Street Fighter x Mega Man

I'm a pretty recent convert to the classic Mega Man series outside of the Mega Man Battle Network games  and TV Show back from my youth I wasn't really too involved with Mega Man related things. I did recently start to play the classic Mega Man games and I love them. What sparked my interest into them was one day at the grocery store I picked up Archie Comic's Mega Man which I absolutely love  and is one of two comics the other being Supergirl that I pick up in store or make a priority of reading when they come out. Archie's Mega Man is a great all ages comic that deals  with some pretty heavy stuff. AOL's Comics Alliance calls it the smartest super-hero  comic on stands Chris Sims makes a great case for it.  On the site there is also a nice podcast interview/talk with Ian Flynn the current writer of the Mega Man comic which is worth a listen to. I also read the Mega Man Megamix manga which I also really loved and hope to read the rest of the volumes in the series because it's really great. I'm really excited to play Street Fighter X Mega Man on Monday and I think it's really cool of Capcom to give one of their fans permission to do this.

"Fight! Mega Man! For everlasting peace!"

How to Build a Kaiju-Fighting Giant Robot

Angela Watercutter of Wired highlighted a piece of marketing from  Guillermo Del Toro’s "Pacific Rim". "Pacific Rim is an homage to Kaiju the giant monster movies from Japan. Kaiju are part of the Tokusatsu genre which translates into special effects. Popular franchisees from this genre include Kamen Rider,Godzilla and Super Sentai which is better known to American audiences as its American adaptation "Power Rangers".  I think this is a really cool piece of marketing and I'm excited too see this film. I am found of the Kaiju and Tokusatsu genres. I love the cool visual designs of the monsters as well as the giant robots and the way they look and seeing them animated on the screen.  I enjoy watching Tokusatsu for its visuals and fight choreography.

Are Videogames Art?

On Wired John Maeda wrote an opinion piece in which he argues that video games belong in the Museum of Modern Art. The Museum of Modern Art acquired a number of games to display in a new category. The games the museum acquired for display include Pac-Man,Donkey Kong,SimCity and others.  There are those out there like Roger Ebert that argue that video games aren't art which is a point that I disagree with. Most modern video games provides narrative that immerse the player in a rich story narrative.
Video games require art design and animation which are both artistic elements.
 The Mass Effect series despite the backlash towards the ending is considered an essential and classic piece of Sci-fi like "Star Wars" or "Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy".
The Mass Effect series sets up an expansive world with a variety of planets and a massive amount of lore and background.
As video games evolve the story telling potential and interactivity increases. While gameplay is an important  of any video game I see the game play as more like the cinematography of a movie as well as the vehicle that helps the player interact with the world.    Video games are an interactive art form that transport the players to other worlds and inspire creativity like any other medium.

Really?

Today on Wired I found out that the people behind the LOLcats website will be getting a reality show following them on their day to day. I understand that most "Reality" shows are far from "Reality" and how most of it is manipulated and scripted to some degree but how can a show about people working at a website company be all that exciting.  Is watching office drama you could experience at your own place of employment really all that exciting. Is it just Schadenfreude that people experience  from watching these reality shows. I understand these shows are cheap to make and end up making tier money back and then some. It's just hard to understand what's so entertaining about other people do their normal  or everyday jobs with just some added drama. Or maybe I think may get it now is it just like any other show on TV and the people that watch it want to be these characters or have a trait these characters posses. I don't know; I shouldn't be surprised but yet I still am at what gets approved to be on TV.

The Myth of So Bad its Good

Recently Wired posted an article discussing the release of a film called Miami Connection about a tae kwon do-themed synth-rock band called Dragon Sound and the group’s 10-fisted battle against an evil Florida empire of cocaine-dealing motorcycle ninjas. What stood out to me from this article was the following  "if a movie entertains us, then it’s good.".  I disagree with this point just because something is entertaining doesn't make it good. I think that the whole "so bad it good" thing is more like a accident you can't look away from because its so mesmerizing. At times there are going to be those much more spectacular crashes on every level that hold your attention compared to something else that is more run of the mill. The purpose of movies is   to entertain but sometimes a movie rises above that and becomes much more and influences culture and more. Of course the idea of good and bad are subjective but I believe that there is a minimum standard that is universal among all.

Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness (Feb 9, 1956)

The Atlantic recently highlighted a video on youtube of a game show from 1956 in which one of the contestants had been a witness to the Lincoln assassination. It's amazing to think that we see a lot of the past as a far off place; when it's actually closer than we think. There are certain events that when spoken about seem so far off, but in relative terms weren't long ago. A comment on this video that really struck me though was the following

 "During Mr. Seymour he crossed paths with people who lived through the George Washington presidency, and

with people who would live through the Barack Obama presidency.

Amazing."

  It is amazing to think that we think we are so far off from the past but the truth is the past isn't all that distant and still effects us today.

However You Choose to Play It

Map of Skyrim

"I’ve almost begun to think of these games like I think of my beloved Skyrim. There is a strong, enjoyable and lengthy core play experience, but there is also a nigh inexhaustible amount of secondary material that you can explore or ignore as you see fit – and I’m not just talking about going back after completing the story to catch ‘em all!"

Z of WIRED reviewed the recently North American released "Pokemon Black/White 2" What caught my eye most about this review was its title which stated that this game is great however you choose to play it.  Z expands on this idea in the quote  above in which he says that like Skyrim the Pokemon games have this vast world for the player to explore and doesn't tell hem how they should play their game. The player is free to play the game how he/she wishes their is no right or wrong way to play;their is a story which the player can go through or put on hold for a while. Each game cartridge may contain the same data sequence but for these and many other games the experience is different for each player. Each player has their own tales of victory and defeat as well as those of secrets/hidden treasures uncovered. The game developers may have crafted a story for the players to go through but the players each craft their own individual stories such as those of self imposed challenges and what they chose to do and not do in the game world.

Artwork of the Unova region from Black 2 and White 2

 

  

The End of Games?

I looked at this piece on The Atlantic in which Ta-Nehisi Coates is responding to the question of whether he still plays D & D or not. I can identity with what he's saying about not having the time or energy to participate in gaming,comic book etc. I still engage in these activities but I don't have a lot of the same passion for them like I once did it seems to have waned a bit as I focus on other endeavors.  Gaming and those other interest still do matter to me and I consider them important and have made great friends because of them,but as time goes on it gets harder to manage everything you'd like to do with what you need to do. Sometimes I feel I spend too much time on games and such and other times I feel that I'd like more time for those activities. Ultimately I'm just trying to find a balance between work & play.


On a different note  indie musician Adam WarRock released a free track titled  "Ta-Nehisi"  
named after Coates a more serious track than the ones he's most talked about. WarRock also included a post talking about his struggle with racial identity.

Cover Battle: GQ Vs Complex

 

Every week mediabistro's FishbowlNY does a weekly cover battle in which they pit two magazine covers against each other and ask the readers which they prefer. While I'm not a fan of Wiz Khalifa I'd be much more likely to pick up Complex rather than GQ due to the cover they've chosen. The Complex cover is just much more visually interesting compared to to the plain white background of the GQ magazine cover which is extensively used and brings nothing new to the table in this iteration.