More Con-ing Around

Boyfriend and I attended Long Beach Comic Con on Sunday and had a grand old time.

I made a video.

Memory Lane Monday: When Childhood Gaming and Being a Classy Adult Get Together and Make an Awesome Baby

Last Friday night, Boyfriend and I did something that, as a child, I always imagined every cultured person in NYC did all the time: we attended an art show at a gallery. Now this was no ordinary art show, thank you very much. This was the 3 NES Show at the Bottleneck Gallery, featuring a multitude of pieces in every medium imaginable, all inspired by the Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid games. So in other words: Best. Art Show. Ever.

To be honest, I was only mildly excited about going to the art show opening. Firstly, the gallery was in Williamsburg, which is not only mildly annoying to get to from Astoria, but we all know how I feel about Williamsburg. Secondly, going to a crowded art gallery (aka a small space) did not sound very appealing... you know, that whole social anxiety thing.  However, once we got inside and I got a free beer in my hand (thank you Brooklyn Brewery) I felt ok. Then I just reminded myself that I was surrounded by other nerds like me who probably all had their own awkward inner demons, and we were all there because we liked video games and/or free beer. But once all the people who were only there for the free beer cleared out, and I started documenting things for the blog, I felt a lot better and really enjoyed myself.

My t-shirt was designed by ShayLei and can be purchased on Redbubble

There was so much amazing art at this gallery! I wish I could have taken pictures of everything to share, but then no one would go to the gallery to see the show. So here are just some of my favorite pieces:

These gorgeous portraits of Peach, Zelda, and Samus are painted with acrylic by Kathleen Sanders and are available to purchase for $300 each. If I had a thousand extra bucks laying around, I would have snatched these up in a heartbeat.

Peach

Zelda

Samus

This amazing paper mache sculpture, entitled "Chomper Plant with Fireball" was done by Art Lopez, and stands approximately 13" high.

Boyfriend and I did end up buying 4 limited edition prints of some pieces we really liked. That's right, bitches, we bought us some art, like adults! Because we're all classy and shit.

"Armoured Beauty" By: Javier Jimenez

 Boyfriend and I bought a set of 3 of these giclee prints of your favorite video game beauties all tattooed and bad-ass-looking. We also bought this signed limited edition archival print of Link and dark Link in the Water Temple. I wanted this not only because it's awesome, but also because of the piece's title:

"The F ' ing Water Temple" By: Kim Herbst

I won't comment on all the pieces that I documented except this one last giclee print. I'm only going to share this one because it made me feel icky and it falls into the category of "things you can't unsee" and I need to share that pain with you all. I cropped the photo to be as SFW as possible, but it probably still isn't. Behold, your childhood game heroines as call-girl posters: (After the break)

Journey Review

I finally got a chance to play Journey last night. It was beautiful.  I had high hopes right off the bat, not just because the teaser trailers looked so promising, but also because the designers, That Game Company sound like my smart-ass 12 year old alter-ego named their studio. I applaud their mission to design artistic and accessible games.  Journey is almost a genre unto itself. It's part platformer, part sandbox, and visually stunning.  The gameplay is very simple with minimal tutorial needed. I really think that casual gamers and hard-core gamers alike can agree that Journey is enjoyable.

Some hard-core gamers may find the loose plot of the game incomplete and some may also find the lack of action in the game boring, or not their style.  The music is soothing and the graphics are amazing, but the overall "purpose" in the game is very subtle and isn't quite revealed until the end, and even then, the "story" is open to interpretation. There is no health bar, there are no weapons, the controls are very simple. The 2 joysticks move your character or move the camera view around the world. The X button allows you to leap and glide when you are given the ability by the various flying kites and scarves around the world. Finally, the O button allows you to "sing" to activate different trigger points to interact with the world and open up new pathways.

The game layout and basic design are very simple; your character is a hooded being with a small scarf, spindly legs and no arms. The more you play the game and the more secret triggers you find, the longer your scarf grows and the longer you can float/glide. The world is a desert wasteland, simple in its design, but beautiful and peaceful and interesting to explore.

My only complaint about the game is that it's not very long. I was able to play through it in less than 3 hours and I would have gladly spent 10 hours playing this game. However, despite the short playing time for seasoned gamers, there is potential replay value. There are 14 trophies you can earn for finding various hidden features in the game, and if you're a completionist like me, then that makes the game worth buying and playing more than once.   Because of my experience with Journey, I'm also looking forward to playing the other games produced by That Game Company: 

 Flower looks similar in gameplay mechanics to Journey, but probably with less of a through story-line.   

 Flow reminds me of a more graphically intense and visually stimulating version of Centipede.  

 Cloud looks like a sim dream builder with more of a story arc than the other games on this list.

Overall, Journey was fun, visually pleasing, and gave me a sort of wistful feeling while playing. While the game is very much an "art-piece" type of game, I do believe it accomplishes That Game Company's mission to be accessible and it raises the bar for graphics and visual expectations in game design. I can even see people like my mom or my sister (2 extremely casual gamers) showing interest in Journey or any of TGC's games. I can see this game resonating deeply with anyone, regardless of age, gender, race, or gaming experience. Journey is worth playing; it is an enchanting experience not to pass up.

On my patented rating scale of 5 nerdy objects, I rate Journey 4.5 out of 5 controllers.

Journey

I had an emotional breakdown last night. A bad one. I don't want to go into it in detail, but because of said breakdown, Boyfriend bought us a new game to cheer me up. I'm so excited to play Journey. I'm also excited to review it and share it with you, my reader(s). So, just a sneak peek, I guess. Plus by telling someone I'm going to do it, it'll make me bust my ass a little more to do it...in theory.

This game looks stunning! I'm so excited to play it! I'm also excited that "art piece" games like this and Dear Esther are being made.

P.S Blogger spellcheck is telling me that Esther is spelled wrong.  Lies. 

P.P.S Now it's telling me the word spellcheck is spelled wrong too.
 W. T. F?

P.P.P.S Apparently, spellcheck is incorrect, but spellchecker is acceptable. Seriously Blogger, what gives?