Get To Know Me Tag!

I was tagged by @hereforthehaunts, thank you very much! I’m doing this at work and have no idea who I’d tag in return, but if you see this and think it looks fun, consider yourself tagged.

Last Song: Purest Gold, by Miracle of Sound (and guest singer The Charismatic Voice) – a song inspired by Malenia, the legendarily cool and hard superboss from Elden Ring. MoS never fails to put out absolute bangers, so go give him a listen!

Currently Watching: Netflix Avatar, which is better than I expected, worse than I hoped, although in fairness I’m only three episodes in. We’ll see how it goes. Other than that, I’m approaching the halfway mark on Campaign 2 of Critical Role, being a very late comer to the show. I’m resigned to never managing to catch up to the live broadcasts, but hopefully I can at least finish Mighty Nein and the…Exandria? spin-offs by the end of the year.

Three Ships: I never really think of myself as being a shipper, to be honest…but I can still answer this lol. Supercorp, which is to say, Supergirl (Kara Danvers)/Lena Luthor, from the Supergirl CW show that finished…last year? is basically my main ship, even though I’ve not finished watching the show yet. I sometimes question whether I actually like the ship or whether it’s more the creative fire that it kinda sorta lit in me (I’ve not actually written much of anything for them, but oh boy do I have ideas), but that probably doesn’t really matter. Fem!Shep/Thane Krios, which is to say, Shepard and Thane from Mass Effect 2 onwards. Possibly somewhat unusually for a Mass Effect fan on Tumblr, I don’t actually have any real preference in ships for the series, but the playthrough where I did this romance was the one that tipped me over from “Mass Effect is a very good series of games that I enjoy a lot” to “Mass Effect is a core part of my personality, and I’m going to start a blog dedicated to the series (which has slowly but surely become a more general blog, as anyone who follows me can attest, but the point still stands)” Tav/Shadowheart, from Baldurs Gate 3. I’m fully intending to do all the romances, but both my playthroughs so far have wound up with her…

Favourite Colour: dark blue, I guess?

Currently Consuming: On any given day, there’s a decent chance I’m watching something by Outside Xbox/Outside Xtra, two hugely entertaining gaming Youtube channels, or their TTRPG spin-off channel Oxventure. I’m also trying to catch up on the Worlds Beyond Number TTRPG actual play podcast, from some of the minds behind Dimension 20 (which I haven’t actually watched beyond clips). I’m trying to finish Dark Souls 3 after an intended short break turned into about two years – just the second DLC and final boss to beat now, so fingers crossed! And I’m reading Nona the 9th, by Tamsyn Muir – too early in the book to comment on that, but I loved the first two books.

First Ship: probably Batman/Catwoman, I guess? Although I had a soft spot for Jacen Solo and Tenel-Ka from the old Star Wars expanded universe.

Place of Birth: UK

Current Location: Work

Relationship status: long term single

Last Movie: American Fiction (loved it)

Currently Working on: I am always mentally rotating my various fiction ideas, but the main thing I’m actually working on is the D&D campaign I’m running  - module based for the most part (Lost Mines of Phandelver, always a classic, with the intention of continuing into Princes of the Apocalypse), but one of the players came up with a backstory that’s going to require a homebrew plot if there’s ever going to be any resolution to it.

Rise of the V-Tuber

As a platform, YouTube has gone through a variety of “eras,” wherein a particular trend catches on and defines the website for some time. In the early days, you had funny cat videos, then Let’s Plays of video games became rather popular, and now we seem to be deeply entrenched into a new era that has exploded in popularity as of late. If you’ve frequented the website at all in the past few months, it is almost inescapable. Cutesy, anime-styled avatars that play games, sing, chat with viewers, or even cook! What does it all mean? Where did they come from? Are they here to stay? Most importantly, how does one crawl out of the rabbit hole once they fall into it? All that and more will be revealed as we delve deep into the wacky, wholesome and sometimes worrying world of V-Tubers. (photo credit YuuGiJoou. Check her out on YouTube, Twitter or Twitch!) 

THE ORIGIN

To begin properly, let’s define the subject. A “V-Tuber” is a “Virtual YouTuber,” someone who streams on YouTube (or any other streaming platform) using a digital avatar as a proxy. The streamer in question typically uses face-tracking software so that the avatar can emote (or at least attempt to emote) to match their own reactions as they provide entertainment for their audience. While it may seem as if V-Tubers are rather new, in doing research on the topic, you’d be surprised how far back things go.

For starters, the concept of a virtual celebrity has been around for a while, with one of the most notable efforts being Hatsune Miku, a Vocaloid voicebank program. Hatsune Miku is every bit as famous and beloved as a flesh-and-blood singer or entertainer despite being nothing but voice synthesizer software. Vocaloid got its start back in 2000, eventually being reworked into a commercial product in 2004, though it wasn’t until the programs started receiving anthropomorphic character designs that it took off, with Hatsune Miku’s own debut in 2007, and the rest is history.

Many will consider “Virtual Idol” Kizuna Ai as the true pioneer of what we call a V-Tuber today, making her debut in 2016, however one could make an argument that Ami Yamato, a 3D-animated vlogging channel debuting in 2013, beat her to the punch. Honorable mention of course goes to Any Malu, a Brazilian animated YouTube vlogger who debuted in 2015 and eventually gained her own show on Cartoon Network Brazil. While Ai may not be the first, she is undoubtedly considered to be the codifier that many later V-Tubers would follow. Ai’s entire shtick was being an AI program that wanted to connect with humans, playing games, singing or interacting with fans. Following her explosive popularity, it was clear that other companies would follow the model established by Ai, with their own spins on it of course.

Nijisanji, established in 2018, proved that this trend could be incredibly profitable, becoming trailblazers in their own right as they established various “branches” of their company in several countries with their own unique performers that could cater to a wider range of viewers. As of this writing, Nijisanji employs over 164 “Virtual Livers,” most of which come from their Japan branch, alongside their Korean, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian branches. Similarly, there is the Hololive corporation, which saw substantial growth throughout 2020 in particular. Established in 2016 originally as Cover Corporation, at first Hololive was the name of an app meant for use in 3D motion capture, though following Nijisanji’s success, Hololive was rebranded as a V-Tuber competitor and also features a variety of colorful characters spread across many different main branches. There is of course the Japanese branch, as well as Hololive Indonesia, the relatively new (and highly successful) Hololive English, a defunct Chinese branch and an all-male Holostar branch in Japan.

Other, smaller V-Tuber groups have sprung up alongside the corporate powerhouses, such as VOMS Project, established in March of 2020, as an independent trio of streamers, and more recently at the tail-end of 2020 with V-Shojo, featuring a group of Western streamers (who ironically mostly stick to Twitch). Outside of this of course are the countless independent streamers who utilize avatars for one reason or another across many different platforms. Even prominent Twitch streamers seem to be getting in on the act, such as Pokimane, though that one has not come without some backlash. So consider that a rough history of how V-Tubers got started in Japan but how did they gain a more global fanbase? Well, in a word…”memes.”

GOING INTERNATIONAL

I won’t deny there had to be at least SOME overseas fans who enjoyed watching V-Tubers before they became more well-known, but for many Western fans their introductions to V-Tubers in general typically came from viral videos taken from various streams that spread like wildfire, eventually getting people curious enough to check them out. For Kizuna Ai, her playthrough of Resident Evil 7 gained notoriety for her mimicking the cursing of the English-speaking player character, and for Hololive, arguably the first real Western breakthrough for the company came from a now infamous moment from Sakura Miko’s stream of Grand Theft Auto 5. 

Also from Hololive, Inugami Korone in particular had a variety of memes spread about her due to playthroughs from various games that even got acknowledged by the developers themselves. Her playthrough of DOOM 2016 resulted in a short-lived Easter egg implanted into DOOM Eternal, and her video on Banjo-Kazooie (and the animated Eekum Bokum fan video that spawned from that) got the attention of Rare, Xbox and even Grant Kirkhope, the composer for the original game.

Honestly, the real unsung heroes of sorts for V-Tuber popularity might just come from foreign fans that would clip and translate various moments from streams that helped to build an international audience. There are dozens of Twitter handles and YouTube channels that specialize in spreading these clips around and if you factor in the YouTube algorithm, once you see one video your feed will be flooded with similar videos. It is no surprise fans call getting into the fandom “falling into the rabbit hole.” When you look at the more popular members of Hololive, often the ones with various viral clips have the higher subscription counts. In the case of Aki Rosenthal, one of the older members, her sub count exploded after a fan translated a section from a then-recent stream in which she talked candidly about her less-than-stellar growth as well as the difficulties of standing out in general. While at one point having the lowest amount of subscribers (well below 200,000), in the months since that video her sub count has more than doubled going past 400,000. Sometimes the talent needs a little push.

Now, within Hololive itself, I think Kiryu Coco is also partially responsible for expanding the fanbase, being one of the few employed talents with the ability to speak English (likely a native speaker), she gained a large international fanbase as she would work to translate what she or other members were talking about on the fly, and later on established an ongoing series where she would directly engage with fans over websites like Reddit and “rate” the various memes they would send in. Coco also pushed for establishing what would become Hololive English, which has proven to be a gigantic success, each member of that branch blowing past more established talent’s subscriber counts, with Gawr Gura becoming the first Hololive V-Tuber to pass one million subscribers and just recently passed the two million mark. So yeah, V-Tubers are a big deal now but…what is about them that makes people want to watch them in the first place?

THE APPEAL

So, right off the bat, if we’re going to ask why someone would want to watch a V-Tuber I think it’s fair to ask that of virtually ANY internet personality. The reason why someone would watch Game Grumps or Pokimane or Jojo Siwa or whoever else is the same reason they’d watch Kizuna Ai or Inugami Korone or Ironmouse: they’re entertaining. I guess that seems like a bit of a cop-out answer, right? There MUST be a reason why V-Tubers have blown up in popularity over the last few years, so are there things that make these particular Internet entertainers stand out from the crowd?

Undoubtedly, the fact that these streamers are playing a character is a deviation from the norm, though the dedication to staying “in character” seems to vary from person to person, and over time many V-Tubers tend to open up and are far more genuine. At any rate, even the best actor out there can’t possibly make up various daily happenings or childhood stories for their characters on the fly, day after day, stream after stream. Still, I’d imagine the decision to use a proxy as opposed to their real self can be liberating, a mask they can wear to speak more freely or a role they can play up for entertainment. For the most part, I think the persona aspect is mostly harmless fun that makes the streamer seem more distinct; ask yourself which is more eye-catching: some normal human playing a game and occasionally cracking a joke, or a one-eyed pirate girl discussing her raunchy past? Or maybe you’d rather watch the grim reaper practice her raps? Even talent that don’t really play up their character much still often have interesting character designs; we have princesses, dragons, devils, robots and more. A little something for everyone!

Speaking a bit more personally, I find it interesting to watch streamers from an entirely different culture and how they interact with fans or engage with games. I find it funny when Inugami Korone or Sakura Miko plays more Western-oriented games like the DOOM series or Grand Theft Auto V respectively. Often times they’re blown away by the culture clash, or they view these games through a different lens since it’s so different from what they’re used to. In particular, those two are just genuine goofballs that are funny all on their own. More chat-focused streams are an interesting view into daily life in Japan, such as the stories Houshou Marine tells, though obviously a given V-Tuber’s viewpoint isn’t a metric you can apply to the whole country, but she’s still interesting to listen to. Takanashi Kiara is also notable for her multilingual skills, which has helped her bridge the gap a bit more between the various Hololive members through her Holotalk segments where she interviews other V-Tubers. Outside of Hololive, Amano Pikamee from VOMS Project is just a bundle of energy that’s fun to watch as she rages in Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine. Her tea-kettle laugh is also just kinda charming. The V-Shojo group stands out for being super vulgar compared to the more corporate V-Tubers and while I don’t watch them all that much, there’s still some fun chaos to be had. Still though, I think there’s one big elephant in the room that would also help explain V-Tubers catching on at this specific point in time: the pandemic. Streaming is one of the few jobs not really affected by the pandemic, and with people stuck inside, they’re more likely to scroll through YouTube or Twitter and find a funny clip and then…well, you know… It’s one bright spot in an otherwise dark time…but I’d be lying if I said it was all sunshine and rainbows.

THE DARK UNDERBELLY

The overall idea behind V-Tubers, at least in Japan, seems to be an extension of Idol Culture…and uh…if you know anything about Idol Culture in Japan, it is all kinds of scummy. Exploitative, filled to the brim with harmful rules and regulations and largely catering to some vary unsavory “fans,” I’ll make it no mystery that I find it incredibly distasteful. Look no further than what happened to Minegishi Minami from the idol group AKB48. To keep a long story short, the obsession with “purity” and being this idealized Japanese beauty means idols are effectively locked into their work, unable to discuss or in many cases partake in romantic relationships, as that would make them less “desirable” to their audience. This unfortunately does at times extend to V-Tubers.

Take Tokoyami Towa, who was suspended for some time and forced to make an apology video for…having some male voices briefly heard over Discord during an Apex Legend stream. She even lost a lot of subscribers and support from Japanese fans following this, though once learning of this, Western fans flocked to her as a show of support. Hololive has also dealt with a variety of issues coming from Chinese fans; though that’s a particular hornet’s nest I don’t want to delve into here too much. To sum it up, fans can get obsessive and toxic, which can lead to the talent being harassed. It is for this reason, it is generally agreed upon by fans to not delve too deep into the personal lives of the V-Tubers, for fear of being doxxed and the illusion being broken. These kinds of issues certainly bring up some interesting questions regarding how talent should be treated moving forward.

Are these V-Tubers characters or just alternate sides of real people? Where does the fantasy end and reality begin? Ultimately, the lines are somewhat blurred. Talent certainly brings some of their own personality into the performance, but they are forced to remain anonymous and as can be seen in the case of Kizuna Ai, they are not always in control of the character they’ve been given. Kizuna Ai’s initial actress was for a time replaced, and “clones” of the character with different voices and personalities started to spring up, likely as an attempt to compete with the likes of Nijisanji and Hololive. In cases where V-Tubers retire from the industry, or “graduate” as some call it, all of their hard work cultivating a fanbase might end up being for nothing as they were forced behind a proxy that isn’t truly themselves and I imagine it can be hard to start over again from square one. Never mind the attempts to step out of the shadow of your older work. Man, Perfect Blue was downright prophetic at times, huh?

I don’t want to dwell on the negatives too much though. It’s worth noting for one thing that Nijisanji seems relatively lax regarding how their talent operates, whereas it seems Hololive is the standout for adhering to the idol ideal, though considering how some of the talent acts (in particular Kiryu Coco), one has to wonder if they’re softening their stances a bit. Many V-Tubers generally talk about the positive aspects of the industry and being given the opportunity to reach people from all over the world. Shortly after Ina’s debut in Hololive English, she was actually brought to tears when told her art streams convinced people to get into (or back into) the hobby, which had been one of her goals for becoming a V-Tuber in the first place. Ironmouse, now a member of V-Shojo, has an immune system disorder that keeps her bedridden and forced to stay inside, so the opportunities afforded by this particular type of streaming has allowed her to reach out to others and as per her own words, has changed her life for the better. While there are definitely “fans” that go too far, corporate practices that are outdated, or harmful and a slew of potential unfortunate implications, ultimately I think most people out there are just looking for quality entertainment, and these digital proxies give these entertainers an outlet to connect with fans in a way that they might not have otherwise.

CONCLUSION

V-Tubers are in a bit of a boom at the moment, though I can’t imagine it’ll last forever. We’re quickly approaching market saturation and after a point, people can only follow so many streamers at once. Hell, as I was editing this up, it seems as if prominent YouTuber Pewdiepie is about to step into the ring, so who knows what kind of shake-up that could bring. The bubble will undoubtedly burst and what becomes of V-Tubers then is still up in the air. Or who knows, maybe V-Tubers will endure and replace all entertainment and we’re just watching the beginning of a cyberpunk dystopia. Stranger things have happened! Considering the world is still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, that should largely have an impact on the popularity of V-Tubers for some time to come, though as we emerge into a “new normal” in the world, it’ll be interesting to see how these entertainers continue to evolve. Now, I suppose there is one question I never quite went over before now, isn’t there? How does one escape the V-Tuber rabbit hole? Well, I’m sorry to say but there is no escape.

Enjoy your new home!

-B

Sword Art Offline - A CrossCode Review

Genre: Adventure Subgenre: Action RPG Developer: Radical Fish Games Publisher: Deck13 Platform(s): PC, Playstation, Switch, Xbox (Reviewed on Xbox Series X) Release Date: July 9th, 2020 Time Played: 60 hours

CrossCode was a game that I knew next to nothing about going in. I heard some faint praise for the title online, but I really had no idea what to expect. The game’s description bills it as a Zelda-like, but offers little else in the way of explanation. The vibrant pixel art environments convinced me to give it a shot. So is CrossCode a success, or is it just a glitch in the system?

Story

In the distant future, humanity has colonized the galaxy. On one remote moon, a company called Instatainment decides to create something unique. They create a one-of-a-kind MMO where the locations in the game are real physical places, and players can log in and explore them using avatars made of something called “instant matter,” a kind of extremely light and insubstantial matter that can be quickly and cheaply conjured up for all sorts of purposes, but cannot meaningfully interact with the physical environment. This MMO is called CrossWorlds, and has become very popular in the world of CrossCode. Despite the fact that the game features an in-universe MMO, CrossCode is in fact an offline, singleplayer game. The different meta layers can be somewhat difficult to explain at times, but I found it to be a novel and interesting setting.

You take control of Lea, a player of CrossWorlds who has seemingly lost her memory. While being aided by man-at-the-keyboard Sergey, she must infiltrate CrossWorlds from the outside and play the game to recover her memories. But all is not what it seems, as a strange flying blue avatar seems to be pursuing Lea.

Along the way, Lea will participate in the game of CrossWorlds alongside other avatars such as the feisty french Emilie (AKA Emilienator), the nerdy Toby (AKA C’tron), the braggadocious Apollo, and many more. Each character has a vibrant design and personality that make them stand out and feel loveable.

The game’s plot is quite intense at times and drips with intrigue, keeping you playing for hours on end. In one of my play sessions, I played the game for over 7 hours in a single sitting, which is a testament to how hooked I was. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout that keep you guessing, and many different layers to ponder over in between sessions. Unfortunately, I feel like the ending falls a touch flat, as it feels like the game just kind of stops and all the conflicts resolve at once, but it’s a small issue.

There is a bad ending to the game, obtainable by missing or failing a single optional story event, but if you’re paying attention and exploring you’ll have no trouble finding it. There is also a DLC epilogue episode that continues from the true ending, but unfortunately this epilogue is not yet available on console at the time of writing. It is currently slated for a ‘Summer 2021’ release, so perhaps I will be able to review it shortly.

I wish there was more I could say about the story because there’s a LOT going on, but unfortunately it would ruin the experience, so you’ll have to discover it for yourself. Suffice it to say that the story kept me intrigued and hungry for more up until the very end. The writing is often witty and funny, and I noticed various references to other series, such as Kingdom Hearts, Gurren Lagann, and Ace Attorney.

Gameplay

CrossCode at its core is a top-down action RPG. Lea has a number of different moves that can assist her in combat, such as melee attacks, ranged attacks, dodging, guarding, and special attacks. Additionally, once you complete the game’s dungeons, Lea will be able to switch into different elemental modes. Each mode has its own stats, special attacks, and affinities, and it pays to be vigilant about which elements are effective against which enemies. Plus, using elemental modes for too long builds up an overheat meter that, when filled, locks Lea out of elemental modes until it depletes. Due to all this complexity, it pays to think on your feet and be conscientious about how you approach fights.

On top of that, there are different consumables that offer timed buffs, different equipment effects which offer different buffs, as well as the Circuit, a skill tree with different trees for each element. Every time Lea levels up, she gains one Circuit Point for each elemental tree to spend on permanent buffs and unlocking special attacks. Some nodes on the circuits require multiple circuit points to unlock, so you’ll have to weigh which nodes to unlock when. All of this combined makes Lea highly configurable, but versatile enough to where you can completely change her build at any time outside of combat.

As you play the game, you will typically have allied characters fighting alongside Lea, which makes tough groups of enemies much more manageable. However, there are many areas which are “instanced” to where Lea must complete challenges alone. These are some of the game’s toughest challenges, and typically involve puzzle solving and/or combat. There are various dungeons around the Playground of CrossWorlds, the in-universe playable area, and most are quite extensive. These are the moments that the game somewhat feels Zelda-like, though really only in that you have to progress through dungeons with various puzzle and combat rooms in order to unlock a new element. Each dungeon adds new mechanics to master, and many dungeons bring back old mechanics from prior dungeons, requiring you to figure out how multiple mechanics work together. I found these sections a ton of fun, even if some of the puzzles were real head-scratchers.

Where would an RPG be without its sidequests? CrossWorlds, and by extension CrossCode, has plenty of sidequests for Lea to undergo to gain experience, money, and items. Most of the quests are your bog-standard fetch quests, but many have the player find new areas, face unique encounters, or even engage in minigames. Fortunately, a lot of the monotony of questing that you’d expect from any other game is mitigated by the fact that you can teleport back to any discovered landmark at any time for free.

As you explore the world, you’ll find yourself engaging in minor platforming. Essentially, areas of the game map are on different elevation tiers, and there are a ton of chests that are locked behind finding out how exactly to manage the elevation to reach a chest on a high ledge, often traveling on high elevation across multiple maps for a single chest. It can be a bit frustrating for people who constantly see chests that are seemingly out of their reach, but I found it fun to hunt them all down. Additionally, using a charged projectile to ricochet off walls and obstacles are quite common. One downside to the platforming is that it can sometimes be difficult to determine the heights of different stage elements at a glance, as the game doesn’t seem to have any sort of visual indication of the different elevations aside from just looking at the relative vertical distance between the floor and the next level. This often causes you to jump into walls or off cliffs during drawn-out platforming sections, which can be frustrating.

Overall, I don’t really agree that CrossCode is a Zelda-like. To me, it’s more like a 2d hack-n-slash without aerial combat. Still, that isn’t a negative, and I feel like CrossCode manages to create something that feels its own and not heavily derivative. I only wish the marketing had played more to its strengths instead of just bragging about how much the game was like Zelda and how many different genres they think they mashed together. I probably would have given the game a shot a lot sooner.

Presentation

The environments of CrossCode are gorgeous, with high detail pixel art that is hard to believe is based on a tileset. The character designs are bold and emotive, and really give you an idea of what each character is about at first sight. The game’s soundtrack is also a banger, with plenty of different tracks in many different instruments. It’s the kind of soundtrack I’d happily listen to outside of the game, and instantly becomes familiar to you.

Conclusion

Aside from a bit of platforming jank and a slightly underwhelming ending, CrossCode is a real gem of a game that anyone who likes RPGs should check out on their platform of choice, and especially if you have Game Pass. This is a game that deserves the same level of cult following as other indie gems such as Celeste and Stardew Valley. I look forward to the coming DLC, and whatever developer Radical Fish cooks up next (hopefully a sequel!)

Score: 9 / 10

Resident Evil Village: How Lady Dimitrescu’s Height Recalls Castlevania’s Dracula

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Weeks after her reveal, Resident Evil fans are still obsessed with Lady Alcina Dimitrescu, the latest standout villain in a series full of them. Specifically, gamers are unexpectedly taken by her height. When you look her up on Google or Twitter, you’ll find people talking about how tall she is, and more recently, how her height compares to other villains in the franchise.

Kotaku initially speculated in a very entertaining article that Lady Dimitrescu was eight feet tall, but Capcom set the record straight this week, cheekily announcing the character’s height on Twitter:

Your love for Lady Dimitrescu is loud and clear. 👒 Here's a message from our RE Village art director Tomonori Takano, along with a very curious fact you may have wondered about: pic.twitter.com/Lj4m5pN2dJ

— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) February 2, 2021

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

In case you don’t know, 9’6″ is really goddamn tall. In fact, she absolutely towers over than the tallest recorded human, Robert Wadlow, who was 8’11”, according to The Verge. Of course, Lady Dimitrescu is a fictional character, so maybe that stat isn’t that impressive (although her height will likely intimidate anyone who runs into her in the game). But even when comparing her to other Resident Evil villains, Dimitrescu is still one of the tallest of the bunch.

A Redditor even put together the following chart (via Games Radar) that puts things into perspective. (I should note that it’s unclear how this user verified each villain’s height for this chart but we’re going to roll with it for the sake of having fun.)

Got bored today so I did this height chart which should put the big guns of the series into context. from r/residentevil

According to this chart, Mr. X and Nemesis, two of the series’ most popular baddies, would be absolutely eclipsed by their vampiric colleague were they all in a room together. And classic Resident Evil hero Leon S. Kennedy would have A LOT to worry about, too. Only Thanatos and UMF-013 could beat Dimitrescu in a dunk contest but who cares about them?

The more important question is whether a Resident Evil villain, and a vampire at that, really needs to be that tall to begin with? After all, Resident Evil 7 and Village protagonist Ethan Winters isn’t exactly what you’d call a formidable hero, especially when compared to mainstays like Leon, Chris Redfield, and Jill Valentine. Unlike his predecessors, Ethan is barely aware of the larger conspiracies and evil corporations behind his adventures, and he certainly hasn’t been trained to fight them. Ethan is an everyman by design, a character who exists as an avatar for the player in a really confusing and frightening situation.

In Resident Evil 7, Capcom smartly used Ethan as the point-of-view character in order to strip down the franchise’s winding tale of global conspiracies and biological warfare to something much more intimate but no less terrifying: a guy stuck in a creepy mansion full of homicidal maniacs and sludge monsters. The game just wouldn’t have had the same effect had a seriously ripped Chris Redfield kicked open the doors of the Baker estate to kick parasite ass.

My point is that throwing a 9’6″ vampire queen at Ethan seems like overkill, but bosses that tower over even the most ordinary human protagonists aren’t all that rare in video games. In fact, the specific tradition of tall vampire bosses hearkens back to one of the longest-running horror game franchises in history: Castlevania.

If you’re one of the lucky ’80s kids who played the original on the NES, you likely remember the game’s final boss fight with the Prince of Darkness, who stands several heads taller than the tough-as-nails, whip-wielding Simon Belmont.

After fighting your way through a gauntlet of Universal Monster-inspired creatures, you finally reach The Count’s coffin. Entering the the chamber, only the vampire’s purple head appears out of the shadows at first before the Count’s true size is revealed. It’s a classic gaming moment that likely intimidated many children back in 1986, even if the boss fight itself seems relatively uninspired by today’s standards.

The Count’s height and modes of attack bring a lot of verticality to the fight, as Simon must jump over the fireballs the vampire shoots from behind his cape and land a hit with his whip on his way down. And when The Count transforms into his final bat monster form, Simon must again jump around and hit the creature’s weakpoint, his head. Needless to say, The Count’s height is his defining feature here, just as it is Lady Dimitrescu’s in promotional materials for Resident Evil Village.

Trevor Belmont faced an even more imposing version of Dracula in Castlevania III, one with multiple forms, including as a giant floating skull monster. Again, the focus of the fight is The Count’s sheer size. And when the series transitioned to 3D with Castlevania 64 in 1999, it continued that tradition.

My guess is that Ethan’s inevitable battle with Lady Dimitrescu will share few similarities with the more platform-heavy boss fights of Castlevania but at least one aspect could make its way to Resident Evil Village: a horrifying final form akin to Dracula’s bat monster. After all, Marguerite Baker and Eveline had nightmarish final mutations in Resident Evil 7.

What could be waiting underneath Dimitrescu’s elegant exterior? The Maiden demo has already revealed that the vampire is hiding incredibly sharp claws perfect for impaling her prey, and there are likely to be more surprises.

Other similarities between Lady Dimitrescu and Castlevania‘s main villain are more obvious, such as the fact that the Resident Evil antagonist commands her own castle and minions. The game also features other enemies you’d be more likely to find in Castlevania than in Resident Evil until now, including a witch and a werewolf.

But while these are all classic horror tropes we’ve seen in other gaming franchises, Lady Dimitrescu’s arrival is an exciting new twist to the Resident Evil formula, and it’s not surprising fans are anxious to learn more about her ahead of the game’s release. She’s a new kind of Resident Evil villain, and judging by the reception so far, one gamers won’t soon forget.

Resident Evil Village is out on May 7 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Resident Evil Village: How Lady Dimitrescu’s Height Recalls Castlevania’s Dracula appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3tsb1Nk

So far, how has summer been treating you? Blah. I really don’t like summer, it’s just hot and miserable and adds to/intensifies my already crappiness. It’s just not a good time. The only good thing are the times I’m able to go to the beach. When was the last time you had a slushie? I have no idea. It’s been quite awhile. Is there someone you miss right now? There’s a few people I’ll always miss.  How many pairs of sunglasses do you own? Zero. Do you prefer sticky notes or cork boards? I have a bulletin board and marker board. I use my marker all the time to put appointment card reminders and write important dates on and stuff. 

What was the last movie you watched online? Like through something like Netflix? It was a Marvel movie I think, but I forget which one. It was awhile ago. Is there much drama going on in your life at the moment? Not drama, just other shit. Are you graduating this year? I graduated college in 2015. Do you feel like doing something radically different with your hair? I just need to get it dyed again and trimmed. I’ve also been considering possibly getting bangs again, but I don’t know. Are you in a relationship? No. Did you ever think your cell was vibrating when it wasn’t? That’s probably happened before. The last person who added you on Facebook, did you accept or decline? I think it was some random person, in which case I declined.  Are you at all interested in America’s Next Top Model? I’ve watched a few seasons here and there. I watched the last 2 most recent ones, and I’d watch a new season if they decided to make another. What did you last take a picture of? My doggo. Would you like to learn another language? I’d like to be fluent in Spanish. I should start practicing it again. What type of earphones/headphones do you own? I just have the Apple ones that you get when you get a new phone. I really want to get a pair of Beats.  Your portable musical device (mp3, iPod, etc): How old is it? I use my phone for music, which is only less than a year old.  Do you own a pet that most would consider different? No. Have you ever wanted to travel to Germany? Sure. When was the last time you used scissors? I don’t recall. What’s your favorite kind of perfume/cologne? I like fruity/sweet ones, but also ones with patchouli. As for colognes, I love cedar wood and sandalwood.  Is there a movie coming out that you would like to see soon? I want to see that movie, Don’t Let Go that just came out, but I’m really looking forward to seeing It Chapter 2. Do you love buying shoes? I’m not super big into shoes, but my thing is shirts.  Do you bother making your bed everyday? It’s always made because I sleep on top of the comforter and just use a throw blanket.  Have you had your wisdom teeth removed yet? Yeah. Have you ever been drunk and regretted it? Yeppp. Do you like to do anything artistic? Coloring is about as artistic as it gets for me. What did you last cook for yourself? Ramen. Has anyone ever called you a “pipe dreamer”? No. Who was the last person to text you? My brother. Think back to your last kiss, did you enjoy it? Yeah. Are you even slightly addicted to applying lipgloss or lipchap? Nope. Do you ever make fun of your own country? Certain things sometimes. What Internet browser do you use? Chrome. Do you consider yourself to be spoiled? You could say that. I just hate that term cause I feel like it has such a negative connotation to it. What song are you listening to right now? XO TOUR Llif3 by Lil Uzi Vert.  Are you comfortable giving random hugs? No. I’m not one to initiate a hug except for with my mom. Or my doggo, ha. Who did you last argue with? More like bickering, but probably with my dad. Do you ever have conversations with your pets? Yep.  Have you ever listened to the band Rammstein? I’ve heard of ‘em, but no I don’t think I’ve heard their stuff.  Do you have any plans for tomorrow? My mom’s birthday is coming up, so my brother and I are going to go get her presents. Who is your celebrity love? Alexander Skarsgard, duh. Are you more a Twitter person or a Facebook person? Twitter. Have you ever lost a best friend? Yeah, a few. Do you own an exercise ball? It’s not mine, but I think we have one in the garage. Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii? We don’t have a PS3, but we have a PS2 & 4, and I like to use the PS4 to watch DVDs or watch Netflix and Hulu.  Are you messy or organized? A bit of both. I didn’t use to be messy, but my room has gotten a bit cluttered. Well, it’s not really what I’d consider messy, though... I just have too much stuff.  What band / artist would you love to see live in concert? I’m sad I never got to see Linkin Park in concert with Chester. :(  Are your nails painted right now? Nope. What was the craziest color you’ve ever dyed your hair? Red. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? Ha, no. Does it snow where you live? No. :( Do you have any significant scars? I have a ton of scars. I don’t know if they’re “significant” or not, but yeah. Who last had their arm around you? My mom. Are you feeling deprived of anything? Yes. Have you ever been obsessed with working out? Nope. What color is the shirt you’re wearing currently? Black. Are you talking to anyone on an IM right now? No. What did you think of the movie Avatar? I really liked it. I can’t believe it’s taken so long for the 2nd one to come out. I think we still have another couple years. Do you collect anything? Giraffe stuffed animals and knickknacks and key chains.  Have you ever feared the future? I do fear the future. What was your highest mark this year in school? Can you walk in 4+ inch heels? No. Is your significant other shorter, taller or the same height as you? I’m single. Is there a friend you would trust with your life? I trust my family with my life. Have you ever been purposely ditched? It felt that way. Do you live in a relatively safe area? My city isn’t the safest, but my neighborhood is. What was the last alcoholic beverage you had? I think it was a rum and Coke, but it was 6 years ago so I don’t really recall. Is there someone you know who is obsessed with Call of Duty? No. Is that even still a big thing now? Have you ever looked into the mirror and hated who you saw? I think that anytime I look in the mirror. I avoid looking in the mirror as much as possible. Is there a piece of jewellry you always wear? No. I haven’t worn any jewelry in like 4 years. When was the last time you saw your significant other? Sigh. What was the longest conversation you’ve had with a person? Several hours. How many purses do you own? 8, but 1 is a mini backpack I use as a purse sometimes and another is a fanny pack. Is there something you should be doing right now? Nah. Do you wish on 11:11? No. What’s your opinion on the Gulf oil spill? Is it hot in the room you’re in right now? Ugh, it’s a bit warm. Can summer please be over?? Are you one of those people who are always rearranging the furniture? I never do that, and if I wanted to I’d need someone else to do it for me. My room is small, so there’s not much rearranging that could be done anyway. Do you listen to any music that’s really old? I like a variety of music from different decades, going back to like the 50s.  Are you a fan of the LA Lakers? I don’t care for sports. When the last time you were upset and weren’t exactly sure why? I feel that way a lot. I mean, usually there’s a reason, like an accumulation of ongoing things, or something in specific, and then there’s the depression, but sometimes in the moment I’m not sure what in particular is making me upset. I guess though it’s like I said, it’s just everything.  Have you ever been somewhere tropical? No, but I’d love to go. Would you consider yourself to be a chocoholic? Not even a little. I’m really not big on chocolate. I’ll have times where I want something and then I’ll have it and be good for awhile. I haven’t had any chocolate in quite awhile, actually. Have you ever heard of Channing Tatum’s website Post The Love? Nope. Do you know anyone who’s currently pregnant? Someone on my Facebook. Are you a fan of mix CDs? I used to make them all the time back in the day.  Has anyone ever given you their business card? Yeah. What is your dream job/career? I don’t have one.  Do you have a friend who’s naturally a redhead? No, but I have a cousin who is. Have you ever had a one night stand? No. What time is it now? 7PM.

378.

So far, how has summer been treating you? >> Pretty well, I’d say. When was the last time you had a slushie? >> I don’t remember. Is there someone you miss right now? >> No. How many pairs of sunglasses do you own? >> Like... four. I need to buy just one good not-cheap pair and be done with it. Do you prefer sticky notes or cork boards? >> I don’t have a preference, it depends on what it’s being used for.

What was the last movie you watched online? >> Crash (1996). Is there much drama going on in your life at the moment? >> There’s none. Are you graduating this year? >> --- Do you feel like doing something radically different with your hair? >> No, that’s way too much work. Are you in a relationship? >> Sure. Did you ever think your cell was vibrating when it wasn’t? >> Yeah, but that doesn’t happen to me as often as it would to someone who’s used to their phone going off a lot. The last person who added you on Facebook, did you accept or decline? >> --- Are you at all interested in America’s Next Top Model? >> Not now. What did you last take a picture of? >> I don’t remember, but I did take some video of the laser light show I got to see during the last storm that passed through. Would you like to learn another language? >> Sure, but not enough to dedicate myself to it right now. What type of earphones/headphones do you own? >> AudioTechnica bluetooth ones, and also a pair of wired Sonys as backup. Your portable musical device (mp3, iPod, etc): How old is it? >> I just use my phone, which is about a year old. Do you own a pet that most would consider different? >> No. Have you ever wanted to travel to Germany? >> Sure. When was the last time you used scissors? >> I don’t remember. What’s your favorite kind of perfume/cologne? >> I like those roll-on scents you get from street vendors in the city. The unfortunate thing about that -- besides the fact that I don’t live in a city anymore -- is that there’s no standardisation of the formula, so an “Opium” variant you get in Chicago smells markedly different than the one that you get off Etsy (which is a thing that just happened to me and it’s so annoying because the one I got in Chicago is my perfect scent). When it comes to amusement rides, do you get sick or can you handle it? >> I’m fine on many of them, but I did do the teacups at Luna Park Coney Island once about 10 years ago and it threw off my equilibrium so badly that I had to sit down for the rest of the day. Is there a movie coming out that you would like to see soon? >> It Chapter Two comes out next weekend and I’m pretty stoked about that. Do you love buying shoes? >> No. Do you bother making your bed everyday? >> No. Have you had your wisdom teeth removed yet? >> No, and I most likely won’t. Have you ever been drunk and regretted it? >> Certainly. Do you like to do anything artistic? >> I like to write. What did you last cook for yourself? >> I don’t remember. Has anyone ever called you a “pipe dreamer”? >> I don’t think so. Who was the last person to text you? >> Sparrow. Think back to your last kiss, did you enjoy it? >> I sure did. Are you even slightly addicted to applying lipgloss or lipchap? >> No, I apply lip balm a lot because my lips get dry a lot, not because I’m “addicted” to it. Do you ever make fun of your own country? >> Sure. What Internet browser do you use? >> Chrome. Do you consider yourself to be spoiled? >> No. What song are you listening to right now? >> None. Are you comfortable giving random hugs? >> No, I’m quite not-comfortable with that. Who did you last argue with? >> The last time I got into a real argument was over a year ago. Do you ever have conversations with your pets? >> --- Have you ever listened to the band Rammstein? >> Sure. Do you have any plans for tomorrow? >> No. Who is your celebrity love? >> --- Are you more a Twitter person or a Facebook person? >> I have neither and I never really liked either of them. Have you ever lost a best friend? >> --- Do you own an exercise ball? >> No. Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii? >> PC. Are you messy or organized? >> I’m more inclined towards organisation. What band / artist would you love to see live in concert? >> Meh. Are your nails painted right now? >> No. What was the craziest color you’ve ever dyed your hair? >> Purple, I guess. Do you consider yourself to be a daredevil? >> No. Does it snow where you live? >> Yes. Do you have any significant scars? >> Er... what makes a scar “significant”?   Who last had their arm around you? >> I don’t remember which inworlder it was. Are you feeling deprived of anything? >> Nope. Have you ever been obsessed with working out? >> No. What color is the shirt you’re wearing currently? >> Black. Are you talking to anyone on an IM right now? >> No. What did you think of the movie Avatar? >> I remember being extremely unimpressed by it. I remember watching it at Sylvia’s Place when I stayed there after returning to NYC from NOLA, and just... dunking on it the entire time. Do you collect anything? >> No. Have you ever feared the future? >> I don’t know, maybe. What was your highest mark this year in school? >> --- Can you walk in 4+ inch heels? >> Yeah, I’ve walked in 6″ heels before. Is your significant other shorter, taller or the same height as you? >> Sparrow is one or two inches taller, Can Calah is one or two inches shorter, and King Crimson is like a whole foot and a half taller. Is there a friend you would trust with your life? >> No. Have you ever been purposely ditched? >> I don’t know, maybe. Do you live in a relatively safe area? >> Yeah. What was the last alcoholic beverage you had? >> I’m drinking a sangria in a can, by Sierra Rose Winery. It’s pretty good, as I expected from them. Is there someone you know who is obsessed with Call of Duty? >> No. Have you ever looked into the mirror and hated who you saw? >> Definitely. Is there a piece of jewellry you always wear? >> Besides piercing jewelry, no. When was the last time you saw your significant other? >> I see two of them constantly and I see the third daily. What was the longest conversation you’ve had with a person? >> I don’t know, hours. How many purses do you own? >> Zero. Is there something you should be doing right now? >> No. I’m going to take a shower after this, though. Do you wish on 11:11? >> No. What’s your opinion on the Gulf oil spill? >> I know nothing of this. Is it hot in the room you’re in right now? >> No, the weather’s been... variable lately. And it’s been a lot chillier than I’d expected overall. Are you one of those people who are always rearranging the furniture? >> No. Do you listen to any music that’s really old? >> I suppose. Are you a fan of the LA Lakers? >> No. When the last time you were upset and weren’t exactly sure why? >> I don’t remember. I usually can trace my moods pretty easily. Have you ever been somewhere tropical? >> Subtropical, but not tropical. Would you consider yourself to be a chocoholic? >> Quite the opposite. Have you ever heard of Channing Tatum’s website Post The Love? >> No. Do you know anyone who’s currently pregnant? >> No. Are you a fan of mix CDs? >> I mean, now we just make playlists. But when I was younger and mixed CDs was The Thing(tm), yeah, I loved them. Has anyone ever given you their business card? >> Yeah. I once thought about making cards that just had all my social media info on it... now we have stuff like carrd.co that kinda functions in the same way. What is your dream job/career? >> I don’t have one. Do you have a friend who’s naturally a redhead? >> No. Have you ever had a one night stand? >> Yeah. Do you listen to the mainstream music or prefer to find your own? >> I listen to whatever I like, is all. What time is it now? >> 3.52p EST.  

also @  last post i dont know anyone who stands like that 

Cy Girls is a PlayStation 2 game

Some say it’s the most mediocre fragments of pop culture that end up defining each era, because they’re little more than amalgams of the flavors of the day, while the best works draw from some greater vision and seem to be immune to time. I don’t think it’s quite that simple. True, there are games like Shadow of the Colossus, whicheven in 2005 felt like it was stuck on the wrong hardware and stands out now as a timeless classic. But then you’ve got Super Mario Bros. 3, which is quintessentially NES despite being one of the NES library’s best-aged titles. So I guess it’s more case-by-case.

In the case of Cy Girls, you may find yourself having a hardcore flashback or two to the age of frosty tips, Fatboy Slim, and Matrix sequels, because CG is pure early 2000s chaff. I can’t think of another game that so shamelessly mashes together so many momentary fads. Bullet time? Check. Cover shooting? Check, and it’s awful. Wall running? Stylish kill screens? “Cyber” aesthetic? CHEX MIX. Plus it’s forged out of the table scraps of Metal Gear Solid 2, so the entire game looks like someone doing a comedic impression of the PS2.

↑ Wall-running was one of the more bizarre fads of the PS2 era, featured in games like Shinobi, Devil May Cry 2, Ninja Gaiden (on the Xbox), Bujingai, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Cy Girls isn’t a good game—the environments are boring, it feels crummy in your hands, the mission objectives are a crash course in how not to design mission objectives—but it exemplifies the ubiquity of the third-person character action genre and the freedom developers had to experiment during the PS2 era. It’s astounding now to fathom a time when something like CG could survive past the earliest phase of conception, let alone make it to market. It has one good idea (more on that later), lacks even basic competency in several areas, and yet is also so big that it spans two discs. It’s both bad and big. Double-disc titles had almost gone extinct thanks to the PS2’s DVD tech, but somehow Konami deemed Cy Girls, agame that is nothing but formulaic tropes, the one which warranted breaking form. I can only theorize that Cy Girls’ co-creator, the toy megacorp Takara, was donating heavily to the cause.

↑ A Cool Girl I found on Google.

To the game’s credit, the best thing about Cy Girls is its main conceit: a virtual, one-for-one cyberspace replica of the real world called “Cy-D.” Both protagonists have a rare gene that lets them “dive” into Cy-D without the typical need for a virtual avatar; they can simply upload their brains or something. They do this via enormous 1940s-style computer terminals scattered throughout the game. A slick FMV commences, and they emerge in a world of neon wireframes and particle effects and malevolent abstract objects. 

It’s a pretty brazen invocation of Tron,and that’s just fine by me. It is inherently enjoyable to occupy Cy-D with its gentle mood lighting and soothing lounge soundtrack. You’re also much more powerful in Cy-D than in the real world, thanks to a long list of “Skills” found over the course of the game. You input these via different sequences of face buttons, an interface I think meant to evoke the feeling of entering and executing a string of code. Simple as it is, it works pretty well, and really helps set the Cy-D activities apart from the banal horseshit of the real world. The Skills themselves range from hollow gatekeeping mechanics (“use this Skill to flick the switch that only exists to give this Skill a purpose!”) to cool core abilities, like a soaring high jump, a flashy dash move, and a stockable projectile attack. You also innately have the ability to bust a tatsumaki-senpûkyakuand a few other martial arts moves. 

Mostly, though, Cy-D time is spent “downloading” readable files, eavesdropping on avatars, and solving puzzles. You can only stay in Cy-D for ten minutes or you go crazy and die, so occasionally it turns into a race to find the right file or hack the right switch and dive out before the clock runs out. These were by far the most exhilarating moments of Cy Girls (especially one occasion where I escaped with literally one second to spare). It’s a cheap thrill, but overall I found the Cy-D stuff very charming and wished they would’ve sent me there more.

Unfortunately you spend much more time in the physical world, which is rarely any fun. While Cy-D offered fantastic light shows and clear, urgent tasks in confined but densely populated spaces, the physical-world stages are sprawling labyrinths of drab, box-shaped rooms filled with drab boxes. Mission objectives are often vague, the map only sometimes gives you an objective waypoint, and puzzles are often nonsensical, unreasonably laborious, or both. There are no good block-pushing puzzles in gaming, but Cy Girls contains the uncontestable worst block-pushing puzzle in history. Even trying to explain why it’s so bad would be too tedious to bother, but I’ll just say it took multiple hours to even set it up, and another half-hour to execute even after looking up the solution in a FAQ.

Each of the two discs in Cy Girls is a separate campaign starring a different Cy Girl—there’s Ice, the gunslinger, and Aska, a katana-swinging ninja. I played the Aska campaign, which often felt like it was taking notes from Tenchu—you have a comically huge inventory of ninja tools, including a shamelessly similar grappling hook and several functionally redundant projectiles, but unlike Tenchu the game basically never challenges you enough to encourage any thoughtful strategy or discernment. Aska can perform cinematic insta-kills simply by jumping before an attack or by attacking when close to a group of two or more enemies, so she can get through almost any encounter by charging straight in. It’s like playingTenchuif you could stealth kill without being stealthy. That could make for some fun power-fantasy escapism were the mission objectives not so elusive or the enemies infinitely respawning. Even Aska’s more spectacular kills get really old after you’ve aimlessly scoured the entire map a third time.

At some point you take a step back and realize that the bulk of Cy Girlsis just an indiscriminate list of features from other PS2-era games. Its back-of-box text should read, “It sure is a PS2 game!”—even on the GameCube version. Instead, it says “Fight terrorism from deep caves to outer space.” Fine.

Anyway, it’s hard to recommend anyone subject themselves to Cy Girls, but there’s a timestamped charm to it I can’t seem to deny. What it lacks in entertainment value it makes up for as a conversation piece, and that earns it a permanent place on my shelf.

Weirdly, a bit of post-credits text confirms there was a sequel in the works by the name "Beyond the 8th Dimension," which was also the subtitle of '80s cult flick Buckaroo Banzai. I must know more.

Figures

Axel 1.01

“You’re gonna want to lift with your knee more - no, lean foreword more. You need to hit your toe pick just before you take off. Make sure you bounce more off the ball of your foot.” Brian mimed out the jump in slow motion.

Taylor tracked the motion with narrowed eyes before attempting it herself, landing off kilter and stumbling into the back of a couch.

Alec flipped her the bird over his shoulder, though the disruption didn’t seem to have affected his gaming. Taylor had yet to discover why the Underskaters had their practice space outitted with an entertainment system, or why half of them seemed to live in the loft.

“Almost. Make sure you bend your knee as you land, or you could wind up with hairline fractures from repeated impact.”

Brian’s hands rested on her waist as he guided her through the takeoff. Even with him supporting her weight, her jump was off center.

She was yanked from her thoughts by the sound of the door crashing open and bouncing off the opposite wall.

“Pull up your socks, boys and girl, because we’re robbing a bank!”

Lisa was grinning, scanning the group to gauge their reactions. Rachel shouldered past her, scratching Angelica’s head in greeting.

“Music?” Alec didn’t look up from his video game.

“I have a list. Coach likes the sound of ‘Robbery, Assault, and Battery.’ He’ll probably go for a jazz feel with the choreography.”

Alec nodded, narrowing his eyes at the Xbox as his character hacked away at enormous rats.

“No.” Brian intoned. “Such a bad idea. Didn’t Arcadia FSC just put together a cops and robbers number?”

Lisa waved a hand disdainfully. “Ours will be better. Besides, there’s is focused on the cops. We’ll be the robbers.”

Taylor looked back and forth between them as Brian pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s the principle of the thing. Unspoken rules and all that. Don’t skate what someone else is already skating.”

“We could go for a different division,” Taylor offered. Brian shook his head emphatically in response.

“No. You wouldn’t have the stamina for a six minute number, and we can’t drop a level this close to the competitive season.”

Taylor shrugged, trying not to let that sting. She was the newest member of the group, but that didn’t mean she was new to the world of skating.

“Come on, Brian,” Lisa wheedled. “Taylor’s never done a light entertainment group number before. That’s like a rite of passage! And we can beat Arcadia.”

Rachel nodded. “We win.” She raised her chin towards Taylor. “We won before we had her.”

“What do you think?” Alec turned towards Taylor as his avatar died.

Taylor blinked, surprised to be singled out. “I think Brian makes a good case. It seems reckless.”

“Ok,” Lisa agreed. “He made some valid points. But hear me out?”

Brian frowned like he wouldn’t be convinced, but she continued.

“We’ve beaten Arcadia FSC before, but not in this competition. Last year we had to skip this one because Brian’s shoulder injury had him benched for a month. And while beating them in regionals last time was great, it wasn’t well publicized. Now, this is the biggest competition in Brockton Bay. We win this and we get great publicity”

“We can beat them with a different number.”

Lisa nodded. “We could, but beating them with a similar program would attract more attention. And on top of that, Coach has made big promises for if we do this program. Entree fees, costumes, props, even ice time. All dovered.”

Taylor frowned. “Why would he do that?”

“He sponsors us. Stands to reason he doesn’t want to sponsor a team of nobodies.”

Brian leaned back into the couch. “Well, you got me in, I guess. Sounds good.”

Lisa turned towards Rachel expectantly.

“Yes.”

“Alec?”

“Fuck, yeah, I’m in.”

“Aaaaaand Taylor?”

Lisa’s bottle glass eyes were sharp when she smiled, but Taylor could see the hope in them.

“I guess we’re robbing a bank.”

Weekend Top Ten #375

Top Ten Games That Could be Films

Well. Sonic. That’s a thing, yeah? The last couple of weeks, when not consumed with Avengers-related news and emotions, have seen people on t’net talking about Sonic, and his weird human legs and nice set of teeth. It’s certainly an odd design, although I sympathise with the creatives involved, even the executives who (I’m presuming) were the driving force behind Sonic’s movie look, okaying what the artists and animators were producing and steering them towards something that, I’m sure, they thought would sell. It’s a tough business and, to paraphrase William Goldman, nobody really knows that much when you think about it.

Among the many think-pieces that have sprung up, however, there is one point I disagree with: that it’s pointless to adapt a game into a movie at all. Certainly there should be no attempt to “legitimise” a gaming property with a film adaptation; games are great and will always be great, as games. But there are games with an iconography, storyline, or set of characters that could translate into movies. As it happens, Sonic the Hedgehog is one such game. He’s instantly familiar both to old farts like myself who remember the nineties, and also to the young folk who will be the film’s target audience. As it happens, I think the rough plot of the film – Sonic and Robotnik enter the “real world” – is probably the best storyline to tell, rather than adapting the game’s plot; it gives us a recognisable world, allows for some A-list casting (Jim Carrey as Robotnik, James Marsden as Sonic’s human pal), and following on from the likes of Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Smurfs, Christopher Robin, et al, the notion of CGI characters interacting with humans is a familiar movie trope, so much so that it’s practically a sub-genre of kids’ films (and can end up getting lampooned in adult-oriented films such as Paul or Ted).

No, I think a much worse decision is to try to adapt a game’s plot; to straight-up cart it across from console to movie screen (or, if you’re watching it on DVD, from, er, Xbox to Xbox, I guess). The first generation of game adaptations were especially guilty of this, often trying to graft a more realistic plotline, with character motivations and whatnot, onto games where “story” should really be read as “objective”: Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Bros, Doom, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Whilst some of those films still retain a goofy charm (I will go to bat for Street Fighter being an absolute camp delight), they’re not good, not really. Far better, in my opinion, to take an existing world, one with deep and familiar iconography, and tell stories within it: sort of what the Sonic movie is doing, which we can almost assume is in continuity with the previous games. The best example of this, I think, is Halo; there have been a number of shorts and TV series based on the Halo games, set in the same world, often serving as prequels to the games themselves. And whilst they rarely go beyond a spot of pulpy fun, they do feel of a part with the games themselves. What they don’t do is re-tell the story of the games, and in that, they succeed where other game adaptations have fallen down.

There are examples of games with strong storylines that could be adapted, I think, but they would need care and attention, and should avoid being straight-up ports of the games. Use the storylines, if strong enough, but feel free to chop and change to make it work on film.

Another thing that some games have going for them, that makes them difficult to translate into movies, is that they’re really just film adaptations anyway. I think this is why the Doom and Tomb Raider movies have been less successful than perhaps you’d think; Doom is a sci-fi horror film, not too far away from Aliens (and especially quite close, even though it pre-dated it, to Event Horizon); Tomb Raider is basically Indiana Jones with a woman. The same is true for Red Dead Redemption, which I’m sure has Hollywood types arranging meetings as we speak; it’s a blockbuster, a game with instant name-recognition, a built-in audience, and strong iconography. The problem is that iconography is adapted from dozens of Westerns from The Searchers to Unforgiven to Deadwood to Bone Tomahawk. Quite frankly, we’ve seen that before.

Anyway: here are ten games (or game franchises, I suppose) that I think could stand to be adapted. Some of them are strong stories, some of them are great worlds. Hollywood, feel free to get in touch.

The Secret of Monkey Island (1990): despite banging on about adapting worlds not stories, Monkey Island has a story worth adapting. Sure, it needs adapting, but it has characters, a beginning, middle, and end, and a world that could be seen on the big screen. Pirates of the Caribbean probably stole a bit of its thunder, but that franchise looks like it’s sinking at the moment (no pun intended), so doing a much wackier, almost ZAZ-style take on the pirate movie could be really good fun. My advice would be to put Guybrush and Elaine together for much of the narrative and give them some screwball dialogue.

Command and Conquer (1995): hear me out… the C&C games have a seam of mythology richer than a source of Tiberium, and could lend themselves to a sci-fi war epic. There are characters in there worth adapting – well, Kane, at least – and whilst the risk of it turning into a GI JOE movie is great, if they keep their tongue slightly in their cheek it could be a really good, fun action movie that harks back to ‘80s genre classics. I mean, the C&C cut-scenes are famously hammy, and whilst I don’t think they should quite dial it up to eleven, maybe keeping it a good seven or eight would be good fun. Also: Red Alert, which arguably is funnier (and funner, if that’s a word), but at the moment “comedy Russian bad guys” isn’t quite so benign a concept.

The Legend of Zelda (1986): either as an animation or live-action, I could definitely see a Zelda movie working. For a start, every game is sort of a reboot, a brand new story but still set in the same world as tropes, characters, and events repeat themselves. That means you could tell a story right from the start, drawing on the best plot elements and pieces of iconography from across multiple Zelda games, but it could still be in-continuity with the game series itself. A sprawling fantasy epic but skewing younger than the likes of Lord of the Rings, it could be an absolute winner. Like Monkey Island, I’d keep Link and Zelda together for much of the narrative, however.

Mass Effect (2007): this one might be cheating a bit, because I think there actually is a film in the works (I mean, there’s probably a film in the works for half of these games…). Also it might be cheating a bit because in this case, I don’t think you’d adapt it into a film, but rather a TV series. I’d adapt the story, roughly, but give it a direct narrative thrust. I think if it was a film you’d have to cut too much; it’d feel too propulsive, and risk becoming just another sci-fi action movie. But a series – maybe a 12-episode Netflix affair or something, with a big budget – could allow room to linger, to have the odd episode go off on a tangent to explore the Geth or Rachni or whatever. I’d also look at both men and women for the lead, and cast whoever was best, in a nod to the gender choices of the game itself.

Fable (2004): this is one where I think it’s the world rather than the plot that’s worth adapting: a fun, almost Python-esque version of a fictional fairy-tale Britain. A new recruit to the Hero Academy who is trying to prove themselves whilst also battling Jack of Blades. I’d keep the humour and the bawdy tone, and add in characters from across the Fable series, making it much more of an ensemble. Arguably it’s the gameplay and the emergent storytelling that’s part of Fable’s charm, but I do really think there’s enough there to hang an adult comedy fantasy film on.

Duke Nukem 3D (1996): this is one that could go very badly, but I still think there’s potential. Duke Nukem as a character is a boor, an oaf, a misogynistic pig, a relic of a bygone age worth forgetting. Whilst I think exploring this character in a contemporary setting would be more interesting in a game (especially as you could explore the twenty-year-old gameplay differences, too), you could use Duke as an avatar of the ‘80s, almost, to critique action cinema of years gone by. A washed-up sexist dinosaur who has to be pulled out of retirement, I’d cast an older actor with some comedy chops but also a solid physical pedigree: maybe even Arnie?! You’d have to be careful that if you had a redemption arc for him you didn’t end up justifying the crassness of the original game, however.

Another World (1991): this is one where it’s the world and the style that’s the key, although there’s a vague enough story there to adapt. A scientist is transported to, literally, another world, and has to survive, ending up joining a slave rebellion. The game is all funky graphics and cool gameplay (by 1991 standards, at least), but with the right director you could transfer that brilliantly to the screen, and it allows enough room to explore the psychological effects on Lester Chaykin. One of the things I really like about the game, is that unlike other human-transported-to-alien-world storylines, Lester is way out of his depth; he’s not a superhero, not a revolutionary. He is battered by the elements, hunted by animals, imprisoned, beaten, and ultimately (spoiler alert) saved by one of the aliens. You’d have to keep this element of the game to avoid it feeling like too much of a cliché.

BioShock (2007): this one might be a bit more conventional, and risk being another Doom-style adaptation of a game, trying to follow a story that’s more about gameplay than literary flourish. But there is something there, I think; for one, there’s the steampunk aesthetic of a decaying underwater 1940s utopia, all art-deco and brass, the outside world rushing in and laying waste to such finery. There’s the philosophical discussion at the heart of BioShock, giving filmmakers something interesting to hang it all on. There’s the horror element: the creepy Little Sisters, the shock-horror Splicers, the terrifying Big Daddies. Finally, there’s the twist, which – I’m gonna be honest here – would not work anywhere near as well in a film, but all the same, it’s a twist. It is, perhaps, the most vanilla of the options I’ve laid out here, but I’d still like to see it.

Jet Set Willy (1984): there are quite a few relatively obscure (compared to, say, God of War) 1980s games that could make good films. The first Maniac Miner; Skool Daze; Dizzy. But I’ve plumped for the surrealism of Jet Set Willy. Picture it: cast someone who broke through in the ‘80s – Pierce Brosnan, Richard E. Grant, Adrian Edmondson – and get someone like Danny Boyle or Edgar Wright to direct. The tale of a drunken gone-to-seed former celebrity who starts out trying to clean himself up after one party too many – possibly in some vain attempt at a comeback – only for the film to just get crazier and crazier as he ventures deeper into his bizarre stately home, discovering hidden treasures, secret rooms, occult shenanigans, and much more. Is it “real”? Is he losing his mind? A freakish, twisty, deeply surreal black comedy ensues. It’d probably make no money but be a cult classic!

Worms (1995): most of these I’ve imagined as being live-action, often big-budget affairs; Hollywood blockbusters. But who’s to say we can’t adapt a game into a cartoon? Certainly, it’s been done before, and with degrees of success: obviously on TV, but there’s also the Angry Birds movie, which I’ve not seen and which doesn’t strike me as being overly impressive, but which was clearly a big enough deal to warrant a sequel. There’s an animated Mario movie in the works, animated Pokémon has been a staple for twenty years, and there are those who’d argue that animation was a better route for Sonic, too. So why not apply that logic to Worms, a great British success story? There could be different clans of Worms warring over a piece of land (perhaps a garden that, from their view, is an epic battlefield); that would allow the different Worm voices to come into play. But something means they have to unite for a common cause. Inject it with a dose of British humour, a splash of surrealism, and a some satirical social commentary, and you’re onto a winner.

There you are. Seemingly-obvious suggestions like Metal Gear, Gears of War, or Half-Life I have quietly shifted to one side, and other adventure games with good stories (Grim Fandango, Thimbleweed Park, Life is Strange) I sort of feel had their box ticked by Monkey Island. But somewhere in this list I’m convinced there’s at least one great, great film. In the meantime, I’m off to see Detective Pikachu. Who knows? Perhaps that will be the film that breaks videogaming’s cinematic duck (or at least Psyduck).

Either or tag

Thanks to @reluctantreader00 for tagging me, and apologies it took so long to respond!

Rules: Answer all the questions, add one question of your own at the end, and then tag as many people as there are questions.

1. Coke or Pepsi? Coke, I guess? I’ve never really been able to taste that much of a difference between the two, honestly...

2. Disney or Dreamworks? Er, probably Disney. In terms of CG films I certainly prefer Pixar’s output to any of Dreamworks’ stuff.

3. Coffee or tea? Coffee, no question. I can’t stand normal tea, but I’ll drink fruit/green teas etc.

4. Books or movies? I enjoy both, but if I absolutely had to choose one over the other, in some sort of desert island or apocalypse scenario, it would be books. No question.

5. Windows or Mac? Windows, perhaps mostly out of finanical necessity. Would probably defect to Mac if I had that sort of money.

6. DC or Marvel? I’m never really read the comics, but I’m quite a fan of the movies produced by both. While I feel the current DC universe movies get far too harsh a rap, I probably prefer the MCU at the end of the day, as it has been more consistent in quality (and I’ve enjoyed movies like Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man and Dr. Strange despite knowing next to nothing about the source material!)

7. Xbox or Playstation? Hm, well time was my answer would have been Xbox - I got an original Xbox back in 2001, mainly because a lot of Sega franchises ended up making a home there (I was a Sega kid growing up, and stuck by them right up until the Dreamcast, and still do now), i.e. Jet Set Radio and Shenmue, and then got an Xbox 360 as again there were lots of games that appealed to me. However, this generation I ended up going for the PS4 - mainly because of Shenmue III being confirmed for it, I won’t lie, but I’ve picked up plenty of other games as well - the Xbox One just doesn’t really appeal to me. So basically, was Xbox, but in terms of current generation, PlayStation without a doubt.

8. Dragon Age or Mass Effect? Not played either.

9. Night owl or early riser? Early riser. I hate wasting the day.

10. Cards or chess? I’m not a huge fan of either, but I’d probably go for cards given the choice (a SIMPLE card game, mind you!)

11. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate. Duh!

12. Vans or Converse? Never really worn either...

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar? Dragon Age related, as I understand. Can’t answer as I’ve never played the games :P

14. Paragon or Renegade? Mass Effect related. Again, see above.

15. Star Wars or Star Trek? Hmm, now to be completely honest I actually hadn’t seen the original Star Wars trilogy until very recently. They’re quite good, I guess? I also enjoyed Episode 7 a lot. I was never a massive Star Trek fan, but I watched the odd episode of Next Generation when my Dad did when I was growing up. I do really like the reboot movies, however. I’m more a casual fan of both, I’d say, so can’t really choose one over the other.

16. One episode per week or binge watch? It depends. Certain shows I like to binge, but some are better spoon-fed over the weeks.

17. Gandalf or Obi-Wan? Gandalf

18. Heroes or villains? Probably villains, or preferably anti-heroes :)

19. John Williams or Hans Zimmer? I certainly recognise John Williams’ brilliance, but Hans Zimmer did the music for the Simpsons movie, so he might just have the edge for me :P

20. Disneyland/World or Six Flags? Haven’t been to either.

21. Forest or sea? Oooh, tough one. I very much enjoy both, but my absolute favourite part of summer is going for a dip in the sea, so I may have to go for that.

22. Flying or reading minds? Hm, probably flying. I get socially anxious anyway, I doubt I’d want to hear what someone is actually thinking when I’m talking to them :P

23. Twin Peaks or Northern Exposure? Haven’t seen either.

24. Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Lord of the Rings.

25. You’re banished to a deserted island, which Benedict Cumberbatch character would you choose to take with you? Hm, well Sherlock I could see becoming beyond irritating very quickly...Doctor Strange however could be useful...but I’m tempted to just go for plan ol’ Benny C, as there’s certainly worse people to be stuck on a desert island with... <3

26. Train or cruise ship? I am about to go on my first cruise ever next month, so I’ll let you know after that!

27. Brian Cox or Neil deGrasse Tyson?: I’m more familar with Brian Cox, and he seems like a cool guy, so let’s go with him.

28. Art museum or science museum? Art Museum.

29. Irish pub or night club? Irish pub.

30. Aang or Korra? Haven’t watched anything to do with Avatar.

31. Swimming in a pool or lake? I’ve never swam in a lake, but I would love to one day. So let’s go with that :)

32. Classic music or classic literature? Classic Literature.

33. Oxford comma or no oxford comma? Oxford comma!

34. Digital or paper books?

I can see the appeal of digital, and do in fact own a Kindle, which I mainly use for reading while travelling rather than lugging loads of books with me. But when it comes right down to it, you can’t beat a good old-fashioned paper book. I hope it’s a medium that will stand the test of time.

My question:

35. Dogs or cats?

@teacup13 @lovelydisarray @vasilinaorlova @maxmundan @chibimanda @instanceandthephrase @ernestwannabeartist @litadoolan @clandestine-serendipity @scotthastiepoet @stormingherworld @

Tagged by @limeyfandump

Rules: Answer all the questions, then add one of your own, and tag as many people as there are questions.

Let’s get started!

1) Coke or Pepsi? 

-Coke

2) Disney or Dreamworks? 

-Disney…?

3) Coffee or Tea? 

-Tea, I’m not a huge fan of coffee, I like hot chocolate way more. 

4) Books or movies?

-Books, definitely books

5) Windows or mac?

-Windows, I really don’t like Apple’s formatting on things

6) D.C. or Marvel? 

-Marvel for sure, it’s my second obsession besides Miraculous

7) Xbox or PlayStation? 

-I’m not too sure, I’ve had both at some point. Probably Xbox?

8) Dragon age or mass effect?

-Mass effect? Only because I’ve heard about it maybe once.

9) Night owl or early riser? 

-Night owl

10) Cards or chess? 

-Cards

11) Chocolate or vanilla? 

-Vanilla

12) Vans or converse? 

-Converse ‘cause Vans make my feet hurt.

13) Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar? 

-I’m sorry, what?

14) Fluff or angst? 

-Oops, angst.

15) Beach or forest? 

-Forest, I’m surrounded by beaches, something different would be nice.

16) Dogs or cats? 

-Cats, duh?

17) Clear skies or rain? 

-Oh man, I can’t pick. Uhhh- rain?

18) Cooking or eating out? 

-Cooking. It’s more fun.

19) Spicy or mild food? 

-Mild, but a bit of spice doesn’t hurt every now and then.

20) Halloween/Samhain or solstice/yule/Christmas? 

-I don’t celebrate any of these? I guess Halloween- unless Eid counts :D

21) Would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot?

-A little too cold for sure. I alway am anyway, and I can’t stand heat.

22) If you could have a superpower what would it be? 

-Oh, well uh... I don’t know. This is hard. Controlling some kind of light magic?

23) Animation or live action?

-Animation

24) Paragon or renegade? 

-I don’t wut dis is

25) Bath or shower? Shower

-Shower

26) Team Cap or team Ironman? 

-Iron Man, yup yup

27) Fantasy or sci-fi?

-Fantasy!

28) Do you have 3 or 4 favorite quotes if so what are they? 

-I don’t feel like finding them thoough. They’re from Harry Potter and The Lord of The Rings.

29) YouTube or Netflix? 

-YouTube

30) Harry Potter or Percy Jackson? 

-HARRY POTTER.

31) When do you feel accomplished? 

-Whenever I finish a big project!

32) Star Wars or Star Trek? 

-Star Wars

33) Paperback books or hardcover books? 

-Hardcover

34) Fantastic beasts or Cursed child? 

-Fantastic Beasts

35) Rock or pop music?

-Neither? I like more classical or whimsical stuff. I don’t like current pop or rock, I like more around 2010-ish ones. I guess I like rock a bit more?

36) What is the most important thing in your life? On a day to day? 

-Family and friends! 

37) Mountains or sea/ocean?

-I saw this and went “to drown, or fall?”, but yeah mountains.

38) How do you express yourself? 

-Through pretty much anything you can think of in the arts. (music, sewing/crafting, drawing, designing, etc.)

39) What’s the first book/film that really counted to you? 

-The Lunar Chronicles

40) What’s your element (air, water, etc.)? 

- I’M THE AVATAR. Okay, if I had to pick, water/ice.

41) If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

-Paris, France 

42) If you had any job in the world, what would it be? 

-I don’t know. There’s so many things and AAAH. Fashion Designer maybe, or a doctor of sorts.

43) If you were granted three wishes, what would they be? 

-To get into a really good college, live in a really nice place, and have a really good GPA.

44) If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? 

-Rice

45) What’s currently the most pressing issue on your mind, and what’s stopping you from fixing it?

-Keeping up really good grades and getting into this one program. Nothing’s really stopping me, I’m trying my hardest, but times I worry my hardest isn’t good enough.

My Question:

46) If there was anything you could get better at, what would it be?

tagging: @amynchan @luckycharmer @felineflyer @theblackkitteh @tempodreams @parareve @gaveuponloveandraisedchickens @lisilou06 @clarenecessities @nojamsjimin01 @nicodiangeloshappymeal @mahaliciously 

(I don’t really know anyone else to tag soo...)

Digital Game Genre Brief.

 Genre 1: First Person Shooter -

First-person shooter (fps) is a video game genre centered around gun and other weapon based combat, in first person perspective, which is when the player experiences the action through the eyes of the character you’re playing which is usually the protagonist. With Fps, you’re playing through the point of view of the protagonist (pov).

 Game example: Call of duty: world war 2-

Call of duty world war 2 is a first person shooter set in world war 2, the gameplay is rather quick and although it includes a campaign it mostly revolves around its multiplayer aspect which is why it has become so successful over the years, it includes excellent gunplay which you get to experience in first person, this really draws you into the game almost turning you into the soldier, it’s a very immersive experience when played with a good quality headphone, listening to enemy footsteps and hearing where people are fighting at can give you a huge advantage in player versus player (pvp) scenarios.

 Audience: kids, teens and adults. Although it is r18+ a lot of parents buy it for their kids. It’s got a player age range of around 10+ although its mostly suited for teens and over due to its language and gore.

 The purpose of this game is an accurate representation of world war 2, with some good multiplayer and some even better times when played with friends, like any other game I think its main purpose is just for people to enjoy it.

 Platforms: pc - Xbox - play station.

This franchise has many other titles and merchandise which is too much to go into. A lot of cosmetic items such as shirts etc.

 Genre 2: Role playing game –

Role playing game (RPG) is a game in which the player assumes the role/roles of character and together creates stories, players determine the actions of their characters either it be because of their characterizations or by the choices that they make during the game, and the actions succeed or fail according to the systems rules or guidelines.

 Game example: Fallout 3-  (1st or 3rd person view)

Fallout 3 is a role-playing game where you awake in a place called the vault, from there you create your character and set out on a quest to find your father (James) which has set out to the wasteland for various reasons that you must discover through your journey. Through this journey you will have various choices to make which affect the story and people in the game, each action has a consequence, I think that’s a really important feature in most role-playing games. It also includes a lot of combat which kind of makes it an action rpg, but I’ve placed it in the rpg category since that’s what it labels itself as.

 Audience: it’s a r18+ game which has an older fan base, anywhere from 18 and up, most younger kids didn’t seem to get into it, or maybe their parents just didn’t buy it for them, it includes drug use and violence which might put off some parents.

 The purpose of this game was for you to experience a somewhat realistic radioactive wasteland, which I think Bethesda has done really well, and just like any game its purpose is for you to enjoy your time playing it. It tells a very good story and puts you in the shoes of “the lone wanderer” very well.

 Platforms: Pc - Xbox - play station.

Fallout has a lot of merchandise and titles, with there being 6 fallout games and a whole lot of cosmetic items and board games available for purchase, you can even get life size replica Armor.

Genre 3: Multiplayer Online Battle arena –

Multiplayer Online battle arena (Moba) also known as action real-time strategy (is a subgenre of strategy video games that originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, in which a player controls a single character in a team who compete versus another team of players. Usually 5v5 which is traditional in dota and league.

 Game example: League of Legends –

League of Legends (LoL) is a Multiplayer Online Battle arena were teams of 5 go head to head in combat, the objective of the game is to destroy the enemy team’s nexus which is done by getting kills, objectives and towers etc. it’s in a small map with 3 lanes and a jungle which also seems to be the case with most Moba’s out in this day and age, very traditional approach which was started with dota and heroes of newerth. In most Mobas you’re usually looking down on your character almost as if its birds eye view but slightly tilted.

 Audience: this games audience ranges from kids to adult, its accessible to all, as long as you have the skill to climb ranks, or you can just play for fun in normal games or against bots. Very kid friendly, swear block etc.

 The purpose of this game is to win, that’s all, it’s to show your skill on the rift and to win, that’s all people care about, it’s what has esports going crazy with millions and millions of dollars in each tournament, although of course like any other game it is also to have fun.

 Platforms: pc – mac.

League has only one title but it also has a lot of cosmetic merchandise such as hats, plushies, figurines etc. it has almost become like a merchandise brand as well as the game company (riot) – creators of league.

Genre 4: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game –

Short for massively multiplayer online role-playing game it is a type of game genre. MMORPGs are online role-playing multiplayer games which allow thousands of gamers to play in the game's evolving virtual world at the same time via the Internet.

In these games, you usually create a character with a class, that is meant to be like an avatar of you in this online world.

 Game example: World of Warcraft – (played in 3rd person)

World of Warcraft is a game where you choose and alliance, either horde which is orcs, trolls, tauren etc. or alliance which are human, dwarf, elf etc., type of races, from there you start creating your character, you can completely customise him/her, from ears to markings till you get the type of character you envisioned, from there you load into your online world of azeroth were you level up by slaying monsters and questing, alone of with friends, the level cap was once 50 but now it stands at a staggering 110, this world is huge and the amount of highly populated servers are vast, many people have lost their life to this game due to its addictiveness and its sheer scale, one of the biggest maps in gaming where you simply can’t just walk to the other side of it, there are mountains, earth ruptures, underwater cities, walking dragon cities, portals, kingdoms, it’s basically a second life.

 Audience: although teens have played this game, its player base is mainly adults, since it’s a pay to play membership only type of game as well as being quite complex with things to do and time to invest, it isn’t your normal type of RPG hack n slash, it takes a very long time to be strong. Mostly if not 80% adults playing this game.

 The purpose of this game is to let people live in this virtual reality and fight alongside friends as they level and progress through the worlds, and eventually attack the other alliance, as any other game the purpose is to enjoy it, but I believe the developer wanted this to almost become like a fully functioning second world, which at one point it was treated like so.

 Platforms: pc

Wow has a few other titles but with its main focus being on this Wow, like any other game there are merchandise like plushies, figurines and all that, there is also a world of Warcraft movie that came out recently.

Genre 5: Action-

Action games are games that have more to do with physical challenges, such as parkour, fighting, running, chasing etc. action games have quite a broad category and are usually 3rd person but can also be first person, also as what the game is can be considered “action”.

 Game example: Ratchet and clank Gladiator- (3rd person)

Ratchet and clank gladiator is a game where the protagonist fights in gladiator like challenges where he needs to parkour, fight, shoot his way through challenges and trouble, a lot of fighting, mostly fighting and dodging enemy’s, which I guess is what puts it in the action category, it’s not spot on shooting like a fps but it’s not trying to be a fps shooter, it’s in the action category and gamers that play a lot can just tell that the difference between fps shooters and action shooters are huge.

 Audience: ratchet and clank Gladiator was directed at kids, just like the other ratchet and clanks, I’m not sure how many adults played this game, but from my child hood I remember almost all of my young friends played it. Pg+.

 The purpose of this game was sort of like an action movie played out by you in a game, where you follow the protagonist and his sidekick through the challenges and obstacles they face, very entertaining to a kid back then, its impact on kids was an admiration for this character and his little robot sidekick.

 Platforms: play station only.

Ratchet and clank has had many titles as well as recently having a remaster of the first game with stunning new graphics and levels.

Genre 6: Adventure-

An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving.

  Game example: God of war – (3rd person)

God of war is a game were you follow kratos on his travels to kill the Greek gods that have wronged him, although this is an action game it can also be heavily characterised as an adventure game, where you go from environment to environment, scaling building, defeating foes and unleashing your wrath on the gods of Olympus, there is a lot of puzzle solving on the way though with as well as a heavy focus on exploration since the game doesn’t tell you where/what to do to pass the level.

 Audience: God of war is r18+ although I’m sure parents have bought it for their kids just like any other game, although the player base is mostly teens and young adults from most the video guides I’ve seen and read.

 I’m really not sure what the purpose of this game is, its honestly a very story driven adventure game with a heavy ethnises of gory beat em up action, if anything its purpose is pure fun, and for the player to experience such a bloody story about a man that wants revenge.

 Platforms: Play station only –

A few other titles as well as merchandise like any other successful game on this list.

Let’s Get Down to Business (’To Defeat the Huns’)—Sunday Chats—1/21/18

It’s time to get back to work! Or, er, writing. All writing and no games makes Alex a dull boy.

Uh...

God, sorry, how do i do this again? Oh yeah. Opinions. And stuff.

Okay.

Deep breaths.

Post Game of the Year

I think the GOTY season is both great and not great. It’s easy to get upset with the “hot takes” and there are a lot of folks that use the opportunity to tell you exactly why your favorite game shouldn’t be game of the year, but then, I don’t see a lot of folks just enjoying their 10 or whatever favorite games of 20-whatever. What I set out to do on our Irrational Passions Podcast Game of the Year Deliberations, Five Days, Four Hosts, Three Mistakes, Two Fights, One Winner, Podcast Spectacular™ was highlight the moments I liked and enjoyed and veer more off of what I disliked. I think there is plenty of room for that discourse, and I’m not saying I am a shill who just loves everything, but there is just so much drowning negativity out there. And hey, I know I’m on Twitter too much, and that fuckin’ place runs rampant with it, that’s my own fault, but I’d rather be a well-thought opinion as to why I like something rather than the guy that hates Wolfenstein, or Nier, or whatever. It’s part of why I love being “The Persona Guy” so much, because people know I love it, and they come to me to talk about how much they love it or don’t with me. I love that.

So anyway, long and short, I think GOTY went really well for IP. We actually had an editorial meeting about all of the content and what we liked/didn’t like/could do better next time, and it was really productive. I’m a big fan of the stuff that happened, especially how we handled guests this year, and I’m curious to see that grow in the future.

If you missed it, the front page of IrrationalPassions.com is going to be highlighting our Game of the Year 2017 content for the next week or so, so go check it out!

What I’ve Been Working On

Since I have been in GOTY I haven’t been doing Sunday Chats or much else, but I am settling back into work, and am maybe expanding my day-job-work over there in my personal life. We’ll see how that goes, and how much time that removes from games for me (hopefully not too much!), but that’s all hypothetical right now. 

I am excited to say I am launching a new project next month. It’s a new show and as I’ve been thinking about all my pieces of content, IPP, Alex Talks, Case Study, and now this new show, it’s been a weird concept of what do I want to lean on, what do I want to continue, et cetera. In a perfect world I can do them all together, but I know that’s just not possible. I’m looking at monthly content and what I can do around that, but we’ll see. I want to do everything! I want to make stuff that will get me hired into video games! But I want to make sure I’m doing stuff that I love doing, and at the center of all of that is having deep and meaningful conversations, whether it’s long, thought-out essays conveyed in audio, written, or video form that engage you and I in a conversation, or an actual, recorded conversation. 

So that’s what’s up. Without giving anything away, stuff is in the pipeline, and I’m hopeful that people will take notice, and you all, my loyal readers, will dig it.

What’s on Tap

VIDEO GAMES.

I’ve been playing a lot, so I am going to go back and highlight just some gems I want to talk about from the last three weeks.

The Witcher 3

So I rebought Witcher 3 to see all of its glory on my Xbox One X. Boy, that’s a motherfucking video game.

For point of reference, I just got to Novigrad and have been starting the strings of quests there, which is kind of my least favorite part of that game (chasing Dandelion around, specifically) so hopefully I stay with it.

It’s really cool to appreciate this games innovations on another level after seeing stuff like Assassin’s Creed Origins and Breath of the Wild.

I’ve actually been switching between this and Breath of the Wild, and while I still think BotW is the far more interesting world and game that I like spending time in, I was surprised at how comfortable that switch (aha! Puns!) is. The games are very different and both good in their own ways, and really scratch two different itches. 

I will say, AC Origins is definitely the game that came closest to The Witcher 3 as far as formatting its side quest content, but it still didn’t get close enough.

Okami HD

I’ve now replayed this game basically to completion. I would have finished it again too, as I’m just before the final boss, if a week after release they hadn’t gone and synced the trophies in the PS4 re-release to the PS3 one, in which I already have the platinum. So I’m no longer earning anything on the PS4 version, which is a bummer.

Still an excellent game. It’s really odd playing a game where you’re actually a four-legged creature just running around doing dog-stuff. It’s cool, and it’s something I haven’t seen a lot of 3D games do, or at least do well.

Stardew Valley - Switch Edition

I put about 78 hours into my Stardew Valley town on PS4, and now, 60+ hours into my Switch town, I’m definitely sick with the small-town-fever.

I really love this game, and it scratches my “I wanna live in a small town” dream-itch in just such a righteous way. I love it.

I didn’t expect to take to it so hard on Switch, but there is something about cuddling up with this game in bed and losing myself to it that is just so intoxicating.

Questions

As always, look for my tweet on Sunday afternoons with the hashtag #SundayChats in it, reply with your question, OR ANSWER, depending on what I’m feeling that day, and be a part of the Sunday Chats shenanigans!

Now I’m more curious about this snake research you were doing...?

Hrm, now this is a great alt-universe theory. I’m going to assume that it’d be in place of Cedric, so it’d be Harry and a Slytherin as the champions, which does throw a lot into question. 

I think it would have. In a few ways. One, we have to assume it’d be a 7th year Slytherin, so in short, someone we don’t know. It’d be a great opportunity to characterize someone, who, say, isn’t a dick, like Malfoy, who is kind of our avatar or stand in for Slytherin characters. It’d be great to see that character and Harry develop a not-antagonistic relationship. Like, I think Harry would have still told this person about the Dragons, because that’s still just the kind of person Harry is, and I think we would have seen less shit from the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuffs to Harry because of the assumed distaste for a Slytherin champion. I don’t think it would have effected the fight between Harry and Ron though.

Where it becomes super interesting is, assuming they are a good or normal or upstanding person, do they still tell Harry how to get into the egg? Knowing that Mad-Eye was the one who told Cedric, I say yes, since they themselves didn’t get that information on their own, much like Harry with the Dragons, and I believe strongly in the pay-it-forward mentality. 

The other big question is: would they have died? If they don’t, that wildly changes the rest of the books. Harry’s PTSD in the fifth book would be, still severe, but different. What would happen to them? Would they have escaped with Harry? Would that bond make them unbreakable friends? I’d imagine so. Or after a year of tension and not talking, they’d bury the hatchet, and then the repercussions for that are massive, in that I think Harry would lead a bond between all Slytherins and Gryffindors.

Goddamn. This may be too good a question to answer in a simple Sunday Chats, but yeah, in short, I think the repercussions would have been very different.

YES!

Great video game.

I’ll say this, you get essentially experiences for feeding the animals out and about in the world. DO THIS. It’s not too expensive and and will totally be worth it in the long run.

Also, get as MANY demon fangs as you can. AS MANY. You get them from using your slash ability on enemies who are flying into the air after they hit zero hp. They’ll drop a demon fang, which is a type of currency you can use much later in the game, and having a big stockpile will do you a ton of good.

Outside of that, have fun! Talk to everyone! It’s like a Zelda game, so tons of people have problems or off side quests you can initiate by talking to them. You can get the platinum pretty easily in one play through, so if you’re curious about that, hit me up.

Haha, well, how about Kinda Funny Prom? I can see it hit you with the eh vibes too. Though I’m very bummed you won’t be able to make it. I’ll be sending you good vibes from there, okay?

Oh, and I am sending you selfies. Hella selfies.

But yes, I was very, hrm, I guess, unsettled, for lack of a better word. It’s like getting invited to a costume party, where I just want to hang out with my friends. Now there is all this pressure and requirements and this feeling that you’re going to be shown-up. Plus, I don’t really clean up well, so like, I know I’ll feel super self-conscious the whole time, but that’s just me I suppose. 

Then again, it’s another thing of well, I know when I’m there, and I’m in it, I’ll have a great time, but that’s a pretty big hump to get over, and I hate that I feel like I’m being forced into it, because, well, I am. 

I suppose, if nothing else, I’ll just go for the weekend and then not go to KF Prom itself, but I haven’t decided yet. We’ll see. 

Here is another, relevant example though, hearing about how things were being handled in the Harry Potter movies, starting with the third. No Marauders? Oh okay. Cool. Trash. Adios. Again, very much a me thing, but this is such a good question and I can’t think of a great example. I’m sure it’s out there, if I think of it I’ll let you know.

Listen, I love Tom Hanks as much as the next guy. He was in a Carly Rae Jepsen video, he, by all accounts, its a super cool dude, and I wanna hang out with him. 

But Tom Hardy is a mountain of a man. 

That man looks capable of actual murder. Not to say he would, he also seems like a lovely chap, but in a fist fight?

Nah.

Hardy, all the way.

Lol you’re great Nato, but also SO MUCH BOOTY AND OR TREASURE.

I talked about it a bit earlier, but I think the Guest Roundtables is a huge stand out. Those worked really well, felt good to do, and were a good reflection on a handful of cool games from the last year.

The criticism that Jarrett lodged that I sort of agree with is that there was just too much content. He said how could anyone reasonably consume all of it? Well, that’s never been my intention, I want it all out there so the audience can pick and choose what they want to hear themselves, and then go from there. But I think that’s a fair criticism. Written top 10s, guest and ours, our top 10 podcast, the five day goty show, and 10 podcasts on 10 games. It’s a ton, so why not just cut it down next time around, right?

Next year I think focusing on highlighting guests would be good. Either in just written or just podcast form. But we’ll see, we’ll have to start those conversations earlier this year.

Not at all! We just had our editorial meeting about it and I am V EXCITE.

I’ve been very lax on myself, not forcing myself to write at all. In fact, I’ve barely written a thing over the last month. Which has been, kind of nice, in the grand scheme of things. I think that’s okay. Rest is really important, and I can already feel my creative juices swirling around. 

I think my feelings about writing are very much the same, but I have a better appreciation for it now. I feel like I need to write with more purpose now, and I don’t need to set arbitrary time or character limits on it. Once I get back in the swing fo writing complete things, maybe I’ll have a better grasp on how that feels.

I think it’ll review very well and I think it’ll do very well in the states. I know that may seem surprising, but the betas, the reception to them, and the time of release, are all in Capcom’s corner. Honestly, it’s a very strategic and smart release for them. I’m quite impressed at how shrewd it is. They’ll do great.

It’s just a bummer because I see so many folks talking about how it’s clicking with them or how satisfied they were with it, and after doing the three hunts in the beta with a group of three friends, I had fun but... well, I felt nothing. It just totally did not click with me. No satisfaction, no excitement, and I couldn’t wait to be done playing it, just because how it felt did zero favors for me. I’ve always had a cursory interest in Monster Hunter because of my cohosts who are so into it, and after finally playing it I just... don’t anymore, haha. I know that is a bummer, and trust me, no one is more bummed than me that I don’t get to get in on the Monster Hunter party, but more power to the folks out there playing! it think this game will do very well. It’s finally time for the Hunters to shine in the west!

This is a great question! I’d probably own an italian restaurant, and out of spite, I’d call it “O’Neill’s”, spelled the correct way. Sick of seeing all these goddamn pubs called “O’Neals” with their goddamn sheleighlies or whatever (is that offensive? Oh god I’m sorry Amy Gils) so we are doing it the right way.

And yes, I understand the absurdity of an italian food restaurant with the name O’Neill’s, that’s the whole bit. But I love italian food. It wouldn’t be just limited to that though.

I’d absolutely hire the retired Gen and Greg Miller as my head chefs. Meaning we’d have a ton of awesome stuff on the menu. I’d make my aunt’s secret pasta sauce, my mom’s secret brownie recipe, it’d be super good. 

Oh, and we’d have only the best beer, curated by the best beer goddess in the business, Jazz Foster. Duh.

Also like, Beer Goddess is a thing, don’t ask questions.

No, it’s just not going to happen. I think there are plenty of players out there totally unaware fo the drama and fallout that dug MGSV and will get Survive and have a good time. Hell, I played the beta this weekend and had a good time with Logan Moore. Save for it crashing every time I went into the pause menu.

But that franchise just has too much baggage. People are going to tear it to shreds no matter what, but like, also, vote with your wallet. If that game ultimately doesn’t do well, then Konami is less likely to try and do another one, and I know a ton of hypocrites out there are going to just go and buy the game so they can shit on it on the internet. Be better then them. Go play a game made by a small indie developer, or talk about a game you really dug, that maybe folks aren’t talking about enough, like Hollow Knight, or Butterfly Soup. 

Well duh, I am doing that RIGHT NOW

Happy birthday dude <3.

I’m not sure what you mean in this context. Like if you’re pitching an editor with a different ideology then you? Differing “goals” is I guess what’s throwing me off here. 

I think you need to really sell why your stance is valid for that prompt, and as with everything, know your audience. If you’re doing a pitch, know the editor, know what they’re looking for, either in your, or in that pitch or prompt. They’re your audience, and your pitch is what you need to sell. You’re not necessarily selling the piece, you’re selling why the piece is special and why you need to be the one to write it.

I hope that helps?

I, unfortunately, haven’t been reading a lot of good stuff lately, so I can’t make any solid recommendations at this time, but Jarrett recommended a lot of good stuff in his Top 10 Write up, some “required readings” on all of his favorite games of the year. 

http://irrationalpassions.com/jarrett-greens-top-10-games-of-2017/

That’s all I got. I deleted my Facebook account the other day, so really I am living my best life on the internet now, and I’m ready for this year. I’m not going to be doom and gloom. Things will be hard, but there are great games coming that I can’t wait to discuss and exacerbate myself talking of, and there will hopefully be great things to go along with those games. 

Thank you all so much for reading, as always. I will try and get more into the swing of writing this every week like before, and also writing and producing cool stuff on top of that.

It’s 2018, or 20-great-teen as me and my friend Brandt Ranj have coined it, so let’s make this year great, together.

Keep it reeeeeeal.

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What You Need to Know About the XBox 360, the Kinect, and a Review of All Kinect Games

A NEW WAY TO GAME! IS THE XBOX 360 KINECT THE RIGHT NEXT GADGET FOR YOU?

Some have claimed it’s going to trade your life, will it do this? What video games are available for the Kinect and do they absolutely work well enough to justify the cost, the time, and the problem? Is there sufficient range to suit your wishes?

  This article will deliver the positives and negatives of the Xbox 360 and the new Kinect. What may be done with this device and why recollect getting a Kinect for your self and your own family? How nicely does it work?

  Let’s begin with a bit bit of records Xbox 360 for you. If you may cross manner back on your thoughts and take into account that the Xbox 360 is a sixth era online game by using Microsoft. This group of games becomes known as the 128-bit technology sports consoles. The Xbox changed into simply launched November 2001. However, the Xbox 360 is the second online game console produced with the aid of Microsoft (the primary turned into the Xbox). It now competes well with the Sony’s PlayStation three and the Nintendo Wii, as part of the 7th technology of video game consoles, the Xbox 360 changed into the primary of that creative age introducing HD and 1080p into the game playing blend in November 2005.

  The Xbox 360 was formally unveiled on television. The declaration becomes on MTV in 2005. Coming up to extra modern-day time the Xbox 360 changed into called the Xbox 360 S, but now we just name it the Xbox 360. The consoles were redesigned, as well as the hardware, and that innovation becomes formally introduced in June 2010. And the phrase is that Microsoft has announced, covertly, that if they ever (and with their contemporary popularity I’m sure they’ll) pop out with every other console as a successor to the Xbox 360 S it will be sincerely known as Xbox 720. The initial rumors are very fascinating.

  The 2nd version of the Xbox 360, which protected 4 GB of storage, became a prelude to the present day container. The Xbox 360 Elite got here out the middle of 2010. But with the avalanche of latest games being designed and released, it forced Microsoft to upgrade their hardware.

  Isn’t that always the case with hardware and software program? It goes like this: Software becomes more complex and desires faster processors, large computer systems and capacity. And so the hardware designers and producers ought to race to preserve up. It’s the same with the gaming style. Try playing Halo Reach to your old Xbox. It’s now not going on.

games

Thus in August of 2010 Microsoft introduced that they’d a mega model, a 250 GB stand-alone tough pressure for use with the Xbox 360 S models, and that would be priced initially at $129.99.

  The features of every of these models and core structures are thrilling, however, it is past the scope of this assessment. The super features, talents and the capacities of the devices progressed with every progressive version. Microsoft has become one of the massive guns in the gaming console market and could stay there with this machine.

  This beyond Christmas shopping for season of 2010, the Xbox 360 become bundled for better client buying strength, which, amongst others, featured the Limited Edition, in addition to some of the extra popular video games including the Halo Reach, Call of Duty Black Ops, and different special features which include wi-fi remotes controllers and head-units.

  The online service is called Xbox Live. This is a global carrier that allows customers to play with and against other online gamers or download purchased content material, experience new games and it also gives movies, recreation trailers, sports demos that may be performed for a quick trial period encouraging the consumer to then cross directly to buy the whole game.

  There are Xbox Live arcade games, pictures, dashboard topics as well. Through Xbox Live, a person can find out new undiscovered content. There are Gold Memberships, which lets you buy Microsoft Points to apply for downloads avatars and accessories or additions to your contemporary video games. Those prepaid playing cards are available in 400, 800, 1600, 4000, and 6000-factor denominations for an equivalent amount of money.

  I will screen a few interesting details about the poor attributes of the xBox and xBox 360. It can be a wonder to a beginner, wondering that there were not any negatives. But there are…Or were.

It appears that the console can be a problem to some of the technical troubles. Users have stated concerns over its reliability and alarming failure charge within the older fashions. That led Microsoft to increase the Xbox 360 S assurance to a few years for hardware failure troubles. Users had been getting the feared crimson ring of death and a message saying well-known hardware failure.

  Microsoft absolutely did not need to depart their clients striking and helpless. It tried to alter the consoles to improve its reliability. The unit became subsequently put together tons better and inside the unit, there isn’t as much motion within the important (mom) board in the course of the heat expansion and now the unit has higher ability to expend heat.

xbox

With the discharge of this redesigned Xbox 360, the warranty on the more modern models does no longer include the 3 12 months extended warranty for popular hardware failure. The phrase from the experienced gaming community is that the Xbox 360 is a totally reliable gadget and the user complaints and failures of the past have no longer surfaced.

  The new Xbox 360s are very dependable. Overall, I fee the Xbox 360 five-Stars. It is now usual in the cutting-edge enterprise. They are the chief and the other organizations are trying to keep up.

  Now we input into the area of the brand new and eye-popping Kinect. This is an extremely good addition to our adventures in innovative and all-consuming, thoughts-and-frame gaming. It is a controller-loose input device and a massive step up within the amusement revel in for the Xbox 360.

  It became initially introduced June of 2009. Sadly, it turned into no longer released until November 2010. This exquisite sensor device allows the person to manipulate and engage with the video games of the Xbox 360 with out a physical sports controller. This is much like the Wii, but the user is not restricted to keeping and pointing a controller and Nunchuk. The high-quality Kinect uses frame gestures, spoken instructions, and items and photographs. It’s the EYE that works the magic! The Kinect is like minded with all 360 models. The Kinect…Connects to new fashions with the custom “Kinect.” The old consoles used a USB adapter.

  Along with the new video games, the Kinect is referred to as the new Xbox enjoy (NXE). Along with the NXE, there are numerous new functions that customers can install into their gaming international. There are video games from disks loaded onto the difficult force after which played with decreased load time and much less disk power noise. That is reassuring, but every time the game has performed the disk have to remain inside the gadget that allows you to run it.

  There also are a fab bunch of digitized avatars that can be used for more than one activities, together with sharing photographs and gambling arcade video games.

  The Xbox 360 and the Kinect had been so famous in the course of the Christmas season that it sold out in lots of shops in addition to the foremost on line sites. The demand exceeded the supply. Since the Christmas rush has past you’ve got the possibility to get discounted expenses and lots of selection and availability.

  I seemed within the retail and on line outlets and feature compiled an up to date listing for present day supplies of all available and introduced video games. There is a growing range of resources, but right here I will provide you with the maximum updated list of games available for the Kinect.

kinect

• To start with the fitness recreation known as Your Shape Fitness Evolved. It includes exercises in a martial arts magnificence lead through a movie star trainer. Big names that work on the Biggest Loser show.

  • There is Kinect Sports, These are world-elegance sports activities. Kinect Sports consists of a bowling alley, soccer pitch or track-and-discipline area. Kinect puts in the game because the VIP player and somehow helps you to be the controller. It reputedly also consists of soccer, volleyball, ping-pong, or even extra games they tell me.

  • Get your groove on with Dance Central™. This is unique for the Kinect and is the primary actual dance game revel in with a view to be fun, social and for every person!

  • The very adorable and plenty advertised sport is Kinectimals. This is notable fun for youngsters of all ages. You get to play with an animal in your Xbox 360 display screen. The TV commercials show an irresistible tiger. I thought there would be many more animals, however, I guess the hairy tiger does it all. That’s cool. The Bengal tiger cub will bring returned a dream of being in the circus or on your ride to the zoo. The Kinect shall we that hairy tiger turns out to be your great pal. See now you do not need that indoor pet in spite of everything.

  • Listen to this, If you really need to get the Ultimate Experience then get the Kinectimals Limited Edition Bundle with King Cheetah Plush. It is the entire package deal.

  • Motion Sports, Play for Real, this looks like a recreation that you do sports motions and maintain transferring; high-quality aerobic exercise. It has a wide variety of sports, loves it says you may zoom down slopes of a Super G slalom, rating a mind-blowing penalty shot, duck-and-run your manner to a recreation-winning landing or throws punches at the champ.” I don’t know approximately all that, however, it appear to be some, in reality, thrilling workout.

  • Kinect Joyride is a fun ride in a car, but I do not think it’s miles a “stolen” automobile, but it’s far a Joyride. Kinect Joy Ride, the first controller-free racing recreation that mixes wild kart racing with full-frame controlling feasible most effective with Kinect for Xbox 360.

  • Sonic Free Riders are more movement. It has speed and a finish line. This one takes your entire body to control a ramification of hoverboards and motorcycles. This one can also NOT be clean to pick out up and play and be the hero. It matches own family and buddies in multiplayer modes. Each racer may have their personal specific regulations.

  • And then the sport that we all want to get is the Ultimate Workout, Biggest Loser style. You will exercise session with Bob and Jillian, the first-class exercising coaches ever. The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout will maximize your healthy food regimen. It boasts 50 new, healthful recipes. You also can song your caloric intake. This “sport” is for real and could even come up with real-time remarks that say you will see instant outcomes.

  • Can you dance? You will! DanceMasters helps you to dance with nothing to constrain your movement and freedom. Different modes: Dance Mode, Lesson Mode, Status Mode, Xbox Live. There is even downloadable content. Next step is Dancing with the Stars for you!.

  • Zumba Fitness Kinect. Everyone loves a Zumba! This game is for as much as 4 gamers. Family or online gamers compete to get the very best workout organization rating or individual in Zumba Attack! Action, Dancing, and superb fun.

• EA Sports, Active 2.0. It’s within the Game! Build muscle, song your coronary heart price. There appears to be an infinite customizable exercise alternative with greater than 70 games.

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One. The wand and real magic! You get an arsenal of bold spells to defeat Death Eaters and enemies to all good Harry Potter stand-ins. Fight Voldemort’s Death Eaters, Snatchers, and Dementors.

  • Deca Sports Freedom. This features ten athletic games to lifestyles: Tennis, you can even swing the bowstrings then play. Ten exceptional events: tennis, boxing, archery, paintball, seaside volleyball, dodgeball, kendo, rich person skiing, snowboard move and discern skating. They simply p.C. It in.

  • Game Party: In Motion. This is a circle of relatives-friendly series of 16 arcade kind video games. The list is long: Darts, Hoop Shoot, Rootbeer Tapper, Table Hockey and 12 more. Multi player motion and aid available on line and meet up to 16 gamers. Design and use your avatar and Facebook cross functionality. Now, this is clearly masking all of the bases.

  • Fighters Uncaged looks as if a chief adventure in combating and the cover is virtually tremendous. You can improve your fighter. The game and the Kinect lets you use your fists, knees, legs, elbows or even head. Take THAT mangy opponent!

  • The next is Adrenaline Misfits. This is for single players or two gamers. The race includes 7 myth worlds and seven monsters that want to be defeated. The soon-to-be-conquered route is like Snowy Mountains, stormy deserts, glacier lands, limestone caves, and volcanoes. This one additionally hooks up to Xbox Live.

  • And then some other referred to as Child of Eden. Graphics and sound integrate to stimulate the senses. It is a physical, sensory revel in.

  • Star Wars Kinect is in the listing, however, isn’t scheduled to be released for a yr.

  • Brunswick Pro Bowling, It is bowling for anyone, however, kids have alternatives which let them compete with the pros.

  • Michael Jackson and the Experience. Put yourself into the sport and be one of the stars in your personal Michael Jackson video. This one seems wonderful if it consists of “Thriller”! Dancers and Michael’s Dance School take your performance to the subsequent stage. For beginners and experienced performers.

  The fee for the game seems to range from about $34 to others that are priced round $60. And for $forty you could even get a Kinect Mount that places the sensor at simply exactly the right function.

  Now as some distance are reviewing the Kinect and the video games: The public’s experience is still new and for the reason that Kinect has simplest been bought for less than months, with the accompanying video games the whole device remains novel and bright new.

  But it seems to this reviewer and others inside the industry, that this is an emblem-new paradigm in games and indoor workout and it’s going to shape the industry’s destiny. The Kinect is converting the industry.

  The Xbox 360 and the Kinect at the moment are in stock currently at Amazon and many other shops and there are also very nice bundles to get the Xbox 360 plus the Kinect as well as different hardware and games. It is very excellent to get a package. It saves cash in the end – within the short run also. The Kinect also has a few very nice charge discounts.

  James, my gaming colleague, is still stirred via his Xbox 360 and he’s a professional gamer. James says his Xbox 360 enjoy, as well as the various games that he has performed notes that the new Xbox 360 250GB is faster than other systems he is tried. The snapshots are better and he observed more advanced corporeal degrees.

  I asked him, “James, would you ever go back to every other game system?” He replied, “Possibly the PS3 as a 2d,” as he believes it is a near competitor.

  For an entire overview of the Xbox 360, the Kinect and unique video games, please order the unfastened e-book that will provide you with more certain information visit the blog http://www.Xbox360kinectsite.Info

  Thank you for attending this assessment and becoming knowledgeable of this excellent gadget. So far, it’s miles perfection and happiness.

  This is an interesting day and age where uniqueness games and the fact of the Xbox 360 and Kinect supply a physical gaming experience, regarding each part of your frame and as a result forcing you to workout, stay active and feature masses of amusing.

The future of this gadget is limitless. If you have got an Xbox 360 and a Kinect and an HD TV and some of those games, you may enjoy the pleasure, bliss and the life-converting movement. This is a device that is near perfect. It can change your life, you can lose weight, get concerned in adventures, hone your bodily and mental abilities. This is a system that makes a while spent gaming properly really worth it.

  You cannot go incorrect with this system. Now, stand up and get transferring!

  Complete, interesting, honest, and hard-hitting reviews of state-of-the-art most vital items. Such as this Xbox 360 Kinect overview, the iPad, is it ideal or simply top sufficient? The Kindle eBook Reader can it absolutely make you a more thrilling individual, and Oakley Sunglasses, Why select Oakley? Are they absolutely the excellent?

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What You Need to Know About the XBox 360, the Kinect, and a Review of All Kinect Games

There are a plethora of game systems and games out there. Why should you consider the xBox 360 and the new Kinect? What will the Kinect do for you? Some have claimed it will change your life, will it do that? What games are available for the Kinect and do they really work well enough to justify the cost, the time, and the trouble? Is there enough variety to suit your needs?

This article will give the positives and negatives of the xBox 360 and the new Kinect. What can be accomplished with this system and why consider getting a Kinect for yourself and your family? How well does it work?

Let’s start with a little bit of history xBox 360 for you. If you will go way back in your mind and remember that the xBox 360 is a sixth generation video game by Microsoft. This group of games was known as the 128-bit era game consoles. The xBox was actually released November 2001. However, the xBox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft (the first was the xBox). It now competes well with the Sony’s PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii, as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles, the xBox 360 was the first of that creative age introducing HD and 1080p into the game playing mix in November 2005.

The xBox 360 was officially unveiled on television. The announcement was on MTV in 2005. Coming up to more modern time the xBox 360 was known as the xBox 360 S, but now we just call it the xBox 360. The consoles have been redesigned, as well as the hardware, and that innovation was officially announced in June 2010. And word is that Microsoft has announced, covertly, that if they ever (and with their current popularity I’m sure they will) come out with another console as a successor to the xBox 360 S it will be simply called xBox 720. The initial rumors are very intriguing.

The second edition of the xBox 360, which included 4 GB of storage, was a prelude to the current box. The xBox 360 Elite came out middle of 2010. But with the avalanche of new games being designed and released it pressured Microsoft to upgrade their hardware.

Isn’t that always the case with hardware and software? It goes like this: Software becomes more complicated and needs faster processors, larger computers and capacity. And so the hardware designers and manufacturers have to race to keep up. It’s the same with the gaming genre. Try playing Halo Reach on your old xBox. It’s not happening.

Thus in August of 2010 Microsoft announced that they had a mega model, a 250 GB stand-alone hard drive for use with the xBox 360 S models, and that would be priced initially at $129.99.

The features of each of these models and core systems are interesting, but it is beyond the scope of this review. The remarkable features, capabilities and the capacities of the devices improved with each progressive model. Microsoft became one of the big guns in the gaming console market and will remain there with this system.

This past Christmas buying season of 2010, the xBox 360 was bundled for better consumer purchasing power, which, among others, featured the Limited Edition, as well as some of the more popular games such as the Halo Reach, Call of Duty Black Ops, and other special features including wireless remotes controllers and head-sets.

The online service is called xBox Live. This is a worldwide service that allows users to play with and against other online players or download purchased content, experience new games and it also offers movies, game trailers, game demos that can be played for a short trial period encouraging the user to then go on to purchase the full game.

There are xBox Live arcade games, images, dashboard themes as well. Through xBox Live, a person can discover new undiscovered content. There are Gold Memberships, which allows you to purchase Microsoft Points to use for downloads avatars and add-ons or additions to your current games. Those prepaid cards come in 400, 800, 1600, 4000, and 6000 point denominations for an equivalent amount of money.

I will reveal some interesting details about the negative attributes of the xBox and xBox 360. It may be a surprise to a newbie, thinking that there were not any negatives. But there are…or were.

It seems that the console can be subject to a number of technical problems. Users have reported concerns over its reliability and alarming failure rate in the older models. That led Microsoft to extend the xBox 360 S warranty to three years for hardware failure problems. Users were getting the dreaded red ring of death and a message announcing general hardware failure.

Microsoft unquestionably did not want to leave their customers hanging and helpless. It attempted to modify the consoles to improve its reliability. The unit was subsequently put together much better and inside the unit there is not as much movement in the main (mother) board during the heat expansion and now the unit has better ability to dissipate heat.

With the release of this redesigned xBox 360 the warranty on the newer models does not include the three year extended warranty for general hardware failure. The word from the experienced gaming community is that the xBox 360 is a very reliable machine and the user complaints and failures of the past have not surfaced.

The new xBox 360s are very reliable. Overall, I rate the xBox 360 5-Stars. It is now the standard in the current industry. They are the leader and the other companies are trying to keep up.

Now we enter into the realm of the new and eye-popping Kinect. This is an amazing addition to our adventures in creative and all-consuming, mind-and-body gaming. It is a controller-free input device and a big step up in the entertainment experience for the xBox 360.

It was initially announced June of 2009. Sadly, it was not released until November 2010. This amazing sensor device enables the user to control and interact with the games of the xBox 360 without a physical game controller. This is similar to the Wii, but the user is not limited to holding and pointing a controller and Nunchuk. The amazing Kinect uses body gestures, spoken commands, and objects and images. It’s the EYE that works the magic! The Kinect is compatible with all 360 models. The Kinect…connects to new models with the custom “Kinector.” The old consoles used a USB adapter.

Along with the new games, the Kinect is called the new xBox experience (NXE). Along with the NXE there are many new features that users can install into their gaming world. There are games from disks loaded onto the hard drive and then played with reduced load time and less disk drive noise. That is comforting, but each time the game is played the disk must remain in the system in order to run it.

There are also a cool bunch of digitized avatars that can be used for multiple activities, such as sharing photos and playing arcade games.

The xBox 360 and the Kinect were so popular during the Christmas season that it sold out in many stores as well as the major online sites. The demand exceeded the supply. Since the Christmas rush has past you have the opportunity to get discounted prices and lots of selection and availability.

I looked in the retail and online outlets and have compiled an updated list for current supplies of all available and announced games. There are a growing number of supplies, but here I will give you the most up-to-date list of games available for the Kinect.

• To begin with the fitness game called Your Shape Fitness Evolved. It contains workouts in a martial arts class lead by a celebrity trainer. Big names that work on the Biggest Loser show.

• There is Kinect Sports, These are world-class sports. Kinect Sports includes a bowling alley, soccer pitch or track-and-field arena. Kinect puts in the game as the VIP player and somehow lets you be the controller. It apparently also includes soccer, volleyball, ping-pong, and even more games they tell me.

• Get your groove on with Dance Central™. This is exclusive for the Kinect and is the first real dance game experience that will be fun, social and for everyone!

• The very cute and much advertised game is Kinectimals. This is great fun for children of all ages. You get to play with an animal on your xBox 360 screen. The TV advertisements show an irresistible tiger. I thought there would be many more animals, but I guess the furry tiger does it all. That’s cool. The Bengal tiger cub will bring back an dream of being in the circus or of your trip to the zoo. The Kinect lets that furry tiger become your best friend. See now you don’t need that indoor pet after all.

• Listen to this, If you really want to get the Ultimate Experience then get the Kinectimals Limited Edition Bundle with King Cheetah Plush. It is the entire package.

• Motion Sports, Play for Real, this looks like a game that you do sports motions and keep moving; great aerobic exercise. It has a wide range of sports, like it says you can zoom down slopes of a Super G slalom, score a mind-blowing penalty shot, duck-and-run your way to a game-winning touchdown or throw punches at the champ.” I don’t know about all that, but it look like some really exciting exercise.

• Kinect Joyride is a fun ride in a car, but I do not think it is a “stolen” car, but it is a Joyride. Kinect Joy Ride, the first controller-free racing game that combines wild kart racing with full-body controlling possible only with Kinect for Xbox 360.

• Sonic Free Riders is more action. It has speed and a finish line. This one takes your whole body to control a variety of hoverboards and bikes. This one may NOT be easy to pick up and play and be the hero. It matches family and friends in multiplayer modes. Each racer can have their own unique rules.

• And then the game that we all need to get is the Ultimate Workout, Biggest Loser style. You will work out with Bob and Jillian, the best workout coaches ever. The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout will maximize your healthy diet. It boasts 50 new, healthy recipes. You can also track your caloric intake. This “game” is for real and will even give you real-time feedback that says you’ll see immediate results.

• Can you dance? You will! DanceMasters lets you dance with nothing to constrain your movement and freedom. Different modes: Dance Mode, Lesson Mode, Status Mode, Xbox Live. There is even downloadable content. Next step is Dancing with the Stars for you!.

• Zumba Fitness Kinect. Everyone loves a Zumba! This game is for up to four players. Family or online players compete to get the highest workout group score or individual in Zumba Attack! Action, Dancing, and great fun.

• EA Sports, Active 2.0. It’s in the Game! Build muscle, track your heart rate. There seems to be an unlimited customizable workout option with more than 70 games.

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One. The wand and real magic! You get an arsenal of formidable spells to defeat Death Eaters and enemies to all good Harry Potter stand-ins. Fight Voldemort’s Death Eaters, Snatchers and Dementors.

• Deca Sports Freedom. This features ten athletic games to life: Tennis, you can even twing the bowstrings then play. Ten different events: tennis, boxing, archery, paintball, beach volleyball, dodgeball, kendo, mogul skiing, snowboard cross and figure skating. They really pack it in.

• Game Party: In Motion. This is a family-friendly collection of 16 arcade type games. The list is long: Darts, Hoop Shoot, Rootbeer Tapper, Table Hockey and 12 more. Multi player action and support available online and meet up to 16 players. Design and use your avatar and Facebook cross functionality. Now that is really covering all the bases.

• Fighters Uncaged, looks like a major adventure in fighting and the cover is really great. You can upgrade your fighter. The game and the Kinect lets you use your fists, knees, legs, elbows and even head. Take THAT mangy opponent!

• The next is Adrenaline Misfits. This is for single players or two players. The race includes 7 fantasy worlds and 7 monsters that need defeated. The soon-to-be-conquered course are like Snowy Mountains, stormy deserts, glacier lands, limestone caves, and volcanoes. This one also hooks up to xBox Live.

• And then another called Child of Eden. Graphics and sound combine to stimulate the senses. It is a physical, sensory experience.

• Star Wars Kinect is on the list but is not scheduled to be released for a year.

• Brunswick Pro Bowling, It is bowling for everyone, however kids have options which let them compete with the pros.

• Michael Jackson and the Experience. Put yourself into the game and be one of the stars in your own Michael Jackson video. This one looks awesome, if it includes “Thriller”! Dancers and Michael’s Dance School take your performance to the next level. For beginners and experienced performers.

The price of the game seems to range from about $34 to others that are priced around $60. And for $40 you can even get a Kinect Mount that puts the sensor at just exactly the right position.

Now as far are reviewing the Kinect and the games: The public’s experience is still new and since the Kinect has only been sold for less than two months, with the accompanying games the whole system is still novel and shiny new.

But it seems to this reviewer and others in the industry, that this is a brand-new paradigm in games and indoor exercise and it will shape the industry’s future. The Kinect is changing the industry.

The xBox 360 and the Kinect are now in stock currently at Amazon and many other retailers and there are also very nice bundles to get the xBox 360 plus the Kinect as well as other hardware and games. It is very nice to get a bundle. It saves money in the long run – in the short run also. The Kinect also has some very nice price discounts.

James, my gaming colleague, is still stirred by his xBox 360 and he is an expert gamer. James says his xBox 360 experience, as well as the many games that he has played notes that the new Xbox 360 250GB is faster than other systems he’s tried. The graphics are better and he noticed more advanced corporeal levels.

I asked him, “James, would you ever go back to another game system?” He replied, “Possibly the PS3 as a second,” as he believes it is a close competitor.

For a more complete review of the xBox 360, the Kinect and specific games, please order the free e-book that will give you more detailed information go to the blog http://www.xbox360kinectsite.info

Thank you for attending this review and becoming informed of this remarkable system. So far, it is perfection and happiness.

This is an exciting day and age where specialty games and the reality of the xBox 360 and Kinect deliver a physical gaming experience, involving every part of your body and thus forcing you to exercise, stay active and have lots of fun..

The future of this system is limitless. If you have an xBox 360 and a Kinect and a HD TV and some of these games, you will experience the excitement, bliss and the life-changing action. This is a system that is near perfect. It can change your life, you can lose weight, get involved in adventures, hone your physical and mentall skills. This is a system that makes your time spent gaming well worth it.