I Never Buy Games....

The last game I bought was "Kartia", which I bought together with "Bushido Blade". They were expensive, since they were new and I bought them locally, for like $250 BBD total (about $125 US). However, I wanted to spend a lot of money on myself in an attempt to cheer myself up.

Since then, I've enjoyed Kartia but was disappointed by the abortion that was Bushido Blade. You can see the potential for a great game there, but they got too caught up in their "system" to actually make it... to date, no other game has had such free movement, not even the Dead or Alive series with its multi-tiered levels... but, Dead or Alive is actually fun to play; Bushido Blade makes you wonder if they ever heard of the concept "play testing", where actually people who aren't brainwashed by their "developers' reality distorition field" could tell them "look, this control scheme sucks. one-hit kills are interesting, but you need more play modes. you need tons more variety in the one-player mode "Slash".... why not reuse parts of the fighting arena?" and stuff like that.

Kartia was complete as a game but needed an enhanced sequel. It should have began a series, rather than being a stand-alone. I mean, they created this whole world, and only used it once? What a waste of "IP"(Intellectual Property)! Kartia needed something like an expansion pack, at least. However, that is something that never, ever happens with console games, until the recently released Persona 3:FES (P3:FES or just FES) for the PlayStation 2 (PS2).

Of course, sequels and enhanced revisions are released more often in Japan, but that doesn't matter as the people with the money (Middle America) don't speak Japanese.

So, since then, I've borrowed, traded, and otherwise acquired games. Technically, I don't have a console videogame system anymore: a friend lent me his PS2, part of his game library, and his DreamCast. I actually play the PS2 a bit but haven't set up the DC in forever. I just don't make the time.

You see, if I spend a lot of money on something, I want to feel that it was worth it... but game-making is an "industry", and there's something wrong with that. Contrast it with writing or singing. Yes, they're commercial publishing houses for books... but plenty of people write for their own benefit, or with the hopes of being paid in attention. Similarly, people sing in the shower. However, most people who make games in the "industry" are... delusional. The delusions vary. Some people love playing games, so they study, get a CS degree, and get hired, ridden like slaves, burnt-out, all the whilst lying to everyone, mostly themselves, that they are doing what they love.

Until people come out of the shower, or wake up from a dream, and express a game in the same way they'd express a song or a story, and moreover, at least a few of these people become obvious commercial successes, I can't say that game-making is really "mature". It is still a den of delusions....

Before I rant on, though, I do actually play some games... P1 (Revelations: Persona, now better know as Persona 1 since Persona came out) and P3 the most frequent on console, and I have a on-and-off relationship with StarCraft.... but most of all, I think about how games are made, or could be made. It fascinates me.

And, I think we (I) can do it better... and, in parallel, do something else: to liberate my mind from delusions, and rule over my own world. In other words, to "grow up". To mature. To balance. To attain the standard of life, rather than wallow in poverty or under-achievement.

So, blogs are a part of the expression, but there is a more powerful form of express, in the form of creation... poetry, prose, "moving comics", and ultimately, interactive audiovisual dramatic presentations (my view of what videogames can be, when done properly), are all forms of expression which I try at...

Most of the time, I fail to concentrate enough. That has bothered me for a while, but nowadays, it is less of an issue, because I clearly am expressing more, and more consistently.

In any case, I also need a stable, wide income stream in order to even consider buying games... right now, I am like a spoilt kid in that I get things which I don't directly work for... but I believe that by under-acheiving, it is as if I am burying myself, one wasted day at a time... so, I came up with a plan to "actualize" myself... and it basically goes like this: live long and strong, with frequent remembering of self, an the path to success will open itself.

"Hitman(2007)" quoted the Psalms when it said the same thing in another way:

Trust in the Lord,
... and everything you desire
shall become manifest.

(my paraphrase).

Ah, A Purpose!

I've decided that this can serve a purpose, after all:

I can use this exclusively for stuff that I have made public and viewable by the casual world, like the youtube channel (Bajan13K) that we maintain. This then leaves my "Threshold of Kohesion" blog( granitor.livejournal.com) for rants (and general neglect).

At least, that feels like the right thing to do.

So, I've gotta go see if I can get my video capture rig operative again, but, here are some megaten related links (and news):

They're at least three translation projects in the works:

(the "Old Testament" of megaten):

http://kyuuyaku.blogspot.com/

(Persona 2: Innocent Sin, the prequel to Persona 2: Eternal Punishent, called Tsumi and translated for ... estimated retail price of $30 US (requires seperately acquired image of japanese game) work in progress, ETA before Dec. of this year)

http://tsumi.wordpress.com/

The main author of this work also has a youtube presence, with video clips of their progress so far:

http://www.youtube.com/user/geminimewtwo

The P3 Manga is beingtranslated by fans:

P3 Project:-
http://gekkoukanhigh.ongakusai.net/?page_id=4

but they're stuck and are recruiting people:-

http://gekkoukanhigh.ongakusai.net/?page_id=38

And, that's all for now.

Just Another Mindless Link Propogation

Well, google is really "in everything", but I don't really see the point of blogger, when livejournal is doing an okay job and there are already vibrant communities...

EDIT: My newer livejournal blog: http://bajan13k.livejournal.com/

So, you can usually find my cousins' blogs at http://granitor.livejournal.com
and our youtube presence is http://www.youtube.com/user/bajan13k
and this is just something I did randomly, I guess.