Quick Update

Jun01
by on June 1, 2014 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Comics

I apologize for the slow-down in recent months. A lot has gone on behind the scenes this year, and the ramp up for the summer shows – while wondering if I will even be able to attend them – has been an interesting challenge

I wanted to let everyone know that I will be making some adjustments to the site in the coming months.  I mentioned in my late January entry that I wanted to make the site more topical, and I think the thumb drive failure described in that post was the perfect catalyst.  Going forward, I want the site to have more of a “news site” structure. I’ll still post regular entries; I’m just breaking away from the ComicPress format.

So if you see some wonky structuring on the site, know that I’m working to make it a better place for gaming related news and information.  I think you’ll find it to be a better resource when I am finished.

Thanks for reading!

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The Psychology of Wrestling

Feb10
by on February 10, 2014 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Comics

I’ve been playing a LOT of wrestling revolution on my Ouya recently, it reminds me of an old story about an old wrestler trying to teach the craft to a new, younger guy.

The story goes some thing like this:

A young baby-face wrestler approaches an old heel in the locker room to talk about their match that night.  At one point, the young wrestler comments that he would like to get the heel outside of the ring, and would like to come over the top ropes onto the the heel from the ring.

“Why would you want to do that,” the heel asks.  “You could get hurt.”

The young face says, “because it would be a good spot!’

“Yeah,” the heel replies, “for about 3 seconds.  Then what?  Why would you be doing it, and where do you go from there?”  The heel then talks to the face a little longer, and they decide that they’ll do it, but in a way that tells a story.

When the match starts, they circle around each other for a moment, and begin a tie-up.  The face is clearly stronger than the heel, so the face throws the heel into the ropes and sets up to clobber the heel when he comes back.  Instead of coming back, though, the heel grabs the ropes and slides out of the ring.  He then taps one finger to his head while looking at the baby-face to say, “I’m smarter than you.”  The crowd gets frustrated.

After a moment, the heel climbs back up the steps and into the ring, complaining to the referee the whole way in.  They then circle each other, tie-up, and work through a couple of holds and reversals.  When the baby-face throws the heel into the ropes to clobber him again, the heel once again grabs the ropes and slides out of the ring.  This time, the heel turns to the crowd while tapping a finger to his head again.  “That guy’s an idiot,” he gloats.  Now the crowd’s getting annoyed.

Once again, the heel slowly returns to the ring and complains to the referee.  The heel continues to taunt the face until they tie up and start trading holds.  The heel works the face into a headlock, and the face pushes him into the ropes, once again trying to set up his big move.  For the third time, the heel grabs the rope and slides out of the ring.  Now, instead of taunting his opponent, he turns and taunts the whole crowd.  “I’m smarter than all of you,” he sneers.

He then turns to taunt the baby-face, just in time to see the baby-face flying over the top ropes at him.

That’s one thing that’s missing in Wrestling Revolution: the Storytelling.  As it plays right now, it’s basically a fighting game.  I would love to see a wrestling game where the object of the game is to put on a good show, and for the performers to learn how to work and audience.

The maker of the game has a follow-up title, “Booking Revolution.”  I’m going to have to give that a try.

What wrestling games would you recommend?

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Short Fiction and Games

Feb03
by on February 3, 2014 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Comics

I was moving some things around in my house recently, and I came across a box of pulp magazines.  It included issues of Analog, Asimov, and Fantasy & Science Fiction from the early 2000s.  These magazines are generally filled with short stories from both famous and up-and-coming authors, and they give the reader the opportunity to experience a variety of writing styles and genres on a regular basis.

To be clear, these probably weren’t technically “pulp magazines” in the strictest sense; apparently those haven’t been published since the 1950s.  This is probably for the best, given that the old style pulp fiction was known for being excessively exploitative and campy. In contrast, the quality of the stories in the modern short sci-fi magazines is generally pretty high.

Looking through these old magazines made me think about the nature of short stories and their place in literature.  Sometimes a great story or idea doesn’t need to be expressed over an entire novel.  When trying to distill a message into its essence, sometimes less is more. Short stories are  also great because they allow the reader to fit the story into the reader’s own time. This allows one to keep reading without necessarily committing to a long story.

I think a large part of my attraction to short stories comes from my experience in the Navy and in a variety of engineering fields.  It seems that a lot of my favorite short science fiction authors were also military men.  Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and L. Sprague De Camp were all military men, but they also had a deep understanding of the technologies and scientific ideas about which they wrote.  They didn’t just write that something happened; they explained how it happened, and showed why understanding how it happened mattered to understanding the story.

I am particularly fond of Heinlein’s short story collections, like Expanded Universe and The Past Through Tomorrow.  I could understand, to some degree, the stress from constant government oversight described in “Blowups Happen.”  At the time that I completed my own service and was re-integrating into the non-military world, I could appreciate the concerns expressed by the couple in “It’s Great to be Back!” And I still weep when I read “Searchlight,” though I won’t say anything more about that one; you’ll have to read it yourself to find out why.

We see short fiction in a variety of mediums.  As a child, I loved watching the Looney Tunes, Terrytoons, and Hanna Barbara shorts.  Today, we see Disney Pixar shorts at the beginning of most full-length Pixar films.  Sometime, as in the case of 9, we see an independently developed short evolve into a full-length film.

I wonder, however, what would be the gaming equivalent to the short story.  Is it the length of the story, the time it takes to complete, or something else that would make it a “short?”

What do you think?

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Thumb Drive Crash

Jan27
by on January 27, 2014 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Comics

At PAX 2009, I took second place in a contest. For placing second, I received:

1) A medal.
2) a $75 gift card, with which I bought the Photoshop Hero Hoodie you see in the picture above.
3) a 1GB USB Business Card sized Thumb Drive.

I’ve used that thumb drive a lot over the last few years.  It contained a lot of images that I have prepared for this blog, and all of the entries that I have been typing up over the years.  It also included future entries, many of which had not yet been posted.

Unfortunately, that thumb drive bit the dust this week.

I don’t tend to write my blog entries linearly.  Instead, I work on a bunch of them simultaneously, and then figure out when the best time would be to role them out.  This has its pros and cons.  On the one hand, I always have a list of entries available to publish on short notice.  On the other hand, a lot of my writing ends up getting tossed because I can’t find a place to make it relevant.

This creates another problem for me, though: for a blog called “Why Games Matter,” I probably should have more topical material included.  I really ought to spend more time focusing on gaming events in the news.  In fact, I’m going to make that a belated resolution for 2014.

***POOF***

And the resolutions entry is now updated.

The good thing is that, while the thumb drive has died, the friendships that spawned from that convention have lasted through the years.  The people that I have met along the way have really changed my life, and I can’t imagine where I would be without them.  Thanks to everyone who has supported me over the years.

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Remastering Old Game Art and Sampling

Jan20
by on January 20, 2014 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Comics

I love watching time-lapse artwork.  A lot can be learned by watching the techniques, tips, and tricks of other artists.  I don’t mean copying their work; I mean learning specific techniques that can help us enhance our own work.  Recently, I had the pleasure of watching a remastering of an old Doom screen.

Here’s another one with an old favorite of mine:

The artist who created those images used a fair amount of samples from other images.  I’ve done a little bit of this in the past, but very selectively.  Generally, if I haven’t taken the photo myself, I avoid using footage from another piece unless I specifically wanted to pay homage to that piece.  For example, when I made the image above for the Shadowfist card game, I wanted to give a viable reasoning behind the Voynich manuscript.

If you get a chance, check out the rest of the videos on that guy’s channel; they’re really cool.  I like the idea of taking the old game sprites and remastering them with a painterly style.

What games would you like to see painted?

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