Not to get political...

I don't really want this blog to get politically, religiously, or otherwise charged with controversy.  I like to talk about light things, like video games.  However, I did find an article that I found rather interesting, and I thought I'd share.

Why Religion is Good for us (as written by an atheist)

What Blizzard does right

So, for purposes of tiding me over until the Starcraft 2 release, I bought myself the Starcraft Battle chest. Luckily, before I opened it, I took a second look at the Collector's edition of Starcraft 2.  Which comes with the original Starcraft, plus BroodWar expansion.  On a custom 2 GB Flash Drive.  Needless to say, I promptly returned my Battle chest and pre-ordered the Collector's edition. 

Now, this may confuse those of you who've read what I've had to say already about Starcraft 2,  since I already pre-ordered it.  Well, the thing is,  The Game Crazy near where I live (both of them, actually) are gone.  My pre-orders? Gone.  I'm just glad I used all my trade-in credit while I had it.

Now, a Collector's edition like this, I would expect to have the artbook, and probably the custom Flash Drive.  The fact that the flash drive comes pre-loaded with the original Starcraft and BroodWar is easily worth $30 on its own, but Blizzard, of course, goes the extra mile with a comic book (which basically amounts to more artwork), a behind-the-scenes DVD (seriously, have you ever heard a game coming with one of these?) a soundtrack (which is like pre-ordering Halo and getting a free soundtrack, except Starcraft is actually pretty good on its own right,)  a World of Warcraft pet, and...wait, That's the mysterious day-one DLC?  That's...actually pretty cool.

So, what Blizzard does right? Stuff like this.  Giving actual stuff (that is well worth more than the extra $40) with their games.  Actual stuff, y'know, the things that can't be transferred digitally, can't be pirated.

Another thing that I've noticed about Blizzard is their attention to detail.  The little things.  I've been playing through Warcraft III again, and wondering how 8 year old graphics can still impress me.  Especially the cut-scenes.  I think this is why, the little things.  The people and creatures move...unnaturally for the most part, but then again, you look away from them and focus on, say, their clothing, and you notice how naturally it moves.  How realistic it looks.

Or maybe it just has to do with it being good-quality 3D animation that isn't composed solely of dark earth-tones and/or shiny stuff. (good examples of both? Twilight Princess.)  There's even, on 'the prophet's earth-tone robe, a bright red ruby, and it glints realistically (or at least it looks like that to me).  The armor that people wear isn't blindingly shiny, and some has the audacity to be dull.

Even on the not-so good in-game quality, there's still the attention to detail.  It makes you want to scroll in and take a good look at the units, the buildings, and the landscape, and see the detail on them.

Or maybe I'm just being nostalgic.

Wait, what?

Another "Other M" game?  Nintendo, you just want to confuse me, don't you?  You have Final Fantasy M, That space marine game with Samus, and now you've got this laughably hardcore game?

You cannot seriously tell me that the above is the same game as this,

and this,

and expect me to not laugh in your face.




One more thing:

This reminds me of something...if only I could put my finger on it.

The only thing funnier than this trailer is fans' reactions to it.  You'd think it was a completely different game from the one I saw the trailer to.

I need to watch more Anime

I've been thinking about the sort of TV/Movies/games/etc. that I like and I've come to a few conclusions about the sort of things I like: Fun over-the-top 'awesomeness,' generally with lots of camp and cliché, with plenty of "what the crap?" moments that are just so crazy awesome you just can't help but laugh.


Examples of this are some of my favorite movies: Press Start, Dragonball Evolution and, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Games such as Castlevania, (where you whip a wall and get turkey,) Super Mario Brothers (What the crap is a goomba, anyway?) and many other games full of those "What the crap" moments. Malstrom wrote in his blog about this sort of things, the "What the Crap" moments making a game fun, but I can't be bothered to look it up to give you a link.

This is only spurred on by some of my favorite TV shows when I was a kid: Power Rangers, Xiaolin Showdown, Jackie Chan Adventures.  These all have that same over-the-top awesomeness/silliness.

Anime has it too.

All of the things I've mentioned have that same over-the-top awesomeness/silliness that comes from anime.  I haven't even mentioned my favorite shows growing up that were anime: Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, Escaflowne, and others.  Power Rangers is pretty much just a live-action anime.


And so we come to today, where I've browsed through various anime and found this (it's about a half hour long, so be warned.  Also apparently Veoh won't work in some countries, so sorry if you can't watch it):

View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

This is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about.  This is what I mean when I say that games, movies, music, books, et cetera, are all getting too 'serious,' 'artsy,' and generally just 'adult,' and aren't fun anymore.  They should be more like this.  Fun. light. Not afraid to be corny, cheesy, or campy.

Monster burger

I must say, Nintendo's advertisement department is certainly doing their job.  If you haven't seen this or the other commercials for Monster Hunter Tri, then go to youtube and find them.  They're as hilarious as this one.

I really want to play this game, and I think that these commercials actually had their part in that.  The game itself looks fun, too!

Nintendo announces their Ace in the Hole

Well, that's surprising.

I thought it would take longer for the next Handheld to come out.

Is it just me, or does "3DS" seem like a tongue-in-cheek response to "DS2"?  In fact, it seems as if Nintendo is pushing the "3D" part of it, and it's certainly looking like everyone's taking the bait.  Don't forget what Iwata said:

Interviewer: "The graphics for the next DS will be highly detailed and it will contain a motion sensor, right?"

Iwata: "Those things are naturally being required. But do you think it would sell with just that?"

"Highly detailed graphics": Check
"motion sensor": Check

But wait, there's more!

This has to be it.  This must be the reason that Nintendo's 'big' games have already been announced.  They've been cleared out so that they won't get in the way of what Nintendo wants to show off.




But wait, is there even more?

 

I feel like I'm reading a Brandon Sanderson book, where the obvious 'twist' is almost a ploy, something to make you content when you figure it out, so when the other seven twists simultaneously slap you across the face you go down for the count.  Are we going to see something similar?  Will there be a "Sanderson Avalanche" of Nintendo products this E3?


In any case, Nintendo knows they have the better hand, and they're calling Microsoft's and Sony's bluffs.

I might actually follow E3 this year.

Why I Like Brandon Sanderson

Those of you unfamiliar with the fantasy genre (or books in general) probably have never heard of Brandon Sanderson.  Those who are probably have heard of him the same way I have: He's the guy who's finishing the Wheel of Time series. 

For many of you that may not mean much, but I can say this: I enjoy reading his books.  His books are thoroughly engaging, manage to stand on their own even when part of a series, and for the size of the books (general fantasy fare, roundabout a thousand pages) I don't usually feel like I'm reading a huge epic.  He manages to keep things interesting, and I've found that the way he writes manages to be very comfortable and transparent.

But enough about that, what I want to talk about today is a planned 10-book series of which the first is due out in August.  The Way of Kings.

 But I don't really want to talk about the book itself (yet,) what I want to talk about is everything surrounding it.

The book industry is having a heyday with this.  As you can see on the cover, #1 New York Times Best Selling Author is advertised, the name Brandon Sanderson takes up a good fourth of the cover, the Industry is hyping this thing up to be the next Wheel of Time, the next Lord of the Rings.

The author, however, has a different view:

My editor, bless his heart, compared THE WAY OF KINGS to DUNE and LORD OF THE RINGS in the catalogue copy that he wrote. He’s a wonderful man, but I cringe when any new book is compared to masterworks like those. DUNE and LotR have proven themselves over decades, passing the test of time. They had monumental influences on their respective genres.


No new novel has the right to claim such a comparison out of the gate. If you go into KINGS expecting the next LORD OF THE RINGS or DUNE, you will be disappointed. I am not Tolkien or Herbert. I am what I am—a largely unproven writer still in the early days of his career.

Early in my drafting process for this book, I fell into some traps by putting too much weight upon the future of this novel. I began to think that KINGS would be the book that would define my solo career, and I began to worry (with all of the recent eyes that have been watching me) that this book needed to be something incredibly jaw-dropping and earth-shattering, otherwise it would be a failure.

That’s a bad way to be thinking as you write a book, and probably an even worse way to be thinking as you start reading a book. The Wheel of Time didn’t start to really make its mark until book three or four; it was the same for Harry Potter. Series like this take time to build. Beyond that, you can’t go into a series with the mind-set that it needs to be a huge blockbuster to be successful.

I’m not sure what I want people to think about this book. I want them to read it, enjoy it, and say nice things about it. I want them to anticipate it and talk about it on blogs, waiting for the day it is released. But in the end, it’s just a book. Let’s not hype this thing to death.

This is the sort of thing that gains my respect.  Mr. Sanderson isn't full of himself as many 'artists' are. He sees himself as an author just starting to make his mark.  He sees his books as just that: Books. 

When he was selected to finish off the Wheel of Time series he acted in a similarly humble manner.  He didn't take what is quite frankly the opportunity of a lifetime for himself, for money or his own vainglory, but for the fans.

Brandon Sanderson writes for the love of the craft, he writes so that people can have fun reading his books.  He writes for all the right reasons.