I had the luxury of watching E3 on a 52 inch HDTV on G4HD. As such I was able to ditch my laptop, and spent a good 2 hours simultaneously drooling a nursing a pretty big erection during their presentation. Zelda hit first, and boy did it hit the hardest. I was exceptionally excited for it, and at some points I was yelling at my TV at how awesome it looked. Yeah, I know they couldn't hear me, but I yelled all the same!
It had a perfect artstyle, as it seemed like an excellent blend of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. I really disliked how Twilight Princess looked in terms of its color and environment, and I absolutely loved everything about Wind Waker's style, so this was a great combination for me.
The demo of the actual game was weak, but that's to be expected with the huge amount of IR interference, something even Epic Mickey suffered from. But beyond that, the swordplay looked fantastic, the items looked actually fairly unique and interesting, and the general "feel" of the game looked exactly like the Zelda I know and love. I was so psyched that Nintendo had decided to go this direction, as I was worried they were either going to deviate too much or not enough.
Then I went online.
The reactions people were having astonished me. It was bad enough to see Gerstmann acting like a wet blanket over Twitter, but to see people say they hate the artstyle or that the technical difficulties were somehow indicative of the final product astonished me. Twilight Princess' trailer united Nintendo fans all over, and I don't think I ever heard a single word of hate for it. Yet this trailer and demo somehow divided the community in a way I haven't seen since Wind Waker, and this time they're divided on both the graphics and the style. I have even seen posts of people claiming that this game may as well be Twilight Princess with a new coat of paint. Yeah, what?
Perhaps most confusing of all is the fact that SS seems like the very definition of compromise; it's a mix of the new and the old, realistic and cel shaded, innovative and yet classic design. It should be the best of both worlds in every aspect...yet for some people, it may as well have the worst of both worlds.
Where do you stand? Did Nintendo do too much, not enough, both those things, or neither?
Sony, baby! I want to bring you to Hollywood, my man! We're talking the movie star fast track, you know what I'm saying? Of course you do, baby, of course you do!
Listen, S-Dog, I got a pitch I wanna run by you. No pressure, my man, no strings attached! Just let me know what you think, your people will talk with my people while me and you go grab some celebritory appletinis, ha ha!
Alright, so we got this tween comedy in the backburner, right? Something really classy, real contemporary. It's about this loser nobody who has no friends and is the butt of every joke in highschool. You know the type, I'm sure. A real NERD, am I right, haha? Yeah boy, yeah boy! So we got this loser, right, and one day he gets this great idea. He sees the top dog - the most popular and well liked kid in the school - walking along and thinks, "What makes him different? What makes him so cool?!" And then it hits him, like a sack of solid gold bowling balls!
The next day the guy comes in and he's wearing the same clothes as the popular guy and has all the same mannerisms. He eats the same things, talks to the same people, and walks exactly like the popular kid. You see, to the loser, he thinks that by simply copying the other guy he too can be popular.
It was hard scouting for talent for this part - what type of self respecting person would be fine with being portrayed like this? Who wants to play the part of someone who envies the popular kid so much that they shamelessly try to mimic them, entirely missing the point of what made the person popular and well liked in the first place? But after seeing your GDC conference I realized that person is you!
So congrats, S-Dog! Let me be the first to welcome you to Hollywood!
Your's Truly, SirPenguin
P.S. Oh, and want to know how the movie ends? Everyone sees through the loser's pathetic ploy and he's a lot worse off because of it. A real tear jerker!
While looking over today's gaming news stories I came across a particularly hilarious quote from David Jaffe: "Soon, bitch!". He had screamed that in response to when the next Twisted Metal game was coming out. I couldn't help but laugh at the quote, both for its absurdity and because of who said it; Jaffe is known for his rather loose tongue and candid demeanor.
The whole thing got me thinking about how people view popular people in their respective industries. Personally, I've never been interested in any celebrities before. I like movies and TV shows just as much as the next guy, but I'm always the one asking his friends "uh, who is that actor again?" whenever I see someone I think I know. I'm just not that good at keeping track of them all, nor is it really important to me. I also don't think I'll ever understand the people who live off of celebrity gossip rags. I just can't imagine how clinging to the slightest bit of information (which is always taken out of context!) and blowing it out of proportion is entertaining.
This sort of apathy extends to all aspects of entertainment for me...there are very few musicians, movie actors, sports stars, etc. that I'd actually care to meet, and even fewer I'd try to reach out to if I wanted an autograph. I have friends who squeal with delight and barely contained mania when they see a band they like enter the stage. They aren't just excited about the music or the idea of a concert, but rather, they are excited to see the actual people. They jump up and down hoping to make even the slightest bit of eye contact with the lead singer...I even had a friend who once pledged to never take a shower again after she claimed she had been sprayed by the sweat of Steve Tyler.
Crazy, crazy people, letting themselves get all worked up like that. He's just a person, a human just like you or me!
What did you say? Who was the visionary behind Mario and Zelda? Uh, Shiggy Miyamoto of course, are you nuts?! Why do you ask? Wait, is he here? Did you see him? Did you meet him?! DID YOU SHAKE HIS HAND? OH MY GOD TELL ME YOU SHOOK HIS HAND DID YOU DID YOU DID YOU??? DID YOU GET HIS AUTOGRAPH? DO YOU THINK YOU COULD GET HIM TO SIGN MY FACE? IF YOU CAN I WILL JUST DIE AND...AND
...uh, where was I again?
Come to find out, I do actually care about "celebrity personalities" and the like...just not the typical ones that you might expect. I care about the celebrity game industry people. Thankfully, I don't think I'm alone. Just think of all the people who would kill to meet and talk to people such as Tim Schafer and Will Wright and Warren Spector. These are the great minds of our industry, and their visions and projects have been instrumental in shaping the very landscape we see today. And to think I would turn my nose up at celebrity gossip! Our gaming journalists are no better when it comes to these people; the moment one of them says something goofy or does something unexpected, the media is all over them, even if the news itself is stupid or minor.
So thank you, David Jaffe, for showing me that I'm just as much of a rabid fangirl as anyone out there. Now I'm left wondering if I would take a shower after being sprayed with Miyamoto sweat...hmm...perhaps its best not to think about that. 16 Comments
I have no idea how to start this post. None at all. I've written probably 3 or so introductory sentences that I've deleted out of disgust. Curse this prose that flows from my fingers like day old porridge!
So! My name is Joshua. I've used SirPenguin as my online handle for a silly number of years now. I'm a senior at college majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Mathematics. It is my eventual goal in life to work in the gaming industry...hopefully as a designer, but of course programming would be loads of fun as well. I also realize these dreams of mine are highly unoriginal and I'll be competing with literally millions of others that have the same dream. What is a game, if not competition?
I enjoy writing blogs as a hobby. Mostly I start up a blog for a game I am excited for (Scribblenauts being one example, Super Smash Bros. Brawl another) that get moderately popular among a certain crowd. Then I quit literally days before the release of whatever game it is I'm writing about, never to touch that particular blog again. It's a weird hobby of mine, and, let's face it, it's borderline retarded. So I came up with an idea: keep the weird habit of excitedly blogging about games I'm excited for...but don't host it on my own webspace. Instead host it on an established gaming website where people might appreciate such postings, and where suddenly changing subjects because I am bored will not be looked upon as bad. Instead, it'll probably be the norm.
Is GiantBomb such a place? Well...I hope so. At the very least I'm sure we'll enjoy the journey.
Log in to comment