Labouring Under Difficulties

Here's something inane I threw together and put up in Steam.

I doubt I'll be the first one to have thought of this - and whether or not anyone will get the joke but you can always try....

I wanna hold your hand

Some time ago, I wrote a poem about Ico. I liked it enough to do a little video about it:

(all words and original imagery done by me)

Since making this video, it has been submitted to the Good Game Top 100 special.
Don't know if it'll make the show but one can always try...

Destiny calling

I read that Bungie software and hoping that their new game Destiny would have the same cultual impact as Star Wars.
Sure they may be shooting themslevs in the foot for saying that but I give them credit for their ambitions.
So a cartoon:

Digging a Trent

Whilst digging through more old files I came across this pearl of wisdom:

I remember drawing this: It was around the release of Angel of Darkness and, from an outside perspective, I could see what was trying to accomplished with the presence of Kurtis Trent: Another playable character in Lara's universe - no doubt in an attempt to pull in some female gamers.

Perhaps it is fitting that the only Tomb Raider game I have is Angel of Darkness - because I'm really fascinated by the presence of Mr. Trent. After having some many Tomb Raider games based around this one character, Lara, we finally get to see an equivalent. We have another playable character moving in on Lara's turf of being an action hero(ine) and looking awesome whilst doing it. He even gets to do the impossible in having some sort of relationship with the seemingly untouchable Miss Croft.

But most of all, what fascinates me most about Trent is that the idea turned out be a huge failure: Aside from the fact that Angel of Darkness was a flop and the proposed trilogy never went ahead, the fact that Trent has inspired some contempt among Tomb Raider fans says a lot - not to mention the fact that the character has never been seen since.  I do like the idea of introducing some new to the Tomb Raider formula and to have something of a mirror/partner/lover to Lara but it would seem that no one else would think so. What, did the idea of controlling someone in a Tomb Raider game who isn't Lara just simply unacceptable for her legions of fans? Oh well....

Digging up the dirt

Whilst going through some old files, I came across an old webcomic I used to do: A-Soc. This was done from 2004-8 and was based on a group of friends and the wacky stuff we did. We were all bound together in an anime society and although some of the faces changed over the course of the webcomic, it pretty much documented the weird stuff we did. I wrote and drew all of the comics (except on the few occasions when i let some guests in) and was pretty much in complete control. I even snuck in a few jokes related to my view of the world and drew some with a personal resonance.

One thing I did during this time is make a few jokes at WoW's expense. Now whilst I'd yet to play the game, these were done from an outsiders opinion. Now, having played WoW and with the passage of time, how do this comics look? Well let's find out:



This cartoon was inspired on two fronts: The first is Free Will. It's something that interests me (mostly because it's something good to have) to a point where it terrifies me to think that someone will create a reality which we will all willingly surrender to and essentially make the real world, and eventually our living bodies of flesh and blood, obsolete. It may seem like a scifi scenario but with each technological advancement, it seems possible that this destiny may be sooner then we'd like to admit.
Secondly, much has been said about WoW winning over many players to a point were they do little interacting with the real world. Thus it wasn't hard to put two ideas together.
Mind you, i do recall this got a lot of bad comment when it was originally published.

From the perspective of a WoW player I have done some interacting with other players and found most of them aren't misanthropic shut ins - they are regular people with regular lives (well the one's I've talked to). Still there are still stories that keep coming up of people dropping dead from gaming marathons, not to mention the persistent hikikomori problem in Korea. So in that sense maybe is cartoon is relevant.



Again another meditation on the break down of the real world with the player character growing a sense of identity - which subsequently leads to an existential crisis.
Having said that, looking back at this cartoon, it's a good idea conveyed poorly making it looked forced and dumb. Oh well, can't win them all...



This cartoon plays on the idea that people play WoW solely for the satisfaction of beating up other players. Now I realise it genuinely happens and it's called PvP so this cartoon doesn't really make a lot of sense. Still it could be said that the idea of PvP being integrated in as a feature of WoW does take away the freedom/rebelliousness/antagonism of the original concept.....



Again playing on the themes of the previous cartoon. But having this type of thing happen to me (as described in a previous post), this cartoon now hits closer to home than any of it's brothers. Like a wine, it got better with time. Or something.



Saved the best for last - A play on the addictive nature of WoW and having sampled it for myself I can see this was pretty much spot on - not bad for an outsider view. And yes in looking back at these, this was the one I enjoyed the most. Call it a fluke I guess XD
So many people have played Tetris over the years and most likely will continue to do so for decades to come. Makes you wonder if WoW will prove to have the same staying power...

And you R?

It's happened. Approval has been given to have the R18+ game rating down here in Australia.

So to celebrate this momentous occasion, a cartoon I drew:



That pretty much says it all.
Prior to this announcement, I recently learned the game Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude was never released in Australia due to sexual content and nudity.

But personally, I would've preferred that it was never released in Australia becuase the game itself was TOTAL CRAP.

This is what bothers me about the introduction of the R18+: Sure we may have 'adult' games finally released in this country but what if they turn out the utter shit? Surely we want an outcome worth fighting for yes?