End of the day

After the 3 hour Research Methods class we (most the students and I) went for a celebratory beer and pizza and a newish boutique place near campus. The place is under new management and the pizza is almost as good as what I used to eat in Rome when younger. Over exotic beers we discussed what theoretical frameworks in the digital humanities would look like and the results of cluster mining some information about tools.

On the way home I rented Metal Gear Rising: Revengance and played it after dinner. I’ve mixed feelings about the game. The main character is Raiden and the action is mostly visually rich samurai slashing of cyborgs. Metal Gear Solid 4 was more of a stealth game where you had time to take in the scenery. In Rising it is more about the spectacle of spiraling blades. There are lots of cut scenes with your character posing after bisecting some robot as if what people play for are the victory moments. I doubt I’ll finish it before its due back, but I need to play the recent Japanese games as I’m due to teach on Japanese game culture this summer in Japan.