Here's an awesome work of art by Jose Emroca Flores, found at Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight. I stumbled upon it through I Am 8-Bit, in their art section. Of course the print is sold out, with it exhibiting so much badassitude.
I do enjoy the sexy princess, and the not-so-fuzzy world that Flores has envisioned for his Mario. Maybe there should be an M rated Mario game made, looking just like this. Nintendo would never do it though, so it would have to be homebrew.
Mario Not So Fluffy
All I See Are Wolves, Valkyries, And Dragons
Here I thought that I would be out of that funk in no time and all would be well again. I thought wrong. Okami helped me in a way, though shortly afterwards I decided to run away from the world again. I have been hiding in other virtual domains and avoiding the internet. And that just won't do. That just won't do at all.
I think I better start coming clean of what I've been up to these last few weeks. So let's see, after finishing Okami I had planned on writing a wonderful little article. Alas, it still sits in draft mode and waits to be completed. So I will save any grand thoughts about Okami for that article, with every inention of posting it sometime soon.
As noted in a previous post, I began playing Gunvalkyrie after Okami. Since then, I have finished that game as well, and twice at that. Once with each character. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of Gunvalkyrie, though I don't really feel like trying to get S rankings on all the stages, especially with the lack of unlockables. However, I am glad to know that I got proficient enough to do decently at the game.
In between console bouts, I have been slowly picking away at Cave Story again in an effort to get through the secret Hell stage. I have been unable to get past the end boss (Misery & The Doctor) without using my health potion. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be hurting quite severely in Hell, so I need to keep that extra potion. Hopefully I'll get it eventually. In the meantime I'll be listening to the incredible Cave Story Remix Project music.
Since everyone needs to have at least a couple of games going simultaneously to fight off the advances of game burnout, I was hunting for something else after Gunvalkyrie. I figured I needed more old school glory and followed Smilebit to their consequent title: Panzer Dragoon Orta. I played the first episode, and quickly realized I was getting ahead of myself.
That's right. Boxes were opened, the Sega Saturn was taken out, it was hooked up to the TV, and with a new battery installed old school awesomeness ensued. I knew I needed to brush up on my Panzer skillz, and I figured I'd start with numero uno. After all, Orta's got a pretty solid storyline, so it would only make sense if I had the background info under my belt. Of course Panzer Dragoon isn't very long, and upon completing it I moved onto Panzer Dragoon Saga. I'm on the Second disc now, and things are starting to get quite good.
Among all these sessions I've played around with a few other games for a few moments here and there. Those titles include Nights Into Dreams, Wachenroeder, Mars Matrix, and a few indy games such as I'm OK, Lyle In Cube Sector (via IndyGamer), and Trouble in Cloud Land. But mostly I'm concentrating on Saga at the moment, and Orta after that. I'll post more in depth thoughts about those individual games in the future.
Oh, Yet Another Holiday...
Yes, Valentine's day is over, but I still feel the love...
The strange and starving artists celebrated yet another holiday by throwing chocolate at each other, eating questionable sushi, and some fuzzy cuddles, just like this pair. Aren't they cute? Isn't love grand?
While I question the validity sometimes of the holidays, especially since most of them seem to revolve around buying things for your sweet thang(s), Valentine's is a nice way to celebrate a bleary February. Yes, everything looks wintry, but just wait a little longer, and eat some chocolate, and everything will blossom...right??
Or does this only work if you're an incurable romantic?
Why Don't They Take Us Seriously?
As also seen on Kotaku, and via "le tube," the trailer for 8 Bit is out. It's a documentary about video gaming culture which appears to go beyond just mass market titles and kids greasing up demo unit controllers.
Seeing this makes me feel good that there are plenty of us around that find gaming a valid pursuit. But let's not kid ourselves friends. We're still in the minority. And unless you work in the video game industry, the people around you don't normally give you the time of day when you mention anything about games.
It usually comes down to placating acknowledgments, rolling of eyes, being ignored entirely, or just flat out insulted. Yep, it's true. In my time at various jobs outside of the industry, my coworkers often times held to their beliefs that games are a waste of time. Like some kind of habit that has no merit or possible redeeming qualities, akin to gambling. Though most of them didn't seem to equate gaming with addiction, some of them did, and the mere mention that games are art brought some to a state of anger.
Why is this? Why does it happen, even in places of open minds and progressive ideas? When I was at Odiyan I got some seriously adamant opinions about the uselessness of games. There was probably just one person who knew anything about games really. Some people had nostalgic memories of the old-school era, but many of them disliked games all together. And this, in a Buddhist center, is not what I expected to find. You would think that intelligent people would suspend judgment of something they were so uninformed about.
It's time for you folks to wake up and smell the pixels. If you accept the movie industry as a credible means of artistic expression, then I see no valid reasoning not to accept the gaming industry as well. Otherwise, isn't that a double standard?
Some day, there will be no generation alive which did not grow up in a time of video gaming. I look forward to this day, simply due to the fact that it will be a day when games will be seen no differently than movies are seen now. Everybody's bound to have done it and liked some of it.
Until that day, let's spread the faith my brethren, and go forth into the breach of the unbelievers! Uh, sorry, maybe that was too evangelical.
Seeing this makes me feel good that there are plenty of us around that find gaming a valid pursuit. But let's not kid ourselves friends. We're still in the minority. And unless you work in the video game industry, the people around you don't normally give you the time of day when you mention anything about games.
It usually comes down to placating acknowledgments, rolling of eyes, being ignored entirely, or just flat out insulted. Yep, it's true. In my time at various jobs outside of the industry, my coworkers often times held to their beliefs that games are a waste of time. Like some kind of habit that has no merit or possible redeeming qualities, akin to gambling. Though most of them didn't seem to equate gaming with addiction, some of them did, and the mere mention that games are art brought some to a state of anger.
Why is this? Why does it happen, even in places of open minds and progressive ideas? When I was at Odiyan I got some seriously adamant opinions about the uselessness of games. There was probably just one person who knew anything about games really. Some people had nostalgic memories of the old-school era, but many of them disliked games all together. And this, in a Buddhist center, is not what I expected to find. You would think that intelligent people would suspend judgment of something they were so uninformed about.
It's time for you folks to wake up and smell the pixels. If you accept the movie industry as a credible means of artistic expression, then I see no valid reasoning not to accept the gaming industry as well. Otherwise, isn't that a double standard?
Some day, there will be no generation alive which did not grow up in a time of video gaming. I look forward to this day, simply due to the fact that it will be a day when games will be seen no differently than movies are seen now. Everybody's bound to have done it and liked some of it.
Until that day, let's spread the faith my brethren, and go forth into the breach of the unbelievers! Uh, sorry, maybe that was too evangelical.
Of Gunvalkyrie, Steampunk, And Computers
Putting up my collection on IGN required that I go through all my old games. When entering them I inevitably would come across the various games' ratings, and some of them were particularly interesting. One of these is Gunvalkyrie. IGN gave it a 9.0, which is pretty dang good! I knew the game was good, but because I didn't play it all that much I didn't realize it was quite that good. I think I eventually gave up on it, and this is probably why...
The first thing you need to know about the Smilebit developed, Sega published action title known as GUNVALKYRIE is that it's difficult. It's throw-your-controller-across-the-room-in-frustration difficult. It'll make you curse out loud to the gaming gods, vainly imploring them to give you a freakin' break. It'll be the game, if any, that will wear out the buttons and sticks of your Xbox controller way before its time. And you'll love it. (Aaron Boulding)I was doing a little bit of research on the game, looking at gameplay vids via "da tube," and eventually took a peek at the Wikipedia article on it. Due to its storyline, Gunvalkyrie is classified into the steampunk genre. Being curious, I wanted to know what other games and movies they mentioned as examples of steampunk, and because I thought they might have missed some. Well, they didn't really, and managed to educate me a bit more.
A fascinating bit I came across was that one of the inspirations for the steampunk genre was Charles Babbage. Yes, the very person who Gamestop stores, formely known as Babbage's, were named after. His contribution to steampunk comes from his designs for the Difference Engine, a steam driven mechanical computer. In fact, it was the first computer ever designed it seems (but not the first to be conceived). What's more incredible, is that Babbage's designs for a mechanical computer preceded the creation of the first computers by about a hundred years. Lack of support and funding, not helped by the fact that he was apparently a complete jerk, made it impossible for him to actually create the Difference Engine. However, a replica was created in London in 1991 (hence the photo above).
Just imagine if Babbage would have built this back around 1850, what that would mean to computer technology. Well, I don't know what it would mean. I suppose maybe nothing, or maybe it would have revolutionized technology and things would be quite different now.
The next bit I found that further intrigued me was that a thorough analysis of Babbage's Difference Engine was written by a woman named Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. Her analysis has caused her to be attributed the honor of being the first computer programmer. Who would have thought, that the first computer programmer was a woman! Go Ada go!
So there you have it. Now just sit back and conceive of the alternate realities these facts may have given rise to. When you're done, go look for some hot steampunk media, like Steamboy or City of Lost Children. Then go look for some hot computer programmer with a flare for Victoriana.
Keeping Track of My Phat Lewt!
For some strange reason, when I was browsing IGN the other day, I had this urge. The urge to finally, and at last, put up my video game collection. Not so much so that I can brag about it, though I still might, but mostly so that I can have a better idea of what I own. The ability to see stats that show me percentages of games by system are interesting. Also, the estimated value of my collection is intriguing, though certainly inaccurate.
It would be nice to know a more accurate estimate of my collection's value by having a way to pool prices of each item from the net (perhaps through Froogle), and then average them. This would not only include prices from e-tailers, but also from eBay. As far as I'm concerned, vintage games are collector's items and their prices are most accurately established on eBay. These tend to fluctuate of course, but if you collect vintage games (or not so vintage) then you already know all about eBay's importance in that market.
In any case, I think I have entered about 95% of my collection on IGN. The rest are stuck in a few boxes, which are primarily old school titles. I'll try to get to those eventually so I can have a more accurate representation on IGN. However, it is certainly true that I have a lot of games. Some day I should open a museum or something!
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