Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Syberia: Incomplete/Ambigious Game Endings


So, I recently finished playing the adventure game Syberia, which in general is a beautiful and moving game with strong characters, decent puzzles and a great sense of intrigue and wonder. However, the ending of the game really bothered me. I don't want to give away the ending, so I will leave out the details, but essential the games ends without completing the arch of the story.

In the end, the main character, Kate Walker, comes to a realization and decides to follow the path the game has been leading her down as opposed to deciding to return back to her old life in New York City. None of the mysteries of the game are revealed, the train continues on it's journey and the player is still wondering where the hell do mammoths and Syberia fit in. How is it that movies and computer games are allowed to be considered complete without good endings?

Even if a game is planning to come out with a sequel, I prefer it to tie up the main arch of the story in the first installment. From the beginning Syberia seemed to promise this trip to Syberia and uncovering some interesting secrets about mammoths, but it the end we are left without answers.

So, what do you all think? Am I just uncomfortable with loose ends and ambiguity or is this an egregious insult to the time the player has spent finishing the game?

Game #19 . . .

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sprite Rewind - Post by 60MintuesTeam

This is totally not worth reading. Stop reading it at any time if you get bored. That being said, here is what I remember on this the 5th anniversary of the summer of 2004. No summer since has been this cool...

The highest I've ever been was the week after the 4th of July 2004. I'm not sure what day it was since I went home every weekend so I missed the 4th in Rockingham County, NC. My housemates shot up illegal fireworks. Someone in the distance shot some up in response. It's as though the whole "neighborhood" was sitting on their porch waiting for something to happen. That's what they did in the county only known for it's NASCAR speedway.
The highest I've ever been was the hookah Toad, Neal, and Jay bought for Mitch on his birthday. I will always remember Toad for his facial scars and redneck dancing prowess. I will always remember Neal as the sensible guy who bought my 5$ piece for 5$ when I left (what's the deal Neal?). I will always remember Jay for his drinking prowess, his semblance to George W. and his asking me: "do you know anyone who needs a piano?" Jay and Mitch were my housemates along with Kate. Jay was an amazing Banjo player. Everyone there had very good taste in music (Death Cab especially.) I remember first hearing about Terrance Mckenna's "Stoned Ape Theory" spoken over some techno. A track, I still to this day can't find anywhere. It was Mitch that I grew closest to. He looked like Josh from Blair Witch Project. He played Super Smash Brothers Melee like a motherfucker. Not quite as good as Martin but just my level expertise. He played high items and only on the big Link level with only one fox comp. He played Mewtwo like a motherfucker. If you think Mewtwo sucked then you haven't met Mitch. Then there was Kate. When I moved in, Mitch basically said "Kate's mine don't fuck with me." I remember once playing as Mr. Game in Watch and doing the bell taunt. Everytime Kate thought the phone was ringing. Kate went to Guilford and apparently had a falling out with Mitch as I saw he during the semester and she was reticent to talk about him.
Back to me being high as fuck... We smoked the shit out of that hookah. Shishah hookahs have nothing on this. If you get all for people smoking the hookah, the smoke builds up and moves 4 times as fast. We were in the attic which resembelled a log cabin. The central part of the house was 100 years old. ( Ghosts!) In all my years of pot smoking that was the highest I ever got. After Mitch showed me his knife collection, I had trouble walking down the steep ladder/stairs into the kitchen. I remember sitting down in the swing seat and watching the others shoot of the fireworks. I remember starting to hear math equations. It was indescribable, the largest bugs I've ever seen were making regular cricket noises, causing the repetition in my mind punctuated by explosions in the sky.
They grew grapes on a lattice there. Once I asked jokingly if they made wine. No one seemed to get the joke but me. They also grew a field of Marijuana other than the plant growing in the back garden. As per the rules, they never showed me the field they were growing on the back 13 acres of woods they had behind the house. When I left, they told me to come back in November to smoke the harvest. The song "Walk on The Ocean" by Toad the Wet Sprocket comes to mind...
We smoked schwag every day and night. This is why I don't remember this expierience very well. The pot was free. We smoked it out of their nice ass bubbler which I never quite got the hang of. I acted like I was a veteran and told Toad I had only been smoking 6 months. They replied, "we have been smoking every day for 5 years." I have since learned not to lie so much. The pot they bought was some corporate shit supplied by their dealer, a skinhead. I almost went over there once but they told me I had to Heil Hitler 3 times before entering his house. I believed them and didn't go.
This is going on way too long. I'm kinda drunk and I always get kinda reminiscent this time of year. As far as I'm concerned this may have never happened. My memory is fucking shot, probably because in part of this summer.
I've thought about going back, but who knows if they're still there. Mitch and Jay moved from a trailer to get there. Who's to say they didn't move on up?
In conclusion, only smoke pot when you're in an awesome environment or something cool is about to happen. Do not sit and smoke and watch Bill and Ted. Sometimes, it's best to not know what you're missing.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Halloween Playlist Suggestions

Justin, here are some Halloween Playlist suggestions for your consideration:



The regular video for this is BA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWzlD7Lc6w8