The Art of the Late Night / Avril Review

With summer here, I look forward to returning to a largely late-night-based schedule, which means most of my blogging will be late. Also returning are my Hit Lists, which are posts of random summaries of thoughts, events, etc.

Tonight's Hit List:

• I have given the new Avril Lavigne album, The Best Damn Thing, a complete listen. My quick review: Avril doesn't just trip and stumble with this album, but as far as her current fans should be concerned, she completely crashes into the ground. Best described as bubble-gum pop aimed squarely at the tween market, Avril's given up her serious songwriting side for pure pop candy. What makes matters worse is a complete lack of understanding for her audience, past and present, as her current lyrics are too simplistic for her old fans to care about, yet too vulgar for the tween crowd to hear. As one of her old songs put it... "I don't give a damn" about this album. I hope Avril can spend some time studying what she wants out of her career before she puts together a fourth album.

• Having suffered through Avril's newest album, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and relish her older work. I compiled a collection of 78 tracks by Avril, including her two previous albums, her live albums, rips from her live DVD, imports, and various other bits I scraped up over the years. Out of those 78 tracks, 78 are awesome.
  

• I'm plugging away on two stories right now, "Meltdown" and "Event Horizon." "Event Horizon" will be complete first, and I have a mid-June date penciled in to have it finished. I'll update as necessary.

Short and sweet, I know.

Out.

The Final Push

The end is almost here.

As of 5:00pm today, I am officially done with all homework, papers, projects, and other class-related material for the semester. Of course, final exams are this week, with particularly heavy days being Tuesday and Friday for me. I'm studying for a good chunk of my Sunday and Monday afternoons to pull off some more amazing grades (in one class, for example, I've successfully brought a low D to a high B).

From here on out my usual pattern of activities is no more... summer vacation is essentially here. I'm still going to be keeping my calendar up to date, however. For this week, things look like:

Monday: Off work and studying all day long; maybe lunch out at some place nice.

Tuesday: CS 425 exam (eek!) at 8:30am (double eek!). Then work 11:30a to 7:30p. I will also be starting my lead-in to the "Spider-Man 3" premiere by watching "Spider-Man" after work.

Wednesday: Work 9:00a to 3:30p, then freedom for the day (okay, maybe some studying).

Thursday: Work 9:00a to 3:30p, then I'll be watching "Spider-Man 2" in the evening.

Friday: CS 301 exam at 1:15pm. After this, I will be preparing for the 7:15pm showing of "Spider-Man 3" at Showcase Cinemas Levis Commons. My ticket is in hand as I write this. Because I am off work this entire weekend, I am looking to make this weekend the full-on kickoff to my summer break, with a long-awaited birthday party to check out after the movie.

Saturday: I'll be on the Towpath Trail all day for the kickoff of my summer biking season. Friggin' awesome is all I can say.

Sunday (5/06, in case you're lost): Absolutely not a goddamned thing. I'm taking the entire day off to relax, play games, drink, grill, and enjoy a (hopefully) sunny day.

Out.

The Nintendo Epic Is Dead

The Wii has been an unqualified success for Nintendo. In the gaming industry, there seems to exist a 50/50 split on opinion regarding the longevity of the Wii: a) it will expand the market, and because of new, "non-gamer" buyers, ultimately perform strongly this generation, or b) will die as merely a fad within the next year.

I'm not entirely sure where the Wii is going, although I do have ideas (future article!). I do know, however, that in the "gaming industry," success ultimately depends on the "games" (how about that!?) . The Wii certainly has its fair share of popular and interesting games: first-person-shooters, sports, party/mini games, etc. There is one genre of gaming that we will never see on the Wii, and quite possibly, from Nintendo ever again:

The Nintendo Epic.

Allow me: Mario. Zelda. Metroid. Mario Kart. These are not merely footnotes in gaming history or well-designed games. These are the benchmark for which games are judged against, even today. Nintendo is a company known for innovating game design on multiple occasions, and every so often a game comes along that demonstrates my idea of the Nintendo Epic: awe-inspiring visuals, new game play paradigms, flawless execution, and that Nintendo magic that has undeniable appeal to all persons, hardcore and casual alike.

By this judgment, and my calculations, we have not seen a true Nintendo Epic since 1998's Ocarina of Time. Some very strong games have surfaced since, including Metriod Prime, Twilight Princess, and Super Smash Bros. None of these games, however, have been able to amass the critical acclaim and fundamental respect that games such as Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 still command today.

Thus the question is begged: with the Wii trying to change the audience of gaming, will we see a true Nintendo Epic ever again?

It's no secret that the Nintendo Epic has traditionally been associated with Mario, thus I'll begin my examination there.
Super Mario Bros. was a combination of an extrapolation of previous platforming games and new design paradigms on the part of Nintendo, afforded by the design and power of the NES and its simplistic controller. Super Mario 64 was an extrapolation of 2D Mario into the freedoms of 3D, afforded by the advent of the analog control stick. As where Super Mario Sunshine was an extension of Super Mario 64 (adhering to the established formula a bit too much), Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii looks to extrapolate the fundamentals of 3D Mario (movement, exploration, collection) into a full 360 degree environment, afforded by the full range of motion of the Wii Remote.

Despite the new control mechanics involved, Super Mario Galaxy looks even further removed from the classic Mario universe than Sunshine ever did. I understand the need to innovate, and I certainly hope that Nintendo can deliver a solid game with Galaxy. It still isn't the next epic. We've seen the transition to 3D, we've collected the 120 stars. In case you haven't seen noticed by now, I'm tying the Nintendo Epic closely to the idea of originality. Super Mario Bros. established the basis for how 2D platforms (and 2D games in general) should operate. Super Mario 64 defined the basis for how 3D games should operate, at a fundamental level. If the future of video games is in full range motion control, then for Galaxy to be a Nintendo Epic, it needs to prove to the world that this is how full range motion games should operate, at a fundamental level. It needs to provide those awe-inspiring visuals, open new game play paradigms, operate flawlessly, and of course, provide that Nintendo magic that makes playing through the game the first time an unforgettable experience (after all, I still remember my first night with Super Mario 64, every last minute of it until 3:30am).

Despite Nintendo's ambitions, I doubt Galaxy will do this for the industry. In fact, it is what Nintendo is publicly trying to do for the industry that signals the death of the Nintendo Epic. Put another way, Nintendo is trying to be Apple.

Apple struck gold with a design in a particular market (iPod in the portable audio market), and Nintendo seems to have struck gold with a design in a particular market (Wii to the general public). Apple's core design theory revolves around designing simple and easy user interfaces and applications, and Nintendo's new philosophy is to design simple and easy games to understand, interacting with these games via an easy or "natural" user interface. Some have read this as Nintendo dumbing down video games in order to expand the market. This is a capital criticism of Nintendo, and although the company says that it wishes to please both the hardcore gamer and casual alike, if the Wii truly becomes a success because of its mainstream appeal, I'm afraid that there won't be another Nintendo Epic, at least anytime soon.

Of course, if all goes as Nintendo plans, and the Wii succeeds in opening up the market, then its future consoles will most likely adhere to a format and design philosophy that does not stray far from the Wii, hoping to keep the market open. This will further threaten the Nintendo Epic.

I don't think we will be regulated to playing party game after party game on the Wii, and there will still be AAA titles (Corruption, anyone?) from Nintendo, but nothing nearly as classic as the Super Mario 64's and Ocarina of Time's of gaming lore.

The Epic is dead.

Oops...

I had originally posted a third "Like/Dislike" pair list, but Blogger's WYSIWYG editor isn't exactly "what you see is what you get" when it comes to font formatting and sizing, so I scrapped the whole thing. Instead, I am considering writing a few articles, although I can not decide which one to tackle first:

• Why we'll never see another Super Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time
• Review of the new Avril album
• Spider-Man 3 hype and history
• Why the Wii is stumbling

Any votes for what should come next? Of course, I have an Ubuntu 7.04 article in the pipeline, so stay tuned for that tomorrow or Thursday.

"Down to Business"

As promised here, I have finished, revised, peer reviewed, re-revised, and finalized my English 206 fiction piece. The story now has a title (it's been through two revisions), and the story arc has changed a bit from the original draft. Click through below for the final story.

Also note that the original draft featured in an earlier post will be removed soon.

Down To Business

Enjoy!

Short Update

First, I would like to thank Craig Harris of the DS channel over at IGN.com for last Thursday's mailbag update that linked to my blog. I don't blog for fame, fortune, or attention, but I've been numbering hundreds of hits a day. If nothing else, it's nice to know that someone is interested in my opinion, and that's a big part of why I maintain my blog.

Anywho, with that out of the way, it's back to business as usual...

This is the final week of full classes, then finals next week. I'll be updating a few time this week, one post being an update to my "DS 2" article and a few others, one of which will relate to my Ubuntu 7.04 experience, which have so far been very positive.

Stay tuned, and see you peeps later this week...

Out.

What Should the DS 2 Look Like?

I rarely ask questions about the future of the video game industry. The reason for my avoidance is primarily because the industry is so volatile and still growing. I have no problem waiting for what's next, to see what's around the corner. No one can deny that we are locked in the most interesting console battle in history, with the XBOX 360 the "traditionalist" hardcore gaming console, the Playstation 3 a cutting edge beast that no one can afford nor understand fully, and the Wii surprising just about everyone with its continually strong sales figures.

Of course, it was the Nintendo DS that was Nintendo's grand experiment, not the Wii. Pushed out alongside the immensely popular Game Boy Advance (R.I.P. 2007?), the DS proved that the market could stand something "different," and that untapped gamers did exist.

Everyone in the industry knows that a DS 2 is a surefire thing. Nintendo can easily get one more solid iteration from the DS design before questions will arise about "originality" on the part of Nintendo.

But what would the DS 2 look like? Below are my personal dreams, suggestions, and theories, in no particular order.

• Larger screens. When I first opened a DS Lite, my first thought was "wow, wouldn't this be awesome if that whole top half was a screen." Although Nintendo typically stuffs tiny batteries into their portables, making such a PSP-killing screen impossible, I do expect that the DS 2 will feature larger screens, most likely some form of a wide screen combo. Of course the screens will still be arranged vertically, and a larger touchscreen means easier tapping, stylus or otherwise.

• Built In Gyroscope. Gyroscopic sensors built inside of the Wii Remote are three-fourths of the "magic" behind the Wii. The DS 2 could easily incorporate this technology. Although games like Wii Golf wouldn't be recommended on the system, imagine games that could alter your perspective of the action by changing your orientation of the console, or WarioWare Twisted-type mini games. Of course, toss in a little Bluetooth and you're looking at an interactive Wii controller.

• DS Download Store & Virtual Console. One of the best features of the Wii is the Virtual Console, making countless games from past consoles available for purchase and ownership once again, all at a fair price. This, however, ignores literally thousands of Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance titles, many of which are classics in their own right. I can see a subsection of the Wii Store opening on the DS, allowing hundreds of classic GB, GBC, and GBA games to be downloaded, for a price, and played anywhere on the go. Of course, you would need a place to store those games...

• Internal Storage. The Wii has 512 MB of internal flash storage. By the time a DS 2 comes down the pipeline (late 2008?), this same 512 MB of storage would be laughably cheap, and could easily be incorporated into the system without a great expense. This would allow Nintendo to naturally remove the (sometimes costly) EEPROM and SRAM specs from the game cartridges, as well as allow download-able content to be saved on the system (see above).

• More Power. There comes a point where CPU performance and 3D subsystems become far too costly and power-hungry to make it into a mobile device. The PSP, however, is proof that it can be done. Nintendo's "gameplay over power" strategy is certainly a winner thus far, but it is not unreasonable to think that the next DS could see PSP or a similar level of rendering and processing power available for developers. As long as The Big N remains focused on providing a worthwhile battery life from the system, I think the DS 2 could handle more power.

Those are my immediate thoughts on what the Nintendo DS 2 should do and look like. While some of these are perfectly expected (larger screens, more power), others are wishful thinking that honestly don't fall outside of any paradigms Nintendo recently ventured into with the Wii (internal storage, virtual console).

I guess time will tell.

What's New?

... Absolutely nothing.

The BGSU Spring 2007 semester is over in under two weeks (plus finals), and I'm almost literally barreling towards the goal, throwing all my weight behind last minute essays, projects, and homework. I will be sparse to blog in the coming week (much as I have been in the past week), but I'm having a huge blowout celebration starting on the last day of school (May 4th) which involved a lot of huge, huge events (for me, anyhow):

• Spider-Man 3 sees release on May 4th. I'm buying tickets well ahead of time, and I plan to spend as much money as I need to have an awesome time at this long-awaited sequel. Afterwards I'll be attending a birthday party populated mostly by those from Meijer.

• That Saturday I will be either traveling out of town just for the hell of it or I will kick off my summer biking season by making a ride down the Towpath. I look forward to spending time on both the Towpath and Slippery Elm trails this year.

• Sunday should see me relaxing with a much-deserved day off, doing literally close to nothing. I intend to begin some major cleaning and reorganization later that week, so I might get started on that too -- I'm not sure yet.

But with that, I am off to finish an essay.

Virginia Tech

It seems that every incident of violence in America more serious than a rape or homicide becomes a "national tragedy," and although some do deserve such a title, others are blown out of proportion quite a bit. It has always seemed too hard to relate a bunch of killings to my own life, when I'm so far removed from the situation.

In response to today's Virginia Tech shootings, however, I can understand that such a divide in opinion may be moot when such an incident occurs in an environment that feels so close to home. That home being, of course, the campus of Bowling Green State University. The x-number of square acres that make up campus, although populated by some 20,000 students, feels as small as it truly is. I've spent the last four years of my life in an ever-changing state of learning, exploring, making new friends, etc.

Even though the Virginia Tech campus shootings today happened hundreds of miles away from BGSU, it is not hard to relate to the incident. BGSU shares all of the same principles of VT, much like any college campus does: open spaces, open environment, and open attitudes. It is perhaps one of the most hypocritically advertised places of "safety" in America. It seems that as long as nothing more than the expected occasional theft, mugging, hell, even rape occurs, a college campus is a "safe place to send the kids."

Never once in my life have I thought about a major national incident as potentially affecting me. After all, there aren't any tall skyscrapers that terrorists would fly a plane into in Northwest Ohio, nor are there any nationally important figures that might be scrutinized for an assassination attempt. Buildings to blow up? Nope, just ma-and-pop stores with the occasional office thrown in for good measure. The very city of Bowling Green is quiet and quaint, minus the college, of course. I could not think of a more "median yet perfect" place in America to want to grow up.

And yet, the VT shootings seem very real to me. After pouring over new feeds all day from the Internet, reading first-hand accounts on Facebook, and considering the BGSU campus, I believe that such an incident could be very well realized. I go to BGSU as a second home, a place that I can openly express myself, move about, and feel positive about myself. Since 7:15am this morning, the students of VT will be lacking such freedoms. I too worry about my safety on campus, and although it's a small worry, it nonetheless exists. That voice saying to me, "it could happen here."

I sure as hell hope it never does happen at Bowling Green State University.

That's my two cents. Thanks for listening.

Out.

An Anonymous Letter, Part II

Dear V,

I wish to express my thanks for our encounter so long ago, as brief and as anonymous as it seemed. It was worth the experience, despite the inherent risk involved. However, because of circumstances involving future business transactions, I will reprint a lyrical poem for you here which holds meaning to our former situation:

Let me know that I've done wrong
When I've known this all along
I go around a time or two
Just to waste my time with you

Tell me all that you've thrown away
Find out games you don't wanna play
You are the only one that needs to know

I'll keep you my dirty little secret
Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret
(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it)
My dirty little secret

Thank you for your time.

An Anonymous Letter, Part I

Dear X,

I write to you today in order to update you on an event from my past.

Although I was honest and completely loyal to you throughout the core of our partnership, it is with deep regret that I admit to my brief, one-time affair that I engaged in immediately prior to 'us.' This did not mean anything to me at the time, outside of a chance to have some exploratory fun.

Thank you for your time.

Crunch Mode: Spring 2007

I've officially entered Crunch Time. Bloody hell, it'll be miracle if I even see another living soul, touch a drop of alcohol, see my friends, or bathe, for that matter, in the next four weeks. But boy, I can't wait to get this semester over with.

I apologize in advance if updates become sparse. Now you know why.

Out.

What Is Meltdown?

I think with the exception of one other person (and you know who you are), no one can really understand what Meltdown means to me. Which is why no one can understand how important it is to me that I have a final story concept rolling, with words meeting paper every day. Meltdown is coming together, and it's changing my life.

But what is it and why is it so important to me? A brief chronological overview:

1997: Coming out of a creative rut that began in late 1996, I began to conjure ideas about a story, mainly in pieces, most of which I brought together by 1998 and said "what a cool idea." A group of friends travel across a country fighting zombies. Then again, the idea had been done before.

1998: Although I despise writing, I decide that fiction is the only way to express my story by any tangible means. I develop a deep back story and history for the story, now titled "Meltdown," to take place in front of. I write three-fourths of a first draft by the middle of 1999. (Ed. Note: Jesus H, after reading that first draft almost ten years later, I can certainly say my writing abilities have evolved a hundred-fold. I can't even figure out what some of the words in my first draft meant or tried to spell.)

1999: I flesh out many details of the story, creating a huge mythology for Meltdown, including a spin-off short story entitled "Project Veronica." By the end of 1999 I put Meltdown aside in favor of tinkering with other creative interests, namely my "Just a Crush, or True Love?" essay series that would begin that year.

2000: Meltdown is a bloated, unfinished, poorly written story that I barely spend time on. Luckily, the constant teasing from a good friend of mine kept me on my toes, and by the end of the year, I decide to return to the story.

2001: Early in the year, I attempt to clean up my first draft of Meltdown. By now I already acknowledge my love for writing, and because I take it in a serious light, I decide to start from scratch with Meltdown. I begin a "Beta" draft that turns into a fully-fleshed story that becomes, even today, my biggest writing endeavor, with about 45% of the story spanning 90 pages of typed text.

2002: Meltdown once again turns into a beast, with countless smaller fiction pieces written on the side, extra characters added. I also allow the story to receive public exposure for the first time, and feedback was mildly good, although not overwhelming as I had hoped. By late 2002, I considered Meltdown to be my "life work" of sorts, considering it having stuck with me for so long by this time. Still, I somehow just could not get it finished. My interests waned.

2003: Graduation came and gone, and Meltdown was officially on the back burner for other projects ("Soul Searched," later to be known as Almost Home, for example). I ran into a huge creative block, and more importantly, became bored with the story that was too much to manage, too bloated to deal with, and for all intents and purposes, put out to pasture.

2005: With the end of college in sight, I decide to complete several projects ("Almost Home 2," "Blocchi") within my time at BGSU, and return to Meltdown after graduation, once my creative writing education was completed.

And of course, here is 2007. In the last week I have been spurred by a creative vision for Meltdown that has put everything else in my life on hold. I am reinventing many aspects of the original story, including the core concept and direction of character development. I'm very excited about the new ideas on my plate, and I am working on overtime during ALL of my free time to get as many of these ideas on paper, and I have already begun a new draft for the story.

I will apologize in advance for my relative unavailability in the coming weeks as I hammer out as much as I can before this creative streak dies.

Stay tuned.

Obsessed With the Meltdown

My life has been completely consumed now. I have not felt this alive, creatively, since the 7th grade. Meltdown has taken over my life.

Going forward from here on out, all of my creative literary focus will be put towards Meltdown. Event Horizon is very close to being finished, although I believe I will wait until summer to finish it up.

Also, I believe I will make the new draft of Meltdown follow the original 1998 design: The story will be initially written in a modular, episodic form, released a part at a time, and finally brought together as a whole when all the episodes are written. If things go as planned, the brief introductory episode, classically titled "High School Life" should be available near the end of May, but I'm making no promises.

Out.

Something Small

Something in me has been growing. It started off as something small, late last week, but it has been slowly growing inside me, and today it blew sky high, a figurative nuclear bomb that means quite a bit of literal sense to me.

Meltdown has been reborn.

Mostly within the careful protection of my ever-growing imagination, the original fiction story that kicked off my writing career is becoming something amazing, something wonderful, and something magical to me.

With my creative writing education firmly planted, my imagination running wild, endless creative potential pouring from the inner workings of a story tucked away in the back of my mind for a decade, I hope to soon begin writing the first drafts of the story that means more to me than anything in this world: Meltdown, A Survivors Story.

Stay tuned.

Incoming Missle!

Well I have quite a full week ahead of me. I will be spending most of this week in BG, either at work or school, or back and forth between both. The quick (as of now) breakdown:

Monday: Work, class, then lab time to get CS stuff done, followed by reading, writing, and more CS all day at my house. Rating: Boring.

Tuesday: School (easy classes this day), then home to enjoy the lovely weather. I also have more reading (about 120 pages per night this entire week), writing, and an essay to start. I also might have a funeral to attend this day.

Wednesday: I get to sleep in a bit, go to class, then right back home to read, read, and write. I might stay in BG for this (Grounds?) or park myself in the lab to write, depending on how Tuesday goes.

Thursday: Jesus H. School, work, and home, all without really seeing much of the sun after it rises and before it sets. Gay. Maybe B-Dubs to unwind?

Friday: Assuming that I'm still alive, I'll have plowed through a novel and a half by now, written a total of 6 short essays, started the rough draft of one major essay, and have gotten through about half of my annotated bibliography.

Saturday: Work, then reboot. Alcohol, anyone?

Out.

Welcome To April

Recently on Facebook I de-listed my Relationship Status entirely. I've discussed the B3.0 Initiative, which is of course my core effort to change my life to a focus of work and school, and to focus less on women and my social life. I also routinely downplay my daily social interactions with certain friends and women as "distracting" to my core goals. Oh, and of course, I always talk about the many processes that I go through in trying to bury my feelings for Lacey.

Many people have commented on this recent "purging" of women from my life. Some have even began rumors, and a few have approached me outright on the issue.

In order to prevent any nasty rumors from spreading too far, I am coming out and putting the truth on the table:

I will be having a sex change operation performed later this summer. Yes, I am becoming a woman. I can not wait ;-)

I've always dreamed of completely enveloping myself in the beauty of the female body, but since I really can't progress with a companion like I wish I could, becoming the very same feminine body myself is a dream come true.

I hope this change does not offend too many of my friends.

Happy April 1st.