Yeah, that’s right. More on Zombies. Remember that Google Maps-based zombie game I mentioned a few posts back? The Last Guy?
In what could’ve been the ultimate real, frightening experience, we are instead assaulted with an avalanche of cheese. Seriously, enemies haven’t looked this bad since Smash T.V. hit consoles over a decade ago. And that music? Not a fan.
Great concept, crap aesthetic.
This designer is learning Photoshop for the first time. Good for him!
In other news, I believe I’ve reached some sort of pinnacle of my stress threshold. Writing a grant, and preparing for a wedding all in two weeks. Even simple tasks like answering my phone appear to be a daunting task this past day or so. I believe a beer is in order.
I’ve finally started toying with the lush, polished and beautiful game Pixeljunk Eden as of late on PSN (Playstation Network). And I say ‘toying’ because my only access to the game is a generously long demo.
The first thing you’ll notice about the game is its arresting art style, with curls and swirls reminiscent of art nouveau, along with the thumping bass of pulsating ethereal techno rhythms — all likely to put you in a chilled out trance, a relaxing game-meditation where the usual stress associated with games will quickly fade away.
The artist responsible for most of the art direction and the music? Tomohisa Kuramitsu, A.K.A. Baiyon.
I’d describe the gameplay, but I’m not so sure it’s relevant. I mean, it involves collecting spectra and building a garden… but any further description will just sound strange until you play it. I suppose what you really need to know is this:
It’s beautiful
You swing from one thing to another thing
You collect stuff
Your friends can pick up a controller and play with you
You’ve come here, as a new or old visitor, casually but eagerly scrolling through my site’s contents. It’s the best part of your day. Like most people, you look forward to doing nothing. How was your weekend? People ask. You scrounge up some menial facts about this or that trip to the market, some date you went on, some stiff drinks shared with good friends.
But you truly enjoy weekend-bits like this. Sinking deep into the recesses of your couch, you have an ice cold beverage in hand (and how does it taste, may I ask?), with a dozen or two blogs, television shows, movies, and books that you plan on viewing without an ounce of attention. You aim for the pinnacle of relaxation. But no, you insist, interrupting my blog assertively, I did not come here only to relax. I am here for a true, bona fide intellectual massage.
And here you are, arriving cozily at my blog. You’re not sure how you feel about the site; the stiff, lifeless blue color theme is remarkably dull. And where are all those pictures? You like pictures. Still, you’ve decided that my blog is in fact quite good. The visual aspects are likely to change for the better. And if anything you feel a sense of coziness here. Warmth. Indeed, you say, it is time for me to be a regular customer. But of course, you’re prone to talking about doing things without actually doing them; inadvertently, you’re a subliminal liar.
But let’s not worry about that now.
Like all good things, the blog you see before your half-open eyes is steadily gaining momentum. It’s becoming a real living organism; the blog is beyond the author’s control. The blog, you see, is gradually becoming part of you. And you couldn’t be happier.
I’ve been sitting at an odd-smelling coffee shop, idly, for something like an hour now. It feels good: I’ve been getting some quality space-out time and I just received a free toddy because I was told the last was too “watered down” (though, to me, it tasted perfect). The current barista is a good chap in that he’s my kind of guy. The music is medium-loud, the sub is not too abrasive, and his taste is impeccable and eclectic. I’ve heard everything from Lou Reed to Ween to Louis Prima. And it’s being “djed” all hyperkinetic-like, with 8-minute epics being cut off at the halfway point, and obnoxious songs being quickly replaced. Three cheers, my friend.
The spacing out is allowing ample time for blog reflection, as well. I’ve been having thoughts such as: it’s silly to think of what constitutes a “good” blog. And this is very, very true in the most annoying way. I recently read a blog design site to get some ideas for, you know, design, but instead there was a Top 5-style list of “dont’s” for your blog. One of the top ones mentioned the importance of leaving out the mundane: Don’t tell us about your lunch, your walk to the bank, or your dental appointment. To me, this is silly. As a friend pointed out to me recently, many of the best writers allow a type of voyeurism. Bukowski, Fante, and Harvey Pekar came up. The three all write about the little details in ordinary life, just like the supposedly “worst” blogs do. Thing is, though, they write about these details beautifully. Voyeurism at its finest. It really makes sense, too, to write about these things. We can point out what is not apparently interesting about them. If someone takes a trip to Rome then, well, that’s obviously interesting. You don’t need to prove that to me. You need to prove that it can be written about in an interesting way. The topic can’t hold its own, bloggers.
If there’s any true blogging advice it should probably be something like this: Be you. Write yourself. Write Well.
But let’s talk about zombies, because they’re truly more important than something as trivial as blogs. A friend recently declared his dire need for some kind of zombie-based MMO (Massively-Multiplayer Online game). Luckily, the universe is well on its way to facilitating that need. Two luscious options have manifested themselves in the gray, unwelcoming mist of gaming:
The Last Guy
Expected to be released in North America sometime this year on PSN, The Last Guy is realistic in a very odd sense: it incorporates the magic of Google Earth. You’ll basically be killing zombies with a top-down view of the world itself. And that’s all I really know. That and it might just be an online multiplayer game.
Resident Evil 5
The next incarnation of the series looks exactly like the last, but that’s a good thing. Plus: there’s a co-op mode. An online one.
Yeah, neither of those games are MMO’s. But they do make me want to kill zombies. And they’re clearing a path towards a more complex game of the sort. Yes, I do believe we’re well on our way to kill the undead before we become unalive.
Oh, Reggie. You’re no longer dangling on the precipice of shame — you fell all the way in, along with other NOA executives, with your hokey artifice and obvious marketing shtick at your last press conference.
Just for the record, that’s Reggie Fils-Aimé, president of Nintendo of America. And no, he’s not as cool as the beloved Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto (A.K.A. Shiggy). But that’s not going to stop him and his execs from acting like clueless game-illiterate parents.
I should probably mention that at said press conference, Miyamoto and a “band” played a version of the Mario theme music for the upcoming Wii Music game, completely butchering it with a shoddy Caribbean take and missing notes and generally not knowing what to do with their own game.
I should probably mention that Fils-Aimé himself played a Wave Race clone in the upcoming Wii Sports 2, also poorly.
I suppose their message is that, well, they don’t know what they’re doing with these games, so the masses of America can take comfort in not understanding them either.
Former 1up.com writer/blogger/1up Show persona Jenn Frank seems to have a new website project well underway, with the name of InfiniteLives. The site is niche in that it serves a market for reading about books about games. It looks to offer reviews for said books, as well as commentary and thoughtful analysis on games, as well as the issues that continually intertwine, mingle, and occasionally elope with them.
And though I’ve read at least a handful of books about games (and currently breezing through The Ultimate History of Video Games), the site’s “backlog” of books to review include titles I haven’t heard of yet, with titles like “What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.”
And… there’s nothing else like it. I’m kind of curious about this, in a quietly excited kind of way. Not squealing-under-my-breath excitement, but, you know, more of the kind that elicits a pleasant sigh.
It’s entitled Animal Crossing: City Folk, and it’s remarkable in that it has the exact same graphics from the Gamecube romp six years ago. Fascinatingly blurry textures will be intact!
Actually, this is all fine and good, as I will eat up this game whole, sitting in the grass with K.K. Slider listening to fresh melodies.
How are you liking the blog so far? I think it’s kind of shit, myself.
I suppose it isn’t really a “blog” in the proper sense. Case in point: I aspire to never dole out necessary information. I also aspire to never dole out the minutia of my life. Instead, I’m looking to give you little trinkets, tidbits, and whatnots that may have all or nothing to do with gaming, life, and philosophy.
Currently, though, I’m writing to you in the corner of an old library, basement level. Dust and books everywhere. I’m enjoying the sterile-yet-warm feeling of this room. So many old books. So much new paint. The room has nowhere to go with its style. It’s like trying to pigeonhole a strange Beatles album or one of those late Kubrick films into some mold that feels comfortable. But that will never happen. No, it never will.
Maybe it’s this room that is the direction I want to take my blog. Sterile yet old, frightfully weird yet cozy. So I’m asking you: prepare to be uncomfortable. Read on, champ. Truly beautiful things can and will happen, but only when we’re frightened.
Well, the Wiimote really doesn’t get any more silly than this. In order to stay on top of the competition, a new Wiimote accessory allows you to aim the thing with better accuracy. It also possibly necessitates the purchase of yet another expensive Wii thingy-ma-bobber, as well as further economic gain for Nintendo.
