Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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Games: Earlier today, I was able to attend an online conference put on by the good people at Atlus. The subject of the meeting? 3D Dot Game Heroes for PS3.
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For those of you who might not be familiar, 3DDGH is essentially a loving homage to the original Legend of Zelda. Not Twilight Princess, not that new one with the train, or even anything on a 16-bit system…no, we’re talking old, old-school 8-bit Zelda. The original, groundbreaking stuff.
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If you’re old enough to remember the very first excursion to Hyrule, then imagine that replicated in 3D and my work here is basically done. If you’re not old enough to remember, or for some bizarre reason owned an NES but never played it (FREAK!) then keep reading.
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Large overworld? Check. Screen-by-screen movement? Check. Puzzle-filled dungeons with large bosses at the end? Check. Hidden areas, upgrades, and magical swords? Check.
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3DDGH is not just a love letter to Zelda, though. For starters, the character editor feature looks endlessly entertaining. Although the game comes with several stock images the player can use for their avatar, they can also go their own route and create whatever they want, pixel-by-pixel. (3D or 2D!) In fact, although such action is not endorsed by Atlus, it seems quite possible to re-create pixel-perfect representations of Mario, Mega Man, Simon Belmont, or just about any other 8-bit character that comes to mind. That in itself is worth the price of admission, if you ask me.
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Character editor aside, I do want to say that from the portion we saw being displayed, it seems the game is more than capable of standing on its own in terms of providing a solid adventure capable of being enjoyed by anyone-- regardless of their familiarity with the source of inspiration. There's just something really satisfying and wholesome about the kind of play available here. Although I wasn't too excited for the title reading about it and watching videos, after the walk-through today, I have to admit that I was more than ready to jump in and start playing. This is definitely one going to be keeping an eye on.
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For those of you who care about such factoids, here is some information provided by Atlus:
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> A basic run-through will take approximately 12 hours on the standard difficulty.
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>Japanese DLC and new art screens are included on the disc for the US release.
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>A HDD install feature has been added.
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>The game is EXCLUSIVELY on PS3, confirmed.
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>Retail price will be $39.99, release date of 5/11/2010, Rated E +10
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(…And yeah, I’m a shameless shill for Atlus right now. So what? The game still looks cool.)
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Although I'd ordinarily have a game or writing post up tonight, I'm instead going to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thanks to my fab in-laws, Bob and Mary Ann.
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A wonderful pair, they've never been anything but loving and supportive since I've known them, and as someone who was a fearfully anxious prospective son-in-law, I can say that I'm endlessly grateful they made it so effortless to become a true part of their family.
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Unfortunately, these two live about as far away from Seattle as physically possible, and they're shipping out soon... We've got Skype video and phone calls, but it won't be the same as having them over or going out for a bite. They will be missed.
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Have a safe trip, you crazy kids... And come back soon.
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Games: On the Twitter feed this weekend, there were a number of people that remarked on some negativity aimed at the games journalism/reviewing field. I'm not going to do the honor of linking to any of the pieces in question because I think they’re defeatist, quitter crap, but I do have an opinion.
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Although it's true that there are very few paid positions that a person can afford to live off of, there are many levels of success. Anyone who aspires to make their home in this line of work has to have realistic expectations, especially when they're starting out. It’s certainly true that some people can pay the rent and put food on the table by writing about games, but the ones who manage to pull it off by submitting only one job application or sending just one query are quite rare. Most of the folks I know who are ‘living the dream’ got there by a lot of persistence, underpaid/unpaid slogging, and old-fashioned hard work.
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Anyone who's not ready to put in the time and effort to make it happen doesn't want it bad enough, if you ask me.
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That said, it's just a reality that a lot of really good writers can't sell enough articles or reviews to make ends meet. It's a sad fact, and a result of the state of the industry: there is a virtually infinite supply of people who want to write, and very few outlets that make enough profit to pay someone a livable salary, let alone an entire staff. However, there are tons of opportunities for people who are willing to write on the side, or in their spare time.
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You might not be able to buy a house or car with your earnings, but it’s very reasonable to expect to get free games, free entrance to industry events, early info and first-looks, access to developers who would be otherwise unavailable, and a lot of other things along those lines-- not to mention the personal satisfaction of developing a reputation, establishing contacts, and becoming someone who's known and notable in the field.
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It's often said these days that fame is more important than wealth, and writing about games may be the perfect opportunity to prove that true. Keep your expectations realistic and don't be afraid of hard work, and you will definitely get where you're going-- AND If you can't do those things, then STFU and leave the field with grace. If nothing else, show some respect and do other up-and-comers the courtesy of not having to listen to your self-imposed sour grapes.
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Frequent readers of the blog may have noticed that I haven't been sticking to my every-other-day schedule lately. Since putting myself on a one-month deadline to finish the first rough draft of the book I'm currently working on, it's been a little tougher to juggle my time in the evenings. However, the upside is that progress is coming along just fine and all systems are go. As of right now I'm still on track, and I'm very happy about that.
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In other news…
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Games: Still playing Shiren the Wanderer on Wii and still liking it.
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Although it's much more straightforward than Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (DS) and has a few tweaks that I'm not too crazy about, it remains an excellent place to start for people who may not be familiar with the Roguelike genre. I could also imagine some children getting into this and enjoying it (I'll test it out on my son when he comes for the summertime) and as a gaming parent in favor of appropriate gaming with children, I'm of the opinion that we always need more titles like this.
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Games: On the portable right now, I'm still making my way through Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes on the DS, and still loving every single second of it. I really, really regret not getting the chance to play this game last year. Without a doubt, it would've been on my top-ten list, and is most definitely the best puzzler to have been released in ’09. I know I'm treading dangerously close to ‘annoying broken record’ territory by mentioning it as many times as I have, but they just don't come any better than this, folks. For those of you who remember what an unknown game Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords was, Clash of Heroes is Puzzle Quest all over again. Get in on it now, and you can be one of the cool kids by saying you beat it before everyone else even knew about it.
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Games: Although I've had more than my fill of talking about Mass Effect 2 since my extremely popular and well-regarded review hit Metacritic, I have to admit that I'm not quite ready to let the topic go. Getting right to the point, I've been thinking about the way homosexual relationships were removed for the most part, and what a disappointing choice that was.
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As a straight, middle-class family man who is most often assumed to be white, I'm not exactly the poster boy for talking about minority groups or those who might be disenfranchised by a larger society. However, I most definitely believe in equality for all and I feel like if we are ever to make any headway as a society, each one of us has to stand up and talk about issues that don't seem right, even if they don't affect us directly.
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With those cards on the table, I have to admit that it was still bitterly disappointing to see that BioWare, who has effectively been the leader in promoting the acceptability and choice of alternative relationships in videogames, has now backpedaled and stepped away from the forefront. In Mass Effect 2, players who choose a male character can only choose to have romantic encounters with female characters on the ship. Players with a female character can only have relationships with male characters, aside from a brief lesbian quickie, which doesn't qualify as a true romance option in my view.
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I'm quite puzzled as to why the option to have a true gay or lesbian relationship was not included. Although the original Mass Effect wasn’t plentiful with its options (lesbian only, if Liara T’Soni is counted as female), it strikes me that their trend appeared to be generally toward more inclusiveness. Looking at their other recent hit, Dragon Age: Origins, characters have the option to have both hetero and homosexual relationships regardless of whether their character is male or female. All options are available, not to mention the humorous encounters at the kingdom’s brothel.
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Going back further, 2005’s Jade Empire (Xbox) also supported both hetero/homo choices. Having demonstrated a willingness to ‘go there’ before, why shy away from it now? Scanning the BioWare forums, there has been some mention that Commander Shepard is a ‘pre-defined’ character, so I suppose players are meant to assume that the possibility of being gay is not within "his" personality. However, this flies in the face of giving players the option to create the kind of character they want (male/female/appearance options) on top of the devs’ frequent insistence that players can play Shepard the way they want. (Except gay.)
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Furthermore, I find it somewhat hypocritical that having a homosexual relationship with someone of the same species is not allowed when so many of the ‘acceptable’ options are with aliens-- who may or may not actually be as male or female as they appear. After all, who's to say what the definition of a Turian male is, or what a Quarian female has in her pants? There's even a few mentions in the game that the biologies of these alien love interests may be toxic or unhealthy in an interspecies situation, which gives an entirely new definition to the term ‘safe sex’. These aliens, although humanoid in shape for the most part, have bizarre mouthparts, things that may or may not be gills, strangely-textured skin, and who knows what underneath their armor, and these are the ‘acceptable’ options? I find it hard to understand the rationale behind giving a player the option to have sex with a being of questionable gender and potential toxicity while completely ruling out another being of the main character’s own persuasion.
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I don't presume to know for certain the thought process behind why this aspect of Mass Effect 2 was crafted the way it was, but I do know that I found it incredibly disappointing and almost cowardly, in a way. Including comprehensive alternative options wouldn't take away from the experience of anyone who chose not to partake of it, and would serve only to let gamers of varying orientations feel more included. I can’t honestly see a downside, and can't think of any justifiable reason why such options weren’t included given the content of BioWare’s previous works – In the absence of such logic, I would hate to assume that BioWare felt it acceptable to include alternative options in its ‘also-ran’ titles, only to remove them and ‘clean up’ its most important franchise.
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I hate to say it, but the phrase ‘second-class citizen’ comes to mind.
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Games: I've been spending most of the last two days playing Shiren the Wanderer on the Wii.
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If you've been reading this blog for while, you may remember a week or two when Shiren on the DS (A.K.A. Mystery Dungeon) was all I was talking about, and for good reason- it was fantastic. Thanks to the great people at Atlus, people who enjoyed that title as well as those who have yet to discover its charms will now get the opportunity to continue the saga.
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I'm not going to spill too many beans since I am working on a full review, but for those of you who aren't familiar, Shiren is in the niche ‘Roguelike’ genre. Basically, the meat of gameplay is dungeon-crawling in randomly-generated levels while picking up and using whatever weapons, equipment and items get dropped by enemies or found in rooms. Through tight rationing and clever management of resources, the end goal is making it to each dungeon's exit-- easier said than done, though, since the difficulty of these games tends to be quite steep, and one of the hallmarks of the genre is losing all equipment and being reset to level 1 upon death.
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Yes, in most cases it actually is as harsh as that sounds.
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Not so in this Shiren, though. Although traditionalists may cry foul, players do have the choice of keeping their levels and items upon death-- the only penalty in such case would be reversion to their most previous save. In the Roguelike genre, that is a HUGE concession towards players who might not have the patience or willingness to grit their teeth and bear the pain. Honestly, I see this as a smart and necessary maneuver given today's landscape, and I'm glad the choice was made.
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More on Shiren the Wanderer later.
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Games: Just before starting Shiren, a good friend and totally decent human being hooked me up with a copy of Dark Void. (Thanks, man! You know who you are.)
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In case you missed it, I interviewed the development team a little while ago. You can read that piece here, but basically the title was put together by the people behind the supremely awesome Crimson Skies (Xbox) in conjunction with Capcom. All about a guy fighting aliens with a jetpack, Dark Void seemed like there was no way it could go wrong. I mean, based on these elements, I would've put any amount of money on it being an absolute home run. Dev team with flight experience? Goopy aliens? Capcom? JETPACK? I mean, it's WIN right?
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Wrong.
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In total, I think I spent around three or four hours with Dark Void, and that was three or four hours too many. The scripting and characterizations were awful, level designs were uninspired, far too much time was spent in subpar on-foot gunplay, and the jetpack itself felt slow and dull… not at all the kind of breathtaking, seat-of-your-pants action one would expect.
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Although I'm quite disappointed to report it, Dark Void is one of those sad games that really doesn't have a single thing to recommend it. It was so bad, in fact, that I could not force myself to keep playing and had to abort plans for a review… I couldn't justify spending the time.
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Games: In other disappointing news, I finally got around to playing the multiplayer Aliens vs Predator (360) demo which is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
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I really hate it when developers put multi-only demos up for many reasons, but primarily because multi modes don't give the player any sense of what the 1P experience will be like (*koff*Bionic Commando*koff). I rarely play multiplayer modes unless they are story-based co-op and have an ending, so in general, I don't glean much from setup like this. Still, being the Aliens/Predator fan that I am, I gave it a shot.
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Wow, talk about unimpressive. The only mode available was a standard deathmatch that apparently could not be launched with fewer than eight people. It took me several attempts to actually get into a game, and once I got in, there wasn't much to keep me.
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Playing the role of an alien the first time, it took me a little while to get the hang of the controls. I probably could've done it a lot sooner if I wasn't being blasted to xenomorph bits every few seconds, but I eventually figured it out and was not thrilled. It was very disorienting to be able to crawl on the walls and ceilings, and I couldn't help but think that there could have been a smoother way to transition the camera during surface shifts. Besides that, I felt quite underpowered. The human marines were able to easily pick me off at a distance, and the few times I was able to close in, my claws and tail weren’t nearly as lethal as I would have hoped. It also seemed as though the alien should've been able to run a lot quicker than it does, given that it's limited to melee attacks. In any event, that was a spectacularly un-fun session and switching to being a predator wasn't much better.
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This is definitely a case of a demo cooling off my level of interest in the full title, and as of tonight, I've downgraded it to my ‘check it out when it's $20’ list. An early leaked Game Informer review (I love you guys, seriously!) pegged the game as a 5.75/10, so apparently this demo is at least partially representative of the full game’s quality…
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Games: My last game bit for the night, if you haven't already come across it, I’d like to give a shout-out to a blog I've been following pretty regularly as of late-- Peter Skerritt’s Consoleation. Pete does a great job of taking a look at the business side of the industry, and he’s been totally on-point when it comes to the changing power dynamics between publishers and consumers. What he says on his blog about DLC and online transactions lines up almost exactly with how I see things. If I didn't know better, I'd swear the guy has been reading my mind... If you've got the time and interest for another blog dealing with intelligent game talk, give Consoleation a shot.
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Writing: The second book is now in the home stretch. I've done some calculations, and if I can stick to the schedule I've got laid out for myself, then the first draft should be complete in a month or less. Not much else to say at the moment, but I felt as though saying something about it officially here on the blog would be a good way of reinforcing the commitment to myself since it's now out in the open. If a month has gone by and I haven't made any official announcement about the draft being done, feel free to drop me a line and check up on me… ^_^
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Games. Comics. Music.
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Every self-proclaimed geek worth his salt thrives on these things, so put them all together and the result has to be something fantastic, right?
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Kirby Krackle is a local Seattle-area band with one album under their belt, and another on the way. Absolute up-and-comers to watch, their tune-filled mash-ups of popular culture are smart, sassy, and absolutely on-point. They also prove my hypothesis to be true.
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If you haven't heard any of their songs, pop on over to THEIR SITE and listen to the entirety of their first album – for free. (Of course, after you listen to it, pony up the money and pay for the whole thing... it's absolutely worth it.)
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The courageous men of Kirby Krackle were gracious enough to take the time to answer a few questions for me, so without further delay -- here's what they had to say.
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Alright, guys…who is Kirby Krackle?
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Jim Demonakos: We're a Nerd Rock band based in Seattle. There's two of us, myself and Kyle Stevens.
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What is Kirby Krackle all about? What's your mission?
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Kyle Stevens: Kirby Krackle is music for YOU. We got together to make songs about all the stuff we loved in pop culture, specifically comic books, video games, girls and generally things that are awesome. We're both fans AND songwriters, and like other fans, we really enjoy the
human element to comics and what metaphors are used; whether it be super powers or crazy situations and how they relate to everyone's everyday experience. As songwriters, our job is to take that and turn it back to the people in the same way. Our mission is to take the human element of the comics we love and send it back with the same amount of enthusiasm as the stories we write about give us.
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As you said yourself above, Kirby Krackle is most often described as ‘Nerd Rock’. Why do you think that fits?
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JD: Yeah, that's the label we put on ourselves, so I think it fits quite aptly. We make songs, real, true rock & pop songs, but with lyrics that are all about our interests, which are things a lot of
people are in to.
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KS: Yeah, "Nerd Rock", "Geek Rock", "Songs about guys that wish they had powers" works well too!
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How did the two of you guys get together?
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JD: Kyle's a comic book fan, which is how we met, I own some stores in Seattle and he's a customer, so we’d always talk both music and comics. At some point, both of us lamented the fact that there were really no good comic book songs out there and figured we had enough
nerd knowledge between the two of us to make something happen.
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KS: Yeah, we're both idea guys in the fact that we think what is something that has never been done that we would freak out about if it came around. We have the best time simply just making the songs and sitting around trying to find the funniest rhymes we can and the most inappropriate as well. People would probably be a little disturbed and offended if they could actually sit and listen in on our writing sessions.
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For those who may not know the term, can you explain where you got your name and what it means? Also, what were your runner-ups?
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JD: Kirby Krackle is the name of the 'dots' that Jack Kirby drew on all his art, specifically from his legendary run on Fantastic Four, to signify things like energy or bursts of power.
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KS: Ever since Jim's business partner, Brian, came up with the KK name and since he did it early on, that's really been the only option. That's surprising, because usually the naming process is living hell and no one is fully happy with the the compromised result. "Kirby
Krackle" just rolls off the tounge and now that I think about it's weird it was that easy.
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JD: I guess we could make something up to sound interesting? Ok, we were first called "Mutant Camel" (the classic 1983 atari game (yes, it's a real game!)).
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KS: Then "Morlock Panties."
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JD: Then we tried "Badrock and the Rockettes," but realized we had no
ladies in the band.
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KS: Yeah, that's true. After we nixed "The Quinjets" we settled on
"Kirby Krackle"
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In your creative process, who does what? Is it pretty much that one of you does the music and the other lyrics, or is it more collaborative than that?
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JD: It's definitely more collaborative, we pretty equally write the lyrics, I man the computer and sit in front of Word, while Kyle has his guitar, and we go back and forth over every little bit of song, playing every little bit so that the huge amount of lyrics that we cram in to each song can fit.
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KS: Its a good melding of each of our own strengths, Jim as an editor/comic industry pro and my many years of songwriting/recording experience form a geek-tastic VOLTRON that we hope people feel they can invite into their homes. Besides the broken ceilings obviously.
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On your first album, there is a very sweet, tender song that I had a very strong emotional response to. Can you tell me a little bit more about ‘Teabagged’ and where it came from?
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KS: Well, it really comes from us not being very good at Halo. Since I'm no Halo master, getting teabagged happens to me often. Also because I am no Halo master, this means that many times I have to do this to others who I finally kill to make me feel better. As you can
see, it's a vicious circle of disfunction that needed to be documented in song. I love also how some people get so angry about it and find that really fascinating. As with "Zombie Apocalypse" the only way it could be interpreted is via ukulele and steel drums. I laugh every time someone hears it for the first time and look at us like we're freaking crazy...
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On ‘Marvelous Girls’, you work in a fantastic number of shout-outs, but were there other ladies you wanted to include but didn’t? And what about girls from other comic houses? They need love too, don't they? (And whoever added in the line about the Skrull-girl’s chin is SICK.)
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JD: Yeah, we could have gone on forever with that song, we narrowed it down to ones we thought would have funny follow-ups, like the Genoshan Girl and how her island was blown up. There were definitely a whole lot of girls left out of this one, but we've rectified that to an
extent with our new song, "Roll Over," which includes another crazy amount of shout-outs.
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‘Naked Wii’. True occurrence, or fevered fantasy?
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JD: A gentleman never tells.
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You guys do a great job of covering both comics and games in your songs. It's screamingly obvious that you guys are both the real deal in terms of fandom, so what are some of your favorite titles from both pastimes?
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JD: From games, recently been playing Fallout 3 (still), dipping my toe in to Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed 2, playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Batman: Arkham Asylum (of course, comic games!), playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my girlfriend (that co-op can be really frustrating! :), also looking forward to Bioshock 2. Plus, I
like casual games for when I need to just kill a few minutes, like PopCap's Peggle or things like Castle Crashers. Also, just downloaded Marvel vs. Capcom 2, so putting in a bit of time with that as well.
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On the comics end, too many to list, though I'm lovin' anything Johns touches over at DC, especially Blackest Night. Looking forward to Siege at Marvel, lovin' Remender and Aaron's respective Punisher books there as well. Invincible, Chew, Walking Dead, Deadpool, Blade of the Immortal, Usagi Yojimbo, I could go on forever. I read a lot of comics.
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KS: I've been playing a lot of MW2. A LOT. I'll admit, I might be obsessed. As for older games, Zelda, 1942, Double Dragon, Contra, 8-bit Nintendo FTW!
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Comic-wise, I'm a huge fan of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. Best zombie comic out there, period. I also couldn't be more excited that they're making it in to a TV series, it really depends on who they cast as Rick, but I know I'll be there. I'm also a big X-Men fan, so I read pretty much all the X-books, and I'm really enjoying Green Lantern over at DC as well.
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So you guys are back in the studio as we speak. How's that going?
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KS: I'm actually answering these questions between studio sessions. Recording is going great, and we hope this album excites our fanbase in a new way while at the same time reaching the rest of the world who doesn't know about us yet. If you like the direction that the new songs, like RING CAPACITY and GOING HOME were taking, you'll love the album. We're looking at mid-March release.
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Open mic. Do you have anything else outside of the band to plug, anything else you want us to know? This is Kirby Krackle’s chance to be heard. Let us have it.
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JD: The only thing I have to plug is the Emerald City ComiCon, the comic book & pop culture convention I run in Seattle coming up March 13-14, 2010 - KK will be there manning a table as well as performing and the show will have a bevy of cool comic guys, media guests and more.
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KS: If you like our songs I also have another few releases I've put out in the past year on iTunes. My solo album is called "Songs From The Orange Room" and a short lived project called COLLIDER (self-titled) is on there as well. Personally, I can't wait for the 2010 con season and the awesomeness we both feel it's gonna bring. See you out there!
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You absolutely will guys. You absolutely will…
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Infinite thanks to Jim Demonakos and Kyle Stevens for taking the time, and keep an eye out for their upcoming album titled ‘E for Everyone’. After hearing a little snippet of it, I can say that it's going to be just as killer as their first. For more information on this next set, check in with Kirby Krackle at their website, or check back here at Coffeecola for the announcement.
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Apologies for the lack of timely updates lately.
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Since Mass Effect 2 came out, I've been burning the midnight oil to get it done in a decent amount of time... had to put a few things on hold and reshuffle priorities for the last week or so, but I completed the game tonight and will be getting my schedule back on track starting tomorrow.
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Working on the review as we speak, but I will say that the second “half” of the adventure plays a hell of a lot stronger than the first. The end sequence is especially gripping, and finally brought back a lot of the emotional tension that I felt was missing from much of the game. It doesn't change the fact that I still feel as though the developers made a lot of WTF alterations to the game design, but it was very heartening to see that the team got their act together and delivered a real showstopper to close things out.
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The Mass Effect magic isn't gone, the devs just take more than their sweet time getting around to it, and make the player work a little harder to find it.
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