I’ve written loads of posts, just need to edit them and start posting again. I like to think I’m a better writer now than I was in 2024 but we’ll see. Not long now.
Author: Callum Gibson
Is Art Quality Objective?
Can a work of art be objectively good or bad?
It is a surprisingly hard question to answer.
Some people say that all art criticism is subjective. Nothing is objectively good or bad. It all comes down to subjective preference.
Others say that art can be objectively measured. Personal opinions can be removed from the discussion and a hard number can be assigned to works of art according to quality.
The Optimism of Thunderbirds (1960s)
The 1960s TV show Thunderbirds fascinated me as a child. Though it first aired long before I was born, and I have long since grown up, Thunderbirds still resonates with me in a way other sci-fi shows do not. There are many reasons: the machines, music, suspense, heroism, special effects. But above all this, it is Thunderbirds’ optimism for the future of humanity and its endorsement of an ambitious pursuit of technological progress that distinguishes it from sci-fi of recent decades and imbues it with a lasting appeal that persists to this day.
My Childhood in Miniature – Thunderbirds (1960s) Review
It is an inevitable fact of the universe that every kid who watches Thunderbirds is seized by an overwhelming desire to possess replicas of the five Thunderbirds and pod vehicles.
Thunderbirds is about an organisation called International Rescue and their efforts to save people from disasters with a fleet of ingenious machines. The story is set in the near future from a 1960s perspective, where everything has a charming retrofuturistic aesthetic. There are five flagship machines—the Thunderbirds—plus a fleet of smaller machines that Thunderbird 2 carries in its cargo pods.
“30 Seconds of Fun” is a Brilliant Focusing Principle
Jaime Griesmer’s “30 seconds of fun” quote still holds true.
Jaime Griesmer was a designer for Halo 1 and 2. His job was to tune many of the mechanics in both games. He worked on the weapons, vehicles, characters, AI, controls, camera, multiplayer, single-player difficulty, “all the stuff [he] called ‘sandbox gameplay'”.
In an interview for Halo 1, he said his famous statement: “In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over and over again. And so, if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game.”
My Favourite Factions in Video Games
I love video game factions for the same reason sports fans love their teams despite their team not winning a match for decades. There is something strangely energising about being part of a greater whole, immersing yourself in a crowd and allowing yourself to be carried along with the current.
Will GTA 6 Include a Remastered Los Santos and Liberty City?
GTA 6 will be the third game in GTA’s HD universe. Liberty City and Southern San Andreas (which I’ll just call Los Santos for convenience) are the latest and more detailed reimaginings of the same cities Rockstar has done twice before. With remastered textures and GTA 6’s cutting edge graphical tech, Liberty City and Los Santos would not seem out of place alongside GTA 6’s Vice City.
Rockstar has not confirmed any plans to combine all these maps into one world—but there are clues that they’re at least thinking about it.
Why GTA 5’s Map Feels Empty
GTA 5’s Los Santos is one of the biggest and most detailed maps in gaming. In the annals of video game maps, Los Santos is one of the best.
Despite this, I’ve never loved it. In fact, GTA 5’s Los Santos is my least favourite map in the mainline series since its transition to 3D.
I’ve talked about one of the reasons why the map disappoints me in my analysis of the map’s actual vs perceived size. Another issue, one that has bothered me since 2013, is that the map feels ’empty’.
Amnesia: The Bunker – A Masterful Immersive Sim (Review)
Many have said that Amnesia: The Bunker is a ‘return to form’ for Frictional Interactive. Having now played it (fashionably late, as usual), they are half right.
The Surprisingly Relaxing Atmosphere of Battlefield: Bad Company 2
One of the reasons why many Battlefield fans still consider Bad Company 2 their favourite multiplayer game in the series is its atmosphere.
By atmosphere, I mean the game’s general mood—the emotions it usually conveys through sound, visuals, gameplay, and story.
Bad Company 2’s multiplayer doesn’t have any explicit story and I have written about its gameplay elsewhere, so this post will mainly cover sound and visuals.