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Everything was streamlined, dumbed down, simplified for the “casual gamer”, who the big-wigs in marketing assume have the attention span of gerbils.  Casual gamers, surely, could not be bothered with such tiresome things as inventory management or deep character customization.  Strangely, though, it was determined that the casual gamer would not find it at all tedious to drag a slow-roaming cursor across planet after planet to collect resources – a rough equivalent to earning money, although there is already a money system in place.

The galactic codex remains in tact for fans who want to soak up every last detail about the Mass Effect universe, and Bioware kept the elaborate dialogue trees  – albeit within a weaker narrative.  But Mass Effect 2 is entirely a shooter, with some RPG elements thrown in, as opposed to the original game, which was an RPG with shooter mechanics.

So why has the balance shifted?

Probably because the sales figures of games like Halo and Gears of War suggest that the market is fertile for more of the same. And if EA was going to put its formidable capital and marketing power behind the franchise (e.g. higher production values and the 2 minute television spot during the NFC Championship Game), then there needed to be some serious risk vs. rewards calculations.

Mass Effect gained the role-playing genre even more ground in the collective attention of the mainstream – it was a game that almost everyone could enjoy.  The critical acclaim was near-unanimous.  But clearly its success wasn’t enough for a company that has proven that it is safer and more profitable to churn out the same game year after year (Madden) than to take risks on things like creativity and originality.

Furthermore, the sparse narrative in Mass Effect 2 highlights another aspect of EA’s business model – the focus on downloadable content (DLC).  This game provides us with a sort of main course – maybe even only the meat of the entree – and undoubtedly within a few weeks or months we’ll have a chance to purchase the sides, the drink, the dessert, and perhaps the appetizer after the fact.

I say all of this knowing full well that I’ll be amongst the first to snatch up every bit of DLC the moment it is released – hoping beyond hope that they’ll serve to fill in some of ME2’s missing details.  So, if nothing else, it does represent a strong business model.

In spite of all of this, I can say that I did enjoy Mass Effect 2 – but perhaps only because it allowed me to return to the universe I had come to know and love in the first game, to once again take the reins of Commander Shepard and save the galaxy from certain peril.  As a standalone game it does just enough right to as a shooter and as a basic RPG to hold its own in the market, and to enroll a new corps of casual gamers into the franchise.  As the middle game in a trilogy, it does just enough to satisfy fans’ two-year hunger.

So overall is Mass Effect 2 a success?  Certainly.  Is it everything I expected?  Not even close.

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Enter Brother Assoua. Not to be outdone by Japan, or most recently Australia, the film – made in Ireland – throws a nice blackface caricature my way. Almost as if to spite me. I was interested. I was really interested. Why the hell did that have to happen?

I wouldn’t have batted an eye if there were no people of color in the film, because I’m used to it. Had I even thought about it, I could’ve justified it through the fact that there were not many – if any – dark-skinned people in medieval Ireland. Pretty sure there aren’t many now. I could’ve enjoyed the movie – provided the plot was any good – with no second thoughts.

But no. No.

Here’s my open inquiry to the nations of the world. What part of the message – that blackface is fucking offensive – is getting lost in translation? And since they speak English in Australia and Ireland, thereby nullifying the language barrier as an excuse, is it a matter of them just not giving a damn? Perhaps it is a thumb at the nose of so-called “political correctness” – a favored buzz word for people to criticize as justification for doing socially irresponsible things.

With regards to Kells, there is a lot of room for stylistic interpretation of different ethnicities. Darker skin, thicker lips? Par for the course. No problem. But bright red lips that occupy a third of Assoua’s face leave no room for interpretation.

Undoubtedly someone else – with more clout or recognition – will raise this issue again, as The Secret of Kells climbs its way to mainstream attention. At that point I hope creator Tomm Moore will have some sort of acceptable justification for such objectionable art direction.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about all of this is that The Secret of Kells looks to be a gorgeously well-produced animated film.

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Except that we had no modem.  And the internet does not work without a modem.  We call Qwest again and are told that the order for the modem was supposed to have gone through but due to some computer error, it was not.  They said they would mail us out a modem and it would arrive the next day.  So, that means waiting again, beyond the 3 business days.  We didn’t want to wait, so we went to a Qwest kiosk in a nearby mall and picked up the modem ourselves.

We bring the modem home, follow the installation guide, and the internet is still not working.  So, we call Qwest again. At this point we have already spent at least two hours on the phone with one representative or another, using up our cell phone minutes for something that should’ve been straightforward.  During this call, a tech support rep runs diagnostics, troubleshoots, the works, and is still unable to get our internet working.  He says that there must be something wrong inside the apartment – perhaps some faulty wires or some other problem.  So he tells us that he’ll schedule a tech for an internal installation, between 8am and 11am on Friday 1/15.

So, 11am rolls around on Friday morning and guess what?  No tech.  We call Qwest again and they tell us that they can see no record of a tech being schedule for Friday morning.  Well that’s just wonderful.  They also tell us that another tech will take 3 more business days, but also because of the MLK holiday that it would take until at least Tuesday 1/19.  The representative tells us that the tech would not have to come into the apartment, that he’d only have to “flick a switch” somewhere on the outside, something that should only take 10-15 minutes.

My question then was, what did the tech who came (if he came) on 1/14 do?  Didn’t he already “flip the switch”?  What we needed – as discussed with tech support already – was a look on the inside to diagnose the problem.  Had I not caught her mistake, conceivably a tech wold have come out to see that the switch was already flipped, wasting our time and his, and requiring us to call Quest again once the internet – inevitably – continued to not work.  After another hour and 10 minutes of talking  and mostly waiting on hold, we are put in contact with someone else in tech support.

This  tech told us that he could schedule a tech within a broader window for Saturday 1/16, between 8am and 5pm.  I even got a confirmation email to that effect.  But of course I remained skeptical.  So, enter the little bird…

Within minutes of tweeting about the problem, I received a response from Qwest, telling me to e-mail them about the problem.  I explained how I felt that at this point it seemed like antagonism as much as a mere string of blunders from everyone involved.  I mean, what does it say about a company if on every level of the organization – from the field techs to the customer service reps, to the tech support reps, keep making mistakes and providing terrible customer service?

About two hours later I received an email from the management team, apologizing for all of the mishaps and confirming my appointment for Saturday.  He also narrowed the 8am to 5pm window to 10am to 2pm, offered me a credit for the modem (which, strangely, you have to purchase for Qwest), and a free month of service.

Sure enough, the tech did show up on Saturday within the scheduled time window and got the internet up and running.  Best of all, after so much of a hassle, it turns out that Qwest’s internet (I have the 20 MB download/5 MB upload plan) is the fastest I’ve ever experienced at home.  According to the tech, our connection is dedicated, meaning that we don’t share it with everyone else in the general area.  When you actually download a song in seconds and movies in minutes, as advertised, well…it’s kind of a big deal.  So while I certainly am not fully on board the Qwest bandwagon due to the installation nightmare, I am at least willing to give them a second – or is it third or fourth now? – chance at providing me with good service.

And once again I have the little bird to thank for getting the right people’s attention…

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