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skepticalarrie · 3 years

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Hello Allie! Do you think Sony is involved is this situation of Harry having fake relationships again??

Hello anon, how are you?

Oh I was just discussing that earlier with someone on my DMs. But basically, yes? As I said before, I do think Sony/Columbia interests are always going to prevail compared to Harry’s own wishes and his management’s. This is not 1D anymore but I highly doubt anyone has much *power* over that. I think is very naive of us to think labels don’t highly advise their artists to do something or not to do something in order to achieve whatever they have planned for them.

That being said, I don't think Harry is being punished by his label or whatever. The way I see it is more like Sony is not particularly happy ($$$) that HS3 is not out yet, especially after FL being so big ($$$). But it’s very clear to me that the idea of making Harry this huge untouchable multifaceted artist in the industry is coming from the Azoffs. And it really makes me think about all the reasons Holivia is happening the way it is. It's being pushed hard, it doesn't seem like it's going to end anytime soon. You see, just like Holivia, Haylor happened to promote something for both of them, but just a few weeks was enough to milk it for years and to make One Direction skyrocket in the U.S. So what is the end goal with Holivia? Because as time goes by it seems to me that this stunt is there to *please* everyone. Let's see:

- The label wants Harry to release HS3 asap, they want profit profit profit. In other words, Sony/Columbia is not thrilled about actor Harry instead of a new album. Plus, how successful Harry is going to be in the movies will also affect directly how much his music will be selling. If Holivia wasn't happening, Harry would be MIA this entire time. We would see him filming on set and that's it. Holivia is keeping Harry in the spotlight, it's keeping him a relevant artist while he doesn't have new music. (AND, Holivia will not end silently, so the end of it can also be used to promote new music and they can also use Olivia for the backstory of the new album, just like they did with Hamille)

- His management needs bargaining power. He has a three-album deal with Columbia, which makes this moment (between the second and the third album) a power game since HS3 could be the last one with the label. So as more successful, famous and profitable Harry is, the more power he has in future negotiations because the labels will want him no matter what the conditions are. It's a great moment to market him as a huge artist and not only a musician. So considering DWD is not a small production, and they need this movie to succeed, a stunt is a PR strategy that probably doubles the chances of making this movie successful and making people interested. Not to mention Olivia's interests in this.

- Holivia also allows Harry to make My Policeman, after all, he still has a £75-80M deal and a career that relies on his sexualized heterosexual image. So as ironic as it sounds, having a girlfriend allows a "soft" coming out. He can say he's in fact part of the community without compromising his image too much. People can slowly get used to the idea. And this does make him one step closer to a full and honest coming out in the future.

However, I think they forgot to think about the public's perception about Harry during all of this. Is that what his fans want? Will it come across as genuine as it should? Because people are not buying it, the fans are not happy.

#ask #holivia #solo harry #management #sony #hs3 speculation #dwd #contracts and business #columbia records #mine

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a-little-ray-of-fantasy · 3 years

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3 wishes to grant and 10 Points-er, I mean, masters to please... I can work with that!

Man, movies with dragons are quite the talk as of lately from me, yes? Speaking of which, today Netflix released a new Sony movie set in China, "Wish Dragon" about a dragon and wishes!

...Yeah, it's in the title, I know...

So, here's my thoughts about it!

Beware of spoilers!

1) The friendship between Din and Li Na is adorable! I was afraid their friendship was going to be all a "Tell don't show" thing, but we spend a good amount of time with them, so to learn how much their chemistry works and why we should care about what both of them are going through! Nice!

2) Ha! I knew he was the Man behind the Man! ...huh, he's not a villain? Shocked, but intrigued!

3) Li Na's spunky personality is just the same as back then. Very endearing!

4) Soooooo... Long would work really well as a plush toy, just saying! ^^

5) Man, why does this guy always keep his hands in his pockets? It's kinda freaky, and... Oooh, I see... A "I'm only using 10% of my power" thing, ok! o_o

6) Youuuu never properly learned the true meaning of Mida's tale, have you man? Hm, guess not.

7) Kid, I admire how much you value your friendship, but stop giving your mother so much strife, ok?

8) Aw, Din never got to truly deliver his present to Li Na. :(

9) Wow, sad backstory time! That explains a lot of his personality, and how he treats wishes and people! Now I'm sad. :(

10) Long for Din's father figure! Please, that's what I want! *v*

So, how was it?

Ok ok, yes, this story seems to take cues from Aladdin (which, trivia time, had the original tale set in China! Cool, huh?), but it's got quite the few elements that make this story unique: Long, as far as magical granting wishes beings go, is FAR less neutral, even kind of a jerk obsessed with ancient rich life ideals, and is arguably the character who changes the most, in this movie. The story is less about changing for romance, and more about a friendship and two families that have to endure despite reality. Din never really wants to change or pretend to be something he's not, but the more he learns about Li Na's new reality, the more he questions his own life, and his relationship with his mother gets more and more tense, as she worries he's throwing his life away by not going to school. As of Li Na's side, she's been through a lot of stress with her new life, and goes through it all for her father's sake, who for his part is becoming more and more desperate in keeping everything together so he can make his daughter secure and happy in life; the poor girl just wants to come back to a simpler life, and be near her father like a family... Just saying, a lot of characters are very sympathetic, in this movie.

Having said that, I don't know if it'll become a classic, but before you ignore the movie, let me tell you it's very much worth a watch! Din and Lina are a couple of very endearing main characters, Long is funny and lovable, and the story takes a familiar premise to thrown in some unique turns that give this movie its own identity. It's still an enjoyable movie, regardless of that, I recommend it! :D

So, good day to all, and may you find a wish dragon too, someday!

...ok, maybe not one that requires 7 unfindable orbs, but still!

#10 Points per Movie #Wish Dragon #Personal Rambles

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douxreviews · 5 years

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Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Review

"What a bunch of a-holes."

A lone figure in a space mask (Chris Pratt's Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord) strolls across the surface of a barren planet. He comes across the ruins of dead civilisation, removes his mask, pops on a set of headphones, hits play on his Sony Walkman and struts through the ruins to the funky sounds of Awesome Mix Vol. 1. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen and variations, to Guardians of the Galaxy, the best space opera since the original Star Wars trilogy and the closest thing we are ever going to get to a Farscape movie.

You've probably heard that GotG was a big gamble for Marvel. I have yet to read a single review or magazine article that hasn't said that at least once. It's a gamble that paid off as the film opened to a massive $94 million at the US box office this weekend. That's bigger than The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World. Not bad for a film based on a comic title so obscure even I had to look it up on Wikipedia when it was first announced. A lot of praise really has to go to the film's marketing team, who did a exceptional job promoting the film by emphasizing the two things the audience would easily connect with; the film's sense of humour and its killer soundtrack.

The film's biggest asset is probably that amazing soundtrack. After a brief Earth-based prologue to establish Quill's origins and tragic backstory (all heroes need one), the film blasts off to the stars and never looks back. The music, which comes from a mix-tape Quill's dying mother made for him (the woman clearly had great taste), gives the audience something familiar to hang on as Gunn takes us on a guided tour of the cosmic side of the Marvel universe, from Knowhere (a mining colony built inside the severed head of a space god) to the throne of this mega franchise's ultimate big bad, Thanos (Josh Brolin).

Story-wise, GotG is nothing revolutionary for Marvel. There's an all-powerful MacGuffin the bad guy wants so they can take over the universe for reasons so vague no one ever bothers to mention them. A mismatched group of bickering heroes reluctantly band together to stop them. Cue third act action extravaganza. But predictable plotting is something I am always willing to forgive when a film is as fun and hilarious as this one. In terms of action and visual effects, the film looks amazing. You wouldn't think that this was Gunn's first venture into big budget filmmaking. Visually, the film is somewhere between the shiny pulp sci-fi novel covers of the 70s, Jack Kirby, and the grittier used universe look of Ridley Scott's Alien.

With any film centered around a team there's always the risk that someone is going to get Hawkeyed. Luckily, that doesn't happen here. Every member of the team (from Pratt's Kirkian scoundrel to Zoe Saldana's assassin with a heart) is given a moment to shine, with Rocket and Groot the clear standouts. They may only be a collection of 1s and 0s but they feel as real and alive as their flesh and blood co-stars. Groot is just the most adorable thing ever and the true heart and soul of the film. It is impossible to come out of this film without a special place in your heart for him. I haven't been this emotional about a Vin Diesel performance since The Iron Giant.

GotG does suffer when it comes to its villains, a recurring problem for Marvel Studios' films. Lee Pace's Ronan has got that whole Dark Lord thing working for him, but he's no Loki. Best I can say is he's at least more interesting than Christopher Eccleston's Malekith. Meanwhile, Karen Gillan's Nebula doesn't get the screentime she deserves. Can we have more of her in the sequel please?

Notes and Quotes

— As with Gunn's previous films, this one includes an appearance by Nathan Fillion.

— Vin Diesel apparently recorded "I am Groot" over 1,000 times in multiple languages.

— Quill's spaceship is named the Milano after Alyssa Milano.

Groot: "I! AM! GROOT!"

Rocket: "Metaphors go over his head." Drax: "Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it."

Gamora: "You don't get to ask questions after the nonsense you pulled on Knowhere!" Drax: "I just saved Quill!" Quill: "We've already established that you destroying the ship I'm on is not saving me!" Drax: "When did we establish that?" Quill: "Like three seconds ago?" Drax: "I wasn't listening. I was thinking of something else..."

Gamora: "I am going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy."

Rocket: "Why would you want to save the galaxy?" Quill: "Because I'm one of the idiots that lives in it!"

Three and a half out of four legendary heroes named Kevin Bacon.

Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011

#Guardians of the Galaxy #GOTG #Star-Lord #Peter Quill #Gamora #Rocket Racoon #Drax the Destroyer #Groot #Nebula #Yondu Undonta #Thanos #Marvel #Marvel Cinematic Universe #MCU #Doux Reviews #Movie Reviews #something from the archive

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amazingspiderfield · 6 years

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flamingcrap replied to your post: “peterned is a god tier ship you guys are just racist and fatphobic”:

The lack of fics is totally fandom racism but yeah, it is worth bringing up that mcu peter’s story and cast were stolen from miles morales and that no one ever really talks about it because the mcu is so much more well known at this point. Comics peter and miles are completely different people both backstory wise and personality wise and the mcu’s solution was to steal a black kid’s story and pasted it onto a white kid. it’s not as blatant whitewashing as dr strange’s cast but it happened and they got away with it because now we have uwu white boi peter posts and miles has only gained more recognition through the announcement of the Sony movie which is never going to become as huge as a marvel blockbuster. And it’s not like they can ever introduce miles into the mcu now because they stole his entire story so who would he even be

I think this is an important issue the MCU fandom should be aware of. There was absolutely no reason to reboot the franchise the way they did, especially because Spider-Man in Civil War didn't make any kind of diference as we were all expecting, precisely because he didn't have a story in that universe. They made it all so hurriedly to please the fandom without any real justification and, as you say, they got away with everything because they're insanely popular.

Miles was a better fit for the MCU, as we already saw with how much people love this new Peter Parker, but because Miles' black, they threw him under the bus. We'll see how Sony handdles all this to avoid comparison between both characters, but I don't think the MCU has any intention to introduce Miles since most of the fans don't even know who he is. He can't be exploited the way Peter Parker is and the fandom is allowing all this just because they gave them their precious superfamily.

#flamingcrap #replies #anti mcu #miles morales

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righthererightzao · 6 years

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Zaoka Reviews: Rayman

Platform: PSX Release Date: September 1995 Developed By: UbiSoft Published By: UbiSoft Screenshot Source: https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Main_Page

Hey folks, I thought I’d try something a bit new with my blog, alongside my usual content of screenshots, RP write-ups and Asks, and so I’m starting a little review series on the side where I’ll be looking at games both old and new (or in between in the case of the recent remakes that have been coming out!). Figured I’d start with one of my favourites! It’s safe to say that Rayman on the Sony Playstation holds a very special place in my heart, it’s one of the first games I owned on the console next to Crash Bandicoot, and it’s one of the few games next to Final Fantasy IX, Aliens Versus Predator 2 and Alien: Isolation (We’ll get to those soon) that I could happily play each year and not get bored of it. Mind you, it is hard to be bored of something when over time you find yourself being slowly consumed by a fury that knows no bound threatening to rend the controller you hold in your very hands in two when it reaches critical mass! We’ll save that for later though!

When we start of the game we’re given an animated cut-scene in which we are greeted by one of the side characters known as “The Magician” who fills us in on the backstory. We’re told how everything is hunky dory in the world of Rayman thanks to something known as The Great Protoon which keeps everything in balance. Alas this peace is not to last as the main villain of the game, Mr Dark up and steels the Protoon causing a bunch of small folks called the Electoons to scatter across the corners of the world where they are kidnapped by Mr Dark’s minions, and more distressingly, we’re never told what became of the Neutoon. Declaring the need for a hero, we’re then introduced to the titular character as he lazes on a hammock and giving us a casual thumb up!

With our mission clear we can start the game and find ourselves being drawn in by the visuals of the game. The levels are beautifully designed, with each stage baring all kinds of neat little details, such as the dancing flowers and the little mushrooms that pile on top of each other (only to fall down shortly after) in the forest of dreams. Not only that, there is the music, which I think is one of the best parts of the game itself. The music is unforgettable, with a wide range of tones from upbeat and adventurous tunes in the earlier stages which slowly becomes more sombre as you near the end of your adventure, and then there’s the track used in the “Chase” segments of certain levels that used to cause a younger me to panic as soon as I heard the crash of the gong that heralded the impending that was slowly drawing nearer. Then we get to the final stage, the candy chateau, ready for our final showdown with Mr. Dark, and clown music happens.

Moving onto the game play, Rayman is a 2D side scrolling platformer where you traverse a wide variety of levels rescuing tiny little critters called Electoons from captivity while combating a host of freakish enemies under the employ of Mr. Dark, the games main antagonist. When you start off you only have the ability to walk at a brisk pace, jump, climb and make silly faces to scare away these lanky green safari hunter looking dudes. As you progress through the game you are given new abilities by Betilla the Fairy, ranging from a punching attack to launch your enemies into orbit or clear obstacles, to a sprint ability.

As well as rescuing Electoons, you find 1up trophies that grant an extra life and these little blue sparkling gems called ‘Tings’ which each play a musical tune when you pick them up, making it all the more satisfying to pick them up in rapid succession in order to play out their own little melody. Not only that, but collecting 100 tings grants you an extra life, and if you have a certain amount of tings when going through a level you can pay the Magician to take you to a bonus level where you can earn an extra life upon completion.

Alongside various types of enemies, the levels also contain a boat load of hazards to avoid, many of which can result in instant death in the form of rivers (both good old fashioned H20 and in Picture city, Ink), bottomless pits and spike traps. Not only that but walking over certain parts of a level can trigger a “surprise” often signalled by a small twinkling sound. These surprises can be beneficial as a 1up trophy or an Electoon cage. Most of the time it’s a bunch of dudes about to ruin your day.

Raymans movements are also a bit on the slow side, and jumping can be a little bit floaty, with some instances requiring some precision jumping from the player when it comes to how fast some of the platforms can move over the aforementioned instant death traps. Not only that, but is Rayman is hurt by anything he yelps and is pushed back a space which can make any platform over an instant death pit a soul crushing experience when you accidentally clip an enemy, or an environmental hazard only for Rayman to go plummeting to his death. This experience isn’t helped by the track that plays upon any death, which can only be described as the loosing horn from hell and they would have achieved a similar effect by recording Michel Ancel screaming“Y’DONE MESSED UP SON”.

With that I move onto the next point and this tends to be the largest criticism of the game, the difficulty curve, ye gods, the difficulty curve. The difficulty curve can only be summed up thus; The first zone in the game ‘The Dream Forest’ moves at relatively decent pace, with the difficulty increasing steadily but always in a fair way as the game tests the skills you’ve picked up so far, leading you to the first boss of the game, Moskito. Once beaten, you get the ability to swing and also grab faraway objects like 1up trophies from a distance and that allows you to replay the previous levels to get any of the missing Electoons, completing the zone with each level bearing a giant purple smiley face. You feel good! You’re making progress, you’re going to move onto a whole new zone now! Then Band Land happens, and the difficulty curve decides it want’s to explore neighbouring star systems and takes you along for the ride.

With the introduction of slippery slopes and the “surprise” ambushes the game suddenly turns into an obstacle course of outlandish proportions, and can feel unfair at times as it begins to feel more like going through trial and error than anything else, and as both health and the number of continues are limited, this can make each subsequent death all the more frustrating. On top of that the Electoons become increasingly harder to find and every missed Electoon cage means you have to replay the stage til you get all of them otherwise you won’t be able to complete the game, as the final level is gated off until you get every single Electoon Cage. I actually have vivid memories of playing this as a kid and there was one Electoon cage that I just could not find and it almost drove me to tears, and then... I found the cage!... Completely by accident! only to die on my last life and my very last continue. To say I was upset was an understatement, as at the time we couldn’t afford a memory card and had to save my progress through writing down passwords on a diary, said passwords only registering 100% completion on any given level.. so if you miss an Electoon on one level, as soon as you continue via password you have to get every. Single. Electoon cage in that level all over again.

Despite all that, though I never felt like the game was impossible, with each failure I just pushed myself to do better, I wanted to see what new places it would take me to, go up against the new challenges they presented to me, and ultimately it all paid off. I finally got through to the Candy Chateau, and while the fight with Mr. Dark wasn’t what I’d hoped it was for all the effort I had to go through, seeing the end credits with the little “Where are they now” style pictures going by made it worth it. To this day I still think Rayman on the PSX is a great game, despite it’s flaws. Even with Raymans ponderous movement speed, there’s an oddly satisfying flow to the game, and it was really cool seeing how Michel Ancel would then go on to build upon and improved how each level flowed in Rayman: Origins and Rayman: Legends.

I had lost my copy of the game a while ago, but thankfully the game is up on the PS Store under PSOne-Classics going for £3.99 and can be played on the PSP and the PS Vita!

Thanks for reading folks! Hope this will be helpful in some way and folks enjoy it! Is this something you think I should continue doing? Are there any games you’d like me take a look at in future, or maybe share your own thoughts on the game itself, please let me know! Til next time, have fun n’ take care!

#Not Final Fantasy #OOC #Mundy Thoughts #Zaoka Reviews #Rayman

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pressxtoalex · 6 years

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My Top 12 Most Anticipated Games of 2018

2017 was an absolute monster of a year for video games, and it’s starting to appear that January is going to be the only time where we aren’t going to be inundated with new releases to play, and inevitably miss out on. However, there are already more than a few games coming out in 2018 that have my attention and think they should have yours, too. Now bear in mind: This is a pretty PS4 heavy list, for obvious reasons, but if you do some Googling, you’ll find a lot of these are multi-platform releases. The other thing to consider, is while I consider myself a great optimist, I have to be real with myself, so no matter what the developers and publishers tell us, you aren’t going to find games like Death Stranding, Kingdom Hearts III, or The Last of Us Part II on this list, because, let’s face it, they aren’t coming out in 2018. Perhaps, the most frightening part of this list, is most of these games have been confirmed for at least the first half of the year, leaving June through December pretty wide open for us as gamers to have a crowded schedule.

12) The Longest Five Minutes

Coming out of NIS America, The Longest Five Minutes takes a twist on the traditional RPG and starts out at the end, facing off against the game’s final boss, however, your character has lost every memory of their adventure, including their name, abilities, and even why he’s in this battle. Throughout the battle, comments made by his allies, and taunts by the Demon King will trigger flashbacks to help fill in the heroes memory gaps. It comes out in just a few weeks on both Vita and Nintendo Switch and the premise alone put this on my radar.

11) Days Gone

We finally saw what Sony’s Bend Studio has been working on at E3 2016, and while it felt more like a “Lookee how many things we can have on the screen at once” they expounded on the stealth aspects of the game at PSX, showing the game to potentially being somewhere between The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn. It sits so low on my list, partly because it’s Bend’s first release since Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and their first console release since Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow, and partly because I’m not 100% sold on this coming out in 2018, but, if I’m over here spoutin’ off Last of Us Part 2 is coming in 2019, then Day’s Gone needs to be hitting shelves in 2018 as to not be cannibalized by a much more established IP. I love the idea of an open world motorcycle game, though, and hopefully, it’s something akin to much under-appreciated Mad Max.

10) The Walking Dead: A Telltale Series The Final Season

It’s pretty firmly established that I love adventure games, and I love Telltale. They hit a home run in 2012 with the first season of The Walking Dead, but while they continue to swing for the fences on various other licensed and popular properties, they haven’t quite fully captured the magic that made The Walking Dead’s first season so special. Sure, Season Two and Season Three had their high points, and Telltale has shown some of the magic in their other games like Tales from the Borderlands, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Batman, but this is their chance to give Clementine, a character we’ve spent six years growing up with, a proper send-off and story, after spending Season Three side-stepping her.

9) God of War

Yo. Real talk, I’m not a God of War guy. I don’t need that much screamy chain man in my life, and frankly, Kratos has just been a dude, to me, that has zero redeeming qualities. Yea, he’s angry because of his tragic backstory, but, like...can you not? Here’s the thing though, Sony Santa Monica has created a tamer, humbled Kratos that seems to have far more to lose. While I think we’re starting to teeter on seeing too much of the game, game director Cory Barlog keeps saying the right things about this installment that has more-than-piqued my interest. And me being interested in a God of War game speaks volumes.

8) Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion

Adventure Time is the one franchise that has been itching for a quality game under its banner. We’ve had a handful of various dungeon crawler games, top-down Zelda clones, and adventure games, but they’ve either missed on the art style or totally whiffed on the gameplay. Pirates of the Enchiridion may possibly be the Adventure Time game that the series fans have been clamoring for. It’s an open-world game set in the Land of Ooo, with an original story, multiple playable characters, full-cast voiceover, and sailing. The series is wrapping up soon, and this may be one of the last Adventure Time games we see, so here’s hoping this is the one they get right.

7) Church in the Darkness

I’ve had my eye on Paranoid Productions’ Church in the Darkness for a couple of years now. It’s a top-down, procedurally-generated action/infiltration game set in the 1970s where you’re an ex-law enforcement officer tasked with checking in on your nephew, who has recently joined the Collective Justice Mission cult. Each playthrough promises to be different, down to the characters’ personalities and reactions to you being in the camp. If you want to go full-stealth Metal Gear with it, you can, or if you want to go full guns-blazing, go right ahead. The idea of uncovering more of the story based on your investigating, and the varying degree in which characters respond to you each time you play, leave a lot of opportunities for the game to have mass amounts of replay value.

6) Jurassic World Evolution

Hi. I would like to build my own Jurassic World, please. That’s at least what developer Frontier is promising. While I had no idea Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis even existed until it became too rare to justify purchasing, I did spend a lot of my summer in 2012 tapping away at Jurassic Park Builder on my iPhone. Jurassic World Evolution looks to bring that Jurassic Park-meets-Sim City hybrid back to home consoles. Hopefully “Life finds a way” and this game will be exactly what Jurassic-verse fans have been looking for this summer. Just, please, don’t Animal Crossing this and make me have to play every day or risk being infested with weeds and whatnot. That’ll be the quickest way for me to nope out of this.

5) Crossing Souls

Somewhere between the Burger King Kids Club and Stranger Things lies Fourattic’s Crossing Souls. Set in 1986 in California, Crossing Souls is an action-adventure RPG where five kids make a mysterious discovery that thrusts them into navigating two planes of life and death and begin uncovering a government conspiracy. With five playable characters, each with their own style of combat, puzzles, and 80’s arcade references, Crossing Souls is right up my alley in the indie-game realm.

4) Detroit Become Human

Heavy Rain is one of my all-time favorite games. Hell, it’s tangentially linked to where my YouTube namesake came from. While Beyond: Two Souls wasn’t entirely the follow-up a lot of fans were looking for, I have no problem putting all of Quantic Dreams eggs into the Detroit Become Human basket. Between its Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick-style of story, stunning visuals, and varying degrees of story direction, this seems to be the Quantic Dream getting back on the right track. The big question is what side of their spectrum the story is going to fall on.

3) Dreams

If you listen closely, you can hear the hype-train leaving the station for Dreams. Media Molecule has been a voice in the gaming industry that needs to be heard again. Their style and creativity has been sorely missed, but a few questions remain: Is there a major market for a curation-based platformer, will the customization be as flawlessly executed as we’ve been lead to believe, and will this even hit 2018 despite the developer’s best efforts? It’s hard for me to temper my excitement for a game that has a far more expansive Super Mario Maker feel to it. The in-game campaign may not be the reason to buy the game, so it’s going to be on those that pick up Dreams to keep it alive.

2) Red Dead Redemption 2

I totally missed on Red Dead Redemption. It was at a time where working in gaming retail and feeling that need to play everything, the last thing I wanted to do was play a massive open-world game. Red Dead Redemption 2 feels like my opportunity to atone for this mistake. I loved what I played of Grand Theft Auto V and am dying to see what Rockstar Games has learned from then to now with Red Dead being their first proper current-gen game release. Rockstar has carte-blanche with the gaming industry, so if they came out tomorrow and said, “This is delayed again, and will be delayed a third time” almost everyone would understand. They’re still Scrooge McDucking in their money from GTA-Five, so they don’t need to rush a Red Dead sequel out the door, but they are looking to be the heaviest hitter in 2018 and every developer and publisher has to be waiting for a release date so they know to stay away.

1) Marvel’s Spider-Man

I am absolutely salivating for Insomniac’s Spider-Man to just get a release date. I don’t even need it in my hands yet, I just want to know when I can have it in my hands, and based on recent tweets from the game’s dev-team, we may know sooner rather than later. Not only is this my most anticipated game of 2018, if you were to put a gun to my head and tell me I can only pick one game from this year, I would not even flinch when answering “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” Between the combat, the cinematic uses of QTE’s, to the open environments, I am absolutely sold on this game. The most exciting thing about this release is that, despite what we’ve already seen, I don’t even think we’ve seen a lot of it. Through tweets, and various interviews, I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg with this game. Outside of a certain popular character’s appearance in the E3 2017 trailer, we already know they play a larger role than just a cameo, leaving me to wonder if we’re getting a Sons of Liberty situation where the what we’ve seen could be a misdirection to what we’re getting. Regardless, Insomniac Games and Spider-Man are an incredible pairing and I cannot wait to get my hands on this.

So there you have it! My most anticipated games of 2018. I’m sure most of the titles didn’t surprise you, but I absolutely hope I was able to turn your gaze toward some upcoming releases you may not have previously known about. Feel free to drop by and let me know what you’re most looking forward to!

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darkspellmaster · 6 years

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E3 2018 Thoughts on Square Enix

Square Enix as a whole, we’re trying to do what Nintendo did…and I don’t know…Not sure that it worked out for them as planned. It was to the point, but lacked something. Maybe it’s because Nintendo has had several years of making the directs seem engaging and fun, and Square was more “Here is what we have” rather than using a host as an in between-er.

To start with we got Game play of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which, while it showed off some stealth options, I don’t think it showed off how to play the game without killing anyone. Part of the fun of Tomb Raider for players like myself who like the option of stealth plays, which is more of a challenge. However the game play of this one didn’t give us that. We saw Laura crawl into a tree, and use options to distract the guards, but then went in for a stealth kill. Which if you want to do that, fine, but, again, I want that option of not killing characters that don’t need to be killed. So while I thought the demonstration was neat I would have liked to have seen more in regard to how to play it without gunning down everyone. I do like that we’re seeing more of old Laura, someone more confident in personality and understanding, but the crashed plane…and how the hell did her friend make it out of that alive?

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit got a second Trailer, which is pretty much the first one with some add-ons. Not much to say about this as I mentioned before I wasn’t a fan of the choice ending to Life is Strange. Quality of the animation has gone up since the first game, although I think some LiS fans would prefer this having a more direct tie into the main story. Unless this turns out to be some how connected to the main story via the kid, I think this could have been it’s own series rather then pushing it into the other one. But that’s just me.

Babylon's Fall by Platinum games looks interesting, though we got a limited amount of info and I’m kind of hoping it comes out on the Switch, given that Platinum and Square both seem to be making a strong relationship with Nintendo for their AA games, and possibly their AAA games in some cases that are not the Final Fantasy types. I really hope to know more about this game and see what they pull out of it. The fact that there are two very wide spaces between the words PS4 and Steam says to me that they’re going to reveal a Switch set up with this game along with possibly an Xbox addition. Rumors are around either an RPG like game with four characters to work with, a Souls like game, or –Please no not another –multiplayer online game like Destiny or Anthem….please no.

Another trailer of Just Cause 4…although this one we get more details about the story and game play…Again awesome to have Rico and that you can use anything to fight. But still I get the feeling that, like all Just Cause, it’s going to be familiar territory for fans. On the plus side it’s single player no multiplayer to be seen, so that’s good for people who don’t want online games. Just hoping we get more depth about the main character as this is supposed to touch on his backstory... Moving on.

The Quiet Man, being brought to us by Human Head studios (was supposed to be the maker of Prey 2) was a trailer that told us very little but showed a lot. So you have a lead that may be deaf, interesting…tell me more game, and he fights against people, okay and….that was it. Only recently did they release more. Apparently it’s going to be a digital only, cinematic action with immersive story driven experiences. But you can complete it in one sitting, and blends live action with realistic CG, and includes apparently “Pulse-pounding action gameplay”. Honestly you know, this sounds like something that was done for a lot of Adventure games during the later 90s, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was an Adventure game disguised as something else. I’m going to keep my eye on this to see if Square is trying to bring back the older idea of an Adventure game in a new outfit. It seems to be coming out on Steam and PS4, though I bet we will see on Switch and Xbox one at some point.

Of course we had another Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer. This one gave a bit more back story there with some new info, though it’s pretty much the same game play that we saw in the first trailer, with some changes here and there. I don’t know if I can add more other then saying that we got shots of Kairi and Lea (Lee?) here (although People in the game blogs keep calling him Axel, he isn’t Axel anymore! Jeeze! Even I know that and I didn’t play the games! How do I know all this?!) sitting on a rock, or log, watching the sun set for some reason. And we know the team starts off with getting info from Mickey and Riku.

Shorter Trailers were the Octopath Traveler that is coming out for the Switch and that Square now says it’s going to make a department just to make Switch games because pre-orders are through the roof on this.

FF XIV got a new update for it’s story, and Monster Hunter: World Cross Final Fantasy is getting a release on the PS4 and PC (not noting if it’s coming to Switch or Xbox or not. Thanks Sony...Thanks- I say with Sarcasm).

We’re getting a new Dragon Quest with XI, and it looks awesome. I just hope that people are willing to deal with the strange than normal characters and the situations with the slimes and such. It looks to be a bit different and the lead is certainly more mature looking than other leads have been. I like that aspect of it. Of course it’s Toriyama doing the art work for it, so that’s always nice to see. I really want to know if the Switch will get this after the whole PS4 release happens. It seems to be that way recently with Sony and Square.

Of other note that wasn’t at the Presser, apparently Square Enix is creating a division just for making games for the Switch which is great news for fans like myself. Let’s just hope other companies follow suit.

Over all while the games were fun, for the most part it didn’t feel quiet like it worked right. A for effort though, but over all I have to say C+ or a B -, not too bad but it could use more work for the next time.

#square enix #e3 2018 #dragon quest xi #ffxiv #monster hunter: world cross final fantasy xiv #octopath traveler #kingdom hearts 3 #kh3 #the quiet man game #the quiet man #tqm #just cause 4 #just cause series #the awesome adventures of captain spirit #taaocs #babylon's fall #shadow of the tomb raider #sottr

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fuckyeahrogerandbrianna · 7 years

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Check out our interview to learn more about how she wrote about Jamie and Willie’s relationship in “Of Lost Things,” and Claire and Brianna’s relationship in “Freedom & Whiskey.”

SONY: The disconnect between Brianna and Claire progressively resolves itself over the first half of the season, especially in episode 5. As a writer, how did you decide which moments were key in bridging the gap between them? Were there any other ways to bring them together that you explored but didn’t pursue?

TONI GRAPHIA: Essentially all of the Claire and Brianna relationship moments we wanted to explore ultimately ended up on screen. But earlier in the process, the story wasn’t so mother-daughter centric, and at one point there was a Jamie and Brianna storyline we considered but did not pursue … [because] I realized the story was really more between mother and daughter. We had two episodes—4 and 5—to portray the evolution of that relationship, and the moments we emphasized were focused on increasing the transparency between Claire and Brianna.

In order to bridge the gap between them, I thought it was important for Claire to involve Brianna in the search for Jamie so that she wouldn’t feel shut out. It gives them a project to work on together and allows them to bond. We wanted that transparency so Brianna wouldn’t feel like her mother was on a secret mission to find Jamie and keeping her apart from it—instead, the research was used as something to bring them together. And it was likewise important to show that Brianna was excited to be a part of this search and grateful that her mother had finally shared the secret with her. In one earlier version, Roger was the one who gave the article to Brianna and told her that he had found Jamie. But I changed it to have Claire be the one who admits to Brianna that Jamie has been found—not so she could seek her daughter’s blessing, but just in the interest of honesty because she’d kept so many things from her before.

But with that transparency about Claire’s future comes a need for transparency about the past. Taking a look back in their history is shining a light on things that used to be secret. We wanted to craft a moment where Claire and Brianna could have a truthful conversation about how Brianna had always sensed that something was off in her parents’ marriage. So that conversation beneath the arches about Frank and his relationship with another woman was another important part of breaking down the wall between mother and daughter. We had a lot of discussion in the writers’ room about many moments that could have existed between Claire and Brianna, but we kept distilling them down to the moments that we believed would heal the wound between them—and those had to do with Claire being honest regarding both Jamie and Frank.

Another important element we felt we needed to play was Claire struggling with her decision to leave Brianna behind. Even when Brianna gives Claire her blessing and tells her she has to go back to Jamie, I thought it was important that Claire didn’t just take the yes and run with it. It was important to have a second conversation—the one they have later on the sofa—where Claire says she really wants Brianna to think about what this decision would mean and make sure she’s OK with it. She wants to be sure that Brianna understands the magnitude of what Claire is considering and what it would mean for both of them. To that end, I thought it was important to include the line where Claire says to Brianna that, even with Brianna’s blessing, she doesn’t know if she can bring herself to leave and never see her again. It’s a difficult, heartbreaking choice for both of them, which is part of the reason I decided to set the episode at Christmas—so they could have one last family Christmas together before Claire goes to the stones. In the book, Brianna accompanies her there, but I chose to have them say goodbye at home so Claire could say, “If I have to say goodbye to you there, I might never go.”

SONY: Brianna finally finds resolution in her relationship with her mother, and even helps her find Jamie. But she knows that when they succeed, she will lose Claire again. How do you write the payoffs for this relationship, knowing that it is bound to be bittersweet for the characters as well as the audience?

TONI GRAPHIA: Yes, it is indeed bittersweet. She's helping her mother and I don't think that at the beginning she's really thinking about the endgame. She's caught up in the excitement and hasn't really thought through the fact that if this succeeds, she will lose her mother. But it's like that old saying that when one door closes, another opens. Roger has appeared in her life at this moment, and just when she's lost her father who died, and now her mother is leaving—she's got Roger. And there's more than just a romantic spark, but a deep soul bond—after all, their families both date back to the 1700s … he's a MacKenzie! There’s the promise of love to come between them and I think that gives Claire some peace and helps her be able to leave her daughter, knowing she won’t be alone. But the biggest resolution Brianna finds in this heartbreaking situation is realizing Jamie saved her—he made her mother go back so that Brianna and Claire could have a chance. And the worst part of it all, is that Jamie’s had to live out his days not knowing if they even made it. Brianna finally comes to terms with accepting she has to let her mom go. Jamie gave her mom to her, and she has to give her back so she can tell him everything.

SONY: How did you develop Roger as both a fully-fledged character on his own, as well as someone who has huge influence in supporting the relationship between Claire and Brianna?

TONI GRAPHIA: Well, Roger has an interesting background in that both his parents were killed during the war. He was raised by a man who wasn't his birth father, just as Brianna was. He loves history, but knows very little of his own. He knew the Reverend was his adopted father and he knew some of his backstory. He never had the rug pulled out from under him like Brianna did. So he's a little more balanced and grounded. He's had a pretty safe life until now. And it’s fate that on the day he buries his father, he meets the love of his life. In the coming season, Roger's life will be upended because of his love of this girl and that's been interesting for us to explore. He's going to go through some huge, unbelievable challenges which will test everything about him as a person. His physical, mental, and emotional limits—and even his moral code. Without Brianna sparking this life change, he may have had a quiet, comfortable life as a professor. So, she's like a bomb that goes off for him. His relationship with Claire has been interesting too, and I wrote it a bit differently than the book. We really wanted him to come visit them and bring news of finding Jamie. Claire isn't ready to open that door again and initially she's not happy about him having done this research which she never asked for. But he cares about this mother and daughter. He was in the midst of what happened to them in the season finale last year and they are a bit of a trio. I wrote them as sort of three points of a triangle because he's become so enmeshed in their life. They're bound together forever by the bonds they forged through this experience at the end of Season 2. Plus, he sings a good rat satire! Ha ha. How could any girl resist him? Richard Rankin does an amazing job and I can't picture anyone else as Roger. He's perfect and we're all a little in love with him.

SONY: Most unusual for “Outlander,” you wrote two episodes back to back. Can you please talk about this process? Why you chose to write both episodes, what the experience was like, and any stand out scenes that you really loved writing?

TONI GRAPHIA: When reading Voyager, I thought the ship stuff was really cool, but what I connected with most was Jamie's relationship with his son, and Claire's struggle with how to leave her daughter. It started initially as one big episode, but there was just too much to cover. We'd always talked about maybe doing an "all Jamie" episode and an "all Claire" episode, so when this one started getting too big, we decided to split them and try to do just that. But how do you choose between Claire and Jamie?! So I said I wanted to do both. Everyone thought I was crazy to write back-to-back episodes, it's a heck of a lot of work. But I loved doing it and I'm proud of both. They're so different. There's still a little bit of each in the other's story, but it's the closest we came to doing all-Jamie, all-Claire. In episode 4, “Of Lost Things.” I'd say my favorite scenes were where Jamie sees his son in the baby carriage and tells him, "Dinna fash, I'm here." Then Lady Dunsany gives him his freedom and he decides to stay with his son. I also love the "stinking papist" scene, especially when Willie says he doesn't want a wife but Jamie says he'll find one someday, "...or she'll find you." And we know Jamie's thinking of Claire. The song at the end kills me every time; Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" came to me way back when I was reading that chapter and I knew I wanted to use it in the episode. We found the cover version by the band Walk Off the Earth—perfect because it's a male-female duet and represents the Jamie and Claire parallel lives.

In episode 5, “Freedom & Whisky,” I love the scene where Sandy confronts Claire with her love for Frank, and Claire has to own the cost to this husband who stepped up to raise her daughter by another man. I love the scene where Claire asks Brianna if she's sure she can live without her and says, "Because I don't know if I can." And I loved writing Claire's transition back to the past—using the monologue about puddles. This was an episode that created a great deal of discussion in our writers’ room about how to portray a parent's decision to part with their child, even for the man she loves—and a daughter's decision to let her mother go. I couldn't have done either of these episodes without the creativity and enthusiasm of our very talented writing staff, and especially the wonderful Maril Davis who championed this episode and helped make it what I hope is a testament to the complex bond between mothers and daughters.

#outlander #richard rankin #brianna randall #claire fraser #toni graphia #freedom and whisky #3x05 #jamie fraser #tv news

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bengilmoreblog-blog · 7 years

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My Project Brief

Backstory

I have worked on many projects this year within my visual lessons. For example, I have recently completed a 5-6-minute video for my student TV station youth’s choice, within the video I was able to use my skills such as adding visual effects and being able to make a well flowing piece of work. Near the start of the year I was testing my skills within premiere pro advancing in my skills to edit and create successful 2-3 minute pieces, Also I have begun to self-teach myself after effects which will really help me when creating my final project and will also allow me to show the skills I have gained throughout the year.

Opportunity

Opportunities that I would gain from this will be things like being able to work in completely new surroundings unlike the ones I have worked in before for example, where I have been working in quite basic areas such as the academy’s TV studios, I would now be able to explore different methods of filming in a an open environment. I am also gaining the opportunity to work on something that I’m very passionate about with almost no limitations and using the skills I have learnt I believe I can make it successful, I also feel very privileged that I get to work on a project such as this with specialist equipment that costs me nothing which not many students that I know of get the opportunity to do.

Scope

The film scene I'm recreating will be is the everything is kung Fu scene from the karate kid (2010) its time limit will be a minimum of 3:27 minutes and a maximum of 4:00 minutes, if I have time still to use I would consider making a behind the scenes that will give people an insight on how I re-created the film scene and what methods I used for during filming and post production.

Target Audience

For this project, my primary audience will be teens aged between 14-19 who have a passion for making films and in general have a love for film and television I also will have the target audience of people who like the karate kid. I targeted this age group because I’ve been in the shoes of this age range and I want to be able to prove to my target audience that it doesn't take a miracle to be able to for fill a dream or passion. When I was about 14 I watched, many re makes of film scenes and id always wanted to re-create them myself but I never had the equipment or crew to make it but now that I’m approaching the age of 18 I have discovered that it doesn't take a large crew and expensive equipment I can just be a couple of friends and a home camera and that’s what I want to get across to my primary audience. For my secondary audience, it will be aimed at any age of person who has a passion for re-creating film scenes, also the media industry so that they can see the work I have done and that they can see what I can produce.

Constraints

The number one constraint I will have is time, I will have to ensure myself that I don’t waste time and that I get what needs to be done and finished as quickly as possible and to the best of my ability. I should also have my project aimed to be completed a week before the deadline so that any loose ends and touches that need fixing can be done with ease. Another constraint would be matching the sound with the scene with the right moments, I am resolving this issue now by re watching over and over again the scene so that I can find anchor points on where specific bits of the song should be. A common constraint I will have is finding people who can act for film scene, even though the editing and flow can go great if the acting is terrible, people won’t enjoy it, a way I am looking to tackle this issue is by contacting some people who I did GCSE drama with and see if they are able to be a part of the acting.

Assumptions

In my personal project, I assume that there is an interest in the film scene that I'm re-creating and in order to confirm my assumption I will need to approach my target audience randomizing it from males and females and between the age range of 14-19 year olds and ask them a series of questions based upon what they would be interested in and how I would be able to tailor their thoughts into my own project and see how I can re-create the piece pleasing me and my target audience. I’m also assuming that I would be able to use the equipment I need on the day without any problems and in order to make sure this goes right I will have to check time slots on when the equipment will be available and how long I can use it for.

Resources

For my personal project, I almost have all the resources I need to make the short film. I have access to the back area of my college for my surroundings where I will be shooting my film, I have Adobe premiere pro for my editing and piecing everything together I also have access to Spotify which will allow me to use the piece of music for my scene or if unsuccessful I have also contacted Sony music to confirm if I can use the music for my project, lastly in the programmes that I will be using is after effects which I’ll be using to create the effects for my short film such as lens flares. I luckily have the privilege to be able to use the school’s equipment such as the cameras, tripods and sound recording kit. All that I need to sort out now is my cast and crew with that in mind I have selected a few people I am going to ask to help and if they can’t I have backups.

Success

Success for me is when I have a completed the re-creation of the film scene and it has been exported and saved for marking, more reasons that’ll make it a success for me is if that if the film scene comes out almost exactly how I wanted it too and that it is done to a professional standard that not only can I appreciate it but others as well. for example, the film will have been professional done or to a high standard of a well flowing piece that tells a clear story and isn’t all over the place, it’ll also have a well-connected piece of back ground music and a variation of sound effects and ambient sounds to match the piece. A final bit of succession for me would be if that I captured the attention of my specific target audience.

Envision

If having more time on my project I would look at developing the film scene and expanding the story and would look at brining on a bigger crew and see if I can develop on my skills and create a more outstanding piece of work. Also, if given more time I would maybe consider making another scene from the film or even creating a behind the scenes of the development of the scene. If my project went to plan and became a success it would earn me acknowledgement and with acknowledgement comes possible opportunity’s that could lead me into the path I’d like to head down in life it could possibly even be shown to an even larger audience.

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