“When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
I want you all to watch that clip up there. Yes, all 8+ minutes of it.
Done? Ok, that clip was the work of a man named Ulillillia (nom de reality: unknown). Thanks to the kind people at Portal of Evil I was exposed to his work earlier this week and between this clip, the others like it and his website, I’m utterly fascinated by this misanthrope. He seems to care so much about games like Bubsy: 3D that his narration and thoughts on the subject go beyond being tedious and dull, to being savant-level ruminations on the nature of the game, and by proxy, on life itself.
Oh, but the rabbit hole only goes deeper! This is where I’d quote his website, but the information packed into the thing is far too dense to be taken in bits. It’s like it’s all been written specifically so that you’re forced to read as much of it as possible, and by reading more of it, you achieve a feeling of zen-like comfort and a sense that Ulillillia has gone beyond normal fascination or obsession and stepped into whatever term is used to describe a person who has played Bubsy: 3D for 4500 hours. Add to that the notion that he annotates absolutely everything in the sort of detail usually reserved for Department of Defense IT contracts, and that he actively lives a role-playing game and you come to realize you’re glimpsing a world straddling the boundary of genius and lunacy and teetering like mad.
Porno is cool and all, but this is why the Internet was created.
Games of the week. Whatever. You know how we do.
Colette Bennett:
TAIKO DRUM MASTER.
Also Final Fantasy: Revenant Wings and Myst DS!
I”M SO HAPPY!
Leigh Alexander:
You ready?
Galaxy, Mass Effect, Trauma Center: New Blood, Ontamarama, Phantom Hourglass (still! damn forest temple) and Dracula X Chronicles. I have no life.
Nex:
TONS of World of Warcraft (I just got my account back), Virtua Fighter 5 to get my custom Eileen to Master level online, and enough Guitar Hero III to give me carpal tunnel cramps the likes of which are experienced only by chronic masturbators and data processing clerks.
Also, I spent 14 hours with Mass Effect. You’d like to think this is the point at which I’m going to say it’s terrible in an effort to play the anti-hype card and show solidarity with Anthony and Jim, but that’s not really how I do things. I love the damn game. It’s the perfect evolution of the BioWare RPG style combined with new-gen FPS trappings, and aside from the terrible controls on the Mako, the lads at BioWare have earned your cash.
Niero:
I’ve been mentally playing Loco Roco Cocoreccho in my head all week.
Its more fun than the actual game.
Topher Cantler:
Izuna, Geometry wars: Galaxies on Wii and DS, Rock Band, Ikaruga, Subarashiki Kono Sekai, and Eternal Sonata.
Savant:
After finally purchasing an HDTV, I’m going back through all my Xbox 360 games and seeing how they look. Mostly, though, I’ve been playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed and Carcassonne with the future-wife.
I’ve also been playing a rather dangerous game, as well. It’s called How The Hell Do I Calibrate Lag in Guitar Hero III? I just can’t get the thing to “feel” as good as it did on my old CRT. Oh well.
BlindsideDork:
My brother let me brother his PSP so I got to play the God of War: Chains of Olympus demo and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. But that doesn’t mean I have forgotten my old faithfuls Team Fortress 2 , Picross DS, and Ghost Squad. So much gaming! So much good!
Chad Concelmo:
I have played nothing but Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations all week long (I <3 Godot!). This whole “finish a game completely before starting a new one” policy that I have implemented for years may finally be the death of me. I have such a huge list of games waiting in the wings that it is starting to get ridiculous. Here’s a preview of my November 16, 2008 edition of Games of the Week: I just started playing The Orange Box and, man, I love it! Ugh. I need more hours in the day.
Hamza “CTZ” Aziz:
I played and finished Half-Life 2, Episode 1 and Episode 2. The ending would have been great except I read a damn spoiler by mistake. But, I did forget Alex almost dies so when I saw her get stabbed I was really in shock. I played some Portal too but didn’t really play far into it. So far, I’m not real feeling it.
Jim Sterling:
Mass of Sh*t and Warriors Orochi. By the time this comes out I will have played Eternal Sonata too, but things keep getting in the way of my playing that one.
Faith:
I’ve been playing Viva Pinata, Puzzle Quest, Brain Age and tonight I’m devoting 4 hours to installing Final Fantasy XI on my Xbox 360. Sweet, huh?
Dale North:
I just finished with my review copy of Nartuo:Rise of a Ninja for the Xbox 360 and have moved back to Persona 3. I’ve also broken out the various classic game collections from Taito, Capcom, Namco, and Sega for the PS2. They’re such a better value than a Virtual Console download.
Dick McVengeance:
Madden 08, Star Trek Conquest, and Godzilla Unleashed are what’s taking up my plate for the most part. That, and Finish My Screenplay or My Teacher Feeds Me To His Dogs.
Ron Workman:
Lego Star Wars 2! How I went as long as I did without playing this, I will never understand. I really have a blast playing it. GRAW 2 is another that I skipped and I am catching up on now. These games are totally worth the cheap price. LSW2 can be found used for 10-15 bucks and I picked up GRAW 2 for 20 new. Jim Sterling likes to have tea parties and dress his victims up like clowns before he eats and rapes them. N+ on XBLA is really fun, as well as Arkadian Warriors which is something that I never thought that I would play. Halo 3 and my old stand by Rise of Nations on the PC. Don’t forget to get the free DLC for Boom Boom Rocket on XBL by the way.
Tristero:
I played through Daxter for PSP, which was a bit of a let down. There are four different types of bugs to fight against in the game, and that’s literally it. How did they get away with that? Interestingly enough, Me and My Katamari isn’t half bad, if you’re a complete nut for the series like I am. The controls are rough, but there’s some cute fun to be had with enough uniqueness thrown in to separate it from the other titles. And Gradius Collection … honey, don’t even get me stahted, okay? If you have a PSP, buy it now!
Gameboi:
Still playing through Super Mario Galaxy, and Mass Effect. I haven’t felt the need to play any other games at the moment.
Billy? Did you play video games this week? What have we told you about those games? That’s right: they’re Satan’s rowboat, and if you aren’t careful, he’ll paddle up your river of shame and steal your precious jewels!
So Billy, what did you play?
