Month: July 2012

James Bond was given Carte Blanche for a reboot.

D'Arque Bishop

It most likely will not be a surprise to some that I’m a fan of James Bond. It was my parents who got me into Bond when I was nine or ten, when my father picked up For Your Eyes Only on videodisc. I really enjoyed the film, and Dad obliged in getting me others. Pretty soon, I noticed he had a Bond book or two, and asked to borrow them. In the end, I found the Bond movies to be fairly hit or miss compared to the books, which I much preferred. For example, I consider Roger Moore to be a terrible Bond (For Your Eyes Only is his only outing I like), I didn’t care for the Pierce Brosnan movies, and I consider Daniel Craig to be closest to the original literary Bond, with Timothy Dalton coming a close second.

I have three of the original Ian Fleming novels (Casino Royale, Moonraker, and From Russia With Love), and five of the official continuation novels by John Gardner (Licence Renewed, For Special Services, Nobody Lives Forever, No Deals, Mr. Bond, and Scorpius). Despite my enjoyment of the Bond books in my teen years, I lost track of the series after Scorpius, and was only vaguely aware that Raymond Benson had taken over the series in the late 90’s. I read my existing books every so often, but hadn’t considered buying a new book.

So, I was a bit surprised this past weekend when I was staying at my parents’ house, to find a new Bond novel in hardcover in one of my parents’ many bookcases. The book, Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver, turned out to be a complete reboot of the series (similar to how Casino Royale rebooted the movie series). Intrigued, I decided to borrow it and read it.

Having read it, I have to say… I really like this book.

One of the biggest advantages of dumping the existing canon was getting rid of the nebulous timeframe in which Bond operates; considering the books had been set in “modern times” since the first one came out in 1953, it made taking the history seriously a little difficult. In some genres this isn’t really a problem, but in the ever-changing world of international espionage and politics, it becomes a tad troublesome. In Carte Blanche, Bond is reinvented as a relatively new agent of a British espionage agency called ODG after having served in Afghanistan. MI6 still exists in this timeline; the ODG performs the dirty and deniable espionage jobs that MI6 politically can no longer afford to do. M returns to being a male former Naval admiral; in the Benson books, the M character had been changed to one like Dame Judi Dench’s portrayal. Moneypenny and Mary Goodnight (Bond’s secretary, only seen in one film) return, as do Felix Leiter and Rene Mathis; all four characters are updated to fit the current times. Goodnight, for example, is described as constantly getting Titanic references thrown at her due to her looking like Kate Winslet, and Leiter maintains his cover as a CIA handler by posing as a blogger and journalist. A valuable addition to the Bond cast is Ophelia Maidenstone, ODG’s liasion to MI6 who assists Bond several times throughout the novel.

The main plot itself moves briskly, involving an investigation into an intercepted message which hints at a plot to kill thousands and affect British interests. More than other Bond books I’ve read before, the investigation takes several twists and turns, with more than one false lead not panning out. It’s not until the very end that everything becomes clear; while I was surprised by how it turned out, the final resolution did not come out left field per se. It still made a lot of sense and worked quite well. Several subplots stand out, including Bond’s dealing with a domestic British agent more concerned with his political power and glory than getting the mission done, and a side investigation into a Russian operation that touched Bond’s personal life.

I was highly impressed with how Jeffery Deaver rebooted the franchise; needless to say, I was disappointed to learn Deaver would not be continuing in the series, instead being replaced by William Boyd. In addition, Boyd’s new novel would not be following the reboot, taking place in 1969 instead. It seems a waste to me, especially as Deaver had left the door open to an overarching plot line.

Personally, I’m hoping Ian Fleming Publications allows Deaver or someone else to do the right thing and return to the rebooted timeline. In any event, I enjoyed Carte Blanche as a stand-alone Bond novel, and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the original Bond novels.

If you’re an 80’s geek, you need to read Ready Player One.

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

In a sense, it’s kind of funny that after doing a post about Atari’s 40th anniversary, I’m writing about a book that references Atari so heavily. :-)

A month ago, I had picked up a copy of Ready Player One at a local bookstore. I finally read it a few days ago, and I have to say, I was very impressed with it. I’ve been finding myself going back and reading sections from the book, and so far it’s become one of my favorite books this year.

The blurb on the front cover of my paperback copy is from USA Today, and says, “Enchanting… Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.” While I agree with the sentiment, I would argue that instead of The Matrix, a more appropriate comparison would be to Neuromancer, William Gibson’s classic that helped usher in the genre of cyberpunk fiction. Like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Ready Player One involves a poor student who finds himself taking part in a contest to determine the legacy of an eccentric figure who helped design the OASIS, the future version of the internet. Those familiar with it would compare OASIS to a much improved version of Second Life. Like Neuromancer, on the other hand, the hero must contend with a huge megacorporation interfering with his quest, and having to use multiple methods of hacking to try and make sure the contest is won fairly.

There’s another reason I say Neuromancer is a better comparison, and that is because it was written in the 80’s. Ready Player One is definitely at its core a love letter to 80’s geek culture, with references to everything from classic video games (console and arcade), personal computers of the time, Dungeons and Dragons, and movies such as WarGames. I found myself grinning several times reading the novel, as references both obscure and obvious kept coming. Even a Dungeons and Dragons reference I didn’t recognize was recognized immediately by friends much more familiar with the core game.

Another theme discussed in the book is how people in that future world can create friendships and relationships with people who are thousands of miles away, and yet never meet in real life. I can certainly relate to that theme; I’ve been using IRC for many years, and I have a few good friends who I have never met in real life at all, and several who I see less than once a year. I know of several other friends who are in the same boat. How the author handles it definitely mirrors my own experiences.

I’d go into more detail about the book’s plot and the references, but to be honest, I’m not sure I want to give out such spoilers. I deliberately avoided information about the book before reading it, and I’m glad I did. The numerous geek references became very pleasant surprises as a result. It’s not a very long read, clocking in at just under four hundred pages, and the pace is brisk enough where you won’t find yourself getting bogged down. Also, it’s a self-contained story, so no waiting for a sequel. :-)

All of this is to say that if you grew up as a geek in the 80’s, or have a healthy like of 80’s geek culture, I highly recommend reading Ready Player One.

Atari is 40 years old.

D'Arque Bishop1 Comment

Wow, I’m feeling old.

Last week, Atari celebrated its fortieth anniversary. For those not aware, Atari not only was the biggest name in arcade and home gaming in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, it could be considered the founder of arcade gaming. Their very first video game, Pong, was the first widely successful arcade game. After that, they had a string of hits including Asteroids, Breakout, Battlezone, Centipede, and others. They were also responsible for the extremely popular Atari 2600, which became the first big home video game console.

I’m feeling old because my very first console was an Atari 2600, or rather, a Sears Video Arcade.

When I was four or five years old, I was a big fan of Space Invaders. When I turned seven (way back in 1980), my parents got me a Sears Video Arcade, which was an authorized rebrand of the Atari 2600, with a copy of Space Invaders (which, like some other Atari 2600 games, was also a Sears rebrand). They had an ulterior motive to getting me the console; I had fairly poor hand-eye coordination, so they hoped that playing the games would be a fun way for me to improve my coordination. Part of me thinks they kind of regret having done so, though, as I became obsessed with video games afterwards. My hand-eye coordination did improve, though.

Of course, history shows that Atari’s dominance ended with the video game crash of 1983. The entire industry crashed and burned; one of the biggest reasons was that everyone could make games for the Atari 2600, so everyone did. That led to a glut of shovelware games on the market causing the good games to be lost among the chaff. Atari’s own decisions were pretty poor, too, with an unfaithful port of Pac-Man and reviled adaptation of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial damaging their brand pretty badly. The video game industry didn’t recover until the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, whose arcade-quality graphics and lockout chip (only allowing licensed games to play) restored confidence in the industry. The company now known as Atari is Atari in name and licenses only.

To celebrate their fortieth anniversary, Atari made it where people who installed and/or used their iOS game Atari’s Greatest Hits on June 27th would have access to the entire downloadable game library (a $10 value) until such time as the app is removed or reinstalled. (I don’t believe the offer is still valid.) I went ahead and installed it that day, and gave it a try.

The app, while interesting, is something of a mixed bag. The game selection covers both arcade games and Atari 2600 games; the arcade game selection only goes up until 1984 or so, when Warner Communications sold off the arcade division of Atari, which subsequently became Atari Games. Therefore, classics such as Gauntlet and A.P.B. are not included. (The licenses for those games are held by WB Games and are included in Midway Arcade.) Also, for several of the arcade games, both the arcade and Atari 2600 versions are included. Of particular note is Tempest, whose Atari 2600 port was never released but was included anyway. Also, four of the Atari 2600 games use the Sears Tele-Games box art. While three are understandable as they were Sears exclusives, the fourth, Pong Sports, was a renamed version of Video Olympics. For obvious reasons, licensed games from other arcade manufacturers and third-party cartridges are not included.

The downside of this app is the controls. As might be expected, the games are controlled by a virtual controller on the touch screen. On a screen the size of an iPhone’s (I don’t own an iPad), it can be awkward. While a controller such as an iCADE or a JOYSTICK-IT would work nicely for the joystick-based games, several games emulate the use of a trackball, which I imagine would not work well with these controllers. It does take some getting used to, especially with the Atari 2600 games. Still, even with some practice, I still have difficulty with many of the games I used to be halfway decent on, simply due to the controls.

Still, the app is an interesting look back at the old Atari games, both arcade and console. It brought out quite a bit of nostalgia for me, and I’ve found myself trying out the odd game every so often. While Atari’s heyday is definitely long in the past, it’s good to see people recognizing their importance. More importantly, it’s fun to play the games again and seeing how many of them still hold up, even after a few decades.