Saturday, Jan 3, 2009
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
And next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
--Bruce Cockburn, Lovers in a Dangerous Time
And make no mistake, these are dangerous times we're living in. Economically, things are already pretty bad. There's a good chance you or someone you know has lost his or her job as a result of cutbacks, and things will, according to many people who know a lot more about this stuff than I do, get worse before they get better. I'm very thankful for my job and fully aware that at any point, someone could decide that my company could save a whole lot of money by paying people in Mexico or India or elsewhere to do my job. This is a time for belt-tightening and saving, not for spending.
Beyond our economic woes, long-simmering tensions in other parts of the world are building up to dangerous levels, and it's possible that the human race may blow itself to hell in the relatively near future. Is ths really a time when we should be playing games?
Heck yeah, it is. Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, and being able to relax and enjoy life is absolutely worth having. Here are the things I'm playing in these precarious days.
Prince of Persia--It's beautiful, I'll give it that. The visual design is striking, evoking ancient Persia not as it ever was but as it is in our imaginations. But the gameplay all feels a bit rote to me, and not very engaging. This one may be on the next GameFlight back home.
Fallout 3--I know I said that these are not times for spending, and GameFly seems like a good way to save money and still play the games I want to play, but after a certain point having a game from GameFly must stop being cost-effective. I think I might be reaching that point with Fallout 3. I play it in fits and starts, and I like it well enough, but more often than not there's something I'd rather be playing. Still, I have to play it through to the end. I think it might just be in very small pieces over the course of the coming months.
Lumines Supernova--Ohh, how I love/hate Lumines! Its design is so flawless, so compelling, and I want so badly to be really good at it. But Lumines greatness eludes me. Still, I keep trying. Maybe someday I'll get past the sixth skin in the basic challenge mode.
LittleBigPlanet--When I wrote up my favorite games of 2008, I called this my odd game out, because the perplexing moderation of so many wonderful user-created levels just seemed to fly in the face of the game's good-natured, Fun shall overcome philosophy. But things seem to have recovered nicely, and I still regularly encounter user-created levels that charm, thrill, and genuinely surprise me with their inventiveness.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts--I spent about an hour and a half playing Nuts & Bolts tonight, and my first impressions of the game are extremely positive. It's very funny in a way that both mocks video game conventions in general and the Banjo-Kazooie games in particular. It's gorgeous. And the gameplay is purely, tremendously fun. I haven't yet had to design any of my own vehicles, which is a good thing. The game has an excellent learning curve that lets you use pre-designed vehicles successfully in many early challenges. And the challenges themselves are varied and fun. I'm already hooked and can't wait to collect more jiggies.
Chrono Trigger--I'd never played Chrono Trigger before. I was in college when it hit the SNES and I didn't make much time for games during those four years. It's probably for the best. Without my degree in theater with a minor in English, it's doubtful I'd have the lucrative career in tech support and customer service that I have today. But I'm making up for lost time by playing it now.
Life with PlayStation--Folding molecules for the benefit of humankind. Gee, that planet of ours sure is pretty, isn't it?
Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? Even as things get uncertain and scary, there's still so much to be hopeful for and so much to be thankful for. Play what you love and do what you love, and when things get tough, remember that nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. Or, as the late, great Harvey Milk said, "There is hope for a better world. There is hope for a better tomorrow."
(This is where I would embed this video if I could.)
Happy 2009, everyone!
And next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
--Bruce Cockburn, Lovers in a Dangerous Time
And make no mistake, these are dangerous times we're living in. Economically, things are already pretty bad. There's a good chance you or someone you know has lost his or her job as a result of cutbacks, and things will, according to many people who know a lot more about this stuff than I do, get worse before they get better. I'm very thankful for my job and fully aware that at any point, someone could decide that my company could save a whole lot of money by paying people in Mexico or India or elsewhere to do my job. This is a time for belt-tightening and saving, not for spending.
Beyond our economic woes, long-simmering tensions in other parts of the world are building up to dangerous levels, and it's possible that the human race may blow itself to hell in the relatively near future. Is ths really a time when we should be playing games?
Heck yeah, it is. Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, and being able to relax and enjoy life is absolutely worth having. Here are the things I'm playing in these precarious days.
Prince of Persia--It's beautiful, I'll give it that. The visual design is striking, evoking ancient Persia not as it ever was but as it is in our imaginations. But the gameplay all feels a bit rote to me, and not very engaging. This one may be on the next GameFlight back home.
Fallout 3--I know I said that these are not times for spending, and GameFly seems like a good way to save money and still play the games I want to play, but after a certain point having a game from GameFly must stop being cost-effective. I think I might be reaching that point with Fallout 3. I play it in fits and starts, and I like it well enough, but more often than not there's something I'd rather be playing. Still, I have to play it through to the end. I think it might just be in very small pieces over the course of the coming months.
Lumines Supernova--Ohh, how I love/hate Lumines! Its design is so flawless, so compelling, and I want so badly to be really good at it. But Lumines greatness eludes me. Still, I keep trying. Maybe someday I'll get past the sixth skin in the basic challenge mode.
LittleBigPlanet--When I wrote up my favorite games of 2008, I called this my odd game out, because the perplexing moderation of so many wonderful user-created levels just seemed to fly in the face of the game's good-natured, Fun shall overcome philosophy. But things seem to have recovered nicely, and I still regularly encounter user-created levels that charm, thrill, and genuinely surprise me with their inventiveness.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts--I spent about an hour and a half playing Nuts & Bolts tonight, and my first impressions of the game are extremely positive. It's very funny in a way that both mocks video game conventions in general and the Banjo-Kazooie games in particular. It's gorgeous. And the gameplay is purely, tremendously fun. I haven't yet had to design any of my own vehicles, which is a good thing. The game has an excellent learning curve that lets you use pre-designed vehicles successfully in many early challenges. And the challenges themselves are varied and fun. I'm already hooked and can't wait to collect more jiggies.
Chrono Trigger--I'd never played Chrono Trigger before. I was in college when it hit the SNES and I didn't make much time for games during those four years. It's probably for the best. Without my degree in theater with a minor in English, it's doubtful I'd have the lucrative career in tech support and customer service that I have today. But I'm making up for lost time by playing it now.
Life with PlayStation--Folding molecules for the benefit of humankind. Gee, that planet of ours sure is pretty, isn't it?
Yeah, that's the thing, isn't it? Even as things get uncertain and scary, there's still so much to be hopeful for and so much to be thankful for. Play what you love and do what you love, and when things get tough, remember that nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. Or, as the late, great Harvey Milk said, "There is hope for a better world. There is hope for a better tomorrow."
(This is where I would embed this video if I could.)
Happy 2009, everyone!
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Posted Jan 3, 2009 4:28 am PT
Lumines Supernova is on the PSN Store, isn't it? I may have to end up getting that. And I'll get Prince of Persia eventually. And you're right, it is a tough time on the economy, but not only will we be seeing more gamers cut back on their game purchasing, we may end up seeing less games come out over time as studios cancel more projects, and even see a decline in quality of upcoming games as a result of not enough man power. Dangerous times indeed. 
Posted Jan 3, 2009 5:46 am PT
Certainly Fallout 3 is a good expenditure. I snagged it at Circuit City for $45, played a little over 100 hours, for a nice 45¢/hour ratio. Even full price would be better than 60¢/hour for someone who explores a lot. Considering how many games end up being $4/hour, it's not to shabby.
Posted Jan 3, 2009 6:52 am PT
lol dangerous times indeed.
Posted Jan 3, 2009 12:13 pm PT
[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Posted Jan 3, 2009 4:49 pm PT
(This was in response to a comment by someone who chose to remove their comment. Sorry for any confusion.) I can see how, taken out of context, and viewed in the light of today, it may seem like that's what Harvey Milk is saying. But I don't think that's the case at all. At that time, things were very different. Homosexuality was far more taboo then than it is today. Of course, there are still gay people out there raised to believe that they are sinners bound for hell who ought to be deeply ashamed of who they are, but there is far more acceptance and awareness of homosexuality today than there was even 30 years ago, and it's in no small part because of people like Harvey Milk who dared to be public and make a stand and tell gay people everywhere that who they are is nothing to be ashamed of.
As a transgendered person, I think I have a better perspective on this than the average person might. For the first several years of my awareness of who I really am (when I was still very young), I literally thought that I was the only person in the world who felt this way, and that there was something deeply, tremendously wrong with me. Finally learning that there were other people out there like me was a source of more hope and comfort than I can rightly express. That's what Harvey Milk was for many gay people.
As a transgendered person, I think I have a better perspective on this than the average person might. For the first several years of my awareness of who I really am (when I was still very young), I literally thought that I was the only person in the world who felt this way, and that there was something deeply, tremendously wrong with me. Finally learning that there were other people out there like me was a source of more hope and comfort than I can rightly express. That's what Harvey Milk was for many gay people.
Posted Jan 3, 2009 5:18 pm PT
That was a very beautiful movie. Though I'm not gay I certainly do respect gays and have hope that they will have the same family rights as heterosexual partners. Incidentally I haven't put any time into any videogames the past six months due to school, maybe an hour or two into Little Big Planet. I wait hopefully for that next break.
Posted Jan 3, 2009 5:28 pm PT
You know what they say. All school and no play make 31160618 something something.
Posted Jan 3, 2009 5:37 pm PT
Video games have been a great equalizer, in my opinion. Where else can you go and play with someone of a different ethnicity, location, belief system, economic background, and language than online in a title like WoW or Call of Duty? Dangerous times certainly, but video games are given less credit than they deserve.
Posted Jan 5, 2009 10:02 am PT
Chrono Trigger is certainly a very special gem . Glad you're trying it out now.
My brother got LBP for his girlfriend and told me about the motion control dancing thing. That tickled me a bit and made me want to play it, too. I picked up a couple budget titles yesterday (Assassin's Creed, Top Spin 3) due to staying home a bit more. Wanted to picked up Condemned: Criminal Origins and Condemed 2, but they weren't in stock ($9 ea.!) .
It's always darkest before the dawn, I guess.
My brother got LBP for his girlfriend and told me about the motion control dancing thing. That tickled me a bit and made me want to play it, too. I picked up a couple budget titles yesterday (Assassin's Creed, Top Spin 3) due to staying home a bit more. Wanted to picked up Condemned: Criminal Origins and Condemed 2, but they weren't in stock ($9 ea.!) .
It's always darkest before the dawn, I guess.
Posted Jan 16, 2009 3:39 pm PT
Heh... 
I totally agree with ya on games like Lumines. You love how well they are made and appreciate every high and low it offers your personal gaming experience, yet compared to other elite players who breeze thru challenges with ease, the head scratching continues.
As for the other games and life in general, many thanks for sharing the current adventures and wise words. Even during dire times, small reminders of how good it feels to smile or simply relax is never a bad thing. I wish the best to your 2009 also fellow gamer
I totally agree with ya on games like Lumines. You love how well they are made and appreciate every high and low it offers your personal gaming experience, yet compared to other elite players who breeze thru challenges with ease, the head scratching continues.As for the other games and life in general, many thanks for sharing the current adventures and wise words. Even during dire times, small reminders of how good it feels to smile or simply relax is never a bad thing. I wish the best to your 2009 also fellow gamer
Posted Jan 29, 2009 2:40 pm PT
It is in our darkest times that the light seems all the more beautiful...
Posted Apr 8, 2009 8:33 am PT
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God(!) 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
2 Timothy 3:1-5.
The end might very well be nigh...
2 Timothy 3:1-5.
The end might very well be nigh...
Posted Jun 25, 2009 3:47 pm PT
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