– L’Arachel, Fire Emblem Heroes
This quote’s meaning can be interpreted in a few ways:
I swear I will learn to play this on violin one day. The English version of Fire Emblem Echoes’ ending theme caught me totally off-guard because I’ve never listened to it before.
One of the most beautiful and emotionally powerful videogame ending-theme songs I’ve listened to. Only Late Goodbye from Max Payne 2 and Memories of You 「キミの記憶」 from Persona 3: FES can match it.
Forever grateful to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems for including the English version of Heritors of Arcadia in the Fire Emblem Echoes OST.
Had a conversation with one of my friends over the phone the other day, we suddenly started talking about videogames.
Friend: I still haven’t touched NieR: Automata.
Me: It’s a great game, if you can reach the true end after five endings.
Friend: I’m not sure if I want to sit through five endings… I’d rather just YouTube them.
I didn’t know how to respond to my friend after that, and just switched to another topic. He does have a valid point though. Games are time-consuming.
But actually playing the game, figuring out how to solve problems, and mastering the skills the game requires of you, is drastically different than spectating it.
Imagine you’re watching a chess match between two grandmasters. You understand what’s going on and who’s winning, and why they are winning. Now imagine after the match is over, you stand up and declare that, “I’m a chess grandmaster too, because I watched two grandmasters play out a high-level match.”
That’s absolutely ludicrous. And the same logic applies to videogames. How can you say that you have truly experienced a game if all you did is watch someone else play it?
I’m not trying to start a grudge against viewers of “let’s plays”. Just bringing up some food for thought: The best way to experience an interactive medium like videogames, is to actually play it yourself — that’s how the developers intended it.
I want to reach out into my computer monitor and give this imaginary character a big hug. Monika gets why I love orchestral music.
Had an incredibly stressful day at work today. So the only way for me to calm my mind after work, was to do this 1 hour and 18 minute workout. It caught my eye long ago, but I never really attempted it until now.
What I love about Team Body Project is how the instructors always find ways to motivate and push you in a positive way during the workouts.
“There is no such thing as failure.”
“Keep pushing, don’t stop!”
I easily completed the entire session without taking a break or feeling winded, which was a big surprise. Normally I start to get exhausted at around the 40-minute mark for their aerobics workouts, which is quite intensive cardio exercise.
I’m not asking everyone to start doing one-hour workouts, but exercise really helps you to de-stress. Even 20 minutes of stationary skipping or simple jogging is good enough to get your endorphins rolling. Healthy body leads to a healthy mind.
– The Delgados, lyrics from The Light Before We Land (opening theme of Gunslinger Girl)
I finally subscribed to Netflix last week, after having resisted the urge for so long. Mainly because I am a traditional, old-school viewer who prefers to purchase physical releases of his favourite movies and TV series. I want to own a physical collection, display them on my shelves, and then maybe pass them down and lend them to my children and future generations one day.
The idea of paying an online subscription in order to watch shows turns me off slightly: This means that each month, you need to watch enough hours in order to make your subscription worthwhile. Also, you need a good Internet connection to view Netflix on your devices. Not a problem here in urban Singapore where we have a strong, high-speed Internet infrastructure. But what if you live in an area without access to a reliable Internet connection? What if you’re traveling and on the move? Netflix does not allow you to download a digital, VOD copy to your device due to DRM and security reasons.
I still subscribed anyway for my first free month, purely because I wanted to listen to the English dub of Violet Evergarden, one of the best anime titles released so far this year. I subscribed for an English anime dub, and I’m staying for the rest of Netflix’s catalogue.
One of the problems that so many online app stores or services face is discoverability. Apple has been struggling with this issue for their App Store for years, and a few years ago Microsoft was facing the same dilemma for their Xbox online store. How do you curate, organise, and customise your catalogue so that the user is able to discover new and interesting titles? Within my first few minutes of using Netflix, there were already many other titles that caught my eye for the Singapore catalogue of shows available: Gunslinger Girl, Rurouni Kenshin, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and The Flash to name a few.
My excitement at seeing Gunslinger Girl turned to immediate horror when I clicked “play” for Episode 1. The opening theme song for the series is missing. I’m assuming that Netflix were unable to acquire the song licence for this territory (Singapore) from the original artiste. This was unacceptable to me. The opening theme for Gunslinger Girl is an absolutely vital component of the show, it was what gave the series its unique flavour and spirit. I can’t imagine other viewers discovering Gunslinger Girl for the first time on Netflix Singapore, unable to experience the stirring and memorable opening theme.
And there lies Netflix’s biggest weakness as an online entertainment hub. All because of the way online DRM, territorial restrictions, and digital licences work. Some shows and movies are going to be removed from the catalogue once their licences expire. Some shows have to be presented in an altered form like Gunslinger Girl.
I’m grateful to finally be able to experience the convenience, navigability, and discoverability of Netflix. But at the end of the day, I will still purchase the physical releases of shows that I really enjoyed.
Because Gunslinger Girl’s opening theme is very important.
NieR: Automata celebrated its one-year anniversary this week for the game’s North American and European release. I thought I’d share one of my favourite tracks from the game, the highly under-appreciated Forest Kingdom composed by Keigo Hoashi.
Of course everyone loves Bipolar Nightmare and Weight of the World, which are probably the game’s most popular songs due to their fast and powerful, percussive nature. This also explains why I really like Forest Kingdom: From the percussion notes at the start, to the chorus chanting, and the supporting violins in the background, it all comes together beautifully to produce a track that’s very different, tranquil, and relaxing to listen to.
Happy anniversary NieR: Automata. I’ll attempt to replay the game on Very Hard mode one day.
This pseudo-review contains some light spoilers for the Tomb Raider movie. Stop reading now if you want to enjoy the movie experience blind.
Videogame movie adaptations don’t often translate well to the movie screen, not because of the lack of interactivity, but because most mainstream games last way longer than the duration of a normal film. How do you take a videogame like Tomb Raider (2013), which requires about 8 to 20+ hours of playtime to complete, and condense it into a two to three-hour film, while keeping most of the story and characterisation intact?
For Tomb Raider (2018) director Roar Uthaug, the solution was quite simple: Remove 90% of the game’s original cast, and place the focus squarely on protagonist Lara Croft and her father.
Based on the rebooted 2013 Tomb Raider videogame developed by Crystal Dynamics, Lara is depicted this time as a hardy, gritty warrior-woman who has to find a way to survive on a harsh island inhabited by a group of mercenary thugs. Prior to the reboot, Lara’s character was more of a femme fatale — she was a pistol-wielding badass, but also a voluptuous one with her tight, busty tank-top and low shorts. It was also probably the reason why Angelina Jolie was cast as Lara in the original 2001 and 2003 movies.
I remember watching both movies but I honestly can’t remember anything noteworthy. It was so forgettable that not even Jolie’s charisma and star power could save the films. Alicia Vikander replaces Jolie for this reboot, and the difference is like night and day. She’s leaner, more athletic, and portrays the rebooted Lara with believable credibility. She’s a rich heiress to a family fortune, but refuses to inherit her father’s wealth. She’s figuring out what to do with her life while struggling to make ends meet. She’s mortified after being forced to kill another human being in order to survive.
By getting rid of all of the other unnecessary characters in Lara’s crew from the original game, we can easily emphatise more with Vikander’s Lara. She isn’t exactly a superhero like Wonder Woman, but she’s a British girl that we can identify with and relate with. I really applaud Square Enix for giving Uthaug and his crew the freedom to try something different that veers away slightly from the original story. Even Princess Himiko, the main antagonist, has been drastically altered from her videogame form.
Despite the changes, there are many subtle references in the film that pay homage to the original source material for fans to spot. From the parkour sequences, to the puzzle solving, to Lara sneaking around with her bow, and the notorious ice axe, it’s clear that Uthaug’s team have done their homework. This is a film adaptation created by people who respect and understand the original game, and it shows.
What makes a good videogame movie? I’ve asked myself this question repeatedly over the years after subjecting myself to a neverending highlight reel of some of the worst movies I’ve ever watched based on videogames (King of Fighters, Warcraft: The Beginning, and the fucking Resident Evil films that have absolutely nothing to do with the games to name a few). And I still don’t know the answer.
All I know is that, I enjoyed the Tomb Raider movie reboot because it perfectly captures the game’s spirit. It also has its own identity and soul, something that the Warcraft film seriously lacked. Go watch it if you liked the rebooted games.
via: BBC News
“The most important quality of chess is that it’s a fair game, so young children start learning a game which is clean and honourable, and it teaches them good behaviour. The child is constantly making strategic decisions – assessing the situation before making a move.”
“I think this is a great benefit for society as a whole.”
I loved chess as a primary and secondary school kid. I wasn’t good at it, but I fondly remember buying chess books on basic strategies and openings, and trying to recreate and study them on my chessboard.
I eventually stopped this hobby because I couldn’t find anyone to play with, but it left an impression on me for the rest of my life: Turn-based videogames are one of my favourite genres, I greatly value the ability to pause, think, and slowly strategise your next move. It also probably explains why I dislike impulsiveness — chess taught me the importance of thinking ahead and knowing the full consequences of your actions.
Very amazed that Armenia has made chess education compulsory for six to eight-year-olds. You’ll never ever see this sort of thing here in Singapore. Our society is so focused on paper-meritocracy and elitism above all else, that “chess education” would seem like an utter joke to them.
Likes videogames a lot, and good videogame writers even more. Plays almost everything except for rhythm games. Also enjoys sports, animation, comics, Japanese language studies, and the occasional American TV drama. Contributes to BallBall and No Game No Talk.
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