Seriously, if I wanted to live in a winter rainfall area I’d be Capetonian.
This is War
or Here’s an interesting new way to deal with the problems SA: When you’re done whining and ranting do something.
For those that don’t know, Niemand is a South African rock band whose members are all Christian. I’ve received two mails from Joe in light of the ‘Xenophobic attacks’ in Johannesburg. They are truly powerful and one of the few non-humorous mails I feel are worth forwarding.
Hi Guys
We have just returned from Jeppe Police Station in town where approx 2000 refugees are crammed into the backyard. This is just one of many stations swamped.
Thank you for the incredible response in terms of donations and volunteers.
You have once again proved that people just want to know how they can help to make a difference and get involved.
Seeing as Government has not responded on ground level with any plan to resolve this crisis, it is up to volunteers and donators to feed these people. The police who are already stretched beyond their limits are doing their utmost to care for these people in terms of toilets, food and blankets. They are overworked and with no end in sight, the situation can only worsen.
It just started raining.. That is going to be a big problem for all these people who are outside in this cold weather.
For the few of you upset by this initiative, I apologise if one of these mails slips through to you. On that point, when we arrived at the police station on Wednesday a child had just passed away. That child did not choose to be there.
There are babies, children, pregnant woman, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants and criminals all bunched together, they are all being treated the same. We are not there to pick sides or say who is who. The fact of the matter is that there are surely those who were attacked for good reason, but blind hate has been poured over many, many innocent and legal foreigners as well.
The circumstances around the xenophobic attacks are so complex, that anyone trying to pin it down to one thing is being presumptuous. The fear, frustration and hate that broke out into violence like this can be traced back to many factors. People are unsafe, unemployed and leaderless.
We are not there because we feel that illegal immigrants should be allowed in this country. We are not there because we have a political angle on this or because we don’t feel that foreign syndicates are a problem. Our reason for getting involved is purely because we came together on Monday night and as a band decided that seeing a man being burnt alive in our city is not acceptable.
No matter who he is.
We don’t have the time to discuss this with people who say that many people are murdered, why jump at helping the foreigners?
My only answer to that is that I personally have removed myself from what is going on in this country for long enough. For long enough have I avoided the news because “it’s always bad.” We have become so detached from our reality that it took the photograph of a man burning alive to make an impression on me. So if it takes the attacks on foreigners in this way to ignite us into action, so be it
On a practical note:
Feeding people is great but we feel that actually moving people out of danger and back to their countries is the only way to resolution. We can’t force people to return home and we can’t do it on our own. So because the Mozambican government has an initiative to move their people we are working with them. We are still volunteering with food and relief and the response of people that want to help has been overwhelming. We will use RAOK as a rally point for initiatives and resources. We will make and take suggestions and do what we can where we can.
We have to start somewhere. We have to start sometime.
We have to snap back to reality. Get out of our Playstation, DSTV, Facebook lives that only amount to us trying to escape boredom.
There is more to life.
We started moving the first Mozambicans last night in cooperation with the Mozambican Consulate General in Johannesburg. Please keep everyone on the ground in your thoughts and prayers.
We will send out updates on needs as they arise. Currently there is a desperate need for:
- Purity
- Water
- Toilet Paper
- Nan 3
- Blankets
- Black bags
- Cups and paper plates
Please do not call us, we don’t have the capacity to take all the calls coming in. Mail us at istell@niemand.co.za if you want to volunteer or donate.
Thank you
Joe
Far Cry 2 – Preview
Sequels can be such a messy business.
Crytek, the studio that brought us the original Far Cry and the more recent Crysis, isn’t developing Far Cry 2. The game won’t be built on CryEngine 2 (the engine behind Crysis) but on Dunia, a custom-built engine that re-uses only 2-3% of the original CryEngine code. Lush island forest landscapes have been exchanged for 50km² of African savannah. The story is quite different from the original and Jack Carver won’t even be reappearing as the protagonist.
So what about the game makes it Far Cry 2? Using the original CryEngine, Far Cry showed us that games could have great graphics and be set in a large open-ended environment that can be explored non-linearly without pausing to load. Far Cry 2′s game mechanic centres around this concept and it promises to push the envelope of open-ended first-person shooters.
Fairly little is known about the characters or story. Apparently our hero is the “strong, silent type” and seeking to rid the world of a filthy literary critic slash warlord. You find yourself in a fictitious African country, bed-ridden with malaria and this man has the gall to enter your hotel room uninvited, read your memoirs, and mock them. He also happens to supply both sides of a faction war with weapons.
Malaria is one of the biggest killers on our continent so what better choice of handicap mechanic for a game set in Africa? Peter Redding, narrative designer of Far Cry 2, revealed at the Game Designer’s Conference earlier this year that the disease is also used to force the player to interact with the non-threatening characters. The friendlier NPCs have access to medicine without which you will die.
The depth of the interaction with NPCs promises to give more scope to the open environment than just being able to wander wherever you want. Your path to the kingpin is not pre-determined by a set story but guided by an intricate progression mechanic. To get to him you must advance through the ranks inside the factions. This you earn with your reputation.
Your reputation is based on how you do a mission and who you do it with. Walking the fine line of fame and notoriety within the factions gives you access to different missions, each of which can be approached in a variety of ways.
Ubisoft Montreal have gone to great lengths to immerse the player in the game world. They use new ways of graphically depicting game mechanics as Far Cry 2 will forego a classic heads-up display. Mission briefings, healing and even viewing the map are seen from the first-person perspective.
Far Cry 2 promises much, the hype machine stands poised and the fans have high hopes. It’s a little sad that the studio that was responsible for the original Far Cry has had no hand in it’s sequel but (dare I say it) given how Crysis turned out… maybe that’s a good thing.
Asikhulume: Transformation vs. Reconciliation
I don’t really watch a lot of television. But there’s a secret cache of talkshow programmes on South African television on Sunday nights that are quite interesting to watch if you’re in a, thinking, inquisitive, open-minded mood.
The first I watched was Asikhulume, and the second Interface. Interface did a pretty cool piece on the deregulation of the fuel industry in the light of the massive petrol price hike this month.
Asikhulume/Let’s Talk asked an interesting question: “Has the South African government promoted reconciliation at the cost of transformation?” They had 3 semi-famous people on their panel: a black woman whose name I can’t remember, a white dude called Dan Roodt representing Afrikaner interests, and a black man called Aubrey that was the most rational around that whole table (hostess included).
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A slap in the face
A New Zealander nominated to receive the highest honour from South Africa that a foreigner can receive, the Companion of OR Tambo Award asked for the nomination to be withdrawn. To put things in perspective, this award has been given to Mahatma Gandhi, Kofi Annan and Martin Luther King jnr.
As we say in South Africa: “Eish!” Typically this interjection is followed by raucous laughter after such a massive dis that secures the dissers obvious victory (as well as asserts his superior manhood) over the dissee.
John Minto was the national co-ordinator of the Halt All Racist Tours movement during the 1981 Springbok tour to New Zealand.
According to News24 Mr Minto told the Christchurch Press the following:
“(South Africa) was the democratic country with so much hope and I think for so many people it’s been the deepest of disappointments, and certainly it has been for me.
“I’m just deeply dismayed at what’s happened.”
In an open letter to President Thabo Mbeki, Minto also said, “When we protested and marched into police batons and barbed wire here in the struggle against apartheid, we were not fighting for a small black elite to become millionaires.
“We were fighting for a better South Africa for all its citizens. The faces at the top have changed from white to black but the substance of change is an illusion.”
Here’s hoping that if enough of the right people (such as old anti-Apartheid activists and the growing black middle class) keep complaining, someone will start listening. At the very least here’s hoping that enough people wake up in time to rock the vote.
Loadshedding: BEE and AA to blame… Yeah whatever.
Loadshedding (n): Describing the state of being load-shed. Rolling blackouts, beurtkrag (directly translated: turn-power). Also commonly referred to as “An economy-crippling, job-destroying nightmare of galactic proportions initially thought to be only due to government and Eskom’s short-sightedness regarding the retention of skills.”
I say “initially” because Carte Blanche has opened a nice big, juicy can of worms tonight with their insert entitled “Eskom’s darkest hour.” For those not in the know, Eskom is South Africa’s only electricity-providing utility.
Now to be fair, I don’t regard Carte Blanche as a shining star of investigative journalism. Sometimes they’re just another hype machine, but sometimes they deliver blogworthy stuff ;-D.
My stance today is that while there is likely a major skill-shortage in Eskom (and various other businesses/sectors in South Africa), that is not what has lead us to the point where rolling blackouts are an every day occurance. Once again it’s profiteering gluttony. Capitalism gone mad. Now don’t get me wrong:
Posted in Rant, W.A.M.
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Call of Duty 4 Review
Flash out!
How many First Person Shooters can be praised for its compelling single-player storytelling? How many of those boast a multiplayer component potentially capable of displacing the most entrenched shooter in competitive gaming?
The single player game seizes your attention from the first mission and the intensity doesn’t let up until the closing credits roll. It’s almost like playing a blockbuster movie. Cinematics are in the style of Half-Life’s interactive tram ride but are more visceral, more engaging. The fierce pace of the action combined with the amazing interactive cinematics makes for a single player campaign that does justice to the Call of Duty franchise.
It took about 9 hours to finish the single player game the first time. This includes replaying certain sections a few times as well as stopping to admire the scenery. If you knuckle down and play the game through on the easiest difficulty setting don’t expect anything more than five or six hours of entertainment. You can replay the game at higher skill levels (which only makes the AI more accurate) or take on Arcade Mode where you rush against a timer. This doesn’t make up for the short single player, though.
Occasionally your team mates seem completely useless while other times it’s as if you’re just along for the ride. As with its predecessors, COD4 focusses on infantry combat. You can’t commandeer vehicles, though you do ride shotgun (in a helicopter and Spectre gunship!).
Similar to Battlefield 2142, Call of Duty 4 uses a persistent online profile that stores your rank and accolades. Instead of choosing which new equipment and skills to unlock, players of equal rank have access to the same weapons and perks. You are awarded XP for your performance in every multiplayer match. After amassing enough XP to gain a level you are granted access to new weapons, new perks and new challenges. Weapon attachments (such as sights and silencers) are unlocked by getting kills with the weapon. The weapons themselves are well balanced, but realism is sacrificed at times in favour of balance.
Sometimes you win but it sure doesn't look that way...
When you create a new profile you’ll have access to three of the five basic classes. Each class represents a weapon group and is unmodifiable. As soon as the Create a Class feature becomes available the basic classes become redundant, though only five custom classes can be created.
If ranks, levels and unlocks don’t appeal you can always play ModWarfare, a mod that installs with the main game. All equipment and perks are then available but at the cost of fame and glory. The game didn’t ship with bots, so you won’t be able to play multiplayer game modes unless at a LAN or connected to the Internet.
A multitude of configurable multiplayer game modes are available to suit every occasion. Modes like Free for All and Team Deathmatch are there for those that enjoy the classics. The objective-driven game modes (Headquarters, Domination, Search and Destroy, Sabotage) play best. Headquarters, a capture-and-hold derivative that allows respawning, is a LAN favourite. Search and Destroy features as the equivalent to Counter-Strike’s bomb defuse maps. Depending on the mode you can have a fast paced, no down-time game or a tactical one where death means you’re out for the round.
Infinity Ward has taken what they and others have done well in other games and combined them into a shooter with an excellently told story and multiplayer that just plays well. The graphics and sound are excellent, providing the atmosphere for a truly engaging tale and immersive gaming experience. Call of Duty 4 doesn’t revolutionise the genre but it certainly comes near to perfecting it.
Before...
After
How many dirty bombs does it take to change a lightbulb?
Obsessed?! That’s an awfully strong word…
Dirk Hermann from the Solidarity trade union said that South Africa is becoming increasingly race-obsessed. This was reported by Fin24 almost a month ago in reference to the responses to Jimmy Manyi’s call to have white women removed from the “Previously Disadvantaged” list in Affirmative Action (AA) legislation.
I’m going to cleverly avoid the topic of white women in affirmative action by picking some related topic and focussing on that.
First I was going to disagree about the choice of the word ‘obsessed’ and argue that very few South African are, in fact, obsessed about race. That only those with a roof overhead, food on the table, running water and electricity have the luxury of obsessing about race.
But then I saw a fantastic opportunity: Nitpicking about the word ‘race!’
Posted in Rant, W.A.M.
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Poll: What’s in a name?
This is a poll with a difference. There will be two related questions. I will provide options. You may ignore my options entirely and comment with your own opinion 
You may have noticed that my last post deviates from the spirit of the title “W.A.M.” As such, I would like your feedback on this proposed new content as well as a possible name-change.
A. Should W.A.M. contain my thoughts on computer games and technology?
- W.A.M. is about socio-political commentary and should be kept as pure and controversial as possible. Keep your technobabble to yourself.
- I’d love to read more on W.A.M. than your white-guilt-driven blatherings. It broadens my horizons and whatnot.
B. Should W.A.M.’s name be changed?
- No.
- To accomodate the new content, most assuredly. A name like “The blog of everything” will suffice.
The glory of maintaining ones own blog is that if no comments are received on this, I get to delete it and act as if the poll never happened… Muha! Muhahaha!
Posted in Announcement
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The First rule of Hellgate: London Alpha is…
A lesser author would feel guilty at such blatant plagiarism. But Steve Jobs, quoting Picasso, says, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” That said, I still extend my heartfelt apologies to Chuck Palahniuk.
By the measure of Picasso (and Jobs) I am the Leonardo da Vinci of the blogging world. If you would dare to call blogging art.
But I digress. Only those gamers who played Diablo for the first time in 1996/97, fell in love with it, and were then forced to wait from 2000 to 2005 for Diablo 2 to be released would understand this fully. Remember the excitement when you were invited to the closed beta? What about the horror of the 100MB beta client download? I was on dial-up at the time so let me assure you that it wasn’t fun.
Now imagine that times 4 gajibazillion. Hellgate: London promised even more than Diablo 2 did (aside: and even D2 disappointed the followers of The Great Hype Machineâ„¢ back then).
Then imagine this in your inbox.
Congratulations! You’ve been selected to be part of the very first group to help test Hellgate: London, the highly-anticipated Action-RPG from Flagship Studios!