Pikachu took a long drag from his cigarette. “Yeh ever seen a man’s brains melt from inside his head?” he pauses, his glassy eyes staring at the space between. At something that I could never see. Something I never would WANT to see.
I shift uncomfortably in my chair, the tape recorder still running. The pause goes on far too long. I start to answer when he speaks up again.
This is part 2 of a guest editorial by michaias. His blog can be found on steemit at https://steemit.com/@michaias
In my last post on Final Fantasy XII, I hated on Vaan a lot. Then, I discussed that entry with a friend (check out his amazing pop culture blog in which he argues for, among other things, improved dinosaur representation in media), and he told me he always viewed Vaan and Penelo as Shakesperian-esque witness characters who are present to bear witness to events that don’t really involve them; Ashe and Basch are the real main characters. I can get behind that idea. It doesn’t make me like Vaan any more, but I like that reading of the story.
I don’t regret all my vitriol for Vaan, but I should also confess to a grave error that didn’t help matters. As soon as that fancy Zodiac job wheel popped on-screen for the first time, about an hour or so into the game, I was so distracted by the shiny that I couldn’t figure out how to spin it, so I just blasted through the in-game text prompts and kept right on jamming on that “X” button until I had made Vaan’s primary class into the default job the wheel starts on: white mage. God shitting damn it.
This is a guest editorial by michaias. His blog can be found on steemit at https://steemit.com/@michaias
The year was 2006. I was sitting in my Japanese I college course, trying to pay attention and cram phrases like “Ii otenki, desu ne? (The weather is nice, isn’t it?)” into my head, crossing my legs, recrossing the other way, fidgeting, counting off the seconds on the clock on the wall while the only phrase that whipped around my skull on repeat was “Otearai wa doko desu ka? (Where is the bathroom?)” According to my painfully accurate count, class was supposed to end exactly one hundred and seventeen, eighteen, nineteen seconds ago, and according to my overly-full bladder, I was approximately twelve, eleven, ten seconds away from demonstrating for my nice, but garrulous, Japanese instructor exactly what the idiom “piss like a racehorse” means.
After nearly two and a half years of waiting, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is receiving its next anime adaptation. Vento Aureo or “Golden Wind” was revealed to be getting an October 2018 release window from series creator Hirohiko Araki during a Jojo’s art exhibition.
Continue reading “‘Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’ Sequel Finally Confirmed”
Shortly after it was revealed that Avalanche Studios would be partnering with Id Software for Rage 2, Avalanche has announced a new title. Generation Zero will be the studio’s first self developed and published game with no licenses or big publisher.
Continue reading “Avalanche Studios Announces First Self Published Game”
As cinematic technology improves so should the storytelling techniques that guides the picture. While modern cinema has gotten more immersive and in depth from a visual standpoint, it’s clear that some directors and producers don’t know how to leverage those visuals to serve the story.
Back in 1993, Universal released Jurassic Park to great critical and commercial success. Directed by legendary director Steven Spielberg, the film went on to make over 356 million dollars domestically, according to the NPD group. It pioneered special effects in the 1990s and was one of the first films to use CGI, computer generated images, to successful effect.
Arc System Works, following a series of teasers over the week of E3, has officially unveiled it’s next project. In collaboration with anime studio Trigger, Kill la Kill the Game was announced.
Continue reading “Trigger and Arc System Works Announce ‘Kill la Kill’ Game”
One of the most striking reveals at the EA Play 2018 conference was the game Sea of Solitude. As the newest EA Original (EA’s independent games initiative) it joins Fe from Zoink! Games and A Way Out from Hazelight Studios.
This new game from small developer Jo-Mei Games was shown off by it’s creative director Cornelia Geppert. In Sea of Solitude, players will control Kay, a young woman who that is suffering from the “loneliness of isolation.”
Continue reading “E3 2018: ‘Sea of Solitude’ and Mental Health in Video Games”
Back in the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 era, indie games were seen as distractions from what people wanted, those being ‘triple-A’ experiences. Fast forward to 2018 and the word “indie game” does not have the same negative connotation it used to.
Indie games’ prevalence and importance on the big stage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo continues to be clear. At Microsoft’s E3 2018 Press Conference, the push to show Xbox’s commitment to indie games was in full force.
Continue reading “E3 2018: Finji Games’ ‘Tunic’ Steals Hearts”
Consumer virtual reality has been available since 2016. While striking up lots of positive coverage upon release, the excitement for VR has died down since. At E3 2018, VR is alive and well, though it’s not the paradigm shift some though it could be.
Two of the three main producers of VR had a presence at E3 this year: Sony with its Playstation VR and Oculus with its Rift, and each had something to show off during their press conferences.
Continue reading “Virtual Reality Continues its Presence at E3 2018”
Batteries Fully Charged 