Working for You
In an effort to try and create hip content for you cool cats to read, I’m going to force you to take a survey! Let me know what you want to experience on this website. Go ahead and take this survey (it has two questions, you can do it), and help me create a blog you want to visit.
Sorry for the lack of originality, but I’ve been watching too much Arrested Development to be creative. In the meantime, here’s a video of me driving to buy bland DVDs during work. Please to enjoy.
-Zach
Episode 9 of the World 8 podcast is up. You should listen to it.
Listening options:
- Listen to it in this post.
- Download the .mp3 here.
- Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes
- Do what you whatever you want with the RSS feed.
We talked about several games we’re playing, Dragon Quest IX, Crackdown 2, my side quest post, and difficulty in games. It’s long, but full of substance. The topical portion starts at the 55 minute mark.
Listen while you work!
-Zach
Sign of Things to Come
You want a WKIR Freq? You got a WKIR Freq.
I had a lot of fun being a guest on the World 8 podcast, and it has inspired me to think of new ways to muse about the most interactive medium. The episode should be up very soon (it probably is by the time you’re reading this), and I will go into further detail on the morrow.
-Zach
A Plea
Last night I signed up for a free trial of Netflix so I could get Rob & Big Season 3 shipped to my house. I was surprised to see that I was able to stream their online catalog with my trial, so I excitedly opened that Netflix disc that came with my PS3. After I configured all of this madness, I noticed that Sony announced that there will be a software addition to the cross media bar that will make my cumbersome disc even more obsolete. Cool beans.
After giving the Playstation Netflix experience a go last night, I really hope the software solution fixes a few of the problems I currently have with the service. Due to the fact that the current software is running off of a disc, it is very slow; this will undoubtedly be fixed if the speed of my experience isn’t at the mercy of how fast the physical medium can spin. Waiting several seconds to switch menus is infinitely infuriating. I also hope that they completely scrap the current design and adopt something similar to the Xbox 360’s version, because Netflix is butt-crack-ugly (I hope that phrase catches on).
I realize that Microsoft undoubtedly has some death-grip on their moving panel design, but anything would be better than what you see above. It’s awkward to navigate, and I don’t like it. Until I see what the new update has to offer, I will be using my Xbox 360 to service my video needs. I just hope the sound of a jet plane taking off doesn’t distract me from Arrested Development.
-Zach
LIMBO (XBLA) Explained
Disclaimer: There are several, SEVERAL spoilers about the XBLA game LIMBO in this post. Cease to read if you want to play this game.
Before you read the rest of this post, you should go ahead and listen to Cousin and I state what we think happened at the end of LIMBO.
If you’ve beaten this game, and have no idea what the hell just happened, let me put it simply: your character and your little sister(?) are straight up dead. After the credits roll, you see a broken treehouse in the top right corner of the screen. Tilt your eyes down a little bit, and you notice two swarms of flies hovering above the ground. Throughout the game, there are swarms of flies around dead things, so in my mind, flies = dead children. You two clearly fell out of this treehouse. In my mind, this game is one instance of your character (let’s call him Charles from now on) trying to escape Limbo: the place where children without original sin go after they die.
Now that we know our hero is dead, let’s turn our attention to the rest of the game. You awake in a forest, and you just wonder around for a while until you realize you’re in some pretty hostile territory. Giant spiders and bear-traps naturally spur the thought of “DO NOT WANT” in Charles’ head, and he tries to flee this area.
After encountering the other living beings in Limbo, you notice they are other children. I believe that they are other kids in Limbo who have accepted their fate, and have begun to turn savage. I think it’s kind of fun to think that some of the corpses around the area are some of your previous endeavors in Limbo, and this play-through just highlights one more attempt.
The further Charles goes in this area, he begins to uncover some gears and cogs that I believe are creating/powering Limbo. Think of it as if Charles metaphorically “peaked behind the curtain” and he wants to find out more. In Chapter 18, Charles begins to have powerful memories of his sister (on the day they died) that drown out the environment around him. A “head worm” sends Charles back into reality, causing him to lose grasp of this memory.
The ending of this game had me scratching my head for some time. After Charles bursts through the glass (jaw-dropping, in my opinion), he wakes up, and finds his sister. Charles has spent the entire game trying to find his sister. He has to be wondering, “Did she die? Is she in this haunted land?” throughout the entire game. Once he finds her, they share a stare, and the credits role.
I loved every bit of this game. The only part that has me confused is the giant HOTEL sign that makes multiple appearances. Let me know if you have any theories to what that is in the comments.
-Zach
Done With Side Quests
As you may have heard, I’m playing through Dragon Quest IX and having a blast. Brilliant animation, solid gameplay, and presentation that is through the roof make this a fantastic Nintendo DS game. My biggest gripe with it opened my eyes to a new found annoyance I have with certain games. I’m not a fan of side quests anymore.
I have yet to play a side quest in Dragon Quest IX that I liked. So far, they just seem meaningless. Fallout 3 had some great side quests; they were entertaining, and had deep stories that sucked me into some more so than the main story. Dragon Quest IX has me dancing for ladies, gathering herbs, and lubing up a fat dude. As enthralling as those may sound, I want to see a new initiative with side quests: Make the player do them.
In games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption, you are littered with things to do for some extra cash. Problem is, I never need the extra dough because the main missions fatten my wallet more than a wallet-fattener (couldn’t think of anything funny, sorry). Instead of giving me money for doing the story-crucial missions, reward me for playing the useless filler. I think I would find some sick pleasure in driving pedestrians around in my cab in order to afford some fancy new machine gun Little Jacob is packing.
So, developers: Take my nuggets and chew on them. They taste good, and are made with whole grains. Better for your poopy-schmoops!
-Zach
