Walking proudly to other planets

Well, let me start by explaining the title. As we speak, right next to me is a glass of Johhnie Walker Black Label. Due to being a blend, whisky connoisseurs worldwide will probably turn their heads in disgust, but I would like to reind them that without blends, our beloved Single Malts would nost exist.

Most whisky distilleries solely exist because the bulk of their produce will be bought in order to be used in blends. The single malt is possible because the blends pay the bills. Besides, if it was good enough for Sir Winston Churchill, who the heck am I to complain?

In any case, as I announced in the Hubble thread, I suddenly have an urge to write. I'll write about interplanetary travel, as that is where I can bring great experience to the table and stuff.

When I was young, TV was mostly in black and white, and we actually had to walk to this cupboard-sized box in our living room to change the channel. But we had Star Trek. The old one, with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. A bit later, there was Battlestar Galactica. In my dreams, I was an astronaut. I commanded some spaceship, flew to different planets, and explored. I experienced great adventures, fought many valiant battles, and saw many an amazing site on ever-changing planets. Man, when I'd grow up, I'd have seen stuff my parents would not believe! Captain Peter would rule the universe!

So, here I am. I am 35, have a boring office job as a programmer, but heck, at least I saw stuff my parents would never believe. You see, my mom is terrified of boats, and my dad is terrified of flying, causing them to perpetually be stuck in Europe, and with my little brother only getting a single trip to Suriname, that kind of makes me (by far) the most exploring member of the family, having visited many an exotic location. Well, okay, if you call Las Vegas, San Francisco, Egypt and fricking Saskatoon exotic, at least.

And yet... And yet... I never really got to be a big fan of Science Fiction. I read bucketloads of books when I was a kid, but most of them were fantasy. To this day, the great majority of my bookcase is filled with Tolkien, Pratchett, Piers Anthony (a lucky hit, caused by my favourite software house of old, Legend Software, producing an adventure game based on the books of Anthony, and while the game was dissappointing, the book included was not), Goodkind, and then a single copy of RingWorld. Once again, the result of a video game.

Most of what I played gamewise also was fantasy. Science fiction as a gaming genre never really captivated me much. Sure, I played Dune 2 from dusk till dawn, and I played X-Wing relentlessly, but overall, after the true adventures fell out of grace, I ended up playing a lot of Warcraft, Eye of the Beholder, Diablo, etc.

Then EU came along. I seem to have a love-hate relationship with the game. On one hand, I somehow feel more comfortable inbetween wizards and elves, but on the other hand, there still is something special to EU. It's not the great storyline, or my particular attraction to SciFi (Lykke is by far a bigger fan of that than I am, and most of the SciFi movies we own we only bought extremely recently). And yet, something keeps pulling me back.

It must have something to do with visiting new planets, somehow. To some extent, it's similar to seeing the movie Avatar. I saw some screenshots and reviews on it initially, and I have to admit I was not too keen on seeing the movie. In fact, whenever Lykke suggested we'd go see it, I'd try my very best to sneak out from under it. She finally insisted, and I sighed, and went along.

Biggest surprise I had in a long time, and I'm glad she did persuade me to come. It instantly rekindled my childhood dreams, and Captain Peter was ready to explore again. With the latest releases on Calypso, I cannot help but compare that to Pandora at times. Seeing a Hiryuu coming right at you makes you think back of the flying reptiles on Pandora. When reading that Cyrene will have a tree city, I cannot help but wonder if it will be similar to what Pandora had, and at the same time, I am thinking of the Elves of Lothlorien in Lord of the Rings.

To some extent, Captain Peter is real. I do have the luxury of visiting and exploring new worlds. Granted, it's not physically, but sometimes a movie or a story can be so good that it'll suck you right in. Tolkien had a true gift. When you read his books, and experience him describing in great detail absolutely everything. The colours, the smells, the sounds, you sometimes completely get sucked into the story. Peter Jackson truly did a great job when he made the movies.

I do not yet have the very same feeling when I play video games, but technology is ever growing, and somehow I feel that within my lifetime, we will reach a point where the virtual reality stuff we were promised 10, 15 years ago, where you'd wear helmets and gloves to really make you experience stuff at a whole different level, will be a reality. Where computer CGI will be almost impossible to distinguish from reality (well, with Lord of the Rings and Avatar, that has pretty much been the case), and where you literally can emerse yourself in a 3D world and go exploring (This has, to some extent, also already been done).

I am merely waiting for the time where you will be able to combine 3D graphics and life-like CGI with, for instance, the control features of a wii, and force feedback like you have now on joysticks. The true virtual reality we were promised, where you have a projector over your head that allows you to turn around 360 degrees. Where you wear gloves that provide feedback when you touch something. Where the same helmet you wear can provide you with scents. Where if you a mob kicks you in the chest, you actually feel an impact to the chest due to a thin layer of computer-controlled fabric giving off a pulse.

Captain Peter, reporting for duty, Sir. At your service! *salute*