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I love indie games.  I haven’t played enough of them sadly, but the fact that they have much more freedom and leeway than triple A games makes me extremely happy for them.  They’re able to do what they love without as much politics, and though there are equal amounts of stress and hard work involved, it’s still something they love, or else it’d be pretty hard to crank out anything, finished or not, at all.

With that said, sometimes I cringe at presentations.  I’ve seen some really cool games (indie or otherwise) that just didn’t have the oomph in their debut trailer, and that really hurts, especially when you have a minimal advertising budget and every hit counts.  However, when any presentation is done well, our attentions are immediately piqued regardless of what it is. This is the case with Armello. The level of animation is amazing and gorgeous, and the music is lovely, so much so that even before knowing what the game will be about/how it plays, I’m already enthralled and enchanted by these majestic anthropomorphic animals.  It’s weird, but if I was in a room and I was shown that trailer, and immediately after the developer said, “Pay us right now and we’ll give you the game.  You can’t ask questions though,” I might be tempted to oblige.  Keyword:  Tempted.  The price would have to be right.  I did go find out more about it after seeing the trailer (which a trailer is supposed to do and that’s great! ) and it does sound interesting.  It’s a game that’s being developed currently for ipad tablets, and follows a board game format.  Here’s a link to someone who tried it in person.  Sounds pretty awesome… I might need to give it a go one day.  Here’s hoping it’ll also find it’s way to other platforms in the near future!

The Knife Game and Youtube

I found this very interesting. The knife game itself isn’t new at all. When I was at school, kids would do this with pencils. My brother and sister have tried it before at a young age, but with things that weren’t sharp at all. I found myself agreeing with the youtuber who mentioned that kids are exploratory in general, but now that there’s youtube as a stage, it’s much more of an incentive to post it online. It’s like your fifteen minutes of fame.

At a school I was recently observing at, I overheard a few kids as they were playing the knife game. A girl was doing it with the pointed part of her pencil, and was going pretty fast. After she was halfway through, she stopped and another kid commented, “Wow, that was pretty good. You should try it with a real knife.” To which the girl responded, “Yep! I’ll even record it and post it on youtube.” I hope she didn’t do it, but at the same time, I also agree with some of the other youtubers. When you’re in Junior High, I’d like to think you’re smart enough to know what could hurt you. If you don’t and someone has told you not to, well, then I guess if you succeed, good for you. If not, then I’ll probably just shrug at you.

Dubstep commercials

Music changes everything. It plays with the content’s mood and can strike chords with people depending on how well (or not) the music relates with the images being shown.

With that said, do people really buy things because of the music? I think it definitely plays a huge part. If I hear something that I recognize, it’s much more memorable to me because there’s something my brain can latch onto and associate with the product. Will I necessarily buy it? I’d like to think that it depends on whether I need it, but there are moments in time when I see a billboard with a huge ice cream cone or cold drink on it. What goes through my mind then? “Man, I’d like me one of those right about now,” or nothing… so I think. I’m sure my brain does register it, because hours later, I might think to myself, I feel like having some ice cream. I might not even realize that that idea was actually planted into my brain because of that billboard.

I think music, in this case Dubstep commercials run in similar veins. If a commercial had a song I like (or don’t), then the next time I hear it, it might trigger that product; this can cause me to consider even fleetingly of the product. Or it could be the other way around, I see the product or something close to it, and the song immediately starts playing in my mind, and I might not know why. So I think music and images play hand in hand in affecting what we buy and don’t buy, and we definitely need to be aware of it.

Grammar Police

A few friends and I spoke about grammar and whether texting has changed the culture recently, and then I found this video that Smosh made.  It’s very interesting since it really hones in on the texting or chatting culture, and the different style of language that it has spawned.

Growing up and going to High School when texting was already rampant showed me that kids would speak like this via Aim or texting. I did a few lol’s, brb, lmao, etc, in those days as well, though it was just a phase I went through for about a month; then I just found it annoying whenever I did it.

Regardless of how I typed with my friends though, when it came to writing papers or any type of assignment for school, the teachers were adamant about grammar. There was no exception or else you would get a lower or failing grade. This disciplining, I think, teaches kids to separate the speech with their friends and their education. It’s along the same veins as the way a person speaks to a friend differing from the way a person speaks to an employer. I think the same can be applied to the written word.

Disciplining

I decided to go to a Junior High School for my observations.  During my time there, I observed the interactions between the art teacher and the students specifically to see how to speak to children of this age.  It was a very snarky tone that the teacher used.  I noticed that the teacher joked and never spoke down to the students.  He would humorously poke fun at them, and the students, especially the more rowdy ones would respond well since the teacher joined in on their banter.  When they bluffed, the teacher called them on it, and I think in some ways the kids appreciated the challenge.  It also seemed like the kids enjoyed the teacher acknowledging that they’re playing with him.  Though the students always tested the instructor’s patience, he always maintained a huge sense of authority; there was always a line drawn, and when the student stepped past it, the teacher would change his tone to a more stern voice and tell them to stop.

I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, but there was a humiliation factor to when he disciplined.  One of the boys was passing a note to a girl, and he picked it up and asked what the boy was going to write on it.  When the boy just replied, “I was going to write something!” the teacher took the paper, wrote ‘something,’ and handed it to the girl and said, “There, tell him what’s on the paper.”  In which the girl who received the note, replied, “It says ‘something.’”  This elicits laughter from the class and becomes an ongoing joke throughout the rest of the period.  I thought it was handled well, since the student didn’t seem offended but more embarrassed.  He’ll probably think twice about it next time, so it did work.  I thought it was an interesting method. 

High School Dropout

Found on: 1:35 on.

When someone speaks or dress a certain way, it can tell a lot about their identity, but many times it can also lead to wrong assumptions. In Smosh’s video, it generalizes a kid that dresses and speaks very urban as the “High School Dropout.” I found this a bit odd and it made me think about all those times people have been judged and deemed unintelligent due to their style of speaking and dress.

I know a few people who have either talked and dressed like this when they were younger or still retain this style, and they are very smart people who have gone to specialized high schools or what-not. One of my close friends who used to dress and talk this way saw that people treated him like a thug because of it. People would immediately think that just because he dressed street that he was dumb, or in his case unable to write a brilliant essay in college. This initiated a change in what he was doing so that he could alter this image.

Now that he is dressing more mainstream or some would call it more formal, people don’t believe that he used to embrace that speech or style, and they also generalize about him a lot less, and people don’t question whether he’s dumb or smart. It’s sad and it really goes to show how much the way a person looks matters.

Gurl Gamez

Ahh, girl games. I actually went to that site and tried one of their girl games. The one I tried was a story driven game about an evil sorceress trying to take over the world or something like that, and you’re a girl who needs to stop her. It’s a pretty dire set up, and with that said, the first task I had to do was to find all these stars, spiders, and other little knick knacks within the screen to proceed. So it was basically a ‘find the hidden object’ game, which I lost at because the stars and spiders were just a bit too small for my taste.

I find this extremely weird. It was a game, sure, but it felt like I was doing an activity coloring book where one of the pages asks me to find the hidden objects. It felt like a chore, and it tested my patience. Was this supposed to be fun? I looked at the other games there, and it was all make up or dress up games, sprinkled with some story driven games that probably followed along the lines of the game I played. It makes me feel like it’s telling me that this is what normal girls play. You’re supposed to have fun with make up and playing with your hair. Except I’m not that kind of girl. It’s alienating to me, and I don’t understand the obsession with it on the site.

With that said, games that I normally play don’t always make me feel at home either. An example would be Dead or Alive where the ladies’ boobs bounce excessively from slight movement. Other examples include any game with women dressed scantily with little armor which bugs me. It’s unrealistic and strange that the men are in full body armor, and the women are still alive half naked. If I were in that game, I’d just aim for the space between the lady’s boobs since it’s usually exposed. I’m clearly not the audience, but that doesn’t change the fact that it alienates me like the stereotypical girl games.

So what’s a female gamer supposed to play? In a previous post, I talked about how some guys would bombard a gamer with sexist remarks if they found out the gamer was a girl. So not only are some of the games alienating us, but the people around it are as well, as this video also demonstrates at the beginning.

Though a lot of games are very male oriented, I have played games where the female is attractive, but also has more than just boobs and a great ass. I have no problem with cleavage, etc. Heck, on the opposite end, I don’t mind seeing a hot guy like Nathan Drake or my version of Commander Shepard.  These male game characters are great eye candy, but they also have good character traits.  When it’s JUST boobs and a nice butt though, I feel cheated and look for more depth in character. I think that that’s changing at a fair pace with fun, smart, and strong characters like Bayonetta, Elena from Uncharted, Laura Croft, characters from Xenogears (oldie) and Jade from Beyond Good and Evil (an oldie but a goodie), but I would still love to see a lot more.

Surgeon Simulator 2013

[http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/mw25g7/surgeon-simulator-2013-review]

Medical malpractice on crack. That was what was going through my head as I watched this review. I honestly found it hilarious as I watched everything that can go wrong during this rendition of surgery.

During the video, I kept cringing while laughing.  It’s just so horrible, but this person’s just unresponsive whether you’re cracking their ribs or drilling their head.  There a lack of gore, but it doesn’t lessen the cringe factor for me.  In fact, that makes it even scarier because it feels like I probably can get away with mutilating this person’s body even further, thereby testing how far a player will go with their experimentation.  There is no consequence besides losing, but to get good, you probably have to kill a few cg people, or at least ruin their lives.

I also thought about how hospitals take care of patients. Once you’re knocked out, your well-being is in the surgeon’s hands, who you trust to treat you with care.  With that said, there are still accidents and malpractice that occur, and I felt like this game is a commentary on those moments.  How are you so sure that the surgeon didn’t accidentally cut something and just tried to sew it back together?  You’re not, unless something happens later on that indicates as such.  I feel like the concept of this game made me stop and think about who it is that’s really operating.  It’s bad enough that a person goes through surgery, but it’s even more stressful knowing that you’re drugged and at the mercy of someone else’s hands.  With that said, I’m still for necessary surgery because sometimes the risks are necessary.

This is definitely not a game to be taken seriously, since it’s clearly meant to be darkly humorous. With lots of practice (and killing a lot of patients) the player might get good enough to save a few lives, however it’s still very clunky in control, and as seen in the video, doesn’t seem precise at all.  It’s a PC and mac game so I’m guessing there are keys to each finger and then the mouse directs the hand.  It’s called a simulator, but I don’t see it as such.  It’s more fantastical since taking out so many organs just to get to the one you need to work with in reality, would probably kill the guy/gal.  The goal, though to save people, feels more like how much the player can get away with while still saving the patient.  It’s an experimental game where you test the possibilities and humor yourself with the darker side of cutting someone open or tinkering with their brain.  I see it as a playground where you could just toy with someone’s innards and perhaps, explore the darker side of humanity, something I’m not so eager to dabble in.

Easy and Accessible

Changing a twitter name is a big deal. Suddenly my name is my logo and if I change it, then I can potentially lose followers. When it comes to people who have fans and have a huge following, changing a name can have its consequences. It can promote and it can also decrease your numbers because people might get confused. With that said, it almost seems like we have to depend on this fast track thinking that people won’t take a second chance in finding someone they really want to follow. It seems like Twitterers need to be extremely self proactive in making the experience as easy as possible. This is true for a lot of things, but I wonder if making it easy is necessarily a good thing.

When people get things too easily, I feel like there’s a large critical thinking gap there. I read a lot of young adult sci-fi books and one that struck me was called, “Feed.” Feed details a world where everyone has a chip in their head and they are able to access information with a single thought, so tests, etc. are rendered useless because everyone has knowledge literally at the tips of their fingers. Throughout the book, the reader sees that the narrator, a teen named Tidus, really doesn’t retain information. He mentions in a knowing voice that George Washington was in the Civil War. I’m worried about this, but at the same time, is it that bad that we can gather information so quickly and easily? Does it cut out the need to critically think and piece together information? I really think critical thinking comes from doing, or in this case, actually actively finding the information. In my art ed classes, one of the things stressed is personalization and how if something is personal to you, it is easier to retain. When the journey in finding this information is personal, then the knowledge may stick for longer.

Someone debated with me that it’s good that knowledge is so easy and accessible. It allows people who don’t have the opportunity or money, to learn (ie. cheap tablets that have the complete volumes of encyclopedias or other apps) He also said in regards to the George Washington scenario, that when you have five out of ten people who don’t know, those five probably still won’t know the answer by the end of the day. However, with knowledge so close and easy to get, at that moment, all ten people would know because it’s already there. But I guess I’m thinking, what’s the use if you’re not going to remember it? Or is that worthless information if there’s no need to remember it?

Another question is, does it make us easier to control with information so easy to get? It was briefly mentioned in the book that corporations have taken control of education, creating a certain type of learning and bombarding anyone with a chip with advertisements according to their interests. (the majority of the people have chips in this book) According to this book, when people don’t think and just click to find information, they become mindless lambs just fulfilling their desires while living up to the business standards. There’s no questioning involved at all, and I feel like if there’s no questioning, then our brain, a muscle, wouldn’t get it’s share of exercise, and will just become this thing that doesn’t really need to work. With that said, I think that’s where we’re headed, and I hope that this book is just a grim warning and not a prediction of any kind. I hope that there will be curious people that question no matter what.

Epic Rap: Adam vs. Eve

Firstly I want to say that I love Epic Rap Battles of History. They use historical/relevant characters (fictional characters included) in our culture, and write rap battles for them. Some raps that have been produced are Cleopatra vs. Marilyn Monroe, Ghandi vs. Martin Luther King Jr., and Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris.

When I saw the Adam and Eve battle, I had mixed feelings though. I felt that Eve’s verses didn’t do her justice. From the video, the creators’ truths are based on popular stereotypes of men and women (i.e. The mention of fantasy leagues, women working while men play, mood swings, etc.) The casting was also interesting to me as Eve is played by a very attractive barbie-like girl, while Adam is portrayed as an average joe. It plays on the assumption that women on popular media need to be beautiful, thereby epitomizing the beauty of Eve/women. Adam on the other hand, is somehow acceptable even though he doesn’t have washboard abs or the most amazing body.

Though she’s a tough cookie who will stand her ground, Eve still feels like she came up short since none of her verses had the hard hits that Adam’s had for his second verse. I wonder if that’s just the lack of sexual comebacks women may have against men as the verses descended into more sexual jabs, or if it’s just a short coming on the men and women behind the writing.

On a more personal note, while I was observing children at an elementary school I passed by a group of third graders quoting an Epic Rap Battle between Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking. This was released a year ago and so is a bit dated. It’s not “kid-friendly,” but it has its educational merits considering the children may decide to look up who these people are. With Adam/Eve however, I’m not sure how much these stereotypes will shape the child in how they think of females and males. I don’t think they’ll get all of the dirty jokes, but will they start to think all women clean, do laundry, etc, and will they judge a woman’s behavior during their menstrual cycle even before they fully understand it? I’m sure these third graders have already seen this video. They post new ones every two weeks and if the children venture into youtube often, then they’ll definitely have caught this. I’m curious about their thoughts of it, and what conclusions they will draw from this.