As a kid, video arcades were my babysitter much of the time. Mom and pop wanted to go see a movie my brothers and I weren’t interested in, we usually wound up at Putt Putt Golf & Games for a couple hours while they caught the flick. I don’t remember any games that became obsessive for me, other than maybe throwing down against my brothers in Street Fighter II or Cyberball.
Since I’ve gotten older, however, there have been numerous games that sink their hooks into me and won’t let me go. Everyone knows I’m a Rock Band fanatic. Also pretty hardcore into Left 4 Dead. I didn’t really think I got the Mass Effect phenomenon until I realized I’d started up a new career with a different character almost immediately after I finished the game with my first one. And don’t get me started on the Bioshock titles (please, Hollywood, if you’re going to turn every game into a movie, at least get this one right and put it in David Fincher’s hands if he’s interested).
But what is it that pulls me in? Story plays a big part in Bioshock, to a lesser degree in Mass Effect. But that certainly doesn’t explain Rock Band or my latest obsession Plants vs Zombies (if you’re not familiar with it, don’t laugh until you give it a shot. If you’re not sucked in after the first hour, you’re a better person than I).
Gameplay is obviously the key, but what is it about the game play that makes such a difference? I figured this is the best audience to pose the question to: what gets the jonesing started that you say “Just one more screen/mission/level…” and next thing you know you’ve lost a couple of hours and find yourself late to wherever you need to be?
In an effort to write more, I’ll probably be posting some anime reviews over the next few weeks. In this post, I’m going to briefly discuss my history with anime; in the next I’m going to discuss some Things You Should Know before I get to proper reviewing- particularly involving the nebulous relationship between anime fandom and copyright, and then I’ll start posting reviews.
I’ve been involved with anime for some time now. I met my wife at that anime club when we were undergrads. My first publication of any sort was a story in Animerica back in the late 90s (although that’s my only anime-related publication to date). I helped start the anime club at Syracuse University. I was active at the UT anime club for many years, and I’ve been the faculty adviser to that club in the past (don’t let that fool you, though- I’m only “faculty” in the most technical sense of teaching at a University, but I’m still a doctoral student). And a good part of my current interest in copyright came from my initial brushes with copyright in anime fandom.
Long story short, the subject is one I find important. ^_^
Posted in Anime, Reviews | Tagged Anime, Reviews |
By Derek | Published:
April 9, 2010
If you don’t know how to use the words, don’t use them. People are not impressed when you use words with 3 syllables simply to use big words. This is doubly true when you use it *wrong.* Don’t use query when you mean question. It just calls out that you want to sound smart. And learn the difference between similar words – constrained <> constricted, for instance. And awkward sentence construction doesn’t sound educated – it sounds like you don’t know how to construct a sentence.
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By Derek | Published:
April 8, 2010
One of my guildies recently posed a question that boiled down to “Is it weird for a 42 year old guy to play DnD with 20 year olds?” He wanted to get back in to gaming, didn’t have a group, signed up for the friendly local Comic Book Store’s open gaming. Group was young, his coworkers are hassling him, he’s confused.
This annoys me. It’s reflective of the nature of this site, sure, but come on. If he’d gone to a gym and gotten in to a pick up game of basketball with a group of 20 year olds, it’s not a thing, as long as he can keep up. If he’d gone to a bar to watch a sporting event of note, and there were 20 year olds there celebrating, and they started high fiving, it’s not a thing. If he’d joined a community theater group and been Claudius to a 20 year’s Hamlet, and they hung out, it’s not odd. But if he games, it’s weird?
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So trying to get started back in the routine of posting again maybe isn’t such a good idea on the verge of a product rollout…
As some of you know, Apple released a new toy this week. You might have seen a thing or two on the news about it. I had made up my mind to refrain from picking up an iPad initially, but I could only avoid succumbing to temptation for a couple of days before I was in line at my local Apple store picking one up.
I’m not tech savvy enough to comment much on the pros and cons of the hardware. I’m a hardcore iPhone user, so the software piece I was already used to. I think the thing I’m finding most interesting about it is the way some developers have used it to rethink the way we consumer media. I think once I find an RSS reader I like for this thing, my time spent with the printed word is going to shoot through the roof again. The Marvel Comics app alone is mind-blowing for how it’s made me look at a medium I thought I knew in a whole new light.
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Posted in General | Tagged technology |
By Derek | Published:
March 29, 2010
I know, we’re geeks, we like comics.
But man, reading about them just makes me feel bad. I ended up on Wikipedia today, looking for Mr. Mxyzptlk information, and ended up reading the summary. And it’s awful. So much bizarreness. My favorite lines follow:
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By Derek | Published:
March 23, 2010
Today is Ada Lovelace day. Presumably it’s her birthday, which is why it’s her day. I’m too lazy to google it.
Ada Lovelace was, arguably, the first programmer. She wrote the algorithms that Babbage’s difference engine ran on.
The day is being used to promote/celebrate women in technology and such. Which is good. But it sort of served to remind me that I’m *way* out of that sphere.
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By Derek | Published:
March 17, 2010
Okay, I finally get it.
Until now, I’ve never really had gadget lust. I’ve liked some stuff, but there’s never been anything I’ve wanted to hug and pet.
I like my 360 and my laptop, but that’s really because I play games on them.
Now I have a Droid. Perhaps iPhone users feel this way, but it’s because they don’t have a Droid.
The phone just works for me. I’m interested in Twitter, because my phone makes it easy. I’m using my personal calendar, because it’s easy. I feel happy times when I get it out.
Don’t tell Michelle.
Posted in General | Tagged Gadgets |
So I’m testing out the WordPress app for iPhone, and figured this tidbit was as good as any to share in the process.
While looking at box office totals for each year of the 80s to jog my memory, I found myself struck by the top 6 films of 1981. The first 5, in order:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
On Golden Pond
Superman II
Arthur
Stripes
Number 6 that year? The Cannonball Run. $72 million. MILLION!
Even sadder…I know I contributed to that figure. At least twice. To be fair, Adrienne Barbeau’s boobs figured…prominently…in my actions, I’m sure.
By Derek | Published:
March 16, 2010
And here’s part 3, which is the last of the parts. It’s even more specifically related to MxO. And also the last of my gimmie posts. If I’m gonna hit my “3 posts a week” metric, I’m gonna have to start being original now. Bugger.
This one was written 2 months after the others. In that two month window, they changed about 80% of the game (to their credit, it was much better in a lot of ways, unlike, say, Star Wars Galaxies). Prior to that, the game had gotten really buggy. I was unable to play without it eating my PC alive, so I gave up….
But I still want a pudding faucet (you’ll understand if you read – that’s what we in “the business” call a hook. Or a teaser. Or …. I dunno. Look, just read it).
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