So I was thinking in class today - not about gendered communications, mind you - but about
the good ol' staple of platformers and various action/adventure game characters:
the Double Jump.
{Yes, that's Penny Arcade. Yes, I read it from time to time. No, I didn't have this in mind, nor
had I seen it, before I googled "double jump" to get an effective picture to add.
Cause we like pictures.}
Really, this perfectly illustrates what I was thinking. Now, in some games it makes sense.
Psychonauts gives you mental powers, and the double jump relates that - he has a little
mental bubble pop up underneath him. Castlevania gives you magic boots. Any game in space
gives you rocket boosters or rocket boots or whatever.
But why did developers decide this was so supa fresh? Was it to give their levels more space
within the constraints of not having a 3D world? Was it just to give their levels more
dimensional perspective?
I don't know. But I was trying to remember all the games that gave you double jump just
cause, and I really couldn't think of any, but I know they exist.
So, the question is this:
Do we still need the double jump? And if so, is it because we're just so used to having that as
an asset that games would be weird without it, or is it because developers don't feel like
making levels that are designed around using a well-timed single jump or box to crawl up on?
Really, it doesn't matter much. I never had a problem with the double jump, I was just bored
in class. Any thoughts?
Attached photos:
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So, I was talking with my buddy about games. We both have been gamers for quite some
time, though he's a PC gamer and wastes his life on WoW. Anyways, he has a 6 year old
son, who for some reason is allowed to play Mass Effect. I have my issues with this, but it's
not my child so I'm not going to correct him.
Which leads to this hilarious moment.
If you've played Mass Effect, when you first meet Urdnot Wrex, you have the option to blow
his ass to pieces because you, being Commander (first name) Sheppard, are Bad Ass Level
9000 at all times. You are basically God incarnate, with the ability to say who lives and who
dies, including whole races of alien life.
So the kid (Damien) doesn't pay much attention to dialogue, which is good, because now he
won't get all butt secksed up while playing.
And he's just clicking the first dialogue option that's available.
And he kills Wrex.
Normally, this would just be Sheppard being all bad ass and killing a dude known for killing
dudes from a race of aliens known for existing to kill dudes, cause that's what Sheppard
does.
But no. Damien, as he has apparently decided to grow attached to these particular
characters very swiftly, begins to cry.
uncontrollably. inconsolably. unceasing.
Seriously, 6 year old has not only been granted the chance to play a mature rated game,
but as he kills a dude, cries over it being his 'friend'.
And his dad laughed. And I laughed.
And my 4 year old watches her mom and I play Psychonauts for fun. Who knew?
Morale:
Krogan warriors are friends to the young. Don't kill them prematurely.
Unless you're a Bad Ass, capitalized.
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so over the weekend I went and ran the console room of JMU's MADICON. That was pretty
ok. According to various con-goers, it was the best in years (along with the LAN room which
my bros ran).
but this is the thing.
picture this guy:
playing this game:
for 15 hours over a 2 day weekend. The other half of the weekend was spent playing SSBB
in japanese because, of course, one dude had a hacked Wii.
I mean, it was cool, minus the fact I spent zero time playing, and the full time helping other
people play with only one guy to help me, which was my bro that drove 3 hours up there
with me. So we were bored a lot.
Still, it was cool seeing people EXCITED about playing games together. Smash Bros was
seriously taken up THE WHOLE TIME, and the only reason Rock Band went off was for the
Halo and GH3 tournaments, and when some dickhole decided to pick up one of the 360's
WHILE THE GAME WAS STILL IN THERE AND SPINNING.
fuckface. Glad it wasn't my game, cause that shit got scratched to hell. We had to explain
to the guy who donated it what happened, and he was totally cool BUT STILL.
So, all in all, running a Con Console Room gets an A+, except for the fact we had to remind
dudes to wear this Old Spice when playing games all weekend and being generally, you
know, geeks.
cause it was sponsored by the James Madison Science Fiction/ Fantasy Guild.
Guild.
seriously.
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OK. Let's start off my first blog by avoiding writing a press release for The Writing Center of
CNU that will be needed to complete my Technical Public Relations Writing course, and by
avoiding writing an artifact paper for my Gender Comm. class, and by avoiding...
well, school in general.
I would be playing Overlord right now, but I got a 120gb HD for my 360 for $80 at work
tonight, which results in transferring my info to the bigger HD. CompUSA gives me one last
discount before we shut the doors, I suppose. Really my manager just decided not to be a
douche and let me haggle with him. I like $100 discounts as much as anyone. Thankfully
the fiance is reading "The Other Boelyn Girl", which leaves me free to procrastinate on said
degree-granting work; the 2 daughters are either sleeping or watching Shrek. I find that a
4-year-old should not enjoy watching Shrek, and watching me destroy demons or elves or
Middle Eastern soldiers or Locusts or grunts or... equally. Which she does, sometimes.
Except for "scary" things. Chainsawing Locusts = not scary. Playing "The Dishwasher" on
XNA = scary. And she gets bored with Skate. Kids.
So After getting nearly to my second prestige on CoD4, I decided to take some time off
from online and finish up most of the games I neglected to beat on single player. So I beat
CoD (every FPS should involve watching the aftermath of near-death in such a wonderfully
cinematic fashion), then Portal (HA! awesome), then Skate (except for a few film
challenges), and now alternately working on Overlord (predominantly), Mass Effect, Half-
Life 2 (which I had never played before), SDvsR2008 (which is technically a story mode...
technically) and I need to start DMC 4.
And why? Gamerscorewhore. No, not really. I just tended to picj up games and hop online
as soon as I could justify it, especially with CoD. I even need to finish teh Haloz story. FUCK
man. Most of these games I've had since release date.
It shouldn't be held against me. It's hard to tell your fiance that she needs to "SHUT THE
FUCK UP AND ENJOY THE RIDE", though I have tried to do so, with extremely bad results.
She isn't a gamer, unless you count Tetris and Zuma and sometime Psychonauts and Viva
Pinata. She DID enjoy watching me play through Bioshock (minus my "dumbass looking
around for random shit" - which, sadly enough, I only missed TWO fucking achievements in
my one playthrough: 1) beating it on the hardest difficulty and 2) I MISSED ONLY LIKE 5
FUCKING RECORDINGS!). Assassin's Creed has bored her to tears, which is lame, cause I
love it, especially since we got a 32" LCD for Christmas (or really my pending graduation, in
case my Mema dies before I do so) which makes AC looks fuck nuts good from the eagle's
perch.
So basically, despite trying my damnedest to do well in school this semester and all the
other life things I'm doing with variably high success rates (get a new job/better job since
the company is closing, be a good fiance, avoid pissing on the toilet early sunday morning
after a night of rum drinks and guitar hero, so on), I still am trying to find times to play
these games.
And I love it. So here's to 2007, my favorite gaming year to date.
Now if I can just finish this shit up before MLB 2K8 comes out. Lord knows I've been playing
the same season since MLB 2K6.
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