In fact, it’s already recieved a few: Toki Tori, Mega Man 9, and World of Goo are excellent. Not to mention the wonderful Orbient, the best of the ported Art Style series. But the rest is crap like Family Glide Hockey. And regardless of it’s great titles, the service could really use something more… musical.
Developed by Gaijin games, BIT.TRIP BEAT is a trippy rhythmic arcade experience with a retro (like, Atari retro) look. It plays a little like Pong, only if Pong had an adventure mode… in space. Maybe you should just see for yourself:
Notice the excellent chiptune music? Just from this clip, I have a feeling that the music will drive this game as it drove Rez or Lumines. The gameplay, while seemingly simple at the beginning, alludes to more chaos and depth near the last few seconds of the trailer. Which, really, brings to mind Mega Man 9 — another retro game that utilizes the design philosophies of modern games.
Only a few more months of shovelware, and we’ll be gifted with a trance.
I’m working on giving the site a new look. Maybe even a logo! Any feedback via the comments would be great during its inevitable myriad of design changes.
Meanwhile! A good chunk of the now-laid off 1up crew (including those who used to produce the 1up Show) have a new site called “Area 5″, a name that’s based on their favorite level of the insane/beautiful/musical game Rez. They’re continuing the 1up Show shtick with a new video series, “CO-OP”. The gang is still getting equipment together, and time is short, so this is just part 1 of a Favorite Games of 2008 show. It’s clear just a few minutes in how very thoughtful and well-put-together the show is. Keep an eye on their website for more of their stuff. Enjoy:
My two favorite writers made a dreamy book-baby together in Japan.
Haruki Murakami and Shigesato Itoi. They’re both Japanese, both prolific and popular authors, although only Murakami has recieved English translations for his work. Murakami — for those of you lovely, poor people that haven’t chanced to experience him yet — is a novelist with themes of magical realism and unrequited love, with a noticable inspiration from Raymond Carver. He’s… quite fantastic to say the least. Possibly my favorite author.
The other, Itoi, is really only known in America by a dedicated fan base for the video game trilogy known as Mother. Of course, as fans know, the only game we ever saw released here is Earthbound (Mother 2), leaving a large chunk of Itoi goodness thoroughly untranslated in official form (Mother 1 and 3 have unofficial translations, but neither emulate particularly well, and his works of fiction haven’t seen any translation I know of).
And it seems so strange to me, that Murakami is marketed and hyped and translated while Itoi — with very similar storytelling, themes of surreal, philosophical, and spiritual experiences, etc. — is ignored (especially by NoA). So how can we get Itoi some recognition?
The best way would be to release a translation for a book the two co-authored, entitled “Let’s Meet in a Dream.” Originally published in 1981, later revised (with some story-swapping) in 1986, it’s a large collection of (clearly) dreamy short stories. I think it would be so interesting to see these authors’ stories side-by-side. According to this little page, the authors seem to have each written a story about the other, as well. There’s an Itoi story called “Haruki Murakami,” and vice versa.
Beautiful writers. (Left: Itoi, Right: Murakami)
I can see a few of the Murakami stories from this book petering out in English the next few years, but Itoi is far too ignored by everyone but fans to be published without the Murakami pairing. It’s a shame, because Itoi seems to mirror Murakami’s subject matter, but perhaps with a less subtle, more humorous take on being human. Even the title of Itoi’s latest story collection, “A Place Where Small Worlds Are Sung,” seems like it would fit perfectly next to Murakami’s work on a bookshelf.
2008 — not the greatest year for this little site. In general, my year exploded and sparkled in brilliant colors, but in a particular sad quadrant of my life — that would be the toothy-quadrant — 2008 remained a dull black. Toothaches, man. Pairing physical pain with a general financial hopelessness in trying to treat said pain is never good on the psyche, and certainly not good for fledgling, soon-to-be-spectacular, and thoughtful gaming sites like this one.
You know what? I give a strong damn about this fine little site, and I’m not about to let it slip away into the filthy crevices of internet armpits. So please keep checking back then and again, knowing that this site is thinking about you… like a beautiful, hospitalized grandparent with too many setbacks to show well-deserved love.
Again, thanks for your patience with these desolate spurts of blogs. In the meantime, please try and enjoy the beautiful, heartfelt joy that is Mother 3. I couldn’t recommend it more. I’ll get to the ‘why’ later.
If you have been checking this empty, wordless site
in the past few weeks with nothing to read,
then thank you, thank you for your patience.
I now give you: actual blogs.
It’s a gamer’s dream. It’s a lover’s dream.
I wake up with my lovely wife on our day off.
Tea is poured, breakfast is enjoyed. Our hearts are warm and soft.
The day is cold and wet outside; we find solace in our warm, cozy living room. My wife slyly opens our game-drawer in the coffee table, pulling out a Wiimote and Nunchuck.
And then… this:
Life in Cozynook.
She asks if I mind if she plays for a bit.
(She’s just getting used to this.)
Unreservedly, happily, I oblige. Is this really happening?
She then begins her day in “CozyNook”, and I continue my descent into the Tower of Zot in the DS remake of Final Fantasy IV. We sit together, comfortably chatting about the games we’re playing, and exploring the strange, unique worlds that we’ve been placed in.
I never saw this coming.
You see, after much trepidation, I bought her Animal Crossing: City Folk last Christmas. Essentially my wife was a non-gamer, which inevitably led to me sweetly asking that she try games that I’d picked up. The occasional game would pique her interest, but eventually I’d try and break from my gaming obsession temporarily, and window-shop some non-gaming activities. The constant gaming fit my lifestyle, but it felt wrong to try and and force it on hers, especially since her own varied and creative hobbies are time-consuming enough.
But still, It made sense to buy her Animal Crossing. It fit her personality. And you know what? She loves it.
To be honest, I didn’t expect her to love it, love it: I just expected enjoyable, mild meandering and tinkering with the game on occasion. But instead, she’s been exploring the charming world of Animal Crossing with gusto. More interestingly? My wife is now a gamer.
Did I just say that?
It feels weird, wrong even. My wife is a gamer.
Of course, the ‘wrong’ part of it stems from societal conditioning that gaming is bad; a lowest-common-denominator activity for those with weak imaginations, corrupt spirits, and a predilection for over-the-top testosterone-fueled violence. In truth, of course, it can be a meditative, positive activity. Playing Animal Crossing is absolutely that. And while I was playing Final Fantasy, the turn-based strategic battles sure felt a lot like chess, but with a story. Certainly can’t go wrong there. After all, gaming is and has always been about what you put into the experience. I’m a firm believer that if you play games regularly without any contemplation, without giving any of yourself to the experience, then yes: video games are a complete and utter waste of your time, because you’re not really interacting. (And you’re likely a faqtard as well). But games are glorious when your intentions in playing them are positive. The phrase ‘my wife is a gamer’ would only be detrimental if she played games zombie-like, mindlessly and thoughtlessly — a slave to FAQs and cheats.
Anyway, I never really expected my wife to share my hobby with such verve, yet she does. It’s a beautiful thing to share thoughtful, intelligent discussion with your loved one. And with video games being–as Bioshock creator Ken Levine so aptly put it– the “convergence of everything”, you have yourself a never-ending trove of interesting conversation. And, of course, the two of us are not flooding our lives with video games: we’ve been good at keeping in check with reality, and the time the both of us are allotting to other healthy activities.
Now, there’s a good chance that you’re in a relationship with one whom isn’t a gamer. Maybe, and hopefully, everything is going perfectly. If not, perhaps you’re trying to find some sort of balance or normalcy considering the difference in lifestyles. If that’s the case, then please consider this wonderfully written piece by Mister Raroo.
See you in the sky.
Where am I?
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