1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle’s actions in the film is to believe he’s there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.
2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle’s primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle’s book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.
3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film’s earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.”
4. The Real Chris Kyle Made Up A Story About Killing Dozens of People In Post-Katrina New Orleans: Kyle claimed that he killed 30 people in the chaos of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a story Louisiana writer Jarvis DeBerry calls “preposterous.” It shows the sort of mentality post-war Kyle had, but the claim doesn’t appear in the film.
5. The Real Chris Kyle Fabricated A Story About Killing Two Men Who Tried To Carjack Him In Texas: Kyle told numerous people a story about killing two alleged carjackers in Texas. Reporters tried repeatedly to verify this claim, but no evidence of it exists.
6. Chris Kyle Was Successfully Sued For Lying About the Former Governor of Minnesota:Kyle alleged that former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura defamed Navy SEALs and got into a fight with him at a local bar. Ventura successfully sued Kyle for the passage in his book, and a jury awarded him $1.845 million.
7. Chris Kyle’s Family Claimed He Donated His Book Proceeds To Veterans’ Charity, But He Kept Most Of The Profits: The National Review debunks the claim that all proceeds of his book went to veterans’ charities. Around 2 percent – $52,000 – went to the charities while the Kyles pocketed $3 million.
IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT KIND OF WRITER YOU ARE YOU CAN BE WRITING: POEMS, FANFICS, IDK NORMAL FICS, NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, IDK ANYTHING!! JUST REBLOG!!!
…But what the word “feminist” does do is acknowledge the very long history of the women’s rights movement. I agree with what [Joss Whedon is] saying: It should just be assumed men and women are equally important and equally capable—but it’s not, and it hasn’t been for thousands of years. So, “feminism” and being a “feminist” is an acknowledgement of that history and the culture we’ve lived in for a long time. It’s a reaction to that, but for me, that’s an important acknowledgement to make.
JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT SPOUTING SO MUCH TRUTH (via carolineeand)
I had a day off this weekend from shooting Supernatural, and I was walking around downtown Vancouver on Saturday, sampling all the artisan coffee I could get my throat around. At one point I saw a pair of guys walking towards me wearing gamer shirts. Black short-sleeved, one Halo and one Call of...
Indiecade is an international festival for independent games held yearly in Culver City, CA. This was my first time attending and I had a blast. I highly recommend going if you get the chance. Being surrounded by so much creativity and passion for games was inspiring and I thought I would share my thoughts on some of my favorite games from the show.
Walden
Walden is a game based on a book of the same title by Henry David Thoreau. In the book Thoreau recounts his time living in the wilderness near Walden pond in Concord, Massachusetts. The the central themes for the novel are an appreciation for nature, simple living, and finding inspiration as a necessity to a fulfilling life. The book is one of my personal favorites and the level of detail that the game embodies in recreating Thoreau’s experience is impressive. Everything from the tone of the whimsical music to the simple art style establish a serene environment in a world that I would love to “find inspiration” in. The game is being developed by the USC Game Innovation Lab, a group of USC Game Designers led by Tracy Fullerton.
Sportsball
Sportsball is a “local multiplayer team sports game” where you control a bird with a mounted rider in a game where you joust or tackle opponents into submission and run balls into a goal to score points. It’s unclear whether the birds are gigantic or the human-like riders are tiny, but what is clear is that Sportsball is a chaotic frenzy of fun. There are four colors or “teams” with a maximum of four players and any mix of teams or free-for-all can be played among four players. Each team has a different set of birds that control differently, some faster, slower, stronger, etc. The game starts with one ball on the field and new balls are added with each “tackle” that occurs. You can tackle other players by merely stomping on them from above or behind, and if the collision goes head-to-head, the higher attack wins. Tackled players drop a new ball and are temporarily sent to the penalty box inside the goal. I loved how zealous the staffers working the display were, particularly during the tournament which they served as both announcers and hypemen during the event. The game was developed by TOO DX and will be released on the WiiU in late 2014 in time for the holidays.
Runbow
Runbow is a 2D platformer racing game. You play one of nine identical muscley characters with masks that are differentiated only by their color. For fun and easier identifiability on screen, players are encouraged to customize their characters with masks, hats, and hair-dos. The game plays out like if a 2D Mario game had competitive multi-player, except with punching, and hilarious flexing cartoon taunts. The twist is that many of the platforms are different colors and the background is constantly changing color. If you were going to jump to a green platform and the background turns green, guess what, that platform is gone until the background changes again. But fear not! Your character is equipped with a double-jump to save you in those last-minute change situations. Everything in the game from the art-style to the gameplay are all very simple, but great fun, and the fact that it supports nine players at one time (WiiU Gamepad, 4 x wiimotes, 4 x class controller) is remarkable and makes it a party game. Runbow was developed by 13AM and is set to release on the Wii U in 2015.
Sixense Stem System (VR Lightsabers)
I am, like many nerds, a huge fan of Star Wars, so it was with great glee that I strapped on an Oculus Rift (DKII) took hold of Sixense “Stem System” controllers and played their tech demo, essentially a simulation of Luke’s Jedi training lightsaber exercise with the flying remote droid from A New Hope. The sound of a lightsaber firing up in my hand filled me with childlike glee, deflecting blaster bolts and slashing at remote targets was a joy. The Stem System had surprisingly fast response with no visible lag at all. Of all the control peripherals that interfaced with the Oculus Rift it was by far the most impressive. If I could play through a 1st Person Viewpoint Knights of the Old Republic ala Maken X using the Oculus Rift and the Stem System controllers I would pay all the moneys.
Nidhogg
Nidhogg is a dueling game. You control one of two monochrome fencers that fight it out in the goal of reaching the end of a level and being eaten by a gigantic worm monster. You can stab, jump, jump-kick, roll, sweep, throw your sword, punch, and choke out people on the ground. You’re probably going to be stabbing the most though. The match begins and you and your opponent fight it out for “right of way.” The first person to get a kill gains “right of way” and they travel in the appropriate direction (left if starting on the right side and vice versa). The opponent will respawn later in the level and continue to fight you. If the opponent succeeds in killing you then they gain right of way and they get to travel in their direction. What results is a virtual tug-of-war battle, a mix of juking, lucky happenstance kills, and mix-up heavy encounters that could only be made more amusing by speeding up the video and playing the Benny Hill theme over it. Nidhogg was developed by Messhof and is available now on the Playstation Online store (PS4/Vita), PC, and Mac.
Starwhal: Just The Tip
Starwhal is a multi-player combat game where you play as a Narwhal that flies through space, wears silly hats, and tries to stab at the hearts of other Narwhals. The control for the game feels unwieldy at first, but over time the controls become more familiar and you realize that certain actions need to be done sooner and more subtly, then you’re piercing the Narwhal hearts in no time. I especially appreciated the dramatic visual mechanic of slowing down the camera whenever a horn was flying into the path of the heart of one of the opponent Narwhals for a stab or a near-miss. Starwhal was developed by Breakfall and is available on Steam and will be out on the Playstation Store in late 2014.
Elbow Room
Elbow Room is a game of competitive rhythmic keyboard tapping. Players surround a keyboard and each select a key. After everyone has tapped their key twice, the game begins. A cursor moves around the screen in a circle and players must tap their key while the cursor is still in their respective sector. Failure to tap the key or tapping at the wrong time will result in a strike, three strikes and you’re out of the game. As players successfully strike their keys the cursor will move faster and faster prompting even tighter timing on taps. The game shakes up when reversals start happening where players tap their key twice while the cursor is in their sector to reverse the direction to fake out other players, causing the person ahead of you to tap at the wrong time and the person behind to miss their tap. The interface for the game has a nice clean design and the clearly marked orbs denoting remaining strikes for each player was a welcome element added for the second day. The game can feasibly (just barely so) be played with over a dozen people surrounding a keyboard at one time. The ease of accessibility of only needing a standard PC and keyboard, mixed with the support for over a dozen players gives Elbow Room great potential as a casual party game. Elbow Room was developed by Deep Dark Hole.
Henka Twist Caper
Henka Twist Caper is a physical game where players use Playstation Move controllers to fill a meter by tilting the controller at precisely the correct angle. When the controller is at the right angle it will light up, vibrate, and fill a meter shown on a screen. The first player (or team) to fill their meter to the top wins. Players are encouraged to grab at other player’s controller’s in an attempt to prevent them from tilting their Move controllers at the right angle while keeping theirs at the right angle to fill their meter. Of course, rough-housing is encouraged, but nothing that would cause serious injury like punching or kicking. Inevitably, this game will be compared to Johann Sebastian Joust, another favorite indie game of mine. While Henka is similar in formula it offers a different enough experience from Joust to make it worthwhile. Henka Twist Caper was developed by Origaminc.
Hyper Light Drifter
Hyper Light Drifter is a hack and slash game with beautiful retro-style graphics. The controls for the game felt very responsive and the dash movements mixed with the sword slashes and projectile weapons lend themselves well to slick combinations, setting Drifter to be the Devil May Cry of isometric viewpoint hack-and-slash action games. The Kickstarter for this game saw enormous success and I can’t wait for the full release copy to be available. Many writers have compared Drifter to Supergiant’s Transistor game because of their futuristic aesthetics and their similar isometric viewpoint hack and slash gameplay. I absolutely loved Transistor and having played the demo I feel that Drifter has a very different look, rhythm, and feel compared to Transistor. That said, the games are similar enough that if you loved Transistor, you should give Drifter a look. Hyper Light Drifter is being developed by Heart Machine and is scheduled to be released in 2015.
Private Eye
Private Eye places you in control of a 1950’s New York detective trying to piece your memory back together after an accident. The game utilizes the Occulus Rift to create an amazing sense of immersion of the character and environment. The sense of depth in the graphics and the tone of suspicion in the flashback was haunting. That said, it felt as though the UI of the game needed some work, as targeting of objects in the environments was dependent on “looking” with the Occulus Rift at just the right spot. This was not intuitive at first due to the interaction boxes being too small. I’m still very excited to try out a more finished product, and from a storytelling perspective, Private Eye was one of the most interesting games that utilized the Occulus Rift that I played this year. Private Eye is being developed by Slacker Games.
Light Fight
(I didn't get a picture of light fight, so instead this a picture of the concerts they had during the Night Games.)
Light Fight is a turn-based strategy game and one of the few “Big Games” I got to play during Indiecade, that is, physical game that requires a large space and/or props. It was only on during Night Games on Saturday night as it requires darkness to play. You play on a field consisting of a large rectangle with boxes arranged on it. There are two teams of two players and everyone gets a flashlight. There are two ways to win the game: 1)Have both you and your teammate switch places (reach opposite corners) or 2)Light up three of the opposing team member’s feet with your flashlight. Each player starts the game on an opposite corner of the rectangle from their teammate. On your turn you have the option to take two steps or to step and light your flashlight (except the first turn where you have to take two steps). A referee will determine what counts as a step and whether a foot is lit enough to count (at least half). An important thing to remember is that if you shine your light, it’s as if you’ve created a zone of light, you must keep it aimed where you light it until the beginning of your next turn, and there is “friendly-fire.” So if your teammate finishes their turn with their foot in your light, that counts as being lit. The boxes on the field are used for “cover” from the light. The game almost never ends in reaching the opposite side and almost always turns into a turn-based strategy of determining an angle of attack on your opponent’s feet. The resulting gameplay is fun and engaging romp involving gigantic acrobatic steps, risky, but calculated light attacks and movement. Light Fight was developed by Arkadium and is available now for anyone with flashlights, cones, and boxes.
Sunder
Sunder is a 2D puzzle and platformer game that utilizes multiple color dimensions to create a unique cooperative experience. Sunder is designed to be played wearing those 3D glasses people wore to drive-ins in the 50’s, except all red or all blue. If you’re viewing the game screen without the glasses you hazily see two layered game worlds, a red and blue one. When you put on the glasses, the color filters out part of what is on screen giving you an incomplete, but coherent picture of the game world. The other player cannot see many enemies and obstacles in your game world and it is initially frustrating to try to describe what is around you. As you get better at the game you become better at communicating and problem solving with your partner along the way. The game is designed to give the player a limited viewpoint making them dependent on clear and effective communication with a partner to traverse the environments, and rewarding teamwork. Sunder offers a teamwork experience that was fun and engaging in a way I haven’t felt since cooperative play in Monaco or Portal 2. The game was developed by DigiPen Team Mocha and is available for the PC.
Bonus: A picture of me playing the Samsung Gear VR headset made it into the Verge article covering Indiecade! The Samsung Gear VR uses the Galaxy Note to create a 3D VR experience. While not quite as immersive as the Oculus Rift, the utility of being able to use a smartphone and wireless operation make it an intriguing avenue for VR games.
Powerful photos capture the student protests in Mexico barely anyone is talking about
While the world has focused its attention on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, there’s another student movement gaining steam on the other side of the world.
The unfolding protests gripping Mexico began in the small town of Iguala, in the southwest region of Guerrero state, where the disappearance of 43 student teachers on the night of Sept. 26 has sparked outrage amid allegations of collaboration between local police and organized crime.
Do you think that your 16 year old daughter hasn’t masturbated already? Like, do you really think there’s anything in that scene that this chick hasn’t already tried when the lights go out at night, or in the bathroom, or in the tub, or with the shower head or something like that? I’m telling you, man, I’m not teaching this broad anything new. If I were to create a rating system, I wouldn’t even put murder right at the top of the chief offenses. I would put rape right at the top, and assault against women. Because it’s so insanely overused and insulting how much it’s overused in movies as a plot device, a woman in peril. That, to me, is offensive, yet that shit skates.
Kevin Smith (director) on the ridiculousness of movies about sex receiving NC-17 ratings while extremely violent movies get by with R ratings. (via crackinthepaint)
Fun fact: Morgan Ramsay, founder of the Entertainment Media Counsel, did an objective study of how much of gaming journalism talks about sexism or social justice.
To do this, he downloaded 130,524 articles from 37 RSS feeds of 23 outlets, including The Escapist, Rock Paper Shotgun, CVG, Edge Online, Eurogamer, Gamasutra, Game Informer, GamePolitics, GamesBeat, GamesIndustry International, GameSpot, GamesRadar, IGN, IndieGames, Joystiq, Kotaku, Massively, MCV, NowGamer, PocketGamer.biz, Polygon, Shacknews and VG24/7, published over a period of twelve months. He then did a search on how often these games articles mentioned sexism, feminism, or misogyny.
The result? Over a period of one year, 0.41% of 130,524 articles referenced feminism, feminist, sexism, sexist, misogyny, and misogynist explicitly.
That’s less than half of one percent.
So next time you hear someone whining that “feminism is taking over video games journalism”, what they’re actually whining about is that feminism exists in video games journalism.
With all the heat Anita Sarkeesian gets for her Tropes series, you’d think it was a new topic, but Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert had a discussion on a similar theme when they were talking about the influx of slasher movies on their show in 1980.
Today In Solidarity: Students in Hong Kong protest against Beijing’s refusal to allow fully democratic elections when the city chooses its next leader in 2017.
