Last week I was one of the speakers at the IGDA Orlando chapter meeting. I had almost missed it due to some… complications. (*ahem*) However, I did get to present my topic in Pecha Kucha presentation form to a captivated audience that consisted mostly of college students.
I am sure I told those students things that night that they will never hear in those game design classes that they SHOULD hear. I’ve grown up as a gamer and because of games such as River City Ransom, Chrono Trigger, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario 64, Rez, Street Fighter II, and even more essentials I have been imbued with a fiery passion for games.
Those games made me fall in love but if I were to meet videogames now, I don’t know if I would have the same feeling. The game industry and its creative talent have taken some very wrong turns that lead me to wonder what the hell they are all trying to do. There are a lot of common trends that really make me angry, and while they are not new to games they certainly have made a bigger presence than they should have. So with that…
Last decade, music games were huge and they haven’t died off yet. When you think of music games, you think of dance pads and plastic toy guitars. WRONG. Instead, you should be thinking about the video game version of a technicolor raveland.
Rez combined an interactive music experience with rail shooter gameplay that looks like something ripped out of Tron after some binge drug use. It was seriously one of the best games to come out last decade and easily one of my favorite games ever. In fact, if Rez were to inspired me to do drugs, it would be a nice mix of LSD and ecstasy followed by a line of cocaine off of the vagina of a dead hooker.
Whatever Rez didn’t get me to do I am positive Child of Eden will accomplish in its stead. Tetsuya Mizuguchi is back at it again with Q? Entertainment to another experience that will be sure to please. Watch out hookers!
During the recent Memorial Day weekend, my brother and I drove up to Georgia to see our folks. For their 27th wedding anniversary, we went camping with their redneck friends(and some obscure relatives) and pursued fun adventures on boats, ATVs, and golf carts outside of civilization.
To finish off the trip, we stayed at the house of a cousin I didn’t event know I had. They had the greatest cat ever, as you can see above.
I typically hate cats. They are the most useless and selfish creatures ever. All they ever do is lick themselves and claw at furniture. Dogs are incredibly superior as you can train them to kill people.
BUT… this cat is awesome. With only three legs, one eye, and no testicles, he(!) could still run around with the best of them. Appropriately named Tripod, he would travel quickly by pushing off his back leg. I tried to get a shot of him running; unfortunately, he was too quick to catch on camera.
Sonic the Hedgehog wishes he was as fast as Tripod.
He’s got a life filled with more misfortune than most people and he still keeps going on! Tripod, we salute you!
Orlando Weekly is doing their annual “Best of Orlando” survey to let Orlandians know what is worth checking out.
Others will tell you how to vote but you should think for yourself. If you can’t think for yourself, then you should listen to me and nobody else. That is how you will live a happy life!
The poll closes on June 16th and you to fill out at least 15 slots for your votes to count. There are a lot of good things to support. Here are he categories you should definitely fill in and the answers you should write:
Under Local Color
Best local big shot: Aaron Haaland from A Comic Shop
Best local blog: www.KentWard.com
Best place to take visitors from out of town: Rocky’s Replay
Best reason to leave Orlando: Hipsters
Best reason to live in Orlando: Geek Culture
Best whatever: Propeller Anime Club
A very masculine looking man holds in his arms the corpse of a fallen foe. Ready to bury him, his young wards ask why he would commit such a compassionate act. The battle-weary successor to ancient assassination art Hokuto Shinken looks off to the distance and says “because this man loved the same woman I loved.”
Tonight at 9pm Eastern standard time is another exciting episode of the Wheldon Smiley Show! Wheldon Smiley, the world’s greatest game show host, will be discussing Anime Festival Orlando and I will be the featured guest of tonight’s show!
What will I be talking about? There is another live action game at AFO this year called Skies of Orlandia that I am a big part of developing and managing. Not only that, I have a couple panels to announce for the convention! Since my panels as of late have been nothing but EXCELLENT you should be excited to hear of what I have cooking!
The show is going to live on the internet so who knows what might happen! The Wheldon Smiley Show can be found here so tune in at 9pm tonight and be captivated!
I wasn’t ever planning to talk much about music on here. Part of the reason is that I do not consider myself to be an expert on the matter, and the other is that I am not incredibly passionate about music as I am other things I talk about. However, there are some musicians I really admire and love listening to. Many of them are now dead and Heavy Metal god Ronnie James Dio has joined with many other legends in his passing yesterday.
Welcome to May! This means that a new, shitty and over-hyped movie will come out every weekend of the Summer “blockbuster” season.
These will make up the majority of my near future hangouts with friends who just can’t come over to watch my excellent collection of martial arts films and anime, nor will they do something manly with me like go bowling or play Final Fight: Double Impact. Seriously guys, I have Super Street Fighter IV; let’s just play that!
Sure, I’ll see these fucking movies. I’ll go see one this weekend. What’s out? Iron Man 2. Wasn’t the last one about a dude who gets kidnapped and MacGyver’s a robot suit to escape and then his evil corporation he didn’t know was evil – surprise, surprise – copies his suit and uses it for evil things and then explosions happen? Okay, good.
I actually haven’t seen a single trailer or read a single article for Iron Man 2. I just know who’s going to be in it because I go to 7-11 and see those cups. So I will build the plot off of that.
What I am about to tell you is exactly what will happen so if you can’t make it to the midnight showing, you won’t miss a thing!
Capcom announced Marvel vs Capcom 3 a couple weeks ago. A list of characters was revealed and then a bunch of internet types started putting together lists of who they think should be in the game. All of them were terrible.
Dear Capcom,
I bought several of your games last week and I love you guys very much. For that reason, I am making this list that needs to be made so you have legitimate input for the production of your game. Please ignore all other lists and pay attention only to mine as it will improve the quality of your final product.
I have some criteria I am using for these lists:
1. These characters have not yet been revealed for Marvel vs Capcom 3
2. They have not appeared as playable in the Marvel vs Capcom franchise
3. Five characters are from each side to keep things even
Alright, that all sounds good. For everyone else, read and learn. I’m going to start off with the Marvel characters that should be in the game because they aren’t as important as Capcom’s. Read the rest of this entry »
I just spent the past weekend at an incredibly relaxing and informative company conference. It gave me a chance to meet brilliant people from all over the nation and it really helped put into perspective where I really stand in the grand scheme of things: in my life, my career, and in the web of connections I have.
I am extremely grateful for all that I have. I have come along way from being nothing to gaining the success I own today. It’s been through hard work and picking the right moments to advance myself that I’ve gotten this far. Not only that, I’ve had great mentors who have guided me and have given great advice.
I’ve learned many life lessons and I just want to thank all those precious people in my life that have done their best to be patient and understanding as I have progressed this far. It’s never been easy with me and some of you have had to put up with a lot. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Read the rest of this entry »
