Now you know that you have a fellow gamer in the same sad state that you are in. I started college up again, and freaking A I always forget how much I hate it when I go on holiday. Then I come back all ready to go and three days in, it all comes back to me, the dead lines, the heinous and horrible professors that request you give them all the time you have, including the time you spend looking for ways to cut back on all other aspects of your life, that they may never let go of your esophagus and choke the breath from your already sleep-deprived, bloodless body.

I'm getting married in this upcoming summer, which will be nice, I'll have someone to play games with again.

Then there's the part of me that's waiting for something to happen with the band. We're recording our third album, and doing a bit more experimental sound with it. Truly spectacular isn't it? that means sooner or later, we can start making a living off of it, especially as we finally got our other two albums up on itunes and other digital music sales sights.

Honestly, life is running smooth, the only thing I've left to do is find a way to honest to goodness stick it up the man's rectum and watch him die. I'm getting a bit jaded with the people of this world who have the means or money to make life better for the people who need it, offer their sincerest sympathy, only to observe as the very person they just expressed empathy for, walks away, all the poorer for stopping to listen to the blow-hart spew hot air all over the place, hoping for, and still needing, help.

Peace and Mercy...

Ty

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P.S. Here's the situation that spawned that little humanitarian moment...I was at a store (which is run solely by my good friend, but owned by a very wealthy business man in L.A....Beverly Hills, multi-millionaire, etc.), when said owner walked in and started talking to my friend (who is putting himself through college, and is on his own and barely able to do both while simultaneously holding down a full time job) and expressed to him how difficult it was for the younger generation to make it in this high demand society. Well, either way, Jake came over a few days ago to play some Smash bros (in preparation of March's release) and told me that the store owner cut his hours, thereby cutting his pay. How can someone go from saying something like "It's so tough for the younger generation to survive with such a demanding world," only to turn around and absolutely skewer the very arguement and "sentiment" by doing to exact opposite that was previously implied?...Just sticks in my craw...

This seems to happen every single time I decide to commit to any single console or try to put money into this life long hobby of mine. Something somewhere, somebody somehow seems to kill the love I have for gaming. Though the antagonist seems to be the same every single time.

As little as seven years ago, if you would have told me that the gaming industry would actually ice its own community of game loving fanatics, I'd have simply told you that the industry wouldn't do that to the people who have supported it for so long.

Now I find myself huddled in a corner weeping over the days when games seemed to be made for the people who played the damn things. Who put their heart into them, who stayed up night after night, forsaking homework, sleep, and social encounters just to get closer to *insert character of your choice here*.

Now look where we are! We have this monster of a Console war, and not a single honest to goodness company doing anything to bring happiness and balance to the place. It's like they're truly wanting the war to continue and I for one am getting fed up with it.

I know, I know. There will always be fanboys and girls, and there will always be those who say they aren't but really are, subversive as they are. I couldn't give a crap about fanboys, they're blind by their own self proclaimed title's very definition. What I'm talking about is when I read something in the gaming world's "news" arena, and I don't see, read, or hear anything answering the question that just about everyone seems to be asking.

(I thank politics for this wonderful question) What are you going to do for me? Not just the fellow common people, but the people who've been your foundation since we were birthed?

I've been contemplating what Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have been doing. And I am still so saddened by the fact that there is not one definitive answer out there. Every once in a while there is a glimpse of hope that the trail blazers have finally discovered a path out of the blizzard, but as soon as the glimpse springs into sight it is enveloped by some outstanding calamity on an "XboxLive is dying indefinitely" scale.

The war continues, one system finally looks to be doing well and then the industry kills their momentum with something ridiculous. Nintendo still hasn't gotten any third party action aside from Zak, but that's not everyone's cup of tea. So what are they to do when they realize that they have created a console for the common people, with naught a single game aside from Mario Galaxy and RE: 4 that have utilized the motion sensing to its fullest potential? I don't know, I don't make decisions for them, but someone better damn well hold a freaking seminar on how to go about using it or developing for it. That way we can have games designed for the medium or games meant for standard classic play (using the Wiimote or whatever other controller they desire) , outside of mini-game derivatives laden with enough crap to float the entire continent of Africa.

Or how about Sony (whom I hated until the PS2 came out, and decided that they had plenty to offer the world of gaming), when they finally released the PSP and haven't done crap with the freaking little thing? I mean come on, how long has it been out, how many games do I have to go through before I finally get that diamond in the rough? And though the PS3 is great, and I love it to death, until they finally get some legit games (minus Drake's Fortune, and a Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), I'm just going to look at it and ask it why I should pay twenty more dollars on a Blu-Ray disc when my DVD player works just fine as is, or wonder why so many of the games that I have for it are so wonderful, but stop short of Final Fantasy VII and X granduer or have yet to compare with what I felt the first time I anihiliated the gods with my good friend Kratos, or seemingly took on the world in MTS: Sons of Liberty. I'm sorry, it just feels like there hasn't been any overly impactful games that have been released.

NOW, for the Xbox 360, the one I don't own and desperately wish I did, because it's where most of those little glimmers of hope seem to be coming from. They're getting the games that seem to only wave to the other consoles as they make their way over to the other side. It's frustrating to see the money I spent on the PS3 and the Wii disperse into nothing, other than dust collecting pieces of hardware, as game preview after game preview seems to get labeled with a 360 next to the title. And even then there's discrepancies...I mean, for crying out loud how does one COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN a system on which half your entire gaming community relies upon for enjoyment, and not even post anything in response to it other than that, "We're sorry, you'll get a free download on Live...WHEN it comes back, though."

Lastly -and highly off point- I am an RPG man myself, and let's just say this, there ain't S*** for any of these consoles! Not one, there's stuff on its way, but I've had to pray for light at the end of the tunnel after every PSP purchase and DS purchase and don't get me started on the genre's bankruptcy on the actual non-mobile consoles. They have so many of them "to be released" or something to that affect, but I shudder at the butchering that the Wii's titles are going to take with the sensor bar, and I'm scared that Sony's going to just stay with Final fantasy and leave all other franchise's in the dust for loyalty's sake. The Xbox, well, I'm just worried that the American Industry's lack of RPGing love, will continue to stifle any beautiful titles being released in its name. (I know, Last Odyssey is coming, but that's one and that's Japanese. and NO Oblivion doesn't count, I'm talking Eternal Sonata).

Peace and Mercy...

I'm done, I just needed to get that off my chest.

So, without the island, that is mainland Japan, I don't know what I'd be doing now, but I do know that it would be dreadfully boring and mundane. Or, I'd be in a nice white padded room swinging away with my "Sword of Truth..." (Terry Goodkind...great books)

From the start, video games and cartoons have played right into my wild imagination; the world's that I'd create when I was younger. The wonder my mind could conjure up, was limitless with its fantastical worlds, impossible odds, and ignorantly blissful outcomes.

Countless sheet-forts later, I emerged, a young man, with a more mature view of the world around me, and a more sophisticated approach to my escape from the world around me...they're called video games, perhaps you've heard of them. In reality, you could say I simply upgraded the play fort, in which I revel. The result, however, is the same, I still bite on a good story and the spectacular special effects that go with it, it is my weakness; it is the tune to which my imagination will dance, every time.

I am consoled within those sweet proverbial forts whenever there is time to allow for a good long stretch of the imagination. Whenever time allots for my mind to run through streets strewn with the dead, dying, and zombified, you'll find me laying waste to the infestation. Whenever a world cries out in need of saving, you'll find me, the un-sung hero, grabbing evil by its horns and beating it back into the hole from whence it came. Where there is a princess in need of rescuing and a kingdom in need of restoring, I'll be there, to traverse pipe and underground system, rain or shine - I'll be there.

Why? Because, if I don't do it, who will? Certainly not the coward, too afraid to enter the portal that would inevitably transport them into a foreign, unfamiliar land and expect the impossible of them.

Then there are the cartoons, how I wish I could draw and animate to that level of brilliance. Even the smallest amount of animation eludes my intellectual grasp. I am a writer at heart; I draw pictures with words, that is as close as I will ever get. But anime touched a nerve, again, that world in which I just can't seem to live. That world where the heroes are tainted with imperfections, and overcome odds of ungodly proportions, yet in the end, they meet the fate for which they were born. They are better for their pushing on when they had nothing left; it plays to a part of the imagination that is (at least I feel), at times, lacking within our American society's writing and literature.

The story of the underdog will always be with us and will always be an easy sell. It plays to the insecurity of humanity and at the same time, it appeals to that part of the imagination that is so beloved of writers. Interesting how it is usually the fundamental and underwritten story of the video game and anime hero. Yet, instead of being average, they are usually grossly underestimated and you can't wait for "your boy" to just wreak havoc upon the opposition for thinking them (you) weak. Why do you think RPGs, Action/adventure games, and even FPS, lately, offer the ability to custom name your character? Cause people know people. They know that deep down, you WANT to be that guy, you long to be the hero that flawlessly walks away and disappears into the mist only to be spoken of in legend. (Or, for some, you want to be that chick that is being fought so desperately for, or, you want to be the chick freaking OWNING EVERYONE...)

Call it what you will, a defiance of reality or a lack of the ability to cope with reality, but I whole-heartedly believe there is something therapeutic about allowing for your mind to slip into something engaging and thought provoking. It lets you step into a world in desperate need of you or in desperate need of a hero, and either you or someone who holds to your ideals takes a stand and rights the wrongs. In other words, does what you'd so desperately love to do for our world.

Granted, there are some pretty mindless and sucky games out there, and there is some crappy as crappy can possibly get animes and cartoons. But the reasons they are slated as thus are because they fail at appealing to what the basic fundamentals of the human complex. (Or they just aren't funny at all...but that's a different topic...eh?)

I don't know, those are just my thoughts on the subject. It's how I think as a writer...it's also how I think as a reader and a gamer and a viewer. I crave the hook that plays on my imagination's desire to do the impossible. The part of my imagination that refused to die throughout the years of growing up and demanded my attention as it grew into a source from which I drew inspiration.

Peace and Mercy,

TR

I just got back from a friend's house and his mom was complaining to him about how he spent too much time on video games. That is actually what birthed this whole blog. It's a sort of memorial to those days when growing up wasn't as hard as it had to be, because I got to lose myself in games, and my family came with me.

I seriously wish I had pictures of the epic battles that transpired between my mother and myself, all for the sake of gaming. And I doubly wish I was able to give her a medalin honor of her daring and most brilliant of devious plans to get all the chores, homework, and compliance she'd ever need out of me...all in the name of video games. I owe her for my upbringing, and she owes the Sega Genesis and the N64 for her platform of tyranny.

All my life, video games have been present. I remember having the Sega Master system, and playing the original R-Type and the original Space Harrier. Those two games shaped how I grew to play games. Meticulously diligent in that I remembered every move the enemies could, would, or did move; I played 'til my fingers were numb and blistered, and greater still, played with a hunger to see it through to the final boss's demise.

By the tender age of 4, I was playing video games in my aunt and uncle's living room. Nothing too spectacular as far as age goes, as most of the gaming world starts around then, but little did she know the monster that would start to grow in hunger as I grew in age.

My dad would play, and I'd watch as he did what I couldn't fathom in R-Type, dying and miraculously obtaining those extra continues out of thin air...a feat until just recently, I was never able to boast. Even still, some of my fondest memories are of playing Contra on the NES with my Uncle Doug or my dad, (I will never tire of that game), or even more, when I first opened up the Sega Genesis for Christmas, and lost all care for anything else I opened that night; I just remember seeing Sonic on the front of the box and thinking, "It will never get better than this..." (...Nostradamus for the Sonic franchise...I blame myself).

Then came the day I went to a video store and asked to rent a game; my mom said sure...and for some weird reason, I thought...this one looks interesting. I brought "ToeJam and Earl" home that day, and everything changed. No longer were games JUST MEANT for me, but I could honestly share hours of fun with friends and family. I didn't have to "share" the game; we got to share the enjoyment. I can't remember how much time we spent on that game, but between my sister, mom dad, and myself, we've beaten that game countless times, but what I remember most, are the moments of discovery and the tear-inducing, side splitting laughter.

With "ToeJam and Earl" making its way into the library after its awesome first impression, my dad got back into gaming again. It wasn't the R-Types and the Space Harriers though; it was the sports games that hooked him this time around. I have two distinct memories of playing with my dad that have been etched into my brain for all eternity. The first is when we brought "Madden '98" home and we both played against each other and I, for the first time in my life, beat him at something. I'd been playing chess against him for years, and I couldn't calculate around his moves, but when it came to games, I had found my niche. The second memory is when I was still in elementary school and my dad was playing his golf game on the Genesis. I wasn't supposed to be awake, but I snuck out and sat on the couch and watched. Instead of him getting mad at me for being awake, he had me join him...I think it was like midnight or something. Around two o'clock in the morning, I scored my first video game eagle, and have been addicted to golf-gamed ever since.

My sister was always right behind me with the video game bug. At times, we'd play co-op with games by way of switching and picking up where the other left off, other times, we'd just race to see who could complete the game first. Either way, there was always fun to be had with games and my family.

If there wasn't two of us playing some form of co-op game, it was Mario Party and the literal hundreds of hours that we logged into that game as a family or Donkey Kong 64 and those INSANELY AWESOME four on four multiplayer battles. Even then, there were times when my mom would sit in wonder as I obsessed over Zelda: OoT, or watching my dad play Banjo-Kazooie and get frustrated as he just did things SO freaking different and inefficient in comparison to how I played, or watching my sister get stuck on something that seemed so blatantly obvious to me. It was always fun to experience it with them. Even now, they just got a Wii and we still do battle on Wii Sports or my dad and I duel each other on Tiger Woods '08.

It truly was something of a wonderful childhood dream come true...and I find myself pining for the "old days" every now and again.

(Though, I must say, growing up wasn't a cake walk by any means, and I still have a ways to go......eeeiiioooowwww).

Looking back, now that I've moved out and am out on my own, I see just how blessed I really was. Blessed beyond many kids' belief with how my family embraced my hobby and love of gaming; that instead of fighting it, they used it as a way to grow closer to me and each other. I only wish it was the same for everyone.

So, I was watching TV last night, enjoying an evening of Family Guy, and suddenly, I was struck by a commercial...

People started setting up a "living room" type of stage or area right in the middle of a very busy place (it looked like an airport to me, but I don't know.) Commercial Video Link - Click- (Watch it if you don't already know what I'm talking about).

o_O

So, at the start, I'm actually assuming it's a Nintendo Wii commercial, airport, LIVING room, people EVERYWHERE...and then, an Xbox 360 pops onto the scene. Now, the first thing that hits me is the fact that IT LOOKS AND FEELS LIKE A WII COMMERCIAL!!! What on earth is Microsoft doing? Are they attempting to gain an audience, currently belonging to the Wii, with this "family-friendly" facade? I'm not against they're trying to reach out and hook another demographic, but one thing's for sure, they failed miserably on this try. That commercial bugged me enough to elicite a blog, and I usually don't pay attention to commercials.

1. First off, it is set in, again, what appears to be an airport. Nintendo has already DONE an airport commercial (Metroid Prime: Corruption's debut commercial anyone?) So, Microsoft is really sucking at the originality part of this commercial/marketing bit.

2. WHY, is a guy parasailing out of the sky NEAR A FREAKING AIRPORT!?!?!?!? Honestly, how dumb do you have to be, to jump out of a plane when planes are flying around everywhere! Now, granted, it's never made clear that it is ACTUALLY an airport, but still... *Edit...ok, so it's not an airport...it just looks like the passagways you see at airports...still...we have a parasailing guy drop an XBOX 360 FROM THE SKY!!!! Cause that's gonna just SLAY the viewers...how?...WHY? It doesn't make sense...

3. Another thing that bugs me is that they're portraying their console as a family-friendly console...Did Microsoft watch a Wii commercial and go "AH-HA, that must be why everyone likes it so much!!! Let's just slap that on there and run with it...maybe it'll catch somebody off guard and they'll buy our hardcore-gamer oriented console, for the family!!!" To which the Execs went "BRILLIANT!!!" (REALLY? ...WOW!)

4. Alright, now why do they have a stupid "Rated 'M' for mature" disclaimer before a commercial that seems to docile and happy? Well, the answer of which will surely seem as stupid as ever, is that when all is said and done, they've got freaking Halo 3, Mass Effect, and Bioshock, on the table. HOW DO THEY JUSTIFY THAT IN THEIR HEADS??? They've got them set up as "casual" family games, and they are the "CREAM-OF-THE-CROP" - hardcore 360 games that all have just recently been released and all with raving praise...but NOT as family friendly games. I doubt I'd sit down with my sister or mom or even my dad for that matter, and play Bioshock...maybe Halo 3, but only my dad would like that one...(WOW!)

5. Ok, so mid-commercial, you see a guy sliding games down a chute of sorts and by the end of the commercial...they go where? You only ultimately see THREE games on the table. Did they hand them out or something? What was the point of having that scene in the commercial? Crap, I mean, all the other RANDOM stuff that they've got going on, they throw a completely pointless part in...They should have just edited that out and called it good.

6. Finally, I'm watching this thing, I rewind it about four times so I can hate on it a little more, and I notice that, at the beginning, the people are attempting to "covertly" sneak the whole living room set up into the masses without apparently being seen...(something that eluded my hate the first few times). Seriously, when you've got a mix of adults and teenagers hastily building something, (and all to a children's choir version of a Poison song), you CAN NOT play it off as a "good natured prank." Which is what it comes off as...and man does it feel annoying.

Those are just a few of the things that I got annoyed at. There are more, and some of those six are a few rolled into one, but either way, I felt that it is a bad spin on what the Wii and Nintendo has already staked as theirs. Now, that isn't to say that I'm against Wii competition, but honestly, Microsoft is full of VERY smart people who get paid to come up with ORIGINAL ideas...this was just pathetic as pathetic gets. I'm sorry...someone either needs to get fired, or docked pay, cause that just sucks. Nothing in the commercial does...even down to the fact that they're selling a VIDEO GAME CONSOLE...at least Wii sticks to the game plan and markets to the people they set out to market to. You don't see them making commercials with people in their basement screaming at the TV cause..."BOOM HEAD SHOT!" (FPS DOUG!!!)

Microsoft has had some rad commercials too...WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!?!

Well, that's it, I threw this together out of frustration, so if it feels a little rushed, I'm sorry...it really just grated on my nerves.

Peace and Mercy,

Ty