Oni no Tenshi Blog

By Chrom, now THIS is a "War Was Beginning" Story I Can Get Behind!

2013-03-05T08:20:00Z

Well hello there, tons of interesting characters...

If you are not already aware, I'm a huge fan of JRPGs. And if you've ever viewed my profile and requested to be friends with me (because you're awesome like that, ya know), you'll see that I have a history of enjoying SRPG games, especially Disgaea and Luminous Arc. So you'll probably be somewhat shocked to know that I have NEVER played a Fire Emblem game. Ever. When the GBA Fire Emblem game was released, I was still in high school/slightly post high school and did not have a lot of disposable income for gaming stuff (plus I still had my old Game Boy/SNES and that was good enough for me for a long time). But I digress. The bottom line is that my first experience playing Fire Emblem is with the newest 3DS installment of the series.

While cool, the special edition 3DS only comes with a download version of the game, which is kind of lame.

Now, let's just get a few things out of the way, ok?

1) Permadeath is stupid and I'm not doing it if I'm not forced to do it (you can turn it off in this game, so yay!). You can argue with me all you want about how it's "traditional" for the series or that it makes you much more cautious, etc, but in the end (at least for me), I want to know that I can make a few mistakes, be a little reckless and just have some FUN.

2) The downloadable maps and Streetpass elements seem to be some of the first really well-done game enhancement features in a 3DS game. There are some Streetpass elements in the Mario games from the past, but most of them aren't nearly as cool as the characters, items and experiences you can get by enabling wifi. One of the maps is actually free, so you don't have to pay for DLC if you don't want to, and it's not integral to the game.

3) You can get "married" without having a say in it, so be really careful about what characters you pair on the battlefield, especially if you're into the whole story and stuff.

....then comes a zombie in a zombie carriage?

Speaking of marriage, there is real heart in the story, right from the beginning. One of the things that really irritates me about a lot of JRPG games, especially SRPGs, is the old fall back onto "war was beginning" kinds of stories. Usually, it's all tied up in some weird, kinda boring political struggle, blah blah blah. Sometimes there are monsters, because you know, monsters are fun. But even from the beginning in Fire Emblem, there is a focus on interpersonal relationships, and there are amazingly humorous and endearing conversations between characters (see above). As you probably know- there are plenty of humorous moments and oddball comedy in Disgaea, and that's part of what makes it fun to play. The drier and more boring the story is, the less I care about the characters and the less I want to keep playing. I can turn on the television or hop onto the internet and search for the most recent murder or war around the world. Frankly, it's all quite depressing. So even though I know that there has to be conflict in a game, it certainly does help when the game is both fast paced and easy to control AS WELL AS having characters that actually have personalities driving them.

Bwahahahahaha! .....oh poor Chrom.

That's a part of your "personality" that no one needed to see plastered all over a poster.

The humor makes each character (even the stiff and play-it-by-the-rules Frederick) more interesting and even if you don't play with perma-death on, it's still very distressing when a character falls in battle. But speaking of battle, there's a lot of customizability- it's very easy to fast-forward (or cut out) through battle animations if you don't like them, and there are all manner of ways to make the game harder (or easier) on yourself. One of the nice things about leveling up is that it happens often and it doesn't force you to micromanage points. While some people might find this annoying (especially if you're the kind of person who doesn't like well-rounded character growth and prefers to spend experience points on one area of growth such as HP or Magic), this is really nice because it cuts a lot of tedium out of leveling, while also still offering a level of challenge.

Friendship, love and the future are all forged on the battlefield.

Even though I am a big fan of Japanese games, I'm not really all that huge on dating sims (games where the whole point is to build relationships and eventually have your character get into a relationship with the character of your choice), I do like that you can become closer to other characters and even marry them- it's not really hard to accomplish and you don't have to go through a ton of dialogue trees, so it's kind of like a fun bonus (and adds to stats/bonuses on the battlefield). There is something more emotionally charging about two people who are married fighting side by side against evil that makes you want to go "d'awwwww."

Anyway, Fire Emblem: Awakening is a BLAST and well worth your money if you have the funds available. The 3D mode is nice, but can be tiring after awhile. And while they do have save anywhere features (including in the middle of a battle), I recommend that you get the extra battery pack because you're going to want to play this game for at least a couple hours. I know that I was playing until my wrists were kinda numb (they're better now- I just need to make sure to take little breaks more often). >_> That's how you know you really are enjoying a game- when you don't want to stop playing until it kinda hurts.

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ANYWAY!

So, dear readers, have you ever played a Fire Emblem game before?

Are you planning on playing the most recent game? Did you get the limited edition 3DS as well?

And finally, to perma-death or not to perma-death? Does it make you a better gamer to be more "hardcore" in this aspect?

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Gaming Potpourri- Oni's Favorites Edition

2013-02-24T09:05:00Z

Guess who's baaaaaack?

I like to think that I'm not a picky gamer, I'm just selective. There are plenty of games that I will play, but there are only a select few games that I'll finish, replay, finish and then replay again. There are two things that I love about gaming above all. The first thing is deliciously streamlined gameplay. The second thing is learning how to play the game without FEELING like you are learning how to play the game. The first one is pretty self-explanatory. I don't want to spend five hours learning sub menu after sub menu and having to go through convoluted processes to save my game. I could forgive older systems because sometimes the technology just wasn't there, but today, we really have no excuse for clunky game construct and poorly designed save-point hell. Unfortunately, many games suffer from at least one of these things, and they suffer for it. Simple games, such as iOS puzzlers, tend to be incredibly popular because they are easy to pick up and put down, and the basic game controls can be mastered within a minute or two. In many cases, simplicity here is surprisingly deep, as the limited number of exact controls can lead experts to playing incredibly intense and enjoyable sessions.

But above all of that, the sheer feeling of joy as you explore a well designed game's world and its mechanics is as addictive as any opiate. My first experience with that feeling of joy was Ocarina of Time, but I also experienced it in Pokemon Red and in many other titles along the way. A tutorial that doesn't feel like a tutorial, or at the very least, a tutorial that is very short, only shows the basics and then throws you into the actual world immediately to learn for yourself is incredibly important. It shows the gamer that the game designers don't think you're an idiot, and more importantly, it shows the gamer that the game designers actually made the game to be enjoyable and playable, not tolerable in spite of bad or overly convoluted controls.

Today, I'm going to talk about some games that I am incredibly excited about- one that I've played and am enjoying the hell out of, and the other that I'm looking forward to playing once it is released. I will also be talking about a soundtrack from a game that I felt blew a breath of fresh air into the puzzle/adventure genre.

So without further ado!

What could be creepier than a horse in a three piece suit....in a river?!

If you've been reading about recent game releases, you probably know about Year Walk, a new iOS game that takes legends from Sweden and creates a spooky and atmospheric world for you to explore and find the secrets of the snowy woods. With a release date of February 21st, this game has only been out a couple of days but is already becoming a fan favorite. I read some very good things about this game, and wanted to try it out myself. At only $3.99 for the game itself (the companion guidebook is free), it is definitely worth the price. First of all, the atmosphere of the game is almost perfect. It really brought me back to the first Silent Hill game- that feeling of isolation, the only sound a faint wind rustling through the dead trees and the crisp squeak of your feet as you're walking.

I recommend for the best effect to put on headphones and turn up the volume- there were a couple times where I really started to get creeped out and had to keep looking behind me. The horror that you experience in the game is subtle, and there are plenty of puzzles, but they don't overdo it. Gameplay is easy- you're dropped into the world and must start playing immediately. Because there is no health bar or item inventory, you are forced to walk through the snow until you can figure out where you must go next. The developers themselves said that part of their hope in designing the game was to create a sense of being lost, of going in circles, and allowing gamers to wander without worrying that objectives must be met immediately. One of the curses of many modern games is the simple fact that they are packed full of quests, of various busywork and content that detracts from the main story. Obviously, this too can be interesting, but in my experience, that raw, beautiful feeling you get when you're simply exploring, gaining experience on how to best use the controls and the environment as you traverse the story, it's the purest form of gaming and the most enjoyable. To put it another way, it's the closest feeling I get to reading an amazing book only I'm in control of the story.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

So, if you're looking for a pure, enjoyable, tingling spine sort of gaming experience, I highly recommend this game.

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Disgaea D2 makes Oni happy! ....now if only I could get a PS3!

In other news, I am incredibly excited to say that NIS America has finally announced that Disgaea D2 (the continuation of the first Disgaea storyline with Laharl, Etna and Flonne) will be released sometime this fall. There are no hard and fast dates set, but I imagine that it will probably be released around the time that Christmas displays start popping up in the mall (OMG, wouldn't it be amazing if they had a special PS3 limited edition Disgaea console pack?! Probably only in Japan, with my luck...*grumble grumble*). So if you haven't played the first Disgaea game, I highly recommend playing it (the PSP version is my favorite, as it has the harder Etna mode built into it) before this one is released. As I have said before, Disgaea makes SRPGs intensely enjoyable in a way that most SRPGs sorely lack. You can play this game forever (seriously, the Item World will keep you busy until the day you die if you really want to go down that rabbit hole), and with endearing characters, beautiful animation and design, and a system that is unmatched in its beauty, this is one game you should not miss!

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Which brings me to this...

I have long been a fan of ilomilo, the indie puzzle physics game that was released several years ago on XBOX Arcade. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a soundtrack....until now! I am happy to say that I have been able to find an online retailer selling the entire ilomilo soundtrack for only $3.99! There are over 30 tracks that pump out whimsy and ooze cuteness with every note! You can listen/buy the music at the following url: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/danielolsen

After all, in the words of Sebastian:

"Greetings! The terrific and extraordinary Sebastian thanks you for buying and listening to this marvelistic collection of ilomilo music! The incrediblous LP you're now holding in your very hand holds magical musicbeyond your wildest dreams and I even threw in some bonus tracks just for good measure! Am I not the most incredible and humble man on a flying creature you ever met, hmm?

Now enjoy this music and dream of Sebastian! Au revoir for now!"

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And for a fun bonus- cute girls in your iphone!

NIS America doesn't only make games, sometimes they make cute free apps for your iPhone as well! This iPhone app is really adorable- you can poke a character and get her to say various things, as well as set alarms and copy over your calendar so a cute anime character can remind you of your appointments. While the app is a bit redundant considering you have alarm and calendar functions already on your phone, it is pretty cute, and poking around on the screen to get her to look around is fun. Ostensibly, you CAN buy expansion packs with real money, but for a free app, you get a good amount to do.

You can pick up the Hiperdimension Neptunia app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hyperdimension-neptunia-app/id579845288?mt=8

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So, dear reader, what have you been playing lately? A little console, handheld, or even something on your phone? Inquiring minds want to know!

As always, I look forward to hearing from you!

Collections: Proof of Fandom or Crass Consumerism?

2013-02-08T07:20:00Z

I just rounded out my Zelda collection with the Hyrule Historia! WOO HOO!

I know it's a little bit late, but I finally received my copy of "Hyrule Historia"- the premier tome on everything to do with the Zeldaverse. In celebration, I decided to take out all my Zelda-themed merchandise and take a picture. I have collected quite an extensive amount of Zelda merchandise, from official games and manuals to handcrafted themed items from Etsy and of my own design as well. I have pretty much every single Zelda themed game except for the first two Zelda games, but I'd love to pick them up at some point. I have art, ocarinas, the special Zelda limited edition DS Lite and 3DS systems, the gold Wiimote w/ Motion Plus, and several of the limited edition Zelda styluses.

Feast your eyes on the Zelda treasure trove! XD

I also have a good amount of wall art, two ocarinas, and other assorted accessories (including a Triforce necklace that I made for myself). Of course, having stuff doesn't make me a "better" or more "legit" fan of the series, but I can say that part of me gets all excited and flustered when someone visits and points out my framed wall art or when I'm playing on my ocarina and someone recognizes the Market theme song from Majora's Mask. Also, I love when people see me playing my Ocarina of Time 3DS and introduce themselves as a fellow fan. For me, one of the most fun and unexpected delights is finding common ground with random strangers, especially since many gamers are also interesting and delightful people as well. So when someone at my work recognizes my Triforce necklace (which I did in a tasteful arrangement with dichronic glass, onyx and gold fill beads), it's always a pleasant surprise.

DUN.....DUN....DUNNNNNNN! DA DUNNNNN! It's not a monolith, but it'll do.

Which brings me back to Hyrule Historia. It's not necessarily something that everyone should buy, but it is one of the most beautiful books that I've seen in a long time. It's a hardcover book, full color and thick. In fact, I'd probably have to say that this is about the size and thickness of my high school yearbook (and that's a pretty dang impressive feat). If you were going to take a Legend of Zelda class, this would be the textbook. it's a beautiful dark forest green with shining foil gold lettering and design on the front. There is quite a lot to the book (including an exclusive Skyward Sword manga that has never been released in the US), and I highly recommend it if you're a fan of the series, mainly because there are all kinds of extras, behind-the-scenes designs and detailed colorful drawings that pop out at you from the page. This is one book you'll probably be reading for a good long while and will be quite fun to re-read later.

As you can see, part of the manga is full-color as well....

One of the criticisms of Skyward Sword was that it sort of dropped you into this world without telling you all that much about it, including the story behind the red Loftwing that Link rides (which is apparently a very rare color). The manga actually gives more of a background to the story, and rounds out some of the characters (which I appreciated). Of course, I'm still stuck on the second "The Imprisoned" fight in Skyward Sword, so I still have some ways to go, but I'm always happy to read more into a game because part of what makes a game enjoyable (at least for me) is to feel out all the various random and nuanced things, from the gear-shop guy's mom (who looks frighteningly like him), to the pinwheel stuck in the volcano that you have to rescue in order to open the way into the thunderhead.

Kill! Crush! Destroy! Swag!

Hyrule Historia also includes a special page with a list of commemorative memorabilia for the 25th Anniversary of the Legend of Zelda series. If you haven't already gotten a copy of it, I highly recommend the Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddess, as the music is well-written and gorgeously played. If you like the Zelda series, you'll enjoy the nostalgia and beauty in the music.

MIYAMOTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

One of the things that I liked the best about this book is the fact that it has a letter (signed!) by Miyamoto-san, the creator of the Legend of Zelda series. This basically drives home the point that this is not just a rehashed group of things that have been released separately but are only being put together in one big book to make more money. Hyrule Historia is put together with loving care, and even includes a couple of surprises (one of which is a size differentiation chart between Link, Ganon, Zelda and Mario!)

Just be glad that there isn't a pop quiz on this stuff.

One of the main issues with the Zelda universe is the fact that there are a lot of inconsistencies, largely coming from the fact that most of the games take place in their own, non-connected worlds. Even a game like Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask had separate worlds, even though the character models were mostly completely the same. The nice thing is that this book will give you all the tools you need to understand the continuity, the similarities and differences, and basically all the various information from each story and how some things made it into various later games and other things just didn't make the cut. Of course, with the dearth of information you will be consuming, the book actually has a guide on how to read the book's vast amount of information for the best experience. Of course, if you don't want the book's help (SHUT UP FI), then you are free to go it alone.

Danger? I know what you "meme."

I highly recommend this book for any fan of this series, and if you're interested in the price, it's actually quite good for a hardcover, full color edition- $34.99 is the asking price in most stores, and I've checked around- Target and Walmart sell it, but so do some of the smaller, more local retailers. I purchased a copy from our local game shop for a discount, so it pays to shop around! Remember, it is a limited edition and the publisher (Dark Horse) does not have plans to make a second run of copies at this time. So once they're gone, they're gone!

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So, in honor of my Legend of Zelda themed blog, here are a couple of questions for you, dear reader.

What is your favorite Zelda game?

What is your favorite Zelda moment?

What are your hopes for future installments of the series (style, story, items, etc)?

And finally, if you could meet any character in the Zelda universes, who would it be, and what would you say to them?

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

Would You Like Some MMORPG Death-Match With Your Anime?

2013-02-06T08:38:00Z

Looking for 25 episodes of awesome action and story? Look no further!

I know that a lot of the gamers who frequent GIO are not a huge fan of JRPGs, but I also know that there are a good number of die-hard fans of media from the Land of the Rising Sun, and I wanted to talk a bit today about an anime show that will knock your socks off (well, if you're into anime, and you wear socks). Most of us are familiar with MMORPGs like WoW, but the truth is that there are quite a few MMORPGs that are exclusive to Japan that are more anime-styled with 2D, big eyes, etc. Obviously this anime is not about an actual game that actually exists, but it does bring up some fairly interesting points about the digital world, the real world, and how we trivialize dying in games.

So, basically the synopsis is this- in the not-too-distant future, people have created video game peripheries that you wear like a helmet and your whole body is synchronized into the game. It's a bit like "The Matrix" actually- your real body stays lying in bed with the helmet on and your consciousness joins the game. The story begins with a new game called "Sword Art Online" being released to the public in limited numbers. It sells out quickly, and beyond a certain number of "beta testers" who were allowed to play the game before it was officially released, no one is sure what to expect. The game itself works a lot like your average hack-and-slash type of quest game. There is no magic, but there are items that you can use to heal and such. And the main items that you can use are swords and (less often) other melee weapons. As you increase your skills, you can do different sorts of attacks, etc, and it's quite fun indeed.

The story starts with our intrepid hero, Kirito, logging into the game, making a couple of new friends (although he ends up alone at the end of the episode), and then finding out that he can't log out. In fact, NO ONE can log out, and, after a cryptic "welcome" from the game designer explaining that if anyone tries to log out, dies in the game, or their families attempt to disconnect their headgear, it will kill them in the real world, everyone is basically left to let the news sink in. The game designer also strips away the anonymity of the characters- after the brief amount of time before the announcement, he forces all players to equip an item called "mirror," which basically changes their avatar to look exactly like themselves in the real world (and obviously, many of the female characters are male in the real world or less attractive, shorter, etc). The only way for the game to end, and for everyone to be released, is for someone to beat all 100 floors of the dungeon in the game, which will end the world and auto-force all people to log out safely.

Luckily for Kirito, he's a beta-tester, so he's had a trial run in the dungeon before the actual release, but as most MMORPGs do, he's been reset to level 1 and has no items, so beyond his familiarity with the quests, battle system and general surroundings, he has just as much of a chance of dying as everyone else.

What unfolds from this very soul-shaking beginning is a world where the strong fight to clear the highest level while those who have other skills become blacksmiths or make in-game food, or otherwise do various non-main-quest things in the world to cope with their situation.

And then he meets Asuna.

One of the things I loved the most about this show is that the relationship between Kirito and Asuna is not stilted, awkward nor does it feel rushed. Their affection for one another develops pretty naturally over time and unlike many other anime (which seems to flirt around and puts off simple kissing for the entire series until maybe the last episode), there is a good amount of physical affection between the two of them without it being too risque (which I found very refreshing, as most anime seems to treat kissing as basically the same thing as getting down and dirty).

Of course, the second half of the show involves a second MMORPG that involves magic, flying and the ability to log out (and player-killing is actually encouraged and merely given a handicap while waiting to respawn), but I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty, because it basically ties together pretty well, and I don't want to spoil anything really important about the show.

This show doesn't pull any punches- deaths may not be gory (because it's a game), but a lot of characters, including characters you actually like, WILL die and you'll be upset by that fact because the characters are written in a very believable and human way.

If you're interested in watching Sword Art Online, you can watch it for free streaming on CrunchyRoll:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/sword-art-online

If you want to skip the ads, you can always subscribe for a small fee per month, but I highly recommend watching it either way. This is a heartfelt, well written show with eye-popping animation quality, and I think you'll be glad you spent the time to go on a journey with Kirito, Asuna and the many other interesting people they meet in Sword Art Online.

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So, have you ever gotten "sucked" into an MMORPG?

Do you think that in the future, we might be able to full body scan ourselves into games? Will it be dangerous (hacking, etc) or simply part of future technology?

And finally, if you have any anime suggestions, I'm always looking out for good recommendations! Please make sure to leave them in the comments!

Shooting Red Herrings in a Barrel: Why We Blame Real Violence on the Unreal

2013-01-31T08:18:00Z

It's all fun and games until someone shoots your metaphorical fish argument.

Usually I write something fun and lighthearted about gaming, but I wanted to do something a bit different tonight, so if you're looking for something to make you smile and go on your way, please feel free to pass this one by. Tonight I want to talk about our society's problematic views on violence in the real world and the fake violence in video games, movies, books, etc. Even as far back as before movies were made, people have been banning books, comics, even stuff like jazz and classical music because they were considered things that could possibly incite violent behavior. But I think that a lot of what we look at today and the dialogues we have regarding violence that we experience in our everyday lives has a lot to do with how we shape our opinions on acceptable violence and "unacceptable" violence, and the strawman arguments that get in the way of actually doing something about it.

So, without further ado, let's talk about violence.

I was in 9th grade when news of the Columbine school shootings first reached my ears. I didn't have the internet, but the schools freaked out about it, the papers had big scary headlines, and it was on every news station 24/7 for months. Everything from "The Trenchcoat Mafia" (apparently wearing trenchcoats meant you were part of some SUPER SECRET EVIL TEENAGER CONSPIRACY) to "Marilyn Manson MAKES kids do this stuff" (imagine how many other people listened to his music and DID NOT shoot up a school? OH RIGHT, 99% of them) flowed forth from newscasters' mouths and headlines. There were plenty of stories that were just plain made up (including stories about the victims to make them into positive examples of heroism in the face of certain death), and obviously, there was a lot of fear. Fear of what, though? Fear of violence when we least expected it.

I grew up in a relatively safe place in California- good schools, generally middle class areas- I walked to school from the time I was in 3rd grade all the way through the end of high school. I remember the fear that my mother instilled in me about the possibility of a "bad man" doing "bad things" to me if I talked to strangers while on the way home from school, but still, I didn't ever expect to be attacked in my home or in various places in public. In fact, to some extent, I was taught that people who DID have bad things happen to them in public places generally "deserved" it. I mean, not in so many words, but when Polly Klas was abducted and killed when I was in the 4th grade, there was much tongue clucking about windows being left unlocked and gates not being padlocked, you know, because such things could never happen with a window latch and backyard gates protected with a Masterlock. You hear it a lot as a woman as well. I can't tell you how many times some well-meaning guy in my life has forwarded me the "Don'tGetRaped" email. It sounds like a helpful checklist "park in well-lit areas, carry your keys in your fingers so you can poke attackers in the eyes, etc" but the undercurrent is basically "well, if the worst were to happen, you KNEW how to avoid it, so it must be your fault if you find yourself a victim of a heinous crime."

Why am I talking about this?

Mainly because I'm worried about how we talk about violence. We talk about individual violent events "that guy who got shot" or "those children who were drowned" as though they are things that happen every day to everyone. We take it personally when we hear about things that happened to people who live so far away from us that we will likely never meet them. And when we talk about violent events that happen in the real world, even if we were not present at the actual violent act, we are also talking about things that send our caveman brains into RED ALERT mode. In our modern day and age, most of us have the luxury of not worrying that we're going to be eaten by a saber toothed tiger. Most of us go to bed without having to stay on HIGH ALERT because it's fairly likely that a predator will be slinking into your bedroom to eat you. We wake up, get dressed, eat our breakfast and get to work or school with little fear that we're in imminent danger.

And yet.

And yet, when violent things happen, from school shootings, a stabbing, or an unexpected rioting group breaking storefront glass when a peace march goes awry, we all turn to each other and we say, "I might have been killed. I might have been injured. I might have lost my local business to a bunch of looting hooligans." We see bad things happen, and we personalize them, fear that they will happen to us. As a species, human beings are communal creatures. One of the reasons hypothesized for why we yawn when we see others yawning and often feel queasy when others are throwing up is because we have had to adapt over many many hundreds of thousands of years to a communal lifestyle that is benefitted by us empathizing with one another because shared experiences means that we are more likely to survive, to learn from the misfortunes of others. With every corner of the world and each heinous act perpetrated within the borders of our planet available at a touch of a button, it's no wonder we feel like we live in the most dangerous time ever, even though violent crime in the First World has been dropping exponentially with each decade.

The absolute worst part about random violence, especially when it comes to shootings or stabbings, is that you can't predict it. Most of us like waking up and having a general idea of how the day will go. The biggest surprise we prefer to have is whether or not to have a second donut or get a cup of coffee or tea. If something more disastrous, such as a car battery failing or a child falling ill, were to happen, it just throws off your whole day. If it's worse and involves actual physical injury (such as a car accident), it can be downright chaos. But even a car crash isn't nearly as primally frightening as a random person shooting into a crowd. If you're at the grocery store, your brain thinks, "I was just trying to pick up milk- freaking GROCERIES aren't worth dying for!" as shots ring out and you beging to feel your body start up the ol' Fight or Flight response. Shooters are worse than knife wielding psychos too, because they can just pull a trigger and hurt or kill many many people, especially if the weapon is partially or fully automatic.

And this is where we begin to truly see human psychology come into play. We HATE the idea of being taken by surprise. It was a mark of contention by the British when the Revolutionary War was in full swing, and it similarly caused a lot of problems in the confrontations between Native Peoples and the (generally White) Americans who traveled west to new settlements. When it comes to ourselves and the groups that we subscribe to, we love being the person who has the advantage or the edge- after all, even though it's not fair, that little Darwinian devil on our shoulder says, "but hey, that makes sure we survive and pass on our genes, so it's totes OK!"

But when you're the opposite- when someone shows up who you don't even know, in a place where you feel safe, and where you have absolutely no expectation to be in danger, that's what causes people to psychologically self-destruct.

If you KNEW that going to Starbucks was going to end up with you staring down the barrel of a rifle, you'd stay the hell away from those green doors. If you KNEW that the ONE day you were kind of thinking of staying home from school because you were feeling kinda sick but decided against it was the day that some other disturbed student you didn't even know from one of the upper classes was planning to shoot up the school, you'd be kicking yourself for not just staying in bed with the comics section.

Really, what we want to do is KNOW before something like this happens, because there's a part of us that believes that it's partially our fault, because, hey, what were we thinking that we could be safe somewhere in a public place where we've never experienced violence before?

I think that to some extent, this is where our outrage, our desire to blame violent events on EVERYTHING but the fact that "sometimes violent stuff happens and we can't know ahead of time and we can't prevent it 100% of the time and innocent people die and it's not their fault and they could not have prevented it." It's safer to freak out about violent video games or a book where someone uses a gun to kill someone else. It feels more CONTROLLABLE to propose legislation "to keep things like this from ever happening again" even though many of the laws already on the books are worded in such a way that even the lawyers get confused and many of the laws are redundant, unhelpful, or just don't stop crime in the first place (if writing something was enough to stop people from breaking the law, we'd have no crime). It feels more CONSTRUCTIVE to have candlelight vigils, to memorialize people you don't even know, to constantly imagine what you would do if you were faced with the same situation and then try and preemptively protect yourself from that.

But unfortunately, these are all playing into the big lies that we tell ourselves. The lies that we tell each other about how only people who "deserve" bad things get hurt. The lies that we tell ourselves to think that we are safe as long as we carry a weapon. The lies that we tell ourselves about having every single contingency thought out. Of course, these lies are also being told to us from outside sources. Every time a woman is told "don't wear a short skirt OR ELSE!" she is being lied to. Plenty of people wearing floor length burkas have been sexually assaulted. Plenty of people wearing short skirts have not received any sort of attack. Every time someone proposes "well, you should just carry a gun around/ban all guns/make the world out of Nerf, then you would NEVER have to worry about being hurt by someone!" they are lying to you. Plenty of people who conceal carry have been shot or killed, and even after passing many laws that prohibit murdering other people, we still haven't cut down the murder rate to zero. And if you fall down on Nerf wrong, I'm sure you can still break a bone. The truth is that there are exceptions to everything. One guy might die from being randomly stabbed and a million other people will never be in a similar situation. It's still not his "fault" that he died, and banning a movie where a character has throwing knives, or trying to censor or prohibit the release of a video game that involves sword fighting is not going to have prevented it.

Even our attempts at suggesting that all we have to do is "prohibit the mentally ill" from doing things or buying weapons and Bad *** Won't Happen are hamfisted and inconsistant at best, and harmful and discriminatory at worst. Plenty of mentally ill people don't harm themselves or others, and plenty of mentally ill people with the exact same level or worse level of delusion/psychotic break will never do something violent to real people. And there are plenty of people who don't score on any charts for mental illness, yet still behave violently and have the potential to do a violent act.

When a person plays a video game where they hack and slash monsters to death, chances are, they aren't doing so because they ACTUALLY WISH they were murdering people. The wish to engage in or watch fantasy violence for the sake of entertainment and catharsis is closer to real-world sports or martial arts than murder or illegal criminal activity. We don't watch football because we want to see people die, and we don't PLAY football because we want to actually kill another person on the field, but the violence that is present in nearly every football game is still very important and enjoyable, even though it is not intended to kill or maim anyone. When we engage in fantasy violent thinking- such as imagining a situation in which we felt powerless and replacing the situation so that it benefits us or makes the other person "pay" through being humiliated, hurt or killed, this is not necessarily going to lead to an actual murder or assault.

There are plenty of examples of people, normal, everyday people, who engage in fantasy violence in gaming, reading, media viewing, etc, who are not murderers and do not desire to commit violent acts.

So the question remains- who are these people? How can we stop them before they go somewhere and take away our assumptions that we can be safe at the pharmacy, in the workplace, in our schools?

The thing that keeps coming back to me, that has been churning in my brain ever since I first heard about poor murdered Polly Klas, when they told us about the Columbine shootings, when Virginia Tech happened while I was still in college myself, and recently with the poor elementary school children who died in the Sandy Hook massacre, is that we can minimize these sorts of horrible things- mostly by watching and by reporting- not allowing ourselves to be bystanders when we see things that look like warning signs of a violent episode (someone stockpiling weapons/ammo/behaving very violently but not lethally). If we become less accepting of REAL violence where it counts (abuse, assault, bullying, etc), we may be able to stop it from escalating except in very very rare situations. It may require people getting out of their comfort zone. It may require a bit of risk to stand up and say that it's wrong to beat your kids, that it's wrong to bully one another, that it's utterly messed up to emotionally or sexually destroy someone else, but it is something that we must do if we want to cut to the heart of the matter.

BUT.

But----as much as it tears my heart out to admit it, I don't think we can truly ever STOP these things from happening. There have been so many murderers, so many spree kills, so many "guys with a shotgun" or "serial rapists"- these things have always happened, long before we had AK--47's and high speed internet. There have always been crazy people, murderous people, violent people. There have always been victims. And unless we figure out some way to rip whatever thing makes a person do these things out of every human brain, there's going to be someone we won't be able to stop, not with all the laws, all the game ratings, all the Nerf padding in the world.

And I certainly think that what we absolutely must do first is STOP blaming victims- stop saying "well what did ______ expect, getting themselves into that situation"? because no one deserves to have a crime committed against them. And you won't be 100% free from worrying that it will happen to YOU just because you attempt to do something "preventative."

Violence is a very real thing that can strike at any time, but I don't think we need to be paranoid about it. And I don't think that we ought to have some sense of guilt in the back of our heads every time something bad happens to ourselves.

And even though I know that most people have their hearts in the right place when they try and ban various things to "stop violence," the truth of the matter is that we cannot stop grave and complicated matters with simple and skin-deep solutions. We cannot write a law when the people who want to do a bad thing don't CARE about what the law says, and even if they wanted to, they can't understand all the legal-ease anyway. We cannot think that banning a video game where you can shoot people in the head is going to keep people from shooting others in the head, nor does it mean that if you do successfully ban it that people will never headshot in the real world again. It's not like the game invented the practice. And even books that involve abusive behavior or stories do not actively CAUSE the actual, real abuse that happens to people every day. To try and argue this would be madness.

What we need is compassion, vigilance and awareness without the guilt, paranoia or ban-happy craziness.

In short, if it were easy to stop these things from happening, they wouldn't occur.

So, instead of being a culture where we point fingers, blame, guilt and shame, perhaps it's time to try another approach.

After all, with our track record as a species, I'd say we don't have much to lose by trying to stop real-life violence when it is small instead of trying to ban and censor things only AFTER a violent act has occurred.

Code of Princess: Would you like some Boobies with your Beat-em-up?

2013-01-27T08:50:00Z

Apparently the Code of Princess is code for "let's show off the most skin we can get away with without being considered a hentai game."

When I first heard about Code of Princess for the 3DS, I thought that it sounded strange, even for a JRPG. As a fan of various JRPG titles, it seemed to be a very rare title- one that didn't have an established American fan base (a la Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, Tales Series, etc). Unfortunately, by the time I had been made aware of the game, it had already been released, so I missed out on the preorder bonus (which, true to Atlus form, included an art book and CD). Still, I can remember my very first experiences playing beat-em-up games like the good old Simpsons brawler from the 90's (every pizza place back in the day used to have one of these machines, and while they ate quarters like nobody's business, they were still incredibly addictive.) Side scrolling brawlers are kind of a lost art- ever since we switched to the "3D world" style of overworld exploration, most RPGs lost the linear "here's the stage and you play through that stage". Beyond the last few side scrolling Mario games, you just don't see that anymore- so if you're a fan of those sorts of games, you're in for a treat.

"Your name is....um, whatever......I was too busy staring at your HUGE TRACTS OF LAND."

There are various modes, including an online mode that I haven't explored, but I played the main campaign mode because I wanted to start out from the beginning. Apparently, you can play as the other characters, which pads the gameplay, but I started out playing as the princess herself, because, well, that's how I roll. The game combines a lot of various other RPG elements beyond the average brawler. First of all, you can equip items that you've picked up in game play (you can play "stages" over individually as many times as you want). If you pick something up during a stage and beat the stage to completion, you can equip the item next time with various benefits for upgrades. Similarly to many other beat-em-up games, you have allies during your fights that are controlled by the CPU. Unfortunately, they're not super smart, so you have to be fairly good at holding your own.

Yeah, right, you can just GLOMP them to death. She doesn't get out much, does she?

One thing that was somewhat surprising was the voice acting. Apparently, there is an English voice acting track in the game. It's not horrible, but it's not super amazing, either. As someone who personally prefers hearing the original voice actors with English text, it is annoying that I don't have the option to hear the Japanese voice acting, but it's a minor annoyance. Whoever they hired to do the English voice acting at least seems to fit the characters, but it's basically on par with the average dub in anime or video games from Japan, so it's not going to win auditory awards anytime soon. What *IS* fairly good is the contents of the actual dialogue. There's a lot of funny stuff in there, a lot of which pokes at JRPG traditions, among other things. This game is pretty meta.

Even though your characters on screen are pretty small, there's quite a lot of good animation involved here. It feels kind of like the characters are cel-shaded- you get a very good 3D effect without it being too "pop out and hit you in the eye". Plus, there are obvious "jiggle physics" in play when it comes to the Princess's large upper body. The one thing I was somewhat impressed with in regards to Princess Solange's outfit is the fact that even though she is wearing an incredibly revealing battle bikini, she is also wearing these huge formidable metal gauntlets on her hands/arms. So even though there's a lot to be desired in the "realistic battle garb" area, it's not exactly a problem because ALL of the characters are dressed ridiculously.

Even necromancers know the importance of wearing clean underwear all the time.

I have to hand it to the Code of Princess development staff- they really outdid themselves with some of the characters. Obviously they have a couple of the stereotypes, but the necromancer Zozo is pretty weird, even for a JRPG character. She's basically a walking corpse (there's a funny scene near the beginning, when you meet her where guards are giving her trouble because "it's ilegal to be a zombie.") and she talks through one of the skulls in her hair. The most interesting thing about her character, though, is that she's not really the body she's walking around in (the necromancer is somewhere else, but just walking around and inhabiting the shell). The body (which is basically like a scantily clad Frankenstein wearing panties) is blue, and she has giant pink hair, but she's also kind of cute in her demeanor, well, as cute as a walking corpse can be.

It's a JRPG. How can we forget the cute loli characters who dress their scary bony monsters with cute pink bows?

The villains are interesting so far- I've mostly been battling mini-bosses and haven't gotten to the first "big boss" but there are several cut scenes that introduce you to your rogues gallery of baddies, from the masked bishonen dude to the pink witch looking kid character who is probably not a kid at all. Obviously, there's political intrigue going on regarding your sword, so it's probably a safe bet that you're going to be fighting these characters at least once. One of the interesting quirks about JRPG games is the inclusion of cute characters that are also scarily powerful. Most of the time, you only see big dudes with big pulsing muscles running around and killing things in American made games, so it's kind of fun to see characters who look a bit silly or weak but who will likely be a formidable foe in a fight.

At least there are no space marines in this game.

So what are my main thoughts about playing? It's fun to just hack and slash through a game- although somewhat mindless. If you're looking for intense strategy, you may have to wait for a different sort of game (Etrian Odyssey comes to mind), but this is a fun game nonetheless. Obviously as I get further along in the game, I will probably need to become more strategic just to avoid dying, but the nice thing is that you can go back and play easier levels over again and level up/allocate points to your various strengths, so it's not like you're ONLY allowed to play linearly.

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Final verdict: if you're going to play a game that involves smacking people and monsters with a giant sword, watching attractive and scantily clad ladies run around in eye-googly sorts of ways and enjoy a bit of self-aware JRPG mocking in the dialogue, Code of Princess is going to satisfy your needs.

If you live outside the US, I hear that the eShop has a version for download, so you do not necessarily have to purchase the physical box/cartridge. However, I feel kind of old-fashioned when I get a game, so I opted for the physical copy option.

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So, have you played Code of Princess?

Are you planning on picking up the game?

Or have you already beaten the game? If so, what was your favorite character?

As always, I look forward to your thoughts!

Innocents and Violence: Kids in Games that are NOT For Children

2013-01-25T08:04:00Z

They may look innocent and vulnerable, but that isn't always the case.

A few years ago, I attended a Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. In their 2 hour event, they showed a bunch of short animated films that ranged from the bizarre to the disgusting, and one of those videos was a crudely 3D animated short about "Evil Demon Babies, the FPS." In this video, it featured an FPS demo where the person goes around shooting demon babies that have giant spiky fangs and red glowing eyes that attempt to rip your throat out. The tagline for the game is "It's funny because they're babies. It's ok because they're EVIL." To my knowledge, this is not an actual game, and other than a brief showing of the film in the "Sick and Twisted" film festival, I've never heard of anything similar. It serves as a stark reminder that in our society, a society that is obsessed with gratuitous violence, giant explosions and the unalienable right to bear arms (note: this is not a place to debate gun laws and stuff, so please kindly leave them out of your comments), we have basically two taboos- violence towards children and violence towards (visibly) pregnant women. When someone murders a woman, it's bad, but when someone murders a HEAVILY PREGNANT WOMAN, suddenly everyone sees the murderer as the spawn of Satan. The magnitude of wrongness seems to exponentially increase. So too, do we often think of the idea of a child or baby being harmed or killed as being utterly unthinkable, even though it sadly happens every day.

Children are a group of humans that are some of the most vulnerable (other than the elderly, severely physically disabled and the mentally ill, children are much more likely to be physically abused, sexually molested and killed than any other group of people), so it makes sense that those of us who are decent and caring would be utterly horrified to see anything bad happen to a child (even snot nosed brats who certainly deserve to have their toys taken away and possibly a smack on the butt don't deserve to be tortured or killed). While I wish that we didn't live in a world where children were harmed on a regular basis, most games have a different take on how children fit into the world.

"Who are you calling a bunch of powerless kids?"

FIrst of all, most games will not allow you to harm child NPCs. Many games leave underage NPCs out altogether, but if there are children present, you generally never have to worry about them being harmed by monsters, flamethrowers or the common stray bullet. Of course, if you're playing a game where you start out as a child and then grow into an adult, any PREVIOUSLY CHILD CHARACTERS are generally fair game once they've been aged up appropriately (such as in games like Fallout 3, where you start out as a baby/child and interact with other young NPCs that eventually grow up to adulthood).

Secondly, most games that feature more "realistic" violence tend to have adult protagonists. Obviously, there are plenty of games where children are the protagonists (the Pokemon series, child Link in Legend of Zelda, etc), but when you get into gritty games where people are getting riddled with bullets and heads are flying off, the world magically seems to be filled with a bunch of big burly dudes and maybe a couple scantily clad women and if you're lucky some scary monsters that explode in a gory mess, but no kids. In some games, like Resident Evil 4, there are no children, and the lack of kids is somewhat explained in the ending credits (which creep me out).

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Start the video around 3:35 if you want to get creepy goosebumps up your spine.

But for better or for worse, this seems to be changing somewhat. Child characters are starting to be more widely used in games that are not for kids, and many of these games involve frightening or outright inappropriate violence.

This gives a whole other meaning to nightmare.

Recently, I was made aware of a "first person" video game that involves a toddler being trapped in a nightmarish world where you may or may not be subject to violence. The name of the game is "Among the Sleep," and while the developers have not released any actual "action" scenes from the game, the snippets of gameplay they have videos for invokes a terrifying, Silent Hill sort of fear. In most first player games, you have weapons, and even if you're in an atmospherically frightening situation, you tend to have some sort of offensive power. In this game, you have tiny little hands and, according to the game designers, a little teddy bear, and that seems to be it. And, while they didn't show us any monsters, we got to see a freaky shadow of a Gollum-looking character in a window and gravity started throwing the kitchen around. Plus, it wasn't exactly enjoyable hearing child gasps and little screams coming from the character as scary things happened. Apparently there is some parental outcry about this game, mainly just the fact that it involves such a young child even though the game is obviously made for a more mature audience.

Personally, I would have to say that while I am not disturbed that this game is scary and involves a toddler simply because it's NOT REAL, I am somewhat irritated that people are more interested in getting all annoyed at a game instead of trying to combat things that are hurting real children in reality. Why should we freak out when a digital toddler screams but ignore the very real cries of the toddlers out there who are being abused or neglected? What does it say about us as a society when we become more disturbed by a game representation of child suffering than the actual suffering of real children?

I will hold off more game-specific judgement until I see more of this game, but for now, I'm going to talk about a couple other "dark" games that involve child characters and talk about how they manifest, simply because I think it is important to involve a dialogue on how we perceive violence when it involves children and when it involves adults because it fascinates me how people will react completely differently to the same sort of violence when the target has been altered.

The Little Sisters from Bioshock

Speaking of a dark atmospheric game, Bioshock is up there in the freaky feels department. The Little Sisters, to some extent, fall into the traditional areas of child NPCs- they get protected by the Big Daddies from any harm (unless you kill the Big Daddies, that is), and if you're playing a moral character, you can "cure" them and turn them back into normal children. Of course, this still doesn't change the fact that when you turn them back, they still have to crawl back into the walls and stay there, perhaps indefinitely. And you CAN choose to "drain" them of their power, which kills them but gives you more power. Obviously, the glowing eyes doesn't exactly make them look all that human, but when you turn them back to normal, they basically become normal little people:

Seriously. Are you REALLY going to kill some children just so you can have a little more power? What kind of monster ARE you?

Perhaps I'm just easier to get a bit unsettled about this since I have two daughters who are little, but even in a game, it's pretty dang heartless to kill someone who has no power and pretty much doesn't even stand a chance or want to hurt you.

Limbo

At some point in this side-scrolling platforming adventure style game, you're going to die. And when you do, you're going to see your tiny little corpse. Apparently, there's a point where you use previous dead floating corpse versions of yourself to cross water, and if that's not disturbing enough, just look at that giant creepy spider. The main character is obviously built like a child-his build reminds me a bit of Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes" fame, so maybe 6 or 7 years old and everything is trying to MURDER HIM. Sure, if you're successful, you might keep yourself from being crunched and eaten and cut into itty bitty bits, but generally, most of us are not good at playing a perfect game. Which means that part of this game is watching your little inky main character being subjected to violent deaths.

Clementine- cutest reason to survive the zombie apocalypse?

One of the semi-controversial things about the Living Dead video game is the presence of Clementine- a character who basically exists so that you will protect her from the undead hordes. She's 9 years old in the game and has obviously experienced a ton of horrific events, from watching zombies feed on the living to possibly killing infected people just to survive. She obviously has a lot of wits about her to have survived before Lee finds her, but she generally is allowed to survive the entire game (although she does witness more death and violence, and is grabbed by zombies several times). According to an article about the game, she CAN be killed in the game, but it results in a "Game Over," so rather than being truly exempt from having direct violence carried out on her, the game does not tolerate you to continue the game if she dies, but this entails that the game WILL let you see her die if you fail. The implications here are horrifying- her death is little more than hinderance to getting to the next part of the game- your incentive to keep her alive as a player is not necessarily tied to emotionally wanting to protect her but rather to keep the game from ending and forcing you to try again.

Watch out- it looks like you've got a lantern on your face!

Even though Ni No Kuni isn't as horribly violent as the previous examples, there is a quality to Ghibli films and stories in general that lends itself to a darker aspect. While Miyazaki is known as the "Disney of Japan," his films largely don't pull any punches when it comes to the darker elements therein. Oliver, the main character of Ni No Kuni, loses his mother (which is incredibly traumatizing on a level that puts "Bambi" to shame) and retreats into a "second world" where he can use magic and goes on a big quest to save the world and possibly figure a way to save his mom. While the story itself is somewhat whimsical, and the places and scenery have a truly enchanting quality to them, there is an underlying darkness to the story. Even though he's in a magical world, enemies play for keeps- they don't put on kids gloves for the protagonist and his allies (and it shows- the boss fights are notoriously hard). Out of all of these games, Ni No Kuni is actually one of the only games that is actually considered appropriate for children (even though they probably would require the easy setting to play successfully). But even so, the game evokes a feeling of darkness that hides in the shadows of the bright and welcoming world. It's that hint of darkness that makes the drama and story truly work instead of being a mere toothless fantasy romp. To some extent, this is refreshing because struggles, even childhood struggles, should never be easy and without cost. But at the same time, it also shows that there are ways to tastefully involve violence and darkness in a story with children without making into a gore-fest.

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So, in light of this topic, I have a couple questions for you, dear reader.

What are your thoughts of children in more violent "adult" titles, either as NPCs, main characters, or support characters?

Do you think that the "taboo" of hurting or killing children in games is a well-placed limit or simply an outdated mode of looking at things?

Are you a parent or a caregiver of a child? Do you think that this has changed your outlook on media or real-life examples of violence towards children, or has it stayed the same?

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And finally, I would like to say that while I personally do not condone violence towards children (or really, anyone) in the real world, I can understand the double standard here. Hurting adult men or adult women characters is just as bad as hurting a child, yet it is often glorified and considered "normal" in video games. So if the violence is bad no matter who the victim is, then why is there a double standard? Obviously, this could be largely because people don't want to play a game where they kill kids as part of the gameplay (and therefore, including it in your game would make your game sell badly), but I also think it's largely because we've so easily dehumanized adults in gaming situations from years of FPS and adventure games that involve killing adult human-shaped characters but there's still a taboo when it comes to kid characters because we simply don't have a huge number of those kinds of situations in the gaming environment, and therefore, it's extra shocking when it *does* happen. I would prefer if we stopped killing children in games altogether, but more than that, I think it's more important that we start working hard to remove violence and abuse from the lives of children in the REAL WORLD, and to protect those who are innocent and suffering at the hands of those with more power.

So even, if it's something little, like donating a dollar to a children's fund or just talking to a kid who seems upset and listening to their problems, I highly recommend doing something, no matter how little, to help a kid in YOUR life do just a little bit better and suffer just a little bit less.

After all, even though "children are our future" is kind of an overused epithet, it's also incredibly true.

The Completionist's Torment- What Exactly is "Finishing a Game"?

2013-01-13T06:31:00Z

I will admit it. Even though I love gaming and I have all the respect in the world for most of the games that I enjoy and love, I have not truly finished most games to 100%. For example, I've reached the end of Etrian Odyssey only to find that there are bonus post-game levels that are even more impossible than the regular game and require resetting all characters to level 1 with bonus for reincarnating and reworking them all the way back up just for one dungeon level. My brain just shut off, and so I shut off my system as well, and retired my game cartridge to the DS case I have for my games, forever to sit on the shelf of my completed games until I wish to try replaying it. There are games that I've actually beaten, such as Digimon World or any one of the Pokemon games that I've played. But most of those games allow you to continue to roam the world even after you complete every single objective. In Digimon World, you have multiple farms with digimon on them that you can cultivate infinitely. And you can always go and have random battles until the cows come home. So even if you get to the end, you still don't really get a true END.

Looking swanky in those invisible Hero's Clothes.

The closest thing I ever got to truly completing a game was with Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- most Zelda games have a definite end- and if you try to start from the start screen, you either get the option of a new game plus one (in Windwaker, you got some cool extras if you replayed the game- such as playing the game in your Outset Island attire and being able to understand the cryptic language of the various guardian characters), or, as in Ocarina, you just start out at your last save spot before you fight Ganondorf. Same thing with Majora's Mask- you beat the game and that was that- there were no more save spots and after you see the credits roll and get to "The End," you're done.

And then there are the accidents. As a kid, I was very very careful with my Gameboy and my games. But somehow, even though I stored them with care and did all the right things, my Donkey Kong Country game (which had been saved all the way to the end fight with King Krool but I hadn't quite beaten him yet because he jumps around like a cheap jack-in-the-box) had erased everything and I was stuck restarting from the beginning. But by that time, I had lost faith in my cartridge. I worried that I would get to the end only to be thwarted again, so while I would play a level over again here and there, I never tried to get to the end again.

Gardevoir because...there does not need to be a reason because CUTENESS.

And recently, when I did Pokemonth, I played Pokemon Ruby. Unfortunately, my GB Micro fell out of my purse and the game smacked the ground, which somehow made the cartridge both ERASE my file (when I was all the way at the end of the game) *AND* it wouldn't save ever again. You either had to leave the system on forever or restart from the beginning every time you turned it back on again. Needless to say, I am veeeeeeery interested in the new pokemon games (X and Y respectively), and I am very excited about being able to play them when they are released (and maybe do a special POKEMONTH 2- ELECTRIC BOOGALOO event? Stay tuned!).

I remember the very first game that I completed as a kid. Super Mario Land- which was hard enough to play because you had to play from the first to the last level in succession without any save mechanics whatsoever (if you pick it up on the 3DS shopping channel, you can now save your progress, but let me tell you- back when it was just the gray brick and the gray cartridges, you were all on your own and even four new batteries weren't any guarantee. When I got to the end and Mario gets into the plane with Daisy, I almost expected the DONONONONONONO bad guy music to transform Daisy into another monster and run away, but instead, I was treated to the most melodious happy music I had ever heard.

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And even in this age of orchestral game music, this music still gives the ol' 8-bit a run for its money.

Plenair because...well...who else can ride a shark with an evil bunny?

But beyond that, I can tell you that I personally have racked up over 200 hours in both Disgaea 1 and 2. And Disgaea is actually a special case because unlike most games, it actually has MULTIPLE ENDINGS. In fact, Disgaea is designed to make you go through each of these endings (and sometimes the "normal" ending multiple times) in order for you to complete everything possible to complete in the game. Out of all the games that I've owned, Disgaea is the only game that I have that made me very glad I purchased the strategy guides (they don't just give you the answers, but they can help you learn basic strategies to get your mind honed in on some of the best ways to powerlevel and make your characters very strong). And as far as "amount of game for amount of money," these games have hands down out-content-ed every other game I own (and the best part about the PSP releases was that I got all that awesome bonus multiple endings, secret levels, extra hard different story mode, etc as part of the game instead of as lame, extra-cost DLC). In fact, I actually own the DS version of Disgaea because they made Plenair a playable character, and what could be cuter than a girl with ribbon-bunny ears shooting characters with scary looking weapons on the screen? Nothing, right?

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Even more than a "game over," I kind of dread that "The End" part of the game. After all, once the game is over and you've figured out all the nuances, fought all the baddies, finished all the side quests, talked to all the NPCs and generally finished saving the princess/world/universe/whatever, there's no more game. Just like how, on a hot night, it feels so good to slide your feet into all the corners of a nice cool bed until it all warms up to your body temperature, but once everything is warm and blah feeling you can't go back. All you can do is remember how good it felt before. The first play through of a game is like that feeling- a new discovery, a new adventure that keeps you guessing. Even though I have played many of my games over again, there is still no real way to get that wonder and curiosity- that spark of adventure- that you get when you step into a new digital world and begin your journey.

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So what are your thoughts on "The End" versus "completing everything possible in the game"? Are they one and the same to you, or do you consider them to be incredibly different in their own ways?

How many games have you gotten to the end and beaten, but not completed 100% of the things possible in them (side quests, etc)? How many games have you actually completed to 100% of everything possible?

And finally, what is the one final boss fight that is the most memorable for you, either for being the most epic, the most cheap, the most awesome, the most disappointing, or the most hilarious?

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

The Genius of Gaming Soundtrack Remixes

2013-01-02T09:09:00Z

Well, now, those are some big....headphones....

I've heard that in the best video games, the greatness is that you don't notice things like the gameplay, graphics or music- they don't pop out because they just tie the game together. To some extent, this is true, but the genius of the best gaming music is that hours after you've finished playing, the music has a way of getting stuck in your head. For me, the best music comes from the classics. The Legend of Zelda comes to mind- each incarnation of the series has a distinctive sound and feel. My favorites right off the bat are from Windwaker and Ocarina of Time, but I've also developed quite a love of the Skyward Sword original soundtrack as well. Even though I'm still stuck about halfway through the game (Wiimote controls for left handed people are still kind of sucky), I've got quite a few favorite tunes from the dungeons.

And yet...there is more that can be done with music than what the game has to offer.

It's-a-me, a re-mix-mix!

Today I am going to talk a bit about game soundtrack remixes. Many of you are probably going, "Re-huh? Mix-what?" But it's true! The music you love is not magically sacred. The hot thing nowadays might be remixes of pop songs and the usage of old music clips in rap music, but video game music is not exempt from this. And, to be honest, the people who remix gaming music are far superior at doing it. So without further ado, I'm going to talk about a couple of my favorite remix albums, as well as give you links to some of these amazing albums. The final awesome thing about remixes is the fact that they are free to download because remixes cannot legally be sold for profit. Listen onward, my friends. It's going to be a multi-phonic ride.

HEY! LISTEN!

#1: Theophony: Time's End-Majora's Mask Remixed

First off, if you haven't heard of the Creepy Pasta surrounding this dark and whimsical classic, you need to read it. NOW (or, at least when you can afford to stay awake all night because you're freaked out). One of the most captivating things about Majora's Mask was the fact that the game took your favorite characters from Ocarina of Time and brought them to a world that was literally ending in three days, with a ghastly-faced moon descending ever-onward towards the ground. Not only was there plenty of death and mature themes, but it also brought an air of innocence and whimsy, much like some of the original Grimm's Fairytales.

The music is high quality- the atmospheric sounds from the original soundtrack are preserved, but each track has a very specific theme, lovingly remixed with very realistic classical instruments and heavy atmospheric synth. This is the kind of music you can listen to at work, but it's also liable to creep you out if you're listening at night alone at your computer. It's the kind of music that makes you turn around often when you're wearing headphones just to make sure you're still alone.

No zero suit required.

#2: Harmony of a Hunter: Metroid Remix

My friend SuperKing here on GIO was the one who told me about this album, which is the combined work of many different artists taking their most beloved Metroid music and turning it into a remixed masterpiece. While I have not actually played all of the Metroid games, this album delivers the sci-fi rock/electronic/ambient punch that your music library has sorely been missing. Not only are there some good tracks on here for taking with you to the gym or your daily workout, but there are a lot of atmospheric tracks that are perfect for playing while you're doing homework or simply want to add a little extra musical oomph to your evening.

Gotta listen to 'em all!

#3: Pokemon: The Missingno Tracks

If you've never played the original Red and Blue versions of Pokemon, then you are missing out on a handheld gaming masterpiece. Not only does Pokemon have a whimsical beauty to its story and world, but it also features some of the best gameplay available for a quest/rpg handheld game. Save anywhere, the option to reasonably choose how many random battles you want to have (as opposed to most RPGs that force you to random battle every couple seconds for the whole game), and you can't forget Missingno- the pixelated pokemon that could become pretty much any rare pokemon you wanted- a glitch built into the system that gamers passed around by word of mouth in the pre Internet 2.0 times. Once again, this music floods your nostalgia gland and doesn't disappoint. One of the most memorable things about Pokemon is the music- if I just mention "Pokemon Center" you probably just started humming the theme at the thought of it. The music is memorable without being annoying, which is as it should be.

Headphones required, game controller optional.

Now, beyond the albums themselves, the site called Overclocked Remix is home to one of the largest remixes of game music you'll ever see. From classics like "Age of Empires" to more contemporary titles, you can hear all manner of remixed music (although not all of the music is based in a full album). Now, while I'm not exactly a fan of some of the music (remember, remixes are largely done by people who make remixed music in their spare time, so this is not only an unpaid labor of love, but the musicians who make these remixes come from all walks of life and levels of talent). However, there is something to be respected by someone who loves a song so much that they want to make an homage to it. Remixes are the fanart of the audiophile universe, and as such they bring a new take on old favorites, and may indeed even inspire you to break out dancing randomly in public.

"Say Ahhhhhh...with your ears..."

So what are your thoughts on video game remixes? Do you have a favorite song or album?

What series, in your opinion, ought to be remixed?

If you could choose your perfect remix/music genre, what game would you choose and what style of music would you want it to be remixed into?

And finally, how was your holiday/New Year?

In my neck of the woods, the whole family got a coughing viral THING in my household this year, but there were many an awesome gift given, and I received many emails from my Pony Ornament gift recipients saying that their ponies safely arrived on time (yaaay!) Plus, on New Year day, we partook in our ritual Sushi/Japanese Feast dinner, which was amazingly delicious.

Here's hoping for a good start to 2013!

Until next time!

Some Japanese food looks almost too good to eat!

Holiday Brony SWAG- The Mane Event! ;D

2012-12-13T09:13:00Z

As you might guess, gamer swag is not the only amazing stuff that one can find to put under the Christmas tree this year. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is well into its third season, offering fun irreverent humor and featuring complicated characters that are relatable to pretty much everyone. Even if you might scoff at these cartoon ponies, there is a veritable ARMY of bronies who love the show and are avid fans.

So, not to be outdone by my gamer swag blog entry, I've scoured the many shops on Etsy (as well as We Love Fine and a very special plush maker who makes show-accurate characters) to bring you the very best for your pony loving friends (and maybe even something to add to your own wishlist).

Without further ado, please enjoy!

Gifts for a Brony who only has a Couple Bits to Spare

Assorted Magnets- $2.00 each

Pony Sticker Packs- $2.00

Keychain- $3.99

Set of 5 Pony Soaps- $5.00

Rainbow Dash Earrings- $5.99

MLP:FiM Lanyard- $6.00

Rarity Heart Patch- $7.00

Big Mac LED Flashlight- $8.00

Gifts for Anypony

Hand Made (BY ONI) Pony Keychains- $5.00 to $26.00

Derpy Lighter- $12.00

Rainbow Dash Resin Necklace- $12.00

Set of 6 Magnets- $14.95

Custom Pony Clock- $15.00

Rainbow Dash Towel Set- $20.00

Pony Decal Set- $21.00

Rainbow Dash Taxidermy- $25.00

Gifts for Stallions

Dr. Whooves Hat/Scarf Custom- $30.00

Gifts for Mares

Applejack Apron- $40.00

Hand Painted Silk Scarf- $70.00

Gifts for New Little Fillies

Fluttershy Onesie- $17.99

My Little Pony Swaddler- $20.00

Gifts for Ponies to Wear to the Great Galloping Gala and Beyond!

Assorted MLP Shirts- (Various Prices)

Custom Pony Hoodie- $80.00

Gifts for a Pinkie Pie Style Party

Set of 6 Etched Pint Glasses- $45.00

Set of 6 Pony Plates- $110.00

Gifts to Stash your Important Things Before Going on an Epic Adventure

Rainbow Dash Saddlebag Purse- $21.00

Custom Pony Messanger Bag- $30.00

Pinkie Pie Hobo Style Purse- $35.00

DJ Pon3 Hug Me Backpack- $49.00

Rainbow Dash Hug Me Backpack- $49.00

Gifts for Getting Ready for some Shut-Eye

Spike Pillow- $10.77

Custom Sitting Plushie- $45.00

Rainbow Dash Blanket- $50.00

Twilight Sparkle Pillow- $75.00

Gifts For the Tree

Glass Ornament Full Set- $57.50

Individual Glass Ornaments- $11.50

Gifts for the Filthy Riches of the World

Show Accurate Pony Plushes by WhiteDove- $400 and up

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As you can see, there are a myriad of ways to show your brony pride and give the gift of friendship this holiday season. I also wanted to take a little time and thank my fellow brony friends here on GIO for sending a little gift to my family after my daughter Lyra was born:

If there is anything else I can say about how wonderful it is to be part of the Brony community, this would be a prime example- a thoughtful and caring gesture from others who I have never met in the real world, but who nonetheless kept my family in their thoughts and sent a wonderful little message to welcome our new little girl into the world!

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In honor of that kindness, I am also going to be paying forward the kindness shown to me by doing a FREE pony ornament giveaway to my friends here on GIO (see details below):

There are only three rules:

1) You must provide me with a valid address so that I can send it to you.

2) One ornament per brony- I don't have a ton of them, and once they're gone, they're gone.

3) Please tell me which number you want. If a number is not specified or I run out of that number, I will send you a random pony.

I would like you to get these before the 25th of December, so please send in all your requests to my email at nanasha@gmail.com no later than December 21st.

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QUESTION TIME!

So this holiday season, how will you be "paying it forward" and showing the magic of friendship to your fellow human beings?

This month is the very last printed publication of NINTENDO POWER MAGAZINE. Did you get the last issue? Do you have any thoughts on the state of the gaming magazine vacuum in the consumer market today?

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Next time, I'm hoping to talk about the Gameloft MLP:FiM game and how I would improve/tear it down and replace it with a better game dynamic, story and less IAP. Please feel free to let me know if you'd like any tips on playing the game as it is now- I am currently at level 60 (they don't let you get any higher in the game) and am very good at sending out gifts and gift chests each day, so let me know if you want to add me. I'm Oni_no_Tenshi on Gameloft.

Once agan, thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Holiday Gamer SWAG- There's Something Geeky for EVERYONE!

2012-12-10T11:19:00Z

Ho Ho How Sexy!

If you haven't already guessed from all of the Christmas trees in store windows, twinkling lights adorning the outside of houses, it's that time of year again- time to set up the tree, get out the egg nog and look for gifts for friends and family. The age-old problem is WHAT to get, though. For the video game enthusiast, there are many wonderful items out there in stores, but if you want something truly special (and made by a skilled individual), I highly recommend taking a gander at Etsy.com. I have actually been looking at various wonderful things and since I know that many of you probably still have to check off a few people on your gift list, I want to spend my blog entry showing you a nice list of special items that can be under your tree this Christmas!

One of the best things about loving everything related to gaming is that when you wear something related to your favorite game or series, you can always tell who else is a fellow geek. It's like a badge of honor- wearing something that makes you proud to be a gamer.

Just so you know, I've added links and prices to all of these items in case you are interested in any of these lovely items. There are many different types of gifts for pretty much every type of person. Perhaps you'll want to add any of these onto your own wish list as well!

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Gifts for the Gamer Guy in your life:

Assassins Creed Hoodie- $70.00

Triforce Gold Carbon Tungstan Ring- $49.00

Minecraft Creeper Beanie- $25.00

Game Controller Family Tree Shirt- $24.00

Mass Effect Nerf Gun Replica- $29.99

Gifts for the Gamer Girl:

Gold Plated Triforce Necklace- $77.00

Assassin's Creed Hoodie Scarf- $35.00

Charmander Sling Purse- $20.00

"Hugs are the best power ups" T-Shirt- $16.00

Mario Star Earrings- $5.00

Gifts for Gamer Kids:

Pac Man Vinyl Wall Decal- $28.00

Nintendo DSi/3DS Case w/Free Personalization- $15.00

Luma Plushes from Mario Galaxy- $7.00

Super Mario Fire Flower Bow- $6.00

Gifts for the Gamer Baby:

"New Game" Onesie- $13.99

Final Fantasy Inspired Pocket Diaper- $24.95

Mario Pacifier Clip- $5.00

Creeper Bib- $6.20

Gifts for your Gamer Friend:

Legend of Zelda Heart Piece Best Friend Necklace- $16.50

Nintendo Zip Wallet- $20.00

Video Game Clock- $22.00

Geek up your Technology:

Zelda iPhone Case- $19.88

Nintendo iPad Dock- $39.99

Gifts for the Art-Loving Geek:

Princess Peach Art Nouveau Print- $35.00

Catherine Screen Print- $30.00

Gifts for Eating, Drinking and Being Merry

Power Mushroom Coffee Cozy- $16.00

Portal Pint Glasses- $25.99

Chain Chomp Ceramic Bowl- $35.00

Gifts for the Frugal Gamer:

Pokemon Clothespins- $8.00

Legend of Zelda Keychain- $3.99

Gameboy Soap Cartridges- $5.50

Space Invaders Soap- $7.00

Assorted Video Game Bangles- $5.00

Video Game Wallet- $6.50

Gifts for the Gamer who has a ton of Rupees to Spare:

Link With Triforce Quilt- $175.00

60-in-one Game Arcade Machine- $1550.00

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Now obviously, I know that not all of these things are within the price range or even necessarily your personal favorite type of thing, but I always say, one of the things that the internet has brought to us is a plethora of websites where you can window shop for hours, finding things that you never even knew existed before. While I may not always be able to get the time to play for hours on end the way I used to when I was younger, there's something about wearing my Triforce necklace or taking my Mario Star Bag that I got from Club Nintendo out with me. It is a statement that I bring with me- a validation of my gamer-dom, and I've met all sorts of interesting people who see my geek cred and stop to talk with me because of it. It's like running into family you didn't even know you had- people who share your hobby and know where you're coming from without ever having met you before.

I guess that's really what makes me feel the happiest during the holidays. The fact that people come together, even if we have differences, and share time telling stories, exchanging gifts, and doing for others as they wish to have done for themselves.

Well, and the sexy anime girls in Santa cosplay. Gotta love that too.

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So, what are your most wished-for items this holiday season?

Do you have any Christmas or holiday-themed gamer swag (such as ornaments or stockings)?

And finally, what is your top must-watch holiday movie during this time of year?

Until next time, my fellow gamers!

The Unfortunate State of Games I Wanted to Love....

2012-12-07T11:30:00Z

They may be shocked, but I'm not.

Last December, I received two Professor Layton games for Christmas. I had heard a lot about these games- heck they were so popular around the world that there was many a sequel made. On paper, there's a lot of great stuff- a mystery, puzzles, a unique and beautiful art style. But less than five minutes into the game (after watching the beautiful opening animation), I had to turn it off. Not only was the story irritatingly and jarringly interrupted with puzzles every five seconds (I lost track of the story a couple of minutes in, and that's a bad sign for someone with a good memory such as myself). What's worse, the puzzles went from so dull and easy that a preschooler could solve them to stuff that I started having to pull out paper and reach for the graphing calculator I hadn't used since high school. There are puzzles, and then there are MATH PROBLEMS.

GamerCat totally gets my pain here- and I didn't even get a snarky blue fairy.

Now, I'm good at puzzles. My brain enjoys solving problems and strategizing. I've had amazing fun playing all manner of puzzle games, including games with stories attached. But there's something in being deluged with stuff to solve that makes my stomach churn (especially when I'm supposed to do this on my own time). And honestly, I find it frustrating when it seems like everyone else has Layton-fever. I mean, I've seen the events surrounding the games on release day- parents and kids wearing big foam replica hats that are iconic from the show. And I get that weird, unsettling feeling that maybe there's something wrong with *ME* if middle-aged blonde housewives and elementary school children enjoy (and beat) these games! I know that I'm not stupid, but at the same time, I just wonder why I don't seem to see what's so great about it.

Murder- it sure is a mystery! Turning it into a puzzle makes it OK for the whole family!

Some of the puzzles are somewhat disturbing (although nowhere near as disturbing as the above comic) in how they actually use the characters as though they only exist for the puzzle itself. A death? Charming! Let's just react to everything from the banal to the shocking with a laid-back English accent! Like I said before, I'm a fan of quaint mysteries. And yes, sometimes the mystery revolves around a "who dun it" murder. But at the same time, I think that mysteries tend to work best as a journey with a pointed, and eloquent follow-through. Sure, there are puzzles. There is evidence gathering. There are conversations with various characters and determination of suspects. And obviously a couple close calls as well as misdirections before the final denouement.

Then again, Layton has a strangely creepy bland look on his face, like a Ditto.

What I'm trying to get at is the fact that a lot of games get the mystery formula wrong. In a book or a movie, the audience is basically passive- they can enjoy the twists and turns of the story at the pace that is set out beforehand. But in a game, the pace is different. Most mystery-based games use "puzzles" as synonymous for barriers that keep the story from progressing. This is a problem because a good mystery unfolds organically, and most snags in the mystery are treated with a little bit of a set-back for the characters, but never an impassable blockade in all other media. In a game, it's the difference between getting to the next point of the story and throwing the game on the ground in frustration.

This is compounded when the game is made for a handheld. Games on console are developed with the thought of long-term play in mind. But with handhelds, it's more of a short-term game session that developers need to keep in mind. Games like "Trace Memory" turned the system itself into part of the game- something that the main character uses during her journey to figure out the mystery of Blood Edward Island. There were puzzles in the game as well, but most of them are the kinds of puzzles that games like Legend of Zelda are famous for- intuitive puzzles that generally give the gamer all the tools to solve the puzzle with a bit of thought and no extra paper or graphing calculator required.

So no, Professor Layton, for all its merits as a puzzle game, just doesn't do it for me.

And I'm still sad about that, because I really, really wanted to like Professor Layton and all his puzzles.

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So, what games did you expect to love but instead get a rude awakening when you actually played it?

Any "sacred" genres or series that you feel got destroyed when they hit the mainstream?

And finally, what is your favorite puzzle-based game?

Doggedly Hanging Onto My Gamer Name, But My Grasp Is Slipping

2012-12-02T10:33:00Z

What a tangled web we weave...

I feel like I'm losing my right to be called a "gamer." I find myself spending more and more time playing "social" games and games that are considered more "casual"- mainly because most of my game playing is done while I am nursing the baby and I don't have both hands free, or because every 30 seconds my older daughter needs me for something or wants to play. I know that makes me sound like a bad parent, but the truth is that I don't get any big blocks of time to rest or relax. I find myself spending more time doing things that I have to do and giving more time to teaching and interacting with my family than I do with gaming. I know that I signed up to be a parent, but I didn't sign up to give 24 hours of my self away and never get to enjoy anything for me. Some moms may be able to do that, but I do require a bit of time to recharge my batteries beyond just sleeping from time to time. Gaming is my little outlet for stress and it is one of the only things that I do just for myself, which unfortunately seems to be harder for me to really get into for a very specific reason- the high level of interruption that children bring to the table.

Being a parent to a 3 year old is like watching constant commercials on TV- you can never focus on something long enough for your brain to really think deeply, and let's face it, most preschool stuff is boring as hell to the average adult brain (even though I recognize that it is important for small children to learn). Their brains move a mile a minute and they switch gears like crazy. Add a high energy level and their constant learning of various new skills and it leads to a mind that can't focus on anything, even when the child is napping or at school. I find myself like that a lot when my daughter is at school. I *want* to do something, to focus on something during the few hours she's off learning in preschool, but my mind just can't start up after being short circuited for so long.

This is what parenting feels like.

And it's kind of sad because I can't yet play games with my children. The youngest is only a bit over a month old, so that's not going to be for awhile. My oldest daughter is very good at playing iPad games for preschoolers, but most of them are similarly disinteresting to me, or they're only one-player games. I can hardly wait until she finally gets old enough to play DS games with me (I have saved one of the big blue original DSes for this reason), but it will be at least 3 more years, or until she learns how to read well. I dream about the days when we can all play Smash Brothers together. I would really enjoy playing 4-player game night with my kids...at least in theory.

As it is, I often have to bring my games into the bathroom to get any privacy, and even then, there's always a little hand knocking on the door and a small voice demanding to be let in. So needless to say, it's very much like being shell-shocked- and it's one reason why it's hard for me to get time to compose my thoughts and actually write (last night was a bust because my infant was having trouble breathing through her nose due to a runny nose and so I spent all night playing official nose suction attendant and nursing her so she would get helpful antibodies from my breast milk). But I've finally got some time to myself tonight, and after turning off all outside distractions (like the TV), I finally find myself wanting to write.

Here is how my 3DS looks with the new NYKO battery pack.

Right now, I'm really happy that there are not a lot of games that I am foaming at the mouth about being released. Being on a fixed income while on maternity leave, I've only bought things that I absolutely needed or were at such an amazingly low price that I could not pass them by. For example, on Black Friday, there was an amazing deal on the NYKO battery life extender pack for 3DS. I have been debating about picking this up mainly because it adds to the bulk of the system and it was kind of expensive. But the price for it went down to $4.99, so I figured it was a great buy and purchased it.

The installation was fairly easy (but be sure to read the instructions if you do purchase one of these for your own handheld because you can easily strip the screws on the unit if you're not gentle). And I am very impressed with the battery life. The battery lasts at least 2-3 times longer than before needing to be charged. The other thing that surprised me is that the added bulk is very comfortable in the hands- it feels ergonomic and the semi-rubbery material that it is made out of is not slippery at all and increases the ease of gripping it. I do believe it only comes in black, though. I am much more comfortable playing my handheld without worrying that it is going to die at any time (although I am miffed that they didn't make a point of fixing this before releasing the system in the first place). All in all, I highly recommend getting this battery pack if you have the funds to do so. As far as I know, they do not have one for the larger 3DS system, though.

It's like "SAW" for people who like anime.

VIrtue's Last Reward is a new 3DS game that just came out, and I picked it up mainly because it's had only a limited release in the US (there was only one copy at the local Game Stop, so if you find it, you should probably pick it up as it is rare). This is the sequel to the game "999" for DS, a game in which you are forced to play part of a sick game of wits against a monster who has decided to lock you and a bunch of other people on a sinking ship with a bracelet on your hand and a bomb that has been placed in your body that will detonate if you do the wrong thing. There are many puzzles and visual novel elements in the game, and the sequel promises to one-up the last story with more puzzles, betrayal and psychological terror than before. I have not had a chance to start the game yet, but from what I've read, the 3DS sequel is worth looking into if you're a fan of psychological thrillers and visual novel games.

And now, for a Brony Break.

I know that many of the people on GIO are fans of MLP:FiM, so I figured I'd also mention this new official comic book that has just been released and it is AWESOME. Not only does it have a lot of fan nods (Derpy gets at least five or six panels), but the writing is a bit darker, yet also fun in the same smart, funny way that the show is well-known for. I highly recommend picking up these comic books if you can- there are at least 8 different special covers that you can collect, including ones that were drawn by various famous artists.

Friendship is better when you have more friends!

And finally, I'm hoping to add some more friends to my Gameloft Pony game. My username on Gameloft is Oni_no_Tenshi. Part of the game is social, so I am always happy to send gifts and chests to others who are starting out in the game.

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So, do any of you have an idea as to what you would like to get as a gamer this holiday season?

How will you plan on balancing your time during this busy time of year?

And finally, what, in your opinion, is the definition of a "real gamer"?

Mini Games- The Bane of My Existence

2012-11-12T10:03:00Z

Who does that Dinkleberg think he is?

I have very few true pet peeves when it comes to gaming. Generally, I know what I like and I play that (the only thing that I might request please, dear gaming industry, is that I'd like some more of the things I like to choose from!), and give a tip of my hat to those who like other games as long as they're not obnoxious about it (seriously, if you love Gear of War or Borderlands 2, that's great, but don't be like "OH HAI THERE UR NOT A GAMER UNTIL YOU SHOOT HEADS OFF THINGS YO" because then I'll get angry...and you won't like it when I'm angry....). But if it's anything that bursts my bubble, frosts my cookies, and ruins my gaming experience, it would have to be that bane of my existence.....MINI GAMES. Now you might think that I'm being overly harsh here, but let's just get something straight right this second- mini games do not HAVE to suck like a Hoover vacuum. In fact, there is an example of mini games done right (more on that later), but in general, they're poorly designed, often afterthoughts thrown into otherwise fun games, or worse, they're tacked on as a way to try and trick you into the other evil hellbeast of modern gaming- the micro-transaction.

Don't mess with the Kitty. She knows where you live.

What is a micro-transaction? Well, it's basically like that crappy infomercial you ended up watching on the weekend that just sounded like something you ABSOLUTELY HAD TO HAVE IN ORDER TO KEEP LIVING, only, upon ordering it, you feel like a class A sucker idiot because the thing that has been made to sound amazing and cool ends up looking like something that is held together with cheap glue and lead-based paint (and often actually IS held together with cheap glue and lead-based paint). Micro-transactions are generally part of "free" games that follow a world-building theme, only there are wait times and horrible tedium that abounds, all of which can be magically whisked away if you purchase in-game money and items WITH YOUR ACTUAL MONEY. But the kicker here is that even if you DO NOT use your actual money, you end up spending buttloads of time waiting and waiting for events to happen, so it basically amounts to the same thing as waiting for grass to grow, only to have to mow it, spend 100 gold to play the mini game (in which you get to choose the crappy mower, the better mower (for more money) or the gold-encrusted jewel mower (for some special buttload of in-game money), and then get like 5 pennies for completing the task. Don't believe me? Take a look at the newest "ville" clone by GameLoft- the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic app.

Surprisingly, work in a game feels like WORK, not fun.

I admit, I *squeed* because adorable ponies and lovingly animated world with adorable art and fanbase shout-outs (Derpy hides around the world in a box and when you find her, you can poke her to make her pop out and give you coins), but sadly...this game is awful. Everything costs buttloads of gold or special gems (which can only be received in special encounters that are very rare and in small amounts, so the game basically requires you to buy them with your actual cash). And the mini-games are boring. First of all, there are only 3 games that you are able to play. Secondly, each game costs money if you want to play it (the options are 100 gold, 1000 gold and 5 special gems you have to buy out of pocket). If you want better scores, you have to pay more, more, more. Thirdly, you have to play two mini games over and over and over again until you fill up a "star" on each pony's experience (and you have to do this with each pony you get in your ponyville area), and THEN you get to play the "fun" mini-game where you fly around getting coins and collecting clouds to do a sonic rainboom and zoom around (it's actually kind of fun, but it has a set time limit of less than a minute, there's no way to add on extra time, and once it's over, you have to wait to play it until next time you fill up one star, which can take you having to play the first two mini games (a ball toss and apple grab game) at least 50 times in a row, AFTER you've waited the "wait times" that they put in place for each pony before you get to play the crappy games again.

TAKE NOTE- THIS IS DOING MINI GAMES BADLY.

Yes. Yes you are.

Of course, plenty of people will slog through this game and others like it because they like the theme, or have a strange idea that they're actually "taking care" of a world. However, the end result is a world where you are set up to fail or basically rage quit after the first couple of tutorials because you can't possibly afford anything because the game actively PROHIBITS YOU FROM PLAYING unless you start using your actual money from your actual pocket to buy fake currency and fake stuff.

The mini game was so boring, even the hot NPC girl they programmed to work the mini game fell asleep on the job.

Even bastions of gamer holiness, such as the Legend of Zelda series, often feature appallingly awful or inconsistant mini games. While most of them are blessedly optional, they still basically waste money, time, and leave you with that gnawing annoyance in the pit of your stomach that stays with you even after you turn off your system. But this does not have to be the case.

Now this, this I can PLAY.

Say what you want about the size of Wario's butt or the size of his greed, but that dude knows how to do mini games. First of all, there are literally hundreds of games in each one of these. Most of them have various themes as well as music or rhythm aspects. And finally, most of the games are simple, fun and fast, without much in the way of extras- they do what they're supposed to do, no more no less. Plus you don't have to spend outrageous sums of money to play them, literally or figuratively in-game. Finally, most games throw in mini games as an afterthought, these are the main focus of said games, and there are character based themes to tie it together.

My first mini game addiction existed just so I could play the dang game.

Now, just so you know that I'm not just being a cynical jerk about "farmville" type-games, I actually did get slave away at mini games for awhile. There was only one mini game in this little digivice toy, but it helped you gain points towards digivolution and I wanted to play the game through the end. It also had a pedometer function that I cheated out by shaking it up and down to get to the next boss level. I know that i spent countless hours getting to the end of the game, replaying mini games on the little tiny pixely screen only to get to the end and feel a sense of having wasted my time coupled with an odd sort of satisfaction at having reached the end. So here's the thing, I don't think that people are crazy for feeling satisfied for playing games like this- mini games satisfy that little ADHD hamster that spins in the frontal lobe, it just also needs variety because honestly, playing the same ball toss game or card game over and over is an exercise in frustration, not because it's hard, but because it's boring and repetitive grind work that exists just to get you to the part of the game you actually WANT to be playing.

Wishful thinking? Sure, but it doesn't stop me from trying to be the voice of reason.

So here's my suggestion for mini games if they want to break from the stigma of being universally hated as cheap wastes of time that suck:

1) Variety- if you're going to make mini games the main way of earning money, items or allowing continuation in the game, make sure there are many different types of them to play. If you're going to make people spend hours playing the same 30 second mini game, they are going to hate you with the burning anger of a thousand suns.

2) Accuracy of controls- Many mini games have sloppy, tank-like controls that either work badly or don't work half the time (this is especially a problem with touch-screen based games on phones). If you're going to make a mini game that is simple, at least make sure that it works reliably so that people don't have to wrestle with the interface just to play the game.

3) Attractive- Make sure the animation style is fluid and the art looks professional. The last thing people are going to want are pixelated gifs that look like you downloaded them at a low resolution from a Google search. Even if it's simple, make it look as good as you possibly can- bonus points for original art style that doesn't just look like a generic or knock-off design of something else that is well-known.

4) Rationale- the mini game has to fit into the greater narrative of the game in some way- make sure that you don't have some random card game in a boat race game or a math-based mini game in an art-centric themed game.

5) Rewarding- Make sure to make the mini game worth the player's while- it's not just a question of getting through the game to get to the actual part of the game they want to play, it's part of the journey. Either allow the mini games to reward the gamer with resources and praise based on how one well it is played, or alternatively, influence the story in various ways based on how you play. Depending on the mini game, there can be different answers or different solutions.

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In closing, I know that sometimes mini games just feel like easy money grabbing tactics by game companies. And sometimes, you are absolutely correct! But I do think that mini games do have the potential for being used in a better and more interesting way, instead of simply being the grinding slog that they have a reputation for being in the current state of things. I suppose the question really is- who is willing to step up and change the "business is usual" stance on this?

Until then, you can count me minimally impressed with the mini game.

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So, what are your thoughts on mini games, either on their own or as part of a larger gaming construct?

What is your favorite mini game experience?

What kind of changes would you like to see when it comes to mini game application?

And finally, (and somewhat unrelatedly), what is your favorite game to play when the weather gets cold and icky outside?

A Good Loser is Hard to Find

2012-11-05T09:28:00Z

"Whaddya mean I lost?! NOOOOOOOOO!!"

I'll admit it. I'm a loser. I have met with many a "Game Over" and I will be the first to say that in my battles and fights against both CPUs and other players. I am not new to the phenomenon of not being the best gamer of them all, and in truth, I am actually kind of glad. You see, there's a lot of pressure on people who are awesome at a game. You know them, the people who have spent countless hours slaving away, learning every in and out and trick of the game- memorizing control schemes until it's second nature. It's even worse if they've actually won an official match or tournament because then you KNOW they're supposed to be amazing. People like this are supposed to win every time. And others challenge them just for that purpose. Because, you see, to beat someone who is actually amazing at something is an amazing feat in and of itself. That kind of constant competition is exhausting..

"You killed my Magikarp!"

I don't lose on purpose. I'm not one of those annoying people who tries to sucker others into playing so that I can get them to win and then pretend to be all surprised. But to be honest, I often play games with people who are much better than I am. Most of "social" gaming for me is the fun with friends aspect. From party games or silly dancing games to fighters, I enjoy playing with others because the camaraderie and joking and playful sparring is what truly makes the game fun, not necessarily the winning part. Even when I'm playing against one of my siblings and things are getting intense, I'm still not really all that upset if I end up losing. But that's something that's made me wonder- what makes my own good-natured losing different than the person who screams and throws their controller at the wall?

My face isn't *exactly* like this after losing, but you won't see me throwing things or swearing like a sailor.

I think that losing well is a lost art, especially in a world where the face of communal gaming has changed so much in this last decade. When you are placed face to face with your gaming peers, it is a lot easier to see the consequences of sharp words or stomping on one's controller like a monkey. Acting horribly seems to be a lot easier when all you have is a headset- I mean, it's a lot more detached, even if you're gaming with people you actually know in the real world. But on the other hand, it also seems largely tied to the fact that when I grew up as a child, throwing controllers around was the easiest way to break them. And god forbid you threw your Game Boy- not only might that crack your screen, but a hard smack has been known to short out a cartridge and force you to start all over again only now it won't let you save and every time you turn off the system it resets (*shakes fist at a certain Pokemon Ruby cartridge that suffered this fate after an accidental droppage last March*).

I mean, seriously, do you want to have to fight this bug-loving moron over again?

Those of us who started gaming before we could make random kids in New Jersey cry with spectacular trol-lol-loling remember a time in which rage quitting was not an option because then you'd have to start the ENTIRE GAME all over again from the beginning. And games where you had to kind of squint to see what the pixels were supposed to represent on the super mega awesome box art were the norm, not the exception. These games were only generally affordable to parents, because even pixely games cost at least 30 bucks a pop, so if you were a kid, you were happy with what you got, even if it was just Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 3. You were not ENTITLED to beautiful sweeping landscapes or three dimensional fields of view with bloom glowing all over the place. So when you lost, you sat there and said, ok, this sucks, but I didn't get an instruction manual and the Internet isn't past the point of dial-up modems and crappy AOL CDs so it takes an hour to get online in the first place. So you keep playing and playing, even if you get a game over in five seconds, and finally you succeed.

The "I totally did this all on my own after many many failures so WA HA HA!" face.

And let me tell you- that success after rampant failure when you were given NO tutorial or handbook or hints or have access to GameFAQs or online resources....that is a sweet sweet success that I am not sure many people have experienced these days.

And in turn, knowing this kind of failure through trial and error and many an hour doing what you can to figure out how to do it yourself, I think this is how one develops a keen sense of losing gracefully. You know that you might lose, and after having experienced failure, you're no longer as afraid of it happening. Because, sure, THIS time you lost, but that doesn't mean that next time you won't win.

This is true in pretty much everything you experience. Romance, finances, even parenting. The more times you fail, the more times you have to learn, and the failures that you have after are less frightening. When you've never lost, have always consulted the manual or the online guide and you do your best to protect yourself from ever having to experience failure, you might actually be doing yourself a disservice. First of all, if you don't actually fail, it can be easy to build a FEAR of failure that becomes much larger than the actual experience of failing, which basically will keep you in the grip of that fear of failure and may actually lead to a lot of stress and unhappiness, which sucks because who wants gaming to go from being a fun diversion to being something you dread? Secondly, if you don't fail, it can be hard to know if there are other ways of doing things. Sometimes, for example, I will start exploring in a game, even if I know that it is possible that I'll go into a dangerous or even deadly area and get a Game Over. Sometimes, I've found some pretty amazing things from doing this, from secret levels in a Mario game to interesting side quests that I didn't realize were there in a Zelda game. Other times, I fall off the side of the world or die a horrible death and have to start over again. Either way, I learn, and I grow in the experience. Thirdly, I feel like consulting a guide or walkthrough every time the going gets a little bit tough is kind of boring. Most games exist to test your reflexes and your cognitive skills. Beyond a couple of bad game designs that basically require you to look at a guide to actually get further in the game (*cough* Trace Memory *cough*), most games simply require you to set the game down, go do something else for awhile and then come back to the game and you can come up with the solution yourself. And, sure, the answers can be found at the end of a Google search, but sometimes it's amazing to try and figure it out on your own, especially since I honestly think that this is the meaning of gaming- interfacing with that world with your own wits.

Yeah...well, maybe you just lost because sometimes people LOSE. it's not a character flaw.

I know I've kinda gone on at length, but what I hope you take away from all of this talk about losing is that when you lose against another person at game or simply get a Game Over, that is not a final judgement on your personal character or Self (and really, isn't "game over" a misnomer if you have the option to restart from your last save point or even play the game again?). When you lose, you're not losing forever. The game doesn't shut off and not allow you to play ever again. But what we can learn from losing is how to lose WELL, how to say "good game, let's try 3 out of 3" or even come up with a zinger of a comeback to a gloating winner (winning badly is also in bad taste, just so ya know), but not resort to calling people (or people's mothers) nasty names and threatening bodily harm to console or CPU. So too do our controllers not deserve to be abused by being stomped on, hurled across a room, or otherwise destroyed in a fit of rage. When you fail, it can suck, it can be frustrating, but it isn't the end of the world.

After all, even after "Game Over" you always get "Continue? Y/N". In the end, you can always go on, get through the suckiness of failure, but how you choose to go about it- well, that's 100% up to you.

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So, do you consider yourself a "good loser"?

Do you have a story or an experience where you have encountered a "bad loser"?

And finally, what game would you say is the most frustrating game you've ever played? How did you cope?

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In closing, I'll have to say that just like how being a veteran gamer gives you a sense of being less nervous about an all-new game, being a parent for the second time has left me a lot more relaxed in regards to all the baby stuff. Sure, it's still stressful and time-consuming, but it's also a lot easier to cope with since I have the experience with my firstborn and all the trial and error that I experienced with her in my parenting toolbox. Sure, no two children are the same, but at least if you have the cards stacked against you, it's easier when you know what game you're playing.

I look forward to hearing your responses!