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Month: March 2018

Shakira Martin re-elected as NUS President

Shakira Martin has been re-elected as the next NUS President at the National Conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

In a comfortable win, the president, who describes herself as a young black woman with “swagger”, raked in 352 votes.

Her competitions, Sahaya James and Momin Saqib, both received 104 and 168 votes respectively, with RON (Re-Open Nominations) receiving 66 votes.

In total, 690 votes were cast.

The conference, this year held north of the border for the first time in 96 years, takes place annually to give delegates from Student Unions across the country an opportunity to vote on important pieces of legislation on the NUS agenda. Additionally, it also sees delegates cast their votes on who they would like to see as next years president and vice-presidents of the NUS.

Commenting on her win, Martin stated: “I am honoured and humbled to have been elected NUS’ President for a second term.

“I was elected to listen, learn and lead, now it’s time to get real about what that means both for all forms of education, and what it means for NUS.”

Over the upcoming year, Martin has reasserted her commitment to “rewrite the rules of student poverty”, fighting for both a minimum living income for all students and the return of living grants. Additionally, she has also promised to fight for regulation that forces Universities and Colleges to reduce general costs.

Martin has also renewed her promises to build a National Student Rights Framework on everything from academic appeals to eduroam, and to demand universal discounts on student travel.

 

Review: Sea of Thieves

My crew are raiding an island fort, taking out skeletons like professional pirates. We spot sails in the distance, and rush to our ship to give chase and claim us some loot. Only, that boat is actually ours, and some other players have raised our anchor and set our ship adrift, leaving us stranded. Shiver me timbers indeed.

It’s moments like these that make Sea of Thieves such a laugh. Rare have really captured the thrill of pirating, and an open-world co-op sandbox is the perfect setting for it. Sailing around as a crew is immensely satisfying, for various reasons. From performing sea shanties together, to pillaging islands for treasure and most excitingly, ship-to-ship combat.

Getting drunk together is also hilarious, as if you down too many mugs of the ominously-vague ‘grog’, you’ll throw up. If you catch your sick in a bucket, you can throw it at your friends (or enemies) to temporarily blind them. What’s more, being covered in your sick makes them sick too. It’s gross and admittedly gratuitous, but it’s fantastic, rambunctious fun.

Image: Rare
Image: Rare

My crew’s PvP tactic was as follows: 3 crew-mates unleash a cannonade of doom from the ship, whilst a fourth team member smuggles a barrel of gunpowder on or beneath the enemy ship, before blowing them sky-high. Then, in the destructive aftermath, it’s all hands on deck as we steal as much of their hard-earned treasure chests as we can.

The regular raids are also a guaranteed slaughter-fest. Every once in a while, a skeleton fort will be lit up by an ominous skull-shaped cloud, alerting the whole server to the prospect of getting rich. At these events, you must defeat several waves of various types of skeleton and then a boss, which rewards you with large amounts of treasure. Naturally, when these events appear, most crews flock towards them, making them exhilarating PvP hotspots. My crew took on (and defeated) five or six different groups during one of these events, and it was some of the tensest fun I’ve had in a while. By the end, our boat was riddled with boarded up cannonball holes and depleted of supplies but most importantly, we had won, and we were rich.

However, this is where Sea of Thieves needs improvement. The only items you can spend money on are cosmetics for your pirate, your weaponry or your boat. Admittedly, giving your pirate an eyepatch, peg leg and a hook arm is awesome, but after a while having nothing to spend your money on but cosmetics feels like too much hard work for too little a reward. Some items are expensive, too. A new sail or hull pattern for your ship costs at least 70,000 gold, which takes quite a few hours to grind. I’m not against grinding, in fact in some games I enjoy it, but in Sea of Thieves, it didn’t feel worth it just for aesthetics.

The game’s main ‘boss’ is an enormous kraken who will attack your ship at random, and he’s a tough fight. You’d probably expect some epic loot from such an endeavour — a few thousand gold perhaps, or maybe a title, but no. There is no reward for killing the kraken, arguably the hardest task in the game.

The lack of content really is the biggest issue with Sea of Thieves. There are only two boats. Why not add man-of-wars, frigates and triremes, each with their different advantages and disadvantages in naval combat? Indeed, the world needs more activities too.

As it stands, you have four main money-making activities to do: find buried treasure, kill undead pirate captains, kidnap animals and do raids. What this means is you can experience all the activities the game has to offer in 2-3 hours, if you so desire. They should implement additional features like fishing or placing bounties on murderous players and hunting them. Rare themselves have said the possibilities are endless with this game. So why are there so few at launch?

It must be said that Sea of Thieves has a beautiful art style. Simple yet charming terrain and character textures, mixed with some of the best water textures and physics I’ve seen in a game. On a clear day, the sea really is gorgeous. During storms, the waves get choppier and the skies darker, and it creates a truly grim atmosphere that’s a joy to experience.

Image: Rare. A beautiful sunrise over the rolling waves
Image: Rare. A beautiful sunrise over the rolling waves

A small issue for me, but perhaps a greater one for others, is the always online aspect. If you play this game alone or in a pair, you will be forced to use the smaller ship (fast, but poorly armed) and will be in the same game as crews of three to four in galleons, which have literally four times as much firepower. Exploring the waves is also just a bit boring alone — there’s no merry pirate banter, you must flee from any fights and there’s none of the gratification of successful teamwork paying off.

In summary, Sea of Thieves is the combination of indie co-op sailing games like Blackwake and the AAA quality of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. It’s an extremely fun pirate game in a crew of four friends, and PvP combat is hugely satisfying. Sadly, the game is let down by lacklustre solo gameplay, and the current lack of interesting items and activities to spend or earn money on. Rare have confirmed they’re working on updates to add more content, so hopefully they make the game live up to its £50 price tag.

7/10

Live Review: Django Django at the Ritz

Django Django has been riding high, recently. A new album with some critical acclaim and mainstream success has lead to their latest tour, which stopped at the O2 Ritz on Wednesday, a sold-out affair at times.

I arrived just in time to catch the first support act, Man of Moon, and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. The Scottish two-piece displayed punchy drums throughout, alongside tight guitars, and an effervescent light show that ought to have been seen by more people. As the Royal Blood-influenced half hour set drew to a close, the final song, ‘Sign’, really caught my attention. Its electronic influences added something to the powerful performance of the two-piece, and complemented Django Django’s synth-heavy performance.

Following Man of Moon came Self Esteem, who were radically different to the opening band. Self Esteem are made up of three vocalists and a drummer, with lead vocalist Rebecca Taylor also occasionally using an electric guitar. Self Esteem’s performance was somewhat confused: stripped back (at times just being one vocalist and finger-snapping), it didn’t directly follow from Man Of Moon. That being said, the more heavy songs from the band were very much enjoyable. Taylor’s talent in undeniable, as seen in her other project Slow Club and when she returned to perform vocals for ‘Surface To Air’ with Django Django – drummer Victoria Smith also produced an impressive display. The issue of Self Esteem is that they either become more pop-friendly (and therefore become a Haim clone) or lose their message by having too small a crowd to play to. It’s unenviable.

Next up was the main act. Django Django walked on stage to rapturous applause, and excitement in abundance. Quickly they delved into album opener ‘Marble Skies’, and the pace kept up, playing ‘Shake and Tremble’ and lead single ‘Tic Tac Toe’ in quick succession. Singer Vincent Neff’s performance was one for the ages: he encouraged people to dance, seemed genuinely thankful for the sold-out show (despite the fact Django Django formed nearly ten years ago), and delivered a vocal performance that at times was mesmerising. Synthesisers were well performed by Tommy Grace, who also deserves a mention for his keyboard skills, and drummer David MacLean and bassist Jimmy Dixon both didn’t put a foot wrong either.

The setlist was varied and the gig succeeded because of that: the performance had a well-rounded feel to it, and older fans of the band certainly appreciated that Born under Saturn had not been forgotten, with ‘First Light’ receiving a warm response. The only issue with the show was the somewhat unpredictable nature of the performance of tracks off Marble Skies. ‘Tic Tac Toe’ sounded even better than in the studio, but ‘In Your Beat’ fell short of the recorded version. The same can be said of ‘Further’. This isn’t a major issue, as I recognise how difficult it can be to recreate some studio tracks. However, given the vast array of instruments on show (by my count there were 11 performed by the band), and impressive percussion throughout, did show the disparity between the performance of some newer songs.

Overall, Django Django served an enjoyable night of live music. Their performance was exciting, immersive, and topped off by some of the finest frontman-ship you’ll see on the gig circuit today. When I reviewed Marble Skies for The Mancunion, I wrote that with a more tempered approach to experimentation, the band would have hit a perfect 10. These same issues are still there: newer tracks were performed unpredictably, but nevertheless competently.

8/10

Interview: Tez Ilyas

With a bibliography including two series’ on BBC Radio 4 and TV appearances on shows such as Mock the Week (BBC 2) and The Last Leg (Channel 4) Tez Ilyas’ unique brand of observational humour seeks to subvert stereotypes whilst demonstrating the diversity surrounding what it means to be British.

The Mancunion had a quick chat with the man himself:

The show is called Teztify and you’ve said that you’re doing it as a sort of ‘Teztify’ against assumptions that the world has of you, what do you mean?

I’m a Northern, working-class, Asian, Muslim and I’m British so its kind of like what do people think and what are the assumptions they have when they see someone like that on paper. Its kind of combatting and even owning those assumptions.

How have those assumptions effected you in your life so far?

Well you know theres a lot of phobia in this country. There’s racism, there’s class prejudice, there’s the North-South divide. I’m just bringing it to the national attention with lots of laughs.

One persons’ experiences are not the everyday, lived experiences of someone else. With the whole #MeToo movement I’m not a woman so I’ll just shut up and listen and see what people are going through and their experiences that I’ve not necessarily lived, or can even begin to understand, its about listening to what people have to say I guess.

How much do you want your work to effect people of the same, or similar, background as you? Do you think it does?

Its not for me to say but I just want them to come out and enjoy it, primarily laugh and if they get something more from that and they go away thinking ‘this guy is talking about a narrative that I know but I don’t see in the mainstream’. That would be really nice, but the main thing is I want them to laugh and I’m from the heart.

You’ve worked on BBC Radio 4 with your show Tez Talks, what was that like?

Amazing. BBC Radio 4 have been very good to me for a few years now. After my first show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015, which was also called Tez Talks, they wanted to work with me and create a Radio 4 series from it in 2016 and that went really well there is now a second series that was just released last month. I’ve been really happy with the support they’ve given me and its nice that they’ve shown me a lot of love, I really appreciate that.

You didn’t start off as a comedian, you actually did Bio-Chemistry as well as a Masters. Was there ever an inkling that you were interested in doing something else?

When I finished my degree I kind of realised that I didn’t want to do science, I didn’t want to live my life in a lab, so I decided that I wanted to do a Masters in Management which led to me getting a job in London. Comedy came after that, it was an accident really. There’s not really many people in the Arts from my background and so doing this feels a bit like a privilege, but there should be more opportunities for people that want to do it and thats something I’m quite passionate about. Because maybe I would have got into it sooner if the opportunities were there.

As a comedian, would you say you’re in a unique place regarding the political climate and the situation a lot of countries seem to be heading towards?

We have a platform to say what we like, hopefully as part of a joke. Definitely I think the world is crazy but there’s also so much commentary that it can be quite difficult and things become out of date very quickly. So commentary on say Donald Trump, even within a week whats said can become old news because he’ll have done something else. So it can be quite difficult keeping up, but also it is a very interesting time.

If you want to here more from Tez his stand-up tour begins at London’s Soho Theatre 27th – 30th March and will be reaching Salford with two shows on the 29th April at The Lowry.

Live Review: Kylie

Gorilla, 14th March

Kylie Minogue has performed in Manchester frequently enough, but never in a venue as intimate as the 550-capacity Gorilla. Tickets sold out in seconds for this tour of five small European venues. The atmosphere in Gorilla pre-show was one of anticipation, as everyone in the room knew how fortunate they were to be there.

There was no support act — you’re seeing Kylie Minogue, who needs a support act? — and Kylie came onto the stage, clad in double denim and sporting a beaming smile, to perform three tracks from upcoming album Golden. The highlight here was the delightful ‘Raining Glitter’, a track-title which foreshadowed a showering of the audience in that very thing.

Whilst these first three songs have not yet been released (although an argument could very easily be made for ‘Raining Glitter’ to have been a lead single), the reception each received was immense and even seemed to surprise Kylie: “I always try to prepare myself for Manchester,” she told the adoring audience, “but I never can.”

She informed everyone that she felt it right that, as these are such special, intimate shows, she should play songs that you perhaps don’t hear her play as often, as opposed to making it a ‘Best Of’ show. There was no place for Kylie classics ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ or ‘2 Hearts’, then, but instead, a beautiful rendition of the brooding ‘Breathe’ as well as a stripped-back performance of ‘Put Yourself In My Place’. The audience showed their appreciation by ignoring a dramatic pre-chorus pause and simply firing their singalong straight into it, which certainly kept the band on their toes. Her pre-encore acoustic ‘All The Lovers’, too, was a crescendoing delight.

Keeping with her new country sound, she performed a rendition of ‘Islands In The Stream’ that had everyone grinning, though no one more than Kylie herself, especially at a completely spontaneous acapella singalong of her duet with ex-boyfriend Jason Donavan, ‘Especially For You’. If ever there was a metaphor for her relationship with her fans being more powerful than any other relationship, this was it. Indeed, throughout the night it was the fact that Kylie was so obviously having a great time that was truly infectious.

Her songs aren’t all wholly cheerful though, even if the melodies at times suggest otherwise. The banjo-accompanied ‘A Lifetime To Repair’ sounded like an Alanis Morisette-esque number, but betrayed a smiling-through-the-pain attitude that hasn’t been explored extensively by Kylie before. The end of the chorus told us “If I get hurt again I’ll need a lifetime to repair”.

A similarly new topic, which was tackled in the night’s final song, ‘Dancing’, is that of mortality. Kylie is turning 50 soon (she’s “49 and ten-twelfths”, apparently) though she still performs (and looks) as though she could be approaching 30, but the song gives no indication of slowing down. She sings “When I go out, I wanna go out dancing” in the chorus, and the song itself was one of the strongest of the night and, arguably, one of her best ever singles.

The key word when considering the entirety of this show is ‘fun’. It looks fun to perform and she showed a love for her fans by choosing to do this intimate tour as well as her arena-filling one later in the year. It was also immensely fun to attend: the deafening cheers after each song, old and new, told you that much. That her music still feels so fresh after 30 years of performing is a testament to her hard work and reinvention, and if this is a taste of things to come then new, country Kylie will continue to wow crowds far bigger than the lucky few who were given a chance to see her up close tonight.

9/10

‘The Zine is Dead’ – an NME Obituary

Last week saw the final print of the famous music magazine, NME. After 66 years and recently strangling sales struggles, the once thriving force for new guitar music gasped its final, physical-format breath to go online only.

One Guardian article suggested this was just another casualty of digitisation, another magazine that can’t keep up with the explosion of online content, or the declining purchases of actual paper. At the foot of the Guardian’s article was a plea for £1 donations to secure their own future, so their bitterness is understandable.

But a changing world of news accounts for only part of NME’s fall.

NME has benefited massively any time British rock music had an outburst. The eruption of pop in the 60’s, punk in the 70’s, Britpop in the 90’s and eventually indie in the 00’s would pump fresh life into the publication with each scene’s chart prominence.

But the magazine was as good as the bands it adored. And although the music evolved, the audience stayed as young and white as ever. When some in the editorial team suggested a focus on hip-hop and dance music in the 80’s, they ended up sticking to what they knew, making icons out of Morrissey and other puberty-mood heroes.

This might have been their biggest mistake. Although it must be said, riding wave after wave of white-boy guitar bands kept their head above water, and at the turn of the century, they helped curate an indie scene that would carry them right up to their grave.

If you stood in the middle of the 2000s and looked around at the indie music scene, the talent was undeniably staggering. And celebrating that was what NME did. The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys and many others plastered the front page each week. The indie bands that the mag put its faith in were exciting and original enough to turn an NME into a music fan’s best friend.

In a way, this was NME’s hubris. Indie music has proven to be the furthest that creative, progressive guitar music in this country can go. NME committed themselves to this scene and even helped carry it. But once the big bands started to split, the fans split too, knocking up a coffin for the magazine that had brought them all together.

The fact is their role has been made redundant. Streaming services can tell you what’s new and what’s suited to your taste in a matter of clicks. Music mags like Noisey, Resident Advisor and Complex offer genre-specific entertainment that young people want and have far better online presence. ‘Fire In The Booth’ is more likely to catapult someone into the charts now. When it comes to musical hegemons, guitar music is almost all the way out; for now, hip-hop is here to stay.

“Rap the new rock’n’roll!” Right again Kanye.

If you look at the last few Reading Festival line-ups, you’ll see a clear transformation in young people’s taste. NME, who shared a stage with Radio 1, were rightfully at the forefront of accommodating new music. For three days in August, NME offered the best of indie rock for all the young people celebrating exam results. But now the line-up has shifted towards hip-hop, grime and dance in step with the preferences of Reading’s sixth form demographic. Whilst the festival has adapted, NME has not. This year, rather portentously, the stage was just called “The Radio 1 Stage”.

But even if their death was due, NME has undeniably served several generations of music lovers. If you’re skimming this then you probably picked up the magazine yourself at some point. You were part of the final wave of readership and you’ll be among the last to remember its relevance.

NME influenced my earliest taste in music as much as Zane Lowe, my dad and the Inbetweeners. I loved their appraisal of the most obscure, new, unsigned electronic duo from London each week as much as I loved disagreeing with their 10/10 reviews and arse-licking of the Gallagher’s. I haven’t read one for years, but for years I read them and consumed their reviews, recommendations and ranking lists wholeheartedly. I may have grown out of NME but they were, unashamedly, an informative part of my adolescence.

My first copy frontpage ‘Them Crooked Vultures’. There were a bunch of photos from a Muse tour, a few pages of Thom Yorke chatting shit; one edition is going on eBay for around £7. It was the kind of pompous poppy nonsense that drew me in and kept me drinking the drivel, just cos it was so damn reassuring to feel as if you were part of something beyond charts and radio; to see the entire upswing of bands like Biffy Clyro, Florence + the Machine and Peace; to sense a shared adoration for good quality music with endless others, transcending the shitty stuff friends played on the school bus, because you paid £2.50 a week and they’d never been to a gig in their life.

For people like me, NME will ultimately be no more than a fond memory. They’re sort of like that person you went out within year 10, your first love who you don’t talk to anymore and who probably isn’t as big a deal as you initially thought – but when you see them pop up on Facebook after all these years, you know they set you on course for the rest of your romantic life, and that’s how you’ll always think of them – and that’s cool.

There are countless kids like you and me who used to care about what NME had to say. None of those kids cares now. But that doesn’t mean we can’t mourn.

NME is no more. Their stubborn support of indie killed them. But the next time Jake Bugg comes up on shuffle, think about where that support took you, and the sort of music fan you’d be if it hadn’t been for NME.

Style file

How would you describe your own personal style?

Sports teacher X Courtney Love (with a sprinkling of The Simple Life Paris Hilton).

Who is your biggest style and fashion icon and why?

Freja Wewer. She’s a Danish blogger, sashaying her way across Copenhagen in collaboration sports-wear and a cloud of Marlboro Red smoke. Her entire blog is written in Danish but her Instagram features the same photographs, pictures speak a thousand words after all. I get most of my fashion inspiration from Instagram, I try and follow all the small independent magazines as they are often the first too jump on quirkier trends, as well as up and coming designers. My top tip is to utilise the save feature, I use that as a mood board. It’s full of blondes, not in a weird Hitchcock way, but so I know what best suits my colouring.

What are your favourite luxury and high-street brands?

My favourite luxury brand at the moment is Burberry. I recently purchased a suspiciously cheap Burberry rain Mac from Depop, we’re talking full on Nova Check print from shoulder to knee. Yep, that’ll get me kicked out of a few shopping centres.

For everyday items, I go to Cow vintage. They sell it all, from sweatshirts and jeans to cowboy boots. My favourite formula for a night out however, is usually a bottom half from Urban Outfitters, at the moment I’m liking a reworked camo mini skirt or a pair of combat trousers. Then a basic top like a bandeau or Bardot from my guilty pleasure Misguided (it’s not all bodycon dresses and thigh high boots, it’s cheap and good for simple layers). To finish, a pair of trainers or Docs (we all know that only the sh*te places make you wear heels).

What are the beauty essentials you cannot live without?

Glossier, Glossier, Oh Glossier. Shall I compare thee to a Summers day, thou art more lovely and blah blah. You get the idea (sorry Will). The hype was spreading. The Christmas money was in. I was sceptical but I gave it a go. After using the Phase 1 kit: Milky Jelly Cleanser, Priming Moisturizer  and Balm Dotcom in cherry, along with Solution, a daily exfoliator, I felt transformed into a glowing seraph (with the occasional zit).

As far as makeup is concerned, I like to keep it minimal in the day, focusing on skin and eyes. I was so tired of buying foundations that talked the talk but did nothing for my skin. So, I made it my mission to try out every one on the market, surviving on free samples from Selfridges for over a year (shout out to Karen on the Clinique counter). Then finally, I discovered RMK Creamy Foundation that “works to enhance the skin’s barrier function, resulting in a skin supple and glowing”, at £38 a bottle it is a splurge buy but by God it’s worth it. RMK “holds firm roots within the New York make-up artistry scene and is carefully brought to life in dedicated laboratories in Japan”.

Which fashion trend would you like to see burn and die?

Those bikini bottoms that are pulled right up to the waist and up the arse. Skinny Jeans. Snap backs of course, goes without saying. River Island tops with either a New York skyline or sunset scene. Ice gem hair. God, there’s too many.

If you could be transported in time to one fashion era, when would it be and why?

J’adore late 90’s and early 00’s style, but it was only a few years ago and I’d rather not be listening to Sexyback on an IPod Nano again. Without a doubt, it would have to be Baroque France. The court of Louis XIV in Versailles. Think off the shoulder, metres of silk, frothy lace and dripping in jewels. Parties, alcohol, food, sex, more alcohol. Where else would you be able to be this extravagant? Decadence at its finest and I need it tbh.

Brian Cox: abolish first-year exams

Brian Cox has stated that he wants to abolish first-year exams at the University of Manchester.

Cox, a professor of particle physics at the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said that professors “talk about it quite a lot”.

The University of Middlesex became the first university to abolish first-year exams in 2004, after first-year drop-out rates rose to 25 per cent.

“That would be something I would like to see,” Cox told The Mancunion in an interview.

Professor Brian Cox told The Mancunion that he supports the scrapping of exams “because I want students to come to university and be faced with an existential crisis, which is like: ‘why am I here?’ Because I’m not here to pass the exam, because there isn’t one.”

“So therefore, what am I doing? And of course, physics students are here to learn about nature — that’s actually what you’re here to do. You’re not here to pass the exam.

“I actually don’t care if my first-year students pass the exam or not.

“I mean, I know that it’s a mechanism by which if you really fail, you get thrown out. But I don’t really care about that. I care about people enjoying the act of learning and understanding, because that’s what you really need to do well.”

Some Russell group universities, including Birmingham and York, have already abolished exam assessments from entire courses. Hundreds of courses at newer universities have also abandoned examinations.

Earlier this academic year, Cambridge University announced they are seeking to scrap all written exams across all their courses.

Critics have warned the decline of exams in UK universities was putting degrees at risk of being “dumbed down”, and could result in an increase in academic plagiarism.

When asked if he was worried that abolishing exams would cause first-year students to slack off, Cox dismissed the fear.

“I don’t worry about that, because there might be a small minority, but… I came here to learn about stuff! You know, I didn’t come here to pass exams, I wanted to know about astronomy. So I think most people are like that, especially at a university like Manchester.

“There’s quite a selection effect operating, you’ve obviously done well, you are good enough to be here when you’re here. So there’s not a problem with your intellectual capability, so if there’s a problem with your motivation, that’s something that’s going to stay with you, actually. It’s going to cause you problems later in life.

“If you have this opportunity to come to a university like this, and be exposed to so many ideas and have so many opportunities, and you choose to spend it all in the bar, then I think that you’ve got some other problems.

“So, I think actually being given that responsibility and freedom is probably a more important gift than continuing along the line that you had at school. Which is: why are you at school? To pass the exam. Why are you at university? Not to pass the exam, actually — to learn about stuff.”

The professor clarified: “I’m not saying get a third.”

A second-year undergraduate at the University of Manchester expressed doubts to The Mancunion about the idea: “I think [exams] are a good practice so you know what’s coming in second year.”

Laura Swain, an English Literature undergraduate, agreed: “I do feel they perhaps help in giving you the experience of what to expect from an exam at university, so you are not completely oblivious when you have exams that actually count towards your degree in second year.”

This discussion comes after the Universities and Colleges Union’s (UCU) announcement on Tuesday, the 13th of March, that they intend to escalate USS strikes to potentially disrupt May exam season across Russell group universities in the UK. Brian Cox himself is participating in the strike.

Sally Hunt, the Union’s general secretary, said: “The strike action for this week remains on and we will now make detailed preparations for strikes over the assessment and exam period.

“We want urgent talks with the universities’ representatives to try and find a way to get this dispute resolved.”

Anthem reeks of EA’s stifling over-ambition

Aside from what we saw at E3 2017, we don’t know all that much about Anthem.

Not much, except EA want it to be huge, describing it as “the start of maybe a 10 year journey” for developers Bioware.

Looking at Anthem’s known features also goes some way to demonstrating what EA want from this game: everything. Anthem is an open-world, co-operative, MMO (or possibly ‘instanced shared world’) first and/or third-person shooter with RPG elements, also featuring a choice-based story emphasis, a weapon upgrade system and an in game economy. In other words, every major AAA gaming craze from the current console generation.

Of course, much of this echoes the story of Activision, Bungie and Destiny. Destiny, which was originally pitched as a shooter meets MMO, had similarly lofty ambitions along with a deal for multiple sequels and DLCs.

Destiny, however, faced a notoriously troubled development. Speaking to Jason Schreier, Jaime Griesemer, a senior developer at Bungie, spoke of the pressure the studio faced, saying “there was a looming feeling that Destiny had to be the greatest thing they’d ever done,” describing the game as an “impossible ideal.” Bungie also had the pressure of developing their first game since Halo, so audience expectations were high to say the least.

Of course, EA and Bioware are themselves under a lot of pressure external to the ambition of Anthem. The last game the two worked in tandem on, Mass Effect Andromeda, was arguably as tumultuous as Destiny, with five years of development culminating in a game that was received poorly and criticised heavily. Compounding this, EA have had an awful year in the headlines and, after debacles with Need for Speed and Star Wars: Battlefront II, are in the midst of an image crisis.

In Destiny’s development, this external and internal pressure became evident long before the game came out: there were a number of warning signs – senior figures (including Griesemer himself) were let go, Activision and Bungie had public disagreements on Twitter regarding Destiny’s E3 presentation, and, at one point, a poorly recevied leaked supercut was released, prompting a complete change of direction for the game.

Similarly troubling signs are already emerging from the otherwise clandestine development of Anthem. In July 2017, Bioware’s general manager, Aaren Flynn, stepped down, and in March of this year, Drew Karpyshyn, the studio’s most reknowned writer, also left the studio. Both had been working on Anthem.

Elsewhere, an ex-Bioware employee publically declared that Anthem will be “an example of EA’s monetization plans.

The last of these early warning signs is perhaps symptomatic of a larger problem for Anthem and Bioware: the game is tied indelibly to three of EA’s overarching ambitions: the Frostbite Engine, their microtransaction policies, and their ‘games as a service’ model.

The Frostbite engine is the one most likely to cause internal conflict, and Bioware have previously criticised the tool. Again speaking to Jason Schreier, Bioware cinematic artist John Epler commented regarding Dragon Age: Inquisition that the Frostbite Engine “was absolutely the worst tools experience I’ve ever had.”

photo:Wikimedia

Later on, Kotaku reported that the Frostbite engine had also been extremely problematic in the development of Bioware’s Mass Effect: Andromeda, and that the EA DICE developed engine, whilst incredibly powerful and competent for some purposes, was equally unwieldy and ineffective in regards to other vital tasks.

On the level of consumption, I have to admit I’ve never been smitten with the Frostbite engine. Out of all the engines, it is no doubt the one that is capable of producing the most beautiful scenery and the meatiest environments, but – perhaps appropriately, given its name – it has always felt a little stiffer and less responsive than the likes of the Unreal engine and the Creation engine.

As I hinted at earlier, the Frostbite engine isn’t the only EA entity shackled to Bioware and Anthem – we’re also likely to see a fully integrated microtransaction/lootbox system.

If, as EA’s Patrick Soderlund suggested, Anthem started development four years before its E3 demo, then it would have been commissioned in 2013 – the year current CEO Andrew Wilson took over. Even if it had begun prior to Wilson’s promotion, it is likely that Wilson would have arrived early enough to mould the game while it was still in pre-development.

Given that the Wilson 2013-present era was the start of an age in which the likes of FIFA’s Ultimate Team kickstarted a phase of really quite aggressive monetisation, it is likely that anything commissioned under Wilson at that time would follow that EA philosophy, which involves not just optional extras, but sewing microtransactions (often quite ingeniously, I must admit) into the core mechanics of the game – a period in which they twice won The Consumerist’s ‘Worst Company in America’ award.

More like macrotransactions photo: EA

If Anthem has indeed been constructed, at least to some extent, around this, then it is overwhelmingly likely we’ll see it in the finished product. Given that we are now, time-wise, 60-80% of the way through Anthem’s development cycle and that the E3 demo occured before EA’s controversies with their monetisation systems, it seems inevitable that the game will be the apex EA’s of creeping plan to normalise in-game purchases for already premium price games, as the aforementioned ex-Bioware employee suggests.

Granted, EA’s tough year with public backlash might curb the way pricing is scaled in Anthem, but given the period in which Anthem was conceived, it seems likely that monetization will be too deeply entrenched in the core mechanics of the game to eradicate the erosive effect that microtransactions, loot boxes and pay-to-win mechanics have on the game’s core. Moreover, the fact that EA have now reintegrated microtransactions back in Star Wars: Battlefront II (albeit as cosmetics only) indicates that they are not yet done with the model, even if they have learned a thing or two about restraining it.

One last, but no less significant, factor that may be rolled out in full force is EA’s long term ‘games as a service’ (a.k.a. live service) ambition. Live services would seek to replace the annual installments seen in EA’s sports franchises with a subscription fee and continuous updates. This is something EA are already considering with the likes of FIFA and Madden, and the company may see Anthem as the ideal way to integrate it.

This would make the “10 year journey” statement make far more sense: EA are essentially chasing their own GTA V and desperately want a game that retains a significant player base over time.

The thing with games that are currently thriving with a live service model – the likes of Fortnite, GTA V and Overwatch – is that the player base isn’t sustained simply by the live service itself, but by the undeniable popularity of the titles themselves.

Yes, unsurprisingly, quality is a necessary prerequisite of such a model, and Anthem will have to be no different. Unlike EA’s recent titles like Mass Effect and Star Wars, a live service game has to create a sustained demand in the first place, and, especially for an original IP like Anthem, hooking this player base will be dependent on game quality rather than a promise of future improvement – we saw how that worked out for the likes of No Man’s Sky.

Should Anthem be a live service (as Blake Jorgenson has suggested) then it is not just sales profit that would be damaged by Anthem a poor launch. Indeed, the immediate realities of commerical and critical underperformance would be compounded as it would translate into a huge loss of future earnings.

Anthem’s eventual quality is now so tied the the fate of so many of EA’s endangered long term ambitions – the Frostbite engine, the live service, corporate monetisation policies, their reputation as AAA bastions – that the pressure on Bioware is fast becoming suffocating, and this is starting to show as those Destiny-like warning signs start to creep out of the woodwork.

Bioware, who will doubtless be aware of EA’s history of shutting down even the most illustrious underperforming studios like Visceral, Origin and Black Box, know better than anyone that, at this point, Anthem needs to succeed to prevent a veritable games industry red wedding.

Your chance to be a reporter at the UEFA Under-17 Championships

Wakelet, in collaboration with the FA, are giving aspiring journalists the opportunity to report on the upcoming UEFA Under-17 Championships.

The tournament runs from the 4th-20th of May and will be played at six venues across the UK. The stadiums taking part are the New York Stadium, the Project Stadium, the Bescot Stadium, the Pirelli Stadium, St George’s Park and Loughborough University Stadium.

Having won their maiden World Cup at this age range last year, England U17s are looking to add to their European Championship trophy collection having previously won the competition in 2010 and 2014.

To be in with a chance to win, you will need to create a profile with Wakelet. The website is a great way to make a portfolio and you can see an example from The Mancunion’s Head News Editor Cameron Broome here.

You then need to fill up your profile with your best work and tweet it to @wakelet and @FA with the hashtag #YoungLions.

For more information click here.

Calling all film students, cinephiles and critics – Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2018

The Lift-Off Film Festival returns to Manchester next week to celebrate the best that the independent film community in the North of England and the rest of the world has to offer and is looking to involve as many people as possible.

Diary note: Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2018

Date: 28th-29th March 2018

Location: Texture, 67 Lever St, Manchester M1 1FL

Lift-Off are on the hunt for official reviewers and volunteers for our second festival of the year, Manchester Lift-Off which will be held at Texture, a vibrant hub of indie cinema and culture in the Northern Quarter.

You will be treated to an incredibly broad range of films from equally diverse filmmakers, each presenting stories and perspectives unique to their own experiences. From carefully constructed features, perspective-shifting documentaries, and Academy award-winning short films, there really is something for everyone.

The festival culminates with a Local Filmmakers Showcase and Networking Party on Thursday 29th March, where attendees and filmmakers can rub shoulders and maybe even find the perfect collaborators for their next project!

Check out the programme here .

How to get involved:

At each Lift-Off Festival, a vital team of film-buff volunteers and reviewers play an integral role in the running of the festival. After each film is screened, the reviewers fill out feedback forms, which are then sent back to the filmmakers. This process allows direct contact between filmmakers and their audience, allowing them to really hone their talent.

To apply to be a reviewer, fill out this form.

For volunteers, this is a great way to start building your position within the industry and get your foot in the door. The work is easy, and the benefits could be sky high in terms of market insights and career progressive contacts. You will be brushing shoulders with all the attending filmmakers, as well as the Lift-Off Team, who will all be able to offer essential advice for making a start in the film industry.

To apply to be a volunteer, fill out this form.

If you have an active interest in the film industry and you would like to see, and review, some of the best up and coming film content, apply today!

Successful applicants will get a complimentary pass to the festival, and free tickets to our ‘Local Filmmakers Networking’ event on the final night.

About the Lift-Off Global Network:

UK based festival founders James Bradley and Ben Pohlman started the Lift-Off Network from small beginnings in 2011 with the first London Lift-Off Film Festival. Now in its eighth year, with eleven host cities, they are delighted to be returning to Manchester to connect with the filmmaking talent there once more.

James Bradley Co-Director and Co-Founder of Lift-Off commented:

“Getting into any Lift-Off Film Festival is a massive achievement. The world of independent film has grown so much over the years that many of the grassroots filmmakers and emerging professionals are left without much of a platform any more. We felt that many of these artists who were producing exceptional work were being hugely ignored – and deserved to be seen!”

Ben Pohlman Co-Director and Co-Founder of Lift-Off commented:

“Our film festivals are the perfect place to meet up-and-coming filmmakers at various stages of their careers, from new to award-winning talent, as well as other industry professionals. Through the Lift-Off Film Festivals, we aim to build a community of talented filmmakers and film enthusiasts. We’re all people who love compelling storytelling and good cinema.”

UoM students jailed for running dark web drug empire

A group of five University of Manchester students have been sentenced after trafficking over $1 million worth of drugs around the world.

The ‘Ivory’ account was used by the gang on the Silk Road, an online market on the dark web was used to make 6,305 illicit transactions stretching from Manchester to customers in Europe, America and Australia.

The students involved themselves with drugs recreationally during their first year of university.

They began selling in May 2011, after being inspired by the TV series Breaking Bad .

Their operation continued until October 2013 when the website was brought down by the FBI. The National Crime Agency (NCA) raided Assaf and Roden’s flat near university revealing a ‘drug dealing factory’ and the men were arrested. Officers discovered laptops used to access the dark web, thousands in cash, a baseball bat next to the front door and drugs including ecstasy, LSD, ketamine and diazepam.

During this two and half year period, the students sold 17kg of liquid ecstasy (equivalent of 240,000 tablets) through the post to customers, 1.2kg of 2CB, 1.4kg of ketamine as well as LSD.

Sales on the website equalled $1.14 million but the total value they made is expected to be higher as some drugs were supplied in person for cash and alternative online payment systems were utilised to evade the Silk Road commission fees.

Taking payment in electronic cryptocurrency Bitcoin, the group entertained a lavish lifestyle that prosecutors commented was ‘”far above that of typical students.”

The rise in the value of Bitcoin over this time will have seen the profits increase further. The group enjoyed holidays to Jamaica, the Bahamas and Amsterdam. One student claimed to have bought a Manchester City Centre flat and paid off student debt.

Ian Glover, who is the senior operations manager at the National Crime Agency, commented: “These five men were interested only in making money. They had no regard whatsoever for the harm these drugs could do to their users”.

All five men have received lengthy prison sentences after pleading guilty at prior hearings to conspiracy to importing, exporting and supplying controlled drugs.

Judge Michael Leeming sentenced the men to varying lengths based on their involvement:

  • Ringleader Basil Assaf (26, Petrochemical Engineering) jailed for 15 years and three months
  • James Roden (25, Computer Science) jailed for 12 years
  • Jaikishen Patel (26, Pharmacology) jailed for 11 years and twi months
  • Elliot Hyams (26, Geology) jailed for 11 years and two months
  • Joshua Morgan (28, Marketing) jailed for seven years and two months

Judge Leeming told the defendants: “Drugs are a blight on our society. Misery and degradation is the typical result. As intelligent young men you will all each appreciate that misery is caused and certainly contributed to by people like you”

“My duty is threefold: firstly, to protect the public from people like you. Second, to punish you, and third, to deter those who may be similarly minded to act this way in the future”.

“Take Action! UoM”: student strike responses

Academic disruptions have been felt throughout the country over the course of the last few weeks. The University of Manchester has been no exception. With staff unionisation varying across different departments, not all students have been equally affected. Nevertheless, there seems to be a strong sentiment of dissatisfaction across campus.

The strike action was organised as an escalation of the dispute between Universities UK (UUK) and University College Union (UCU), primarily concerning a recalculation of staff pensions which would see them tied to market fluctuations. With 14 days of class cancellations spread across four weeks, significant portions of the spring semester have been affected.

Political positions among students on campus differ. Although a large majority of students stand in solidarity with lecturers, some do not. Some believe they deserve tuition refunds while others reject the education-as-a-commodity narrative this creates. That being said, a general discontent seems to be a prime commonality.

As has been the case time and time again throughout history, dissatisfaction has birthed a response. On the afternoon of Monday the 12th of March, a few students and myself got together and decided to take matters into our own hands. Tired of being victimised and powerless by a dispute they had no stake in, waiting passively for our fate to be sealed just wasn’t satisfactory. We wanted to at least attempt to voice our concerns. Out of this sentiment, ‘Take Action! UoM’ was born.

If I’m being honest, we didn’t expect much to come out of it. Personally, I thought at most that we would create a Facebook group comprising a portion of the students in MA Politics pathways. I was wrong.

What started with an open letter to students — essentially asking them to copy-paste a drafted letter of discontent to Vice-Chancellor Rothwell — turned into a platform for student voices. Membership grew much faster than expected, with the work week closing with over 450 members.

While there is no way of telling for sure, I attribute the majority of the response to, in my opinion, the frankly abysmal communication structures in place at the University of Manchester. Neither the Students’ Union nor the University of Manchester managed to supply the student body with clear updates. Students knew very little about what was happening and what few things were known, were essentially rumours with very little credibility.

‘Take Action! UoM’ was, as such, not just a place where people could voice their views and frustrations, but also a place where they could access live updates regarding the strike. While that is still very much the internal structure of the group, it has also now developed an outward response.

Students may have not had a stake in the strike dispute, but we were undoubtedly affected. Being unhappy with both the University and the Union, a message was formed. We wanted to create a response that is not limited by the politics within the SU, that came from students directly, and that was coherent in its demands.

What we developed can be boiled down to four pillars: productive financial compensation, useful academic mitigation, transparent communication, student input.

The strike may not have been our dispute. The aftermath very much is. As the conversation is shifting, it is imperative that students are treated not as unknowing consumers, but with the respect they deserve. It is essential that the plans going forward are made with student well-being as the central objective. Any plan put in place to this end must be informed by those genuinely impacted and it is up to us to demand it.

If you feel disenfranchised by the narrative so far, if you have questions about what exactly is happening, if you want to engage with other students, if you want your voice to be heard, we are here for you. We are creating points of contact within both the SU and the university, while also starting coordination with other similar movements across the country. None of us are professionals. We are just students that are tired of being invisible.

Want to have a stand? Join our open meeting at Squirrel’s Bar (M14 6HX) on Thursday 22nd March 2018 and bring your friends along. You’ll have the opportunity to meet people in a similar situation to yours and share your views and experience. And most importantly, you’ll get a chance to make a difference and make our movement impactful!

If you can’t make it, most of our organisation and communication goes through our Facebook group (link below). Additionally, you can read our letter of demands and add your name if you agree with our principles.

Have your voice heard! Take a stand! Take action!

Find us on Facebook for more.

Free talk to discuss “the price of free trade”

A free talk at the University of Manchester will discuss trade “in the era of Brexit and ‘America First'”.

It will consider questions such as “what is the value of trade?”, “what effects does it have on inequality and the labour market?” and “how can we make it work best for everyone in the years to come?”

The talk is hosted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and will be given Gemma Tetlow, Economics Correspondent for the Financial Times and Peter Levell, Senior Research Economist at the IFS and Research Investigator as part of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative, and will finish with a Q&A where students can ask the speakers any questions they may have.

Gemma Tetlow said: “Trade is right at the top of the news agenda — from discussions around Brexit to discontent among Trump-supporters in the US rust belt and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“Policymakers are making major decisions about whether their countries will open up to trade or put up more protective barriers. Now is an important time for people to understand how trade impacts their lives and the lives of those around them, and the implications of what politicians are proposing.”

Peter Levell added: “The question of whether we want trade in the future to be relatively free or more regulated is an important one and lots of people rightly have strong opinions on it – whether or not they have a background in economics. Unfortunately, however, public discussions in this area often seem to quickly descend into tribalism and mutual incomprehension. That’s why I would love for people to come along to our public talk on the 23rd.

“The aim of the talk is to help people understand the different views economists have about the impacts of trade so that people can not only make up their own minds but also understand other people’s perspectives as well. We’ll be drawing on historical examples including the repeal of the 19th century Corn Laws, a process in which the city of Manchester played an important part. The talk will not be technical or require prior knowledge of economics, and we will have time at the end to answer any questions people may have.”

The talk is on Friday the 23rd of March from 1PM to 2:30PM in Theatre One of the Stopford Building at the University of Manchester.

Tickets can be acquired for free through Eventbrite and are limited to one ticket per order.

‘Student Angels’ safety scheme launched

The Mancunion can reveal that the Student Angels (formerly Night Owls) scheme began at the beginning of March 2018.

The original Night Owls scheme was created in response to a spate of crime in the Fallowfield area, which also led to a petition being launched urging Greater Manchester Police and the mayor Andy Burnham to make the streets of Fallowfield safer.

The advert for students to sign up states that volunteers will have the “chance to be a part of an exciting new project which aims to provide students with friendly and independent support and guidance in Fallowfield when it is at its busiest.”

Duties listed include “patrolling key areas of Fallowfield”, assisting students by “walking them home” and picking up litter to keep the area “greener”.

The Mancunion found that the scheme was not well received by students, with some anxious that it was similar to asking students to become vigilantes in their own area.

Photo: UMSU
Photo: UMSU

The scheme has since re-branded, and is now called Student Angels. As of yet, it is unclear whether the new name’s similarity to  Manchester Street Angels — a group that does similar work in the Gay Village — is a coincidence or not.

On the volunteer hub on the Students’ Union website, it states that volunteers have been able to sign up since the 1st March 2018, and that initial training will begin on 22nd April.

The training that will be provided to successful applicants includes “basic first aid”, “safeguarding vulnerable adults” and “spotting signs” of many different potential dangers, such as substance abuse and human trafficking.

The scheme will be officially launched tomorrow, the 21st of March, but there has been no official announcement that this would be taking place.

Communities Officer Jack Houghton has been approached for comment.

Call of Duty: MW2 remaster rumours gather steam

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: is arguably the last goliath of the last console generation yet to make its way to the PS4 and Xbox One.

Not that there hasn’t been demand — in 2015, a petition launched demanding that Activision remaster the game for next-gen consoles which garnered 221,545 signatures, gaining coverage by major outlets like IGN and Gamespot. Hitherto, public demand has been met with stony silence by Activision and Infinity Ward.

However, rumours of a remaster have resurfaced in the last couple of days, with a retail listing from Amazon Italy pointing to a release date of 30th of April, 2018. What’s more, Activision Blizzard are listed as the official sellers.

photo:Mancunion

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of rumour. Just one month ago, a retail listing from Swedish website Webhallen emerged pointed to a 2019 release for another coveted long-term absentee, EA’s Skate 4. As of yet, these rumours have yet to materialise, although their validity will no doubt be tested by this year’s major conferences.

Since the Amazon Italy listing, a number of other pieces of evidence have emerged through social media.

Streamer xtheBIGDRUx tweeted a picture showing him in conversation with an Amazon customer service representative, who told him that “you can place an order for (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered) after — 23rd March, 2018.”

photo:Twitter

Elsewhere on Twitter, American store Target tweeted from their @AskTarget account in response to a question about the game, saying: “We understand the excitement regarding the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered game. At this time, Makarov has withheld this information from us and Soap is trying to receive it. We would encourage you to regularly check your local store and online for updates.”

Further fuel was added to the fire following an Instagram post from YouTuber Ali A, who has close ties with Activision, saying he was flying to the U.S “for a secret project”, saying “all will be revealed in a few days.” However, Ali A has since denied that this is related to MW2.

These clues all hint at a release date in the coming few days, and it may be significant that this overlaps GDC (Game Developers Conference) that is ongoing in San Francisco, U.S.A. Although not as high profile as E3, the GDC still attracts international coverage, and was the event in which the original Modern Warfare 2 was announced back in 2013.

Infinity Ward – the developers behind the game – are speaking on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the conference (21st-23rd March) in a series of presentations called ‘technical issues in tools development,” which may present an opportunity to showcase the game.

Furthermore, a release in the first half of this year would mean that a remaster of Modern Warfare 2 would avoid stepping on the toes of Black Ops 4, which, as is traditional for new CoD releases, will most likely release in November.

Fans will be hoping that, unlike its predecessor, Modern Warfare Remastered, Modern Warfare 2’s release will not come with an announcement that it will be bundled with an upcoming CoD title. This seems unlikely however, given the huge amounts of negative PR Activision attracted with this strategy last time around.

Having said that, Activision may not be done with PR disasters just yet: Call of Duty news outlet ‘charlieINTEL’ have reported that a source within Raven Software, who were responsible for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, has indicated that the game will not feature a multiplayer mode.

Gamers fight back against POTUS

On the 8th of March, in the wake of the yet another school shooting in the United States, which sadly left 17 dead and 15 injured in Parkland, Florida, Donald Trump called for a meeting to discuss how violence in video games might be a cause for horrific behaviour such as this. Here we go again…

Make no mistake, this is certainly not the first time this has happened: in 1992, Mortal Kombat was criticised for its excessively violent and gory gameplay and aesthetics, and the same kind of outcry came with the release of Doom a year later. I remember vividly the 2004 banning of Manhunt in the UK after the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, and, in even more recent times, a similar conference being called after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2013.

The gaming community is no stranger to the tired argument that violence in video games breeds violence in people. In fact, it’s more than likely that you’ve heard something along those lines from your own parents, especially if you’ve ever owned a Mortal Kombat, a Call of Duty or a GTA.

Point being: it is a sad state of affairs when seemingly every time an individual carries out one of these horrendous attacks, the focus never seems to solely be on the culprits, school security or even bigger issues such as gun control. Somehow, gaming gets dragged into the mire, despite being a regular pastime for plenty of teenagers across the world who would never even dream of blaming games for outlandish behaviour, let alone committing such atrocities.

Regardless, it seems to be a persistent fixture in the media’s agenda. Whilst it is heartbreaking to see an industry that we all love repeatedly vilified and totally misconstrued because of what is an anomaly though, the community has been steadfast in its defence of gaming after the fact.

Cue Games for Change.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Games for Change is a non-profit organisation that strives to make social impact and spread awareness of games that engage with culture and touch on serious topics such as world conflicts, sexuality and mental health. Their response to this recent meeting came in the form of 88 seconds of video game footage, and every one of them was perfect.

This montage featured the likes of Journey, Horizon Zero Dawn, Life is Strange, The Last of Us, even Fortnite, showcasing some truly considered pieces of art direction and the pure beauty to be found in games, even in ones that contain violence. The whole thing was topped off with a simple statement of defiance in the form of the hashtag #GameOn.

Photo: #GameOn from Games For Change YouTube channel (Screenshot)
Screenshot: ‘#GameOn’ from Games For Change YouTube channel

This clip came as a response to an equivalent show-reel shown during the meeting itself, which had an identical run-time and instead featured footage of violence within games such as Fallout, Sniper Elite, Wolfenstein and The Evil Within. Mainly though, it was just clips from Call of Duty (likely the one game that most of them had seen their own children play, ironically, without any worry over their impressionability, I’m sure), including the controversial ‘No Russian’ mission from Modern Warfare 2.

But what is so frustrating about the so-called dismay felt by those who were said to recoil at this video is that, if you remember, that infamous airport shooting was entirely optional: you could choose whether to play through the section. Better still, it gave parents the chance to intervene, should they catch a glance of their kids prompted with that screen, after buying them a game they were clearly too young or mentally unprepared to play! ‘No Russian’ and no dice either.

The reality is that, as mentioned before, video game creators, publishers and players alike all accept that many games contain violence and disturbing images. Melissa Henson, a spokeswoman for the Parents Television Council, was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying that “violent video games and other media are one of three core causes for violence in America” — the key phrase being: “and other media”.

There is no denying that the tone of Trump’s meeting was reported as overtly tense and shocking on the part of most White House representatives. However, there were also numerous figures from within the industry present, including Robert Altman of ZeniMax Media (Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein) and Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two Interactive who publish the Grand Theft Auto series.

Their role, as it has been in past meetings, was to echo that very sentiment offered up by Henson: that games, like movies, television and even literature, often include more testing and mature content — hence ratings like any other format. Moreover, they had the same tiresome task of reminding those in Washington that video games, as a form of digital expression, are protected by the first amendment.

To conclude then, the outcome was largely the same as it was the last dozen times this contrived argument was so readily brought up: no policy was drawn up, no concrete findings to ostensibly link games to violence like the kind seen in Florida.

The meeting was of little consequence other than to show non-gamers that violence is portrayed in video games and perhaps, as Z. Byron Wolf of CNN writes, because “Trump wants you to think about video games instead of guns.”

Photo: Wikipedia
Photo: Wikipedia

Yes, my opinion might be coming from the biased position of being a gamer, but, equally, the same can be said for those who do not play games yet are so quick to waste time and divert attention from truly pressing issues that are also, unfortunately, protected by the American constitution… if you catch my drift. It can’t be just me that thinks the connection between guns and shooting is a tad stronger than the one that tries to undermine gaming.

At the end of the day, most reasonable and responsible people don’t possess the same urges to carry out such unimaginable acts, and that includes gamers; I imagine many of those lost in these terrible attacks played games, but it didn’t make them killers. Outliers will always exist and of course, they must be managed somehow, but singling out gaming culture as accountable for this behaviour is not the solution, nor can it be labelled the root cause.

So, let us not take away from the memory of those lost in tragic moments such as this one by allowing gaming, an activity that was likely a source of joy in many of their lives as well as our own, to be vilified and used as a scapegoat in what is a much bigger debate that is enveloped in all different types of questions surrounding human nature.

Review: Myopia

An unknown place and six unknown people; this is the premise for Martha Treves’ Myopia. The final piece in this MIFTA season certainly didn’t disappoint – flowing easily between tension and humour, the piece captured my attention from start to finish. The preset was understated and really set the tone for the rest of the piece. With all cast members sitting on chairs facing outwards towards the audience in a semi-circle, the various stages of stillness and agitation had me intrigued before I’d even taken my coat off. With this I have to mention the use of the chairs throughout the production: the transitions from scene to scene were impeccable with the chairs only adding to the piece rather than detracting from the action. The physical use of the chairs, with the ensemble rocking back and forth while inhaling and exhaling was visually engaging and tied the piece wonderfully to its ever present theme of the air tightening.

The entire production was flawless; the music, thanks to Dom Gowland, perfectly created this world that we as an audience were observing and even the trams rumbling above 53two, which are usually a nuisance, added to the overall effect of the world created in the piece. The lighting and transitions were handled perfectly, creating a wonderfully dystopian feel to this unknown location.

I have to say that all the cast worked together incredibly well; however Rory Calland and Holly Willmott really stood out for me, even in moments of stillness or inaction I couldn’t stop watching their character’s relationship slowly develop throughout the play. Calland in particular often provided small moments of comic relief in an otherwise intense show. Daisy Shuttleworth also inhabited her character seamlessly developing throughout the piece, in a gradual build to her final monologue in which we as an audience are made to feel helpless.

The writing for me was strongest both at the beginning and end of the piece; I felt that there perhaps could have been more of a build up to each member having to leave to place, although I was still hooked by the plot. The physical aspects of the production were superbly put together and really worked to great differing relationships between the characters and the space they were inhabiting.

As the final MIFTA I think Myopia did well to round off a diverse season to a high standard.

Review: Spring Awakening

Anya Reiss’ adaptation of the classic German play Spring Awakening is not an easy show, dealing with topics including rape, domestic violence, and suicide. However, in the Drama Society’s penultimate MIFTA, director Phoebe Gibby handled these issues with maturity and care. Every troubling aspect of the piece felt significantly developed and understood by the performers, so as not to glaze over or undermine the importance of these issues.

Every member of the ensemble was incredibly strong from the get-go. In the opening scenes, the two groups of girls and boys were strikingly familiar to those of us who remember the awkwardness of our teenage years. Their relationships were well-developed and natural, though I would have liked to see more interaction between Ernst and Hans in the earlier stages of the show, even as simply friends, so as to support the later revelation that they are secretly together.

Nick Kane gave an outstanding performance as the troubled Melchior, effectively conveying the struggle to understand various elements of ‘growing up’. Despite seeming the oldest of the group of boys, Kane’s Melchior had a lovely vulnerability which made the ending all the more upsetting to watch. Furthermore, he was matched perfectly by Ele Robinson’s heartbreakingly naïve Wendla. Their awkward chemistry in the earlier scenes was lovely, and her horrifying realisation that she was pregnant and the struggle against her mother made troubling but compelling viewing. The direction of the rape scene was unashamedly difficult to watch, but did not feel like it was simply for shock-factor or the dramatic main event of the play.

Tom Thacker was brilliantly awkward as Moritz, demonstrating the melodrama of teenage life and attempting to understand girls, grades and expectations. It would have been beneficial perhaps to see more frustration from his character at the way the world seems to turn against him in order to justify his suicide, particularly following Melchior’s mother’s reluctance to help him, but then again, the seemingly impulsive nature of the suicide was what made it so tragic. The school assembly following Moritz’s suicide perfectly balanced Reiss’ moments of dark humour with the heartbreaking truth of the scene. Just watching their faces as they reacted to the announcement showed how deeply they each understood their characters, particularly Morgan Meredith’s devastating performance as Ilse, and really brought home the impact the events had on the confused teenagers.

In moments where the teens interacted with their parents, the other members of the group role-played as the older characters. This was a very clever way of demonstrating their inability to properly communicate with the older generation, and show how they misunderstand or lack knowledge. Eliza Teale was especially stand-out in these scenes, for the sharp contrast between her awkward, reserved performance as Wendla’s mother, compared to the asides given as the sassy Thea.

Visually, I enjoyed the simplicity of the show, with the playground setting making for an uncomfortable juxtaposition with the adult nature of the events. The lighting was a little heavy-handed at times, with some jarring snap shifts and overly implicit uses of colour, and I would have liked to see some more creative and subtle uses to enhance the action. Overall, however, the production was well developed, beautifully performed and a vividly truthful representation of the difficulties of adolescence, proving Reiss’ adaptation successfully translates the struggles of the teenagers in the early 1900s to a contemporary setting.