles in motorcycles, weather effects, and day/night cycles. These features completely changed the game for me, creating new challenges and renewing my enthusiasm for it. While many multiplayer FPSs have followed this model by adding in new maps for players to compete against one another, these updates are typically pay-to-play and rarely enhance the single player experience. While I am all about the video game industry getting paid (lord knows I do my part to support it), I sincerely appreciate the recognition by Criterion that their consumers will continue to support their game if THEY do. So cheers to you Criterion Games and congratulations on your success, keep up the good work (and clearly they intend to as they have already announced an additional 4 future updates for Burnout). Here's hoping the rest of the industry sees your success and follows in your footsteps.

The Greatest PrObama Tee Ever

Here is my latest creation, which if you are a Star Wars fan, should make your mouth water. I am currently printing it up on a tee for myself.

McCain for Galactic Emperor

While I myself could not think of one valuable asset McCain could bring to the Presidency of the United States, there are other positions for which he is perhaps better suited.

The Role of Racism in Evolution

With the U.S. presidential election in sight, the racial divide is more prevalent than ever across the U.S. and the world. A relatively large number of individuals have made it clear that they will or will not vote for Barack Obama simply because of his skin color. This fascinating behavior is steeped in deep rooted historical and cultural connections, but what if its due to something deeper? Something so intrinsic that it is simply instinctual to associate with those of a like appearance.

This week in Nature, a trans-national team of zoologists published an article demonstrating what we all knew in the first place...everyone's a racist. The group examined the mating habits of similar yet visually distinct populations of cichlids that inhabit African lakes. The scientists observed that red and blue varieties of the fish species did not interbreed with each other, despite being biologically capable. However, those same cichlid species will mate regardless of thier partners color if the lakes in which they lived were polluted to the point where thier vision was impaired. The researchers concluded that the blue fish and red fish don't mate with one another simply by discriminating against fish of a different color. This supports the notion that species can evolve separately from one another using a theoretical evolutionary strategy called sensory drive, which defines that organisms use their senses rather than instinct to discern appropriate mating partners. These studies demonstrated that each variety of fish maintained their 'racial purity' if you will, by discriminating based on skin color.

Maybe Dave Chappelle was on to something...

Exciting New Developments in anti-MRSA Drugs

Ever since the deployment of commercially produced Penicillin in 1942, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have been racing to develop more effective, diverse, and broader spectrum antibiotics to treat a variety of bacterial infections. However, interest in antibiotic discovery and development has waned in recent years, in part due to a paradigm shift in pharmaceutical development from curing diseases to treating 'lifestyle' conditions (i.e. Restless Leg Syndrome). While this has been a financially sound decision for shareholders, it has left the human population in danger of encountering microorganisms that have evolved a resistance to most if not all commercially produced antibiotics. A perfect example of this is the prolific MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) or MDRSA (Multi-Drug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is the causitive agent of Staph infections and has become a worldwide pandemic. Staph infections result in painful skin wounds that do not heal without treatment and can lead to a lethal septicemia in which the bacteria enter the blood stream and systemically proliferate. MRSA infections have become so dangerous and prolific, the CDC reports that more Americans die of MRSA infections than AIDS each year.

Fortunately, an article published this week in Science, has reported the discovery of a novel antibiotic effective against MRSA ad MDRSA. This new antibiotic, called PC190723, was identified by what the authors describe as 'a fragment based approach' to a process called synthetic chemistry. This involves taking a known molecule that exhibits some modest antibacterial activity and synthetically adding to its structure a variety of chemical moieties. The authors began with a chemical known as 3-Methoxybenzamine (3-MBA), a chemical known to disrupt cell division in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, and synthetically added two moieties called 'benzamide' and 'thiazolopyridine'. The resulting molecule, known as PC190723, exhibited an antibacterial activity of over 2000 times that of it predacessor, 3-MBA. In fact, PC190723 is capable of inhibiting growth of both MRSA and MDRSA at concentrations as low as 1 microgram per mL (for reference, vancomycin, a commonly used antibiotic for MRSA treatment inhibits bacterial growth at concentrations of 2 micrograms per mL). The authors demonstrate that PC190723 inhibits MRSA (and other bacterial species) cell division by interfering with a protein known as FtsZ, which is required for the bacterium to identify its own cellular midpoint. Without functioning FtsZ, the cellular machinery necessary to drive cell division cannot localize the cell midpoint, effectively preventing the bacteria from dividing (inset photo depicts a MRSA cell dividing at its midpoint).

The most exciting result described in this publication, is that PC190723 offered complete protection to mice infected with a normally lethal dose of Staphylococcus aureus. The authors also demonstrated that PC190723 has no effect on the growth of cultured human cells, further suggesting its potential as a safe and effective anti-bacterial therapy. This molecule is currently in the early stages of clinical trials and hopefully will be available sooner than later to help combat the MRSA pandemic.

Maddening '09

I should preface this post with the disclosure that I have purchased each and every edition of Madden since Madden '93 which remains my favorite. That game made the HB sweep around the end for a touchdown fun despite it working literally almost every time. However, since the acquisition of exclusive rights to the NFL license, it seems that EA has been content to do the absolute minimum to further any progression in Madden's gameplay. So upon the release of Madden '09 I decided to listen to the annual sounds of disappointment still lingering in my sub-conscious and held off on purchasing it until it could prove to me that it was more than a roster update. So finally after sitting at the top of my gamerang cue for nearly a month, I received it in the mail and immediately popped in into the 360.

The first thing I did when it arrived was to take the virtual Madden IQ test, which told me that I was rated "All-Madden" in rushing and a rookie at passing offense, and both passing and rushing defense. While I thought those stats were a bit unfair, I was excited to see how this constantly adjusting difficulty setting would affect my enjoyment of franchise mode, which I usually struggle to find the perfect setting for my tastes. What it did was unexpected as it made it IMPOSSIBLE to run on the opposing D, which is usually my forte. Alternatively, it was entirely too easy to intercept the opposing offense's passes. While this may sound like a solution to the problems associated with using a single difficulty setting to represent every facet of someone's Madden ability, it actually just increases the chances of AI controlled players to either make mistakes or make plays. So essentially, the folks at EA Sports managed to fix a flaw in the previous versions of Madden by creating even bigger flaws that effectively zapped any enjoyment out of the experience.

Now that is just one example of annoying features in Madden '09, one that fortunately can be turned off by returning to the old one difficulty setting for eveything approach. However, numerous flaws have emerged after just a few hours of gameplay that really just shouldn't exist in a game that has been iterated on for 4 years now. For example, my Falcons recently played the Colts in a francise game, who got lucky on two back to back fumble recoveries for touchdowns in the forth quarter. Subsequently, the Colts were up one score with the ball in hand and with less than 2 minutes to go in the 4th and proceeded to throw 3 incomplete passes in a row? Lets face it, no team in the history of the league would throw 3 times in a row up a single score with less than 2 minutes to go. The game was obviously handing me an opportunity to mount a comeback. While I appreciate the digital charity, the last thing I want is some crappy AI feeling sorry for my poor fortune and hand me an opportunity ESPECIALLY when it flies in the face of real football strategy and was so blatantly obvious!

While I appreciate the attempt at renewing my enthusiasm for Madden football, I really feel the need for two things to happen for the future of video game football to look brighter than it does right now. First, EA Sports has got to change up the visual styling of Madden and I mean more than just new grass textures. I refuse to buy a game that has not updated the stiff look of a footballer since 2006 simply because they have a monopoly. Second, Mr. Goodell...please do not allow ANYONE to obtain exclusive rights to the NFL licence ever again. The competition made things innovative and competitive and the loss of that has clearly eliminated all innovation in the development of NFL-licensed football games...errr...game (I don't count NFL Tour). Just look at the new game from Natural Motion called Backbreaker, it features amazing physics and an actual visual style that makes me excited about football games again. However, without the NFL license it lacks the reason I love football games, which is to feel like you are in control of your favorite players. Just imagine what some real competition could do for Madden in the future. Hell, maybe I will start buying the game again. Until then, I am going to finish my franchise season and get as many achievements as I can before shipping it back...disappointed again.

Goodbye GFW Radio

Its official, mine and your favorite video game podcast GFW Radio is done. As a bench scientist, I perform countless mundane tasks during the long work hours and I have come to cherish my Thursday's, which is when I typically listen to Jeff, Shawn, Anthony, Robert, Sean, and Ryan bullshit for two hours while managing to throw some game related topics into the mix. I think it is safe to say that "The Brodeo" as its known was not only the best video game related podcast but in my opinion one of the best podcasts currently available next to say a 'This American Life'. I am sure that would be a stretch for many people outside of the realm of gaming, but if you really listened to GFW every week you would hear some of the most intelligent insights into game design and development from a critical perspective. It is no wonder these guys are being lured by big development companies to work on some well known game franchises.

With the announcement of Jeff Green's departure a couple of weeks ago, I was pretty sure the rest of the crew was to follow. I thought for an instant that Shawn Elliott could potentially take over the reigns and fill the void left by Jeff. However, upon the announcement of Shawn's new position at 2K Boston, I am sure that the Brodeo is completely done. I can only hope that the addition of Jeff to the Sims team, and Shawn to the 2K Boston team will result in some amazing new ideas and much needed polish to game design. As easy as it would be to hate on these guys for leaving us with 2 hours a week to fill with something probably far less entertaining, I can't help but be respectful of people I feel like I know personally. So cheers mates, good luck to you all, we will miss you.