Sequelitis- Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3

Sequelitis- the disease that franchises get whenever there is a needless sequel green lit and produced. The trope was codified by the Land Before Time movie franchise. The original film, The Land Before Time, was a classic animated film by that guru of animation, Don Bluth, about five dinosaur children that seek to find their families while avoiding being eaten alive by a T-Rex. It is a surprisingly dark film, brilliantly animated, and one of the greatest films of all time. Land Before Time 2 was a direct to video sequel that was about those same five children discovering a T-Rex egg, and returning it to its parents. The sequel was...not as good. And then they made another film that was a little worse than that one. And another. And another. By the time I was in college, they made the eleventh film in the series. None of these sequels were truly needed, and were made only to make a quick buck. But I digress; this blog isn't about Land Before Time, this entry is about the classic Super Nintendo game, Donkey Kong Country, and its sequels.

Wind's Nocturne- a look at the power of song in gaming

As a child, I never really liked animated musicals very much, mostly because most of the songs were annoying to me. Seriously, very few, if any of these songs, were good in my opinion. I guess that's why I took to gaming as much as I did. I didn't want to hear the princess sing about how she's waiting for her knight, I wanted to see the knight kick ass! No, I don't want to hear the comic relief characters sing about friendship, I wanna control the hero as he tears through the bad guy's armed forces!

Learn from this- Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics is not just one of the greatest games ever made, it's the game that changed the way I look at gaming. The story was amazing, the game play was top notch, the graphics blew me away. Yes it had its flaws, but it still blew me away, and was a deciding factor in me choosing the road I'd take in life. Of course, it didn't turn out the way I wanted to, but hey. But I'm not here to gush about FFT, I'm here to share some of the lessons that one learns from playing the game.

My thoughts on sexism in games.

I do not follow the work of Anita Sarkeesian. I see no reason to do so. Whatever she has to say, has been said better by others, with more substantial evidence and with solutions that are actually proposed, with no need for falsifying or distorting evidence. Furthermore, it has also been said by people that actually keep the comments section on Youtube open, with ratings enabled. That said, every now and then she, along with many other feminists, says something that makes sense. And today, I want to talk about something that these people are often decrying: sexism in video games.

To be certain, there is, indeed, sexism in not just the gaming industry, but the gamer culture as well. When Anita Sarkeesian announced her video series 'Tropes vs Women', many gamers sent her death threats for daring to make a series about how video games are sexist against women, as well as asking for donations to help fund this series. No matter what position you take on the issue of women and games, this is low. It is awful, and it is not the attitude that anyone, man or woman, should have.

A lot of the time, I feel that we gamers tend to simply yell a lot to drown out the opposition. We sometimes get defensive about our favorite pass time. And when you think about it, why shouldn't we be defensive? This is a hobby that many of us have invested thousands of dollars, and millions of hours in. This is a pass time that does more than entertain us. It makes us feel like champions, like we're worth something. And suddenly, we have these people who make it clear that they have NEVER picked up a controller in their lives, come up and tell us that the games we love are sexist against women and should therefore be changed! Who are these people to come and tell us what to do, what to play, what to like?

What's "Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden"?

Everybody get up, it's time to slam now! We got a real jam going down, welcome to the Space Jam! It's your chance, do your dance, at the Space Jam! Alright! Come on and Slam! And welcome to the Jam! Come on and Slam! If you wanna Jam!

Sorry, I had to do that. Anyway, "Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden" is a Freeware RPG, released back in the year 2008. The game is a loving homage to the decade of the 1990's. Practically everything in the game screams 90's: Several products such as Duncaroos are mentioned, while others such as Ecto Cooler are integrated into the game play. The game stars Charles Barkley, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, as he fights his way through the forces of the future, led by the legendary Michael Jordan, as he attempts to save his son as well as prove his innocence from a crime he did not commit. In his journey, he will be joined by a ragtag group of heroes, including the great grandson of LeBron James, as well as an extraterrestrial who came beyond the stars to help save our world from an evil organization hell bent on bringing chaos and destruction to the world via acquiring an ancient, powerful artifact from the past...

Character Analysis- Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7

He's one of the most iconic video game characters of all time. This is one character who is practically synonymous with video game villains. He's incredibly famous, with legions of fan boys and fan girls that will defend his name, write ten thousand fan fics about him, and draw thousands of pieces of fan art depicting him in all his bad ass glory. He's Sephiroth, the main villain from the earth shattering, gut bustingly popular video game, Final Fantasy 7. And he's over rated.

Pictured: A bad ass.

Sad Moments in gaming- Dinosaur's extinction on E.V.O. Search for Eden

When I was but 8 years old, I played a game that changed the way I looked at not just gaming, but the entire world. That game was E.V.O. Search for Eden. In this game, you play an animal that goes through five stages of Earth's natural history: The early middle Paleozoic Era, the late Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, the Cenozoic Ice Age, and the post Ice Age. I loved it back then, still do now. But I'm not going to gush about the game, or make a serious analysis of it (that's for another time). Today, I want to talk to you about an event in this game that's rather sad.

They say never judge a book by it's cover. Sometimes though, the cover tells you all you need to know.