Outer Space Bar

I've been thinking more and more about my GTA IV/Saints Row 2 paper, since it's becoming more and more due. I haven't actually started writing, other than what I've done on this blog, so I thought I'd do a little more of that to help move along this process.

I'm pretty positive I'm going to ignore the narrative of each game and just focus on the gameplay. I think that subject is both sufficiently narrow and sufficiently ample. In other words, it's sufficient. I guess the thrust of the argument will revolve around comparing the mini-games/side missions. But THQ has already posited an argument similar to my own about the side missions in their advertising and in interviews. THQ has suggested that Saints Row 2 is a "tongue-in-cheek" parody of GTA IV. So my paper will aim to prove whether they make good on this claim or not. I'm obviously going to examine the mini-games in that sense, but I'll also be looking at things like the driving and shooting mechanics and other gameplay stuff. This is where I'll need to spend some more time playing each game again. I'm glad I've decided to ignore (or at least downplay) the narrative aspects, though, because that would mean a lot more playing time, which I don't have right now.

So, for example, GTA IV has a fairly realistic emergency braking system, where you basically lose control of your car. This is a divergence from other similar games that let players use the emergency brake at full speed to make quick 90 degree turns, like in movies. This makes GTA IV seem more realistic, and I think realism was their goal. But, if you die in GTA IV your character just comes out of the hospital a few hours later all healed up and stuff. I think this sort of realism-mixed-with-bullshit factor sends mixed messages. Saints Row 2, on the other hand, is pretty clear with its message that it is just a game; it doesn't really shoot for realism as much as GTA IV. I don't think either game is really realistic, but I think GTA IV's mixed messages are dangerous for impressionable players – or at least more dangerous than Saints Row 2's messages.

By the way, I have a hard time typing Saints Row 2 because I feel like Saints should be Saint's. So I have to delete that apostrophe a lot.

On another typographical note, the spacebar on my laptop is squeaking for some reason, which is really annoying because I use it all the time, like here and here butnothere.

I was watching some of The Sports Reporters yesterday morning. Yes, I was up at 9:30 on a Sunday. So what? And Stephen A. Smith was trying to justify picking Michigan State in tonight's game. He was talking about how to defend against Ty Lawson, and this is what he argued: Lawson didn't really develop a jump shot before this year, so Michigan State should just make him take shots. That is just amazingly flawed logic. What if that had worked for Danny Almonte: I didn't turn 16 before this year, so I should be able to play with 12- and 13-year-olds. Or Isiah Thomas: I wasn't bad news for basketball teams until I started coaching and managing, so I should keep my job. Or even criminals: I wasn't a murderer before I killed that guy, so I shouldn't have to go to prison.

Either way, I'd be happy to watch Lawson shoot jump shots all game. He's shot .539 from the field and .486 from three-point land this season, and he's 9 for 15 from behind the arc in the NCAA tournament. So, what is Stephen A. talking about?

The other storyline that came up and will continue to come up in the few hours leading up to the game is that Michigan State is playing for the state of Michigan and their current 12% unemployment rate. And this somehow matters more because the game is in Detroit. That's the part that puzzles me. I really doubt that unemployed Michiganites will be at the game, whether it's in Detroit or Damascus. And if they are at the game, they probably deserve to be unemployed for being dumb enough to spend more than $250 on tickets when they don't even have a job.

The rematch angle is a much more interesting story for me. I'm also interested in who Travis Walton will guard. If he's on Lawson, that could make things difficult for the ACC player of the year. But, it would also mean that six-foot-tall Kalin Lucas will be guarding a shooter with at least three or four inches on him.

MLB started last night, and I have both of the lone game's starting pitchers on my fantasy team: Derek Lowe and Brett Myers. Myers didn't really inspire confidence. I drafted Myers last year, and he had a similarly awful start. In fact, he was demoted to the minors for a while last season. But then he came back up and started destroying folks, at which point Jon picked him up and reaped all the benefits. I was really hoping for second-half Myers when I drafted him this year. Maybe I'll just leave him on my bench until the All-Star break, so nobody else can get him but he doesn't hurt my team, like he did last night (-4 fantasy points). Lowe was worth a solid 35 points, though, so I still came out ahead from the game.

The season starts in earnest today, as most teams kick off their seasons in the next few hours. The Rays, Red Sox, Royals, and White Sox will have to wait because their games for today have already been canceled due to weather.

QotD:

What would you name your bar?

My take: This question came into my mind when I thought up the title for this post (Outer Space Bar), but it also came up on this week's My Boys, which Bryan and I watched yesterday. I forget exactly how their conversation went, but this is how my conversation (in my head) went today:

I should come up with a title that has something to do with my space bar.

How about "outer space bar"? That should work.

That sounds like a good name for an actual bar. Didn't they talk about that on My Boys yesterday?

You know what sounds even better than "outer space bar"? Deep Space Bar, that'd be an awesome bar name.