Month: August 2010

When I was 15 yrs old, I came up with an idea for a story. It was brilliant. It was funny, interesting, and it hadn’t been done before (I don’t think). I started writing almost as soon as the idea struck.

3 years later, I had another incredible story idea. This one hit me as I showered (don’t picture it, it really isn’t pretty. Imagine a wet, slightly flabby wookie and you’ve passed the pretty bit) and again, just like last time, I started writing as soon as I possibly could.
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OK, so this is only a short entry. I have places to go and people to see. I have a life you know.

….OK, so I have an elevator to build on LittlebigPlanet, but it’s really frickin’ hard (I mean, I have the box done, and the sliding doors, but the electrics are just impossible. I’ve tried….sorry).

Anyway, back to my whinge of the week.
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I remember the first time we got a sound card for the PC.

It was a Soundblaster and the first game I played was Prince of Persia (the original running around dungeons, avoiding spikes, getting neatly, though bloodily, bisected by irrational, chomping blades game, none of this Sands of Time nonsense). I can still remember playing through it with the system bleeps and pings, then being utterly gobsmacked at the difference after the card had been installed. The snapping blades clanged together menacingly, the little snippet of music at the beginning of every level sounded as though it was played by actual instruments (obviously it wasn’t, it was horrible midi stuff, but at the time it could have been the fucking London Philharmonic for all I knew), and your character made a satisfying ‘uugh!’ sound whenever he was impaled on spikes, sliced in two or dropped, unceremoniously from a great height.

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I hope I’m not treading on anyone’s toes with this, but it’s something that is really pissing me off.

Recently my son (yes, son. I know, I’m an angry geek, but I managed to find someone with whom to procreate. In fact, when we got together she was a lot cooler than me, but over the passed few years I’ve managed to geek her up to such a degree that she actually said these words to me the other day "Cool, Comic-Con’s on. I so want to go. Hey, we should go there for our second honeymoon". My wife suggested going to Comic-Con for our second honeymoon (we didn’t really get a first one), how geektastically awesome is that!?) received Mario Galaxy 2 for his birthday and has spent the best part of his existence since then playing it.

And for good reason: it’s awesome. If you liked Mario Galaxy then, you’ll love the second outing: it’s more of the same soaked in a huge bucketload of superb.

Yet, there’s a problem with it. Actually, that’s wrong, it’s not a problem with the game, but more of a problem with Nintendo’s gaming philosophy.

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