Defenseload

Music Video First Aid Kit Cedar Lane

First Aid Kits "Emmylou" was my favorite track of 2012. Seemingly out of nowhere the Swedish duo managed (in that way that many musicians from other countries do) to consolidate the 1970s Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris country into something refreshing and new while paying homage to the original. June 10, First Aid Kit drops Stay Gold, which I hope has more than one The Outsiders, reference in it, Pony Boy. And, today, the group let us see "Cedar Lane" a bewitching track from the album with a lilting chorus and psychedelic video. Enjoy below and pre order Stay Gold  here.

Available link for download

Music Video Sharon Van Etten Taking Chances

Almost a month ago, we gave Sharon Van Etten our coveted Track of the Day post for "Taking Chances" -- her newest, slow-roller of a track off the forthcoming "Are We There." Today, we bring you the same track, but this time with visual accompaniment where the illustrious songstress has her tarot read to trippy results.  Enjoy below:

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Montagues Mount PC Video Game Full Download

Montagues Mount-PC Video Game Full Download

The mixture of cold Atlantic water and coarse sand in your mouth brings you back from unconsciousness. Surrounded by the wreckage of a boat’s hull, you can only draw one conclusion: your vessel has been torn apart by the submerged rocks. The secrets of the island must be uncovered if you are ever going to find a way to escape. Where is everyone; is the island really uninhabited; what is lurking within the isolated caves; and what is that building on top of Montague’s Mount?
Can you handle the truth?
A disturbing psychological thriller set in the bleakness of an abandoned island, combining exploration, puzzle-solving and a poignant storyline.
You have been warned.
Features:
Oculus Rift support.
Desolate yet beautiful environments to explore.
Challenging puzzles to solve.
Secrets and collectibles hidden across the island.
Voice narration by Derek Riddell (Ugly Betty, Frankie, No Angels and more).
First game to promote the Irish language (Gaeilge).
Full language support for English, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Russian.
To be released on PC, Mac and Linux.



Please Wait 5 sec and then skip Ad on top corner and here you go 
                                                                             TRAILER

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Moorhuhn Tiger and Chicken PC Video Game Free Direct Links Full Download

Moorhuhn Tiger and Chicken-PC Video Game Free Direct Links Full Download

Embark on an epic journey in Tiger & Chicken. In a stunning combat environment, slash countless enemies and ultimately defeat the powerful Terracotta King to free your enslaved tribe.

Become a Shaolin Master!
Embark on an epic journey in Tiger & Chicken. In a stunning combat environment, slash countless enemies and ultimately defeat the powerful Terracotta King to free your enslaved tribe.
You are the last hope of your tribe! Master challenging quests throughout four thrilling episodes making your way through dangerous dungeons, imposing temples, gloomy forests and the legendary astral plane. Gather powerful items and improve your battle skills to reveal your real Shaolin power.
Play an epic Hack’nSlay action adventure with excellent console-quality
Enjoy impressive graphics and an orchestral soundtrack
Master more than 50 challenging quests
Venture through stunning episodes
Explore dangerous dungeons, imposing temples, gloomy forests and the legendary astral plane
Loot more than 150 unique items and upgrade mighty skills to become a Shaolin Master


Please Wait 5 sec and then skip Ad on top corner and here you go

Available link for download

More Arguing About Women In Video Games But This Time the Women Can Beat You Up

Frankly, I want my avatar to look more like this ...

The argument about how women should be portrayed in video games rages inexplicably on. Speaking as someone who writes these things for money, not systematically alienating half the human population and almost half of actual gamers is just good business.

Happily, progress is being made. There have been quite a few games out this year, indie and AAA, that prominently feature interesting women as main characters and supporting cast. (e.g. Gone Home. Last of Us. Tomb Raider. Bioshock: Infinite, sorta.)

Were getting there. Fossilized designs like Grand Theft Auto V are increasingly out of place. But angry young men on forums make it seem like theres an actual controversy, so on we go.

Its all kind of a waste, because, as far as Im concerned, the interview that should settle the argument decisively came out in September, and it didnt get nearly as much attention as it should have.

Its an interview with two female soldiers, one who served in Afghanistan and one who served in Iraq, about how women are portrayed in gunshooters.

Its full of great quotes, but heres a nice one, talking about Call of Duty (which only finally put in playable female soldiers in the newest title) ...

Its because you have men who are designing these games in the first place. Put me, or any of the women who have served in charge of a shooter that includes women as the main protagonists. You can bet that youll get a character who is far more concerned about her kill streak than she is her makeup or how she looks. And you can believe she wouldnt be running around in a bikini either. Save that for Dead or Alive where the women dont do any real combat, and flounce around with their tits bouncing like they are in a rodeo.

I think that this should be the beginning of the end of the conversation. Heres why.

... than this.

Soldiers and Video Games, The Basics

Bear in mind here that video games are insanely popular among soldiers overseas, as they provide a reliable distraction during the inevitable seemingly infinite hours of boredom and inactivity.

I have received so many e-mails from soldiers who wanted to get my games up and running before they leave on a long deployment. Of course, I find it impossible to reject requests like that.

The Last Stand of Principle

Of course, in our society, pretty much any moral principle can instantly be abandoned if the money is right. In the video game industry, its gotten to the point where anyone’s appeal to basic ethics is generally treated with open mockery. (How many huge games in the last year or two shipped in a basically non-functional state?)

There is one principle, however, that is almost never questioned by the sane: The people who chose to sacrifice years of their lives (and perhaps their entire life) to defend their countries deserve respect.

The people willing to die for us should be honored for that. Must it be said that this is still true when they are women?

From the upcoming game, Warface. This is a PR image. Everything about it was carefully planned. What does it want to say, and what does it want to teach? (Answer below.)

So Here Is The Absolute Minimum That Is Required

One. If its a game about soldiers, female avatars should be available whenever possible. With a AAA budget, there is NO excuse to not have this in the multiplayer. You can afford it.

Two. Women soldiers should look like soldiers. When someone goes overseas and gives up years of her life in public service, she should not see that her culture regards woman warriors as a bunch of mindless sex dolls.

I mean, right?

And lets be clear. I know game devs. Ive been around them for decades. They are mostly doughy, deskbound guys who never came within a thousand miles of serving in the military. That these guys are insulting the women doing the tough job so few of them signed up for is truly galling.

Answer: Thank you for your service.

And It Matters

Culture matters. I mean theres not a question, right? The images we surround ourselves with affect us. Why are such massive fortunes spent on advertising? You think they dont affect people? Corporations like wasting money?

(And dont kid yourself. There is a wealth of research that says that ads do affect you, even when you dont realize it.)

We absorb the media around us, and it shapes us. Nobody plays these games more than kids, and kids learn.

So ask yourself the question. What do you want young people to learn? Not what it is easiest or most profitable to teach them. Ask what we want. What is best for the country. What is just. What is right.

Im no white knight. The women in the interview dont need my help or my pity. They do, however, deserve respect. Depicting soldiers as soldiers, man or woman, seems like a tiny, reasonable way to start.

---

As always, were still on Facebook and Twitter.

Available link for download

Music Video Pollens Helping Hand

Seattle-based Pollens debut LP Brighten & Break was a criminally overlooked album released on German imprint Tapete Records in the fall of 2012. I wrote about the record last year for Musical Family Tree. The album centers around the complex, looping vocal arrangements of lead singers Hanna Benn and Jeff Aaron Bryant, which hover over a bed of boisterous poly-rhythms and counter-intuitive melodies on guitar. "Helping Hand" was the lead-off track on Brighten & Break. This week, Pollens dropped a video for the single which you can watch below. The video, shot in central Washington by Matt Miller and Ben Gazy, keeps things simple, but the lo-fidelity focus on color pairs well with the Pollens signature sensory overload.

Available link for download

More Boring Stuff On Why Video Games Are Art Also Ponies!

OK, Im back, and Im about to write about evil, art, and game design. To make it all go down easier, there will also be ponies. So read, on but remember ...



GameBanshee writer Eric Schwarz wrote a tough but fair review of our recent game, Avernum: Escape From the Pit. In the review, he made a comment about the games story that I thought was really interesting:

"The game worlds overall tone and morality is also a bit strange - slaughtering Slith (lizardmen) farmers in the name of the king might be uncomfortable, but the game world certainly doesnt care."

I actually liked this comment a lot, but he didn’t go near as far as he could have. There are places in Avernum where the morality gets even stranger.

For example, one of the main foes in the game is an army of savage lizard men, called slithzerikai, sliths for short. (The sliths are not all hostile. They have friendly settlements, and playing as a slith is an option in later games in the series.)

In one of the dungeons, you have the option to smash a huge clutch of slith eggs. If you do so, several of their guards attack you, but that is the only negative consequence for what most would consider a pretty evil act. I have been accused in my forums of encouraging baby-killing in my games. And, yes, I did allow the player to do a pretty horrible thing with no punishment. And I have written games in which the player can choose to do things that are even worse.

Why did I do this?

Because computer games are art.

Oh God, No, Shut Up!

Yeah, I know. The debate about whether video games are art is probably the boringest thing in the history of boring things. To liven this blog post up, here are more ponies. Hey ponies, what do you think of tedious navel-gazing blog posts?



Products Of My Own Weird Brain

Avernum: Escape From the Pit is a rewrite of Exile: Escape From the Pit, the very first game I released as shareware. It was the first Real Game (tm) I ever tried to write, and it was a pretty wild, uncontrolled process. Since Id never done it before, I just went crazy, throwing encounters and plot bits and moral dilemmas in willy-nilly. It was a raw, unguarded process. I didnt second-guess anything. I just took how I thought and how I saw the world and put it down in the computer.

This is how storytelling works.

Ive always been a huge news junkie. I still keep a close eye on what is happening in the world, as it fascinates me. (And is an endless source of fresh material.) Doing so, however, has given me a very cynical worldview. Our world has many, many principled people, struggling against enormous odds to increase the reserve of justice and kindness available on the planet.

However, these generally unsung heroes fight against an overwhelming amount of awfulness. Ours is a world where horrible things happen to undeserving people on a constant basis, and nobody who is not personally involved will ever know or care.

This is how I see the world. Its not right or wrong. Its just how I see things. When I write a story, any story, it will be colored, in ways obvious and subtle, by this perception.

This is why the morality in Avernum (and in all of my games, really) seems a bit "strange." Because it reflects my worldview, and being exposed to how another humans sees the world can be weird and unsettling. This is what makes art cool. It lets you see how other people think.

Important Disclaimer

My games reflect how I feel the world IS, NOT how I feel the world SHOULD BE. I do not personally endorse crushing the weak, hunting goblins for sport, or smashing slithzerikai eggs. Extrapolating an artists personal experience and views from his or her work is very rarely accurate and is generally a waste of time.

Hmm. Im getting Bored. So here is this.



So Why Leave Do I Leave the Horrible Bits In?

Because I write role-playing games.

The term "role-playing" has become hugely debased since it was created. Most RPGs dont give you the opportunity to actually decide what sort of person you want to play, even in the simplistic way computer games allow. That is why I always try to put moral choices in my games: to give the player more agency in what is going on and to help him or her feel more attached to the little computer person they control. And the better and more dramatic the choices you allow, the greater the effect.

Thus, I give the player a chance to be evil from time to time. If they choose to be good, it affirms their character as moral and admirable. If they choose to be evil, its probably so they can get a vicarious thrill from engaging in craziness they would never consider in real life. Either way, the option to be evil gives the option to be good more meaning.

But I have to play fair. If someone is evil, I can only punish them if it makes sense. Sometimes, evil is not punished. Thus, I dont always punish it. Sometimes, but not always.

Theres No Right or Wrong Ways To Design These Things

I wanted to pull out and discuss that review quote because it was, in the end, a perfectly subjective artistic judgment. Theres nothing wrong with that, of course. Reviews are nothing but subjective judgments. That is what makes reviews cool. My game made Eric Schwarz feel a little unsettled. That wasnt a right or wrong reaction. It was just his honest reaction, and Im happy to get any reaction at all. Id rather make someone feel something, even if its not positive, than for my game to generate 30 hours of "Meh."

As computer games develop as an art form, I look forward to more discussion about what they mean and how they affect us. (Though, of course, I may be the only one.) People are more interesting than polygons.

In Conclusion

Thank you for your patience. I hope it went well. How did it go, Spike?


Thanks, Spike!

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