Sunday night I was burning some major midnight oil as I progressed through “Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.” To be precise, I did not get to bed until around 4 AM. Good thing I had slept in most of the weekend to bank up some sleep time, eh? Some people have a bedside lamp; I should get a bedside DSi. On second thought, that would be a bad idea – I probably would not get any sleep again. Well, aside from while doing dull things, like driving or listening to people.

Also, this late night marathon highlights my complaint against the asynchronous games that populate Facebook: there are times when I just want to play straight for about 30-45 minutes (or more), instead of the “Ding! Sorry, your five minutes are up; please come back again in an hour to play some more, or shell out $5 to keep playing.” Of course, there are some games that make this work, but they are few and far between, alas.

Anyway, in this case of late night playing, it was largely the same thing that keeps a person wrapped up in a good book: “I just want to see how this part resolves before I call it a night.” In my case, it was the Water Temple; 4 levels of tricky access. See, you can control just how much water fills the temple, and thus, which corridors you have access to. One of things that has drawn me in to the game, especially in the temples, is watching how the levels are designed to provide the player with a large space which still has a linear pathway through out. In the current deluge of games that are claiming “sandbox” and “open world” environment, it’s refreshing to be playing a game that often shows why a linear approach to a level is just as much fun (and more, usually) when designed so that a player can only take one path through while making it feel like a completely natural progression.

I also continue to be amazed at how much I enjoy the reactions of Master (the name of my hero) and the other characters in the game, despite the low poly count and non-existent high-res textures.

Oh, and hey, how cool it is, indeed, to be playing a game with true Boss Fights? The boss fight for the Water Temple also had a way wicked intro sequence, showing things from the monster’s point of view as it snuck up on Master from behind.

Also, there was also a very nice touch of psychological weirdness in one room, where you enter what appears to be the outside, in front of a lake with a mirror reflection surface, and stretches off into a opaque, light fog. Turns out you can run across the surface, and it’s eerily quiet, aside from your footsteps across the water echoing about you. Then, without warning, you are attacked by a dark version of yourself. Now, we’ve seen this in many games, but the presentation of it here was really pretty well done. Honestly, I’m not doing the scene justice, either.

Plus, many of the fights are, so far, balanced enough that you can figure out what the weak spot is and how to win without having to get spattered several times beforehand. Navi acting as a mini hint guide is handy, but since she doesn’t always have the answers, you still have to do some thinking on your own.

Mind you, the swinging camera continues to be a great annoyance, the L-targeting can be mind-bendingly picky about when it will lock on, and the collection of subscreens (map, quest, inventory, etc.) is a pretty sad UI design that was clearly made to “show off” the “3D” abilities of the game. Fortunately, all of this continues to remain merely petty annoyances rather than major pitfalls.

Ever since my allergies decided to freak out over a week ago, I’ve since been struggling with this friggin’ hacking cough, and I have to be frank: it’s getting pretty old. My nose isn’t running as much anymore, at least, but it’s been replaced by having my mucus back up and require to be expunged from my system via the rather less-than-attractive art of spitting. While I understand that in many young men’s eyes, this is considered “cool” and “hip,” but it’s really not all that glamorous to me to have to deal with it somehow while in the office, or worse yet, on a date. Things seem to settle down as the day goes on, but still, it will be nice when this is pretty much cleared up.

The throat condition, combined with the sprained ankle and recent acquisition of Mass Effect 2, has meant that I really have not done a lot the past couple of weeks. For the most part, it’s just been work and home, with only one or two exceptions. With any luck, this week I can start being more productive, given that the ankle is feeling better (and having played through Mass Effect 2 a few times now), I’m hoping to get back into something of a productive mode. Ironically, this includes playing through some other video games that I have been putting off. Again, if you think it’s impossible to be productive playing games, I would asset that it is no more unproductive than reading books, watching movies, or viewing pretty much any reality television show.

Related to the sprained ankle, I have decided to take off sports for a couple of weeks, or so. I skipped last week, and shall do so again this week; next week I might give myself limited playing time, as the last thing I want to do is re-aggravate the injury. On a more pleasing note (in a weird sort of way), my basketball team went 1-3 last week, and my football team (apparently) were shut out again, in a blowout. So, this makes me feel better because, well, if the teams had done just brilliantly without my presence, it would have not been a great feeling. Selfish of me? Sure is, by golly! Woo!

[ S H I E L D B R E A K ! ! ! ]

I had a chance last week to catch a couple of movies via the wonders of YouTube. I should note that in both cases I doubt that they were up on the site with the blessings of the people who controlled the IP, and yet this did not prevent the IP holders from getting money from me; mainly because I wasn’t planning on buying or renting the films to begin with. Maybe I would have watched if aa friend loaned me the disk, but I suspect that still would not have led me to spending money for the films.

The first film was the Ray Harryhausen classic, “Jason and the Argonauts,” from 1963. And yes, I use the stop-motion animator’s name by the film, not the director, or lead actors. I had actually been interested in seeing this film after running across a (what else?) YouTube short about classic movie monsters, and Harryhausen is pretty much “The Man” when it comes to that. Bouncing around YouTube, I ran across the scene where the giant bronze statue of Talos first comes to life (which, to be frank, is pretty wicked cool), then I backtracked and managed to find the rest of the film.

It was intriguing to me in a number of ways, although it wasn’t something that I would call a particularly “good” film. The things which stick out for me:

• There are a lot of guys running around without their shirts on, and oft-times not even decent leggings. But here’s the kicker – in today’s Hollywood, you can bet that all the men would be severely ‘roided up and oiled, like they were about to step into a WWE title match. Sure, the men featured were in good shape (they had to be for the journey, after all) but it wasn’t as if they were working out at Gold’s Gym 4-6 hours each day, either, or guzzling protein shakes.
• The story actually threw me for a loop at the end. I will say that I did like how the betrayal was played out – I was honestly thinking that Medina had, in act, been the one to squeal on Jason, although I was thinking it was just an accidental circumstance. The actual source of the betrayal was actually pretty cool when I saw it revealed.
• The film, however, ended rather abruptly, it felt, largely because here it was gearing up for the return of Jason to battle for his throne, but rather, it ceased once he had the golden fleece and was back on the ship. I’m not sure if this was because there were plans to make it a series of movies, but honestly, it really sort of felt like “Oh crap, our budget is almost up! Quick, we gotta end this thing—roll the credits!”

Still, I’d say that the film is worth watching, if nothing else than for when Talos first comes to life and turns his head towards the intruders. The stop-motion animation actually lent itself well in this case, too, as it fit into the idea of a living giant bronze statue moving awkwardly about; bronze is not its most flexible while at room temperature.

Oh, and I have to wonder why Talos never used that sword he was carrying around. Aside from bringing the movie to a swift end, anyway.

As for the second film, “Snatch,” it was good to finally see this, especially given that I actually have “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels” at home. The opening sequence is great, and if I was going to buy a copy, this is the reason why; from the credit sequence that shows the group walking around on security cameras (and notice that the movie credits are actually showing up on the security monitors, a very nice touch) to the now-famous sequence of all the characters introduced. It’s not only a great way to actually introduce the characters (not the actors, mind you, but the characters themselves), but it’s also just a fun romp through edits and wipes that set the mood for the film itself.

I’ve often heard it said that people who see “Lock” first like that film better, and people who saw “Snatch” first like that film better. I can see why, as they both have a very similar style that, when you first see it, really grabs you, but when you see the next film, it’s more familiar and thus not as “fresh.” Both films are good, but I admit I follow the crowd here and having seen “Lock” first, I enjoyed that one more.

In my case, however, it’s actually more due to the story structure. See, in “Lock,” you are introduced to a vast array of characters earlier on, and it’s really a lot of fun watching how they all wind up interconnecting as the movie progresses, climaxing in basically every group from the film meeting (or almost meeting) around the main characters’ apartment. In “Snatch,” by contrast, you actually have two totally seperate storylines going on: The Boxing set-up, and the hunt for the diamond. The two never really intersect; Brick Top is involved in both, but very tangentially – he never had any interest in the diamond to begin with, and after he’s told about it, he makes no mention of it ever again. The dog crosses paths with Turkish and Tommy at the very end, but again, it’s more of a footnote than anything else. You probably could have told either story alone and, with some minor adjustments, both would have been just as strong.

Still, it’s a good run, and (like the aforementioned film) it’s refreshing to see people in films that aren’t all “perfect” human specimens. Brick Top, in particular, isn’t portrayed as the most dapper of souls, and that just reinforces (to me) his realism.

I ran across this yesterday, and thought it was a pretty nice video, a large part being that I recognized all of the sports press conferences that were used.

Another aspect that I really like about this is that because its video, you can see exactly how the DJ manipulated the clips (sped up, cut, etc.) so that the audio from the video clips falls deftly on the beats of the music.

King Hippo from the Wii version of Punch-Out

I finally got back into this game yesterday; I hadn’t played it since the summer, which is a shame, as it’s just a blast. The art direction, the toon shading, the personalities, the fact that the characters from the other countries actually speak their native tongue (even King Hippo)… and that’s not even counting the controls.

You can play it three ways:

1. Wii controller
2. Wii controller & nunchuk
3. Wii controller, nunchuk, and balance board

I go with the third option myself, and it actually winds up giving me a good bit of a workout. The balance board is used for dodging and ducking, which gives you more cardio than you might first suspect. I freely admit that the third option also makes the game more difficult; you have to be rather careful about how you shift your weight — you might duck instead of dodge, or even dodge the wrong way, which means that you’ll get clobbered. At the same time, it sure does feel like a heck of fight as you get up in levels. Mind you, I have only gotten up to the Major Circuit Title Bout, and even then, I’m only in Practice mode right now.

The game is a rhythm matching game, really, as the key to beating each opponent is learning the moves they have, and how/when to counter them. One thing that I really like is the Practice mode, which basically allows you to practice against your next opponent without worrying about getting clobbered. Thus, you have a chance to really study the opponent and find the weakness and patterns to exploit. The only thing I don’t like about it is the fact that Practice mode is split off from the Career Mode; basically, if you want to practice (we talkin’ about practice, man….), you have to Back out of Career Mode, and enter Exhibition Mode. Personally, I think it would have made more sense to put the Practice option in Career Mode, right next to the “Fight” button on the stage select screen.

As I was playing through the game this time through, I was also enjoying all the little details that really give a game depth:

• The arenas change depending on which circuit you’re fighting in; a small local ring, for example, for the Minor Circuit, while the Major Circuit is a large arena.
• When you get a KO with a Star Punch, you get a special seperate animation
• Both Little Mac and the opponents get progressively worse as they suffer more knock-downs (bruises, bandages, welts, etc.)
• Each fighter has his own background theme music based on his country of origin

I’ll have to keep at this game, and see if I can’t get through it with the Balance Board. Like I said, if you make the slightest mistake in how you shift your weight, you could lose a fight as a result. The flip side is that victory is all the more sweeter when you put your whole body into it.

Oh, and I almost forgot the main reason I decided to post: I finally figured out how to regain some of your health. In the original 8-bit game, you could press the buttons in-between matches to increase your stamina. Now, however (and from what I read, this was what they did in Super Punch Out), you basically go through your punches while you’re opponent is on the mat, and that increases your stamina. Definitely a handy thing to know, as the opposing fighters tend to hit like a truck.

This animation short is a prime example of why YouTube, regardless of whether or not it ever makes any money, deserves to be around. Back in undergrad, I had just missed the first few minutes of this short, but what I did see told me that it was something that was utterly brilliant. A simple story about a couple’s argument over a Scrabble game (and sawing the table, and shaking the eyes) set against a background of the ignorance of impending nuclear annihilation.

This is exactly the kind of thing that keeps me gung-ho for staying with the dream of making my own simple shorts. The very rough style works perfectly for the sort of scruffy story, and it also shows that the characters we relate to the easiest are those that have foibles, make mistake, and actually the way that we might act, even at times when we wouldn’t readily admit it.

This story could have easily been a downer if treated seriously, but there’s always just enough slapstick and outright absurdity (not only is it time for “Sawing for Teens,” but the studio audience can’t even say the title in sync) to keep the perfect mood.

One of the under-appreciated gems of traditional animation, this short will enrich your soul, make you smile, and teach you that in the event of a nuclear holocaust, you should extinguish all smoking materials and hide under a refrigerator.