Packing Strategies for the Modern Gamer

I hope you didn't click this post hoping to find a list of smart and effective approaches to packing, with special attention to the subgroup sometimes known as the  'modern gamer.'  Because all this post is going to contain is my musings about packing.  Because I am faced with a game-related packing dilemma, and I thought I'd work it out on LIVE TV... I mean, on the internet.  On this blog.  Right now.  It's live as I'm typing it anyway!  Jaconian, I imagine you have thoughts on this subject, and I'm pretty sure you've shared them in the past.  Also, he is indirectly responsible for this dilemma as the trip I am packing for is his WEDDING  TO CONKLEDERP!  Hooray!!!

I have three portable gaming devices that get regular use.  In order of frequency of use, and in reverse order of portability, there is my laptop, my Nintendo DS and my cell phone.  I intend to bring all three.  However, for many games, my laptop requires* a funny, irregularly shaped device known as a game pad.  This is what is giving me pause.  Somehow, packing the game pad seems to push it all over the edge.  Maybe it's just because it doesn't fit nicely into anything, with its funny handle grips sticking out and power cable projecting from its midsection.  Anolog sticks catching on everything as it bounces around inside my backpack.  I just shouldn't bring it.

Yet, I find it hard letting go of my primary gaming device (laptop + controller).  Afterall, isn't it awesome that I can bring my primary gaming device with me on a four-day trip?  I think it's pretty great.   And it's pretty great that the same device is what I use for all of my computing and internet surfing.  Oh, the laptop is coming with me, there's no doubt about it.  But perhaps it comes with reduced gaming capacity, ie: without the controller.

Yes, I know this to be the right decision, but I am just really compelled to hem and to haw about it.  What I should do is use this as an opportunity to play some games that don't require a controller.  To play DS games, or some classic games on my DS emulator.  Maybe one of those Android games I bought in a Humble Bundle, but never play.  It turns out Mc Pixel is pretty fun!  God forbid - I could even read a book!

Okay, thank you for taking this time to skim this really dumb post from me.  Potts MD.

-D

*I say that the games require a controller because I really don't like using the keyboard for platformers.

MIDI Week Singles: Opening Theme - Final Fantasy (NES)

Welcome to MIDI Week Singles!

My plan is that the post today will turn into a weekly thing, somewhat similar to the Game Scores posts where I highlight a video game soundtrack that I really love or have a high regard for, but on a singular scale where I only talk about one song from an entire album.

Some of the tracks that I plan to highlight might be well known songs such as the opening theme from Mega Man II/2 or more obscure titles like "Stage 1 & 4" from the 1988 NES game Jackal.  The whole point will be, "Hey, I like this song from this game."  That will be all there is to it.  There might be an analysis of some (or none) of the songs or an in depth look at a particular usage of a single track over the years (main theme from The Legend of Zelda), but as of now, it will be a bare bones outlet for sharing something that I like, which also is one of the reasons why Dr. Potts and I continue to write for you, our wonderful reader(s).

And there might be some self-deprecation thrown in for good measure; as if that'll do any good.

So on this, the inaugural MIDI Week Singles, I would like to share the song that first sparked my interest into video game music.  

"Opening Theme" Final Fantasy.  Nintendo Entertainment System - 1987

All Sounds of Final Fantasy I - II. Track #3.

Record Label: DataM/Polystar; NTT Publishing

Music composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

This song, right here.  Sure it is a little cliched to not only list a song from a Final Fantasy game and music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, but damn it, this is how I knew that I loved video game music.  Sure I had already listened to the "Above Ground BGM" from Super Mario Bros. and the "Overworld" theme from The Legend of Zelda by the time I heard this song, but something about the simplicity of the melody made an impression with me.

I know what you might be thinking.  Yes this is what most people think of as the "Main Theme" from Final Fantasy, but when the game was released back in 1987, no precedent had been set, being the first and only game (at the time), where as the "Main Theme" for this, the first Final Fantasy game, would be more commonly known as the overworld theme.  You get the idea though.

Thank you for sharing with me this, the first in hopefully a long line of MIDI Week Singles and I hope you look forward to next weeks posting.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.  I also wanted to say that just because "MIDI" is in the title doesn't mean that I will be sticking to video game soundtracks that were recorded using MIDI.  I will also be using scores that have used live orchestras and I will probably even branch out and talk about arranged video game music.

And a big "Thank You" goes to Conklederp who was beyond patient with me while writing this article and was the one who came up with the title for these future posts.

Monthly Update: April 2014

March 2014 was a fun and interesting month.  First off, I turned 34, which feels an awful lot like 33, which doesn't feel much different than when I turned 31.  Turning 30 only felt a little different than it did when I turned 29, but that's only because I got to use a new number even though it was technically part of the same decade, depending on how you count.  

For this birthday, my weekend was spent with Conklederp's clan up in Whistler, BC, which apparently is a thing that I apparently haven't been paying attention to for the past 34 years.  I watched the 2010 Winter Olympics when they were in Vancouver, BC, but I didn't realize that a lot of the downhill events were actually at this massive site of Earth acne called Whistler and Blackcomb.

Another birthday event occurred this last weekend as well (March 26 - 31), Dr. Potts took the ol' Amtrak up to Portland from Nor*Cal.  For most of March, Conklederp had been telling me not to plan anything for that weekend and said nothing else about what to expect.  Lo and behold, when I came home from work I found the good Dr. and Conklederp casually conversing on the couch.  That day I had been receiving texts from the both of them that hinted about something going on, so it wasn't a complete surprise, but I was still surprised none-the-less.  In traditional Portland fashion, we had nearly 24 hours of rain almost every day Dr. Potts was up.

His last night here, Conklederp and I took Dr. Potts out to Ground Kontrol, an arcade bar in downtown Portland that does pretty much everything right.  They have a full liquor bar, but also four or five beers on tap or you can buy a tall boy of PBR, Tecate or whatever other kind of cheapish beer (although in the past they did serve Abominable Winter Ale from the HUB brewery from here in Portland and a radler).  They have a great selection of games ranging from Qbert and Gradius to more modern cabinets such as Battle Royale Pac-Man and Mario Kart GP2 (I'll come back to Mario Kart in a bit).  A nice touch is that there are bottle/glass/can holders on all of the cabinets so you never have to worry about precariously placing your beverage any where near a furiously moving joystick or a hand vigorously mashing a number of buttons.  As it turned out, Sunday night there was a $2/person cover charge, but it was free game night and we easily spent over $2/person on arcade and pinball games.

The only disappointment of the night had to do with the Mario Kart GP2 game.  There were two chairs for what appeared to be a chance to race against both computer characters and the person sitting next to you.  Both Dr. Potts and I tried to coordinate a Vs game/match, but each time we ended up playing our own game and only against computer controlled characters.  Even though we both picked the same track on the 150cc difficulty setting, there was no on screen prompt to set up a race with the other player.  The items picked up from the "?" Blocks were also not very creative or intuitive, meaning they did not seem to come from the canonical Mario Kart universe.  Items that we have come to recognize as being inherently Mario Kart.  I never saw banana peels, mushrooms, green/red turtle shells or invincibility stars.  There was a trashcan lid, a spiny-looking thing that may have been a Spiny and an item that used your picture that the game took shortly after you start the game.  All items acted like either green or red shells.

Despite being a little disappointed by a video game that cost us less than 10¢ to play, it was great hanging out with Dr. Potts.  He introduced me to Nidhogg, which was a lot of fun to play as we were able to hook up two controllers to my laptop (IT CAN BE DONE!!).  In turn I introduced him the History Channel show Vikings, which we came within two episodes shy of finishing the first season.

April is looking to be a busy month for my gaming habits.  I recently started Bioshock 2, Braid and Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, but I am still playing through Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, Final Fantasy VII, FEZ, Torchlight II, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Anodyne, Slender: The Arrival, Witch & Hero. . . you get the idea.  Oh, and then this Elder Scrolls Online was officially released today and that's already eaten up some of my time, so expect at least one article from me on this later this month on that score.

So happy April everyone.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Today, I Lost My Way

Monthly Update: December

http://motherfuckingwebsite.com

Here is a funny link all about simple web design.  The last time I designed a website, it was in HTML 5, it was a Ryouga Hibiki Shrine on angelfire and was WAY too image intensive.  Granted, I was accessing with a 14.4k modem, but this taught me to design to my access speed.  I learned the basic lessons so hilariously described in the above link, and have occasionally remarked with incredulity at the super complicated websites of today.  Even though my access speed is now, something like 1000 times faster, website designers have managed to make things load almost as slow as the giant pile of P-chans that was my first website.  

Anyhow, that background helped make this silly link a lot funnier.  That and all the swearing.  Man, I'm surprised it took me this long to talk about Ranma 1/2 on this blog.

I just found out that Hiroo Isono, visual artist for the Seiken Densetsu series passed away this year.  Just about one year ago, I found out who he was, when I did cursory research for the Secret of Mana box art (possibly my favorite box art of all time).  His name has been very nearly the most popular search term bringing people to this blog.  And his art was really cool!

Links:
http://www.art-licensing.com/artists/Hiroo-Isono-Forests-and-Landscapes/biography.html
Official-seeming-site

http://www.realmofgaming.com/news/Hiroo-Isono-1945-2013/1811.html
brief eulogy

http://shinigamilist.com/2013/06/13/illustrator-hiroo-isono-passed-away/
another brief eulogy

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/hiroo-isono
lots and lots of art

I recently read an article arguing that the Mario Bros movie 'wasn't that bad.'  Well, I decided to finally watch it.  It's pretty bad, but it's a kids movie, afterall.  And they do a great job of putting in a bunch of game references in a movie that is, visually, radically different from the games.  Look out for snifits, fireballs, and an allusion to the last fight in Super Mario World.  And frankly, the acting is fantastic, Dennis Hopper, in particular. The sum total is a mediocre movie, not a terrible one. 

http://www.destructoid.com/why-the-super-mario-movie-is-an-underappreciated-masterpiece-29694.phtml

destructoid does a pretty good job of laying it out.

http://bottomlesswit.com/in-defense-of-the-super-mario-bros-movie/

this one's pretty good too, though I still don't think it's the one I read.

I'm between games, so nothing to talk about there.  I'm reading Haruki Murikami's book 'Wild Sheep Chase.'  I really like it.  The flow can be very strange, moving quick at times, slow at times, but I really like the lead character/narrator, and when this book is good, it's really good!  

The job search isn't going all that great, but it might help if I had any idea what I want to do with the rest of my life.  Except write for this blog.  Masters Degree?  Teach?  Desk Job?  Who knows.  Eventually I'm going to be tired of staying on couches, that's for sure.  Which reminds me, hey Jaconian and Conklederp...

Alright well, I hope I've wasted enough of your time.  Have a wonderful December!

-D

P.S.  Secret of Mana and the Mario Bros movie both came out in 1993.  But I wasn't making websites until '95, I think.

P.P.S. I almost forgot!  The Humble Story Bundle!  13 days left! Yeah, I bought it.  8 bucks.  I sometimes think I might like to talk about video games more than play them.  And this collection is just perfect for that tendency.  I'm pretty excited about it, but I wish they were physical copies, and not digital downloads.  Maybe if I owned a kindle I could split the difference, but alas, I do not.  

Just A Bit Of Randomness

One of my friends Shaggy is doing a month long blog about video games.  It's an A-Z type format with updates pretty much every day.  Keep in mind though, it's not just a simple "Here's a game that starts with the letter D: Donkey Kong," but it's about the game and Shaggy's personal experience and history with that game.  The blog is called Eclectic Musings and I think it's pretty cool, all biasness' aside.  I really enjoy Shaggy's perspective, seeing as how he's roughly a decade older than I am, but reading about someone's history with video games, primarily through arcades in the late 70s and early 80s.  For instance in his, "E is for Excitebike" post, I didn't know that Vs. Excitebike was a thing outside of Japan.  It's good reading and I recommend it.

This last weekend, Conklederp was in Arizona for the Western Regional Music Therapy Conference so I had the apartment to myself (along with Joey) for a couple of days.  Naturally, I stayed up until 5-6am then woke up six hours later.  One would think that I had spent most of my time playing video games (Skyrim, Morrowind, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, Mega Man), but then there were nights when I really "geeked" out.  My last two nights before Conklederp came home, I spent between 5-6 hours fixing the ID3 tags for video game soundtracks.

That's something that I'm pretty anal about.  If a song is incorrectly tagged, that shit's gunna be fixed faster than a stray cat in a dog pound.  Having to fix the ID3 tags isn't something that I have to do a lot of the time, but for instance, when I finally uploaded the soundtracks from the last two Humble Indie Bundles, there was a bit of work I had to do.  For instance:

I know the Year doesn't affect anything in iTunes or the Last.fm scrobbles, but I just need it to be there.  Second, the track order needs, NEEDS to be accurate.  There'll be times I want to listen to a soundtrack in it's entirety and I feel that the composer has the songs in a particular order, if it's chronological order or whatever, it needs to be accurate.  This wasn't the case with Cave Story +, but the album titles need to be accurate as well.  Yes, there can be some discrepancies when it comes to having OST, OSV, Original Soundtrack, Original Sound Version, Soundtrack, Sound Track, or just the title, but that's something I just try to make consistent.  Lastly, the genre needs to be correct.  I don't have many songs under the "Other" genre, but if it comes from a video game, I label it as "Video Game Soundtrack."  Even if it's Electronica Hardcore outside of a video game, it's still getting the soundtrack label.

Oh yes, I get annoyed if I don't have album artwork.  There needs to be a picture and not those generic eighth notes on a grey background for the album artwork.  If there was never an official soundtrack released and therefore no cover art, I will either use a picture of the composer, the box art from the game the music came from or a screen shot of the title screen.  Then after I finished fixing all that needed to be fixed, I spent the next two hours playing Morrowind.

So that's your bit of randomness for Monday April 8th, 2013.  Only one week until taxes are due.  I did mine and somehow I still owe the state of Oregon a few extra bucks.  Ah well, it's all for the good of the country.

And go and read and stay up-to-date with Shaggy's blog.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

An Endless Challenge