Headshots Episode 1

There's a new video feature up at Nightmare Mode in which the writers get together and answer short questions about games and games culture.

This week's episode is focused on "Your Favourite Guilty Pleasure Game" and I was in it! I was in it for about 10 seconds or so, but I was in it! :p

It's a fun feature and I'm already excited to see where it goes from here.

I derped pretty hard in the video, too.

The Campfire: A nightmare in Hyrule

My new post at Nightmare Mode!

Yes, video games were always scary when I was a kid. The age of polygons introduced freakish characters with pointed ends where things should be round. The Nintendo 64 made things worse by applying a fuzzy sheen to everything so things were even harder to distinguish.

Sometimes I wonder why and how I'm still interested in the medium considering how much video games scared me as a child. They were out to get me.

Mega Man: An Outlaw in an Asimovian World

(New post up at Nightmare Mode!)

The original Mega Man is not a fun game.

It's got some really whacky, awkward level design sandwiched between all the really brilliant parts. It's a good game littered with minor design flaws that really hamper your enjoyment. Mega Man laid the foundation but it was Mega Man 2 that would go on to be everything the original game wasn't and demonstrate what a small group of people can do when they pour their heart and soul into development.

While I was playing Mega Man: Powered Up (the remake of Mega Man on the PSP), I was struck by how different it was to the original game. Yes, some levels were redesigned and you can now play as the Robot Masters in the remake, but it was the tonal differences that really stood out to me. Both Mega Man and the Robot Masters dribbled conversation at every moment. Mega Man was clearly the Hero and the Robot Masters were undoubtedly reprogrammed.

This was never seen in the original game.

Mega Man and the Robot Masters never said a word. With no verbal communication at all in the game, motives and intentions were remarkably difficult to discern. Nothing was clearly defined or explained. It was... unsettling.

And that's really where this piece comes from. The atmosphere of the original games on the NES were defined by technical limitations to an extent but it gave the series such an uncertain and unique tone.

Check out TimeCowboy's art on his Tumblr, friends! He did the title image for this article :)

After Pressing Start: Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing never quite gets the attention it deserves. Like a lot of great games, it defies categorisation, appeals to the young and old, and players of all sorts.

But have you ever tried to explain it to somebody? More often than not you’ll be met with a curious stare and questions as to what makes it so enjoyable. Or -even worse- why you would play a game like that when you can simply go outside and do the same thing.

In building mechanics around fishing, eating, writing, catching bugs, moving future, and generally living a normal (well, let’s say “country”) life, Animal Crossing makes the mundane as exciting as blowing up a Grunt in Halo. It’s a charming simulacrum of reality that fills you with FEELINGS each time you boot the game up.

Animal Crossing is real life through a filter of pure happiness.

(The art accompanying this post was done by a Mr. Jake Lawrence of TimeCowboy fame. You should check out his other stuff!)

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.