61 Frames Per Second

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Videogames: Star Wars' Last Hope

Around the time 61 Frames Per Second launched, George Lucas’ media empire started amassing its evil forces for a hype onslaught the likes of which hadn’t been seen since 2005. No free thinking nerd would escape its wrath across the summer of 2008. Everywhere you looked online, on television, or in print, there it was, assaulting your eyes with Harrison Ford’s dilapidated visage to hock Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or choking your brain with the impossible geometry of The Clone Wars’ computer animated caricatures. It was a harrowing time for all.

The third-leg of the Lucas media tripod of destruction was Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a brand coating a veritable canyon of products, from books to Pez dispensers. Of course, the Force Unleashed flagship was a videogame. It was literally everywhere. Of the many things written and said about Force Unleashed during this period, the most intriguing and lamentable came from Nerve’s own Peter Smith. After reading one of the countless articles on the multiple physics engines running Force Unleashed, Pete said, “This game is so cool looking that I actually wish it wasn’t Star Wars.” He was saying that Star Wars was so sullied, so diluted by oversaturation and truly, inescapably terrible movies, that the mere presence of the universe could tarnish otherwise good entertainment. Star Wars, as a foundation for story, as anything, sucked. It was no longer cool. And I was terrified to find myself agreeing with the man.

Of course I came to my senses, shortly thereafter. No matter what, Star Wars will always, in some small way, be cool. Simplistic morality plays, idiotically fleshed out science fiction universes, and over-fetishized metallic swimwear may all be lame as hell. But humming swords made of light will always be awesome. And it’s mostly videogames that have kept Star Wars cool in recent years.

Whatcha Playing: Persona, Fallout, and the Trans-Pacific RPG Ideal

Somewhere, probably not too far from Hawaii, the perfect role-playing game is waiting to be discovered. A volatile, volcanic outcropping boiling over with an expert blend of relatable, colorful characters, deep, directed narrative, and open, exploration-rich adventuring, alongside intimidatingly deep avatar customization. Its game world is both fantastic and hyper-real, vast yet structured enough to inexplicitly guide the player along scaling challenges.

Alright, I’m kidding. I know this game isn’t real. Of course it isn’t. But after the past couple of weeks, I sincerely wish it was.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.