2016年05月23日
Gametrekking
Hello, all!
I noticed that many people have been blogging about video games recently, so I thought I'd do the same! When I was in junior high and high school, like most of my generation, video gaming was one of my favorite pastimes. I even designed a few video game levels and made some simple games (I learned how binary logic works from setting up trigger elevators in Star Wars: Dark Forces, which shows how old I really am). But in college, I really ran out of time for gaming, and I've never been able to play more than one or two games a year since.
But I haven't lost interest! One of my best friends creates independent video games as art projects, and as I result I often like to check out small, indie releases. Many of these games are very untraditional, but my favorites have a quality to them mainstream games often lack: their goal is to make you think, not have fun. (Having fun is great too, of course! It's just that indie games have a different agenda.) The idea is to make something more like "art" than mainstream games, in the same way difficult-to-understand films are often called "art cinema." Many are very silly, but some are really interesting.
Some years ago, my friend launched a project on Kickstarter and spent a long time traveling around Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, making "travel video games." Instead of travel writing, he'd put his thoughts about his experiences into the form of a very small video game! He wound up with a small collection of video games you can download for free here! Some of the games really are pretty fun—you can spend hours playing the Taiwan-based "Status Quo," which looks so simple
but is such an interesting, evolving gameplay challenge!—while others are much more experimental
"Loneliness," about the Korean educational system, made the biggest splash on the Internet and is either the best game ever or the most pretentious piece of junk ever depending on whom you ask.
...or aggressively unpleasant, to inspire thought.
I think "The Killer," about Cambodia, wound up with the most divisive response, and certainly it's the most extreme of the batch—love it or hate it, you can't deny that it gets its message across!
Try out the Gametrekking Omnibus and see what you think! Maybe you'll want to check out a few more indie games sometime...
—Matthew
I noticed that many people have been blogging about video games recently, so I thought I'd do the same! When I was in junior high and high school, like most of my generation, video gaming was one of my favorite pastimes. I even designed a few video game levels and made some simple games (I learned how binary logic works from setting up trigger elevators in Star Wars: Dark Forces, which shows how old I really am). But in college, I really ran out of time for gaming, and I've never been able to play more than one or two games a year since.
But I haven't lost interest! One of my best friends creates independent video games as art projects, and as I result I often like to check out small, indie releases. Many of these games are very untraditional, but my favorites have a quality to them mainstream games often lack: their goal is to make you think, not have fun. (Having fun is great too, of course! It's just that indie games have a different agenda.) The idea is to make something more like "art" than mainstream games, in the same way difficult-to-understand films are often called "art cinema." Many are very silly, but some are really interesting.
Some years ago, my friend launched a project on Kickstarter and spent a long time traveling around Korea, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, making "travel video games." Instead of travel writing, he'd put his thoughts about his experiences into the form of a very small video game! He wound up with a small collection of video games you can download for free here! Some of the games really are pretty fun—you can spend hours playing the Taiwan-based "Status Quo," which looks so simple
but is such an interesting, evolving gameplay challenge!—while others are much more experimental
"Loneliness," about the Korean educational system, made the biggest splash on the Internet and is either the best game ever or the most pretentious piece of junk ever depending on whom you ask.
...or aggressively unpleasant, to inspire thought.
I think "The Killer," about Cambodia, wound up with the most divisive response, and certainly it's the most extreme of the batch—love it or hate it, you can't deny that it gets its message across!
Try out the Gametrekking Omnibus and see what you think! Maybe you'll want to check out a few more indie games sometime...
—Matthew
2016年05月23日
Circuit shenanigans
A few weeks ago I managed to get out to the circuit with a Japanese friend of mine.
I spent the morning watching drifting. I even got to go for a ride along! I still haven't been able to drive though. :( The Stagea just needs one or two more things before I can take it out.
It was lots of fun, and Ill be heading back soon for sure.
I spent the morning watching drifting. I even got to go for a ride along! I still haven't been able to drive though. :( The Stagea just needs one or two more things before I can take it out.
It was lots of fun, and Ill be heading back soon for sure.
