It figure my site would go down this week, because it’s release week! Sword & Sorceress 26, which includes my story The Girl Who Folded Dragons was released this Wednesday – it’s currently available at Amazon(hardcopy AND on the Kindle) and at Barnes & Noble! And last week my (very first!) interview went up on Jonathan Moeller’s website. It’s been an exciting/busy week!

I’ve managed to push through the soggy middle of my NaNo, at least I hope I’m on the other side of the worst of it, and have reached 32k! Skyward Sword is coming out this Sunday, and for the moment all is well. So I will leave you with this awesome video from the Zelda Symphony.

32450 / 50000 words. 65% done!

See that? On Friday the issue of Writer’s Digest that had my entry for the Your Story #31 contest arrived, and yesterday the check for The Girl Who Folded Dragons arrived. Big writer goal posts there. :D

Anyway, E3 – The Electronic Entertainment Expo. There’s actually not a lot I’m looking for this year – all things Legend of Zelda, of course. Fingers crossed for news about Pikmen 3, and of course Project Cafe. I feel like I’m not as up on my gaming news as I should be – there’s only a couple of games I know are going to be there – outside of Nintendo I’m looking for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, aaaaand…. huh. I guess I’m walking into this one with an open mind.

On my wishlist? Final Fantasy XIII-2 on the 360(I’d buy it), more Phoenix Wright and/or Ghost Trick, an Okamiden sequel, Fable 4(shush – Fable 3 wasn’t that bad), a new New Super Mario Bros for the 3/DS, Beyond Good & Evil 2, and a sequel to 2008′s Prince of Persia. I’m looking forward to seeing what Platinum Games and 5th Cell are up to. tri-Ace too – I’m always on the lookout for a good jrpg. On the most wishful end of the wishlist – a sequel to Skies of Arcadia and a proper Banjo-Kazooie 3. A girl can dream.

I’m kind of interested to see what Sony is going to do to try to recover from the recent PSN outage, and how Microsoft is going to react to Project Cafe. There’s also a bunch of games I’m just keeping an academic eye on. I’ll be posting anything that catches my eye on my tumblr.

Exhibit A

The House that Miyamoto Built knows how to play us like harp strings.

The Game Developers Conference was this week. Somehow I managed to miss that fact until yesterday – certainly examples all the nifty news that’s been coming out. I’ve been tossing around ideas for in depth examinations of video games, but this week I think I’m just going to go down the newsbits that caught my eye.

First off – there are new screenshots of the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time. The game was looking pretty terrible for awhile there, but these are lovely.

Speaking of the Legend of Zelda – The new Skyward Sword trailer is looking pretty intriguing. I engaged in some wild guessing over it at my livejournal.

Netflix on the 3DS – in theory I LOVE IT. In practice? We shall see.

Beyond Good and Evil was released on XBLA this week. I have it on Gamecube, but I’m tempted to get this version for the Achievements. And so I don’t have to use a wired controller. >_>

The english trailer for Catherine. The most whacked out game I’ve seen in awhile. I am looking forward to the Let’s Plays.

Lastly, gameplay footage for Ms. Splosion Man came out this week. Initially I was looking forward to this game, but after the seeing that footage I feel disgusted. The character’s sound bites are so cliche and off putting – a caricature of vapid ‘girl’ that offends me on a deep level. “Who left the toilet seat up?” “Do I look fat in this?” REALLY?! And I imagine those statements are going to get real inane real fast, repeated as often as they where in the example footage. Dear Twisted Pixel – this is one sale you have lost.

It was a really good year for movies. Going down my list of movies I find that they mostly fall into two categories – really great, and really awful. Paring the list down to five was truly difficult.
Top Five Movies I’ve
1. Tangled & Megamind & Inception – It’s my blog, I can have a three-way tie if I want to! But seriously, all three of these are fabulous movies. I couldn’t choose between them if I tried.
2. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – it’s an epic movie, and I’m not using that word lightly. It feels as natural to me as breathing, and portrays an accurate, if sometimes unflattering, picture of my generation.
3. Eclipse – When ever Edward and Bella weren’t on the screen it was a really awesome movie. When they were it was a fun movie to mock. Win-win.
4. Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva – This gem of a movie is a first rate adaptation of the games it is based on, staying true to the tone and intelligence with getting bogged down. It’s crazy-awesome climax is what lands it on my list.
5. Hamlet – One part Shakespeare, two parts David Tennant and Patrick Stewart – the Royal Shakespeare Company’s performance is one that has stuck in my head.

Hey lookit that, I failed once again to watch enough television to put together a Top Five list. Maybe next year? I do have a lot of shows to catch up with.
Top Five Anime I’ve Seen
1. Spice and Wolf – Based solely off the character designs I went in expecting something action based and fanservicey. What I found was cheerful characters, easygoing pace, a dark plot, and a world rich in details. The explainations of economy that the plot revolves around make my inner RPG geek squee.
2. House of Five Leaves – With a unique style and somber, intricate storytelling, it won my heart with it’s unlikely hero and the mysterious man who draws him into a kidnapping ring.
3. Soul Eater – a series brimming with visual style and colorful characters, and has the heart to match.
4. Emma : A Victorian Romance – a highly detailed period piece and an elegant, touching love story the likes of which are far too rare in anime. Or any medium actually.
5. Escaflowne – Still a classic, still pissed at the ending.

Top Five Games I’ve Played
1. Plants Vs. Zombies – This game? This game ate my brain.
2. Professor Layton and The Curious Village / Professor Layton and The Diabolical Box – these games are made out of brilliance and TEA. Sherlock Holmes combined with James Bond in a top hat. The first game had the better story, but I think the second had better puzzles, or at least a better implementation of those puzzle.
3. Super Scribblenauts – everything Scribblenauts was supposed to be, only better. Review forthcoming.
4. Kirby’s Epic Yarn – Tastes like diabetes. And cotton. Too adorable, and too much fun.
5. Fable 3 – Not as good as it’s predecessors, but still a pretty well written game. Except for the ending. RAWR.

55 books this year. Not bad I guess, but not as many as I hoped to read.
Top Five Books I’ve Read
1. Feed, by Mira Grant – this book changed my life. A thrilling, heartbreaking, terrifying tale. Like zombies? Read it. Don’t like zombies? Read it anyway.
2. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin – With a vivid world and complex characters, fantasy gets turned on it’s head with anime tropes.
3. The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan – Greek mythology, DONE RIGHT. I’m still in shock.
4. The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff – another one of those stories that just stuck in my head and refused to leave.
5. The Queen’s Bastard, by C. E. Murphy – there’s really no way to describe what makes this book great without spoiling it. It starts off slow, but all that world building leads up to an OMGWTF ending.

Now I must return to keeping the dogs calm – the fireworks rile up them and people are out there celebrating up a storm.

I was not the N64 Kid, but I was a N64 Kid. Christmas 1996 is my favorite Christmas memory – the memory by which all other Christmas memories and judged, which is kind of hilarious because I don’t remember much more than the box, sitting shiny and new under the tree – multicolor lights glimmering off it’s innocent grey-and-red box. The world paused, holding it’s breath as the hands of my destiny swung inextricably towards Gamer.

That Christmas was one of those turning points you don’t see until you’re well past them, a Cosmic Keystone of my own life; Gaming, reading, writing, drawing – nearly every major facet of my life hinges somehow on that Christmas morning and it’s hard to deny how that single event has echoed throughout my life. I can’t even begin to imagine what my life would be life if I had never played a Legend of Zelda game…

Despite all the pain and anger that had been bundled up with it over the years, Christmas remains my second favorite[1. After Halloween of course.] holiday, and each Christmas morning when I roll out of bed and first set my eyes on the glittering tree there is still the slight spark of hope of another Christmas like that one. Do you have a fond Christmas memory you would like share?

Seriously far too adorable.

While the graphics are the best part of the game, the gameplay still shines. The controls are easy to pick up on, while the platforming is deceptively simple. Said younger sibling only had to beg for my help once a World to complete the game, while I took on some truly complicated platforming challenges in my quest for 100%. There’s no Game Over, just an incremental loss of the beads collected on that level. I know that feature has gotten a lot of flack from so-called ‘hardcore gamers’, but I found it alleviated some of the frustration over trickier jumping segments. Some of the levels are really long and twisting, especially if you’re going after the hidden treasures. Starting from the beginning every time the control ignored a button press would have resulted in a thrown controller.

The controls were probably the biggest flaw. Well, not the controls themselves but rather the controllers – after about fifteen minutes of play my thumbs would hurt, and at least three levels have a section that requires you to hold down one button and press the jump button with the same thumb. They also seemed a touch unresponsive.

The story is simple, but I found I liked it that way because then it wasn’t distracting me from the addictive gameplay. And there is some depth – it’s only inferred by the cutscenes and left out of dialogue entirely who the ultimate villain is. I suppose I would have liked a little more, but it works out, managing to strike a reasonable balance between younger, newer players, and the old school hardcore crowd. The game is relatively short – I finished it with just short of 100% after fifteen hours, and it’d probably only take me an hour or two more to get those last few fabrics. A focused player might be able to breeze through the game in about seven hours.

I cannot stress how much fun this game was! I give Kirby’s Epic Yarn an A, 4 out of 5 stars, 8/10, or what ever score system is popular these days. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great game for all skill levels and I really had too much fun to care.

Did you know that Postal 2 came out in 2003? 2003! Seven years ago! Nearly TWO Console generations ago! Why are we still talking about it? It was shocking and gross and all that, but the likelihood anyone is still playing it? Very slim in my opinion. And just try and get your hands on a video game that came out in 2003 that wasn’t a mega blockbuster, let alone one actively suppressed. I doubt that game is out there right now, rampantly corrupting the youth or whatever. And even if some teen got their hands on a copy of it, why would they ever play it when they could be playing Gears of War or Call of Duty?

Speaking of more mainstream titles – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, of the infamous ‘Hot Coffee’ mod, came out in 2004. Once again a previous generation of consoles. Why are we still talking about it outside of historical context? The most recent entry in the series came out in 2008.

Yes, it is important to acknowledge and talk about these controversies, as they have shaped the video game industry into what it is today, but really we need to stop taking about these things like they are current events. Postal 2, Grand Theft Auto, Bully – these are outdated. It’s like we’re still getting our knickers in a twist over Doom! Let us at least focus on more current controversial video games in our discussions of the topic, like Bioshock, Call of Duty, and Six Days in Fallujah.

I suppose what I’m saying is that we need to keep the real dragons in sight, and that everyone on both sides of the arguments needs to stop tilting at windmills. Video games are just going through the same growing pains that Rock ‘n Roll, Comic Books, and the telephone went through. Some dragons need to be tamed, others need to be vanquished, but in either case spinning our wheels in the mud like this probably isn’t helping.

For more intelligent discussions of controversial video games and all that, I recommend Extra Credits over at The Escapist(<3) and The Gamer Overthinker. Because they are more awesome then me.

Yeah, I shelled out for the Limited Edition. It's shiny.

Visually it’s beautiful. The Fable series has always flirted with uncanny valley in it’s character designs, but for one I think they got something, and the locations are rich in detail. I just wish the game was giving me more opportunity to explore them, like Fable 2 did. Speaking of locations, I really miss the locals from Fable 2 – I had been looking forward to see what happened to Bloodstone, Westcliff, and the Spire, and so far there has been not a peep about them. I feel like there is a lot missing from Fable 3, and lots of unanswered questions – why didn’t the Hero of Bowerstone reel in Reaver[2. Assuming the 'Good' outcome is canon, which so far it seems to be]? What happened to Garth, and Hammer? What is Theresa really up to? Because I doubt Xanatos would be content with just playing narrator.

That's quite a Slouch of Villainy you've got going on there Logan.

Writing wise I am very impressed. Mostly. The main story – the revolution is powerful and driving, the characters behind it a rich and colorful cast. My only major complaint is that Logan is a rather wimpy villain. Just who is his other parent, Dastardly Whiplash? So far all he’s done is twirl his mustache while being a dick. Either he’s under mind control and being very obvious about it, or he’s intentionally trying to start a revolution, which would undermine a lot of what the game is trying to get across about the cost of such an upheaval. In either case the game needed a scene, or just a hint, to set up that he hadn’t always been such a cold jerk. In some respects Lucien was a much better villain – while the game could have set him up better, if you take the extra steps you get treated to portrait of a man descending into insanity. The ultimate lesson seems to be that if you live in Albion, don’t give your son an L name.

As for the gameplay – the combat is nice and fluid, and I enjoy that they’ve finally balanced the weapons so that rifles and hammers don’t utterly suck to use. The Sancturary is probably one of the best menu screens I’ve ever seen, except for two things – could it have killed them to include the ability to see my items in a list? And just quickly saving is kind of a pain. I don’t understand why they changed how you do Expressions, because they worked beautifully in Fable 2; the whole befriending process has become a tedious chore. And I think the whole Road to Rule idea was a complete misstep, robbing me of that customizable control over my character’s growth that was so core to the first two games. I recall the developers talking about how they wanted to move away from RPG elements, but the Road to Rule is a huge step back towards the tradition RPG mold. The only feature of the Road to Rule that I really enjoy is the plinths marking my Hero’s progress and growth.

All in all, there’s some awesome stuff and some disappointing stuff. I still love it to pieces, which is why I’m going to be so hard on its faults. Now I need to get back to writing so I can finish this NaNoWriMo thing and get back to the business of saving Albion.

…Oh, and can I mention how much I love that they fixed the female character model? Being forced to play Brawn Hilda if you wanted any sort of combat ability in Fable 2 was really annoying.

I’m a late comer to the Fable series, picking up Fable : The Lost Chapters in early 2009. It was buggy, and crashed every fifteen minutes or so, but I was utterly charmed. I’m a big fan of traditional stories – in my opinion something doesn’t have to be New or Different, as long as it’s Good. The story of Fable is a Traditional Video Game Fantasy played so straight that it parodies itself. On purpose. It had an acerbic wit, beautiful style, delightfulness smooth controls, and the self-consciousness that fuels the best Fantasy humor. At least one of the writers has a well-loved copy of The Tough Guide To Fairyland on their shelves.

It had problems. Occasionally the story was played too straight, and of course the aforementioned bugs – Fable truly honed my instinct to Save. Probably what hurt it the most was the frightfully high bar Peter Molyneux set, and a lack of the basic understanding of tropes among gamers.

My Fable 2 Hero and her dog

Where Fable charmed me enough that I barely noticed the glitches, Fable 2 wowed me into putting the Fable series on the shelf next to my Legend of Zelda and Prince of Persia games. The writing, the graphics, and the game play had all improved greatly, though there was quite a learning curve between the games, and what was up with the female character model? The biggest thing, of course, was the dog – it feels like such a natural game mechanic it shocks me that there haven’t been more canine companions in video games!

Fable 2 was not without it’s annoying bugs either. I haven’t had the game crash on me, but it actually felt like it had more bugs then the first game. And because there are so many bugs sometimes it’s hard to tell if something was a bug, or intentional – I went half the game before I realized that it was the gargoyles that were talking to me, and not some glitch! Story-wise it was far too easy to get caught up in sidequests, and even with the quick travel system it became tedious to get some places – Wraithmarsh in particular is a pain to cross.

Though many dislike it, I’m particularly fond of the ending. From a writer’s standpoint it’s brilliant – Lucien is not a fighter, he’s a monologuing mastermind, and not in any position to fight. If you don’t action yourself it is perfectly within Reaver’s character to do what he did. (Is it just me, or did they have way too much fun with Reaver?)

I suppose I didn’t really realize how much I loved the series until I found myself preordering the limited edition version of Fable 3. Amazon promises today is the day it will arrive. :3 Oh, hey! Was that the mail truck?!

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is one of those games that doesn’t seem like much at first, but then turns out to be darn near perfect. The story reminds me of something that I just put my finger on. The warm coloring and charming aesthetic take me back to golden-washed afternoons, curled up with thin mystery books – The Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Hawk the Cowdog… With a heavy British flavor added. There was one huge, spoilery plot element I saw coming a mile away, but it knowing it hardly ruins the fun. The puzzles are deceptively difficult – they are challenging, but not impossible. Most usually have some trick to them, which is worked into the description and hints.

Therein I discovered something about myself, one of those revelations that makes me sit up and go ‘wow’. As I played the game I started to notice that I’d have an answer for every puzzle reasonably quickly, but then I’d second guess myself and in some cases spend hours struggling with a puzzle. Basically the dyslexia kicked in, jumbling up the wording of the instructions and causing me to doubt the answer I’d come up with, which was usually the right answer.

It’s damn frustrating. I’m not sure how I finished that game without breaking something – probably because I knew it wasn’t a problem with the game, but a problem with me. It seems the more I turn a critical eye to what I read and play the more I come to grasp not only the elements of writing, but elements of myself as well. I didn’t even know that my dyslexia was effecting my reading as strongly as it was until I picked up Carol Berg’s Flesh and Spirit. It doesn’t come up often, so I forget that I do have this problem and that it does affect just about everything I do. It seems to me that instances like this one are good, as they remind me to pay attention to these things, to read carefully when something just doesn’t make sense, and to trust my instincts as well.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a wonderful game, the right mix of challenging and fun. I’m itching to save up to get the next in the series. Oh DS, why must you have so many wonderful games?