It was one of my most popular blog posts. 
 
With over 60 replies "To the management of Lincoln Square Cinemas" was a truly epic feat. At least 1/3rd of my friends/"followers" came from that thread, and just right now: I decided to delete the whole thing. I copied the entire thread onto my computer, if any of you are interested in seeing what all the drama was about, just ask and I'll be glad to send it to you.
 
I've been contemplating deleting the blog post for a while now, in fact I've been contemplating going back and deleting a few of my early blogs. Out of that controlled anarchy was the catalyst and inspiration to start typing the "Brain Dumps". 
 
It all started when me and a friend decided to hit the movie theater. Another guy, who I will ironically for the sake of this post name Reggie (PM me if you want to know why that's ironic.) decided to tag along with us. He was new to the area having just moved from Florida, and is currently going to University of Washington. In typical Bellevue fashion we were stooped from seeing the movie, "District 9", because he did not have appropriate ID for this state he was not allowed into the theater. My friend drove Reggie back to his house, grabbed his ID, and drove back to the theater just to watch two attractive women be let into the theater without ID. (We are all clearly in our mid-twenties.)
 
My friend, a self described "comedian/crazy person", and "Super English major", decided to type what I believe was the most epic complaint letter I had ever seen. Greek mythology reference and all, it was clearly a no-holds barred attempt in satire, which purpose was to clearly get the attention of whoever read it. That was it. I was a realist concerning the context and I was entirely skeptical of it accomplishing anything, my purpose of sharing it was simply to share something funny. I was upset with what had happened, but I was more joking about the letter which was the crux of my entire post. 
 
There were a couple things I was not prepared for when I typed it.
The first one was that the blog for a while was the second, to the third thing that appeared on Google after a search for "Lincoln Square Cinemas". From my understanding, real people were actually fired initially at the theater. Was not expecting that to happen.
 
At this point I would like to say I have nothing but good things to now say from the cinema in question. Because of my post they contacted my friend directly. My friend was at first, understandably still frustrated with them, began looking at their responses at a skeptical nature. I reminded him that it was a great thing that the cinema responded, let alone responded with such understanding. From the emails that I read, the people in charge their seem to be pretty damn intelligent and awesome. Satire had won. 
 
But, satire is difficult to translate over the internet. At least that's what I learned. 
One member in particular found umbrage over the post in general. I had absolutely no mind with people disagreeing, but when I used his comment to expand and give more context to the situation, he pounced with a correct theory that keeping courteous from a customer to worker relation was something to pursue. As someone who works retail, I agree. What I didn't agree with was his tone, a consistent stream of simply negative attitude. I didn't understand why someone with a good argument would continue to voice it in the manner of an internet troll. His reasoning, or excuse, as he continued to reply over and over again ad-nauseum, was that it was the same thing that my friend and I engaged with the cinemas. Of course, one could immediately counter that none of the context matched up at all. That the original post was clearly satirical, there was anger but nothing over-the-top aggressive that he in particular portrayed. That he was not providing me a service at all, and that the letter in question never devolved into making a statement like, and I quote: "Fuck all English Majors".
 
It got progressively worse when my friend chimed in. He absolutely enjoyed collapsing his arguments on him with great technicality. It got even worse when other members started to take umbrage with what the troll said. I got a lot of PM's at this time. All supportive, all ragging on the troll. 
But for me: Nothing fun, or interesting was being produced now. 
 
I didn't like it.
 
Eventually it just became a shouting match, any form of argument dissipated. and the troll frustrated just began cursing. Any glimmer of interesting debate evaporated. I ended the discussion between both.  I wanted to blog, but I didn't want people remembering me for inadvertently creating such an aggravating troll topic. Granted, I also didn't want a bunch of people "following" me because I was that guy who told off the movie theater, and told that one guy off who trolled on a blog for over a week.
 
At the time I had just finished going to a trip where I played FFVII on my PSP. I thought it would be interesting for me just to type what was directly on my mind on a given subject. I would do one, and see what would come from it. Several Brain Dumps latter, I can say I am glad with what has transpired. I'm thinking of expanding a bit. I'm curious to know if anyone would be interested in my giving my thoughts on certain videogames soundtracks I own. Yes, I collect and own actual physical game soundtracks.
 
I DO NOT shy away from debate.
Recently I threw in my two cents regarding Infinity Ward's airport shootout. I think it's tasteless, and is there only to attract controversy and compete with other controversial games. That the game has an identity crisis if it's trying to appeal to raw real emotions of a terrible situation that gripes our world, and at the same time be something akin to a Michael Bay movie with America being invaded. I love Modern Warfare, and I appreciate what IW has done for gaming, and I'm probably going to eventually pick up MW2. 
But that doesn't mean I cant personally find fault with things they do.
The debate was for the most part civil and interesting. Disagreements were abound, but aside from one post it never spiraled into name calling. The Giantbomb community is still the best of the best, and my moment of annoyance is not an accurate reflection of the community. 
 
So, cheers. Here's looking for the future.
 

My first positive experience with the community came from a user named  and333.
 
I didn't ask him to make my user avatar, he just did and sent me his version of what I tried to hobble together with a computer devoid of Photoshop at the time. It's interesting stuff like that's kept me here. The last time I was took part of a gaming community was years ago, when I was probably too young to take part. The site in particular actually died, and the community tried to keep together after the sites demise. I'm not exactly sure why I left, I can't really remember. Regardless, I've realized that I missed reading opinions from cool people who know have an understanding of what they are talking about, versus the traditional: "OMGZ y0u sux0r f0r l1king thiz gam3!" which still exists here, but not as apparent as some other sites. There are some awesome writers here, and the fact that this is a site that supports and is focused about user writing, the quality usually for the most part is great.
 
And it has hands down, the best achievement implementation for a web site on the planet.
 
So, consider this a shutout to all the awesome people I know. You know who you are. If not ask, and I will respond, usually by making fun of you.
Because you are a terrible, terrible person.   
 
Let's talk about Sonic.

His name is Sonic, bitch.

 
I was into Sonic as a kid.
Some of my earlier memories was watching both Sonic TV shows that played during the early 90's. It was incentive for me to wake up as a kid and watch an episode before heading out to class. Sonic AM was the best of the two shows, I was incredibly happy that the Nostalgic Critic reviewed the show a while back and showed how excellent it was. (At the same time showing how bat-shit terrible the other show was.) Heck, I'll admit I even read the comics here. There I did it.
 
Sonic was a product of the 90's for sure. His arrogant coolness was akin to what was considered "cool" attitudes at the time. Versus Mario, Sonic actually had personality. He wasn't a blank slate.
 
Watching Sonic age has been, understandably, annoying.
I've heard, and read various reasons over why Sonic has failed. A popular theory is that Sonic is, and has always been for, children. That we have out grown him.
 
So, why do I enjoy Mario: Galaxy?  What makes that game almost timeless in regards to the demographics that enjoy that game?
 
I don't think at this point, Sonic will ever step out of Mario's shadow. For better or worse, the two mascots will be always compared. Sonic's brand recognition alone has allowed him to continue to have games. If you honestly think that Sonic has continued to pump out new games due to their quality, buddy, I got bad news for you.
 
The problem not just resides as Sonic as a character, but who and what Sonic is from a gameplay mechanic standpoint.
 
Let's talk reinvention, but first let's establish my theory.
 

Gameplay mechanic adaptation.

 
It's pretty simple. You might be well aware of it, let's start with Mario 64.
 
An example of gameplay mechanic adaptation deals with Mario himself. Mario had always been about agility, jumping specifically. This was a thematic quality attached to the character. Jumping. When Mario went into the the 3rd dimension he just didn't double jump now. He did back-flips, and he sprang off the tops of trees. Some games didn't need adaptation, but many did but got confused. They either tried to mimic other games, loosing their identity in the process.
 
Taking thematic elements from a character, elements that have been established from a mechanical standpoint, and expanding them, reinterpreting them.
 
Reinterpretation of themes can aid stale gameplay also. Tomb Raider went through a metamorphosis when it switched over to Crystal Dynamics. Crystal took the concepts of Lara's platforming and expanded on them, by literally making her gameplay accommodate the aspect she is a quite literally a gymnastics.
 


We can establish these thematic qualities too! Batman Arkham Asylum made you feel like Batman. How? By making you do what Batman does from a mechanical aspect.
In the end, Sonic needs this an application of this theory. Fresh eyes to look at what Sonic is. Someone other than Sonic Team.
 
Let's apply the theory.

We all know Sonic runs, and that the game should be accommodating to this concept. Not making Sonic into a...slow moving...large....stretchy arm monster... Or...swinging a sword...
So what's my concept of a reenvisioned Sonic game? Well, for me, it all boils down with this picture that was released with the announcement of the ill-fated Sonic game from 2006. Specifically, this concept image:
 


Do you see what I see? It's not Sonic. It's not just the speed. It's his environment.
 
Sonic runs, he needs the landscape to run in. The freedom, to race around at top speeds. Sure, yes, he still needs the obligatory roller-coaster experience you had during the day time levels in Unleashed...But look at that screenshot, do you not see the potential that I see? The concept of an open-world design is an idea I would love to see a new Sonic take part in.
 
I started thinking about this after I saw this clip of the canceled Flash game that was leaked by the dev team.
 
 
Again, keep thinking about the concept of an open-world. I can't be the only one who see's potential here.
 

Personality issues

I thought Bioware did a good job trying to address what passes as plot in a Sonic game. The franchise needs grounding, and focus. We all know Sonic also needs to shed a heft majority of the random critter friends who follow him. Instead of focusing on his uninteresting friends, why don't we focus on Sonic's world and situation, a concept that barely gets any screen time. I would also argue that Sonic, himself needs to grow up with the times, but that's just my opinion, as is this entire post.
 
The reinvention of Sonic is a touchy subject. Everyone knows at this point that something should happen. Sonic Team's idea is to release an HD version of Sonic on XBLA to appease long term fans. This is procrastination, not addressing the issue that they're current featured games are not up to snuff and standards, not by Mario anymore, but our standards of good games in general. There are fans that wish the game would only stay in a 2D form. I don't blame you if you feel this way. The consistent stream of, lack of a better word: failure, is something I haven't seen since Army Men.
 

In conclusion

It's fun to apply the theory to other genres and franchises. Regardless, I think this is a pretty appropriate 1,000 post. I've always enjoyed the concept of Sonic more than Mario, I see a lot of potential wasting away here.
 
(Vidiot's favorite Sonic game is Sonic CD.)

 

 Smörgåsbord ( [ˌsmœrɡɔsˈbuːɖ]) is a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style with multiple dishes of various foods on a table. In Norway it is called koldtbord and in Denmark it is called kolde bord. Smörgåsbord became internationally known as Smorgasbord at the 1939 New York World's Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion's "Three Crowns Restaurant". It is typically a celebratory meal and guests can help themselves from a range of dishes laid out for their choice. In a restaurant, the term refers to a buffet-style table laid out with many small dishes from which, for a fixed amount of money, one is allowed to choose as many as one wishes. 

I know what your thinking, and yes, I am offered buffet style eatery everywhere I go. 
To be fair, I get my service after threatening patrons with a blunt weapon. Perhaps it's different in Sweden. Like a different culture or something. 
 
I tried to type this yesterday. Actually I did type this yesterday, but things didn't work out and the site timed out. 
There were many tears shed, and fictional wars regarding breakfast food was committed.  

Uncharted 2: Or, how to get mortally injured multiple times and survive?!

 I HATE Uncharted 2.
 
Sitting at a ludicrous 97% at MetaCritic, with many of the reviews written weeks in advance before the release of the game, my expectations for Uncharted 2 were high.
 
No, let me rephrase that. I set my expectations at: "I will be disappointing if Jesus does not jump out of the box" level. To my dismay the second coming did not begin when I opened my copy of Uncharted 2, I assumed that the game would break some spectral barrier when I put the game in my console. 
Instead it apparently silently installed, and then booted. 
 
I sat ready to pounce on this game. My critique radar was set a level I haven't set in years, and then in horror, I stared dumbfounded as this game proceeded to laugh at my expectations. As the opening train level continued, it then proceeded to educate me where my expectations should have been set. Then it mocked me more.
Then it took my money and spent it on drugs.
 
Okay, no, that last part wasn't true.
 
Okay, I don't hate Uncharted 2. I want to not like it though. I haven't seen a game like this in a long time, something with unbelievable production values coupled with some of the best pacing and refined gameplay I have ever seen. At first I thought I would complain about the cover system, how Drake sometimes still is a little roll happy and sometimes rolls instead of sticking to a wall. This does not break the game, it's a stupid nitpick. So that doesn't count as a complaint. I was then going to complain how the game used action movie cliches, but it's clearly trying to be an action movie. It's like getting angry at Lost Odyssey for being a Final Fantasy game. The game clearly knows what it's trying to be. It doesn't help me that the game has better writing than a majority of the action films from last summer. 
 
It's the best game I've played in a while. I realized halfway through playing that if I was going to find something to deter my developing opinion that it was a great game, it would be nothing more but a nitpick. I've read other complaints, more specifically how the levels are linear, which sounds more like a description of the game more than a complaint. Linearity in a game?! Say it aint so! Were going to start complaining about level linearity with Uncharted 2? 
Well there goes a few...genres..
 
A lot has been said about the games production values, and yes it's simply the best looking game I've seen in a while. I haven't felt overwhelmed by a games visuals in a long time, this game succeeded in just that.
 
Also, I would like to point out that the game has color. Yes, color. In this day of age, it's great to see a high profile game like this look realistic and have a color palate that ranges more than just gray, black and shit. I also like the anatomically correct looking characters, writing that doesn't have a bunch of cursing mascaraing as a "mature storyline", and a lengthy scenario that has a beginning middle and end.
 
Hand to hand combat is only relegated with two buttons.
 
Ah-HA! Why isn't this game like Street Fighter? No intricate combo's Drake? Wow! This game fails!

Actually the downgrade in combat works wonders in practice and makes more sense than the first game. I thought I wasn't going to break the satire, but I couldn't leave it there. I'll try harder next time, leave you with that statement and incite 50 page flamebait responses.

Brutal Legend- I'm so confused.

 
Where do I start with this game? 
Well for one, the developers have great respect for the subject matter of metal. The game almost oozes with a palpable fondness for it's context and source material. 
It's just too bad that the game doesn't know what it's trying to be from a gameplay standpoint.
 
I'm all for splicing genres, but in Brutal Legend's case it cant seem to find which genre is it's great at. The definition of being a "jack of all trades, master of none" really holds water here so far. 
 
Actually, that's not quite true. Brutal Legend's world has the common theme of being metal, but has a varied landscape. The hand-to-hand action oriented gameplay works just fine, as well as it's stellar presentation. These are all things that Double Fine has proven before it has experience with.
An open-world game, coupled with RTS elements are mechanics that Double Fine hasn't tried yet. They're pretty big mechanics. It's not just something you just jump into, let alone combine on your first try. It's inexperience. The same problem I saw with the first Assassins Creed, in which both games have similar problems regarding the lack of things you can do in the game's many side quests. 
 
But nothing too terrible has come from it yet. I haven't finished the game yet, (it's length seems to be a big problem.) and I'm curious to see where the gameplay goes. I've had a ton of fun with it so far, but it's problems are noticeable. 
 

Machinarium- The adventure game you haven't played but need too.

Along with Axel and Pixel, I saw this game at Pax and walked away greatly impressed. It's still great, and any fan of adventure games should check out this out. The world has a haunting, yet inviting look to it. Anyone who's interested in something different should check out the demo. 
 
So to reiterate:

1. Smörgåsbord
2. Uncharted 2 deserves the praise, even though I don't want to admit it because I have ego issues.
3. Brutal Legend is a confusing game.
4. You are a terrible, terrible person until you check out Machinarium.
5. Smörgåsbord 
   

 So that's it. I'm still knee deep in games. I hope nothing else distracts me. Like Trine finally coming out for PS3 or something. HAH! Yeah, like that will ever happen!

I typed a big blog just to have it get lost by GiantBomb. I'm not happy.

I'm knee deep in both Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend, so of course for today I'm going to write a blog primarily about Halo: ODST.
 
... 
 
 ...I'm not exactly sure how that works. It's been too long since I typed a blog so without further ado:  
 


No matter how much things change, the more they stay the same:
Halo 3 ODST is an expansion done right. Was it necessarily worth the price of a full retail product? Or worth a game commercial mascaraing as a movie trailer? Probably not. At the same time, you can't really argue with Microsoft which is very self aware of the fact that sticking the word "Halo" on something will sell a certain amount. So many times I have played something that claimed to be an "expansion", while being nothing more than a map pack. If ODST was released as a downloadable over Xbox Live, I think that a majority of the fan critical detraction's would be not as...over-the-top. Then again, perhaps Halo has become something so commercially polarizing that no matter what is released with the brand is bound to rile up the masses either way.
 
I'm getting totally sidetracked, back to topic.
My mind began to wander quite a bit while playing ODST. The lone tropper making his way among the steel sky of New Mombasa brought up a feeling of isolation, and more specifically: exploration. This game design brought back memories from a long forgotten past. The purpose of this blog is to isolate the level design philosophy that ODST has, by looking at Bungie's past. 
Then we can do things: Like make wild guess about Halo: Reach, that are all probably wrong, but will make a bit of sense.

The beginning of design.

It's 1993. I'm a kid, and I'm looking through a mail in catalog with Mac Software. While browsing a game catches my eye made by a company called Bungie. It was called " Pathways into Darkness", Bungie's first foray into the first person shooter genre. 
 
A few years latter I would finally play Pathways, and get the crap scarred out of me. (Impressionable dumb kid.)
From a design standpoint it was a product of it's time, and it's platform. It was a first person shooter similar to that of Wolfenstien, in-fact in conversation with gamers latter in life Pathways would always be relegated to "The wolfenstien for the Mac".
 
Wolfenstien 3D, was the Wolfenstien 3D for mac. The game was ported to practically everything. 
 
Instead Pathways had a heavy adventure element associated with it's original design. The player explored by himself a series of long running corridors in a pyramid. He picked up crystals which gave special powers. He even solved puzzles with items.
The player also unraveled the story by talking to dead people.  That alone win's vidiot's seal of awesome.
 
Yup. Strewn about the corridors were hapless dead people who had not survived their predicament (They were Nazi's so no hard feelings). Utilizing a dialog box, players typed akin to a text adventure style to ask the dead people questions. Throw in multiple endings and semi-non-linear gameplay and you have something pretty neat for it's time. 
 
The adventure elements were strong, and perfect at a time where adventure games were strong. 
 
So what should we take from all this? A high emphasis of story and an experimentation of adventure style exploration.The next few games Bungie would make would take the concept of a story driven adventure in another direction.
 

The Marathon Era

 
This is where certain design concepts begin to solidify, more specifically the focus of a "linear, non-linear level" design. 
 
Lost? Don't blame you, I don't exactly know where I am where I type this.
Seriously. Is this my house?
 
While Pathways focused on adventure mechanics, the next series of games Bungie made re-focused on the action. But The Marathon trilogy still did not lose it's sense that the story was equally important. More specifically, an attention to detail to the locations was emphasized. For an era that was more concerned with giving you a maze to collect card-keys, by contrast The Marathon series made you explore alien cathedrals. 
 
It's at this point where things begin to get interesting. (I know, how many paragraphs are we into.) 
 
Here's a map of the Cathedral level to give you a good visual representation of what I'm trying to get at:
 
Notice the lack of a specific beginning or end? Your literally dropped in an area, your goal is to get to a communications terminal but before you do there is a series of things you must do before you can. Your looking at the creation of a game design:
 
The design of a large open level to explore, with various goals to achieve, while picking up various pieces of the game's story via other terminals. 
 
This is concept that is not exclusive to Bungie, but it's a concept that slowly evolved from their games over decades. At the time it was brilliant. The player explored a large open world, finding his objectives in turn. It doesn't work that well for our modern sensibilities. 
 
Without any NAV points to throw up on your map, exploring the levels of Marathon 2 today for the uninitiated can be a frustrating experience. What's interesting is that this solid design was almost thrown away, and the open-world esque design ran into a speed bump of sorts.
 
That speed bump was Halo.
 

From Halo to ODST

The original Halo was conflicted with this design, and no greater example are two levels in the game: The Silent Cartographer and The Library. 
 
The Silent Cartographer was that fun level where your dropped off the back of a pelican and recreate the Omaha beach landing....BUT in the future.
...and now you know...and knowing is half the battle....Or something like that.