Loaded Console

Friday’s Random Five is my attempt to showcase some pretty cool videogame related stuff that I’ve found on the internet. This can range from cool articles, random videos, to small downloadable games. These won’t always relate to what’s currently going on in the world or in the gaming industry, but in most cases I’m sure they will.

As I get older it seems as though I have a stronger desire to preserve my life. I find myself hoarding images of people I’ve met and regret not taking more pictures. One of these days, I’ll buy a decent camera.

While we may not think it with each image we take, we create starting points for memories, ones that we’re hoping our brains can finish for us. Enough so, to remember the experience, to come as close as we can to relive it.

Gamers out there are trying to preserve the experiences we value and are struggling with it. Due to technological and IP ownership related realities, some of our experiences will be lost and already have been. Giant Bomb has a feature called “The Matrix Online: Not Like This,” that attempts to capture the final weeks of The Matrix Online. The feature’s finale concludes with the servers shutting down, literally forever. Forever is a long time.

Giant Bomb’s The Matrix Online – Not Like This Finale

This week’s Random Five relates to the preservation of gaming culture.

1. The Difficulties of Preservation:

Over at Destructoid, Conrad Zimmerman writes an article on a new paper published in the International Journal of Digital Curation, highlighting the diffulties of preserving digital entertainment.

“Games are unique in that, even if a lost and forgotten game should be discovered decades from now, it’s entirely possible that nobody will ever be able to experience it.” – Zimmerman

Read More…

Since movies lack interaction, a movie can always be ported to a new format, but the best games always utilize their specific format well. No More Heroes on the Wii is an example of a game that just wouldn’t be the same without a sexy seductive voice edging you forward through the mic on your controller.

2. Tribute to Street Fighter

Games, like every other form of artistic expression, are digested differently by different people. Quality fan art has a way of showing a common interpretation of a character, but also a specific artist’s interpretation and style, creating a unique re-imagining. Kotaku posted this image by Deviant Artist Fenryk, Stroll Around Vigrid, which I thought did an excellent job of portraying Bayonetta’s and Cereza’s confident personalities. Lacking however, the ferocity of Amaterasu.

This is why my number 2 is the Tribute to Street Fighter posted by Hongkiat.com for showing 55 alternate perspectives on the iconic characters we’ve all come to love.

3. Lara Croft get’s a street and Sid Meier a holiday.

Between our gaming and our press, I think it’s easy to lose track of the fact that not a lot of people get excited by the same things that we do, but it’s always nice when a game gets recognized by the general public. Because it means games are making an impact on more then just us. Even if we lose our abilities to play another Tomb Raider or Civilization, they have left fragments on our everyday life.

Lara Croft Way

Civilization V Day

4. GameSpite.Net

GameSpite.Net is a site the focuses on video game criticism maintained and run by Jeremy Parish. He helps compile video game related articles into quarterly and yearly books that go over a variety of topics. These articles help one remember the era in which games are released, but also remind us why we loved or hated those games. Each Quarterly issue revolves on a different theme and while I only own 2 of the six available books, I’ve found them both to be retardedly engaging. So if you see yourself doing anything in which you’ll have time to read you should check out the page, check out some of the work, and buy a few books. These books are filled with articles that will make you smile and remind you why you game to begin with.

5. Street Fighter is like chess.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from Inception tries for a second to explain the complexity of Street Fighter 2 to Jimmy Fallon. Comparing it to a fast classic game of chess. I don’t think he gets through, but he tries.

Those are your Random Five.

Friday’s Random Five is my attempt to showcase some pretty cool videogame related stuff that I’ve found on the internet. This can range from cool articles, random videos, to small downloadable games. These won’t always relate to what’s currently going on in the world or in the gaming industry, but in most cases I’m sure they will.

Without further ado,

1. Donkey Kong is back!

This E3 was a lot of spectacle for a lot of “meh.” After three years of ignoring the core gamers with announcements like, Wii-Sports, Wii-Fit, Wii-Music, and vitality sensors, the core gets what they’ve been waiting for. Games. Metroid: Other M, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Skyword Sword and Donkey Kong Country Returns. Seriously! Donkey Kong! Not 3D-Mario-64 inspired Donkey Kong either, but a genuine side-scrolling platformer without drums. The Klonoa remake on the Wii was good, but this will be great.

E3 Trailer:

Aside: Check out a recently released remake of the original Donkey Kong – courtesy of GameSetWatch.com.

Donkey Kong Remake

It looks nice and plays like the original with some added stages mixed in. My only complaint is that Mario’s jump has been horrifically slowed, which isn’t as severe an issue as it may sound, one simply needs to readjust.

2. Rage

E3, E3, E3. E3 2010 where Microsoft and Sony unveiled their motion controllers with actual release dates and price tags, you know, to a market that’s had them for almost 4 years. In the midst of it all sat id software, not fully recognized. Which is strange since they’re making some pretty impressive promises:

A) Non-procedurally generated areas. Impressive considering how seemingly massive some of the locales appear to be. A lot of love is going into this game as every aspect of what you see is individually crafted by artists. “No two boulders are alike,” is the claim.

B) Enemies have progressive A.I. that can change their strategies based off of what’s around them. Taking advantage of walls, corners, and generally anything in their environment. Altering their tactics in response to what the player does/is doing.

C) A level editor that will ship with the PC version. While a level editor may not seem like a huge deal, it will be if they include every individually crafted texture that’s used within the game. Which I’m sure it will.

Also, it looks fantastic, even on consoles.

E3 Rage Footage:

3. The Narrative Role of Music in Role-Playing Games: Final Fantasy VII

It’s an essay for academia about the narrative role of music in Final Fantasy VII. To be honest it’s not the greatest read.  The first of three pages is riddled with academic mumbo jumbo (skim it), but once you get to the 2^nd page of the essay’s excerpt it begins to make some pretty cool points about how well the game’s music ties into what’s happening in the game’s plot. How it’s capable of cluing the player in on what they should feel for each particular event, even before a single text box appears.

I think anyone that’s played Final Fantasy VII can agree and tie any song from the soundtrack to an event in the game. If you check out the link inserted in the heading, keep these youtube videos open in separate tabs so you can play the music when it’s referred to by the text.

Trail of Blood

Shinra Company

Flowers Blooming in the Church

4. Mega Man Zero Recollections

Capcom’s Unity Blog always takes advantage of their presence to reach out to their base. In the month leading to the release of the Mega Man Zero Collection that came out June 8^th, they contacted popular game writers to author some Mega Man Zero Recollection pieces. Garnering the series some additional attention. Since I’m an over all whore for most of what Jeremy Parish writes I’ve linked the heading to his Mega Man Zero (one) Recollection piece. If you’re a fan of the series, many of the others are worth checking out.

5. A Life Well Wasted finally released a new podcast! Episode Six: Big Ideas

If you haven’t heard any of Robert Ashley’s podcasts then you’ve been missing out. Go to his site now:  http://alifewellwasted.com/

No seriously, what are you still doing here.

A Life Well Wasted is “an internet radio show about videogames and the people who love them.” Occasionally it tiptoes on the line marked cheesy, and the awkard line, but most of the time, it’s enlightening, engaging, and more importantly, it acts as an enabler for our addiction to videogames. You know, sometimes we need that.

Those were your Random Five this week.

I do plan to write a blog or two in the following weeks.  I recently interviewed Robert Boyd from Zeboyd games on his recent Indie game Breath of Death VII, but have been ridiculously busy with work, friends, and interviews. Life has this ugly habit of keeping me busy when I don’t want to be.

Anyway, I figured I’d post the Giant Bomb pages I’ve added information to, since I find myself doing that when I can’t sleep since it’s strangely enjoyable:

Dark Cloud edits:

Fairy King

Goro

Ruby

Xiao

Dragon Warrior VII edits (thus far):

Overview and Gameplay