Wii, expanding the boundaries of video games

Obviously today's video games sessions winner was the Nintendo Wii.
Of course, it was the most recent one and it has been the most hot platform on the
video game market recently. But obviously our wonderful, *cough*, instructors had
something on their mind when they brought it in to our session.

Wii is different from other video games because it expands the virtual video reality
from the images we see on the screen to our immediate reality.

Maneuvering that joy pad into set positions and moving it around in the air was something really different from just pushing buttons at the right moment, like conventional video games have been. The actual actions you take in our immediate reality takes affect in the virtual reality in the video game, thus connecting those two.

It was also important that Wario, the main character in the game, found the exact same Wii control pad that the real user uses. What that does is that it directly connects the player with thevideo game world. It is no longer you assuming this other identity and doing unrealistic
actions , for example shooting rockets or flying airplanes by a push of a button.
When playing Wii, you direct very "urgent" girls and boys to each of their restrooms, you pick your nose, you literally drop the joy pad, you make food; all actions that are rather realistic and more intimate to us.


I think this connection Wii established between the player and the video game reality is why Wii was so successful worldwide. The unique joy pad and the skillfully made games took gaming to another level, shortening the gap between virtual and "ultimate" reality, in my opinion.

"time code"; moving beyond the story

We received a disclaimer that this movie was "unconventional", but what we saw as soon as the play button was pushed certainly was more than unconventional. Multiple perspectives were represented in four split screens and no editting was used. The movie was shot in one single shot for every camera. The acting was improvised, only with a basic plot, and all the events that happened around them (i.e., a fire truck moving by) was real time.

After viewing this film, many questions rised in my head. Aside from the "unconventional" elements of the movie, the most pressing curiosity of mine was that why did the film maker name the movie "Time Code." The fact that the title doesn't deal with the plot at all should evidently mean that there is something more to this movie than the story shown itself.
The movie's basic plot was about a lesbian woman trying to get ahead in her acting career by having an affair with the producer and a movie executive going through a possible divorce. It would be fair to say these topics, romance and betrayal, are common narrative devices used in conventional movies. But, in the contrary, the point of this film indeed lies in this "common" nature of the narrative. Most conventional movies focus on the narrative, focus on the story and the ways to convey that story to the audience are secondary. In "Time Code", the plot is secondary; the way this plot is conveyed holds more meaning.

First, the movie was shot in four consecutive shots, meaning that no camera stopped filiming until the movie was over. Normally, without the editting process, no film ever gets released. But in this film, the notion that the editting process would be omitted was a basic premise. As an effect of this omittance of manipulating and distorting time, namely the editting process, time was portrayed in the movie as raw as possible to capture. Every actor in that film lived the same amount of length of time as the audience would see it.

Secondly, the four cameras provided four different perspectives which lead to a kind of "tele-presence" of the viewer in each situation. We can never experience the "present state" as it self, because we are humanly limitted to only experience the "present" we are experiencing first hand. Even if any other factor greatly affects our present reality , we do not consider that our "present" because we can't sense it. The "Time Code" attempts to portray the "present state" as accurately as humanly possible. It shows all the situations and point of views concerning the "present state" through the tele-presence of multiple cameras not losing anything because they continually film everything. As those situations converge, the camera shots also converge being in the same space.

Third, the fact that the actors themselves had to improvise and really "live" in this certainly staged reality added to the sensation of "real time." Actors were certainly less prepared as we could see in the raw acting and sort of unorganized camera movement. But this cinematic mess definitely contributed to the fact that as we, the viewers, watch the movie , the actors are also experiencing this movie, so a sort of connection to the reality of the movie between the viewer and the movie is more easily established.

"Time Code" was certainly something new. These are just speculations I bring forth, so a definite explanation of the intentions of this movie from the movie maker would clear many things up I think. However, I am almost certain of the fact that there is something more than the plot to this movie.

Teletopia

Personally, I thought it would have helped immensely if we had a class discussion prior to this response essay.

"The Third Interval" dealt with the changing concept of time and space and examined the effects of that changing dynamics between human and time.

This essay examines many different relationships between time and human. The most interesting relationship was the changing concept of the "present" through the emergence of teletopia. Teletopia is essentially a paradox; you are not there but you are there. The concept of being "telepresent" was first introduced through various technologies that enabled the "instantantenous teleactions." It's basic concept is to be here and elsewhere at the same time. Tele- is the prefix for distance, as you know, so the representative phrases introduced in the essay are "Immediate teleaction, and instantenous telepresence."

One example that fits this concept was the "data suit" that was introduced in the essay. Essentially, this device had sensors attached on the suit that transferred the identical actions
to another device that was in another space. The same motions and actions could be
reproduced transcending space through this suit.

My dilemma was that if we could indeed call this telepresence another "presence." Through optoelectronics we are creating an illusion that merely resembles the present. Even if technology continues to develop and we arrive at a stage where we can perfectly transfer every action or even thoughts to this other entity of telepresence, (which indeed could end up as a clone) in my opinion it does not carry the siginificance and realness of the presence.

Telepresence is reproducing another reality, but in no way could this be considered an equivalent to the real presence, in my opinion. "You" as an entity only exist only once in this world, and I think that the claim that the telepresence adds another dimension to our lives is an overstatement.


I still have limited understanding of the text, I am still trying to understand on how the quote "To define the present in isolation is to kill it." contradicts or supports my claim.

Response to "Time Machine"

The latter part of "Time Machine" was rather focused on resolving
the problems and ironies that have presented themselves in the first
half of the book. The mysteries between the Eloi and the Morlocks are
explained on some level and the adventure through time eventually
comes to an end, at least for some time.


I think the irony lies in that even though the time traveler embarks
on this grand journey to trancend and be emancipated from all the
restrains of space and time, eventually the time traveler is so inevitably
binded by the "time machine" itself. As soon as the device disappears,
the appreciation and observation of the future is diminished to mere luxury
and the sole purpose of this journey is to RETURN to the present state.

During this quest to return, the time traveler realizes the existence of the
morlocks, the more unappreciated species that survivied in the future.
However he tries to fight those with matches, he is eventually overwhelmed.
The stark contrast between the lifestyle of the Eloi and the Murlock
made me realize that the Murlock were a mere byproduct of the
Eloi who lead such a glamorous and peaceful life on the surface.

In conclusion, such material obstacles such as the disappearance of the
machine itself and the interference of the murlocks have ironiacally hindered
the freedom and ambitions of the time traveler, when he was supposed to
transcend on his way to explore the future. An interesting fact is that time could
not be conceived nor conceptualized as itself in terms of that world where
this takes place. Time is always realized through a relative standard or point of time
such as the Sun going down and up or creatures acting in a certian way.