In the grand world of Internet culture there is an ongoing war between between sea-faring ruffians and stealthy assassins. The debate has raged for a long time with no clear cut winner on either side. But your good friend murf has picked a side in this epic battle. For he supports those who like to buckle some swash! That’s right, murf is a pirate man! YARRR!!! Fifteen men on dead man’s chest and all that jargon that be said by pirates. Arr! So ya, today I’ll be talking about my favorite fictional pirates across a multitude of multimedia. So grab your rum and rapier, hoist the Jolly Roger and join me on deck to see my selection of superb swashbucklers!
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Tetris
Imagine being a single-digit aged child between 5-7 years old in the late 1980’s. You have an NES. Other kids your age also have game systems and the only people you knew who really played video games were other kids. Its pretty easy to imagine, isn’t it?
Then one day, I rented a game call Tetris. I don’t think Tetris needs any introduction because it is so ubiquitous to gamers and non-gamers alike. Blocks fall down, complete a line and clear the screen. Simple, elegant and addictive. Being a young person, while the puzzle game was fun and interesting it wasn’t as much so when compared to the other games like Mario and Zelda that I loved. However, rental soon turned to ownership not because I liked the game but because Mum liked the game. Before I knew it, my NES had been invaded not by my peers but a parent.
This concept was so strange at first. Mum played some of my other games, sure, but not like this. There were times where I couldn’t play Mario because Mum wanted to play Tetris. She was addicted to it. While it was fun to hang out with her while she played, I couldn’t help but feel she was taking away part of my fun time. Eventually, it waned and Tetris stop being played as much. But then came the doctor.
Dr. Mario
We got a copy of Dr. Mario which I liked and Mum liked. However, now I really needed to fight Mum off with a stick in order to get my NES fix. Hell, Mum’s Dr. Mario playing would occasionally make her late for work as she tried to get “one more game” in. We all know how that goes.
In the end, I came to the realization that perhaps games weren’t just for other kids. That adults could really enjoy them too. As a now adult gamer myself, it makes me ponder how my own game playing habits will be one day viewed by my own potential offspring. Especially my love for the supposedly “kiddie” franchises like Mario and Kirby. I certainly hope that it makes me a cool dad, though I fear that my kids won’t get to play games because daddy is too busy hogging whatever the current generation Nintendo console is (hopefully a Wii U).
The Short and Sweet of It
The Games: Tetris and Dr. Mario
Platform: NES
Why it is important: My understanding of gaming was shattered when I learned that games weren’t simply for the young.
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The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or “E3″ as it more commonly known, occurred last week. It’s one of the, if not the, biggest trade show for the video game industry. Gamers the world over turn their eyes to Los Angeles to see whats new and upcoming. I’m tickled excited with upcoming titles and hardware to be sure. I’m going to offer this fair warning though: my Nintendo Fanboy is going to shine through like the sun on a cloudless day. I’ve been playing on a Nintendo since the NES. I’ve owned every home console and an iteration of every generation of hand-held. I routinely return to the Big N because while some people enjoy shooting each other, I like jumping on blocks, fighting evil warlocks and inhaling 100 times my weight in food. That being said, let’s get rolling talking about what got me excited from E3.
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So sometimes life impedes and I can’t do my Five. That happened this week. I’ve spent the week recuperating from having my wisdom teeth extracted. I’ve also been busy planning stuff for my wedding.
Sorry for those of you who look forward to it. Thanks for understanding.
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So, a few weeks ago I talked about some of my favorite games from the SNES thereby introducing my love of video games to the Friday Five. Today, I’m gonna continue on that and discuss some of my favorite characters from the world of video games. Now, of course there are a plethora of great characters to which people get attached and some have the advantageous effect of being silent protagonists or a general blank slate to which you can project your own emotions and feelings. These characters are great when viewed from a gameplay standpoint such as Link or Samus being totally badass, but I’m here to talk about them from a narrative standpoint. Characters who you are meant to experience from outside like characters in a novel or a movie. So while Link and Samus while have their own stories, they are relatively dull characters in a narrative because we are rarely privy to their thoughts or feelings.
These characters serve a variety of purposes. Some are there for comic relief. Others are there with great character arcs and development. A truly great character has the ability to get a rise of emotion out of you, whether it be anger, joy, laughter or sadness. These characters are some of my favorites. In order to get on the list this week, the character must have a speaking role in a narrative environment and must be primarily recognized from a video game. So while The Joker in Arkham Asylum is an amazing chracter, he can’t get a spot on the list because he’s more recognized as a comic book character. So, with that noted, mentioned, stamped and stated let’s get to the meaty portion of this week’s Five.
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In the grand world of Internet culture there is an ongoing war between between sea-faring ruffians and stealthy assassins. The debate has raged for a long time with no clear cut winner on either side. But your good friend murf has picked a side in this epic battle. For he supports those who like to buckle some swash! That’s right, murf is a pirate man! YARRR!!! Fifteen men on dead man’s chest and all that jargon that be said by pirates. Arr! So ya, today I’ll be talking about my favorite fictional pirates across a multitude of multimedia. So grab your rum and rapier, hoist the Jolly Roger and join me on deck to see my selection of superb swashbucklers!
