Benefit for Haiti

If you're like me, you love great comedy and helping people. This weekend, you can enjoy both if you happen to be in the LA area. The cast of two of my favorite shows, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Family Guy, will be live on stage together to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. So clear the schedule for this Friday evening (02/12/10) and catch this once in a lifetime show. Even if it doesn't change your life, your help very well could change someone else's.

Tickets can be purchased through Livenation. Thank you all for your time!

What a month...

I don't think it's a secret that Kneel Before Pod fell on some rough times lately. With personal issues and other factors weighing down on us here, it's been a sparse winter as far as content goes. Now we are more or less through all that and we're back on a somewhat normal schedule. With a few new episodes and some new site content we're finally getting back into the swing of things here. And what a mighty swing it is!

This past month has been one of our biggest months here at Kneel Before Pod. Not to get all meta, but it's been one of our best months for both episode downloads and web traffic. So what's the point to all this? Simple:

That pretty much sums it up folks. You're awesome. When our numbers should have been going down because we weren't producing content, they actually stayed strong. Some might even be able to make the argument that we were more popular when we were doing nothing at all!

So, all this to say thank you. Thank you to the people that have stuck with us, thank you to people that have recently joined us and thank you even to the people that we might have lost along the way. Without you folks, we would just be two nerds sitting on a couch watching Justice League Unlimited reruns.

Likely no new show this weekend, but we're working hard on next week already!

If you like comics, read this!

What follows is the collected tweets of one Chris Sims (@theisb). He goes on, at brief length, on what differentiates the Big Two (Marvel and DC) over the years, as applies to maturity and content. I, personally, found it to be spot on, and I hope we can all learn something here...

I have an extremely longwinded theory on the nature of optimism in the Marvel and DC Universes that no one--no exceptions--wants to hear.

Okay okay: Short version of my theory follows, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Even taking stuff like Dark Reign into account, Marvel doesn't really NEED to be more optimistic.

By virtue of its Lee/Kirby roots, Marvel's always had that peppy, exclamatory feeling underlying everything they've done.

Right: Even if the guy in charge of the world is the guy who chucked Gwen Stacy off a bridge, that's perfectly in keeping with MU.

Marvel's ABOUT optimism. It's about overcoming difficulties.

That's why the two most Marvel characters are Spider-Man and the Thing.

Norman Osborn being in charge isn't "dark," because we know someone's gonna take him down, and it's all gonna be okay.

DC, on the other hand, has spent the last 20 years reacting AGAINST their era of poppy optimism.

Otto Binder, Leo Dorfman, Swan, Schaffenberger, Siegel, Bates, those guys weren't LESS valid than Lee, Kirby and Ditko...

But because of what they were doing, they got painted with the brush of being "immature" comics. And sure, they are.

(also, that's the only time I'll say that someone wasn't less valid than Kirby, so mark your calendar)

But DC broke away from that and redefined themselves in the mid-80s. And that's the key point there: The mid-80s.

DC rebuilt their universe from the ground up in the era where comics were trying to be more "Grown Up" and "Mature" and "Serious."

The founding document for the DCU as we know it today isn't ACTION COMICS #1, it's BATMAN: YEAR ONE.

And dudes, that's like my favorite comic book story, so I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

But the result is that they've rooted themselves in a rejection of the ATTITUDES without losing the STUFF.

DC wants Kandor and Supergirl and the Justice League Satellite and whatever, but because they're rooted in the attitude...

...of DKR and Watchmen and Swamp Thing and all the other stuff that got such incredible amounts of critical praise (and deservedly so)...

...they want to recapture THAT attitude rather than the era that the stuff CAME from.

Marvel's '60s is their core that's revered, DC's '60s is something that's looked on as immature.

And yeah, I make fun of those stories as much as (way more than) the next guy, but I also totally love them.

And again, a lot of that has to do with Kirby, Ditko, Lee and allathems basically reinventing comics in 1961.

But the end result is that the DCU is dominated (currently) by stories where Dr. Light--DR. LIGHT--is a rapezombie...

...(because zombies that also rape are so grown-up, you know)...

...and when a guy like Grant Morrison comes along who DOES have a genuine love for that stuff and DOES bring that Gee Whiz attitude...

...it's relegated to the sidelines (All Star Superman is great, but it shoulda been the REAL Superman) or met with utter shock by readers.

And the irony of it is, stuff like Byrne's Superman seems so INCREDIBLY lighthearted looking back from today.

It's gotten to the point where so many fans don't get that a story about how Batman Always Wins is better than one where Batman Loses...

...because a story where Batman loses is REALLY STUPID YOU GUYS.

What I'm saying is, in brief (and I mean it this time) is this:

Marvel's never had a Hard Reboot, and for all the legal grousing and whatever, there's nobody there who doesn't know...

..that Kirby and Lee (yes, AND LEE) were geniuses who knew what they were doing.

And again, this is not a knock on DC, but they rebuilt when the In Thing was to be a grown-up, and that's great...

But they wore that "COMICS AREN'T JUST FOR KIDS!" ribbon so hard and so long that it fundamentally changed the universe.

And that's not me saying "Marvel Rulz, DC suxxx," either. Lord knows the House of Ideas has had some awful ones.

And DC's had some stellar work from guys that aren't Grant Morrison in the post-Crisis years.

But in sheer attitude vis-a-vis optimism/hope/etc, DC's lost a lot of it in a pretty fundamental way.

@kenlowery - @theisb: I thought it was DC that MADE being "Grown up" the In Thing, not vice versa.

@kenlowery: Yes, but it was going to happen anyway. Miller and Moore were going to change comics no matter where they were.

And in fact, Miller changed Daredevil so irrevocably that Daredevil can never be the swashbuckling blind adventure character again.

(Which, again, not a bad thing. Ask Ann Nocenti, Ed Brubaker, Andy Diggle, Brian Bendis...)

(But don't ask Karl Kesel and Cary Nord, because they did that book lighthearted for two years and I think I'm the only one who loved it)

But there was a confluence of comics "Growing Up" and DC throwing out their continuity that led to the whole thing.

I don't mean to say that DC set out to kill kids' comics. Or that COIE [Crisis on Infinite Earths] wasn't necessary (guys, it kinda was).

Just that rebuilding it in 1986 led to a fundamental change, as opposed to a universe built in 1961-63, or 1938-55.

And again: Doggs. I love my Alan Moore Swamp Thing and my Frank Miller Daredevil and my John Byrne Superman and all that good stuff.

BUT, and here's the key thing: I think Moore and Morrison & co. saw this stuff coming.

Which is why Alan Moore doesn't write that way anymore. He wrote Tom Strong and Top Ten...

...which were basically the Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin comics of their day.

Fun adventure stories that were straightforward, but still clever and smartly done.

The creators who started the whole thing moved past it (tonally, Morrison's Batman/JLA/FC is WAY different than Animal Man)...

...but now it's sort of ingrained in the universe itself. The End.

Mr. Sims' website can be found, devoured, and loved, here...

New Episode!

Email from Aleister Crowley, voicemail from across the pond, discussion of why Gamestop is "such a great company," and daily freshness thanks to Apple!



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Berries and cream!!!!!

Star Wars Episode Y: Rise of Little Lad - watch more funny videos

Star Trek Online Review

Hardly a month into 2010 and we already have our first new MMORPG. Star Trek Online as a franchise has seen it's share of trouble. After being in the works for almost four years, it's original developer went bankrupt. It was now up to MMO veterans Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes, Champions Online) to step up and see the title to completion. In what might be record time, Cryptic assembled an Online game for one of the most cherished franchises of all time. Will it boldly go where no MMO has gone before, or will this one be mothballed like a Constitution Class starcruiser? Lets break down the game and see what this title has in store for players.

Lets get you up to speed Ensign

After a strange string of events involving the Borg and a field promotion, you will find yourself the captain of a ship. You waste no time and start recruiting bridge staff that will not only accompany you on away missions, but will help you by improving the abilities of your ship overall. Your bridge staff and general crew are all NPC which are at your command. There is no starting as chief of engineering and working your way up. You're sitting at the big kid table almost from the word go.

After a short tutorial, you're released onto the galaxy with your new crew and your newly inherited rent-a-wreck. You will receive missions from various officers at Starfleet that will require your attention. These missions will net you skill points, new items and sometimes even new bridge officers. Instead of traditional levels, you will have different ranks and grades. Each rank (Ensign, Commander, Captain) has ten grades before you earn a promotion which gains you access to a new tier of ship and skills. Lastly, as mentioned, instead of experience you are awarded skill points which can be spent at any time to improve your character.

When it comes to the actual gameplay, Star Trek Online is basically two games in one. The first being the ship based space end of things and the second being your away team missions on the ground. A majority of your time will be spent in your ship as it is your basic means of transportation in the galaxy and most of the missions center around the space combat part of the game. This is for the best as the ground missions, while sometimes fun, are pretty "mmo as usual."

The Final Frontier

Let's be straight. When you think of Star Trek, you think of the Enterprise. So with this in mind, you can imagine that your ship will play an important part in the Star Trek Online Experience. While your ship is your basic means of transportation, it is character unto itself. With it's own items, powers and stats, your ship is in all essence one of the two avatars you will control in the game.

Overall the space combat is very deliberate, and is most rewarding when you take the time to learn the strengths of your ship, weapons and abilities. Some of the more twitch gamer among us might not appreciate the pace of this combat, while the more run and gun of us might not enjoy the way teamwork really plays into some of the larger battles.

The easiest way to explain space battles is by comparing it to open sea battles. It's all about getting your ship into optimal position while keeping your opponent from getting theirs. A common example of a ship's weapon setup is a front and back beam array setup. With this setup there is a slight overlap in the targeting arc of the two weapons, so you can actually give the enemy your broadside in order to hit them with both front and back beam weapons. More powerful weapons such as disruptor canons and torpedoes have a more narrow firing arc which requires you to actually face your enemy. Weapons like these are better for the faster and more agile ships that you can choose to pilot after you outgrow your first starter ship.

There are basically three types of ships and they break down into typical video game stereotypes. The small, fast ship that can dish out a lot of damage but not take it. A big, slow ship that can do decent weapons damage but can take a lot of punishment. Then there's the ship that's somewhere in the middle on size and speed that uses special science skills to weaken the enemy or enhance itself and allies. There is fair amount of customizing to be had on the ships, but it is nothing compared to the customizing of your captain.

Oh Captain my Captain

One thing Cryptic has always been known for is the crazy level of customizing you can do to your character. When creating them, you are given a list of races and the typical "Make a giant headed freak" options. What this game has that is truly special is the "Unknown Species" option when you are choosing your race. This option not only allows you to physically create the look of your character, but allows you to pick from a list of racial bonus traits. This allows you to re-create lesser known species from the Star Trek universe if you're a fan or make your perfect super solider if you're a meta-gamer. This Captain will be your avatar for your hours of wandering around starbases looking for for Commander Sulu and for ground based away missions.

Anyone who has played a Cryptic game before will recognize the ground combat system as it is very similar to games like City of Heroes. Combat will require you to hit a button for every attack, as there is no automatic default attack. This will lead to a lot of spamming the 1 key on your hotbar trying to use the basic fire mode of your weapon. While this can become tedious and boring at times, it does allow you to feel more involved with the fight. There are some basic ideas such as a flanking position damage modifier and crouching to reduce damage taken while increasing damage given.

Another interesting addition to the combat system is expose and exploit weapon attacks. Each weapon has a special attack beyond it's standard firing mode. Ranging from sniper shots to full auto firing arcs, these attacks are usually higher damage attacks with a longer cool down. Also attached to these special attacks are either an expose or exploit modifier. An expose attack has a chance of leaving the target open to a skill with the exploit modifier. When an exploit attack lands on an exposed enemy, you can expect a huge damage bonus and most the time a one shot kill that leads to a very gratifying disintegration of the target.

Luckily, you will never find yourself alone on the ground. When beaming to another location, you will almost always have a party of five. So at any time you will have four other people to help you, and you will need that help. But don't worry if you don't have any friends. If you're playing alone, this party will be filled up with your bridge staff or generic redshirts. You can even take the time to equip weapons and other items on your bridge staff to help compliment your skills as a Captain.

Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds...

Now we all know it takes more than gameplay to make a successful MMO, so how well does Star Trek Online execute all this gameplay in a persistent universe? Are the missions fun? Does the story suck you in? Well, Cryptic does a great job in some areas and lacks a bit in others. One thing they do well is eliminating some of the pointless downtime and waiting that is still part of many popular MMOs.

Firstly, the game makes completing missions a very fluid experience. In most cases you will go to a mission's starting system and no other in game traveling is needed. If there is a change in mission location, it's typically as simple as pushing a button to warp to another planet in the system or to beam down onto the surface. Rarely will you be told to travel from one point to another for the sake of moving the plot along.

Another welcome step against downtime is how you actually manage missions. You will not have to actually fly back to a Starbase and have a dialog with an Admiral every time you want to turn in a completed mission or acquire a new one. In STO you simply hail Starfleet, pick the contact you want to talk to and then choose the mission you want to talk about. It's that simple.

Frankly, there might be some people that will feel as if everything is moving too fast. A motivated player will find themselves just running through entire chains of missions and multiple levels at a drop of a hat. While I don't think the elimination of downtime is ever a bad thing, Cryptic will have to be careful to find other ways to organically lengthen the time players put into the game or they will find themselves with nothing left to do after a couple months of playing.

One place that Star Trek Online falls short is their "Exploration Missions." Cryptic employs a system called The Genesis Engine to create randomly generated worlds for you and your crew to explore. Unfortunately, in it's current state, all these missions are rather repetetive and boring. It typically involves you either scanning 5 items either in space or on the ground, killing all of the randomly generated bad guys that are troubling the natives or simply delivering aid supplies to a planet through a dialog window. Maybe as the game goes on and Cryptic explores this feature it will become more exciting, but as it stands now, it falls flat.

A tale of two stories

Now the stories that binds all these parts together may be the best illustration for the overall feel of this game. There are moments when the story is truly inspired and other times when you have to wonder if the writers did more than look over Star Trek Cliffnotes. It's an amazingly bi-polar experience that isn't aided by Star Trek's already muddled canon.

For example, in one mission you find your enemy attempting to explain that you are being misled by a politician. You are then given no option but to fight the person reaching out to explain the situation to you. Then you find out in the end, that your enemy was right all along. This will sometimes leave you feeling like a stereotypical big, dumb jock that wants nothing more than to go around beating up nerds.

Then a few missions later, you are part of a plot that has you traveling through time and trying to protect your timeline from being altered. You meet the past version of the very person that you are trying to defeat. You also have the slightest of run ins with a very iconic ship from the Star Trek franchise. When it is all said and done, it was a great story and left you feeling like a true hero of the Federation. The swinging back and forth quality of the narrative can be jarring and might be frustrating to those players that enjoy a well told story.

Overall, fans of the politics, diplomacy and non-violent conflict resolution that was a staple in shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation might find the game a little too trigger happy for their taste. The game currently has no real option to play the diplomat and often times makes you feel like a gunslinger quick to anger. Though Cryptic has gone on record saying diplomacy is a large part of Star Trek and we can expect to see it play a larger role in the game as it evolves.

There is one thing that all Star Trek fans will be able to appreciate though. Both Zachary Quinto and the legendary Leonard Nimoy provide voice over for this game. Besides being an option for the voice of your bridge crew, both offer in game content. Quintos is actually the voice guiding you through the tutorial, while Nimoy provides narrative for the game's opening and offers insight into the Star Trek universe each time you enter a new zone. Nimoy's work can be especially chilling and overall brings a completely new level of class to the game.

All good things

So has Cryptic finally created the mythical WoW Killer? Not very likely. What they have done is designed a fun and engaging game that shows a lot of potential. While the game won't be for everyone, it's a unique alternative in market that is mostly comprised of fantasy titles. The ship combat is a lot fun, the ground combat isn't completely terrible and it's set in a universe that many people will find familiar and enjoyable. If Cryptic makes good on their promise of free episodic content releases and continue to fine tune the game, this could easily be one of the larger MMOs on the market providing players with fun for years to come.

Pros: Engaging space combat Streamlined mission flow Solid gameplay A lot of potential for growth as Cryptic continues to tune the game

Cons: Manic story telling Passable ground combat Repetitive (typical for an MMO)

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

*Note* This game is an online game and all details given in this review are subject to change. This review is based on the very last build of the game during it's open beta cycle and may change in the retail release.

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Carl

World of Warcraft: The Savior or Destroyer of the MMO?

It is hard to argue that World of Warcraft is one of the most popular games of all time, let alone the most popular MMORPG in history. It has reached past the typical playerbase and brought in more people than any MMO before it. Students, Doctors, Teachers, Parents, Celebrities and Geeks all play this record breaking game. It has taken a very diverse genre and boiled it down to a concentrated experience, all while making it accessible and fun. Though WoW might have broadened the MMO's audience, will it also hurt the market in the long run?

With the high profile MMO Star Trek Online going into open beta recently, it's been open season for everyone with an internet connection and a pre-order key. The message boards and blogs have been filled with professional, and sometimes less than professional, first impressions of the game. One thing that is a common point in a lot of these previews is a comparison to World of Warcraft. While not everyone does it, it's hard not to. Even though these two games have very different dynamics and subject content, there is always a giant WoW shaped shadow hanging over the game. For better or worse, WoW has become a standard by which all other MMO games are measured. But is this truly a fair practice?

The World of Warcraft that people play today is a far cry from the game that was launched back in November 2004. Beyond the technical problems that plagued the game early on, the game itself is different. This is to be expected from an online game that has been going strong for over five years and having released two expansion packs. The original WoW was a large concept game. It has introduced some ideas that have made the genre, as whole, better. Things such as smaller penalties for death and less downtime after combat are things that many games have adopted. What people fail to remember though is the title as it was launched, not as it is today.

Structured Player vs. Player was not introduced to Azeroth until nearly six months after the game's launched. Racial traits and certain class talents were not even enabled till the first patch of the game. WoW, like many other MMOs, was not something that many people would consider a complete game. Over the first few months after launch, content was slowly added or completed. There was much rejoicing and the game flourished.

One of the best examples of a Massively Multiplayer Online game fine tuning itself after launch is Dark Age of Camelot. One of the largest selling points for DAoC was it's large scale Realm vs. Realm, or RvR, combat system. In this system, all players were from one of three countries. These countries would all compete in a frontier area that had castles you could capture and defend. At launch, this system was heralded as being the most innovative way ever to do player vs. player, but many eventually lost interest in the RvR system.

Almost three years later, developers Mythic released a free expansion titled New Frontiers. This new expansion completely overhauled the Realm vs Realm system. Breathing new life to the series, creating what many MMO fans have described as one of the best and most rewarding player vs. player systems ever in a game. A gameplay system that shared very little from the original release of the game, but was a huge reward to those that saw the potential of the title and hung around for a few years.

Now let us return to 2010 and more specifically Star Trek Online. Many people are saying that it is an incomplete game or that the game may have less content than other games on the market. Server issues and other problems have arisen during the recent open beta testing. Problems that are very similar to those Blizzard had with overloaded servers during the launch of World of Warcraft. These issue are common place and are the very reason that companies use open beta as a stress test for their servers.

In the end, will Star Trek Online be a game that grows up into a "WoW killer" if it gets the support it needs? Not likely. Frankly there isn't any one that can "kill" WoW other than Blizzard at this point. Would a game like Tabula Rasa had done better if it wasn't in many player's nature to compare a launch game to a long established game? Maybe. The only thing that's clear is development of MMO games in general will eventually be forced into longer and longer cycles. Longer development cycles that many smaller companies just simply can't afford. Sure the future of the game will require less faith on the part of players, but the ability for game makers to take risks will be greatly reduced as well. Gone are the days that a game can come out with a solid gameplay engine, a few novel ideas and the promise of content down the road.

Maybe there will be something that changes it all. Maybe when Bioware's Old Republic comes out, there will be some strange shifting of the moon and planets, allowing people to have multiple MMOs to compare to with a variety of features and gameplay styles. Maybe there will be some way of billing or production that will allow for games to compete against World of Warcraft. But until that day, I think it's safe to say that WoW is the greatest and worst thing to happen to MMORPGs.

In this episode Ryan, Carl and special guest Nate talk about the five movies that every self respecting geek should see. From movies about time travel to space travel, we try to dig up some of the best movies you might not have seen before and maybe a couple that you have.

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Comic Review: Old Man Logan

If you listen to the podcast, or even talk to me about Marvel Comics, odds are that you've heard me come down on Wolverine like a 10 pound hammer. It's not that I don't like the character, because I really do, it's just I'm tired of him. It's not his fault that in all the movies and newer comic books they make him the most important character of all time. A prime example is in the third X-Men movie. They literally kill one of the oldest and most important characters in the X-Men universe just to get him out of the way so Wolverine can be the romantic interest for Jean Grey. Not to mention as much as he shows up in the various comics of the Marvel Universe that the only logical answer is that he has at least four Skrull dopplegangers running about pretending to be him. It's nothing for him to be in five places at a time at any given point across all the Marvel titles. As a reader and fan, I simply got tired of this amazingly fun character. Clearly, I am in the minority on this issue, but it's just how I feel about him.

Now that I have my personal feelings out of the way, lets get to the point at hand. I'm not here to bash on Wolverine. Quite the opposite actually. I recently had the pleasure of reading something that has redeemed the character in my eyes. In June of 2008 Mark Millar and Steve McNiven started an eight issue arc of Wolverine titled "Old Man Logan." This story takes place around fifty years in the future and features a Wolverine that is now long in the tooth, but short of the claw. Things are bad. The villains apparently got their act together and defeated the super heroes of the Marvel Universe once and for all. The country has been divided up into different regions, each one answering to a powerful villain governor. To top it all off, there was some horrible event that has rendered Logan a shadow of his former-self, vowing to never again pop claws and fight.

Long gone are the days of snikt and being the best as what he does. Logan has settled down with his family in the ruins of what used to be California on a farm that looks to be something straight from a Steinbeck novel about the depression. Things are apparently hard all over as Wolverine is having problems paying the local gang their rent money. He ends up taking a job from an old friend and ally from his superhero days. What ensues is a heart wrenching story about the limits of the hero spirit. When it is finally revealed what could be so horrendous that would actually make Wolverine give up the job he's been good at for so many years, you find yourself completely invested in the story. It's a masterwork that will make people with even the most jaded opinion of Wolverine as a character rethink and revisit their stance on this classic character.

Recently released in a hardcover trade paperback, Old Man Logan is an epic read for even those that are not typically readers of Marvel Comics. Check it out and thank me later.

Rating:
Carl - 5/5