Update #37

Actua Soccer (PS1)

Alien Trilogy (PS1)

Asteroids (PS1)

Command & Conquer (PS1)

D (PS1)

Disruptor (PS1)

Doom (PS1)

G-Police (PS1)

Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

Rage Racer (PS1)

Soulblade (PS1)

Superbike 2000 (PS1)

Syndicate Wars (PS1)

Warhammer: Shadow Of The Horned Rat

Dino Crisis 3 (Xbox)

Kirby Mass Attack (DS)

The Darkness 2 (Xbox 360)

Dead Space 3 (Xbox 360)

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate Of Two Worlds (Xbox 360)

Saints Row: The Third (Xbox 360)

Need For Speed: Most Wanted (PS3)

Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (PS3)

Mario Party 8 (Wii)

Pandora’s Tower (Wii)

New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS)

Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy (3DS)

Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation (Vita)

LittleBigPlanet Vita (Vita)

New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)

Nintendo Land (Wii U)

ZombiU (Wii U)

I blame World Of Warcraft. Buying, installing and falling deeply down the grindfest rabbit-hole that is the latest expansion, Mists Of Pandaria, was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. A general malaise about videogames had begun to settle in my bones already, brought about by feeling like I was playing the same game over and over again, and by games I’d been looking forward to ending up being shockingly poor (take a bow, Resident Evil 6). And it all came to a head one weekday morning when I decided to complete the meta-achievements of Pilgrim’s Bounty in World Of Warcraft in order to get a stupid title in front of my avatar’s name. Roping in my fiancé to help, asking her to create Horde starting characters so I could turn them into turkeys, dying endlessly by the level 90 elites in Horde starting areas. I got the achievement alright, after hours of corpse runs and hundreds of gold spent on armour repairs. But I’d lost perhaps four or five hours of my life. All for the word ‘Pilgrim’ to be displayed in front of the word ‘Driuzt’.

So I logged out. I cancelled my subscription. I told my fiancé that I was no longer going to play games. I told my friends the same. I swore promises that I’d use the time for more productive pursuits – beginning personal projects, writing more, starting up new hobbies. I even began to bake my own bread. I was the master of my own time once more.

But there was one problem. An active Lovefilm subscription, and a rental game sitting on my coffee table. Plus the ringing endorsements of reviewers up and down the land about just how good it was. So, thinking that it couldn’t hurt to have one final fling before packing away my games for awhile, I put Far Cry 3 in. And the demise of videogames in IC Towers witnessed a dramatic rebirth. I was totally hooked. Far Cry 3 is an exceptional game, but it wasn’t the game’s back-of-the-box highlights that particularly drew me in. I got addicted to checking things off lists again. The completionist in me did a little jig of joy every time I reached the summit of a radio tower and unlocked a chunk of the map, or watched the flag rise above an outpost after I’d snuck in and slit everyone’s throat. I ploughed through the game in double-quick time, and, euphoric at all the climbing of towers, immediately went back to hoover up some trophies in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. With a lot of the optional content of that done (including the awesome Lair Of Romulus dungeons that I’d somehow missed the first time round) I then moved immediately on to Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – aborted early on in the campaign my first time through – and conquered that, even going so far as to pick up all the 100 Animus Data Fragments.

In short, I was hooked again. Plans to abandon gaming were shelved, but still the productive streak endured. New projects have started up. Bread is still being baked (alongside pickling eggs and making my own ketchup, bizarrely). And, most importantly, infinitecontinues rises like a pheonix from the ashes. I’m still not sure what form this site will take as it moves hesitantly forward once again, but it’s exciting to finally break such a lengthy period of inactivity.

And if you haven’t played Far Cry 3 yet, buy it immediately.

But I wouldn’t be much of a collector if such I let such a minor detail as lack of money stop me from snapping up more games, now would I? But now I’m going to be picking up titles which are on offer or vastly reduced before adding them to the Collection. Even so, this latest ICC Update is probably the shortest one yet – only two games! The first is Final Fantasy XIII-2, and even though I burnt out heavily on the original game, my Final Fantasy collection needs to be maintained. I picked it up for PS3, as most of my collection is on Sony systems so it seemed the right thing to do. My other purchase was Silent Hill HD Collection, a much-reviled package of remasters of Silent Hill 2 and 3. Although apparently crippled by a bevy of technical hiccups, my insatiable lust for playing old classics with achievements overrides those concerns, and Silent Hill HD Collection finds itself in my Xbox 360 line-up. Prices and links below.

Update #36

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3) – £14.95 from Zavvi.com

Silent Hill HD Collection (Xbox 360) – £22.95 from Shopto.net

The 2008 original is one of my all-time favourite games, a title dripping with atmosphere, chock-full of memorable characters and ensconced in a very palatable FPS framework. So I needed no second invitation to watch ‘New Year’s End’, and you shouldn’t either. So blown away was I by it, that I contacted the man behind it and asked, “Would you kindly answer some questions?”

ic: Hi Jared. Who are you and what do you do?

Jared Potter: My name is Jared Potter, and I’m a 26 year old filmmaker based in the state of Washington. Currently I am a freelance VFX/post-production artist/technician for various jobs; music videos, short films, commercials and even documentaries. My passion is definitely in directing, but that’s not a job that comes around too often. So I do my best to direct my own shorts whenever I get the chance.

ic: What motivated you to do a BioShock short film? And why now, when the first game came out in 2008?

JD: I remember playing the game when it came out in 2008 and being completely blown away by it. I don’t remember exactly when the idea came about to do a short film, but it was back then around the first time I finished the game. The problem was that I had just started going to college and had no time to actually produce it. Fast forward three or so years to May 2011 when I graduated from the University of Arizona and suddenly found myself with no solid job and a decent amount of time on my hands. So my mind went back to BioShock. It left such an impression that I immediately began to do some research (i.e. playing ridiculous amounts of the game) and then the blocks kind of fell into place.

ic: Did you read any Ayn Rand novels to help get inside the mindset of Andrew Ryan, or would that have taken far too long?!

JD: I wish I could say that I was that dedicated to the source material, but no I didn’t. However I did do a little bit of research online regarding the main BioShock influence, Atlas Shrugged. I read about the characters and the major themes in the novel so that I had a little bit of understanding going into the production. Sort of like reading the CliffsNotes.

ic: It seems like a mammoth task to produce something on this scale, even for a short film. How did you go about tackling it once the research had been done?

JD: It might look like it was really big in scale, but it actually wasn’t. There were three crew members working behind the scenes beside myself. The cast was also hugely instrumental during the shoot beyond just acting. Whenever they weren’t in a scene they would become a temporary part of the crew. We shot the film over one night, and at times it did get a little difficult balancing all the elements, but at the end it was truly a fun experience. I think what helped us the most in terms of scale was the location we were given permission to shoot in. Fort Worden, on the northern coast of Washington state, is a 100 year old military base that had the perfect look. With a little bit of CGI help I think the place looks just like Rapture.

ic: Much of that is down to the clever use of visual and audio references from the game. I don’t know how many times one hears ‘Welcome to the Circus Of Values!’ whilst playing the game, but it feels like its been indelibly imprinted on my mind! How did you go about translating some of the locations and dialogue from the game?

JD: I knew from the beginning that I wanted the project to be completely dialogue free. I was okay with hearing voices offscreen, like the “Rapture reminders”, but I didn’t want my actors saying anything. There is such a distinct feeling created by the environment of the game, and I wanted the environment of my film to have a similar effect without having to rely on dialogue. It makes the story a little abstract, but I was very happy with the tone. The few bits of “dialogue” people recognize from the game are actually straight out of the game. Things like the Circus Of Values sound effect have been offered online from 2K for free use, so I knew the clown had to make an appearance. The locations were a bit tricky, and in the end what I had available is what ended up shaping the story. The film takes place on New Year’s Eve 1958, and I would have loved to have shown the big party at the Kashmir restaurant taking place. With all the guests wearing their masquerade costumes, and the music, but I just couldn’t get those kinds of resources. So I was forced to craft the story out of the possible locations available to me, and that ended up being the lowest parts of the city, the slums.

ic: Your Andrew Ryan PA announcement sounds very convincing! Is this from the game? I can’t recall it?

JD: The one thing that isn’t directly from the game is the Andrew Ryan speech. It’s an audio clip from an official 2K video featuring Andrew Ryan addressing the people on New Year’s Eve. In my research, I found that this message was played out to the people of the city just prior to the bomb going off, so I decided to make it into a story point.

ic: You must be delighted with the press and attention New Year’s End has received since you launched it? Do you know if Ken Levine has watched it yet?

JD: I am almost overwhelmed with the response the project has gathered. For something that was originally intended to be a small fanfilm that my friends and I could do over one weekend, people have shown so much support. To visit all my favorite blogs and see my work posted up and talked about has been unreal. I certainly never thought I’d be doing an interview about it, that’s for sure! As for Ken Levine, I’m not sure if he has seen the film, but I get the feeling that he has. I received an email from an Irrational Games employee who has set up a phone call between Levine and myself for tomorrow, so I can ask him in person.

ic: What are your future plans? Any more BioShock films in the offing? Or other videogame films?

JD: My future plans are simply to keep making movies. I don’t know if anything I make in the future will get as much attention, but I love the creative process too much to allow that to stop me. At this point I can’t see if there will be any more BioShock in my future, but I wouldn’t turn away from the opportunity. I have a couple ideas floating around that I might be able to act on now that I am a Machinima partner. For me, videogames and filmmaking are becoming more and more similar in terms of storytelling, the possibilities are endless. I love the idea of merging the two, but that’s probably a discussion for another time.

ic: Thanks for your time Jared, and well done on a fantastic film!

Keeper Of The Creed is the start of a new set of ideas that I’m dubbing Infinite Collectibles (you see what I did there?) which aims to celebrate the humble doodads and geegaws that artificially lengthen our favourite videogames. This first design highlights the range of flags that plague Assassin’s Creed – 420 of them across 7 different flavours. Achievement whores amongst you will perhaps notice that Keeper Of The Creed is the name of the Achievement for collecting those found Masyaf.

The hi-res version of Keeper Of The Creed can be found over on my Infinite Continues Flickr page, under a new set which will hopefully get populated over the coming weeks and months. If you like my design enough to wear it emblazoned proudly across your chest or hung resplendently on your wall, here’s a final plug for my store on MySoti.

ORIGINAL STORY: I’ve featured the work of Orioto before, and had a chat with him on the inspiration and techniques behind his videogame artworks. Turns out he’s still producing them, and they’re getting even better. Check out ‘Flying Bully‘ on his Tumblr blog and allow yourself to dream of a Mario game done in this high-definition painterly style. According to his post, this piece will be available as a limited and signed print from Geek Art soon, so keep your eyeballs peeled.

The last I heard, Orioto was still working on indie platformer Swimming Under Clouds with Yacine Salmi’s Piece Of Pie Studios, who I also interviewed in 2010.

Elsewhere, there a few oddball titles in the mix. Yoshi’s Universal Gravitation is a game I’d never even heard of, let alone played, so it was a no-brainer to pick that up. My penchant for collecting esoteric JRPGs (without ever actually playing most of them) continues with DS title Magical Starsign. Sounds saccharine, but is supposed to be a decent game. I also picked up highly-rated Wii titles The Last Story and Xenoblade Chronicles, the former as a lavish limited edition package. I scratched the surface of Xenoblade Chronicles for a few hours before Mass Effect 3 sucked all my time like a life-consuming black hole, but I enjoyed what I managed to play and will return to that soon for sure.

I’ve added links to the Wikipedia pages if they exist for that title so you have more of an idea of what I’ve been collecting. The prices are included as always, although have been omitted for titles that I paid full retail value for, with the exception of Tokobot and Trauma Center, as I have no idea where I picked those two titles up!

Update #35

Eternal Ring (PS2) – £0.99 from eBay

Evergrace (PS2) – £2.00 from eBay

F.E.A.R. (Xbox 360) – £5.50 from eBay

F.3.A.R. (Xbox 360) – £9.50 from eBay

Yoshi’s Universal Gravitation (GBA) – £6.25 from eBay

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (Xbox 360) – £3.25 from eBay

Rayman Origins (Xbox 360) – £14.99 from eBay

Ratchet & Clank 3 (PS2) – £2.00 from eBay

Shadow Hearts: From The New World (PS2) – £4.21 from eBay

Magical Starsign (DS) – £5.99 from eBay

Lost Kingdoms (Gamecube) – £2.00 from eBay

Saints Row (Xbox 360) – £5.25 from eBay

Saints Row 2 (Xbox 360) – £5.25 from eBay

Tokobot (PSP)

Trauma Center: Under The Knife (DS)

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita)

Lumines Electronic Symphony (Vita)

Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

The Last Story (Wii)

Mass Effect 3 (Xbox 360)

Before Santa unloaded his sack into my games room (erm…) I’d been bitten by the collecting bug once again, but have grown slack in the documenting of new entries. So this update is an amalgamated one – old-school games gleaned from eBay and full-price purchases from my own wallet; and games I received as Christmas gifts. Together, they form a substantial update. I’m going to be a very, very busy boy in the coming months.

Update #34

Christmas Presents

Uncharted 3 (PS3)

Tomb Raider Trilogy (PS3)

Ico & Shadow Of The Colossus Classics HD (PS3)

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (PS3)

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360)

Gears Of War 3 (Xbox 360)

Need For Speed: The Run (Xbox 360)

Scene It? Box Office Smash (Xbox 360)

Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo 3DS)

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D (Nintendo 3DS)

Tales Of The Abyss (Nintendo 3DS)

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Nintendo 3DS)

The Rest

Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360)

Driver: San Francisco (Xbox 360)

The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)

Hitman: Blood Money (Xbox 360) – £3.00 from eBay

Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty (Xbox 360) – £2.20 from eBay

Table Tennis (Xbox 360) – £2.51 from eBay

Turok (Xbox 360) – £1.65 from eBay

Blur (Xbox 360) – £9.50 from eBay

BioShock (Xbox 360) – £1.91 from eBay

Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) – £4.70 from eBay

Eternal Ring (PS2) – £0.99 from eBay

Evergrace (PS2) – £2.00 from eBay

Dracula 2: The Last Sanctuary (Ps1) – £1.50 from eBay

Final Fantasy VI (PS1) – £12.51 from eBay

First up, a confession. Despite trying to use ‘we’ and ‘our’ wherever possible, Infinite Continues is a one-man band. Hello, I’m Ashley. I have a full-time job and a full-time girlfriend and even a full-time, newly-acquired, cat. I have interests that aren’t gaming, and an occasional social life, and mood swings and bouts of laziness and other fallacies and weaknesses that generally put the skids on a one-man, all-encompassing videogames site. Without others to write the content, these fluctuations in the ebb  and flow of a typical human life will, of course, result in the digital tumbleweed that rolls breezily across this domain with alarming frequency. So, from now on, I will call a spade a spade. Everything from now on is ‘I’, me’ and ‘mine’, as the Beatles would say.

Secondly, writing original content is hard. I suppose this is why a lot of sites of similar exposure levels as this one are content with regurgitating content from the big boys, spinning the same news story as you might read on dozens of other sites. I’ve never done this on IC, and will never do so, for two reasons. One, I find such stories pretty boring to write, and why do that to myself when, chances are, you’ve already read it elsewhere. And also, I’m not a games journalist – I receive no press releases, no advance review copies, I have next to no contacts in the industry. Everything here is the fruit of my own labours, with the money from my own wallet. And that’s fine, I’m just calling a spade a spade again. Essentially I’m just a big videogames fanboy hoping to add his voice to all those that already talk about videogames online. On his own bloody slickly-designed (in my modest opinion) website.

Where does that leave IC moving forward then? To be honest, I’m not sure. I have no plans to close it down for good, as I have built up a following and presence (of sorts) which I’d be loathe to lose. But there may be a period of transition as I get to grips with what content should go up here. Many people are drawn here by my Videogame Minimalism works, which is great, but something I’ve tried to distance from my writing. Others have come for the interviews with indies that I conducted in the past. I presume others come for the updates to my games collection, a sprawling mass of boxes which essentially consumes the entirety of the attic room of my house. Whatever has brought you here, I want to thank you for coming, and hope that you’ll stick around as I try to resurrect Infinite Continues from its ashes. Perhaps now that I’ll be writing it directly from my own point of view, I can dispense with the stifling veneer of professionalism and inject a bit more personality and honesty into proceedings. Because I’m just the same as you – a person who loves games. Infinite Continues is just a platform for me to get excited about them, and now I’ve reinforced that fact to myself once again, maybe a few people might lend their opinions so we can have a good old chinwag about them round these parts.

Of course, if you’d like to contribute to Infinite Continues yourself, to stave off the overbearing silence that descends on this place between my posts, that would be good too. Drop me an email at contact [at] infinitecontinues [dot] net.

And you can also find me chatting bollocks about videogames on the Infinite Continues Facebook page, and on Twitter.

Thanks for your attention, and hope to see you round here again soon!