Video, Film, and Television

Gaming’s Tower of Babel

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A few weeks ago I discovered Rogue Legacy, a brilliant indie game that instantly became a time sink for me over vacation. I even reviewed it at NerdCaliber. No, I haven’t finished it – yet – but it is a fascinating study in getting a game “right” in a way where people “get” it. Also I want to finish it but I started a new job . . . and Cubeworld.

Rogue Legacy is a fusion of several elements:

  • Roguelike randomness (deriving from the early random-dungeon game Rogue).
  • Sidescrolling castle exploration of the “Metroidvania” type (reminiscent of some Metroid games and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night)
  • Brutal difficulty common to both of those games and popularized in the hardcore games Demons’ Souls and Dark Souls.
  • An aesthetic reminiscent of other hardcore games, Ghosts and Goblins and Ghouls and Ghosts.

Basically you go into a randomly generated castle, explore, die, and then a randomly generated set of ancestors are available for you to take on the journey again to get far enough to win – usually after a lot of descendants.

Now if you’re a gamer like me, you’re already responding to rods like “Roguelike” and “Metroidvania” and “Hardcore.” My choice of words – and Rogue Legacy’s ancestry – speak to powerful and popular concepts in gaming. In short, Rogue Legacy’s designers speak the language of people like me, and a language with years of history. They know what some of us want and how to do it and communicate it.

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Netflix Is Going to Do Documentaries, Comedy Specials

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Sounds like they have plans and are building on their success – and others.

I’m not really into “Arrested Development” (funny, but just didn’t get into it) or “House of Cards” (also a lot of talent, but not my thing) but they sound pretty good.  So Netflix branching out is a good idea for them.

However, I’d note one thing – they’re really moving into being a kind of, well, channel.  Part HBO, part Amazon. That’s going to get very interesting, and I wonder who will see them as competition – and as an ally.

I also wonder if Netflix is going to try and cultivate indie talent.  That could work out well – especially as we watch what appear to be the first phases of the predicted Hollywood meltdown.

– Steven

“Turbo” Isn’t Doing So Hot. Insert Your Own “Slow” Joke Here.

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Adjusted for inflation?  Worst Dreamworks opening ever.

I think there’s several factors here:

  1. The general movie meltdown occurring.
  2. It’s a new property that  . . . is about snails.  
  3. It’s also competing against animated sequels to well-loved properties – Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University.  I can also say that DM2 is excellent and deserves it’s praise.
  4. I can’t say the marketing campaign seemed effective (after seeing Pacific Rim‘s dismal campaign I wonder if this another Hollywood Problem).

But another sounds-sure/sounds-big property doing so hot.  I feel kind of bad for Ryan Reynolds, who just cannot catch a break here.

– Steven