.tiff

zelda.games.&.phantom.hourglass.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:50:45 -0800

While I will always stand firmly besides my gamer upbringing as a Genesis child, there were certainly moments of console weakness when it came to the Nintendo and the exclusive titles it kept close to its bosom. Upon occasion my siblings and I would trade our Genesis with our friend's respective Nintendo system for a week long liaison. Naturally our inbred gamer instincts drew us to Mario, but what really set my geek-genes ablaze was when I played Zelda: A Link to the Past.

It wasn't until middle school that I finally completed Link to the Past and abruptly became hooked to the entire Zelda franchise. Despite the fact that the main gameplay, story elements, and characters only change slightly from sequel to sequel, Zelda is dependably comfortable while simultaneously manages to enliven its classic content with new environments and features in every additional release.

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

With all that being said The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a fantastic addition to the Zelda lineage, one which I've only recently been able to fully appreciate while commuting from my house-sitting home to work. Nintendo knows the meat, bones, and heart of its platforms, and in the case of the DS they would not disappoint by making Phantom Hourglass almost entirely stylus oriented with a few bonus DS-savvy actions to boot.

I love managing my stylus like I would a sword, prodding and swirling it around the screen to skewer baddies, but the adventure for me really started when I had to tackle the more unique challenges such as yelling through a door or blowing out a candle. As you might imagine, this involved the microphone proponent of the DS and my voice and/or breath ... applied amidst a large conglomerate of Muni commuters. I had a choice in both cases: close the DS and keep my interjections to myself or solve the puzzle as necessary despite the fact that there were a good 5 faces aimed at my direction who would witness what could seem like a brief instance of insanity.

Of course, I chose the latter. What else could I do to get the fortune teller's attention from the other side of the door? I elegantly brought the DS up to my lips and spoke as quickly and as loudly as I could to solve the puzzle.

HEY!

A few awkward glances, (a puzzle unlocked!), a following round of awkward re-glances, and then it was back to the crabby commute home. I laughed to myself and thought If only they knew how much farther I got in the game after that, only then would they understand.

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thule.trail.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:57:02 -0800

everyone else is weirded out

The Thule Trail. Play and bask in the post-Oregon Trail days of yesterday.
Thanks be to mein Husky for the screen shot.

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passage.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:34:28 -0800

Please download this game Passage and play it. It takes five minutes to play, and the results are stunning
.

passage

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shellacked.graphics.are.too.shiny.shiny.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:15:58 -0800

Is it just me or does it look like every object in GTAIV has a bucket of corner-store shellac dumped over them? Sure sure advances in real-time light-refraction and yes it does look more realistic than its predecessors, but frankly I think it makes everything look a little more kitschy than necessary. I'm underwhelmed here. There must be some sort of middle ground ... and don't even get me started on Street Fighter IV's new makeover. *shakes fists*

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rant:the.phenomenon.of.grrl.gamers.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:11:52 -0800

Note: This post was written in context to a current discussion being held within the community blogs at Destructoid.com, initiated by Reverend Anthony's recent podcast rant about the phenomenon of 'grrl gamers'. To get the full story, listen to Anthony's argument here a little before midway into the show and read VirtualGirl's response post here.

grrl gamer?

I have strong opinions about the grrl gaming phenomenon, very strong opinions. While I've discussed such sentiments privately amongst trusted comrades and cohorts in the gaming industry, I frustratingly tend to bite my tongue when it comes to expressing myself within the larger Destructoid community. The reasons are the general dissonance in discussing the matter as though it's a STFJPG instance (which it's certainly and most definitely not given what the industry is veering towards in this day and age), and the mere fact that I tend to get angry and frustrated rather than articulate when I attempt to describe what I think.

After listening to the good Reverend's rant and reading Virtualgirl's response I felt the need to just skim the surface on my personal thoughts in regards to the grrl gamers out there. I'm going to try to keep it simple and short so as to potentially develop my argument later, so here goes nothing:

Media scholar and philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the quintessential expression "the medium is the message". Taking this into consideration with grrl gamers, the particular ailment of these female gaming communities is the dependency on the image as their first and foremost means of communicating their apparent plight for 'respect'. As Rev. explained, when these girls slather prolific amounts of photos of themselves the message they are projecting is very particularly and exclusively oriented towards distinguishing themselves as 'female' or 'not male', thereby immediately debasing whatever idea of equality they were supposedly demanding.

Why is this message so inherently black and white? Because these photos are circulated within and are part of the mass media in which personal intentions, general goodwill, and individual personalities behind the image are altogether ignored, erased, and replaced with the surface level meaning. Period.

I want to reiterate that the key phrase of this statement is 'mass media'. Personal stories such as VirtualGirl's reveal to us that there is a large level of devotion and meaning within such cultural acts as dressing up as Lara Croft at a convention which I can respect to a certain degree on an individual basis. Her passion and confidence for something that she loves are to be envied. But the mass media cares only what the masses want, and within this largely masculine gaming demographic the masses want to consume stereotypical, sexualized fantasy women, so thats what they will see.

My advice? If you want to discuss how you want to be treated equally as a gamer because you think that you are somehow alienated by your sex then write about it instead of posting photos of yourself. What you look like has absolutely nothing to do with how passionate you are about gaming or games.

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rock.band.genre.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:38:58 -0800

Do you tend to like music in particular genres, or are your tastes all over the place? What are your most and least favorite musical genres?

wanted - rock band

My favorite genres of music tend to be the ones that I can play on Rock Band, you know, the kind I can paddle away at obsessively with a gaming guitar peripheral.

So I'm shamelessly manipulating today's QOTD to fit what pertains to my current and only interest, Rock Band. This is an entirely legitimate answer however, given that just about every song of any genre becomes awesome when you are performing it in the game. For instance despite my typical disregard for most varieties of hard metal songs by my day to day musical standards, when I'm fiendishly pumping out arpeggios and I can hear the virtual crowd sing along to my music all those standards instantly melt away.

In other words, I've had it for a day, I've been playing it occasionally for over the past few months and I'm obsessed. Plus, my avatar has a shaved head and looks like Tank Girl. I spent $1,000 dollars in gig-money to get that look, and she kicks ass. Kudos to Raf and my singing little sis for the awesome jam session last night!

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cross-stitch.nerd.lerv.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:33:09 -0800

you fill my hearts

*imitates zelda sound byte*
dun-nuh-nuh-nuhhh!
by kidmissle

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phoenix.wright:ace.attorney.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:32:50 -0800

Phoenix Wright

Exciting game-related updates at bay! First on the agenda, thanks to my saucesome brother Harrison I got a gold Xbox-Live account for my birthday. This prompted me to get a gamertag last night before I started my freshly opened copy of Beautiful Katamari (a gift from Steph!), so if y'all want to know the gamertag is, its: oTIFF. Big surprise, right?

While exciting, that news is not what I want to gush about. I finally got my hands on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney this past weekend, along with a few other DS Lite classics that I had been neglecting to try. While the weekend was stolen from me (no thanks to YOU Bobbin, my incredibly kawaii Shiba Nintendog), I started to play Phoenix Wright on my commute and it is A-MAZING.

I found myself L-O-L'ing in RL to the erratic Anime antics of the characters, already crushing on the dorky novice lawyer Mr. Wright, and pumping my noggin' to remember all details of the investigations before I take them to court. How did Capcom manage to take court sessions and make them fun? You'll have to play to find out for yourself.

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mario.+.buzz.=.bff4evar.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:57:50 -0800

MARIO + BUZZ = BFF4EVA

Don't get me wrong. It's a little more than obvious that I heart video games, and I also happen to have an ingrained admiration for early space heroes such as the below pictured Buzz Aldrin. But somehow the below press photo seems to ooze all sorts of weird science to me.

The photograph was recently taken to promote Nintendo's upcoming game Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. Seeing as in this game Mario takes to the universe and defies all common concepts of gravity by whipping himself from planet to planet, it would only make sense to put a humanoid version of the character in an anti-gravitational flight. But why is Buzz Aldrin there?

And I have more questions! Does this photo initiate the seamless bond that now exists between the world of science and the world of cherub-faced video game characters? Who is the man behind the Mario mask? Is it just me or does it look like Mario is actually doing a malicious flip-up attack on Dr. Aldrin? I can only assume...

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e.for.all.

nobody@vox.com(.tiff) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:11:41 -0700

In attempt to recapture what was lacking at the gaming convention E3 this year, E for All was held last weekend dressed with all sorts of bells and whistles to lure the public into its womb. For a price, that is. Due to the high ticket cost ($90 dollars, PAX was only $45) and absence of Sony and Microsoft, not only was it barely attended but it was also extremely boring.

Intel Green Screen dance with ScrewAttack

.tiff and Destructoid play Wii Boxing

But when there was a large conglomerate of robo friends waiting to see me there, it wasn't half bad. I got to hang out with my brother, orcist, Niero, Colette, and others, engaging in many a bout of C-C-C-Combo Breaking and celebration. Here are a few photos from the weekend, including a few shots of the my trip back to SF on Highway 5 when the smoke was hanging in the air.

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