A while back I promised to write some posts about Christianity and video games and I never did. Given the recent media controversy about the airport terrorist scene in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,  this week I started feeling guilty about not having done what I promised, so here is one such attempt at such a post.  I don’t own Modern Warfare, so I cannot comment on that too much, but I do want to talk about video games and the ethical decisions that we are sometimes asked to make in them.

Video games have changed drastically over the years.  They have gone from being relatively simple (i.e. Pong–hitting a ball back and forth, which surprisingly can still provide some entertainment), to being quite complex–not just in how difficult they are to play but also in the complexity world they create.  Though there are still many mind numbingly simple games out there (most of which can be bought for Nintendo Wii), there a number of new and innovative games being released every year.

Some games are worth playing simply for aesthetic reasons, these are rare, but games like ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are worth picking up just to experience the beauty of the world found therein.  However, there is another trend in video games (not that new, it can be traced back to the first role playing games) to make games in which players are presented with moral choices.  They can choose to make righteous decisions or they can choose to make selfish, evil decisions and face the consequences of either.  Probably the most popular recent game where this is the case is Fallout 3, though the Fable series is well known for incorporating this dynamic (I think Infamous follows this trend).  I don’t have Fallout 3 or Fable II (though I do still have Fable for the original Xbox), so I won’t discuss either of those games, but instead I will address how this plays out in my favorite spy game, Splinter Cell.
I recently bought Splinter Cell Double Agent for Playstation 3 (Its been out for a while now, so now you can get it cheap!).  The game posses a great number of difficult moral choices.  In the game you go undercover to bring down a terrorist organization that is trying to overthrow the U.S. government in some malicious ways.  You have to accomplish missions for the terrorist cell while reporting information to the NSA and in the process, the game gives you freedom to determine how much you will sabotage the terrorist’s evil ends. Every decision you make affects how much the NSA and the terrorist organization trust you.  If either of them lose too much faith in you–game over.
I found this incredibly compelling as I first began to play the game.  In the first several missions you are able to please both the NSA and the terrorists without too much trouble.  But recently I had to put the game down because I was presented with a terribly difficult moral decision to make and I just decided to put the game down cause I couldn’t decide the right thing to do.  Let me explain.

In the mission I am currently on, I had to go and plant a bomb on a cruise ship.  Fortunately you are able to fake a fire on the ship so that most of the passengers evacuate.  However, the Mexican Coast Guard is privy to a terrorist threat, so many of them remain on board.  As you plant the bomb, you also record the disarming code so that you can disarm the bomb before it goes off.

At the end of this mission you are given 3 options–(1) disarm the bomb and take a HUGE hit in how much the terrorist organization trusts you or (2) disarm the bomb and blame it on another member of the terrorist organization who will then be killed or (3) let the bomb go off as it would not kill any Americans, only members of the Mexican Coast Guard.  Very interesting question.

1.  You disarm the bomb and face the consequences–this will make the next mission incredibly difficult as you will be on very shaky ground with the terrorist organization–it is not “game over” but its close.

2.  You disarm the bomb and blame it on someone else.  Interestingly enough though, the person you can blame it on is the only terrorist with redeeming qualities–she is the one person who was opposed to planting the bomb and one that perhaps could be turned away from terrorism and perhaps even help you take the organization down!  On the other hand she is a member of a terrorist organization and blaming it on her would save you from losing an incredible amount of trust and blowing your cover.

3.  You do not disarm the bomb, let it go off and kill several Coast Guard soldiers.  This is after all just a game and not real life, why not do the thing that will make the game easier for you?  (not advocating this, just asking the question).

This moral conundrum surprised me, I didn’t expect to be so conflicted about a choice in a video game, so I just quit playing–it is a game, it is not real, so I have that option.  In life, however, though we will probably never face a moral dilemma on this level, we will face difficult moral decisions and we cannot quit, we will have to make a decision of some sort and face the consequences whatever they may be.

I have decided to pick the game back up, I now know what I am going to do.  I have settled in  my mind what the right course of action is.  What would you do?  I want to see if this generates any discussion first, but later, I will post in the comment meta what I am going to do.  This whole situation, I think was actually an interesting exercise for me in moral decision making.  So feel free to share your thoughts about ethics, video games, etc. in the comment meta.

In short there are some games out there (few though they may be) that make us think about difficult issues.  As a family pastor, I would would be careful about letting your children play games like Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but nonetheless it presents us with some interesting questions that are worth asking and worth thinking through.

Mencioné la sinergia entre productos de Ubisoft en un mensaje hace poco. Ya tenemos trailer oficial de lanzamiento de este servicio.

Yeah, einfach geiler Tag. Aufgestanden, in die Schule gegangen und dort in GmK gechillt und SMS geschrieben mit Jessi Ke. und Jessi Kö. DD. Doch dann fällt mir ein das ich kein Rollerschlüssel mehr hab! Scheise! Ich frag kurz, ob ich raus darf. Ich renn in die Garage und tata!!! mein Schlüssel steckt noch puh D. Wieder hoch. Dann in NWT Vertretung Herr Schramm und Kurzidim gehabt. Herr Schramm is voll chillig. Kurze auch, aber den kenn’ ich ja schon etwas länger. Dann in der 4. Stunde in Bio VB gegangen und Joshi hat mit dem Desktop Destroyer scheise gebaut.  Dann noch Französisch und der Schultag is rum. Nach Hause, NWT Ordner noch was ausdrucken und Englisch n’ bissl lernen. Hoffentlich kann ich des morgen. Um 15.00 runter zu Lasse Ladekabel vom HTC abholen, da mein Handy für 192€ verkauft wurde. Ab nach Wernau zu Chris und Maxi. Wir gehen natürlich wieder Dönerfuddern. Auf dem Weg zum Döner geh ich mit Chris noch zur Post. Ich wollte des Ding halt verschicken, ganz normal und hab gedacht, dass da so ne Kiste dabei ist. Dann fällt mir ein das ich meinen Schlüssel schon wieder stecken lassen hab’. Scheise. Zurückgerannt und tata!!! noch da! Wieder zur Post. Die Tusse hat den Absenderbebba auf die Verpackung vom Handygeklebt. Toll das Handy kann jetzt jeder rausnehmen. Dann frag’ ich ob sie wenigstens kurz nen Klebeband hätte damit ich das Paket ganz zukleben kann. “Ne, ich hab keins”. Toll! Musste ich doch echt so ne ganze Klebebandrolle kaufen damit ich das Paket zu bebben kann. Dumme Kuh. Dann zum Döner und fetten Döner mit Schafskäse reinziehen. War wieder voll chillig. Maxi wieder mit genommen und bei Maxi dann Splinter Cell und GrandTheftAuto gezockt. War geil! DD Maxi is übelster Cheater. Naja, nächstes Mal fick ich euch auseinander D. Dann um 17.45 nach Hause gefahren und wieder Englisch gelernt. Heute habe ich 84 SMS verschickt. Rekordverdächtig D. Aber mit Aldi Flat is ja au noch saubillig.

Let it rock! muss noch englisch lernen

A few game characters’ brothers and sisters are out there looking for love…

It can be hard to find a date when you’re the twin of a gaming icon. Nights spent all alone watching endless Friends re-runs or lying catatonic listening to William Shatner sing Common People on repeat; with dinner medallions from the microwave lasagne staining your crusty vest and sweatpants, and a half bottle of budget vodka for company – these things don’t help the love-life one little bit.

We thought we’d lend a helping hand to some of the medium’s forgotten siblings in their quest to find a soulmate by printing a few of their calling cards. It’s time for these brothers and sisters to step out of their shadowy cocoons and blossom into the love bugs they were destined to be.

1. Larry Croft

Larry’s a tall and athletic fella with a penchant for digging, spelunking and hunting, much like his sister Lara. He’s a perfect gentleman too, coming from good aristocratic stock, although you’d best steer clear of enquiring about the parents.

A huge fan of all things old and curious, our Larry’s looking for a more mature woman, someone with a story or two to tell, preferably with strange and dubious links to mythological sects and texts. He’s also a fan of old-school smoking jackets, luxury liners and racy point-and-click adventure games. But no photographers: they always Photoshop ridiculously-proportioned organs onto the poor lad. And who can live with that kind of pressure?

Read the full article at Dealspwn here!

Debo ser sincero con ustedes, no había escuchado nada de The Saboteur, en el pasado E3 se dío a conocer el trailer de este juego que al parecer se basa en la acción táctica con una pizca de espionaje.

Juego en tercera persona [TPS] The Saboteur nos alcanza el mes de diciembre del 2009, para ser más precisos el día 8; ¿Quieres conocerlo? O si ya lo conoces… aquí te mostramos el nuevo trailer de este juego que se ve que dara mucho de que hablar:

Pero si no fue suficiente para tí [nunca será suficiente para un gamer...] otro video, ahora presentando el gameplay:

Yo se que las comparaciones son inmediatas, elementos de grandes juegos como: Gta, InFamous, Uncharted, Splinter Cell, Mafia, etc; pero hay algo que hace a los juegos únicos y creo que este juego esta muy bien ambientado en la Francia de la 2a Guerra Mundial.

Oh, se me olvidaba, según cuentan las malas lenguas que no vendra traducido al español, ni subtitulado… ¿Será verdad?, en cuanto lo investigue se los haré saber.

Fuente | ºeurogamer.es | youtube.comº

2ème partie du journal des développeurs pour Splinter Cell Conviction.

Cette fois-ci nous en apprenons un peu plus sur les motivations de Sam Fisher.

Gamers Forcing EA To Return To Old Ways

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

Remember the bad old EA so many of us gamers spent oodles of time criticising?

EA was the big time publisher that made huge amounts of cash off only releasing games from their pre-existing IPs (Intellectual Properties) like Medal Of Honor, Battlefield, and Burnout, their yearly sports ‘updates’, and off movie licenses like James Bond and Lord Of The Rings.

Most of the games were good, and some of them were bad, but what annoyed many of us the most was that they were being safe and not bothering to try and bring creative new gaming experiences, especially to consoles.  They had the money and the clout to try and be fresh and innovative, but they were just sitting back because they could.

Then they changed.  But now huge financial losses and a layoff of 1,500 staff may herald the end of their positive experiment into new IPs and innovation and a return to the old EA business model.

And it’s our fault.

While EA Games were changing their attitude and creating new IP games like Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Brutal Legend, and The Saboteur, the other big publishers like Microsoft (Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Halo 3, Halo: ODST), Ubisoft (Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Assassin’s Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Avatar), and Activision (Wolfenstein, Modern Warfare 2, Shrek, Spider Man, X-Men) seem to have adopted EA’s previous philosophy particularly this year after the financial crisis.

Sure there are exceptions like Endwar by Ubisoft and Prototype by Activision, but on the whole the games have been sequels or film tie-ins.

But this problem is not just due to the financial crisis.

As I wrote last year, EA didn’t sell enough of either Dead Space or Mirror’s Edge, despite both games being critically acclaimed by the gaming media.  At the time I argued that their releasing the games during the busy end of year rush was to blame, with new IPs not getting a look in next to the better known titles.

While I still agree with that statement, with some exceptions like the original Assassin’s Creed, a lot of new IPs haven’t done so well this generation next to their sequel or movie tie-in counterparts.  And it hasn’t always been a question of quality.

The top selling Xbox 360 games so far are:

1. Halo 3 (8.1 million)

Big name sequels sell

2. Gears of War (5 million)

3. Gears of War 2 (5 million)

4. Grand Theft Auto IV (4 million)

5. Call Of Duty 4 (3.77 million)

6. Call Of Duty: World At War (3.35 million)

7. Forza 2 (2.6 million)

8. Fable 2 (2.6 million)

9. Halo: ODST (2.5 million)

10. Assassin’s Creed (2.28 million)

Of those titles, only the original Gears of War and Assassin’s Creed were new IPs.  The story is only slightly different for the 360’s major competitor, Sony’s PS3, which has Motorstorm, the original Uncharted, the original Resistance, and Heavenly Sword in their top 1o.

While many gamers demand innovation and new IPs, the reality is that it is a hit or miss risk for the publishers.  Ubisoft last generation released the wacky but highly praised Beyond Good & Evil, only to see the gamers shun it.

And this is why I say it is our fault.  We will happily fork out extra cash over usual retail price for Modern Warfare 2, but Dead Space, despite great reviews and price cuts soon after, was not attractive enough.  Mirror’s Edge, despite giving us the innovation many craved, scared off many gamers who instead forked out for Gears of War 2.

What chance has Brutal Legend got against MW 2?

Brutal Legend, also highly regarded by most critics, as of October 24 apparently has sold 370,710 copies on both consoles.

EA went out on a limb and tried to change its image and corporate strategy to expand its gaming philosophy beyond sequels, sports title rehashes, and movie tie-ins, and did we support that after all our winging?  No.

The situation is that the average gamer has limited funds and may not play as many games as the hardcore.  The casual gamer will buy whatever they know will give them the fix of fun they are after and don’t follow the updates and innovations of new IPs.  They see Mirror’s Edge or Dead Space and think- never heard of it.

The Call of Duty or Halo series on the other hand is not only well known, but is in a genre that is easy to identify and play and their friends are likely to also have it.

This gives big publishers who have the funds to create strong new innovative games less incentive to do so.  Creatively, I’m sure their staff would love to try new things, but the risk outweighs the potential benefits, especially now.  They are more likely to try mini new things within an existing franchise, like the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction is.

Which brings me back to EA going back to what they were before.

In January EA CEO John Riccitiello said:

I also believe that there is no inherent conflict between great creativity and achieving strong profitability – I believe they go hand in hand.

This is a business and much of our success will be measured with a calculator – sales, revenue, profit and improving shareholder value. There is also a qualitative aspect of our industry. Making games we can be proud of. Pushing boundaries. I believe the quantitative and the qualitative measures go well together.

However, he now looks to be saying that EA will be concentrating on known franchises, some to be released twice a year:

Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis. And I think you know what those major titles are – all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition 2m units or more.

What does this mean for innovation in the gaming industry?  Well to me it looks like innovation will now be mostly focused within existing franchises and, increasingly, in the casual market where the big publishers expect bigger returns for less cost.

Innovation Future?

So for example Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s motion controller will seem to publishers as a safer investment in finding ways to innovate for a larger gamer and casual market.

Innovation will also come to gamers in smaller form like downloaded Xbox Live Arcade or Sony PSN games, and the even portable gaming like the Iphone and DSi.  Some of these might make a big enough name for themselves to get a bigger budget version for the consoles, but they would be sequels.

If it turns out to be true that EA and the other publishers shy away from new IPs in the future and we are still playing Call of Duty 15, really we only have ourselves to blame.

But then it seems most gamers are quite happy with their sequels, and so perhaps that’s fair enough.  For me, though, new upcoming IP games like Alan Wake and Heavy Rain seem more interesting, even if I’m still staying fairly cautious about them.

What do you think? Comment below.

© 2009 David Hilton

No more Lambert telling me to stop killing friendlies? Score!

Sam Fisher is a badass. He’s no Solid Snake but he is an awesome character. In Splinter Cell Conviction, Sam Fisher goes rogue in the hunt for his deceased daughter (Real rogue this time, not Double Agent rogue) with a handful of Krav Maga and a shedload of gun skills.  A new trailer released yesterday shows some of the development team talking about how they created the new rugged and more grizzly Fisher.

Needless to say, I’m very excited for this and will be buying this for my 360. I’m just hoping they bring it to PS3 so that I can add it to my PS2 collection of Splinter Cell games. The gameplay looks very fluent and it looks like Fisher will be a lot more action-orientated.

Source

Bonjour/bonsoir à tous!

Je vais créer un article, qui est pour le moment en cours de développement, sur les héros des Sons of Tellis. Ensuite, un article détaillera la peinture et l’apparence des héros.

PS:  Lundi dernier, pendant les vacances, je suis allé au salon du Jeux Vidéo, Micromania Games Show pour être précis. J’ai pu voir en exclusivité un gameplay commenté d’Assassin’s Creed 2,  dont j’ai réservé l’édition collector. Aussi, j’ai joué à pas mal de démo: uncharted 2, où un gars m’a pointé un fling entre les yeux en me soulevant à un centimètre du sol, brütal legend, avatar the game, Mario et Sonic aux jeux olympiques d’Hiver, God of War 3, où un Kratos sans chaînes avec une petite épée posait en grognant pour les photos des fans.  J’ai aussi pu voir un gameplay de Just Cause 2 et de Call of Duty, splinter cell conviction. J’ai vu les stands de Left 4 dead 2, call of duty modern warfare 2 et Battlefield bad company 2, malheureusement pour moi, indisponibles au moins de 16/18 ans.

Muy mamador el Sam... XD

Splinter Cell se ha caracterizado por ser uno de los mejor juegos para de acción de Ubisoft, ahora con esta nueva entrega la cual saldrá en exclusiva para Xbox 360 trata de reafirmar su calidad y acción en tercera persona.

Siempre comparado con Metal Gear Solid por las características del juego muy  al estilo espionaje-táctico.

Bien, aquí les dejo la edición de coleccionista de Splinter Cell Conviction que contiene:

Si tuviera un 360 seguro lo compraba... en normal, claro.

• Caja Metalica
• Libro de Arte
• Traje exclusivo 3rd Echelony arma MP5SD3
• Cómic digital “Diggin in the ashes”
• Agujero de bala
• Logo de 3rd Echelon
• USB lleno de contenido del juego

Ojala y tenga exito ya que esta saga definitivamente ha sido de las mejores en el mundo de los videojuegos.

Fuente | ºecetia.comº

I’m very pleased that Krav Maga is now a part of the game. It played a big part in the Splinter Cell books (I’ve read them all, btw) and it just makes sense for the game to have it too.

CEO da divisão da Ubisoft responsavel pela produção da nova missão de San Fishcer, disse:
Até indicação em contrário vai permanecer no Xbox 360. No entanto, eu sou apenas aquele que faz os jogos, deverão falar com o pessoal de Paris para confirmar.”

According to Wikipedia:

Two of John F. Kennedy’s books were almost entirely ghostwritten. Former President Ronald Reagan also released a ghostwritten autobiography….

[T]he purported author of the Nancy Drew mystery series, “Carolyn Keene”, is actually a pseudonym for a series of ghostwriters who write books in the same style using a template of basic information about the book’s characters and their fictional universe (names, dates, speech patterns), and about the tone and style that are expected in the book….

The estate of romance novelist V. C. Andrews hired a ghostwriter to continue writing novels after her death, under her name and in a similar style to her original works. Many of action writer Tom Clancy’s books from the 2000s bear the names of two people on their covers, with Clancy’s name in larger print and the other author’s name in smaller print. Various books bearing Clancy’s name were written by different authors under the same pseudonym. The first two books in the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell franchise were written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels.

Sometimes famous authors will ghostwrite for other celebrities as well, such as when H.P. Lovecraft ghostwrote science fiction stories for Harry Houdini in science fiction magazines in the 1920s….

A number of papal encyclicals have been written by ghostwriters. Pascendi, for instance, was written by Joseph Lemius (1860-1923), the procurator in Rome of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

In June 1938, Pius XI summoned American Jesuit John La Farge, who began to prepare a draft of Humani Generis Unitas, which LaFarge and two other Jesuits—Gustav Gundlach and Gustave Desbuquois—on in Paris; the draft was approximately 100 pages long. Another Jesuit translated the draft encyclical into Latin, presenting it to Vladimir Ledochowski, then the General of the Society of Jesus who had chosen Gundlach and Desbuquois for the project. The draft encyclical was delivered to the Vatican in September 1938.

Sebastian Tromp, a Dutch Jesuit, a solid Thomist theologian and close to Pope Pius XII, is considered to be the main ghost writer of Mystici Corporis. As advisor to Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani during Vatican II, he is, according to existing tape recordings and diaries, also the father of “subsistit”, which to his understanding of Latin, did not mean anything new but indicates completeness….

In hip-hop music, the increasing use of ghostwriters by high-profile hip-hop stars has led to controversy, because “Rapping is about you expressing yourself through your own words, not someone else’s.” Eye Weekly reported that MC Rhymefest did ghostwriting for Kanye West and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Texan rapper The D.O.C. did ghostwriting for Dr. Dre, and Jadakiss did ghostwriting for Puffy, who later bragged “Don’t worry if I write rhymes, I write checks.”

Other famous ghost writers include:

Anyone who was hoping to play the new Splinter Cell will have to do so on Xbox 360 because it seem like they still have an Exclusive deal with Ubisoft.

Source

Nokia announces end of N-Gage
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Ubisoft: Splinter Cell Franchise Xbox 360 exclusive ‘until further notice’
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Uncharted celebrates Halloween with Double Cash weekend
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Resident Evil 0 gets wii release date
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Marvel vs Capcom 2 patch
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Iwata admits Wii slowdown
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Iphone now on sale in China
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God of War Ultimate edition announced
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PSP outsells PS3 and Wii in Japan
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Iwata comments on first party lineup
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Ratchet and Clank Insomniac’s last 60 FPS game
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Borderlands patch up
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Uncharted 2 DLC tease?
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Dead Space 2 set to release 2010
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Eidos buysout, drains ¥5billion from Square Enix
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PS3 at $4.7 billion loss to Sony
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Demon souls Halloween challenge
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XBL features Kratos’ head
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Team Fortress 2 special Halloween map
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Australia wants to re-rate Modern Warfare 2
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Epic Mickey to support vitality sensor
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EA: price wars will not undermine industry
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Nintendo officially announces DSi LL
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Nintendo profits slumps as Wii demand falls
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DJ Hero DLC announced
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Insomniac: Sony listening to US/EU more than JP
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FFXIII release date unveiling presentation coming soon
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EA announces Battlefield: Bad Company 2 limited edition
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Sony: PS Home not top priority
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Star Trek and Transformers Xbox 360 bundles
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Disney considering movie/comic for epic mickey
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Next GTA game hinted in manual
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Hugh Jackman Staring in Uncharted film
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Man blames Silent hill for blacking out hospital
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Epic Mickey originally on 360/PS3
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WPA support added in new xbox 360
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Terrorism in Modern Warfare 2
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Xbox Live Gamersore Stats/major trends
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Race changes now available on WOW
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Left 4 Dead 2 avatar rewards support
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God of War III demo to appear on District 9 blu-ray
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Australian Steam users have to re-dL Borderlands
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Bayonetta region free
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Epic Mickey screen shot analysis
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New MGS Peace Walker demo Nov 1
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Miyamoto disappointed with StarFox
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Insomniac: PS3 won’t be maxed out for 2-3 years
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Microsoft not dropping XBL gold requirement for Netflix
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Microsoft launches xbox 360 sky player
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Ubisoft: Content more important than platforms
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Patchter: Netflix on wii within a year
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Microsoft: Not worried about Netflix on PS3
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GOW collection ships Nov 17 /trophies revealed
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Gearbox resolving Borderlands bugs
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Brutal Legend DLC free on PSN
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Free Fairytale Fights DLC (limited time only)
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30% Guitar Hero players are girls
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Borderlands accidentally censored for Australia on steam
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40% US console gamers pay for DLC
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Gearbox on Borderlands End/future
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Extra Life Raised $150k for Texas Children hospital
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More than 80k spoken lines in Assassin’s Creed II
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Change4Life campaign endorsed by Wii fit plus
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Digital Space getting harder for developers
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Persona 3 portable site update
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New dsi with bigger screen in Japan
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Classic Doom coming to iphone
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LBP Halloween costume pack
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Infinity Ward: dev should do the marketing
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Golden eye for the wii
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Piracy rate on iphone
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Netflix officially coming to PS3
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Assassin’s creed 2 achievements and trophies leaked?
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Modern Warfare 2 third person mode
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Champions online free Halloween weekend
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Spector explains why Epic Mickey is on the wii
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Guitar Hero Co-Founder: expect DJ Hero to have slow initial sales
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Elder Scrolls novel teasing Elder Scrolls V
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Rockband not profitable for Viacom
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Growth for Sony/Nintendo handheld has peaked
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Next Pokemon game on wii
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In this week’s entry, mortifiedpenguin is confused about his own opinions on Splinter Cell: Conviction.

( Read the rest of the blog entry after the jump! )

We waited for 2 years. 2 agonizing years of total blockout on any information pertaining to the game.

The forums became a place of old debates and rumours with no factual basis. No one knew what was going on other than Community Developer UbiRazz who never failed to promise us that news were forthcoming.

He said that in 2007. And continued to do so throughout the 2 years.

Now it all started when concept art and logo of Splinter Cell: Conviction were leaked in a RAR archive in 2006. These included pictures of possibly game locales which looked to be Washington, D.C. That set the tongues wagging about the possible storyline of Conviction since it was supposed to continue where our Double Agent hero escaped in the previous game.

Then in 2007 screenshots of the game were scanned from a magazine and published on the forums. They showed Sam Fisher like we had never seen before – gruff, bearded and wearing a hoodie. In the game he was throwing tables and chairs at unidentified enemies in an apartment, and blending in with the crowd to avoid detection from police in a park. All this took place in the day, giving rise to speculation that Conviction was throwing away its traditional light-and-shadow ( L/S ) stealth gameplay for social stealth, a feature also featured in Assassin’s Creed which was due to be released that same year.

Following the release of the pre-Alpha trailer, reception was mostly negative. While the idea of using almost any object in the environment as a weapon was innovative, fans felt that the initial impressions strayed too far off from the Splinter Cell roots. On the forums they repeated called for the inclusion of L/S and the iconic tri-focal night-vision goggles. The situation was so bad that Sam earned the nickname of ‘Hobo Sam’ and jokes were repeatedly pointed at blowing up the hotdog stand and throwing a printer at enemies. At that time I was caught in the middle – I thought daytime stealth would add a new dimension to the genre and there was so much potential to expand on the Sam vs law enforcement gameplay. There could be a mission where Sam is racing against a time downloading information from a computer or interrogating a suspect while SWAT officers converge on his position in the building ala The Negotiator, and he has to escape as stealthily as possible to avoid a needless shootout. But of course, L/S had to be there.

While one would expect more information to be released in the coming months, suddenly Ubi stopped talking. Well they didn’t completely shut up about the game – we were informed of the release date, initially planned for Holiday 2008, pushed back not once but three times. People grew tired of the delay nonsense and many stopped posting on the forums, but the remaining faithful stayed on to post their suggestions on how to improve Conviction since it was widely assumed that the game had been re-designed again or as a game magazine reported, ‘taken back to the drawing board’.

Following his crazed behavior, often associated with furniture, Sam was taken back for questioning for an indefinte period of time.

New life was sparked into Conviction in May 2009 when GameTrailers TV released three teaser trailers, each showing different locations – Malta, Washington and Los Angeles, the last confirming that the game will be making its long-awaited appearance at E3. There Ubisoft showed us the new trailer which on first look looked like Ubisoft had used the extra year well to make things right.

Yep, I said ‘on first look’.

L/S was definitely back, as we saw Sam infiltrating a mansion in Malta at night. But this wasn’t the same Sam we had seen in 2007, nor the one we’re familiar with in previous games. Okay, he’s back to his normal appearance ( looking the same as he was in Chaos Theory ) and no longer a hobo, but gone is the wetsuit which would match his military haircut. Also gone are the SC-20K rifle slung on his back, the tri-focal goggles on his head and the silenced SC pistol. Sam now wears a grey woollen shirt/sweater and dark cargo pants, a dress-up highly reminiscent of Jason Bourne’s.

And so are his combat skills. Instead of his usual ‘grab from the shadows’ trick, Sam is now a highly-adrenalised hunter with sharpshooting sense. Utilising a new feature called ‘Mark and Execute’ ( M&E ), the player can mark enemies and then take them down with quick accurate shots from his weapon, the shooting sequence being slowed down to dramatise the action.

It looks cool at first, but then when I think about it again this screams ‘Hollywood’.

Not that Hollywood action is wrong or bad, but this is not something which should be associated with the Splinter Cell franchise. Splinter Cell had always been a patient game which required much thinking, waiting and tactical planning in order to avoid detection. By throwing away the usual run-and-gun gameplay featured in most other titles, Ubisoft had invented an IP so unique no other game could compete with it. Even if you wanted Sam to be an action hero, the camera controls were too slow for accurate shooting and Sam was a sponge for enemy bullets. So the only way to win the game was to stay in the shadows.

Sam is so skilled he doesn't need to aim to get a neck shot. Meh.

The developers of Conviction were right to say that stealth was forced upon the player. But was it necessary to change the formula? Head of the team is Maxime Beland, who was previously in charge of another Ubisoft-Tom Clancy project – Rainbow Six: Vegas and its sequel. It’s weird for Ubisoft to replace the former producer Mathieu Ferland who was responsible for the franchise’s success since its debut in 2002, and one could guess that the company aims to sell the franchise to a larger mainstream audience using the expertise of a designer coming from an action background. ( Ferland was last seen in Toronto promoting the new studio which will be producing movies in the future., the first being the Assassin’s Creed shorts. ) That was what happened to Rainbow Six and it wasn’t very popular with the hardcore fans, and I’m beginning to suspect it will be the same with Splinter Cell.

Conviction begins with Sam’s hunt for the man who killed his daughter ( she was killed in a hit and run accident in the previous game ) and that personal quest for revenge has changed the former Third Echelon operative. Very much. Sam no longer works for the NSA, hence his missing equipment which we’ve grown used to. In place of high-tech gadgetry Sam has to make use of everyday objects to aid him, for example instead of using the optic cable Sam has to break the mirror of his SUV and hold it below a door to see what’s behind. Without his goggles and HUD meter, players will now know if they’re hidden in the dark when the screen turns black and white. Now this is where the dumbing down of a great franchise starts to worry me. You don’t even need a noise meter since you’re absolutely quiet when crouching. Bullshit, I say.

The worst bit is the speed at which Sam scales ledges. He moves so quickly while hanging there’re only two explanations for this: either he weighs like a feather or he has the strength of the Hulk. ( See 1:58 of this video. )

They say he’s driven by his emotions. Right, so emotions are a drug then?

Other unrealistic bits which should be corrected in a AAA-title include how weapons appear magically on Sam’s back when he walks over them – there is no need for an animation depicting picking up a weapon, and how Sam can jump from great heights without hurting himself. But my gripe doesn’t end here. I’m more concerned about the focus of the development team. Their repeated emphasis on Sam’s mission to find his daughter’s killer makes me think that Sam has now become a cold-blooded killer, as seen from his gruesome interrogation techniques and lack of non-lethal combat skills. Until now, we have yet to see Sam knock out an enemy guard; every gameplay video shows Sam killing the enemy either with a weapon or his bare hands. Fans of the series will know that Sam does not like killing and only does so when he needs to. Taking away the simple option of sparing a man’s life takes away the morality of a character which Ubisoft intended to develop in Conviction. Kind of ironic, isn’t it?

So tell me again, do you like the new Conviction?

The latest gameplay video has proven to us that the game is not scripted and the levels can be played through multiple routes. This also means that you don’t have to use M&E throughout the game, but it is still unclear if there are situations where M&E is forced upon you. For example, in the said video, is there any other way you could rescue the scientist without blinding the terrorists with a flashbang and then dropping in to kill them? Ubisoft has repeatedly claimed that the stealth is still there with the action elements as an add-on, but what we fans need as affirmation is a gameplay video showcasing the ability to complete a level without the need to use lethal force at all, that is to say ‘100% stealth rating’ if we talk in Chaos Theory terms.

Conviction has since been pushed back to February 23 2010 from its Holiday 2009 release date, and this gives it ample time to sort out the issues which have been listed out above. My honest opinion is that Conviction looks really better than the previous build, but it needs to get the focus on stealth back, or at least prove to us that it has not forsaken it for Hollywood action. Put back the option of non-lethal attacks, give us the ability to hide bodies and eliminate the ridiculous bugs. When it does, I’m sure many of the hardcore fans who were hoping for a ‘Chaos Theory 2′ would be happier than before.

The best Splinter Cell game to date, Chaos Theory will remain the standard to beat unless Conviction can prove us wrong.

For now, the only thing we fans can do is hope that Ubisoft is willing to listen to the fans who made Splinter Cell the ultimate stealth franchise it is today, and not get caught up in their pride and ego after winning so much praise in various previews. But for a producer who didn’t like the previous Splinter Cell games and even the iconic wetsuit, my hands clasp even harder.

Well, at least they gave us the goggles we wanted. But even then, they aren’t the same pair we grew up with. What’s with legal wall hacking?

I understand some of the philosophy driving Conviction. Looking at how Double Agent ended, change was bound to happen. I do felt frustrated at times when playing Chaos Theory. Why can’t Sam be a bit faster, why can’t he be bit more proactive? But I didn’t expect such revolutionary changes to the new game. Yes the quick hand-to-hand combat and fast shooting makes Sam feel much more lethal and I like the addition, but is it too much of an overkill? If you look at the G4TV video again, the scene where Sam charges into the room with his shotgun is just ridiculous. Even when he takes hits from the automatic weapon, he acts as though there is no effect or pain whatsoever, not even a realistic shout of pain or drop in his combat abilities.  Now that’s an example of the team being blatantly ignorant, and it has got to stop.

What if Conviction fails to address the above problems? I’d force myself to embrace the change and buy the game, like I always do with all SC titles – I know, by doing so I’m falling into Ubisoft’s trap. But hell I had waited so long for this game already. Yet after finishing the game I’ll put it away knowing that the industry has lost yet another unique franchise to the devil known as money.

Hopefully that need not happen.

An Australian retailer JB Hi-Fi have a listing for a Collector’s Edition of Conviction on their website. It includes a “Making Of” DVD, a Sam Fisher figurine, a comic, a free download of Chaos Theory for 360 owners and other exclusive in-game content.

Sound pretty cool, I just hope that the free download for Chaos Theory will also be available to PC users. Because everyone deserves to play that game, it’s the best in the franchise. And Ubisoft knows this. Why else would they include it in the Collector’s Edition? If all this is true that is.

Ubisoft couldn’t sneak this limited edition copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction past the web. Scheduled for an Australian release, this bundle comes packed with a “scratch card to unlock unique in-game content,” 32-page comic, making of DVD and a download code for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory from Xbox Live. For 119 AUD ($104.42 USD), we’re torn between wanting it stateside.