An Eternally Dull Adventure in Chopin's Dreams

Remember when I said I was in a book?

I'm still in that book but now you can read one of the two pieces I wrote in that book on the internet! And you can read it even if you're 20,000 kilometres away! How does that even work?

Eternal Sonta is frustrating. It has such a wonderful idea that I forget how awful it is each time I put the game down so that I can play it again with the hopes of "oh, maybe it isn't as terrible as I remembered". It never changes. It's always awful.

Phantasy Star Online is Hilarious

What I especially like about this ad, other than the fact it hasn't aged well at all, is how much it screams at you to play it.

These days, you have people dying playing MMOs. You've got warnings from developers like: "Don't play too long or you'll die and you've got a family and school!"

And in this trailer the guy is all like: "Play whenever you want, for as long as you want, do whatever you want, throw your life away! Have a fuckin' ball."

Stifling the Medium

Tangentially related to my most recent piece at Nightmare Mode, I recently came into ownership of the Slime-shaped PS2 controller modelled after the iconic enemy of Dragon Quest.

I don’t bring this up in the article but I tend to frown upon the merchandise that surrounds video games. The t-shirts, wrist straps, plushies, and practically everything that’s bundled around a popular video game when it’s released. It’s not because I’m against the idea of advertising, I simply find it concerning so much of video game advertising is focused around the “extras” rather than the main course. If advertising is meant to facilitate interest and engage people with the product, I can’t help but feel we’re missing out on the interactive side of video games when we buy the t-shirt.

I don’t need my Dragon Quest controller, but I do like how its advertising facilitates experiencing the product.