October 18, 2007 -
Tonight's episode of CSI NY will feature an investigative foray into Second Life.The show's website describes the episode, titled Down the Rabbit Hole, thusly:
A woman's murder sends Mac into "Second Life," the internet-based virtual world to track down the killer in both the real and cyber world.
PC World has a video report on the CSI-SL mashup, featuring an interview with CSI creator Anthony Zuiker.
Tuneup Talk has a bit more:
This special episode will take “the plot of an upcoming CSI episode into the virtual environment of Second Life.” The production company has established a private sim (or “island”) in Second Life, and characters from the series will actively pursue the perpetrator of a “first life” crime through the virtual world.
Additionally, the virtual presence will allow viewers to participate in the drama by visiting the lab, the scene of the crime, and other locations from the series. The producers have apparently crafted fully rendered views of exact scenes seen in the TV series, and the action will move more or less seamlessly from one world to the next. Naturally, a cliffhanger is involved.
Comments
And I dunno, I missed the previous CSI videogame episodes, but they never sounded like they sensationalized the ability of videogames to inspire violence. They do, however, sensationalize the issue of online stalking/predation.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/10/02/tivo-alert-law-order-svu-episode-avatar/
That being said:
"Quick! Everyone, run to your couches and TVs to enjoy the roller coaster ride of plot ripoffs from shows that ripoff concepts from other shows resulting in a thrilling cavalcade of mediocrity. Coming soon, CSI: Miami explores the seedy underworld of illegal gambling in World of Warcraft that results in an epic blood war between the nerds of 'Little Cuba'."
The other was law and order. Clearly CSI is jumping on the bandwagon.
Yeah the SVU episode was called "Avatar" and it was based around a fictional SL rip-off.
CSI is usually better quality than Law and Order, so I don'tthink this episode will be as bad. But I don't think it will be much better.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Actually Soldatlouis is absolutley right:
http://www.tv.com/csi-miami/urban-hellraisers/episode/559934/recap.html
""Urban Hellraisers". As he puts the disc into the controller he says he thought the robbery reminded of an old case, only he couldn't remember which one. Heely's comment made him realise it wasn't an old case, it was a game. Wolfe plays a bit for Horatio. It opens with a stage similar to what happened that morning; a bank robbery where killing a security guard is worth 500 points. It then moves on to a robbery of a money drop helicopter. When Wolfe's character is killed a computerized voice tells him he's "still in play". Apparently the teens are re-creating the game, which explains what they used the clicker for and why they didn't keep the money. It also explains why they killed people without provocation.
[...]
Gabe admits to that, and with a grin adds that you get 5000 points if you kill the cop. Tripp asks how many points you get if one of your buddies gets killed. Gabe doesn't seem overly concerned with what happened to Scream, after all, everybody dies sometime and it's part of the game. Horatio wants him to tell them who Demon is, but Gabe can't do that. It will cost him 500 points! Horatio replies that not telling them who his friend is will give him 25 to life. That doesn't bother Gabe; he's ahead in points. Besides, he could be out in 10 years with good behavior.
In order to figure out Demon's next move they go to talk to the man who wrote the game. His name is Chris Allen, and he is mighty proud of the game. It's their top seller. They request a break-down of the game but are told no. That information is proprietary, and they should know that any similarities to real events are purely coincidental. Allen needs to protect his stockholders. If they want to know what happens they have to play the game. Horatio calls Wolfe and tells him to do exactly that, and while they wait to find out what happens in the game Allen is going to be arrested for obstruction of justice.
Wolfe plays the game, quite reluctantly. He stopped playing it soon after he bought it, finding it distasteful. Delko comes in and asks if he's seen Elliott. Wolfe tells him he wanted to get into the Documents Lab. Wolfe sent him to the fingerprints lab instead, which Delko finds amusing. They both know Elliott is mainly there to see Calleigh anyway. They turn their attention back to the game, where Wolfe is having trouble. He can't get past the second level. Delko watches him play the level again and finds it uncanny to see the robbery he experienced that morning played out in a video game. He wishes he could have saved the girl. Wolfe tells him that raping her gives you 1000 points, something they both cringe at.
[...]
Horatio and Delko head over to talk to Wizard but find him dead in his chair. Wizard has a score board which keeps track of every player, every crime and every point. Alexx joins them, shaken by having had to examine three people under 21 in a single day. It appears as if Wizard's kidneys gave up and caused his death. The game log shows he's been playing for 70 straight hours, and the scene around him confirms it. He didn't eat, didn't sleep, just played the game and drank energy drinks. Horatio concludes that he played himself to death. Delko is looking at the score board and sees that Demon has over 20 000 points. Life and death reduced to points.
____________________
In other words sensationalist bull...
I'll see BS, alright.
Oh, and here's the cliff hanger. SL freezes after a massive flying phallus attack on CSI's special little sim.
Here's Wikipedia's summary :
"The squad is at a loss on what to do with a violent homicide when Stabler's son points out that the event is straight out of a video game. Interviewing the game's creators leads them to a former employee, who then leads them (with a few other steps along the way) to a teenage couple who claim to be unable to distinguish fantasy from reality."
And here's TVGuide's summary :
"While investigating a brutal beating and murder, Stabler learns that crime-scene photos match a new video game. The defense attorney later blames the killing on the game."
Now I remember that Jack Thompson talked about this episode with delight in his autobiography, especially because in the pase he confronted "Law & Order SVU" star Ice-T for his song "Cop Killer".
From the desc (as mottom22 points out), this sounds more like a multi-media tie in then an anti-game episode. They are probably trying to figure out how to make use of an emerging market (MMORPGs).
I think we need to exersize a little restraint here and NOT jump on the 'OMG! GAMES ON TV! IT MUST BE BASHING!!!!!' bandwagon.
Nah, that one was about a stalker, kidnapping and rape. This one is about murder.
The whole "chase through SL" seems incredibly stupid. The perp could just log off.
I'm hoping it's kinda like the "miniature" serial killer, where he just uses SL to model his plans.
It's more of a "Second life Promotion episode. In other words, a glorified ad for Second LIfe.
Seriously, CSI New York needs a good story line... someone get Natalie Davis and send her to New York, that'll spice things up.
Hmmm the best of 2 worlds for the haters. TV breeds violence (yet they display this on a violent show) and of course Games breed violence. So lets have a violent Show go into a violent game (with an added slant) then point at the results and claim:
"I told you so"
I think i remember seeing that episode. It may or may not have been L&O, and i could be confusing it with another show, but i remember SOME sort of 'GTA-ish' episode a few years back.
There was some sort of flashback the hit-and-run situation surrounding the crime, and the person driving was like "Come on, that 2000 points right there!" while pointing at some random girl.
If that isn't pure fiction and a gross, extreme exaggeration (in every sense of the word) of what would happen in the real world, i don't know what is. No wonder Jack went all over it.
Only the Vegas CSI had semi-decent writing, and even then it varies from episode to episode.
The worst is CSI:Miami though. Even the stuff that focuses on crime scene investigation technology is lousy. I remember one stupid episode where the killer used an icepick to murder someone, and instead of checking for blood spatter on the guy's clothing and the ceiling, they broke out the "Z-nose" and caught him because he had some aroma on his shirt that was being released in to the room at the time of the murder.
A murder committed with an icepick, and no mention of blood evidence.
Don't even get me started on that one where "Oh my God, Whore ratio! LEVEL 2 IS A POLICE STATION!!!!!!!!11one1eleven"
When did CSI's main viewership change from teenagers to cranky old adults, anyway?
Yeah, CSI:Miami sucks. I hate it. The whole show revolves around white collar whores, who get raped and killed.
CSI:NY is only slightly better.
The original CSI is great as it has a very dark atosphere and great writing.
Personnally, I like NCIS (which isn't part of the CSI frnchise). The character development is the best and the story lines a great.
But back to the issue at hand, I have never seen a movie or tv show about games that really showed games to any positive light. Most just come accross showing their bias toward and lack of knowledge of the medium. I don't think that this will be any better (although as I have said, it will be better than SVU).
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
I bet this one is going to be a combo of the aformentioned Law and Order episode and the fursuiter episode of CSI.
Release the hounds.
even stupider is that they did that to see what the 3rd level was, god forbid they just check Gamefaqs or something >_>
At least L&O doesn't stick clay in wounds... sure the spin offs (baring Trial by Jury) suck, but at least there not as ridiculous as CSI is in MANY MANY places.
That much said, CSI is good but a little over the top for me, CSI:Miami is absurd and more of an action movie than a crime drama, CSI:NY I rather like, all the L&O's are virtually the same and are never thrilling but usually more thought-provoking than CSI, NCIS and Without A Trace are pretty worthwhile, and Criminal Minds is mediocre.
Here is the Secret to CSI: It's message is, "Although the system has problems, the system works. & Although cops have their problems, for the most part they are paragons of virtue."
The First Episode of CSI to deal with Video Games was actually an Episode of regular CSI. I can't remember which season, but it involved a man dying inside of a server farm. The episode included an employee at a game company who was putting his Coworker's faces on avatars for an EQ style game. The episode for me as a critique on games is a travesty and a perfect example of the kind of writers who are on the respective CSI flavors' writing staffs. The Episode actually explained what an MMO was to the point of using the phrase, "...in a Virtual World." This too is coming from Archie the A/V guy to Nick Stokes. I can buy that, but it flows too much like playing to a stupid, ignorant audience. This episode was obviously written by people who don't play EQ or the equivilant and think that Video games are just a toy.
CSI: Miami made "Urban Hellraisers" The worst piece of television I've ever seen. The episode has 2 things in mind: GTA & Colombine. Radio Guy gives a good summary of the episode. I hope the writers of that episode never work again. I personally hate CSI: Miami because it should be called CSI: Miami Vice. The entire show is full of well, to many attractive people. The guys who played the game in the episode were not close to any real gamers but Kliebold and Harris. I hated the episode from the second I saw the game that was the topic of CSIM used points and was an exact replica of the Crime scene. The points system hasn't been used in any game I've seen mainstream since NES, if that. Points are obsolete and the game hindged on their use. The mock game forced you to do those things like rape, but even GTA has the decency not to include a Rape interface. If this were a real game 4 things would be different in the episode: 1. The special guest star would be Jack Thompson, who lives in Miami(CSIM is filmed in Cali actually, hehehe) and be portrayed as a hero; 2. The game would not be a best seller because its graphics, sound and music suck even for a PS title; 3. It wouldn't be a best seller because the criminal nature and rape interface are grounds for an AO, so it would never get sold, 4. If it were a popular game it would have, MULTIPLAYER! Urban Hellraisers is supposed to be a competitive SINGLE PLAYER game, I don't think so.
But, all that ranting and raving is all about an episode that's crap, so nothing is gained by it. The real piece of evidence that it is not real by any means and that the CSI writing staff knows nothing about games is the gamer criminals are based off the Columbine killers with perfect physiques from innercity who thought the world was a game and are dumber than bricks. The Columbine boys were white collar kids from the suburbs who were actually of gifted intelligence. They didn't think everything was a game, they were just Psycotic. If they wanted to be real gamers, they's wear button up shirts, glasses and a calculator or mechanical pencils always at the ready. Wait, that's what I'm wearing.
The other major flaw of the logic of the episode was the motive behind the female lead killer: "The guys play games and never notice you unless you play games."
I don't mean to be sexist, but let's face it: If you are a female even remotely interested in gaming, you are an endangered species. If you are a female and you hang out with gamers, it is a certainty that you will be hit on by every guy in that gaming group, even though the chances are likely you, A. Married, B. otherwise involved with someone else, C. Are a Lesbian (nothing wrong with that) or D. Not interested in a relantionship. If she was interested in a group of male gamers and was single, she would not be single for very long.
This Episode of CSI: NYPD Blues might actually be a wee bit fun because they had the decency to make a Second Life area for the fans. But I don't play SL, I play the primary cause of productivity in the workplace today, WoW.
I have seen all the game based CSI eps they are not that bad, no worse than picking out a moive a book and sensationalizing it, you have to keep things in context even the furry ep was not to bad I mean lover qauliers any convention will be "odd".
"What kind of person would do this?"
"Only one kind. Whoever this player is, he has played World of Warcraft nearly every hour of every day for the past year and a half. Gentlemen, we are dealing with someone here who... has absolutely no life."
Well, that's because South Park actually make valid points instead of basing an episode off of what the media says about something.
Trust me, this episode will be nothing but "Oh no! Video games did this!" blah blah blah. When will someone actually make an episode where something did happen over an online game, but not make it seem like video games are the reason for crime.
Booyah?
Oh no.. Not another one..
I don't thing it will be a negative portrayal. The Office is a good show, and their most likely just going to make fun of it in some way.
I have high hopes for it.
maybe i'll check this one out
"The points system hasn’t been used in any game I’ve seen mainstream since NES, if that."
Halo 3 had a point system, and even gave you bonus points for getting head shots.
85% of the game's population (And that's a pretty low estimate) are there because of some bizarre sexual fetish and use the game for cybering purposes, 9% are there to harrass the the 85% that spend their hours cybering and wreck any in-game political event, 4% are either anarchists or liberatarians that are trying to start a revolution from inside a video game, 1% are casino owners and people who sell sex supplies to the 85%, and the remaining 1% are split between people that sit around talking about how great they are, spend hours trying to earn money by "camping" (sitting in a designated seat for hours upon hours), acutally make use of the game's tools by building or scripting things, and people that dress up as video game characters or super heroes to try and fight crime.
Oh, and EVERYBODY hates the Lindens. (The people who run the show) Most people hate them because the game is glitchy and innefeicient, because they take almost no measures against the vile internet terrorists that cause singing mario sprites to dance around, and because they are out of touch with their entire playerbase. The 9% that are spawning the mario sprites don't like them because every once in a while they will have their account banned and have to start a new one. During the 4th anniversary celebration, the person giving the speech couldn't enter the sim because of how glitchy and unstable the game was, and every single person who had showed up to watch CHEERED. It's ridiculous.
I understand it is a meta game. And anyway, if you want to brag about your E-penis, bring it in into multiplayer.
And I want an episode about RTS's for once. "Oh my god! That army officer went mad playing Supreme Commander and went on a nuclear frenzy. In Reality!"
The massacre-chashing attorney in the show who tries to use the 'games made me do it' defense, has never won a case using that sort of argument.
I think it's especially funny that this "Jack Thompson" character is played by the actor who played the absolutely clueless mayor in Spin City.
I badly want this to not suck and I've been seeing a lot of reasons why it might not.
Firstly, they're working with Electric Sheep Company, which is one of the most respected pro-level SL dev groups around. Apparently they're also working direcly with Zuiker, who says he uses SL on a regular basis.
Secondly: http://www.csifiles.com/news/071007_01.shtml links to a NY Times story (going through their site should let you read it without needing to log in) and a video clip from the episode, with one of the CSIs (whom I gather is allready familiar with the world) trying to explain it to his collegues. For one thing, he does kind of sound like what me and my friends sound like when trying to explain it. (*exasperated sigh* "It's not a game.*"). But more importantly, this isn't a fictional virtual world made up with names changed to protect the innocent...it's real Second Life footage (machinima crafted by E-sheep) and the Second Life logo is displayed large, front and center. Linden Lab policies require their blessing before other people can use the SL logo - and trust me, for all the problems SL has, many of the Lindens themselves are cool and intelegent people. I don't know if they'd have given them permission if the show was going to be really horribly negative (though they have no problem with parodies such as getafirstlife.com)
Thirdly: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kfXb6zb6Upc
So far as I can tell this is youtube-exclusive promo footage. You might roll your eyes at the first bit, but you've got to give them the fact that they're playing on a standing joke that persists from nearly every MMO on earth. Beyond that...the promos look dang cool.
Fourthly, they're betting a 2-part episode on this. For their sake, it needs to not suck.
If the episode is good and the in-world interactives go off smoothly (I have to wonder if the servers will survive the potential onslaught of people), this could be the best publicity SL has had in a long time.