Ethics and Anarchy -- How We Play, Enjoy and See Games

Maybe life is best with a little imbalance?

Consider this an incredibly delayed reaction to J.P. Grant’s article on fair play, which was an incredible response to Jenn Frank’s article.

Click to read more ...

Art You May Hate: Video Game Cover Art

That's it. They've done it. They've evolved past anything we could have ever imagined.

Starved for ideas to write about, I found myself google searching cover art and reminiscing about the days when I had less discerning tastes. What you will see after my words here is a small compilation of a user by the name of David Freeman's collection of video games and covers he's collected. I give him all the credit to this posts existence. The reason I didn't hotlink you directly was because his collection exists on his Google+ page. A page I'm not sure is open to any and everyone [I think you may need at least a Gmail account to view].

Now scroll down and let your eyes drink in some of the best and worst video game cover art I've ever had the pleasure of posting on this blog.

Click to read more ...

Art You Might Hate: Pinkroad by Limee Young + U Joo

Many thanks to Colossal for pointing me in the direction of this power couple. Husband and wife duo, Limee Young and U Joo are a pretty cool team. I've been studying a lot on kinetic art, and sculpture specifically, Limee Young's name kept popping up.

Imagine my surprise when I ventured to their site and noticed some pretty amazing paintings, illustrations and video of their meticulous works.

I've always been interested in the construction of kinetic sculpture. I use to build robots for crying out loud! But this? This is a little over my head. The whole idea of kinetic sculpture is reliant on either wind energy, a standalone electricity source, or an artist having an active hand in how the kinetic energy is stored. Like being on a seesaw, but an amazingly beautiful and complex machine is on the other end of the plank.

So in these videos, you are seeing machines function because of liquid, weight and equal amounts of pushing and pulling on joints. Depending on how far a joint moves a microprocessor on a circuit board uses the energy generated to tell another joint to move. Or in the above video's case, a processor is telling a joint to move back, while the kinetic energy stored in the joints are telling it to move forward. This is as best as I can describe the very little I understand.

I thought I was getting closer to understanding kinetic art, but this work is proof I'm no where near comprehension. It's truly amazing work. After the jump is more stills, illustrations and videos. Thanks for the inspiration U_Joo and Lim!

 

Click to read more ...

Commercial Break: da Vinci Robot Is Both Expensive And Peels Grapes

As the title indicates, the surgical da Vinci robot is clearly being used for it's intended purposes. That purpose being: stylin' on all other robots that wish they had the swag and technological bling that this one cleary possess. What with having them arms and grape peeling power. One day, yes, one day this surgical robot will see the inside of -- a melon.

[In all honesty, The da Vinci robot has been quite the achievement for modern medical science. It's been zapping cervical, prostate and all sorts of cancers for years. For more info, go here]

Graphic Update: Comics -- Why You No Like The Blacks?

Representation of minorities in media doesn't stop at the characters. I guess comics and video games have a lot more in common than I thought.

Click to read more ...

Commercial Break: Bill Gates Got Ups

Prior to spewing that yang and dumping that slang for the internet. I need to get energized. I need a guiding light that will channel my ideas into words of various fonts and font sizes. Oh, wait. You're telling me there is a clip of a young Bill Gates jumping the s**t over a chair? Well, see now this? This right here? This is just what I needed.

Peep his recovery? Didn't even flinch. Like nothing ever happened. "What? Oh that? Yeah, I just jumped the f**k over that and will probably make a billion dollars in the next twenty years. Become one of the biggest philanthropist and out live ya boy Steve Jobs. What? Huh? I cross a line? Do I need to jump over another chair to prove my swag?"

I'm paraphrasing, of course.

Art You May Hate: Cosplay From A Sci-Fi Convention In 1980

Kathy Sanders @ Westercon

In my ongoing research of all-things-niche I've come to several conclusions. One undeniable truth is that the geeks, nerds and misfits of today are products of something and/or someone.

We grew up in the time of Lord Of The Rings, Transformers [unfortunately], Scott Pilgrim and if you're an old fogey like me ... Willow. But this all came from something. This all came from someone. Several someones.

As a new year starts, I thought it'd be most pertinant to look back to a group of people who grew up in the age of a Day Of The Triffids, The Outer Limits and the good Star Wars movies. More importantly, when our elders say "they don't get kids nowadays" (a phrase I'm finding creeping into my vernacular), we can dig into their shadowy past and say, "maybe you just didn't hang out with the right people?"

This post also functions as monument to me kinda-sorta coming around to cosplay as a culture. There are still aspects that I don't get, but I think me not getting something makes it all the more worth knowing about. You know, as opposed to giggling and pointing, whispering, "look at those weirdos." 

After the break are more amazing photos. They come courtesy of The Los Angeles Science Fiction Society [yes, that's a thing that exists]. More importantly, there was a photographer around this time that said, "you know what? This is worth documenting." His name is Dik Daniels. 

Enjoy!

Click to read more ...

Commercial Break: Sonic The Hedgehog = Gateway To Furry-dom

I see why the aliens won't abduct us anymore. Hey, I know a lot of you out there support furries and truth-be-told, I kinda like the fact that there's a sect of people out there that kinda weirds me out. I see it as a benchmark for me when I think I've become too desensitized. Just yesterday I explained to one of my young dancing students what felching is.

But here we are headed into 2012 with possible damnation and post-apocalyptic events in tow. Yet there is a man, doing his friend group a service. Well sir, who am I to judge?

Seriously though, you're weirding me out with the "I'm going to judge sexiness of fictional female video game characters by the size and length of their pony tails."

We could have a possible Bronie on our hands. 

Happy Holidays From The Brog

Oh that Krampus always causing a ruckus

As I sit here wrapping the final gifts, infested with flu-like symptoms, imbibing both wine and Theraflu. I'm reminded of several things: 1) no matter how hard I try, my allergy to alcohol will continue being my Achilles' Heel to a life of drunkatude. 2) I've never felt luckier to have met and made connections to you great people on the internet. Your tweets and inboxed links haven't gone unnoticed. Sidenote: some of that s**t is straight-up weird and has resulted in a record number of blocks and reports. So, yeah, there's that.

What was I getting at with this? Oh yeah, 3) I'm not a rich guy, or even moderately "balling." I spent a fair amount [okay, all] of my spending money on my mom and little sister this holiday. At the same time, I'm not trying to go in debt or make a material statement as to my status in life. I got lucky with this friend group. They only expect me to be me. It was super-unfortunate I couldn't get everyone at least a joke/gag gift, but this post will have to suffice.

Below you'll find links to art, articles, and videos that I hold very dear. Some are to be taken in jest, others not-so-much. Thanks for the support.

And don't let Krampus poke you.

Click to read more ...

Persona 4 - The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena Combo Sampler

Many thanks to Jourdal's video coverage of a game most fighting game sites are keeping quiet about.

Though I have yet to finish a Persona game [even in game format, I hate doing homework], I don't think it will be a prerequisite to play the game. Looks fairly standard for an Arc System title. Can't wait to see what comes of this. 

[*crosses fingers hoping there is an animation of high school kids shooting themselves in the head]