To explain what we must talk about, we must first discuss Misery.
No, it is not a cry to be put out of some misery, but rather a 1990 film that was adapted from a Stephen King novel of the same name. In it, an author, Paul Sheldon, just days after writing his latest installment of his Misery series, is involved in a near fatal car accident in the dead of winter. A woman, a nurse named Annie Wilkes, a role that netted Kathy Bates an Oscar, pulls him out of the wreckage and starts nursing him back to health, or so it would seem, at her lonely shack. It turns out that Wilkes is the author's number one fan. However, when she finds out that he kills off her favorite character, she turns into what we soon find out is the entire truth about her, a psychotic, overly obsessed nurse who killed off numerous patients in her career, and holds him hostage. In a feeble attempt to escape, when she leaves to fetches the right paper for him to write a demanded manuscript where Misery would be mysteriously be resurrected, he finds the phones disassembled, the doors locked from the opposite side, and basically every single base covered. He does manage to attempt some other means of escape, but to no avail. However, she soon finds out of his travels throughout the house in a wheelchair. It is from the simplest of details: A small porcelain penguin figurine that he had knocked off of a table on his first travel was facing, as she put it, “due south”; He had mistakingly placed it the opposite way after
catching it mid air. She proceeded to tie him to the bed, saying, “Paul, do you know about the early days at the Kimberley diamond mines? Do you know what they did to the native workers who stole diamonds? Don't worry. They didn't kill them. That would be like junking a Mercedes just because it had a broken spring. No, they had to make sure they could go on working, but they also had to make sure they could never run away. The operation was called 'hobbling'.” Then, in what has been called one of the most infamous scenes in movie history, she lays a two by three longways between his ankles. As Paul begs and pleads for Annie to reconsider what she is about to do, a sledgehammer is produced. Annie tells Paul to trust her and that it is for the best. She then pounds the sledgehammer on his left ankle. As Paul screams and writhes in pain, Annie declares that there is only one more, then does the same to the right ankle. As Paul is suffering from unspeakable pain, the camera pans into Annie's face, with her final line of the scene, saying towards her hostage, “God, I love you!”
Now you may ask yourself, what does a 1990 horror movie have to do with video gaming here and now? The answer will put this all into perspective.
In short, the current reactions of any fan who hears information as to the notion that the Playstation 3 would receive its own form of the downloadable content called “episodic content” for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 4, which many would've believed was Microsoft's own domination over the DLC, suddenly acts like Annie Wilkes did in Misery, and anyone who daressay other wise, official at Rockstar or anyone doing the interview, is Paul Sheldon. The lambasting is the hobbling, and the way they try to disprove it, would be the sledgehammer. Finally, the little detail that made them have the assumed reason to go into Annie mode is that figurine that they mistakenly left go due North.
Yes, this is what it has come down to. In the span of just a few weeks, we have gone to just debating on what else in GTA 4 Rockstar could possibly add to this game that hasn't already, to becoming venomous. This is because two more magazines printed eparate interviews with people within Rockstar. The April 200s issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly contained an interview with Sam and Dan Houser, who are not only makers of the GTA series, but also the founders of Rockstar Games. In it, the subject of episodic content came up, in which, after saying that they would find out if episodic content is the way forward and that it was “dipping their toes into the water”, Sam Houser was quoted, “I'm very excited about the episodes. I think they are going to work beautifully well, particularly if you played the single player experience—how they connect. Again, without giving too much away. We're absolutely headed down the right path. We're already kind of on it.” Anyone could probably see that they enjoyed making what they did make, and this is a test for them. However, what the pretext of this was that they consider the content the way to go in expansions to the GTA universe. Anyone could probably see that if they would want to expand the game, they would have to on both systems. Which meant that “expansions” were going to appear on the PS3 version, sooner rather than later.
However, if it was that alone, it may have been even the slightest bit refutable. It is true that Houser didn't say anything about content like that for the PS3 version. One, however, would have to assume that as tight lipped as Rockstar has been to this point about anything about the game, they could be cooking up a grand scheme. Plus, it was rumored that Sony had struck a deal with Rockstar for something big, but unlike Microsoft who were bragging, they were keeping this one hush hush. Such words from Sam Houser may have confirmed such.
But then came the Official US Playstation Magazine's April issue. Once again, a editor for the magazine was interviewing a person from Rockstar. This time it was Rockstar's Vice President of Development, Jeronimo Barrera that the editor was talking to, and this time the quote that he said could not be any more clearer in expressing if not confirmation, then as high of a probability as one could get. The editor starts out by saying, “In addition, though post-release downloadable content has been promised on that other platform, expect similar offering on the PS3 down the road.” Again, if it was only that, one could have reason to say that it was only the author's wishful thinking. It was Barrera's statement that came next that was a shot in the arm. “We want this game to last for years,” he says to the author. “I'm sure we'll do another [GTA game] sometime in the future, but this one is built to last.”
Let's put three things together here. First, the Housers express that they enjoy making the episodes, and all but confirmed their desire to do more in EGM. Then, in another magazine, an author states, in a form of journalism which one person “simplifies” what the next statement will be about and explains why he says what he says. This is not uncommon in any medium. All newspapers, magazines, and TV news reporters do this all the time. They usually end up being correct in statements like these that are followed up by a quote by the interviewee. Finally, Barrera's statement that “this game is built to last”. All of that put together with the now month-old rumor, and we can all but confirm, with near 100 percent certainty, that Sony fans need not worry.
However, just hours after the news and the scans were posted on various internet sites discussing the game, the Annie Wilkes of this issue came out. It didn't take them long to find the two by three. They totally ignore the Houser's comments in EGM, thereby trying to discredit them by even bringing them up. If you ignore it long enough, it could just go away without any thunder. But then came the figurine in the PSM article: The statement that the author of that article made before that Barrera quote. It wasn't Barrera's quote, even though the journalistic tactic was so obviously that even a blind man could see it clearly, so the statement does not count, and Barrera's statement might as well have been made out of sand.
Then came the sledgehammer, or as we can now label them, as several sledgehammers all hitting the ankles at the same time. The Xbox fans continue to bring up the article that was on Bitbag.com a nearly ago. The blogger breakfast “bullet points”, as if that article was the gospel according to Rockstar, Microsoft, and Bitbag Editor-in-chief Torrence Davis. His comments, as well as those that still cite it (how chilling that is to see after he changed his story twice) are the ones that were made out of sand. The Xbox 360 won't be the only ones to see episodic content...but they still say so. Microsoft did not buy Rockstar with their 50 million dollars they gave them to try this....but they still say so. Microsoft is not holding a gun to their heads telling them that they will make like Jack Thompson and be lawsuit happy if they even think of making a PS3 DLC episode...but they still say so.
They still say these things without even the slightest regret, care, or even the slightest bit of an open mind of who they are discrediting. They discredit Sam Houser by flat out ignoring that the comment was even said to begin with. This is the same tactic that Rockstar, as well as dozens of other sites and print magazines, used to fan out the Bitbag article and whatever Microsoft said during the event: Just ignore it. If you do not give it attention, it will eventually be a dead horse. However, while the Bitbag article, as well as Davis' repeated lies into what was actually said or meant or if he was even at said breakfast, was deserving of such treatment, the Houser's statement should not be ignored. These two guys are the heart and soul of Rockstar. If they do not exist, Rockstar does not exist. If there is anyone that knows the in and outs of anything, it's these two classy guys, that have shot the half with several people in the game industry. They know who they are talking to, they know how to negotiate, they know what deals to go into and what any contract states, and when to sign. They should also know that no amount of money would be worth the type of restrictions that many people believe the contract, assuming there was a contract to begin with, stated. The Housers seem like smart guys, and they indeed are. The past GTA games and how they were made into phenomenons should've told us this. When they say that they enjoy making such content, we should assume that they mean it, and we should also assume, and we would not be wrong in making this assumption, that if you like doing something, you want to continue doing what it is you like doing. Yet the people who try to discredit these two guys are doing this in the worst way possible. This is not talking in a sense of “this is a PS3 fanboy” or “this is a Xbot”. This is talking out of how they have conducted themselves in the past. They knew how to handle the “hot coffee” situation, they knew how to ward off censorship in Australia, they know how the American political system works, and they know what contracts are worth the money, and what aren't. If anyone thinks that they would even think of signing into such a contract that would restrict them from making games, downloadable or otherwise, on any other platform, without them buying out the studio, then they really need to be throughly examined.
But maybe it was that the Housers were too hard to try to discredit. Maybe it was because they were THE guys at Rockstar. What if a VP of development's words was easier to spin. Barrera's words showed of remarkable prescience, and he should, from this day forward, hold a place in a hall of fame right now. The words that he said should ring in anyone's ears as the endgame to so many debates. “This game is built to last”, and “We want this game to last for years.” That, in addition to what the author introduced the quote with in the very sentence before, should've been what killed any debate. Instead, the sledgehammers came again. First came the two by three between the ankles: The notion that by meaning DLC, we should know that the PS3 would receive DLC in the form of simple add-ons like cars and weapons and such, and not the episodic content that is promised for Microsoft's platform. However, we have now equated DLC in GTA4 to the extra episodes. We have already understood that such will be available for both system versions. Rockstar is smart enough to understand what DLC we want to know more about, and what DLC we need to know exists for the PS3. Then came the sledgehammer to the left ankle: The Bitbag article, again! This article has become the bible for people who want to discredit any and all things that are said that contradicts this article. Davis should be proud that his points have now become some sort of weapon for anyone who sees even the slightest hole. Every time someone hears something to the effect of “PS3 episodic content”, he immediately will flash Davis' blog entry into your face and point at it as his body shakes so violently that you'd think he was having an epileptic attack. When in reality he should also pull out Davis' clarification to said bullet points which had lost traction to them the second he started typing, and then his response to a blog of mine about the bullet points. Brian Crecente had two different answers to the same question. Davis cannot even form a single sentence, let alone get his facts straight (he had pointed out in the clarification that the PS3 would not get any additional content, then said that they might in the sentence after that. So much for clarification.). Then comes the hit to the other ankle: Microsoft's proverbial gun to the head. “You better not make anything for the PS3, or we will take drastic action.” they envision them saying to Rockstar, only because they gave Rockstar a 50 million advance. In brief, if they were really wanting to do such actions, they might as well have tried to add them to their corporate umbrella and add the words “Microsoft Game Studios” to the box art when it comes out April 29th. No one has said that Rockstar was under the gun when making these things. Rockstar is smarter, and again the Housers have more than enough times proved that they are, than to sign into that kind of contract, no matter how much money there is on the table. Rockstar is trying to make money, but we should know better than to see them “sell-out” in that way. Furthermore, Rockstar has already had to snuff out one of Microsoft's claims about the multiplayer option also being unique to the 360. Rockstar may have been much wiser to just let such new claims die.
Though it may seem like I'm trying to play PS3 cheerleader, this is not one of those times. Instead, the point of the matter is this: There is a fine line between fanboyism, and complete cowardness and ignorance to the issues and to what everyone else says. This is one of those times. The people who have tried to force us to put our right hand on the Bitbag article bible and swear to not believe anything else we hear, even if it came right from Rockstar's mouths, are still attempting to do so. This has, in turn, made the battleground of which system is better GTA4 ready into a bloody war zone, and as we have heard many times, “war is hell.”
No blog has been more ignorant than a blog at techspy.blogger.com about this issue. In it, the “anonymous” poster actually tries to decipher which system is better prepared for GTA4. He claims that the 360 game “Table Tennis” was a “Trojan-horse” to test the 360 hardware, that the PS3 was at fault for the delay instead of just a reason, saying that what Rockstar said about the games now being neck and neck as being “damage control” to be able to hide the PS3's “imperfections”, quotes a nearly year old quote by someone in Rockstar that has since been rescinded and disproven, quotes the ever partial Gabe Newell (who even he might be changing his tone about the PS3 given Valve's latest moves on Portal), shows the most minute details that no one but him might see as everlasting proof, and tries to, in his own words, “silencing the Sony fanboys.” This is all while no one is allowed to respond to him. This was even approved, for a few days, on N4G.com. This was APPROVED. By who's hand did we see this story approved? N4G has been accused of being a safe haven for Sony fanboys, yet this was approved.
In the film, Annie even has a pet pig who she had named “Misery” after her favorite character. We can now assume that these people that are grasping at straws have pet pigs, as well. God knows what their names would be. There is no debate that Microsoft should be allowed to have exclusives. No one is faulting Microsoft to have something for them in this exclusive deal. However, the misinterpretations into what exactly is in the cards needs to end. Even though these pleas more than likely will fall on deaf ears, again, they should still be said, for a core game whose sure to be outstanding, unheard of quality has been lost in this bloody fight over who will get what post-game:
The ignorance must stop from both sides (and if you think the 360 fans are the only ones showing hatred over this issue, think again. PS3 fans have been spewing venom, as well, even though the 360 people are the instigators in this fight). We must read, quite thoroughly, the words of Rockstar representatives. They know full well what they are making, and who will get what, and they have hinted, time after time after time, that they will be making special, complex DLC for both platforms. We need to realize that at this rate, Sam and Dan Houser could go to the highest mountaintop in the world, and scream to the world that everything is in the cards for the PS3 to get the complex DLC, and the naysayers STILL would try to either discredit them or ignore them, as if they were just two nobodies working in a garage somewhere (by using the same tired arguments and the same tired blogs to do so). We must realize that we cannot treat an unknown blog site, who has also shown ignorance into how another game company gave the nod to three PS3 installments of multiplatform games and then lied about what they actually tried to say with it, as the Holy Bible and then suddenly treat a more respected magazine as “fanboyish” (who is more likely to have more pull and more creditability between the two?).
Finally, we cannot allow ourselves to lose any sense of direction. These are futile points if the game itself isn't good. No DLC will sell if no one wants the core game. Judging from the pre-order statistics, that half of the equation will not be a problem. Xbox fans have to stop being so protective and just listen to what Rockstar is telling them, and PS3 fans must stop being so defensive and rest easy (as they will be treated fairly).
Once more, we should end where we began: The film Misery. Forgive me for the spoiler, but one must know how the story ends in order to see how the DLC debate should, probably will, and most likely has already, end. Paul burns the manuscript of the book that Annie wanted as ransom. He uses it as a planned ploy for his escape. As Annie tries to scavenge the remains, Paul uses the clunky typewriter Annie gives him to type the manuscript to bash her on the head. After a fight on the floor, Annie is thought to be dead after she is tripped head first into the typewriter. As she instead puts up one list fight, Paul uses another, more solid figurine, this time a larger figurine, this time of a rhino. He reaches for it, and in a last ditch effort of defending himself, bashes the figurine over her head, thereby killing her. Even though he is badly injured, he is finally free at last.
One should hope that finally, the psychotic fan in us is killed, and the enjoyment of the game, and the truth as Rockstar has said, will be like Paul: Free at last.
Good night, and good luck.
