8: Get Hi

At the risk of being the guy in 1993 who tipped his friends off to this hot new three-piece band from Seattle, I’ll be faster than usual*. This is the part where you breath a sigh of relief.**

Last July, I graduated from university. It still seems so fresh, which makes the 6 months or so that have since passed all the scarier. I’ve been back home since May, so it’s really been about 8 months since my circumstances changed. The transition was rocky. Being home for more than 3 weeks (or a few months in the summer) for the first time in 3 years was different entirely with no end in sight. Being away from friends, with no real sense of purpose bar looking for jobs that don’t exist wasn’t easy so much as soul destroying. Throw in shop work and you’re a few notches shy of a Falling Down moment.

Then Annual Gift Man brought a PlayStation Mach 3 down the chimney. It rocks. Boy, howdy, does it rock. Since about 1996, I’ve been pretty faithful to Sony. Not quite a monogamist (hello, N64), but a dedicated follower nonetheless. The PS2 was fairly instrumental in much of my home entertainment from 2000 through 2005. Even when Microsoft staged their coup de main, I was never seriously tempted to defect. Other things were going on. Uni, for one. But with my studies finished, (and no prospect of putting them to good use) my thirst for games recently reawakened.

I conducted reconnaissance, trying to catch up with what had taken place in my gaming sabbatical. What had I missed? How would I know which machine would be right for me now that so much time had passed?

My attraction to the PS3 was never really in doubt. I realize that there are probably 360 users already formulating the inevitable “X-Box is well better” response. To them I say, “each to their own.” The 360 may well be “better” for a multitude of reasons. The N64 was twice as powerful as the original Playstation (or “GreyStation”, as Nintendoids dubbed it.) Did this stop Sony’s underdog wiping the floor with it? No dice. These things happen. I don’t know for sure that the PS3 is my gaming “soul-mate” (I’m not sold on the whole “one Mr/Mrs Right” thing) and it needn’t be. Like the rebound relationship that leads to long-term happiness, I’m happy to see how it goes. It’s right for me, right now.

How do I know this? Well, if, like me, you regularly read movie sites/magazines, then you’ll be aware of the rise of a new power in the home cinema domain. It promises 5 times the resolution of standard DVD, true HD 5.1 Surround Sound, and web-based special features content. It goes by the name of Blu-ray. If I hadn’t studied away from home, I wouldn’t have appreciated the jump to HD nearly as much. When your only experience with HD is the occasional glance at a screen while shopping or at a friends or relatives, up-scaling hits you like a drop-kick to the nerve-centre from Kimbo Slice.***

The Dark Knight, which Santos also saw fit to bestow upon me, is stunning on Blu-ray. In fact, superlatives barely cut it. The vertigo-inspiring highs of the Hong Kong sequence, the Joker’s hospital boom boom scene, and Two-Face’s face, all amaze. Regardless of your view of the film, see also Transformers. This is to say nothing of Call of Duty: World At War which is just about the most playable game since, well, Modern Warfare or no. 3. If you don’t squeam/squeal/dump your cargo the first time a Banzai attacker rushes you, you’re doing it wrong.

Throw a Panasonic 1080p Viera TV into the mix for maximum oh, baby, yes.

I could go on. When I started getting DVDs, it was already the standard. Full-page ads in movie mags enticing people to eschew VHS were old hat. To feel fairly in sync is a welcome change.**** After a largely lukewarm second half to ‘08, HD’s arrival was just what I needed: a reminder that sometimes, it’s the little things that make life worth living. That and flame-throwering evil into submission on the sands of 40’s Japan. And sending out global shock-waves with a Northern Irish brand of total football…

* fner.
** fner fner.
*** http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VbSP0tLzHtw&feature=related
**** so anyone about to post their “err, I’ve been buying Blu-rays for my jumbo-tron telly for two years. Pff! Where were you?” comment, feel free to swivel. Conversely, if you identified with me, make the leap. Go on, do it. You know it’s right.

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Ian Pratt fully expects the impending Aliens: Colonial Marines game to be Call of Duty Lite in Space. Like every other right-minded individual, this excites him.