"Extra Consideration"

The Escapist decided to let Your's Truly, Zero Punctation's Yahtzee and Extra Credits' James Portnow have a lil' email debate and assemble the result into a column. In other words: Two of the most important voices in the gaming world... and, for some reason, also me ;)

Here we are, debating the state of console gaming: Take a look.

Episode 48: "The Zen of Grind"

UPDATE: As of 9/13/11 this video is at THIS LINK

"We Dare" - Ubisoft's latest crime against humanity

hat-tip: Devin

Ugh.

Everyone knows I'm a big defender of The Wii - not just in terms of "there ARE actually good games on it" but also of so-called Wii "waggle game" titles themselves. Greater varieties of people gaming is a GOOD thing, and well-done motion-control party games are fun to play. BADLY done ones - or ones cashing in on the craze with minimal effort and a superficial "hook" on the other hand... no thanks.

With that in mind, behold "We Dare" - a "naughty adult party game" from Ubisoft...



Here's what I want to know: How did this get "ok'd" by Nintendo? Granted, the "Seal of Quality" isn't exactly what it used to be, but their still notorious for micromanaging third-parties and for guarding their family-friendly image like a Samurai Walt-Disney... so how exactly did they NOT have an issue with Ubi producing a Wii game where "shove Wii-remote down girlfriend's pants" is part of the control scheme, with an advertisement that - depending on your point of view - either looks like an Ashley Madisson spot or the lead-in to a deleted scene from "American Psycho?"

Amazing

You've GOT to be able to laugh at yourself

I'll confess to not having been previously aware of "The Game Boob," but evidently he's a clever kid on YouTube whose "schtick" is parodying the subgenre of YouTube-based game-reviewers (aka The Bastard Stepchildren of The AVGN.) In his most recent (?) episode, it's my turn on the spoofing-block:



After watching that, and a few of the other episodes... I've gotta say: The kid has talent. I'm a bit envious of his obvious skill as an editor - he's got killer comic-timing, a sharp eye for the rythym of recurring YouTube memes, and he's certainly jumping into the "bit" with both feet. And good call on the "Amok Time" music - wish I'd thought of that.

Smithsonian's GODAWFUL game-voting thing

I'm on my way to bed (early-ass screening tomorrow - ugh!), but rest assured that I WILL have more to say when time avails itself about the ungodly, horrible way the Smithsonian is going about the "public voting" aspect of it's "Art of Videogames" exhibit. Don't get me wrong: The effort is appreciated, but everything from the selections to the categorizations on this thing are so wrongheaded, slapdash and uninformed as to make me honestly think it'd be better if they didn't do it at all.

For example: The voting (which seems to ignore Arcades ENTIRELY, btw) divides the history of the medium into five "eras," with options to vote for which of three games will be each console/eras "representative" title in each of four genres. Only FOUR? Yes: Action, Adventure, Target and Combat/Strategy. That's right: No platformer, no puzzle, no RPG - in the 8-bit/NES/Adventure category, it's Final Fantasy vs. Zelda vs. Shadowgate... and only ONE can "win."

This. Is. FUCKING. ASININE.

Where did they get this system? Did they just make it up without consulting anyone who knows thing-ONE about the medium? Gaming is young, but there's NO shortage of historians and credited experts out there who could've given them a better outline. This isn't a matter of nerd-nitpickery... obviously not every game can get in there... but trying to tell the "history" of the form and classifying Zelda and Final Fantasy as the same thing? That's like if I opened up a Bird Museum and added an Octopus on the basis that it has a BEAK.

I imagine others will want to weigh in on this, but instead of just griping along with me why not gripe directly to them instead: Here's the exhibit/voting's comment section.

And here's the email address associated with the page: AmericanArtGames@si.edu BE RESPECTFUL if you do write in, regardless of what you have to say. We gain nothing by being crass.

sellout

Yes, there are now ads on both of these blogs. I'm trying it out, seeing how it goes, etc; hoping it won't be some kind of "issue."

Happy Valentron's Day!

For that special someone in your life who loves Tron almost as much as you do...

Episode 47: "Farm Team"

update: as of 9/13/11 this video is at THIS LINK

The "Quest of The OverThinker" arc begins!



In all seriousness, I'm incredibly psyched at how well this one came out.

Started playing through Mega Man 9

Hey everybody I thought that I would let you know that I decided to buy Mega Man 9 via Xbox live and have started playing through the game.  The game seems to remind me a bit of Mega Man 2 with some obvious differences.  Considering that the last Mega Man game I played through (besides the Aniversary collection) was Mega Man X8 (a 128 bit title), going back to the 8 bit graphics is definitely taking some getting used to for me, though the the 8 bit games seem to be a new trend for the classic Mega Man series.  By the way, I've seen rumors around the net that the next Mega Man X game will be 16 bit format (I can't confirm it one way or another since I don't work for Capcome obviously), though personally I think that they should retain at least the 32 bit look of the next Mega Man X game since I thought that they were much funner that way (playing as Zero is pretty fun too.

Armchair Thinkers podcast

Quick head's-up: The Armchair Thinkers podcast has yours truly as a guest for the most recent episode (Feb 3 2011) and we get pretty into depth on stuff like The AntiThinker, Other M, etc. Check it out HERE:

Save Ferris! The Nintendo Game That Never Was

Last year I had great success with Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult show in Los Angeles. They were kind enough to invite me to contribute work to multiple shows this year, the first being "The Road To Shermer: A Tribute To John Hughes". I'm a little bit different then most kids of the 80's, as I really am not a big John Hughes fan. I have seen his movies, and some of them I really like, but i've never been a huge fan of Sixteen Candles, or The Breakfast Club. But there's a reason for that, and that reason is video games.

I was born in 1980. When I was 5 years old, a brand new shiny Nintendo Entertainment System came into my life one Christmas morning, and me in all of my 5 years of life knew that things would never be the same. We had an Apple II as well as an Intellivision, and they were great, but something about the squatty little Italian plumber and the simple 2 button controller really spoke to my 5 year old sensibilities. Also, it came with a robot that I could play with when my brother wasn't around.

So movies of the 80's came and went, and I saw and loved a few here and there, but I was a video game fiend. It came time to create a piece of artwork for the John Hughes tribute and I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a concept. I started to think about what it was that his movies main draw was, and I thought about the great characters he created that became cultural icons. I quickly drew a comparison to the old Lucas Arts adventure games. Tim Schafer was my John Hughes. Games like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Sam & Max had characters developed as deeply as any in a film like Sixteen Candles or The Breakfast Club. But those games came out in the 90's. John Hughes movies exemplified the 80's, and so I would need a more 80's theme to the art piece.

There were some awful Licensed games released for the NES.
Exhibit A:


The thing I love about those old NES boxes was that the artwork was really representative of the gameplay.



Then somewhere down the line someone in marketing decided it would be cool to imply amazing graphics with the box art because you should always judge a book by it's cover:



For a tribute to John Hughes, I thought I'd like to make a game based off of my favorite of John Hughes movies, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". It would have to be an action game set in chicago. It would also need Cameron's dad's Ferrari. Inspired by the Super Mario Bros. box art, my goal was to create a fitting tribute to both John Hughes and Nintendo.



and the finished image:



But as I learned with my "River Tam and the Fireflies" piece, if you build it, they will come. It's cool to have artwork, but it's cooler to create a collectible, one-of-a-kind item. So I made the box:



And you're gonna need a game cartridge and instruction booklet:




(The cartridge doesn't contain an actual Save Ferris game, it was however at one point my copy of "Back to the Future Part II")

All of this and more can be yours if you come down to Gallery 1988's new location in Venice, CA on Friday February 11th. There are 50 artists participating in the show and Gallery 1988 always puts on a fun gallery opening.



Prints will also be available both at the gallery and online in my Etsy store.

P.S. Gallery 1988, how about a "Tribute to Tim Schafer" themed show?