Muramasa: The Demon Blade

I saw my brother play a lot of Muramasa: The Demon Blade over the summer. My impression: despite its imperfections, it's a worthwhile game for any Wii owner to enjoy.

Objectively speaking, there's a lot to like in the game. Much like Vanillaware's Odin Sphere, Muramasa is a 2-D sidedcrolling RPG with absolutely fantabulous graphics. Also, in much the same way that the former adapted Norse mythology in its main plot, the latter is a fantasy take on Tokugawa-era Japan (complete with Japanese-only spoken dialogue). In fact, you could even say that Muramasa is two RPGs in one, as it provides players with the option to play through either the story of Princess Momohime -- she possessed by a demon intent on accumulating ultimate power -- or the ninja Kisuke -- he bestowed with inhuman skills after being left to die having failed to assassinate a political figure. In fact, it's only by playing through both stories (which overlap, naturally) that one unlocks the best features of the game, as well as the game's "real" ending.

However, for an RPG the game is lacking in some key respects. Most notably, while enjoyable, it would be putting it kindly to describe the overall plot as nigh incomprehensible, or at least it becomes so at a certain point. Without a doubt, the game would have benefitted from better storytelling and plot development, as players are often left wondering exactly what the hell is going on. Also, from a gameplay perspective, the action borders on the repetitive, with more than its fair share of grinding and backtracking through cleared areas -- even for an RPG.

Yet for all its shortcoming Muramasa is a very decent Wii game, a spectacle to behold especially because it gets the aesthetic elements -- its Japanese cultural conceit -- spot on. Had it come out earlier in the Wii's history, no doubt the game would have been a must-own title. As it stands, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is proof that there is life yet for a console on its last legs.

The Cycle of Political Revolutions

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I didn't have an opportunity to read Polybius when I was a student, so my exposure to his ideas on politics came about when I had to teach Political Thought.

As these slides show, he did articulate the notion that governments appear to be in an endless state of flux: monarchies degenerate into kingships, then tyrannies, then aristocracies, then oligarchies, then democracies, then eventually mob rule. These political revolutions is, he would argue, a neverending cycle, for which reason the "best" form of government would be a mixed constitution with elements from each form of government.

Pundits can debate until they're blue in the face if he was right or not. All I know is that the idea is so elegant in its simplicity that it gets students' attention and piques their interest fairly easily.

On a personal note, this stage in the course syllabus was particularly memorable for me because is was around this time that I began experimenting with PowerPoint's animation capabilities. The slide deck above is the "print version" of my slides as students should remember them; in the original version I made, I animated all the text on the fifth slide the way I envisioned using the slide in the lecture -- the text appearing and disappearing at each click of the mouse. Looking back, it was pretty effective since it helped me with my delivery, although it did result in a slide that would never be legible in print, because it looks like this:

A mess, sure, but it worked perfectly!

(And if anyone is wondering: yes, I've learned that it's possible to achieve the same effect in a much simpler manner, thank you very much.)

Super Mario

If you know me well enough, you'll know I'm a huge Super Mario nerd (I even have a 'shroom to prove it). Maybe it's one part of my childhood that I can't just let go of -- a spell that Nintendo's flagship character cast on me the first time I played a Mario game on the Famicom. Whatever it is, I experience a sense of childish glee each time I encounter well made games or paraphernalia featuring the pudgy plumber.

So of course I jumped at the chance to read Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America.

As the title suggests, the book is a retrospective of Nintendo, tracking the company's growth from its humble beginnings manufacturing playing cards in Kyoto to its emergence as global video game giant. The company's story is one of struggle, serendipity and shrewd strategy; of placing big bets on innovative technologies (rightly, for the most part), launching an industry and becoming a cultural icon for an entire generation of consumers in the process. Along the way, the company's various highs -- such as the Gameboy and the Wii -- and lows -- namely the Virtual Boy -- are discussed at length, as is Nintendo's penchant for cashing in on its inimitable mascot Mario, both in good times and bad.

Inevitably, Super Mario is also the story of the video game industry's growth and maturity, albeit with Nintendo front and center.

Author Jeff Ryan is himself a gamer, and it shows throughout his book. He has a knack for regaling readers with trivia from Nintendo's history (apocryphal or otherwise). However, like others' work on the gaming beat, there are times when his enthusiasm gets the better of him, as the quality of writing in certain sections of the book tends to suffer by comparison. It's also worth noting that the book appears to lack in primary sources, reading like a compendium of information readily available about Nintendo yet curated quite ably by Ryan.

Super Mario is by no means hard-hitting business journalism, nor is it meant to be. If anything, it's an informative and fun look at a company whose mascot has become synonymous with video games. Without a doubt, the book is recommended reading for all Nintendo nerds out there.

[Jeff Ryan's Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America will be published by Portfolio on 4 August 2011. This review is based on a pre-publication proof obtained through NetGalley.]

"Our Best People Are Working on That."

This isn't a follow-up to my last missive on Blogger's downtime per se, and it doesn't quite qualify as an entry for The Internet is Down.

The error message just popped up while I was doing some random tweaking on the blog. And I found it amusing.

In ten words, it gets the message across quite effectively, doesn't it?

That is all.

Unboxed: 35mm AF-S f/1.8G DX Nikkor Lens

My first lens purchase. By definition, also my first prime lens.

No other significance to this post other than that. So please indulge me.

(Impressions to follow...assuming I get around to writing them!)

The Quants

Books on the subprime meltdown of 2007-2008 usually revolve around common themes: that the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street were greedy, were too smart for their own good, and were ultimately clueless about how their decisions would affect the world economy. On that score, Scott Patterson's book, The Quants: How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It, covers much of the same ground, with the exception that it offers a more personality-driven narrative of the financial crisis by focusing on four hedge fund managers who were in the eye of the storm in more ways than one.

Peter Mueller of Morgan Stanley's PDT hedge fund. Ken Griffin of the Citadel Investment Group. Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management. Boaz Weinstein of Deutsche Bank's Saba hedge fund. In chronicling these four traders' rise to prominence on Wall Street, Patterson is also telling the story of the rise to prominence in high finance of quants -- traders with backgrounds in mathematics whose quantitative models of financial instruments would define an industry. As described in The Quants, these increasingly complex mathematical models would forever change the face of Wall Street, first by yielding unparalleled profits for those who got them right, and later for being so out of touch with the "Truth" they were supposed to describe that they would nearly bring the world to financial collapse.

Although the book focuses principally on four quants, it also serves as a good reader on the development of modern quantitative finance. Many of the luminaries and critics of the field are discussed in the book: Eugene Fama, Ed Thorp, Fisher Black, Myron Scholes, Benoit Mandelbrot and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, just to name a few. But of course none figure more prominently than Mueller, Griffin, Asness and Weinstain, whose professional trajectories arguably exemplify the standard against which quants once wished -- and may still wish -- to be measured.

For all their intelligence, the quants' sophisticated mathematics ultimately failed to capture the "Truth". At best, some quantitative models predicted that a financial crisis on the scale of what transpired in 2007-2008 was a twenty-five standard deviation event; in short, practically impossible -- yet it happened. That perhaps is the most sobering lesson from The Quants: that mathematical modeling is ultimately an imperfect abstraction of reality, where the impossible may just be a standard deviation within reach.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

My copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii gathered dust on my shelf for the better part of a year, its bright red case practically screaming "Play me!" each time I'd catch a glance at all the unplayed games in my collection that I just put off for some reason or another.

But what are summers for if not catching up on one's hobbies, yes?

All in all, it took about four days to have a go at this sequel to the acclaimed Nintendo DS darling: two to play through the game with my brother (good thing there are warp cannons!) and another two to complete the star coins on my own (it's arguably easier to do so alone). The verdict: it's probably one of the harder Mario games I've ever played, but it's also one of the best looking and most fun.

Like its small-screen predecessor, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a welcome throwback to the series' sidescrolling origins, an homage to the best Mario games that also introduces nifty gimmicks (helicopter helmet!) and new gameplay mechanics (cooperative/competitive multiplayer!). In fact, I'd say that the game brings together the best parts of Super Mario Bros. 3 -- airships...definitely the airships -- and Super Mario World -- Yoshi, the Star Road, and the castles with Koopa siblings come to mind -- for fans to explore and enjoy to their heart's content.

Granted, the game isn't perfect. Among its main faults: lack of Wii classic controller support; how cooperative multiplayer can actually make the game harder rather than easier; powerups such as the ice flower, Penguin suit and mini mushroom that don't add too much to the gameplay experience. But notwithstanding these, New Super Mario Bros. Wii simply pushes many more of the right buttons to be a must-own title for the Wii.

And it comes in a bright red case.

(I definitely should have played it sooner.)

Varekai | Inside the Tapis Rouge

The circus is in town! Cirque du Soleil has finally made their way to Manila with Varekai. It's the fifth show from the troupe that I've managed to see, and certainly quite the spectacle.

Premium tickets to Varekai come with the privilege of access to a VIP area called the Tapis Rouge, a place to repair to prior to the show and during the twenty-five minute intermission.

So what awaits inside the Tapis Rouge?

First, a rather nice photowall, and a complimentary souvenir photo opportunity (one per person!).

As to be expected, there's a private area where one can peruse and purchase a variety of souvenir items

Perhaps the best part: there's free-flowing drinks and a fairly generous buffet -- canapes, some sushi and light dimsum, and dessert (during the intermission) -- catered by Manila Hotel. The fare isn't the sort that can replace dinner, considering that Varekai runs long and ends rather late, but it's certainly good enough to tide one over. That is, unless one prefers the hotdogs and popcorn for sale right outside, which is perhaps better suited to the carnival atmosphere.

Personally, I found the Tapis Rouge decor quite interesting. Everything kept with the Cirque du Soleil motif, including the table centerpieces that took the shape of acrobats and performers.

Arguably the only drawback to Tapis Rouge access (besides the steep ticket price) is that it keeps one insulated from the festival atmosphere within the main tent. Few would argue that the gathering crowd and growing anticipation are as much a part of the show as the performers and stunts are.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you'll find inside the Tapis Rouge at Varekai.

Commonwealth [Presentation Thursdays]

I have a soft spot for Cicero. As a high school junior, a year's worth of Latin class was dedicated to dissecting one of Cicero's speeches against Catiline. If memory serves, we only got maybe four or five paragraphs into it (hey, Latin isn't a cakewalk!), but for so many other reasons that class was really fun.

So when the political thought course I was teaching transitioned from Greek to Roman philosophers, I was particularly happy to lecture on Cicero:

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Of the many ideas found in his works, the ones that I think resonate best with students are his arguments why people should have civic/political involvements. I particularly like his rejoinder to the oft-heard "I'll be there when I'm needed," which I suppose illustrates how people's predilections -- right or wrong -- are just the same today as in Roman times.

[Confused about Presentation Thursdays? Then read the first in the series].