Assignment 3 - Factual Storytelling Exercise

Interview: ColbyCheeZe

The MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) gaming genre has become increasingly mainstream over the last few years, with the free-to-play video game League of Legends being the most popular. ColbyCheeZe is an internet personality who has been making commentaries and guides for LoL since it's early days. His YouTube channel now has over 100,000 subscribers and his livestreams on his Twitch.tv channel has had over 1.2 million views. 

Here is an edited version of the interview. This is what I am submitting for the factual storytelling exercise. 

Here is the whole interview; sorry that it cuts off abrubtly, blame the recording software. 

Thoughts on Lecture 7

Last week’s lecture was on public media with a specific focus on Australia's. Bruce kicked things off with a hilarious video by British humorist Charlie Brooker, who parodied the tired news report
formula ironically through a self-referential and cliched news report. It has nothing to do with the topic, though.

Back onto the topic at hand, Australia's public media, the ABC and SBS, have an interesting history. First and foremost, the ABC, founded in 1923, was designed with the intention to serve the public good of Australia through creating an unbiased and non-partisan medium for the public discourse. SBS followed around 50 years later, in 1975, with the goal of allowing the voices of Australia's
multicultural landscape to be heard, and is tailored for all cultural communities. Both are not meant to be corrupted by the forces of enterprise or politics, always being objective.

The problem with these two media groups is that, because of their social function, they are not allowed to create drama when their is none. They cannot sensationalize the news in any way, unlike Channel 7, 9 and 10 which have always done this and will continue to do so. I remember, I think, last year when the ABC television channel aired a hour-long documentary on the Global Financial
Crises. This particular documentary received a lot of criticism and outright backlash for being too flashy and dramatic, essentially using cheap emotive tricks and not being fact-driven. This little controversy shows how much the Australian public look towards the ABC for being 'dry' in the sense that they, the viewers, never need worry about being manipulated. This affair was, of course, featured on Media Watch, which is surprisingly on the same channel that aired the documentary. Something like this would never happen in a million years if it happened to a for-profit media group like the News of the World scandal and News Corp.

Interview: Four Court Jester

Four Court Jester is a part-time video game shoutcaster and commentator who specializes in MOBA (multiplayer online battle area) matches, similar to being a sports commentator who covers physical team-based sports. He has recently commentated live for a high-stakes League of Legends qualifiers tournament in Australia. You should also check out his Youtube channel and Twitch.tv channel. 

Below is the edited version of the interview. Unfortunately, this is not my submission for the factual storytelling exercise, but was still nevertheless a great time.

Thoughts on Lecture 6

Yesterday the latest JOUR1111 lecture was on commercial media, and it explored it's role, function and purpose in Australia. Bruce kicked things off by saying that all the commercial media conglomerate's goal is to make money and more money. This is, of course, nothing new to me and not that interesting to learn. The way in which they make profits - or lack thereof - is what sparked my interest, though. The most surprising piece of information I learned was that major news outlets cater more to the advertisers rather than the readers, viewers or listeners. The more you think about it, though, the more it makes sense.

It was also interesting to learn about all the big players in Australia's commercial media and their respective subsidiary groups. For instance, I didn't know that many of the media conglomerates such as Fairfax Media and News Corp. have their hands in more than just one medium. Television, print, radio and the world wide web are their primary domains. Some of these mediums are more profitable than others. In fact, News Corps.'s involvement in newspapers is rumored to be not a money making scheme, but rather a platform for the partisan agenda of the Murdoch empire. If you ever watched Fox news, this is not hard to believe.

The social role of commercial media has always been at odds with their profit-orientated mission. Unethical media practices such as distortion, miscommunication and sensationalism of the news will always attract more eyes and ears - and more ad revenue - but is counterintuitive to correctly informing the masses, unfortunately spawning an unworldly public-sphere. This, of course, defeats the purpose of news, which is to communicate an accurate recounting of the important stories of the day.

Thoughts on Lecture 5

Last week's lecture was on factual storytelling with pictures, and provided a rudimentary overview of photography. Buzz words such as viewpoint and light were mentioned, unlike in COMU1999 were it's as common as the word 'the'. It was, however, also heavily focused the history of photojournalism, which was surprisingly the most interesting thing I've learned all semester. In the realm of traditional media, black and white illustrations in newspapers were the norm for a very long time  It wasn't until a few years after photography was around, it then become a very commercial and economical method to use photos to capture images for important stories.

Even more interesting to learn from the lecture, though, is the history of visual media on the internet. For instance, the first picture ever uploaded on the internet was this:

Behold! The majesty of the internet.

This goes all the way back to 1992, making it two decades ago that this historic milestone of the internet occurred. In the same light, the first ever video uploaded on Youtube - which is now seven years into prime - just happens to be an impressively unimpressive, less-than-twenty-second video of a guy at the zoo talking about elephants.

Thoughts on Lecture 4

The last lecture was on sound and could only be accessed on Blackboard as an audio file. The whole thirty minute lecture is two interviews with people in field of radio. The first interview is with a man, who as apart of his career, conducts long-form intimate interviews with generally interesting people such as famous sportsmen and politicians. He discusses some of his techniques that he uses to get the most out of an interview, making it more organic and natural, and really have a deep discussion with interviewee. One that he highlights is the power of listening, ensuring that when the interesting person is divulging a meaningful anecdote or some other private information, that he/she is not interrupted. The general rule is that when an interviewee fondly reminiscing, bombarding them with follow-up questions is the worst thing for the situation. Another good point he made, was the beauty of silence in radio and how it can be used for effect. He recounted when his former co-host - unfortunately - frantically talked during a silent moment in an interview because he thought that was ruining it.

The other man of the two interviews is better known for his role in talk-back radio. The only reason I remember his name, Steve Austin, is because it's the same name of the famous "professional" wrestler. He talked about how he tries to discuss important topics of the day on his radio program, with some being more serious than others. Austin made the interesting observation that on his program, the vox populi is more vocal towards more trivial things like the feud between cyclists and motorists rather than big affairs such as the War in Iraq. I found this to be very interesting. The interview also gave me some intriguing insight into the selection process for callers who want to voice their opinions.

Quantum Conundrum

It's the best spiritual successor to a spiritual successor to a freeware game so far this year. 

It's hard not to get déjà vu when jumping into Quantum Conundrum, seeing as this is yet another first-person puzzle platformer from the mind of Kim Swift. Like her groundbreaking work on Portal, you can expect to be flying through the air more than most planes, only ever hearing one voice from start to finish, and seeing a lot of buttons alongside their natural predator; boxes. Though, in spite of this title being a spiritual successor to one of the greatest video games to come out this decade, it doesn't have the same magic - but is still nevertheless worth checking out. 

Being the nephew of the genius inventor Professor Fitz Quadrangle has its perks. Every time your mum drops you off at Quadrangle manor, he surprises you with one of his amazing new inventions. However, this time around, something goes terribly wrong, and you're tasked with navigating through the manor that has been re-purposed to test his latest contraption: the Inter-dimensional Shift Device, or IDS device for short. 

Once you get your hands on it - or to be more precise, 'it' on your hands, because it's a glove - the IDS device allows you to access up to four dimensions. This gives a whole new meaning to physics-based puzzles since the physics of the environment is literally in your hands. For example, if there are objects that are too heavy to lift, switch to the Fluffy dimension, and before your eyes can blink everything will turn light and fuzzy. This is, of course, just a taste of what you can do. 

There's the opposite of the Fluffy dimension known as the Heavy dimension, where everything is denser, and very helpful in making tougher objects to protect yourself against lethal hazards. Not to forget the Slow dimension, for when some precious extra time is the only thing stopping you from plummeting to your death. Then there's the Reverse Gravity dimension, the most fun of all of them. Later in the game, a good number of the manor's rooms are on a grander scale, and are cleverly devised so that all four of the dimensions need to be used. 

Unfortunately, the puzzles are not that challenging.

Don't get me wrong, the rooms are difficult; but the puzzles themselves are not. It's a juggling act to switch between dimensions, requiring timing and co-ordination, yet, for the most part, the rooms don't draw out any lateral-thinking skills. In fact, you will feel less like a puzzle-solver and more like an inter-dimensional acrobat considering precision and accuracy is more important than anything else - especially whenever platforming. While there is still a challenge in Quantum Conundrum, don't expect it to stress your brain, just your reflexes. 

What surprised me, though, is the strong driving force of the story. Shortly after arriving, something happens that leads to your uncle suffering from amnesia and disappearing to some unknown place, along with the manor's power being turned off. He can still communicate with you over the manor's intercom system, though. So your eccentric uncle, voiced colourfully by John de Lancie - between his funny technobabblic ranting - helps you in unraveling the mystery that is afoot. This will hook you in and keep you puzzling all the way to the end.

Along the way you will also be helped by a small critter named Irk, Professor Fitz's pet thing, who looks like it was plucked straight out of a Dr. Seuss story book. It lies somewhere between cute and creepy, and bizarrely enough, it wears a name-tag. You will, however, grow on the little shy guy, seeing as it's always by your side. 

Quantum Conundrum looks and sounds great for a small-ish puzzle game. The visuals are not graphically impressive, but make up for it by giving off a zany vibe. Everything, from the hilarious painting mounted on the walls to the cartoonish gizmos scattered around the manor, make this a wacky sci-fi adventure romp. The score matches this tone, but it's more in the background and doesn't leave that much of an impact. Plus, it must be noted that you are treated to a song at the end credits, a la Portal. 

The sound design, on the other hand, is perfect. In the Heavy dimension, objects loudly clang when dropped, while in the Fluffy dimension, they softly thud. The best is the Slow dimension, where all noises are slowed down to a crawling pace, and listening to them is mesmerizing. Simply put, it's sound like this that convinces you that you're actually there, traversing through dimensional rifts. 

At around five hours, the game is not long by any stretch of the imagination. To counteract this, there are plenty of added incentives that will entice you to come back for more, such as collectible items, unlockable achievements, and an in-depth leaderboard. If you're a completionist, these will keep you occupied for a very long time, but for only $15, the single player campaign alone is already a great deal. 

It's unfair to compare Quantum Conundrum to Portal since Portal has a special quality about it that no other game can capture. Still, there's much to like about Kim Swift's latest project. The story never falters and will keep you interested, if not at least intrigued, all the way to the end thanks to Irk and Professor Fitz Quadrangle. These two will also help in guiding you through the puzzles, despite the fact that no help is need in solving them. What it lacks in puzzling, though, it sure makes up in platforming, as it will test your jumping and maneuvering a lot - without ever feeling unfair. Basically, it's a game that came out of nowhere and is surprisingly good, as it offers an inventive gameplay experience. Go ahead and take a look at Quantum Conundrum, you won't be disappointed.