In middle school, I was always
hunting for more games to add
to my collection. Spending $60
on a new title was a luxury that
I could only afford once or twice
a year, so I would always peruse
the Xbox 360 game market for
cheap or free games to play. Most
of what was available were demos
or knockoffs of other titles that
I’d delete within a few minutes,
disappointed and bored yet again.
Today, that problem doesn’t
exist. My middle school self
would have been in a gaming
paradise with all of the free-to-
play titles that have been coming
out — and quality ones at that. A
wave of free games has taken over
the industry in the last five years,
with some of the biggest names in
gaming joining in. Epic has been
one of the biggest players in this
new trend: The massive success
of “Fortnite” aside, they have also
recently purchased “Fall Guys”
and “Rocket League,” turning
them into free-to-play games as
well. Even some of the biggest
game franchises, such as Halo,
Destiny and Call of Duty, have
become, in part, free-to-play.
Whether it be through the sale
of battle passes, cosmetics such
as skins and emotes or items like
XP boosts that give the player a
helping hand, these games have
become what can best be termed
“freemium.”
This
freemium
model is insanely profitable for
games like Fortnite, but that
success has started a troubling
trend within the gaming industry.
The trajectory of the mobile
game market over the last decade
is a good, albeit simplified,
metaphor for the way big-budget
games have been approaching
the freemium model as of late.
The early 2010s saw the release
of some of the most iconic mobile
games, including “Angry Birds,”
“Cut The Rope” and “Plants vs.
Zombies.” These all began as
premium titles that required
a one-time purchase of a few
dollars to play. Sure, there may
have been extra ways to spend
your money in these games, but
for the most part they focused on
giving you a full game experience
for the price you paid up front.
However, upon seeing the success
of freemium titles such as “Clash
of Clans” or “Candy Crush” on
the mobile market, these games
adjusted their gameplay models
for
their
respective
sequels.
“Angry Birds 2” implemented an
energy system, meaning that after
five attempts players must either
wait 30 minutes, watch an ad or
pay for another go. “Plants vs.
Zombies 2” slowed its progression
system by making players collect
a certain amount of stars from a
series of levels before allowing
them to move to the next area,
unlike the first title where beating
a level meant moving right onto
the next one. Of course, this can
be made easier by straight up
paying your way to the next area,
saving you from having to perfect
some of the game’s particularly
(and suspiciously) hard levels.
Both of these games saw
fundamental changes to their
gameplay
formulas
and
are
arguably worse for it. It’s not fun
to have to wait to play or have to
pointlessly grind through a level,
especially when previous titles
had none of these cash-grabbing
techniques. Even though they
may be free to play, unlike their
predecessors, core parts of these
games were sacrificed in the name
of a freemium model. Now we are
seeing a similar shift take place
in some of the gaming industry
giants, with results that are just as
troubling as seen in their mobile
brethren.
My worries about this trend
started when Halo — a pillar of
the Xbox brand and one of my
favorite game series — announced
that the multiplayer in their next
title, “Halo Infinite,” would be
free while the campaign would
cost the standard $60. This was a
departure from the way mainline
Halo games had been sold for the
last 20 years, with campaign and
multiplayer bundled together as
a single, paid package. Although
the release date for “Infinite”
was set for December 2021, the
multiplayer portion was given a
surprise release in November —
smack dab in the middle of the
release of “Call of Duty: Vanguard”
and “Battlefield: 2042,” two major
(paid) multiplayer games. This
was an obvious smack in the face
for the other two major franchises
— Battlefield’s parent company,
EA, has allegedly blamed the
game’s poor reception on Halo —
but since that initial moment of
success it has become clear that
this move to free-to-play has had
a major impact on the game’s core
elements.
Like many of its first-person
shooter
compatriots,
Halo
is
built around glory. Players are
commended for their skill in each
game — how well they are able to
pull off things such as headshots
or multikills. Traditionally these
things rewarded players with
postgame accommodations that
would boost their player level.
As their level increased, so did
players’
access
to
cosmetics,
namely
different
pieces
of
armor to equip their character
with. “Halo Infinite” does away
with
the
performance-based
experience
system,
instead
making players complete certain
weekly objectives to earn XP
points. Working to get to the top
of the scoreboard or pulling off
an insane killstreak feels empty
to me now. “Infinite” seems to
promote the idea that your time
could be better spent focusing
on specific tasks such as getting
assists or dealing damage with
certain weapons rather than
playing the game how you want to
play it. Of course, these challenges
are all optional, as they only serve
to unlock armor from a paid battle
pass. But when matches are filled
with people rushing for certain
guns or just leaving the game
idle so they can reach a certain
number of rounds played, it feels
lame to try and compete and play
the game the way it’s meant to
be played — or at least, the way it
used to be.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
From
an
eerie,
middle-of-
nowhere ranch created in the mind
of Jordan Peele, “Nope” is born.
Peele’s third film, after “Get Out”
and “Us,” stars Daniel Kaluuya
(“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
from Peele’s first film, and Keke
Palmer (“Lightyear”), a striking
addition to the cast. The pair
play OJ and Emerald Haywood,
brother and sister horse wranglers
who are descendants of the first
Black animal trainer and actor in
film. Human-eating UFOs, a killer
chimpanzee and dead horses make
their way into a confusing but
intriguing plot. Somehow it feels
like there’s too much and nothing
going on at the same time. While
the plot’s premise doesn’t deviate
much from Peele’s other films, the
movie itself is a slight letdown in
comparison because of it.
The film takes place in inland
California, where OJ and Emerald
train Hollywood show horses on
their spacious, secluded ranch.
Things begin heating up when
they
notice
sinister,
almost
supernatural behavior in the skies
above — frequent power outages
followed by horses disappearing
in plain sight. A neighboring
theme park owner (Steven Yeun,
“Minari”)
also
observes
this
unnatural activity.
The two storylines emphasize
the danger of what happens when
trying to tame the beast versus
letting it roam free. It feels as
though Peele is trying to convey an
overarching theme of how animals
— or creatures — should not be
manipulated for human benefit.
He does this through his use of
the siblings’ horses, a persistent
UFO and a largely unnerving
chimpanzee from the park owner’s
past, all retaliating against efforts
to control them.
After
seeing
Kaluuya
and
Palmer introduce “Nope” live at a
premiere of the film, and knowing
Peele’s stellar reputation, I did my
best to fully comprehend and love
this movie. For two hours and 15
minutes, I stared at the screen
with my brows furrowed, trying
to make sense of it, but my efforts
were lost in the confusion of the
various plot points. A UFO as the
movie’s main predator felt played
out and frankly, slightly ridiculous.
One of this movie’s greatest faults
concerning its confusing plot is
the sudden, frequent flashbacks
and
flash-forwards.
With
no
transition, we travel from the
Hayworth house to a memory
from the park owner’s past. I was
constantly trying to figure out the
movie’s timeline, all to no avail.
The many eerie scenes added to the
fear factor, but the link between
them was often faint. I was left
distraught over a violent scene of
the young park owner witnessing
a chimpanzee brutally murdering
a little girl, but the connection
between that and real-time scenes
of the UFO was weak. Peele left
much unexplained, and a little
clarity definitely could’ve helped
convey the theme more strongly
for an increased impact on the
audience. The overall themes were
illustrated well, but the plot wasn’t
so much a fluid story as a collection
of moments and memories.
That said, the cinematography
was striking. The film, shot on
65mm in IMAX, rivaled, if not
surpassed,
the
camera
work
of Peele’s previous movies. I
appreciated the beauty of the
desert, which seemed like a
stylistic choice meant to showcase
the natural environment where
the predators belong and should
peacefully remain.
I was rooting for
Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’
Wednesday, September 21, 2022 — 5
Design by Leilani Baylis-Washington
ZARA MANNA
Daily Arts Writer
‘The Room’: putting the
cult in cult classic
I had seen “The Room” a couple
of times, but never in a theater
full of people. I understood the
absurdity of the film and how
truly terrible it is — so terrible that
it inspired a memoir and movie
adaptation called “The Disaster
Artist” that explores the movie’s
troubled production. I had seen
both “The Room” and “The Disaster
Artist” before, tricking myself
into believing that I understood
the fandom that surrounded “The
Room.” But I was not ready for the
experience that is seeing a late-
night showing in a theater jam-
packed with enthusiastic fans.
“The Room” stars the writer,
director and executive producer
Tommy Wiseau (“Best F(r)iends”)
as a man named Johnny in a
turbulent relationship with his
fiancee Lisa (Juliette Danielle,
“Dead Kansas”) and his best friend
Mark (Greg Sestero, “Best F(r)
iends”). Lisa has fallen out of love
with Johnny and starts an affair
with Mark. Much of the movie
focuses on characters unrelated to
the main storyline, an attempt to
show a slice of life that results in a
majority of the movie distracting
from the main characters. One
such character is Denny (Philip
Haldiman, “Room Full of Spoons”),
a college student who is financially
supported by Johnny, and who
has a violent encounter with a
drug dealer, only for it to never be
brought up again. It is hard to follow
the plot of the movie, as characters
have wild changes in their mood
without warning. One notable
example is Mark attempting to
kill his friend Peter (Kyle Vogt,
“Monarch of the Moon”), quickly
followed by an apology and the two
acting as if nothing happened. The
unfortunate byproduct of this is a
movie that is often described as the
worst ever made.
I learned about the bizarre
traditions for group viewings of
“The Room” just hours before
seeing the movie, leaving me
woefully
unprepared
for
the
ridiculousness. I knew maybe a
handful of the many famous quotes
but had no idea when scenes tied to
specific traditions would occur and
did not bring any spoons to throw
at the screen — my years cleaning
movie theaters in high school made
me feel guilty about the idea of
creating such a mess. These feelings
of guilt were quickly alleviated
when an announcement was made
to throw the spoons up in the air
instead of at the screen in order to
not damage the screen itself, giving
an indirect confirmation from the
Michigan Theater staff that they
understood the atmosphere of the
event.
Before the film, Sestero was
in the lobby meeting fans and
throwing around a football, a
reference to the fact that Mark
and Johnny will often play catch
at
seemingly
random
times
throughout the movie. I felt bad for
Sestero at first, worrying that he
was tired of hearing the same jokes
repeated endlessly, but he had a
sense of humor about the situation.
I expected an old man exhausted
from decades talking about the
same movie, but I was met with an
actor who still loved to talk about
his passion: making movies. His
precursor Q&A is when I realized
just how hardcore some fans of “The
Room” are. One audience member
had such a spot-on impression of
Johnny that I have to believe he
spent hours rehearsing it. Using his
own Johnny impression that would
give the audience member a run for
his money, Sestero talked about how
Wiseau would constantly replace
the production staff and forget
his own lines for hours on end. He
was feeding off of the energy from
the crowd, performing something
similar to a stand-up comedy
routine based on his experiences
making the film.
ZACH LOVEALL
Daily Arts Writer
Is the future of gaming free?
HUNTER BISHOP
Daily Arts Writer
Design by Emily Schwartz
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
By Bonnie Eisenman
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/21/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/21/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2022
ACROSS
1 Thwack
5 Informed (of)
10 Compensation
14 Tuck out of view
15 Wrinkled
16 Many a univ.
donor
17 365 days
18 Rub ingredient
19 HBO political
satire starring
Julia Louis-
Dreyfus
20 Impractical way
to get dressed?
23 Barack and
Michelle’s eldest
daughter
26 Family room
27 Impatient
28 Lives
30 Cookie fruit
31 Planning meeting
for the costume
department?
35 “Stop filming!”
38 Broody sorts?
39 Sir or sri
40 More than dislike
41 Donkey
42 Disappointing
sign on a
store selling
warm-weather
garments?
44 GPS display
45 Small village
46 Food cart snacks
in South Asia
49 Texting letters
52 Swerves
53 Really pulls off a
jacket?
56 Initial poker bet
57 Japanese noodle
dish
58 Carried debt
62 Appear to be
63 “You __ kidding!”
64 Grow tiresome
65 Jekyll’s
counterpart
66 Basil-based
sauce
67 Yields, as a profit
DOWN
1 Bashful
2 Blip on a
polygraph, maybe
3 Hugo-nominated
novelist Palmer
4 Continues
5 “One more
thing ... ”
6 Totally beat
7 Ouzo flavoring
8 Scouting mission,
briefly
9 Garden with
forbidden fruit
10 Fluttering in the
wind
11 Warning signal
12 Ballpark figure
13 Like cans in a
recycling bin,
hopefully
21 Doth own
22 Fall flat
23 Anime genre
featuring giant
robots
24 Wheel-
connecting rods
25 NFL team whose
mascot is named
Roary
29 Punchline lead-in
30 __ and blood
32 “Pull up a chair”
33 Corp. computer
exec
34 Fuzzy sitcom star
of the 1980s
35 “The Grouchy
Ladybug” writer/
illustrator
36 Out-and-out
37 Tries, as one’s
patience
40 Place of origin
42 Cheerios grains
43 “__ Nagila”:
Israeli folk song
44 Defiant retort
46 Cymbal sound
47 Bee product
48 Performed
49 Open up, in a
way
50 Fast-spreading
social media
posts
51 Fragrance
54 Hip hop genre
55 “I’m __ your
tricks!”
59 Pint-size
60 “Mangia!”
61 Many profs
SUDOKU
By Lisa Senzel & Christina Iverson
©2022 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/14/22
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis
09/14/22
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2022
ACROSS
1 Spanish tennis
great Nadal,
familiarly
5 Upgrade, as
machinery
10 Uncertain
14 Cabbage buy
15 Glazer of “The
Afterparty”
16 Skating
commentator
Lipinski
17 Analogy words
18 Bridal path flower
piece
19 Stash, as gear
20 Japanese drama
21 Cookbook
contents
23 Author Rand
24 Genre for
composer
Terence
Blanchard
26 Informal “You’re
oversharing”
27 Caramel candies
29 Like some
dangerous
isotopes
32 Curry of the NBA
34 Bike part
35 Quintet for most
starfish
38 Prefix for a
lifesaving “Pen”
39 Not so big
41 Knock
42 Try to hit
44 Tell it like it isn’t
45 Speed skater
Ohno
47 Act parts
49 Past the point of
caring
50 Michelle of “Crazy
Rich Asians”
52 Neighborhood
53 *Secretive email
option
60 Uncommon
61 Assertion
62 Cookie used as a
12-Down topping
63 Admit frankly
64 Omit in speech
65 Spreadsheet unit
66 Soaks up the sun
67 Calf-roping event
68 Diet that’s high
in fats and low
in carbs, as
illustrated by
parts of the
answers to the
starred clues
DOWN
1 Safari herbivore
2 Fabulous writer?
3 *Figure often
depicted with a
scythe and an
hourglass
4 Hubbub
5 Ready for
picking
6 __ college
7 *Pakistani-born
chef who was
posthumously
honored with a
James Beard
Award
8 Up the creek
9 Story
10 Part of FWIW
11 *Serious
software
problem
12 Dessert from
16 Handles,
familiarly
13 Signs of
boredom
21 “Wicked!”
22 __ Lanka
25 Sidelines cheer
28 Fertility lab cells
30 Maker of the
Deep Blue chess
computer
31 Workout top
32 Bodies of water
33 __ fail
36 Timbuktu’s land
37 Predicament
39 Fine horse
40 Black bird
43 “What’s the
latest?”
46 NBC symbol
48 Abby Wambach’s
sport
49 Juliet’s cry
51 Winnie-the-Pooh
greeting
52 Tolerate
53 Sassy kid
54 Chocolate
__ cake
55 Waffle maker
56 “Kills bugs
dead!” spray
57 Hockey Hall
of Famer
Willie
58 Hit, as with
snowballs
59 “Seize the day”
initialism
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