tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77730981716296870252024-02-20T02:09:00.050-08:00The Armchair NerdA blog about intelligent discussion of everything.Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-70201203892233675082014-11-08T10:00:00.000-08:002014-11-08T10:00:06.577-08:00Skyrim Screenshots<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-91106857368771602482013-09-02T15:34:00.002-07:002013-09-02T15:34:48.108-07:00A Special Musical Moment: "You Song" by Lil' Wayne Ft. Chance The Rapper <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>(This song is explicit. If you don't like explicit songs, you won't like this.) </i><br />
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"You Song" off Lil' Wayne's newest mixtape <a href="http://www.datpiff.com/Lil-Wayne-Dedication-5-mixtape.525016.html">Dedication 5</a> is a special treat. It is a rare moment of tenderness and unguarded reflection, a song that cuts away the usual cartoonish rapper persona and exposes the man behind the character.<br />
If you aren't familiar with hip-hop, a big part of the appeal for many rappers is an almost super-human amount of excess and debauchery. The old stereotype of "money, drugs and hoes" is a very accurate description for a lot of what very famous rappers talk about. Lil' Wayne is the prototypical materialistic rapper. He is entertaining solely because he has a tremendous way with words, when he is at the top of his game his wordplay, metaphors and punchlines make an endless description of sex and intoxication listenable and even enjoyable.<br />
In "You Song" Lil' Wayne tries to tell one story but he isn't convincing. He tries to be a victor, the conquerer, but he fails. And he ends up revealing himself far more than he may have meant to.<br />
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<i>"Give you the world if it was for me</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><i>My diamond grill make it hard to see I'm lying through my teeth<br />And now I'm flying on my PJ, looking at the clouds<br />Thinking about yo ass and how it look like a big smile<br />I get mental flashbacks of you asscrack<br />Lemme get back on track...<br />You say I act like I don't miss you, that's because I don't act<br />But anyway, we can role-play or get straight to it<br />Sorry, my mind in the gutter, better yet sewer<br />And when you say I love you, I stutter "I-I-I love you too"<br />It's Wayne's world, she say "what is this world coming to?"<br />And she know me and whoever together, she hope we come a loose<br />She told if she ain't the one, she gon' throw up the deuce<br />I laughed at her, we took a bath together and splashed each other<br />Then she got serious, she said "Tune I gotta ask you something<br />Do you really love me?" I tried to change the subject<br />So I said some crazy shit to her like: "what if you and I were just letters?<br />That be unfortunate we'd have to rob a fortune teller<br />But I swear I think I love you, fingers crossed in my pocket<br />Okay that's a dead subject, you bring it up that's a zombie<br />You remind me, of my memory ain't what it used to be"<br />She said she ain't tripping, I know cause I move my feet<br />And when she figure out that she been swindled<br />I'll be cleaning that love bird shit off my window<br />I-I-I love you too.."</i></span><br />
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Part of the reason the song betrays the lyrics is the story behind <i>Dedication 5</i>. Lil' Wayne has been on a downward spiral for years. His last truly great album was <i>Tha Carter III </i>and his last great mixtape was <i>No Ceilings. </i>He went to jail in 2010 and hasn't been the same since. If you listen to his newer albums <i>Tha Carter IV </i>and <i>I Am Not A Human Being Pt. 2 </i>Wayne was not only bored-sounding, he sounded physically weak. A life of extremely hard partying and immense drug consumption had caught up with him, and he became more weezy than ever. Early this year he was hospitalized because of intense seizures, also probably stemming from drug consumption.<br />
<i>Dedication 5 </i>is billed as part of Wayne's comeback. This is him trying to get back in the groove, trying to churn out more interesting wordplay and bring more energy back into his music. He is, by and large, successful in this- but you can tell he isn't the same man he used to be. Many of his jokes fall flat and his boasts no longer ring true every time. One of the best parts of the tape are actually the skits, where we hear him just rambling in the studio. He seems more interested in his company and his fans and everyone that has stuck with him all these years than the music he is making. Weezy isn't the best rapper alive anymore and he knows it.<br />
So while "You Song" tries to portray Wayne as a player, getting and ultimately using the girl, you don't really believe him. All his jokes and affectations seem put on. You get the sense that he really does love this girl, but he doesn't want to believe it himself. He sounds awkward, afraid to grow up and commit. Afraid to admit to himself that he isn't the same, that things have changed. He seems scared and more than a little bit confused.<br />
He isn't ready to change yet, but I can't help but think maybe next time it may be different. Maybe he'll finally accept that he is a human being.<br />
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Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-23406563756912540952013-06-22T10:17:00.003-07:002013-06-22T10:20:10.997-07:00Review: Vince Staples And Larry Fisherman- Stolen Youth <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would be easy to say this year in hip hop is a showcase of big names putting out great work. We have already gotten grade-A performances from Kanye West, Mac Miller and J. Cole- and we have new work from the Wu-Tang Clan and Deltron 3030 to look forward to (hopefully). However, this year has also seen the rise of newcomers who are putting out great work on the road to fame. Big K.R.I.T released his sonically excellent </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>King Remembered in Time</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and Chance the Rapper brought a lot of cerebral fun in </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Acid Rap</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Vince Staples' new LP </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Stolen Youth</i></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> definitely continues this trend. (Listen to it for free <a href="https://soundcloud.com/blacksmith-a-g/sets/stolen-youth/s-sCy71">here</a>)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Intro" sets the tone of the album. It opens with a chillingly beautiful choir singing. Slowly, the song begins to expand and build up, drums kick in, for a moment it is almost ambient with birds or insects chirping. Then Vince barrels in; he wastes no time with clever wordplay or explanation, instead he unleashes a barrage of intense mental images of violence and loss and pain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-2709f847-6cde-540b-6fbb-344650222583" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>"Lie from delusion.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Die on the street,</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Then reside in the ruins.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Run and hide from police,</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Then throw the nine in the sewer."</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vince is a ferocious storyteller; every single verse he drops adds another layer to the listener's understanding of his mind. The places Vince takes you are familiar yet unique. His authorial voice is clear and concise, his persona is dark and intense and personal. He talks about his real life in a way that anyone can viscerally understand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The various featured artists don't feel like they just needed to fit a tracklist, Mac Miller is surprisingly solid on his track and Schoolboy Q absolutely owns "Back Sellin' Crack". The lyrical quality is as good as a studio album. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Something must also be said about Larry Fisherman's production. If the album succeeds at transporting you into Vince's mind, that is partially because Larry expertly sets the stage. Though geographically set in the West Coast the album feels very East Coast-inspired. It is claustrophobic and baroque, it's emotive while not overusing audio flourishes. One of the best moments in the whole album is in the song "Guns & Roses" where the hook is punctuated each time with a jazzy bell. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I feel like </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Stolen Youth</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is going to get buried in all of the great hip hop this year, I just hope Vince doesn't get buried as well. He is one of rap's best new voices. </span></span></div>
Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-77847374206573369492013-02-08T16:13:00.000-08:002013-02-08T16:13:06.893-08:00Armchair Gamer Podcast Season Three Episode One "Team ICO Show" <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">Happy
late New Year listeners! Welcome to a new season of the Armchair Gamer Podcast.
The first episode of season three is mainly a discussion of Team Ico’s</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ico<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i><span style="background-color: white;">and</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="yshortcuts"><i>Shadow of The Colossus</i></span><span style="background-color: white;">. I’m joined in
this discussion by Cody Bauman. We talk about both games and how they relate to
each other. Also, I briefly eulogize THQ.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Warning:
We will rather nonchalantly spoil both games!</b><br />
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<b>Listen
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This link is better for streaming: <a href="http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/">http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I’d recommend downloading it here: http://archive.org/details/ArmchairGamerPodcastSeasonThreeEpisodeOneteamIcoShow_757<o:p></o:p></div>
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You can download/listen to old episodes here: http://archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The
Stars:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Braden
Fox (the host) follow me on Twitter:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Gamebeast23456" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2862c5;">https://twitter.com/Gamebeast23456</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Cody
Bauman (the guest) is on Twitter here:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/THEcodybauman" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2862c5;">https://twitter.com/THEcodybauman</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>The
Music:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360368106029_2045">At the top of the show I played a track
from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Fox’s Peter Pan and the
Pirates.</i></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The
second track in the introduction is “The Makers Theme” from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Darksiders 2<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>(the soundtrack is composed by
Jesper Kyd) the soundtrack is available on Amazon here:<span class="yiv569769731apple-style-span"><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/aoowu3g" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="color: #2862c5;"><span id="lw_1360368131_1">http://tinyurl.com/aoowu3g</span></span></span></a></span></b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Theme
Song (as always) is The Advantages cover of “The Moon” from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Ducktales.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Two
tracks from the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>ICO- Melody in
the Mist<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>soundtrack are used
(“You Were There” and “Heal”) this soundtrack comes from Michiru Oshina. It is
available on Amazon:<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ico-Melody-Mist-Michiru-Oshima/dp/B00005V4GL/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1360364049&sr=1-1&keywords=ico+soundtrack" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="color: #2862c5;">http://www.amazon.com/Ico-Melody-Mist-Michiru-Oshima/dp/B00005V4GL/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1360364049&sr=1-1&keywords=ico+soundtrack</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Two
tracks from the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Shadow of The
Colossus Official Soundtrack<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>are
used (“Prologue-To The Ancient Land” and “The Opened Way- Battle with the
Colossus”) The composer is Kow Otani.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Helpful
Links:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360368106029_2050">If you own a PS3 and have not played<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>ICO </i>or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360368106029_2049">Shadow
of The Colossus<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>you should
drop a little cash for the HD collection (available on Amazon here:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/ICO-Shadow-Colossus-Collection-Playstation-3/dp/B002I0J5FG/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1360364552&sr=1-1&keywords=ico+and+the+shadow+of+the+colossus+ps3" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360368106029_2052" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="color: #2862c5;">http://www.amazon.com/ICO-Shadow-Colossus-Collection-Playstation-3/dp/B002I0J5FG/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1360364552&sr=1-1&keywords=ico+and+the+shadow+of+the+colossus+ps3</span></span></a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Finally, the
interview with Fumito Ueda I mentioned in the show is on Youtube here:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPLF0sMRjg" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360368106029_2053" rel="nofollow" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1360368106029_2054"><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="color: #2862c5;"><span id="lw_1360368131_4">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPLF0sMRjg</span></span></span></span></a></span></div>
Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-31058575586716445202012-11-10T12:03:00.000-08:002012-11-10T12:03:01.516-08:00Curiosity: Where idiocy, genius, and opacity converge (and why it's bewildering) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSCxCLTBXTyKQ0-UOdhO7puBY9Vh55i704aDwWT6ucfQSH9gNqfqDwKa5jPeaAe7OMAn4oyh2oK0Fh_NfS7vY2QKMbmns5yb4FqxWH10fjSKfhhhW4KGji6BrGfWdWvYs3bKVOIHzFbU/s1600/curiosity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSCxCLTBXTyKQ0-UOdhO7puBY9Vh55i704aDwWT6ucfQSH9gNqfqDwKa5jPeaAe7OMAn4oyh2oK0Fh_NfS7vY2QKMbmns5yb4FqxWH10fjSKfhhhW4KGji6BrGfWdWvYs3bKVOIHzFbU/s400/curiosity.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If I had
to describe</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span id="lw_1352576379_0" style="cursor: pointer;"></span></span><span class="yshortcuts"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Curiosity</span></i></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: #454545; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">, I would say it is a deconstruction of why we
play games that has no real point and may or may not be intentional. </span></span></div>
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</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><i><span> </span>Curiosity- What's Inside The Cube</i>? tasks
players with tapping a gigantic cube. Yes, that's the game. Players all around
the world are tapping away at tiny tiles on a gigantic cube. The idea is that
slowly but surely players will whittle away at the cube until they have shed
all the layers, a process that may take an ungodly amount of time-especially
with the servers being such a bad state. One person will then receive a link to
a video that shows them what's inside the cube. There are very few
gameplay "hooks" in <i>Curiosity</i>;
vaguely satisfying sound effects are tied to the shattering. I can’t think of a
way that the game could be described as interesting on its own merit without
the help of curiosity and collectivist altruism. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>In some
ways, <i>Curiosity</i> is the most pure game
I've played. All unnecessary personality and gameplay hooks are stripped out
and as a result the game oozes sterility. The color palette is bland, the
background is white and empty, and the sound design is maddeningly boring and monotonous.
The entire game revolves around tapping at cubes for what we can only assume
will be an incredibly long time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In some ways, it may be a bit of a comment on
the fallacies present in an interactive medium, and an explanation of how video
games as a specific artistic medium are just as pointless as any other from a
non-human perspective. </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span> </span>Some might
call the game a parody of games; Ian Bogost has an interesting <a href="http://www.bogost.com/blog/digging_for_gold_in_a_turd.shtml">quote</a> that is
relevant here:</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><i>"Satire and earnestness are very close
cousins. Maybe they are identical, or even weirder, maybe satire is even more
earnest than genuineness. A philosopher friend of mine named Graham Harman has
suggested that things never really encounter the true, real versions of other
things. Instead they translate, distort, or caricature one another. And if
every interaction between anything whatsoever really amounts to a caricature,
then maybe it's best to own up to that fact and stop pretending that anything
is more than a travesty of its intended subject."</i></span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i> </i> </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i><span><br /></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i><span> </span>Curiosity</i> agitates me because I can't
understand the intentions of the creators. There is no authorial preference
when it comes to interpretation; Molyneux has been maddeningly cagey about what
the "experiment" really is. It’s almost like I’m reading into the
game as a sort of justification for the hour or so I spent in the game and the
amount of time I spent thinking about it. It almost reminds me of old NES games
that we would play constantly regardless of quality because it was all we had
and how we would make the most of it- often ascribing quality to games that
didn’t deserve it. </span></span></div>
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-47069011030281393622012-10-03T07:56:00.004-07:002012-10-03T07:58:36.157-07:00Arguing some semantics <br />
<h3 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal;">fun</span></em><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">/fən/</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<i><span id="speaker_icon" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: transparent; display: inline-block; float: none; opacity: 0.55;"></span>Adjective: Amusing, entertaining, or enjoyable:
"it was a fun evening".<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr44I3sNips1mTDNQY1_JYyrYnpc2dPs0IvD9uwvmlpPovRzpPF1vxyPBGkwvFevcfm8VYBN7IQwAZeOYc1eOBwNH0zhM6xXDMvTW-QqTkOrbkTYCdhU5_iqa2ANVx4BxIQD1D1C0Y_T8/s1600/halo4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr44I3sNips1mTDNQY1_JYyrYnpc2dPs0IvD9uwvmlpPovRzpPF1vxyPBGkwvFevcfm8VYBN7IQwAZeOYc1eOBwNH0zhM6xXDMvTW-QqTkOrbkTYCdhU5_iqa2ANVx4BxIQD1D1C0Y_T8/s400/halo4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="productbyline" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i>Halo 4’s </i>Gamestop.com
Product Description <o:p></o:p></div>
<blockquote>
<i>The Master Chief returns to battle an ancient
evil bent on vengeance and annihilation. Shipwrecked on a mysterious world,
faced with new enemies and deadly technology, the universe will never be the
same. Enlist aboard the UNSC Infinity to experience Halo's original multiplayer
and Spartan Ops - episodic fiction-based co-op missions.</i><strong><i>Key Features</i></strong><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="color: #202020;">The Reclaimer Saga Begins: Experience the dawn of an epic
new Halo adventure, solo or split screen with up to three friends<br /><o:p></o:p></span></i><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="color: #202020;">Go Beyond the Story: Halo 4's Infinity Multiplayer
features a vastly expanded suite of multiplayer modes, weapons, vehicles, armor
abilities, a new loadout and Spartan IV player progression system.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></i><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="color: #202020;">Spartan Ops: Extend your campaign experience in a
massive-scale adventure that builds upon the "Halo 4" Campaign.
Receive a weekly series of cinematic episodes on Xbox LIVE followed by new game
play missions, played solo or cooperatively with up to three friends -
effectively delivering two campaign experiences in one game!***<br /><o:p></o:p></span></i><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="color: #202020;">War Games: </span></i><st1:city><st1:place><i><span style="color: #202020;">Battle</span></i></st1:place></st1:city><i><span style="color: #202020;"> the competition
in fresh, immersive new game modes and strategies.<br /><o:p></o:p></span></i><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="color: #202020;">Track your groups, stats and scores on HaloWaypoint.com<br /><o:p></o:p></span></i><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="color: #202020;">Edge-of-your-seat Entertainment: Immerse yourself in Halo
4's graphics, sound and epic game play including a mysterious and deadly new
class of enemies**</span></i></blockquote>
Occasionally, I have to wonder if our game writer’s lexicon
is gleamed from product descriptions online. I can’t help but cringe every time
I hear a critic un-ironically say the word “immersive” or “epic” (luckily these
terms have finally left our collective vocabulary as writers, apparently
content at their place on the back of a box). This is an industry built upon
press releases, of course, but I still feel like people like to box in games
and their potential to very simple words and meaningless descriptions. For
example, I hate it when people say “video games need to be fun”. (Warning: The
following blog is going to essentially be me nit-picking about things you might
find unimportant.)<br />
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What is fun, exactly? Well, “fun” is a word that means
different things to different people, and it means nothing at all. When we are
talking about games, we seem to be fans of calling <i>everything </i>fun; <i>Resident Evil
2- </i>it’s fun, <i>Call of Duty- </i>it’s
fun, <i>Super Mario Galaxy- </i>it’s fun. In
reality, though, the reasons we play these games aren’t to experience some nebulous
thing called “fun”. <i>Resident Evil 2 </i>is
a game you play to be afraid and helpless, or to experience an interesting
world through a unique scope. <i>Call of
Duty </i>is a game you play to A) experience a single-player experience (as I
do) or B) play with others, or a combination thereof. Perhaps the only
comparison between both games is that you shoot things. You might play <i>Super Mario Galaxy </i>to explore a world,
be challenged with platforming, listen to music- a variety of reasons. But do
you really play all three of these games simply “to have fun”? Do these games
really live or die by their ability to be “fun”?</div>
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I am not one of those weird pseudo-intellectual
people who say “all language is ultimately meaningless, man”. Language does
most certainly have a meaning; all of society is built upon the essentials of
language and interpersonal communication. This belief, that language is
extremely important- and precise language is doubly so, informs how I discuss
art and products. Our reasons for being drawn to pieces of art or products are
not simple enough to be described in one word.</div>
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Currently, I’m playing <i>Bastion </i><span style="font-size: small;">on a borrowed iPad. </span><i>Bastion
</i><span style="font-size: small;">is an enjoyable game; I find myself enamored with it and I kind of want to
play it right now. But is it “fun”? Maybe I could describe it that way. But if I
wanted to make you interested in the game, the only way I could would be by
explaining what interests or entertains me. Here’s an example: “</span><i>Bastion </i><span style="font-size: small;">has a large amount of
interesting ideas that I enjoy exploring. First of all, the combat in the game
is very rewarding, the sound effects associated with using the weapons
(especially the dueling pistols) and the sound effects associated with fighting
enemies train a part of your brain to want to keep playing- and by extension-
fighting. I also think the art style of </span><i>Bastion
</i><span style="font-size: small;">is clever; I am a big fan of the concept of a beautiful post-apocalypse,
that’s why I’m drawn to shows like </span><i>Adventure
Time. </i><span style="font-size: small;">The game is extremely eye-catching, all the colors are vibrant and
even the littlest details like the color and texture of tiles you walk across
is always different and unique.” Could I say “</span><i>Bastion </i><span style="font-size: small;">is fun”? Yes. But it’s more than fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span>Finally, I dislike the notion some people have
that games “need to be fun” for a similar reason. Saying that a game needs to
have a component as nebulous as fun A) devalues different artistic visions and
B) gives off the impression that games are essentially toys, made for the
enjoyment of kids and weird adults stuck in childhood. I’m tired of games like <i>Journey </i><span style="font-size: small;">for being slammed- not because
of anything meaningful about what the game is- but because it isn’t “fun”, like
action games, stealth games, or sports games. And, as I said earlier, the
buzzword “fun” is about as concise and meaningful as “epic” or “engrossing” or “visceral”;
it gives the impression of depth with no further explanation. </span></div>
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-12810471944243857502012-10-01T15:59:00.000-07:002012-10-02T05:24:14.304-07:00The nomadic games journalist interview <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP3UXcwTjWpALkPMQZ0l930bjuWp3WLt9sIUOaWMSLm_pT4-c1pbHbYRqcbeFklEq9kQ_r3LwUDi0qqI1dsWm0Nk-7wxQUrAkD9bs9Rg8M-hyXb-sJACeuI5ywW09ivzPuU-Ajr2nUsO0/s1600/justin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP3UXcwTjWpALkPMQZ0l930bjuWp3WLt9sIUOaWMSLm_pT4-c1pbHbYRqcbeFklEq9kQ_r3LwUDi0qqI1dsWm0Nk-7wxQUrAkD9bs9Rg8M-hyXb-sJACeuI5ywW09ivzPuU-Ajr2nUsO0/s1600/justin.jpg" /></a></div>
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There is a certain mystique to the role of the nomad. Many
of us, at one time or another, consider the possibilities of a life free of the
baggage that comes from living in one place. Sometimes, we would like nothing
more than to cast aside bills, work, or school and live a life of constant
motion. This romantic idea is only perpetuated in Western society further by
the influences of Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, and others of their ilk. </div>
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Justin Amirkhani is
not your average video game journalist. He has contributed to quite a few
publications including <i>Kill Screen</i>, <i>PC Gamer</i>, <i>Official Xbox Magazine, </i>and <i>EDGE.
</i>More importantly, Justin is a sort of nomad. He has no home of his own, and
little in the way of money. Justin has, since early 2012, been making a trek from
<st1:place><st1:city>Los Angeles</st1:city>, <st1:state>California</st1:state></st1:place>
to <st1:place><st1:city>Toronto</st1:city>, <st1:country -region="-region">Canada</st1:country></st1:place>;
he has lived for the last five months off the kindness and donations of
strangers. </div>
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>The following
is an interview I had over email with Justin.<br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Why did you decide to go on this
cross-country trip- what did you think you might be able to gain from visiting
various developers before you started?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Despite having plenty of opportunities to talk
to developers during the course of my career as a freelance games journalist,
I've always been disappointed by the fact most conversations with them are
squarely focused on the product they are releasing at the time. I'm far more
curious to find out what sort of person makes a game like</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Gears of War</i> than learning
what sorts of weapons are in the new version. Visiting developers in their
natural environments is a way of getting closer to their personal lives,
finding out what drives them, and better understanding why they got into this
business in the first place.</span><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">That's very interesting, actually. I'm
assuming that we both view games in a similar way (as a commercial art form). I
feel with a lot of art you don't truly appreciate it until you acquire a better
understanding of the artists. Does meeting the developers often change how you
view their games? Are there any examples where you came away with a whole new
respect for a game after meeting the people who made it?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">This may seem to go against what I just
said, but I don't think meeting the developers changes my appreciation for the
final product. One of the most important things I've learned during my journey
was that motivation is often irrelevant when evaluating the end result. It
doesn't matter if an indie developer pours their heart and soul into a game if
it still sucks, and it doesn't matter if<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Sequel
Shooter 2012<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>is produced by
automatons under the rule of a mega corporation if it's lots of fun.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>If I've
gained appreciation for anything, it's how developers balance and live their
lives. The most incredible talent I've had the fortune to meet on this trek
have also been some of the most incredible people. I have an intense interest
in individuals who can devote themselves wholeheartedly to a project and still
maintain an active and fulfilled lifestyle outside of their work.</span><br />
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">I'm curious about what a cross country trip
to video game developers entails from a "living" perspective. On your
blog there's a sidebar with ways to donate and ways people can help out. I'm
curious in what way (if any) the help of others has played into making your
trek possible?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #222222;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">This trip would be impossible without
the donations from my readers, hospitality from strangers, and people just
generally being amazing. I'm a writer by trade, that's about as close to
perma-broke as you can get. The donations from my readers have funded everything
from my bus pass, to basic foods, to medicine when I got sick. People have
offered me free places to stay, given me a meal or two, and helped me carry on.
Without all of this, I would have had to stop a long time ago.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"> The other thing is, these donations really
give me a confidence that people are enjoying my work and have similar goals to
me. It shows that people are interested in the sorts of stories I want to
write, and that makes me feel a whole lot less alone when I think there's no
real place for my weird mix of content.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">The fact that writers like you and me
are almost pre-destined for perma-broke status is one I try to keep in the back
of my mind. </span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">Where are you now, how far have you gone,
and where are you going next? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;"> I just returned to </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;">Toronto</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;"> for a quick pit stop. My
original journey was set to be two months, but I've been living on the road for
nearly five now. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen next - I'm
spending some time with family, at least until Thanksgiving - but I've officially
got no home of my own and I expect to keep myself that way for at least a
little while longer.</span></div>
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<i style="color: #222222;">(Justin has traveled from Toronto to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to San Diego, San Diego to Raleigh, Raleigh to New York City, New York City to Cleveland and back into Toronto. A distance of roughly 6,500 miles.) </i></div>
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">If you had to name one
person or place that has affected you the most on your journey, where would it
be? How has this single experience changed you?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></b></div>
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That's an incredibly
hard question to answer because there have been so many events, places, and
people that have shaped my current mindset. One of the most pivotal experiences
though came near the end of my current leg. I met a man named Sam in a hostel
in <st1:city>Seattle</st1:city>. He's from <st1:country -region="-region">Wales</st1:country>
and also a writer - not about video games though - and we got along. One day he
fell in love with this girl who was cycling from <st1:city>Vancouver</st1:city>
to <st1:country -region="-region">Panama</st1:country> and
came home all upset he wasn't going to see her again as his flight left from <st1:city>San
Francisco</st1:city> in a few days.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"> Rather than let him sulk about the situation,
I demanded we go chasing after her. Together we hitched down the </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Oregon</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"> coast to nowhere towns and met some
fantastic people on the way. We had an entire small town looking for his dream
girl and had the time of our lives doing it. We finally did find her, on a
beach at sunset in the middle of nowhere and it was magical. It proved to me
that sometimes, injecting life with a little foolishness and romanticism can
make it so much better. Reality's what you make of it, chasing lofty ideas
should be part of it.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Your project is attracting
more than just gamers, obviously. Do you think people might be interested in it
because of ideals embedded in Western culture, or is the appeal simpler</span></b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">? </span><b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;"> It's true, my audience is
now very split. I have the usual video game playing crowd, but now I've also
got this group of people who know nothing about games and just like hearing
about the travel. My favourite thing though is that these two groups are starting
to cross-pollinate, with the gamers learning a little about travel life and the travelers learning
a little about gaming.</span><br />
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Do you think that people
are attracted to this nomadic, Bob Dylan-y idea of someone that drifts
throughout the country taking in the world?</span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"> Absolutely. I know I
am. There's no doubt in my mind the likes of Dylan, Kerouac, Thompson, and
others have played a role in my decision to give up my stuff and go live on the
road, but by no means does it make it any less attractive to me. I can't
speak for everyone, but the idea of being absolutely free from all the
machinations of life is what draws me in. There's an intense liberation that
comes with an open path before you, realizing you can do anything you want,
anywhere. It's an incredibly romantic idea, so much so that it's consumed my
life. In that way it's easy for me to understand why people like reading about
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Have you thought about
writing a book about your experiences, or something like that? I have never
heard of something like this in the industry before, and I imagine a book on it
would be a smash-hit among gamers. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">There is a book in the works. I've
written part of it on the road, and now that I'm back in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Toronto</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"> - at least for a little while - I'll be
putting most of my energy into finishing it. There are a lot of stories that
I've been itching to tell that just don't work well in blog form and based on
the reaction I've received so far from the project, I'm inclined to agree that
a lot of gamers would find it interesting.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"> The problem for me is finding that sweet
balance between my experiences as a gamer and my experience as a nomad. It's
harder to find than you'd think, but hopefully there's an audience for it.
That, and finding money. Haha. I'm literally down to whatever's in my wallet
and nothing more these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;">Just to wrap this up on a game note,
have you discovered what you wanted to about game developers? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"> If there's one
thing I've learned about game developers, it's that they are the most talented
and hard working individuals in the entertainment world. The ones that impress
me most though are those that manage to lead unique and interesting lives
outside of their work despite game development taking up so much of their time.
I've always been a fan of developers because they followed a passion of theirs
to its logical conclusion, but truly admire those who don't let that idea stop
with their work. It's the ones who pull crazy hours in the office and then
still have time for families, hobbies, and adventures of their own when they
step away from the keyboard that I wish I could be more like.</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #222222;"><b><i>(If you want to learn more about Justin's journey, visit his blog: </i></b></span><a href="http://gamerunplugged.com/">http://gamerunplugged.com/</a>) </div>
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<span id="goog_791093062"></span>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-21884299658515878532012-09-23T09:59:00.000-07:002012-09-23T09:59:07.161-07:00Why I'm bored of laughing at the mainstream media<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHLVCPchyphenhyphenst1UbHEF9Z1g99ieOXjxG6d922le2cUzaGsa8Yt1IqgMqnnr1gSlMoLXu8vjfbc-dthYiVGk_WLPFItBgRU6naUvAfgDNKu-6_U6mAJ7q-_qIVTka-azCQZldU0bEwVwUFw/s1600/mainstream+media.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIHLVCPchyphenhyphenst1UbHEF9Z1g99ieOXjxG6d922le2cUzaGsa8Yt1IqgMqnnr1gSlMoLXu8vjfbc-dthYiVGk_WLPFItBgRU6naUvAfgDNKu-6_U6mAJ7q-_qIVTka-azCQZldU0bEwVwUFw/s1600/mainstream+media.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every now and again, we in the video game brain space need to remind ourselves how pitifully uninformed the 'mainstream media' is about games. Earlier this year, I took it upon myself to write a four-part series of articles analyzing various controversial games and how the media treated them (you can find <a href="http://crimsonmonkey.com/features/armchair-nerd-a-history-of-controversial-games-part-one/">Part One</a>, <a href="http://crimsonmonkey.com/features/armchair-nerd-a-history-of-controversial-games-part-two/">Part Two</a>, <a href="http://crimsonmonkey.com/features/armchair-nerd-a-history-of-controversial-games-part-three/">Part Three</a>, and <a href="http://crimsonmonkey.com/features/armchair-nerd-a-history-of-controversial-games-part-four/">Part Four</a> here)*1 Needless to say, by the time I finished researching and writing those articles I was as weary of video-game-illiteracy in the mainstream media as anyone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> This past week, I suppose we decided that we were ready once again to rag on the mainstream media (we just finished being angry at Fox over <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2011/02/08/bulletstorm-worst-game-kids/">Bulletstorm</a>'s coverage) and we found a great target at the Wall Street Journal. Adam Najberg posted a review of <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/09/18/game-theory-borderlands-2-fails-to-cross-ove/">Borderlands 2</a> that contained plenty of points people on the internet can get mad at. In fact, the article starts out committing one of the Internet's seven deadly sins, comparing it to <i>Black Ops 2, </i>a game that hasn't even come out yet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">"The
sequel to the highly acclaimed 2009<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Borderlands<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>game goes on shelves Tuesday in<span class="apple-converted-space"> Xbox</span></span><a href="http://www.surfcanyon.com/search?f=sl&q=Xbox&partner=wtigca" target="scSearchLink" title="Search Link by Surf Canyon"></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">360,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">PS3<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and PC versions for around $60. At that price point, the
first-person shooter, published by 2K Games, inevitably invites comparisons
with the Halos and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="skimwords-potential">Call of Duty</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>games
already out and due to come in the next few weeks and months.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="skimwords-potential">Borderlands</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>2 falls short because it’s missing
several key elements you need to have in a 2012 first-person shooter game –
most notably, a rich multiplayer online mode. There’s an extremely limited
four-player cooperative mode, and if you have an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Xbox Live Gold<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">account, you can team up
that way, but this isn’t the type of deeply engrossing FPS game the
headset-wearing COD crowds gather to play months and months after release. In
comparison, I read on several sites that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="skimwords-potential">COD: Black Ops</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>2 will feature up to six teams, for a
total of 18 simultaneous players, in multiplayer mode."</span></i></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Now, for a moment, I'll play along. If I were to critique this review from the top down, I would first point out that comparing <i>Borderlands 2 </i>to <i>Call of Duty </i>or <i>Halo </i>is a rather obvious folly. Just because you look down the barrel of a gun in both games doesn't make the comparison apt. There would be a clearer tie between RPG games or less-militaristic FPS games. Moving right along is a sentence in the next paragraph that further enforces the rather obvious subplot of this review that the reviewer in question is rather unsure what he's talking about. </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">"I played the Xbox version of Borderlands 2 for close to a week, and while the development and upgrades from the original are apparent, the quirk and novelty that made the 2009 game so endearing and popular (</span><a href="http://www.vgchartz.com/game/13826/borderlands/" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;" target="_blank">according to VGChartz.com</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">), combined unit sales of the original topped 4.5 million for the PS3, </span><a class="vglnk" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=xbox+360&x=0&y=0" rel="nofollow" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;" target="_blank" title="Link added by VigLink">Xbox 360</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> and PC) feel dated and tired in this game."</span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rather than simply saying that the quirk and novelty of the game seem dated, he links to the apparently prestigious (though I've never heard of it) VGChartz.com; there is no fact that needs to be checked in that sentence. It really does seem that this review is written by someone who is grasping at relevance or an air of knowledge. He constantly reinforces the similarities between the same three games: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="color: blue;">"</span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i><span style="color: blue;">Borderlands 2’s single-player campaign mode isn’t as good as what you’ll find in games like COD: Black Ops or the Medal of Honor series. There’s too much “feast-or-famine” hunting for tasks, supplies and a good battle for this to be a fun game all the way through."</span></i></span></span></blockquote>
If you read the review, I'm sure you will find enough criticism of your own. I won't flat-out say that the review is stupid or pointless, since I'd rather not ever be in the "your review is invalid" camp; what I will say is that the review is clearly not very worthwhile and not helpful if you want to talk about or decide on a purchase of <i>Borderlands 2</i>.<br />
<br />
All that aside, though, I simply couldn't really get <i>mad </i>at anyone over the review. In all honesty, I just don't expect much from reviews of anything in the mainstream media (whether that be games, books, or films). If you want good, heavy-hitting reviews, news, opinions, go to places you should trust. Go to Joystiq, or Gamasutra, or The Brainy Gamer, or whoever has actual certifications. Don't expect it to get better, because it probably never will.<br />
<br />
Once again, I'm sitting on the sidelines asking gamers to please, please calm down.<br />
<br />
<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-43883666604340531552012-09-08T14:30:00.001-07:002012-09-23T09:51:58.694-07:00You've Got Friends In Them... <br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">I have to
admit, sometimes I feel like a hack. No, it’s not because I will compare Beyond Good & Evil to the wars in
the </span><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Middle East</span></st1:place></i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i>. I love talking about video games, and
if it goes into territory of interpretation of political messages- I’m game. I
feel like a hack sometimes because of the huge amount of important games I’ve
never played. I simply haven’t been around the block enough times to play all
the games I should. Slowly, through the miracles of the Internet, I’m cutting
down on my backlog. This feeling of ineptitude and self-doubt prompted me to
finally play Hideo Kojima’s Playstation One classic Metal Gear Solid. </i><span style="color: #454545;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRl9_D4Hm0etTrp7wNX3mkbT-1Bh3j6-na8xiKU9Dm5KLeubJrsRk3pV40VO_0N01hZprW3KkORil385UP4kKNuGnLoGU-dRAJ27reZDyGB8OYFhgdCwbEmVQ2xzn1R_4D6o4I8SakjQ/s1600/metalgearsolid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRl9_D4Hm0etTrp7wNX3mkbT-1Bh3j6-na8xiKU9Dm5KLeubJrsRk3pV40VO_0N01hZprW3KkORil385UP4kKNuGnLoGU-dRAJ27reZDyGB8OYFhgdCwbEmVQ2xzn1R_4D6o4I8SakjQ/s1600/metalgearsolid.jpg" /></a></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Otacon: Have you
ever... loved someone?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Solid Snake: That's what you came to ask?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Otacon: No, I was wondering if even soldiers fall
in love.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Solid Snake: What are you trying to say?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Otacon: I want to ask you. Do you think love can
bloom even on a battlefield?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Solid Snake: Yeah. I do. I think at any time, any
place, people can fall in love with each other. But if you love someone, you
have to be able to protect them."</span></span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">Metal Gear Solid's </span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">story is a Westernized,
military-spy-thriller romp fit for popcorn consumption and emphatic bro-high-fives.
It's the sort of affair that, in any other medium, would be best enjoyed with
friends and drinks (alcoholic and otherwise.) The game is both a campy
adventure with a roster of characters that are referred to only by
badass-sounding code names (Solid Snake, Psycho Mantis, Revolver Ocelot) and a
somewhat long-winded indictment of </span><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">'s military actions and
worldwide politics. <span class="apple-converted-space" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">"Revolver Ocelot: We
live in a sad age. Imperialism, totalitarianism, perestroika... 20th century </span></i><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><i><span style="background-color: white;">Russia</span></i></st1:place></st1:country><i><span style="background-color: white;"> had its share of problems, but at least they had an ideology. </span></i><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><i><span style="background-color: white;">Russia</span></i></st1:place></st1:country><i><span style="background-color: white;"> today has nothing."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">Humans
are social creatures. Generally speaking, we don't do well without each other. <i>Metal Gear Solid </i>recognizes this fact
and plays on it to emotionally attach you in ways that you wouldn't expect- if
you let it.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEmGFXQl2O2VPbHNuTtqa5Lf2AIJCbG1yTWa4tsYWjPUjoT6S27PlJwsBL7jbdOn_TWt0c607yXQTCnYEXH4blAsmsQ4M7PAY3Gi_Vx5BvwurLPGSASPSvvE7CCqiXw2iocTdKaAYbf8/s1600/codec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEmGFXQl2O2VPbHNuTtqa5Lf2AIJCbG1yTWa4tsYWjPUjoT6S27PlJwsBL7jbdOn_TWt0c607yXQTCnYEXH4blAsmsQ4M7PAY3Gi_Vx5BvwurLPGSASPSvvE7CCqiXw2iocTdKaAYbf8/s400/codec.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">The main method
of communication you have with the outside world on your one-man-Alaskan
mission is a device called a Codec. This Codec (tuned to the frequency of your
eardrum) is a source of communication between yourself and your allies.
From a mechanical standpoint, the Codec is handy in that it opens up windows
that otherwise wouldn't be open (for example, you can get information you might
not know about your mission). However, it is not a purely mechanical part of
the game.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="background: white;"><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">You
see, the people on the other end of the Codec aren't cold and heartless
military bastards with crewcuts and cigars constantly being crunched.. They
aren't as shallow as you might expect from talking heads in a video game. For
example the tech girl, Mei Ling, makes a habit of inundating you with
information ranging from Chinese proverbs to Shakespearean quotations when you
call her. She explains to you in one scene her dreams of being a pilot; dreams
that were crushed by a hesitance to kill and poor eyesight. Your commander,
Campbell, provides necessary information and support when things get hairy.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">In a game defined by long-windedness,
the brief characterizations of your accomplices are refreshingly concise.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> </span><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">Metal Gear Solid</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"><span style="font-size: small;"> makes you want to care
about fulfilling your mission. The people on the Codec constantly remind you of
your importance, your indispensability. You are able to learn more about your
allies, if you want to. They aren't just talking heads- they are people, people
who care about what happens to you.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOoE5uQaNVJsS9nRm-LwiwvLTMu5TJYQY3IbdbM4yW9nyksNhUwvqDmVhqyFn7SU97bRTj8H3owsvX9kP1lPX7sXnuLQZKErg8FSRkMUIymEf3KzHj_YKmEOMvFHdwpriIKo7diblTqwU/s1600/mgs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOoE5uQaNVJsS9nRm-LwiwvLTMu5TJYQY3IbdbM4yW9nyksNhUwvqDmVhqyFn7SU97bRTj8H3owsvX9kP1lPX7sXnuLQZKErg8FSRkMUIymEf3KzHj_YKmEOMvFHdwpriIKo7diblTqwU/s400/mgs1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-style: italic;">Metal Gear Solid</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-size: small;"> was a revolutionary game
both from a gameplay and storytelling perspective. However, I have the unique
(and not entirely pristine) perspective of playing </span><i style="color: #454545;">MGS </i><span style="color: #454545; font-size: small;">after it revolutionized storytelling in polygonal games. What
really stands out to me is the focus the game puts on interpersonal
relationships with coadjutors, and the fact that unlike every other focus the
game seems to have, it </span><span style="color: #454545;">doesn't</span><span style="color: #454545; font-size: small;"> beat you over the head with it’s existence. I
wish more games focused on side character's actual character, not just their
gameplay functions. </span></span></div>
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Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-46901078666822883202012-09-01T07:20:00.000-07:002012-09-08T14:23:19.456-07:00I Was On A Podcast! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYelj3bbNkHmgB2fCWBxh5dhnRQXdDzT8QNPJHx-AL4wHTAhHHPZvT5l9JQechSsWs-O-Z1mSqb9QqDmySDXkteffkWiwdEDwMCSUamt0i3Fl7EuqOqufZ35RQJ75PZYoRlEFqcWtyTMo/s1600/4thfloor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYelj3bbNkHmgB2fCWBxh5dhnRQXdDzT8QNPJHx-AL4wHTAhHHPZvT5l9JQechSsWs-O-Z1mSqb9QqDmySDXkteffkWiwdEDwMCSUamt0i3Fl7EuqOqufZ35RQJ75PZYoRlEFqcWtyTMo/s320/4thfloor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My good-Internet-friend (and longtime Armchair Gamer Podcast affiliate) Nick Schneider hosts a podcast called <a href="http://the4thfloor.podomatic.com/">"The 4th Floor"</a>. Yesterday, Nick had a Braden-shaped opening on his show- and I accepted an offer to co-host. The result of this is an episode titled <a href="http://the4thfloor.podomatic.com/player/web/2012-08-30T16_02_01-07_00">"The Atheist Dogg"</a>. The show is a discussion of this generation of consoles and why it is awful in many ways. We also talk about Stephen King's <i>The Stand </i>and <i>The Dark Tower, </i>Hideo Kojima's PS1 classic <i>Metal Gear Solid, </i>and George R.R Martin's <i>A Song of Ice And Fire </i>series. </div>
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Enjoy the show. </div>
Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-12217590346207178962012-08-25T09:59:00.001-07:002012-08-25T10:02:15.598-07:00The Armchair Gamer Podcast Season Two Episode Four: There Are No "Right" Choices<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On this installment of The Armchair Gamer Podcast I
memorialize the recently-deceased Paul Steed. I briefly lament the fact that
publishers aren’t marketing hard enough, because I can’t remember when anything
is slated to release. Also, I talk with friend of the show Nick Schneider about
Telltale’s <i>The Walking Dead. </i></div>
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Listen To The Show At: <a href="http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/">http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/</a></div>
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Read The Blog At: <a href="http://thearmchairnerd.blogspot.com/">http://thearmchairnerd.blogspot.com/</a></div>
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(Especially my <i>The
Walking Dead </i>post): <a href="http://thearmchairnerd.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-walking-deads-abysmal-morality.html">http://thearmchairnerd.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-walking-deads-abysmal-morality.html</a></div>
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Follow The Show On Twitter At: <a href="http://twitter.com/AGPShow">http://twitter.com/AGPShow</a></div>
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Follow Nick On Twitter At : <a href="http://twitter.com/TOGNick">http://twitter.com/TOGNick</a></div>
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Also The Episode of “Games Dammit” referenced is here: <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3182486">http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3182486</a></div>
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Listen To Old Episodes: <a href="http://archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast">http://archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast</a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Music <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i>The Walking Dead </i>OST
“Alive Inside”</div>
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-52687655961499283732012-08-18T14:04:00.001-07:002012-09-08T14:23:34.535-07:00The Walking Dead's Abysmal Morality <span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>This post contains spoilers pertaining to Telltale Game's The Walking Dead; I try to withhold any spoilers I find unnecessary to share, but at the same time I have come to the conclusion that proper discussion of this game requires me to reveal some plot points and scenarios. Read at your own discretion. </i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> Morality is an elusive subject. Everyone has
something to say about it: religion points to dogmatic books as an ultimate
moral guide, politicians point to ideals between individualism and societal
cohesion as a way to do what's right. Horrific crimes in </span><st1:country -region="-region"><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">, like killing your wife or slicing off a thief’s
hand, are hardly out of place in many Middle-Eastern countries. Normal social
activity a century or a half-century ago (like lynching people of different
ethnicities or beating a non-submissive spouse) is now widely regarded as
disgusting and immoral. We debate about gay marriage today, and tomorrow
politician's careers might be ruined by merely mentioning a disagreement with
marriage equality. Our culture has sanctioned genocide and condemned it in the same
era. No one can agree on what's moral.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">Yet
so many video games (ex: </span><i style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">Mass Effect</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">
or </span><i style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">inFAMOUS</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">) address issues of
morality in extremely childish ways: a moral decision in a standard
role-playing-game could have been picked out of a "Choose Your Own
Adventure" novel. Somehow, video game designers have managed to take one
of humanities most basic questions-</span><i style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">how
should we treat each other</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">-and bastardized it to the point of silliness and
triviality. This is not to say that said designers are childish, of course,
many of them have the best intentions. The simple fact of the matter is that
the way most games operate isn't conducive to giving players real dilemmas
to chew on and real consequences for their actions. To borrow a rather telling
quote from a 2009 <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/features/black-or-white-making-moral-choices-in-video-games-6240211/">Gamespot article</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial;"> </span><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial;">"Morality is not a black-and-white concept.
Reality is very seldom as simple as a choice between good and evil; the
spectrum of moral behaviours is as complicated and consequential as our
emotions. Instead of mirroring this complexity and including moral choices that
lead to genuine in-game consequences, video games often do the opposite--they
present a watered-down version of moral choice that ultimately results in
players having to choose between good or evil: to harvest or not to harvest
(BioShock), to be “paragon” or “renegade” (Mass Effect), to kill innocents or
to save them (inFamous), to have a halo or devil horns (Fable II)."</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> There are no
"right choices" in <i>The Walking Dead</i>; within half an hour of starting the first episode (of five) your
character (Lee) is forced to choose between saving the life of a young man you
have just met the night before,or the son of a man you hardly know from an onslaught of "walkers". I saved
the son (Ducky) and was forced to leave the farm I had been sheltered in . I
would've left the farm anyway, but having the father of the man I let die kick
me out under such circumstances really socked me in the gut. And it just gets harder
from there.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">There
is something very organic about the way that players can affect the narrative with
their choices. Each choice you make has an impact, whether it be catastrophic or almost minute. One of the gameplay options <i>The Walking Dead</i> has are little text
notifiers that outline how people mentally react to your dialogue options.
Please, turn this off; playing the game solely from Lee's perspective and
seeing how people respond to you through the story itself is much more
satisfying and is a better test of Telltale's narrative chops.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">Another
example from Episode One is a scene where you encounter a survivor of the
zombie outbreak who is holed up in a motel. One of your group members finds
this woman and enlists your help to get her out of her room. When you do
eventually lure the woman out of her sanctuary, it is revealed that the woman
is mentally unstable and believes she is infected with whatever makes the “walkers”
(read: zombies) what they are. Eventually, it comes down to two choices: one:
you voluntarily give her a gun- a means of death on her own terms, or two: you
try to keep the gun out of her hands. Regardless of what you do, the woman does
kill herself; your decisions don't always matter. What does matter is the fact
that how you handle the situation determines what people think of you. I didn't
give her the gun, and was properly scrutinized for withholding a chance to let
her be free, like she wanted.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> Not only that,
the means she used to get the gun put our group in jeopardy- jeopardy that
could have been avoided had I just let her do what she wanted.</span><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"><i> </i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"><i>The Walking Dead</i> lets you own your decisions. A central element of the
source material is the idea that characters being pushed to their
extremes never make the "right" choice. Your actions in the game
aren't rewarded by Karma points or some other arbitrary tallying system instituted to constantly remind you that you are the good guy- the branching paths aren't sectioned into
"good" and "evil"; you play the game the way that best
appeases your conscience.</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background: white;">In the aforementioned
suicidal-woman scenario there was no clearly good or clearly evil choice to be
made. If another human being is in pain and wants an escape- than it is
fundamentally hard for me to deny it to them. Trying to stop a suicide may feel
morally superior in the moment, but at the same time it's a hard pill to
swallow, especially under the specific circumstances in the game. And since the game gives no absolutely positive or absolutely negative
feedback, the jury is still out. <i>The Walking Dead</i> toyed with me enough that I'm
still mulling over whether or not I make the right decision every time I play the game. </span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-89338018726328698022012-08-11T18:49:00.003-07:002012-08-12T05:19:06.171-07:00Another Video Game Luminary Leaves Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="text-align: left;">The video game medium is so young, we are not used to death. Yes, video game creators have died- but it isn't common. That makes every loss even worse. </span>
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According to a report on "The Jace Hall Show" industry figure <a href="http://www.jacehallshow.com/blog/friend-jace-hall-show-paul-steed-passes/">Paul Steed</a> has passed away. His cause of death is, as of now, unreleased. Paul had a hand in such classics as <i>Quake </i>and <i>Wing Commander. </i>Paul's resume includes positions at EA, Atari, id Software, Microsoft, and many more. In his last years, he established a company called Exigent. </div>
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Like many video game developers, he was a sort of polarizing figure-Paul was fired from id Software after some controversial statements over <i>Quake 3. </i>Despite this, everyone who knew him spoke to his genuine intentions- he wasn't an attention seeker. </div>
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The industry has lost a legend. </div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><i>"</i><em style="background-color: white; font-family: myriad-pro-1, myriad-pro-2, Calibiri, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">“The real trick is staying known, staying relevant and staying excited about what you do. Our little ‘game industry that could’ has become the juggernaut that won’t be stopped. Ambition, hard work, perseverance, luck and shameless self-promotion – it’s all part of the deal.”</em></span></blockquote>
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-28038139198947194822012-08-07T17:07:00.003-07:002012-10-27T05:28:14.589-07:00"The Articles That Matter" ArchiveWhen I picked up this blog again, and vowed to get semi-weekly posting done, I realized that I needed to do more than just write my own feelings on games and articles I read. So, I started an <i>"Articles That Matter" </i>sidebar featuring thought-provoking, interesting articles. However, to keep the blog clean and orderly, I only archive the important articles up to seven. So, here's all the <i>"Articles That Matter" </i><br />
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<a href="http://www.polygon.com/2012/9/28/3425300/the-mirror-men-of-arkane">The mirror men of Arkane</a> by Russ Pitts<br />
<i><a href="http://kotaku.com/5948470/alone-with-the-crunch-how-a-video-game-pushed-one-man-to-the-brink?tag=indie">Alone With The Crunch: How A Video Game Pushed One Man To The Brink</a> by Patrick Stafford</i><br />
<i><a href="http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/178658/persuasive_games_words_with_.php">Persuasive Games: Words With Friends Forever</a> by Ian Bogost</i><br />
<i><a href="http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/173819/on_player_characters_and_self_.php">On Player Characters and Self-Expression</a> by Tadhg Kelly </i><br />
<i><a href="http://gamasutra.com/view/news/174145/Opinion_In_the_sexism_discussion_lets_look_at_game_culture.php">In The Sexism Discussion, Let's Look At Game Culture</a> by Leigh Alexander </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2012/06/high-noon-for-shooters.html">High Noon For Shooters </a>by Michael Abott </i><br />
<i><a href="http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/174227/creating_audio_that_matters.php">Creating Audio That Matters</a> by Caleb Bridge </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/8078/article/how-an-hour-with-modern-warfare-2-made-me-hate-video-games/">How An Hour With Modern Warfare 2 Made Me Hate Video Games</a> Rowan Kaiser </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.1up.com/features/cover-essential-100-part-one">1UP's Essential 100 (P1)</a> by 1UP.Com </i><br />
<i><a href="http://gamasutra.com/view/news/175018/Making_violent_games_in_a_violent_country.php">Making Violent Games in A Violent Country </a>Eric Caoili </i><br />
<i><a href="http://gamasutra.com/blogs/BrentGulanowski/20120809/175697/Systemic_Consistency_and_the_Law_of_Conservation.php">Systemic Consistency and The Law of Conservation</a> by Brent Gulanowski </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.1up.com/features/creative-compelling-canceled-lost-games">Creative, Compelling, And Cancelled: Lost Games That Could've Changed The System</a> by 1UP.Com </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.1up.com/features/cover-essential-100-part-two">Cover Story: 1UP's Essential 100, Part Two by 1UP.Com</a> </i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/10111/article/it-s-die-hard-in-a-videogame/">It's Die Hard, In A Video Game</a> by Michael Clarkson </i>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-71082496751941937542012-08-03T14:13:00.000-07:002012-08-03T14:13:00.418-07:001UP.Com's "Essential 100": An Important Canonical Guide of Important Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> I would like to be one of the hipsters that takes the non-conformist (and purely vocal) stance that I abhor lists of any kind. Indeed, I would like to proudly trumpet my inspired intellectualism and tell the whole world how absolutely careful I am in media analysis. Taking the stance of "I hate lists" would give me an out, a way to avoid conversations and debates that almost never lead anywhere. Saying that lists are pointless is an ultimate act of pacifism in the nerdy community; you can be a conscientious objector when the debate between <i>Star Trek</i> and <i>Star Wars</i> begins. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> If I said that lists were always silly, I would be lying. When done right, lists are an interesting manner of chronicling important facts or opinions in a way that makes sense. While I hate "Best Video Games Of All-Time" lists (they are useless and seem to exist solely to start flame wars online) there is a definite place for lists and canons in the video game discussion. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">When I saw that 1UP.Com (an awesome video game website that has spawned some of the great video game writers) was compiling a list entitled <a href="http://www.1up.com/features/cover-essential-100-part-one">"The Essential 100"</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I was understandably concerned. However, my concerns were quickly put to rest when I read the Number 100 Pick: <a href="http://www.1up.com/features/essential-100-mule">M.U.L.E.</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The Essential 100 isn't 1UP compiling "the best games of all time"; the list is all about highlighting games that changed the video game-scape. Each entry reads like a love letter to a game of the past: </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: blue;">"There's nothing quite like a non-violent economic simulation to angry up the blood of an '80s gamer kid. That may sound like smartassery, but in at least one case it held to be completely, unironically true. M.U.L.E. is an odd duck: A game of planetary conquest, full of aliens, robots, and even space pirates, where nary a shot is fired. Nevertheless, it's one of the most ruthless, cutthroat, controller-throwing games ever made. Yes, you will be furious at a friend for manipulating the price of food through artificial scarcity. Also, you will completely ace your economics courses because an old video game taught you what artificial scarcity is without you even realizing it." </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> I always commend 1UP's writing quality, but the skill present in this feature is consistently incredible. Every single article beautifully explains why these video games matter- not only as standalone products, but the shoulder's that other games sit on. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">This list is shaping up to be the most carefully thought-out, lovingly composed canon of unique gaming experiences around. I am eagerly anticipating what will be up next. </span>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-91563768936390419322012-07-19T09:15:00.001-07:002012-07-19T09:18:14.439-07:00Beyond Good And Evil: A Game For The Post 9/11 World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">It is no surprise that a game named after a Friedrich Nietzsche book has
layers of philosophical and political depth. <i>Beyond Good And Evil</i> is a game for
the War In The Middle East, post-9/11 world; a game that applies even better to
a WikiLeaks world of </span><st1:metricconverter productid="2012. in"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">2012. in</span></st1:metricconverter><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> my opinion, than the
world of 2003.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhagBQ-wLRAeuIl-OGq_L3izMBqJlqPyNqjBJ5u2JM5Athwo7h8saTY0UGQdm5nvYtErZzqGER-kRYwXCUI_pgAhTwuw8QAO6NfbeJFYm_Ct3Ad-6XbtgCQhyphenhyphengsNVeIB-ck01VoW6SxxO0/s1600/alphasections.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhagBQ-wLRAeuIl-OGq_L3izMBqJlqPyNqjBJ5u2JM5Athwo7h8saTY0UGQdm5nvYtErZzqGER-kRYwXCUI_pgAhTwuw8QAO6NfbeJFYm_Ct3Ad-6XbtgCQhyphenhyphengsNVeIB-ck01VoW6SxxO0/s1600/alphasections.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The Alpha
Sections are the primary antagonists in this game. They are can be thought of
in various different ways, depending on how you interpret the game. Hillys, the
planet the game takes place on, is under an apparent threat of the DomZ, a
species of hostile extraterrestrials who appear to be attacking the planet
parallel to the activities of the Alpha Sections. The Alpha Sections
essentially hijack the planet's political system, taking credit for
"holding back" the DomZ. They achieve this through propaganda that is
viewable on every street corner in the City that constantly parrots the
"success" of the Alpha Sections, and how the opponents (a rebelling
network named IRIS) need to be stopped at all costs. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">There are two
ways I've thought about this game (which doesn’t mean there aren’t many other
possible interpretations). The first is from the view of the Middle Easterners
in our world (the Hillyans in their universe.) <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> The Alpha Sections may be an
analogue for the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">United States</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">. In the view of some
people, </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> used 9/11 as an
opportunity to invade </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">Afghanistan</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> (some people even say
</span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> caused it, though
those two viewpoints don't necessarily intersect.) The Alpha Sections
established power on Hillys because the attacks by the DomZ frightened people
to submission, and made people more lenient about the actions of those who
defended them. As a result, some people think </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545;"> only promoted</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #454545;"> </span>war in </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="yshortcuts"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">Afghanistan</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">because the populace was scared. The Taliban
and al-Qaeida might even be represented by the DomZ, a catalyst towards
invasion, a scapegoat for people that were lying.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">However, the
game might also be interpreted from the side of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white;">America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white;">. We might see the
Taliban working with al-Qaeida, and want to be the whistle blowers that stop
it. Perhaps the IRIS Rebel Network is an analogue to the people who worked with
the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white;">US</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white;"> and their allies in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="background-color: white;">Afghanistan</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="background-color: white;"> to overthrow the
Taliban. They exist to promote the truth to Hillys, to bring about freedom.
Their only way to break through propaganda was the truth, and the truth was
communicated with photographic evidence.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #454545;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Another
interesting idea, however you choose to interpret the game, is the optimistic
idea that informed citizens will do the right thing. In some ways, the IRIS
Network reminds me of organizations like WikiLeaks; they exist only to tell
citizens the truth. What Hillyans actually do with the photographic evidence
isn't sure until the end of the game where the whole populace is in open
defiance of the lying Alpha Sections. Certainly, this view is optimistic; we
have people in our world that can easily see the evidence of the truth, but
choose not to listen. However, something about it is comforting and romantic;
the idea that people will listen to the truth and change their world because of
it is a powerful one. </span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-25820303600135102582012-07-19T05:13:00.000-07:002012-07-19T05:14:42.667-07:00A Broken System<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fqDlMYOUH2sSHfJZqNxbxqRjFU73HhMGCwvQFgtQaAwRHRxpkp_tUUkWXRVneinzrWtHdMjNT3r2cwojgE68f_QQPVvV7KEAuTHXsSAghIa9UvINuZlq28pzQnDrAnKjsE6gaXHr-pI/s1600/fez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fqDlMYOUH2sSHfJZqNxbxqRjFU73HhMGCwvQFgtQaAwRHRxpkp_tUUkWXRVneinzrWtHdMjNT3r2cwojgE68f_QQPVvV7KEAuTHXsSAghIa9UvINuZlq28pzQnDrAnKjsE6gaXHr-pI/s1600/fez.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I, along with the gaming community at large, was shocked by a recent <a href="http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/7/18/3168486/fez-developer-reposts-kinda-broken-patch-with-no-plans-to-fix">post</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I saw on The Verge</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> titled "'Fez' developer reposts 'kinda broken' patch with no plans to fix." In this post, it was detailed how the developer of <i>Fez</i>, a highly popular indie game on Xbox Live Arcade, had no plans to fix a bug in the patch of his game. According to the article: </span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: blue;">""We're not going to patch the patch," the developer writes on its official site. "Why not? Because Microsoft would charge us tens of thousands of dollars to re-certify the game."</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> I am not usually as interested about writing about the business side of games. In fact, I'd rather write more about them as an art form. However, when a game is potentially broken and will stay that way because of silly Microsoft business practices, it seems to be a problem. This is simply a sad state of affairs.</span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> In an era where developers working on Steam can patch their software with no fuss, having to pay Microsoft hand over fist to make a game work is ridiculous. It's the sort of silly business problem that would only exist in the video game realm. That's too bad, because at the end of the day the people who get hurt are the creators and the consumers. </span>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-78145743951923968192012-07-17T14:25:00.002-07:002012-07-17T14:31:08.240-07:00The Video Game Brain Space Needs YOU!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-bhss0H2ftylJfAjdspYypZOqJSN2EI_rWBtu-eZihSO4ogmnSADnNSXvsTFxj0b5hX0blN_PIn0sQWv5yxH1YHwb-FRBeG_obIEmv0I5oIZ1V_ELno3kN-C1uQPt_riQO6C0s3_87AA/s1600/brain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-bhss0H2ftylJfAjdspYypZOqJSN2EI_rWBtu-eZihSO4ogmnSADnNSXvsTFxj0b5hX0blN_PIn0sQWv5yxH1YHwb-FRBeG_obIEmv0I5oIZ1V_ELno3kN-C1uQPt_riQO6C0s3_87AA/s1600/brain.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">Today,
Leigh Alexander over at Gamasutra made a characteristically excellent post called "In The Sexism Discussion, Let's Look At Game Culture" a <a href="http://gamasutra.com/view/news/174145/Opinion_In_the_sexism_discussion_lets_look_at_game_culture.php">post</a><span style="font-size: small;"> about handling the issue of sexism in the games industry. In it, she challenged
people to work harder on taking down the social constructs and operations that
make it so hard for women to be heard in the games industry.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> My favorite few paragraphs read: </span></span><br />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">Despite all the snarking and outrage about booth babes at E3 this year, when I walked the show floor it wasn't the costumed women that let me know I didn't really belong here anymore. It was the </span><i style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">content</i><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">, and the attitude to content. </span><br style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">Men reciting marketing lines about weapons and explosions. The question every trailer and presentation aimed to answer was </span><i style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">who do you kill</i><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"> and </span><i style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">how do you kill them</i><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">. I thought of all the good, smart guys I know on dev teams and struggled to reconcile it with this numb, mean litany, devoid of much aside from the quest for dollars. Shoulder to shoulder, men marched proudly in their studio tees. The more money they have made off of shooters, the higher they held their heads.</span><br style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;">We have a mainstream culture that doesn't represent what a mature, progressive audience wants to buy. It's not always a problem when this happens -- interesting, independent creation will always thrive on the fringe of any medium. But here we have a mainstream culture many healthy adults cringe at being associated with. It's not just good dumb fun: There's something sick about it.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span>I'd just like to say that we need more women's voices
in games. We need women everywhere; we need them at conventions, on podcasts,
on Twitter- we need women who have a voice and something important to say. Not
only that, we need homosexuals, we need bisexuals, we need African-Americans,
Hispanics, Europeans, etc. We need to highlight the people who have something
important to say. Don't share articles and content written by bigots because it
is inflammatory, share articles that further our discussion and make us think. Stop letting people with important points be marginalized, and let the bigots get off easy. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #454545; font-size: small;">We have some of the most understanding, hip people of any industry in ours; there is no reason why we should be known for </span><span style="color: #454545;">marginalization</span><span style="color: #454545; font-size: small;"> and hatred. </span></span></span></div>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-20699527657609096742012-07-17T10:30:00.001-07:002012-07-17T10:30:14.017-07:00Jade: An Enlightened Character.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-jvteeo1gp9iXLGD-svznuhTEvMDX_GM4lgGGprzhGx3wCmhBPJmIVgzwFYaW4RHFAC3Nbp7b3PlMkDjxFekhGh0l77vnDlkVUqTUBdP4DzlQC4Ajt9wN8PT2Z1o5z5B8hweGy9MKgM/s1600/jade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-jvteeo1gp9iXLGD-svznuhTEvMDX_GM4lgGGprzhGx3wCmhBPJmIVgzwFYaW4RHFAC3Nbp7b3PlMkDjxFekhGh0l77vnDlkVUqTUBdP4DzlQC4Ajt9wN8PT2Z1o5z5B8hweGy9MKgM/s1600/jade.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">Throughout much of their history, Vi</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545;">deo games have been
marketed to boys and young men. A majority of the most popular game franchises
in the world (<i>Super Mario Bros., Call Of Duty, The Legend Of Zelda,</i> etc.)
revolve around boys and men living out fantasies that appeal to them. Even the
most popular female characters (Samus Aran or Laura Croft) are just avatars
made to be projected on. There are almost no interesting, strong female
characters that are the stars of a game.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Jade,
from UbiSoft's <i>Beyond Good And Evil</i>, is one of those rare characters that makes one think.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">One of
the ways that game developers slip in female characters is by making them
"one of the guys". <i>Gears Of War</i>, for example, does feature female
characters; the only problem with these women is they are essentially treated
as faceless men with breasts. Jade is not, at all, like "one of the
guys". She is an excellent martial artist who can do some real damage with
a jō, but at the same time she isn't unrealistically strong or powerful. Her
strength comes from her agility and speed. In that way, Jade feels not only
like a woman you could relate with- but an actual person; there is something refreshing about
controlling a character that doesn't crush spinal columns with a single strike.
Instead of relying on brute force, Jade uses stealth and intelligence to stay
alive and get ahead. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The first
time you see Jade, she is meditating with one of her charges (an orphan). In
just a few moments of cutscenes one of Jade's defining features is inferred:
she has a passion for truth. She seems to be enlightened in a Buddhist sense;
Jade is a master of self-control and meditation. Unlike many cartoonish video
game women (think JRPG characters) she never flies off the handle, or loses
control- even when everything is falling apart around her. Her clear interest
in truth and understanding of the world informs her profession; she is a
government reporter armed with a camera. The whole drive of the game comes not
only from external sources (the advances of the propagandizing Alpha Sections
against the planet of Hillys) but from Jade's quest to obtain real evidence of
the truth.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Finally,
the third interesting part of Jade's personality is intertwined with her own
inner enlightenment and understanding of the world. She loves her family. Every
time she talks to her "Uncle" Pey'j, you can tell their bond is
something unique in games. Their rapport is, on the surface, witty and fun;
below the surface one can tell that Jade loves her pig uncle. When they hug or
touch the game goes a long way to make players see how much deeper their relationship
is than any other I can think of in video games.<span class="apple-converted-space"> Jade also treats the orphans she takes in
like her family, as they are the only family (besides Pey’j) she has. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Her entire life is devoted to helping the
children of her lighthouse orphanage and discovering truth. She is an
intellectual character, an emotional character- an important character.</span></span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-25119486324071547422012-07-15T09:21:00.001-07:002012-07-15T09:23:30.965-07:00The Unsurprising Truth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKH0ldNmBq07FHRrruGzIrDw1fmj9v0zEdQ-OhBjk9dFlAJM6uvA-ezgFPIPif2d8eU4psU2Xlc62XupnrmMHbRSAuuhbZzd07kretInIx_aq4WghJnbiSebEs1IaTrzpwyicE2XSZGg/s1600/ac3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeKH0ldNmBq07FHRrruGzIrDw1fmj9v0zEdQ-OhBjk9dFlAJM6uvA-ezgFPIPif2d8eU4psU2Xlc62XupnrmMHbRSAuuhbZzd07kretInIx_aq4WghJnbiSebEs1IaTrzpwyicE2XSZGg/s1600/ac3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The Unsurprising Truth </span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">We are nearing the end of a console cycle. The bigwigs of the industry are wrapping up their work on the PS3, 360, and Wii- and are getting ready to enter a new generation. This generation has seen multiple new franchises sprout up, or become popular. Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Little Big Planet, Uncharted, and so many more have just become expected, and routine.</span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Recently, Gamasutra posted an article titled: "What do console players want most? Essentially, more of the same." (</span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/7ob9geg" style="color: #234786; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1342369038_0">http://tinyurl.com/7ob9geg</span></a><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">) </span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">"Nielsen surveyed more than 4,800 players between the ages of 7 and 54 years old using a number of different metrics, and found that the most anticipated titles across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii were Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Just Dance 4, respectively.</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Other games that made the lists included Madden NFL 13, Assassin's Creed III, Borderlands 2, and numerous other major follow-ups.</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" /></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">In fact, the only new IP titles in Nielsen's data were two </span></span><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1342369038_1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Wii games</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">: The Last Story, and Everyone Sing -- every other title in the survey data was either a sequel or a licensed property." </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> While the end-of-cycle-game-drought is nothing new, seeing the yawning last cycles of this generation is no less stifling to the people who are bright-eyed and enthusiastic about games and their future. Quite simply, there is no new IP left. No one sees the need to do anything else with these consoles, so perhaps the nails are already being slammed into the coffin.</span>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-10163545184490428452012-06-22T07:47:00.002-07:002012-06-22T07:47:55.841-07:00Armchair Gamer Podcast Season Two Ep. 3: Saving Lara Croft<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ladies and gentlemen, the Armchair Gamer Podcast is back after a three-month long hiatus! On this episode, I talk about E3's disappointments, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1340376160_0" style="color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">SNES games</span> and the intellectual language of games, I Am Alive and Tomb Raider! I hope you enjoy the show!<br />Listen Here: <a href="http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1340376160_1" style="color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/</span></a><br /><br />Music:<br />The Advantage: "Moon" from Duck Tales<br />"Tomb Raider Theme" By Martin Iveson<br />"I Am Alive Theme" by Jeff Broadbent<br /><br />Follow me on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/gamebeast23456" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1340376160_2" style="color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">http://twitter.com/gamebeast23456</span></a><br />Listen to old episodes at: <a href="http://archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1340376160_3" style="color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">http://archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast</span></a><br /></div>
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<br />Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-22934176941673155612012-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:002012-05-02T18:24:28.680-07:00Lazarus Mane (A Short Story by Braden Fox)<br />
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<i><span style="background: white; color: #454545;">Five minutes to go</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #454545;">, Mr. Ramone thought to himself as he
consulted his phone. He sat at the back of a crowded theater located in </span><st1:place><span style="background: white; color: #454545;">Southern California</span></st1:place><span style="background: white; color: #454545;">, watching hundreds of tech journalists
file into the theater for the new LionMane Inc., phone announcement. The place
was packed with bespectacled writers typing away on tablets, cameramen wielding
handheld cameras or even phones (no doubt live streaming illegitimately) and
other press members attending to social media feeds. There was an air of
excitement in the theater, a palpable sense of interest in the announcement
tonight. The buzz clearly had nothing to do with the unveiling of the phone;
the phone would simply be a new update of an old smartphone model, most likely
featuring a faster processor, better camera, better build, simpler OS, all
commonplace in the era of incremental increase. Or so the speculators said on
their blogs; some of the bloggers probably had "unnamed sources"
a.k.a their own imagination.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">The
excitement in the air was like one at a magic show, as LionMane had a
reputation of flashy press releases. One year, they showed off a smartphone’s
resilience to breaking by strapping a small amount of plastic explosives to a
phone and setting the bomb off. After the explosion, the CEO, Clancy Wilde,
picked up the phone, turned it on, and called a random tech journalist in
audience. One writer called them, "The pop stars of tech companies."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">He
looked at his phone again, three minutes to go. It was a large theater, and
though he couldn't make out any distinct conversations he could feel the
excitement in the air. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #454545;">The lights on
the right and left sides of the theater hall dimmed, and music began playing
from the loudspeakers above them. It was LionMane Inc.’s current theme song, a
poppy track that took a team of twenty people a collected year to compose. It
was made specifically to effect the listeners mental outlook, it was one of
advertisers dirtiest forms of mind control around. The few people chatting
earlier went instantly silent, an attempt to catch every detail they could. It
was a competitive business where an extra word no one else heard could equal
millions of views.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Besides the loud music thumping through the
expensive bass heavy speakers, the hall was silent. The stage at the front of
the theater was thirty feet long, enshrouded by dark red curtains. Above the
stage were three huge spotlights that were turned on exactly on cue.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> As
the stage lights came on, the song ended its twenty-five second loop, and the
stage curtains were completely open- perfectly timed. A phone in a bright
green protective case sat on a simple fold-out card table in the center of the
stage. To it’s right was another table with a laptop on it attached to the
projector that was hooked to a wide screen. The phone lit up to a home screen
that showed the time and the LionMane logo, and a ringtone began to play. It
looped three times, building up the suspense- and then it stopped.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">The hall was dead silent.<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #454545;">Slowly, the
phone’s screen lit up so brightly people almost couldn’t look at it. At first a
cloud of multicolored light was projected from the screen, but after a short
amount of time an image began to form from the light. A face assembled first,
then a neck, a torso, arms, legs- slowly it all came into focus.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">The entire crowd gasped in unison as a man stood
above the phone, a perfectly rendered man with reddish-brown hair, a thick red
beard, and an expensive-looking suit with the LionMane logo- a golden lion-
pinned to his breast pocket. He turned, surveying the crowd, and smiled a
broad, toothy grin. His eyes brightened. The eyes flickering was not a
technical glitch.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,”
the man said clearly, in a quality that no phone speaker had ever matched. “or
good evening, I’m not sure when my people decided to do this display. Hopefully
my company isn’t failing, so tonight’s demonstration doesn’t seem a last
resort. I would hate to be clichéd, and appear in front of you saying anything
about me being related to our only hope.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">The Star Wars fans in the audience, all of the
tech bloggers, laughed at the jest, though they were clearly skeptical of this
hologram, and what it actually MEANT. Most of them were probably already
Tweeting to magicians, asking about holograms, which is what Ramone wanted.
Because this was no optical illusion, this was perfection.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> “My name, for those who don’t know, is
Clancy Wilde,” he looked around, still smiling, “I was the CEO of LionMane
Incorporated, until I tragically died- it was a tragedy, right?" The crowd
was stunned for a moment, and then someone began laughing nervously. The
laughter was joined in by a few others; Clancy gave a look that someone who
said something offensive would give when he recognizes his own faux pas.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #454545;">"Anyway, I recently passed on this
great organization to John McClane-"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">On cue, Mr. McClane stood and waved to the
crowd, and then sat back down. </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“As most of you know, in my 20's I served in the
armed forces. The result was less than great health (because of various
complications) that eventually led to my demise."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">He paused, and his smile melted away.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Or... I <i>did</i> die, physically," he corrected himself.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“Today, I am here to show the secret to
immortality to the public,” he said carefully, allowing the journalists to
write each word. “We have entered an era, ladies and gentlemen, where large
amounts of our lives- of our minds- are stored online for the world to see.
Personally, I have built up twenty five thousand tweets, one hundred seventeen
blog posts, and over a thousand Facebook posts- along with speeches, ebooks, so
on and so forth. In my later years of life, I have poured my heart and soul
into the internet, and allowed it to be carefully collected, catalogued, and
ran through multiple programs.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“I am, practically, a computer now… but I am
also myself,” he spoke like he did in life, confidently. “I designed the phone
that is generating my image, posthumously. Based only on blog posts I’ve made
about how phones should be designed, and my ideas for the future, this phone
exists. Some, in the analysis of this demonstration, may call me nothing more
than a machine. Fair enough.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“Personally, however, I have never felt so
alive. All I was in my highest point in my life has been combined and run
through complex algorithms, and the result of this is tangible in my new phone,
the Wilde Phone, named after myself.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #454545;"> “Today, I am here to show the secret to
immortality to the public,” he said carefully, allowing the journalists to
write each word. “We have entered an era, ladies and gentlemen, where large
amounts of our lives- of our minds- are stored online for the world to see.
Personally, I have built up twenty five thousand tweets, one hundred seventeen
blog posts, and over a thousand Facebook posts- along with speeches, ebooks, so
on and so forth. In my later years of life, I have poured my heart and soul
into the internet, and allowed it to be carefully collected, catalogued, and
ran through multiple programs.”</span><span style="color: #454545;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">“I am, practically, a computer now… but I am
also myself,” he spoke like he did in life, confidently. “I designed the phone
that is generating my image, posthumously. Based only on blog posts I’ve made
about how phones should be designed, and my ideas for the future, this phone
exists. Some, in the analysis of this demonstration, may call me nothing more
than a machine. Fair enough.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“Personally, however, I have never felt so
alive. All I was in my highest point in my life has been combined and run
through complex algorithms, and the result of this is tangible in my new phone,
the Wilde Phone, named after myself.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> “Even my voice is a conglomeration of
thousands of recordings, automatically processed using software I had devised.
I did not record this before I died, as I would’ve been unable to speak like I
am now. This whole reveal was based upon our Lazarus Software and associated
algorithms'."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“Of course, this is all very, very basic… and it
proves little. You may be thinking, ‘So what, this project would take large
amounts of resources and time to duplicate.’ I like skepticism, and I would
like to give evidence to the contrary. The program to create you already
exists, and I would like a volunteer to prove this.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Wilde pointed to a man in the crowd, a random
author who worked for a random blog. “If you don't mind, I would very much like
it if you gave some information on yourself. A Twitter feed, a blog,
perhaps?"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> McClane walked up onto the stage, holding
a WildePhone.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> The tech journalist said, “My Twitter
feed is, uh, at Pherson6653.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> McClane opened up a program, typed
something in, and nodded.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">“My blog, my personal one, has most of my stuff
on it- it’s the PhersonPress.blogspot.com,” he said nervously.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> McClane nodded, and walked across the
stage. He hooked a computer up to a screen, and used a USB to connect the phone
to the computer.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Wilde smiled and asked a question, "Mr.
Pherson, earlier today we announced a new OS. I presume you were there,
correct?"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Pherson nodded.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"And have you talked about it on Twitter,
or your blog?"<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">He shook his head.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"How did you feel about the LionMane OS
10.1.3?" he held a hand up as he was about to answer. "Let the
program answer first."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">There was a word processor open on the screen.
There was a pause, and then text appeared.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">It read: The new OS was, as we thought, built
specifically to benefit the people interested in programming. As always,
LionMane delivered something tight enough to use in an office, but diverse
enough to be modified to suit your needs. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">The random writer’s face looked carefully at the
screen, then nodded, “Yeah… that’s, that’s more or less how I feel.”</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">The writer sat down.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"The Lazarus Software carefully looks for
keywords selected by the user in various data sets. Not only does it find these
terms, it analyzes the data around the words and looks for information having
to do with context."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Simply put, this software brings minds
back to life."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">The entire audience was now interested. They
were still skeptical, but Ramone knew that this display had them. It wasn't a
magic trick. This program was real.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Several different journalists stood up after the
presentation to ask questions. Though Wilde had announced the entire phone and
new operating system, all questions understandably revolved around Lazarus
Software.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Several other media members were able to test
the software. Each time a question was asked the response was almost perfectly
in tune with what they would actually soon. It didn't fail once.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Overall, the presentation was twenty minutes.
Ramone had thought that the program would go haywire, or some new system of
behavior would spontaneously emerge. Such a cataclysm didn't occur, and Ramone
thought that maybe, for once, a job wouldn't get complicated.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">At the end of the night, it did.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"The final announcement of tonight,"
Wilde said slowly, "is a little- unscripted. Today, I have the absolute
pleasure of announcing that Mr. McClane is being removed from the position of
CEO."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;"> <i>What
is he doing</i>, he asked himself. <i>What
is he doing</i>?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce
that my 58 percent control of LionMane has not left my estate, and I'm
reclaiming it. I believe that in under one week, I will resume my position of
CEO of LionMane Incorporated."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="background: white;"><i>I wrote this story based on a few ideas rattling around my brain. The first is based upon the recent Tupac Shakur 'holographic' performance a little while ago. The second is the rise of artificial intelligence, and the documentation of our very minds. In the future, I imagine we will get to the point where we will be able to literally run </i></span></span><span style="color: #454545;"><i>businesses based upon artificial intelligence made to resemble the thought processes of great minds.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #454545;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-53364402679653991032012-04-25T14:05:00.001-07:002012-04-25T14:06:11.550-07:00The Video Game Music Hour: Episode One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCCS6C0dJu_YjSShyphenhyphen5ekIE7ahkeaPLj2r4jhAkTA85S22nT_cEZlXu0mLFltfdlykCGiLyA0Bv-8hskXLkbAo65OLMgK-X0D_gpPZH17kDKy41BKcpxkOM0GkU3qFAmvZ8iQHR8iVXfg/s1600/NES.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvCCS6C0dJu_YjSShyphenhyphen5ekIE7ahkeaPLj2r4jhAkTA85S22nT_cEZlXu0mLFltfdlykCGiLyA0Bv-8hskXLkbAo65OLMgK-X0D_gpPZH17kDKy41BKcpxkOM0GkU3qFAmvZ8iQHR8iVXfg/s1600/NES.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>Hello, dear readers and listeners. I apologize for my absence from the blog and the podcast. Suffice to say, I've had quite a bit on my plate recently. I'm not going to bore you with details, but I'm getting ready to reboot this whole deal. First of all, the Armchair Gamer Podcast is going to be less frequent in its' release schedule, hopefully I'll do an episode a month. </b><br />
<b>Instead of focusing so much of my time on AGP, I've decided to follow another of my ambitions, and start a weekly online radio show. Since I'm a very nerdy fellow, rather than playing the newest pop song- I'm going to play retro video game tunes that came out in the 1980's and 1990's, mainly 8 bit and 16 bit music. Since it's a radio show, I'm going to be taking Skype callers with requests for music . The show will hopefully be live at 7 Central Time at </b><a href="http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-video-game-music-hour">http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-video-game-music-hour</a><br />
<br />
I'll also be making videos after the show where you can listen to the week's music at the Youtube Channel: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheArmchairNerd?ob=0&feature=results_main">http://www.youtube.com/user/TheArmchairNerd?ob=0&feature=results_main</a> (Please Subscribe)<br />
<br />
Also, here's the video<br />
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Video Game Music Hour Notes</div>
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Track One: “Moon” from <i>Duck
Tales<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Track from <i>Duck Tales,
</i>a NES platformer developed by Capcom and released in 1990. The composer on
this game was Hiroshige Tonomura, who was involved with a few other titles in
this era. </div>
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Track Two: “Vegetable Valley <st1:metricconverter productid="2”">2”</st1:metricconverter> from <i>Kirby’s Adventure.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This is a track from HAL Laboratories 1993 platformer on the
NES, <i>Kirby’s Adventure. </i>Two composers
on this game were Hirokazu Andu and Jun Ishikawa. </div>
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Track Three: “Stage One” from <i>Blaster Master<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This next track is from the 1988 Sunsoft title <i>Blaster Master, </i>a run-and-gun game
composed by Naoki Kodaka. </div>
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Track Four: “Bloody Tears” from <i>Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This is a track from the 1987-1988 side-scrolling,
role-playing game <i>Castlevania 2 </i>from
Konami. It was composed by Kenichi Matsubara </div>
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Track Five: A Track I Couldn’t Find a Name For from <i>Rygar. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This next track is from <i>Rygar,
</i>which was an arcade cabinet that got ported to the NES in 1987. I don’t
have a composer right here, though I imagine it would be pretty easy to find. </div>
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Track Six: “Escape from Tourian” from <i>Metroid <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This track is from the 1986 title <i>Metroid, </i>published by Nintendo on the NES. It was composed by
Hirokazu Tanaka. It was one of the earliest games to really embrace music as a way
to give character to a game. </div>
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Track Seven: “Fever Theme” from <i>Doctor Mario <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This is from the classic puzzle game <i>Doctor Mario, </i>released on the NES in 1990 by Nintendo. It’s a very
catchy song on a game full of catchy music composed by Hirokazu Tanaka, who
will be in a lot of episodes in the future. </div>
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Track Eight: “Sacrifices” from <i>Actraiser <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This is from a 1990 Enix-published game, which is absolutely
fascinating from a gameplay and musical perspective. It was composed by Yuzo
Koshiro. </div>
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Track Nine: “The Best Appears” from <i>Actraiser <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Track Ten: “Who Turned Out The Lights” from <i>Earthworm Jim <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This next track is from <i>Earthworm
Jim, </i>a platformer released on all kinds of different consoles by SEGA. This
was composed by Mark Miller. </div>
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Track Eleven: “Intro Stage” from <i>Mega Man 7 <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This track is from Capcom’s title <i>Mega Man 7 </i>released in 1995. This game had three different
composers, and I don’t know which one did this song. Anyway, this series has
tons of great music that I will further explore in this show. </div>
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Track Twelve: “Memory of The Wind” from <i>Final Fantasy III <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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This track is from FF3 released by Square on the Famicom,
and that’s why my inclusion of this track is problematic. The version I played
probably came from the re-release a couple of years ago on the DS, the first
time Americans legitimately got to play this game. Regardless, the series has
great music, and this song was composed by Nobuo Uematsu. </div>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-29684552750522968962012-03-14T15:31:00.000-07:002012-03-14T15:31:49.099-07:00Armchair Gamer Podcast Season Two Episode Two: Taking A Journey!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0f-dvMg95yjsWIPaXY6hqPhAd_6ZAcgSlj9VRg-5tdOSBkp2uSCSscRwbNyVrDoTliB-ektG6_FHebCc8zz5QNXDZyrmx3oApt4uF2fzcfbY_fD3tfFk5H9vHEurieCGDILGx3s9tWMU/s1600/journey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0f-dvMg95yjsWIPaXY6hqPhAd_6ZAcgSlj9VRg-5tdOSBkp2uSCSscRwbNyVrDoTliB-ektG6_FHebCc8zz5QNXDZyrmx3oApt4uF2fzcfbY_fD3tfFk5H9vHEurieCGDILGx3s9tWMU/s320/journey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">AGP this week is about two things. One, Thatgamecompany released a new PSN title called Journey. As an indie art game aficionado, I explain in great detail why you should buy it. Two, I talk to a friend of the show, Nick Schneider, about emotional impact of games. (The quality is a little poor, recorded it off an iPod) </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Hit those share buttons and review on iTunes if you like the show.<br />
<br />
Show Notes:<br />
Intro Music: Advantage "Moon"<br />
Ex. Music 1: Journey Trailer Music: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mF8KkDiIdk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mF8KkDiIdk</a><br />
Outro: Advantage "Moon"<br />
<br />
Plugs: Follow Nick on Twitter @Tognick<br />
Also, check out his affiliated site: <a href="http://www.thegameeffect.com/" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1331762926_1">http://www.thegameeffect.com/</span></a><br />
Also, the official blog of this show is:<br />
<a href="http://thearmchairnerd.blogspot.com/" style="color: #234786; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1331762926_2">Thearmchairnerd.blogspot.com</span></a><br />
Check it out for stuff by me and Thejourneyman and the show updates </span></div>Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7773098171629687025.post-30976575717252569152012-02-18T17:23:00.002-08:002012-11-01T16:04:20.071-07:00The Armchair Gamer Podcast Season Two Episode 1: That Chris Figueroa Episode<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrK4etNgTH88At8PKgvl8u4WNsEVhsM1xR66TIpZKe10ZhBbABMEoU4jM-nKmpBqwM6ZhHXCasmW_HWauXHrf8R0WHnPIZ-XFlsvpzNb_nPt2c1jlDESO6w3pjy38_w5ghu7asvf9InY/s1600/imagineme-300x216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrK4etNgTH88At8PKgvl8u4WNsEVhsM1xR66TIpZKe10ZhBbABMEoU4jM-nKmpBqwM6ZhHXCasmW_HWauXHrf8R0WHnPIZ-XFlsvpzNb_nPt2c1jlDESO6w3pjy38_w5ghu7asvf9InY/s1600/imagineme-300x216.jpg" /></a></div>
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This week on the Armchair Gamer Podcast, I have crafted a one-man, one-mic episode. I talk about how great OUTLAND is, Zynga’s growing legal troubles, the passing of a great video game artist, and interview Chris Figueroa, developer of the upcoming platformer IMAGINE ME. </div>
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(Music: Intro/Outro “Moon” by The Advantage</div>
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Background Music 1: “Maybe” from Fallout 3’s soundtrack </div>
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Background Music 2: “Outland Title Music” from Outland) </div>
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Listen Here: <a href="http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/">http://theamrchairgamer.podomatic.com/</a></div>
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Or, look us up on iTunes! </div>
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And listen to episodes 1,2,3,5,6 on Internet Archives: <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast">http://www.archive.org/details/TheArmchairGamerPodcast</a></div>
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Plugs: Follow Chris on Twitter @Kinifi <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/kinifi">https://twitter.com/#!/kinifi</a></div>
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Also, I briefly talked about Adam from <st1:city><st1:place>Bethesda</st1:place></st1:city>’s passing on the show, if you want to read more- please read here: <a href="http://www.bethblog.com/2012/02/16/remembering-adam/">http://www.bethblog.com/2012/02/16/remembering-adam/</a></div>
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If you enjoyed the new format, please leave a comment saying so. If not, tell me why. Enjoy the show! <o:p></o:p></div>
Braden Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13346497286010632914noreply@blogger.com0