SpaghettiOh dot com

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert, some famed and worshiped movie critic, recently rebutted a previous rebuttal he’d made years ago about video games, originally rebutting that they “could not be art.” So then this other wildly unknown dood by the name of Clive Barker had something to say about that statement, rebutting that Ebert “thinks you can’t have art if there is that amount of malleability in the narrative.”

Ebert was quick to revise and extend his remarks on his flawed video game statement, most likely to reduce the amount of hatemail he’s probably getting from angry video game nerds all over the universe and YouTube. “What I should have said is that games could not be high art, as I understand it.” Great Job(!) clearing up that statement, guy! You’ve now left your haters with something to scratch their heads about before blasting you with spiteful emails; I mean, of course, pondering on what exactly Ebert’s version of “high” might be.

Love is an extremely confusing concept to me; I always try to think about it scientifically. As I sit here and try to analyze it, I deactivate the very power it grants me with. My pendulum of love constantly sways back and forth, and my emotions play out based on my perception of the reality that I, myself, create.

The Sun doesn’t work this way. It’s unconditional. It’s been pummeling the Earth with it’s life-force rays of light-energy for millions of years, never once asking for anything in return. Show the Sun any kind of emotion or feeling (or lack thereof) and it will still shine bright as ever.

This is my goal. To be like the Sun. It’s my new ideology.

I find it amazing how I have so much trouble just doing the things I want to do. From simple shit like picking up around the house, to the more complicated and intimidating things like finishing projects, big or small. There is always some sort of Resistance that comes in right when you feel the urge or thought to do that thing. It might be that… you’re too tired to do yoga in the morning, and the extra twenty minutes of hanging out under the blankets outweighs the clarity of thought and feel-good attitude you’d have for the rest of the day. Or it might be that you’d rather play video games than to clean the kitchen.

My mother blessed me with a magical grocery bag this past weekend. Its contents? A mint condition Nintendo 64. Accompanying it were of course the cables, an original gray controller with an analog stick still in great shape, Rumble Pak, Controller Pak (memory card), the console Memory Expansion Pak, and a plethora of games.

Happy New Year you silly reader, you! My gift to everyone this year is my new website design (YAY!!!) – gander at it’s 16-Bit’d awesomeness as every plasma cell of fire burns itself into the retinas of your eyes while you watch a glorious 16-Bit D.C. sunset!!!1

Unfortunately, the blog’s received no love until now 🙁 . I’ve been gone for a long time, and I’ve been quite busy. Work, play, the holidays, expansions of consciousness, Mario Kart Wii, Forza 3; they’ve all taken up quite a good portion of the last three months of the latest 365-day cycle that we all willingly, but always questionably, partake in. So in celebration I’ve prepared a small list of treats for you – a late stocking-stuffer if you will – full of cool things I’ve been finding on the internets!

Sooo… the demo for Forza 3 came out yesterday. Have you played it yet? It really hasn’t been that long since Forza 2 didn’t leave my drive for months. Two years, really, at the most, and it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. What I’m getting at is that confusion ensued the excitement of the trailer for this game. I didn’t understand why they’d be releasing the next version so soon.

After doing some research, I’ve come to my own conclusion that it’s either A) a stab a making bank this Christmas season, or B) an attempt to steal some more Gran Turismo fans with yet another awesome racing sim before they have the chance to stick to their brand loyalty with Polyphony. Did I mention that Gran Turismo 5 hasn’t come out yet? Did I mention that it had been pushed back again to Spring 2010? Oh… well, Gran Turismo 5 hasn’t come out yet, and won’t until Spring 2010.

Yes, definitely biased; though, not biased in the way you might think. I, for one, will spill it straight up that I love this game as well as it’s predecessor on the original Xbox. I’m more than positive, however, that there is a plethora of people out there that absolutely loathe this franchise, and are keen to spouting off the creator, Peter Molyneux’s, name like they have beer with him every Friday. For some ungodly reason, they’ve had a horrible experience with either title, or have heard enough about someone else’s horrible experience to never want to play the game and take the stance of being the stubborn shit-head they are and not actually play it for themselves and declare independent thought.

I’m here, today, to be one of those people; a shit-head. You’re going to read a review on this game from a perspective of one that thinks less of Fable II than they might of their ex. For if one in favor of the title were to look past the charm, glamor, and tuxedo that is the game’s reputation by those that worship it, it’s actually quite easy to call the game out on its shortcomings. Because in all honesty, this game needs a lot of work.

Let’s talk about graphics! Those things that make up the reason the video game industry is still around, right? The glimmering shiny display of neatly organized polygons blended with a unique art style that, from things small to tall, look like they came straight out of a fairy-tale book. Take these concepts and mash them all together to form bland and generic templated houses, shops, towns, and wooded areas. What indeed looks absolutely amazing on paper (and it does… see concept artwork below) doesn’t end up looking all that stellar in a video game.

It’s no question that Sony has nearly isolated themselves in the video game industry. Rushing an overpriced console on an anticipative people with absolutely no software to make up for the complete lack of profit on the console was nothing short of a poor business move. The integrated Blu-ray made it a cheap and upgradable DVD player in comparison, but $599 for a new game console was a budget dent very few people braved.

The following text is quoted from a blog at LoveAZombie.com that I wanted to share since it falls in line with what I’ve been writing about lately. I elaborated a little bit to add punctuation etc and to help the text flow better.

OMG I have wanted to write about this for so long!

OK, So… I’ve been taking antidepressants for the last 2½ years, and I must say that I’ve been much happier in the last 5 days of not taking them than I was for that entire length of time being a zombie in this play called Life. I keep a journal, notebook, whatever-the-hell you wanna call it; and in that notebook are countless pages of me yelling at myself to get off the drugs. I finally took my own words of advice.