Delayed Musical Monday! Prince of Persia 2008

Crap, I forgot. 

Have some music from an underrated game.

VGA post show

first, the trailers:

Now, for the bad.

Those trailers were pretty much the entire show.  Many of the awards were just released together in a montage, many of the talent were shunted off to the side (No, really, Mark Hammill was sitting in a BLEACHER SEAT and wasn't even told his character won! Or that he lost best performance to Stephen Merchant's Wheatley  (Who I do love, but that's besides the point)  Yep, as much as people like the trailers, we were here to see people get awards.  Not major awards in a montage.  (though we did see Legend of Zelda be the first inductee to a game hall of fame)

And, finally, let me make myself clear.  You people who were at the show behaved ABOMINABLY to Hideo Kojima.  Yes, he stumbled over his speech.  May I remind you that English is NOT his first language!He likes the west and by all accounts is a VERY nice man.  So, instead of having some sort of glorified teabagging at the awards, maybe you should have instead given him your patience.

Well, that's it for today.  Did you watch? what did you think?

VGA - pre show

Honestly, I'm a little torn.  On the one hand, Video Games are a legitimate medium and it deserves some awards on it's own merits.  On the other hand, the style of the show perpetrates that scenario that gamers are only mountain dew fueled nerds.  It's... yeah.

If we are going to get awards, they can be a bit more dignified.  I do love the trailers and all, but if they are going to do awards, then they need to focus on the awards and not the silly stunts. 

It is an awkward time for us, games and gamers.  But we need to grow out of this phase, and grow up if we want to be treated respectfully.

Nolan North

My apologies on no post yesterday.  I'm a tad sick and I couldn't think of anything.

As I am still sick, I thought I would pass along this vid:

And talk briefly about Voice Actors.

Voice Actors are often the unsung heroes of video games.  (when I say "Voice Actor" I mean people who's job is to create the voices and that is primarily it)  Say what you will about Nolan North, but he can imitate and manipulate his vice and give emotion.  There are many other voice actors who can do that too.  My personal favorite is Jim Cummings, but we can't forget Tara Strong, Jeff Bennett, John Di Maggio, Tress McNeille, June Foray and many more unsung heroes who give us more then what we could desire/

A consistent actual connection  with a variety of characters,



Let us hope that they eventually get their due.

Golden Sun - Development gag

Golden Sun is a very good, very underrated RPG that was originally released on the GBA

When it was released in the US, it had a commercial... that had nothing to do with the game.

No, really, none of it takes place at an opera house, you don't fight to music, that girl isn't in the game, and that chandelier monster isn't in the game either! (that being said, it is a really well done commercial and is very cool looking)

That changed for the DS sequel.

(just the summon)

Yep, the developers took a cue from the commercial and put it in the game.  And quite well too!

All joking aside, it is a really nice touch.  Good work developers!  You even had the smashed crystal from the commercial in there too!

(my apologies on it being in Japanese. Oh, and, Hi Final Fantasy VI's opera house!)

Character Analysis - Terra (Final Fantasy VI)

Since Final Fantasy VI debuted on the PSN today, I thought I would analyze Terra (spoilers ahead)  I should also note, she's not my favorite character, Cyan is.  But, I'm saving Cyan for my birthday or something. 

Well, Terra is (arguably) the lead character.  And she's half human.  I know she doesn't look like it, but she's half esper. 

This is actually not only critical to the plot but to her personality.  Esper's have great control over magic, but in doing so have very little emotions.  While Terra can feel emotions, if she does so it is at the expense of her magic.  Well, at least initially.  Eventually she finds out that emotional disturbances end up disrupting her magic.  Like making it ceasing to work.


Or turning her into this:

Which is why the Empire put her in a slave crown at the beginning of the game. She has immense power, but she's also very kind and can not work properly when under stress (like in battle). 

So, if she doesn't like battle, why does she fight?

Because she has a reason.  She wants to find out who she is, and she knows the empire doesn't want to share it.  So, she joins up with Locke to find out... plus now that she's free she realized the Empire is in the wrong.  But, she doesn't realize that anything is particularly odd with her, until she uses Magic in front of Edgar. Upon finding out that she is different, she looks to find out what she can do to "fix" her...

But instead, finds out that she can't understand love.  She has no idea what it is, or how she should recognize it.

This search is a key part of her character. To quote her, "I want to know what love is NOW!"   She wants to know how she's different, she wants to know why, she wants to fall in love.

And she does, but in a wonderful twist, it's not with a person...

Not any one person.

Instead, once they fail utterly and Kefka destroys the world, she takes over a small village and takes care of the kids.  It is there she finds love.  Not in one person, but in a village of children that would not have survived if she hadn't stepped in.  And she couldn't use her magic until she realized that she loved her kids and she wanted to protect them.

It is also what allows her to survive after the end too. 


Love motivates many of the characters in Final Fantasy VI.  But, you'll have to play it to find out everyone else's love.  (And don't forget to sleep in inns with Shadow)

This is one of my favorite games, and I really can't do an analysis of Terra well enough.  She's a very confused young woman who, for all intents and purposes, woke up and had no idea who she is.  She spends parts of the game trying to figure it out, only to find out she's not human, and, eventually, does find her purpose.  In her new family in the town, and her friends who traipsed across an entire world to make sure no one would have to go through what she did ever again. 

Musical Monday - Gwyn, Lord of Cinder

I don't play Dark Souls, so I can't comment.  I did promise a friend I would put it up though. 

Enjoy!

Character Design - Kaine

My apologies. When I wrote my gender post a few days ago, I meant only to focus on costume design.  It was my fault it went off topic due to me mentioning personality.

So, I was saving this post but... now's probably a good time to bring her up.

Kaine!(spoilers ahead)

Wait a minute, you may be saying, didn't she say that Kaine was complicated?  Isn't this Character Design? Isn't Complicated is an EMOTIONAL part?  Something in Character Analysis?

Er, no, not really here.  (though I will do a little Character Analysis) 

Kaine is a hermaphrodite.  (Confirmed in Japan, hinted at in the US version)  She identifies as female, but she's got all the parts of both genders.

Which is why she dresses that... You know what? I'm just going to have Weiss explain a bit of it.

She dresses so skimpily BECAUSE she wants to draw attention to how she's a woman.  The Lingerie with nipple slips, the bare back, the high heels (seriously, how does she fight in those heels?)  those are all ways to say "Hey! Look! I'm a woman!"

As for the bandages, in story it's to hide her Shade half, but just looking at her, it creates a bit of dichotomy and a curiosity.  Why should she want to hid half of her body like that?  Was she injured?  And we feel for the woman who may be wielding two very large swords, but may be hurting due to the bandages covering her.   (on a side note, major props for her managing to keep her top and bottom on while fighting.  One stray cut and...)

I know it may be just fanservice, but I appreciate Cavalia for turning the fanservice character into something much more.  Her style of dress gets actually explained and her character is so much more then eyecandy.

Xenoblade

IS FINALLY AND ACTUALLY COMING TO THE US!
Nintendo posted pictures from the game on it's facebook page.
and you can preorder it at gamestop now.  Right now it seems like it's a Gamestop exclusive, but hopefully it will be published in other venues.

So, let's have some music to celebrate!

Why is this game a big deal?

It is - apparently, I haven't played it- a VERY good JRPG.  The metacritic scores are absurdly high, which is impossible in this day and age for a JRPG (my favorite Genre actually) Nintendo of America announced it several years ago, then didn't say a word.  It came out in Japan to brilliant praise, then nothing.

A group called Operation Rainfall started a petition to get it and 2 other respected JRPG's over (Pandora's Tower and The Last Story) and nothing...

except an announcement that all three would be localized for Europe.  This confused many gamers in both Europe and NA.  It is reasonably priced to turn a PAL release to a NA release, it's already in English, all you need to do is switch regions.  (apparently the UK dub is very good so that's not an issue.  Might run into some slight localization problems though. I don't know though)

But with this new release, it shows that the wii is NOT dead, good JRPGs CAN be made, and Nintendo has FINALLY listened to it's fans.

Who else is preordering?

edit: OFFICIAL TRAILER! 


edit 2: Official website and you can pre order either at Gamestop or from Nintendo.com  Personally, I'd go with Nintendo.  That way we may get Last Story and Pandora's Tower over here.  THANK YOU OPERATION RAINFALL!

gender issues in games (part 1 - character design)

Okay, this isn't really going to be a series, just something I talk about when I feel like it.

I think today I'll explain why I'm talking about it.  Read this article first, not the comments.  And now you know why I'm thinking about it.

Gender is.... naturally complicated.  Men are usually the ones making the games (which is something else) so when it comes to character design, women are usually sexualized

While the men are... not.

I know there are unsexualized mature women (Jade from Beyond Good and Evil and Faith from Mirror's Edge for example)  and sexualized men (Tekken's Jin for example)  and, admittedly, Kaine's case is VERY complicated so she's getting her own post later.

But, by and large, this is the general trend.  Which is why women get very frustrated.

For me, at least, either turn down the fanservice on the female characters or turn it up on the males.  It's really frustrating when men are "complicated" and dressed reasonably but women are more "fanservice" and... that's it.  (Yes, I'll know I'll get called on for some characters such as Tifa, but let's just look at the general picture right now.  That is the exception, not the rule.) 

Some fanservice isn't that bad.  Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII has a belly button ring you can see, and that's it.  Othertimes, it's so overboard it may as well be parody, but it gets to be more then annoying when the first female character's show up, and it's a big breasted women wearing nothing but underwear, which has happened alot.  And then personality ends up just being somewhat one dimensional.  Admittedly, early non RPG games (and even some early RPG games) didn't really give anyone a personality so they are excused,  but since technology has developed, this has to change.

Again, nothing against fanservice, when done in moderation.  Girls do wear Midriff bearing shirts (which is why Jade isn't on my sexualized list)  and men do sometimes go around shirtless.... though unless they're exercising or in a naturally hot climate that just makes them look like jerks in my opinion.

Just make design practical (I can see a few small edits that could turn Lara's outfit from fanservice to actual climbing gear.... like extending the pants and shirt so she doesn't risk getting easily cut)   or give it a reason.  (Kaine)  and make the men a bit fanservicey too.  Again, in the realms of practicality.

And please, for the love of Cosmos, give the girls a real, complicated, personality, will ya? 

Then maybe we can look on these designs as something outdated from yesteryear, rather then something we do need to fix now.

So, can I ask a favor?  May I get a list of your top video game characters, one for each category.
1) Sexualized male
2) Sexualized female
3) Unsexualized male
4) Unsexualized female

Thank you for reading this post.  I'll try to tackle other gender issues later, and maybe I'll rewrite this post some day.