Jingle Jangle

Who came and turned on the lights?

Turned on the speakers and the mic?

Sang the happy songs in this empty lot

filled with nothing but half remaining paint and rot.

The ghost still lives and makes notes with the howling wind.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and Remembering Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare

This is really an interesting development.  More quakey I'm expecting, with the extra jumps and speed.  It's funny how successful franchises always have a nostalgic starting point, COD4 Modern Warfare.  The original game that will feel slow to us now, but really intensified the warfare experience back in that year.  From the loud and impressive Dday invasion from previous Call of Duty games to the current-day weapons and whizzing bullets and impressive military-movie/hollywood black hawk down feel, there was a kind of balance between the arcade and the sim-like feel of being deployed in a glitzy for-screen military and war. Not unlike how racing games try to strike a balance between arcade/sim, with a focus on challenge and fun.

COD4

(Source)

While real military technologies and prototypes have been developed since then, their use other than drones have seen limited public exposure and demonstration except for things that feature them specifically like the future weapons show.  Recent military movies and hollywood movies like the expendables didn't push our sensibilities and expectation of modern warfare, rather copped the elements from the games this time, featuring AA12s, AC130, Barrett rifle, favorite kill streaks and weapons of the modern warfare series.

AC130

(Source)

COD4 modern warfare really did a fair job of capturing and upgrading the immersion of current warfare, demonstrating a wide plethora of military experiences from extensive covert sniper missions, to snowstorm battles.  Though there are other areas that add to realism and immersion other than intensity, intensity is the easiest thing to see and promote, thus we have the bigger and better approach, along with increased speed (and customizations).
Looking back at movies, however, we see titles like The Hurt Locker, which gave us a different dimension and insight into modern day warfare and how it could pique our interest through other avenues like soldier to soldier relationships and psychological aspects.  We got glimpses of this from things like Bad Company and Medal of Honor.

  

The Hurt Locker

(Source) 

Scenes from The Hurt Locker

 (Source)

Of course, it's profitable to cater to more action and to the competitive scene too, so that's where COD went, but who knows where and what the next military shooter will be that really feels new, that shows a wide range of things we haven't seen before not just from weapons to vehicles, but also team command/relationship, intel acquisition and implementation, and field resourcefulness.
Some of the great things about the original were subtle things too, like the blood, blur, scopes, escalation, rewards system, and tightness of control/movement, all of which may seem like a basic given taken for granted by now.

COD4 Injured screenshot & Kill Streak Reward

(Source)

I think the control/movement was the defining factor for me though.  So I'm excited to see the results given that Respawn Entertainment, the original heads of the original modern warfare, is giving a reason for competition with their Titanfall innovations and improvements, though I have yet to try it out for myself.  Let's see what the near future holds.

 Titanfall

(Source) 

in the meantime, I invite you to come over and check out some of my videos on my channel.  Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/user/ReloadIdeology

"The graphics are underwhelming. I'm disappointed!"

YouTube user michael jones posted a comment on this video:

FarCry4 World Gameplay Premiere (E3 2014 footage)
expressing his disappointment with the graphics. A lot of dissenting voices then reacted. This is a common pattern that is seen when people object to the object of others' desires.  Here is my comment that I posted as an observation:


Here's the secret. "Graphics" are subjective features that will differ among each player. You cannot be wrong in your own assessment that the graphics are underwhelming to you personally.

Far Cry 3 Graphics Comparison (Source: Kotaku)

When others object to your objection, they are combatting the encroachment of your opinion onto their experience of not only the game but also the hype, which feeds into their enjoyment of the game. So in a way, it's personal for them to defend their own hype around the game, as they anticipate its greatness, and prepare to give it their full attention and benefit of doubt. They want to enjoy the game even if it means overtly or subliminally lowering their own standards and expectations.
While they may be smart enough to objectively realize that the jump in graphics from the last installment of the game to this one is not a big leap, their aim is not to be objective in their approach to this piece of culture, but to be highly subjective to the point of injecting their own desire of wanting-something-to-be-good into it.
Your disparaging remarks about its "impressiveness" may not seem like it has anything to do with hopeful eyed audiences, but in fact, everything people see and experience shapes and molds a type of reality (subjective reality). For example, if a lot more commenters chime in and cover this comment page with "UGLY", "Graphics suck", "Disappointing, doesn't look great", etc. it will dampen the excitement that the hopeful people hold out for the game. You may dismiss this silly effect, but it does have negative effects upon these people and their time with the game when and before it arrives. Obviously, they would rather prefer comments that echo their own thoughts, thereby amplifying the subjective effect and result of the game seeming even better, even more fun, even more pretty, even more worth waiting for.

If someone agrees with you about the underwhelming nature of the game, they will like your comment because it reflects how they feel about it and both of you will have something in common, a perspective and a sense of aesthetics and qualifiers of quality. Of course, the naysayers may also experience their own frustration if they feel that their opinion, of the graphics sucking, is in the minority. If you feel like you're the only one disappointed with the graphics of a game while everyone else seems like they're cluelessly enjoying it, you may feel like you're surrounded by blind idiots.

Far Cry 3 (Source: VentureBeat)

Far Cry 4 (Source: Ubisoft)

But of course, the truth is
that this is a game that is being showed before it has been released, on youtube, and at a time where expectations are high for the surprises this next generation of power and innovation has in store for us in the immediate present and future.

The Sleeping Beauty Died Knowing Not What Beauty Was

Sleeping beneath the ceiling, the feeling of a memory missing.  I don't mind it like it is.  The hollow space where pleasant things once lived.

One day the meadows will wait for rain.  And while the rain does not arrive, a fire will be coaxed from any, many of the bristling branches.  There's no need for yelling.  The animals disperse amidst the arising.  No one and no thing left to warn, only your own body warming.

Watery eyes realize the certainty of a beautiful scene dead during its dying.  The silent light of sunlight gazes indifferently everywhere evenly, its sky-eye view of habitats and inhabitants crackling and screaming.  Through the evening, twilight, night, morning light returning; a quiet death brooding – the breath of another generation of living.

Post 00

     At the foot of creation, A giant being sprung high and far into the unseeable.  

     Speaking to itself without knowing whether it could listen, regardless, it listened.  

     And so the sound shook with meaning becoming.  

     Distances travelled and permutations tried.