Tuesday, September 28, 2010

My apologies

Sorry for not posting for a few days, I've been really busy. Luckily, I have something to actually write about this time.

So over the weekend, I went to Chic-Fil-A for the first time, because the first one ever in my area recently opened. When I got there, the line ended up going 20 people out the door, and the drive-through line had to have its own crossing guard. I walked into the line, and proceeded to wait for 30 minutes, anxious to see what all the hype was about. After all of that waiting, I finally got my food and went outside to eat (because all of the tables, chairs, and counters were already full of people). And it was totally delicious.

How does this connect to video games? Recently, an indie game called "Minecraft" reached the public eye, and became over-crowded, eventually resulting in a spontaneous free weekend while the creator upgraded his servers. Chic-Fil-A totally reminded me of it, and I decided to tell the very few people who read my blog about it.

What is it? Minecraft is like playing with legos from the perspective of a lego person, and is made by only one person. When you start a new game, an enormous, blocky world is randomly generated and you have to explore, mine, and craft things to survive the attacks of monsters, who come out at night.

Among these monsters is the notorious "Creeper" : a scary looking cactus that walks around, and tends to sneak up on you and explode- ruining all of your hard work and fucking you up in the process.

 Why should I be hype about it? The thing I like most about Minecraft is that it is good at creating a variety of feelings, if you play the single player survival mode. One minute a player can be peacefully chopping down trees and building a house, and the next minute  feeling a sense of exploration as he enters a cave or climbs up a cool looking mountain. These are all good feelings, but the best one that this game creates is, surprisingly, horror. And the horror isn't scripted- it all occurs naturally. This video showcases it pretty well, and even features the aforementioned creeper:



Honestly, this game has probably scared me more than any other video game, and it doesn't even try to. The fact that the player dies with ease really adds to the intensity and shock factor of the game. It really makes you think twice about exploring all over the place- something that I've never seen any other game do before.

In addition to the intense survival experience, Minecraft is also a good game for building and showing off creations to other people. In the game's creation mode, you can build anything from a rollercoaster to a replica of earth. One person I know even built a variety of pokemon gyms, which I thought were pretty awesome:



There is also online play for both modes- although the multiplayer survival mode isn't truly playable yet,  because you can't be hurt. In the meanwhile, creation mode can get you your multiplayer fix.

It would take me a really long time to adequately explain minecraft, and all of its intricacies, but it is only 13 dollars, so I highly recommend that you go check it out here. Also, you should look up how to survive your first night on youtube, because if you don't know the basics then you will most likely die.

Well, thanks for reading. I hope that I can start posting more regularly in the near future, but until then, go play some minecraft.


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Actually...

Actually, I feel bad not really doing anything, so I've decided to make a video game related post to test out a posting format I may follow in the future.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbHs4BWL32A 
(sorry for not embedding :( I'm still learning how to do all of this stuff)


What is this game?:This game is "Shadow of the Damned", by two of my favorite people in the video game industry: Suda 51 and Shinji Mikami. If you don't know who either of these people are, look them up on wikipedia, then be ashamed of yourself.

Why am I hype for it?:  Basically, this game combines the insane, lovable, refreshing style of Suda 51 with the very professional game design of Shinji Mikami. It looks like a deliciously colorful version of EA's "Dead Space", but with faster movement and an insane style. If you said that this game looked like "A survival horror game on drugs", I don't think that you would be very far off, especially considering that there is an "Absinthe" vending machine in that trailer I linked. That right there is the definition of a badass.

The Absinthe vending machine is an example of why I love Suda 51's design: he makes very odd main characters that do very odd things. There aren't any other games (that I can think of, at least) that are even remotely like his. The only thing that he isn't very good at is creating solid gameplay. Thankfully, Shinji Mikami can pick up the slack in this department, as  fantastic gameplay is something he just magically does in all of his games.

Basically, the possible synergy between Suda and Shinji is one of the main reasons that I am eagerly anticipating this game: I can just see their talents and design styles really working well together, and eventually forming a type of game that you oftentimes don't see in this generation of "brown and bloom"

My second day of blogging

Hey everybody,

After looking at some other blogs, I've decided that I'm going to spend the time I usually set aside for posting looking for a new background. Even though I'm new at blogging, I think that it would be better (and more fun) if I made everything look at least a little bit unique. So in other words, sorry for not having any actual original content today- but look forward to some in the near future!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My First Actual Post

Welcome to my blog! After a short period of consideration, I think that I will post some lists of my favorite things (like "My Top 10 Favorite Video Games") and things like that, until I figure out what I actually want to write about. So bear with me as I figure out how to blog.

Anyway, recently on Facebook, many of my friends have been posting a "Top 15 Bands/Albums" note, so I've decided to rewrite mine onto my blog to get it started. While I was thinking of my list, I realized how much my taste in music has changed, and I had to put some good thought into which artists/bands would go on the list. So without further ado:


My Top 15 Favorite Albums:

Weezer     Blue Album
Smashing Pumpkins     Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness
Pixies     Doolittle
Nujabes     Modal Soul
Kanye West     College Dropout
Ratatat     Classics
Killers     Hot Fuss
Jay-Z     Reasonable Doubt
Arctic Monkeys     Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Anamanaguchi     Dawn Metropolis    
Daft Punk     Discovery
Fat Jon     Hundred Eight Stars
Madvillain    Madvillainy
The Pillows     Runners High
Kero One     Windmills of the Soul


So basically, my taste in music is very odd, and maybe even just bad in some peoples eyes. But at least it doesn't get boring. Thanks for reading, see you next time.

Hello

This is a test post, gentlemen.