Why So Serious? WHY NOT?
Filed under: CREATIVE, ORIGINAL-GAMER.COM, TECH, Videogames, WORDS
I’ve been writing opinion pieces, game reviews and doing voice-overs for Original-Gamer.com (and occasionally here) for a few months now, and for what its worth, I always try to play it straight. Well, except the voice-over stuff, unless its something I wrote myself, I don’t have much of a choice there. -shrug-
I play it straight because I don’t believe in pandering to the least common denominator. If gaming is an artform that is just now ‘growing up,’ as some claim, then the people that report on it are probably just a few steps behind. As I said at the end of my second article, The Numbers Game: “if we want others to take games seriously, we must take them seriously ourselves.”
But why aren’t videogames taken seriously? Is it because of their relative youth compared to other artforms such as television and film, or is it because of the immaturity of those that cover it? Granted, this is the internet, but there are very few places where videogames are covered without a wink and a snarky attitude. What the gaming press needs is the equivalent of The Wall Street Journal or Variety, but what we’re getting is Mad Magazine.
Now, I openly admit, I don’t practice what I preach: I crack jokes in my reviews and perhaps I shouldn’t ‘write myself’ into them. The latter, I do because think it is important for the reader to get a sense of where I am coming from. For better or worse, my score will be influenced by whether the game was something I was REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to or was just something that got tossed into my lap. I think it also helps the reader if they are made aware of my biases for or against the game coming in.
Am I impartial? Admittedly not, but let’s be honest, nobody truly is.
In any event, while I am pointing out the problem, I don’t really have a solution. The best that I can hope for is that the ‘serious guys’ get popular enough to, well, be taken seriously. Now, does everybody have to take gaming seriously? Not really, there will always be a place for the snarks and clowns, and if worse comes to worse I can always go back to joking about how much I suck at fighting games.
MEMORANDUM
To: Me
From: Recently Unemployed Me
Re: Being Unemployed
Okay, so you lost your job. It isn’t the first time, and while it may be comforting to think it will be the last, you never know. You dug yourself into this hole, and you are going to be the one to dig yourself out of it. Remember these things:
- It is not the end of the world. Yes, it is easy for me to tell you this from where I am sitting, but you have a plan and it is time to execute it
- You have been here before. Remember the mistakes you made last time and do not repeat them.
- Always be pessimistic in your planning: hope for the best, but assume the worst.
- You are not alone: you have friends and family that want to help. Let them. This is not the time to retreat into a cave and shut everyone out.
- Smile. Have fun. Enjoy life.
- To survive, you will have to sacrifice and you will have to suffer. Deal with it. When you are back on your feet you will appreciate the things you had to do without even more.
- The only truly bad job is having none at all. Try something new.
- Do the things you said you would do “if you had the time.” You now have the time.
- You will get angry, you will get frustrated, and you will get upset. Don’t bottle it up. Get it out of your system and move on.
- Above all else, do not fall into despair. Have faith in yourself and keep moving forward.
Good luck.
WHAT’S GOING ON
WORDS / FICTION: My short story “First Storms” and article “The Fun-Suckers” are featured in the third First Storm Manga compilation, you can read both at the First Storm Manga website.
I attended the Distant Worlds II concert in Houston recently, and did a write up for original-gamer.com
PODCAST; After finally getting over the ‘space flu’ I get back in the saddle with two new episodes of 300 Seconds: “Those Steenking Badges!” and “Stories From San Japan 3″
Yeah, I’m The Drummer!
Drumming is Serious Business!
I learned how to play drums in grade/high school. I was a band geek through and through, but after school was over, I didn’t pursue it much, though I never lost the desire to maintain a beat, tapping my hands on any available surface whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Eventually, Rock Band came around and I rediscovered my love of playing music, albeit in virtual form. Despite what the naysayers believe, it is possible to learn some drumming basics with the game. If nothing else, learning how to keep a beat is a skill that can be applied to any instrument or form of music.
Earlier in the year, I was asked by my friend and guitarist Eagle-Bear to join The Loliholix, a band in which he played. They had lost their original drummer and needed a new one. I warned him that while I did know the basics, I was not accustomed to playing on a full set. He said that we had plenty of time to prepare, and had the utmost confidence in me. Awww.
After acquiring an electric drum kit (ah, the joys of apartment life) and several months of practice later, I played in my first two gigs. The first was at the San Antonio Chinese Society Family Fun Day on July 3, it was fun and a good way for us to get our feet wet before San Japan. It was lots of fun playing to a small crowd, and while it seemed a little odd to be playing J-rock at a Chinese event, they enjoyed the show.
San Japan was The Big One that we had been getting ready for. I had two big concerns: the occasionally dropped drumstick and also, just what to wear. It sounds funny, but I knew that Kiwi (bass) and Jamie (singer) were going to be all decked out and I wanted to have something different. I found an elegant solution to both problems: I bought a pair of batting gloves which give me a better grip on the sticks, and when combined with a Superman shirt worn over my Loliholix t-shirt, looks like a half-assed costume. Maybe I’ll add the fox-ears (which look like bat-ears on my huge melon) next time.
Performing at San Japan was awesome. The stage, the energy of the crowd, the loudness of our music, everything blew me away. Granted, it wasn’t perfect (I whiffed a few cymbal crashes but thankfully didn’t drop my sticks) but we got lots of compliments and I even signed a few buttons. We are hoping that San Japan serves as a springboard to playing at more cons, and I really hope we get to play at RealmsCon in a few months as Corpus Christi is near my hometown.
At the minimum, though, we will be playing at Mizuumi-con 4 and San Japan 4TW next year though and I can’t wait!
RANDOM REVIEW: Gold Digger: The Movie
INTRODUCTION
Fred Perry’s Gold Digger comic book is one of the oldest examples of what some call “Amerimanga,” where an American comic artist adopts the style and conventions used in Japanese comics, or “manga” as they are known in Japan.
It is also one of those comics that I repeatedly saw on the shelf of the comic shop but just wasn’t intrigued enough to actually buy. At the time, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Recently my friend Chris Holm (who is apparently creator Fred Perry’s biggest fan/stalker) told me that Gold Digger was Tomb Raider before Tomb Raider came along. After sheepishly admitting to Mr. Perry that I had never read his work at the South Texas Comic-Con, I bought a copy of “Gold Digger Max” to see what it was all about.
I like what I have seen of Gold Digger so far, Fred Perry has created a fascinating world that is filled with exotic locales and lots of interesting characters and adventure. He does a good job of tightrope-walking between world-ending seriousness and comedy. It is a shame that it took me so long to discover it. Comparing it to Tomb Raider is something of a disservice because it is so much better than Tomb Raider.
Fast-forward to the third day of San Japan :3 and as dealers are oft to do on the last day of a con, the Antarctic Press table is having a sale. I figured I would give the Deluxe Edition of “Gold Digger: The Movie” a try. According to the box text the movie “retells the very first Gold Digger adventure” so I figured it might serve as a nice little introduction to the GD universe. After having a bite to eat for dinner and doing laundry for the week, I fired it up.
SOUND PROBLEMS
As the top menu appeared, I heard a blast of music. I quickly reached for my receiver’s remote and immediately turned down the sound. I figured I had left the sound up from listening to the radio earlier but that is not the case. The DVD is just loud. I normally have the sound adjustment on my PS3 maxed out, because DVDs tend to be relatively quiet, but in this case I ended up turning it down to zero to make sure I don’t end up with angry neighbors or blown speakers. After making the adjustments, I shrugged my shoulders and started the movie.
THE MOVIE
My initial impression is that Gold Digger: The Movie is intended for fans of the comic: it is assumed that the viewer already knows certain things. As an example, there is no explanation given as to why Gina and Brittany refer to each other as sisters until near the end of the second act. We also never find out just why the Digger sisters are looking for the Time Raft, and wouldn’t a 7-foot tall were-cheetah prove that some myths are valid? That is my inner anal-retentive nerd talking, but a viewer unfamiliar with the series might be a bit puzzled at certain aspects of the movie. I need to show it to someone unfamiliar with GD to see if my inner nerd should just be quiet and enjoy the show. Actually that’s probably true, anyway.
The story is fairly straightforward: The first third of the movie establishes the adversarial yet good-natured relationship the Diggers have with each other and showcases their bad-assery in two Big Fights. The middle of the movie features plenty of exposition and of course, we have the Climactic Battle at the end. In truth, though, the movie is really all Gina and Brittany, and we gradually learn more and more about them as their adventure unfolds. The sisterly bickering between the two survives the transition from comic to animation quite well and provides some of the movie’s funnier moments. The other characters aren’t quite as well developed, and the villain does his duty,
SUMMARY
Much to my chagrin, sound issues persist throughout the DVD. There is an odd echo whenever Gina Diggers speaks and Dreadwing’s voice sounds overprocessed. This effect seems to lessen over the course of the feature but it never goes away completely. The audio mix also gets a bit weird in the second act. The music becomes too soft, and there appeared to be one or two ‘dead air’ moments. In one scene Brittany is on the ground struggling to escape and while she appears to be growling or grunting we don’t hear anything at all.
As I watched the 3rd episode again to hear Fred Perry’s commentary, the audio completely turned to crap in the last few minutes. This combined with Gina’s echo and the loud volume at the start make me wonder if something happened during the process of making the DVDs or if the audio was just poorly done to begin with. I also thought it might have have been my Playstation 3, but the same thing happens when I play it on my iMac.
The animation gradually improves form episode to episode and really shines in the action sequences. It is fascinating to see Fred Perry progress as an animator throughout the adventure and I look forward to seeing what he does next.
Gold Digger: The Movie doesn’t quite do as good a job at being “Gold Digger 101” as I had hoped, though. As I mentioned near the start, there seems to be an assumption that the viewer already knows certain things.
The voiceover work ranges from good (Gina Diggers) to adequate (Dreadwing appears to be trying to channel Tony Jay but doesn’t quite pull it off) to annoying (I quickly found Brittany Diggers’ voice grating but I think that’s more a reflection on me than anything else) to inconsistent (Elves). Overall, it does the job, though.
Technical issues aside, fans of Gold Digger will be excited to see it come to life. Strangers and neophytes to Fred Perry’s fantastic world might find themselves scratching their heads now and again, but nevertheless, Gold Digger: The Movie provides an hour of action-packed fun and I recommend it.