It’s hard to believe how fast they’ve been dishing out these god awful parody movies. I think we’ve all bee seeing the “Superhero Movie” ads on TV. Not only is this another one of those weak and embarrassingly bad parody movies, but it is already the second parody movie this year, and it’s only March!

I heard they were making another Scary Movie due out this year as well. I can see it now… An I Am Legend parody where Eddie Griffin is the last man in New York City, but I’m sure they’d give it a clever twist like he’s the last black guy in New York City Ha Ha. There’s no surprise why we get so many of these, they just do well at the box office, it’s as plain and simple as that. Though it’s a real shame that when there are so many aspiring, creative filmmakers ready to cut their teeth. I mean, the title of this piece of crap perfectly sums up the amount of effort put into it “Superhero Movie” I guess if they called it anything else they’d think people would be confused.

This new one, in particular, is especially perplexing. A superhero parody movie? Shouldn’t that have been done when there was a huge string of superhero movies coming out? I thought these films tried to be current… And that’s another thing, do they realize how none of this will hold up? Do they really think a parody of Britney Spears guy will still be funny five years from now? I guess that doesn’t matter because they make lots of money. Maybe they purposely make them bad for that reason?

Nah, they’re just idiots. These have definitely strayed from the original films that inspired this genre. Old Zucker and Abrahams movies gems like Airplane, Naked Gun, and Hot Shots. At least those weren’t directly ripping off movies. Now it’s literally repeating what we’ve already seen with no new added satire or kind of analysis. Hell, even the Zuckers and Abrahams have resorted to cheap gimmicks these days. It’s easy to say that the novelty has worn off (at least for any person with common sense) so let’s hope that these eventually lessen in popularity. It’s simply for the good of mankind.

Just thought that I’d alert everyone that you can download a quarter of Nine Inch Nail’s latest album “Ghosts I-IV” for free legally from this website. I’m not sure if this is old news or not, but I just found out last night. Gave it a listen, not bad, not really my type though. It’s all instrumental and has the familiar NIN dark, techy sound. But why listen to me talk about it when you can get it for free? Download it yourself! Do it, do it now!

So I played Smash Bros. Brawl for several hours today and loved it. The game plays a little slower than melee, but its just as fun, just as competitive and just as exciting as it ever was. I thought the new characters were pretty good, but I only played a few of them. Pokemon Trainer, Pit and Metaknight were all great, Dedede was OK, I didn’t really care for Olimar or Lucas. Of course we didn’t have all the characters unlocked but during our multiplay we were able to get Ness, Marth and Luigi. A lot of the new stages are really interesting and fun to play on, no really clunkers. I played with just the remote once, sucked. Gamecube controllers are the way to go. That’s really all there is to it, it’s the same insanely addictive multiplayer we’ve come to love. Can’t wait to get started on the singleplayer this spring break.

I can’t believe “Cat Fancy” missed the March 8th post. I suppose it was going to happen eventually, I wasn’t home all day but I guess that’s no excuse. Hopefully we can learn from this mistake and it won’t happen again. We’ll keep bringing you the cold hard facts as often as we can, so thanks for reading anyways.

P.S. Peter and I went over to the Seattle “Silver Platters” for a quick browse, and there was actually a band playing there. I knew that they occasionally had artists perform but I’d never seen one personally. Unfortunately it was an acoustic set from “Angels and Airwaves” I guess it was cool to see Blink 182 Guy (Tom Delonge, who talks just like he sings) but he really wasn’t funny with his stupid “Hey so you guys in Seattle drink like Coffee right?” jokes. Me and Peter left halfway into their first song (That guy’s voice is pretty annoying) kind of neat to see a somewhat famous band but they still suck.

I don’t want to make John sound like more of a douche than he already did, but he clearly doesn’t understand the importance of writing to video games. His problem is the same problem that so many people, from Jack Thompson to Roger Ebert, have. They disregard video games as a form of art. Just as much planning goes into a scene, or “level,” in a video game as in any movie; often times much more. But video games take things even further than film, they introduce the element of interactivity.

The story of a video game has to last a lot longer than a movie. It also has to be fun for the player, so there have to be many moments where the player can actually play. There are, of course, games that let the story take center stage and force lengthy cinematics, like Metal Gear Solid and to a much greater extent, Xenogears, but the majority of games just use cinematics as bookends. Nowadays, many games don’t even really have them at all. But let’s not forget that the story isn’t the whole of the writing, it is the characters and their dialogue that drive player’s interest and keep them going.

Take for instance the hit game Portal. Many gamers loved this game specifically for its innovative gameplay and topnotch writing. In Portal you play a prisoner forced to go through a the testing grounds for a new portal-dispensing gun. Along the way, a computer guides you and criticizes you. Her constant narration grows increasingly more insane as you progress through the game, and eventually face her. Aspects of the story, like your only motivation being cake and your only ally being the “weighted companion cube” (which you have to drop into an incinerator) are very original and amusing.

Or you could look at Mass Effect, Bioware’s epic RPG from last year. This game is as good as it is because of writing. You play as Commander Shepherd, captain of the spaceship Normandy, the man (or woman) charged with saving the universe. What made this game so special is that every piece of dialogue was so well written and interesting. Most importantly, the player got to choose what Shepherd says every time they talk. The gameplay in Mass Effect is quite average, but good writing made it into one of last year’s best.

Bioshock, Half-Life 2 Episode 2, Halo 3… I could go on and on about games that came out last year that benefited from having an interesting story. I think my colleague is just confused about what makes writing so important. Do you think that clever jokes and parodies like those that Grand Theft Auto made are not acceptable as good writing? Do you really believe you would have played the Metal Gear Solid games if the story was not so compelling? Yes its convoluted, but you kind of sign up for that when you play the Metal Gear Solid games.

Video games are always getting the shaft. People seem to believe that they exists purely to stupefy kids and train them to be killing machines. Well the majority of gamers are older nowadays, and they expect entertainment that’s not only fun, but interesting as well. Some of the best stories I saw last year came from games. The dialogue, story, the scenarios the player is put in, the choices they have to make, all of these have to be good to get people to spend $60 on a game. Don’t you think good writing should be recognized, no matter where it is?

I read an article today about last February’s WGA awards regarding their new category “Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing.” This year’s award went to the PSP game Dead Head Fred which is about a private eye (voiced by John C. McGinley) who wakes up to find his head replaced by a brain in a jar. This game beat out such titles as The Simpsons Game and Crash of the Titans.

Does video game writing deserve this honor? I’ve never played a video game in my life that had a consistently good story. I don’t think it’s possible for a video game to have a great story. In a game, the main focus is to “play” the game. Maybe there have been games out there that start with an interesting premise or concept but in my experience, it’s hard to carry a narrative for over six hours.

Some of the best games I’ve played don’t have strong stories. The Grand Theft Auto series for example. Maybe there’s funny dialogue, but those games are also riddled with cliches, stereotypes, and knockoffs of pre-existing material like Miami Vice and Boyz N’ the Hood. Don’t get me wrong. I love those games, but they are very face value games. Is there anything really substantial ticking at the heart of Vice City’s Tommy Vercetti?. Not that I know of. Which is okay. I play GTA to “Play” not watch.

How about The Metal Gear Solid series? Hideo Kojima’s series is known for its extensive and complex plot lines. I enjoy these games, but they’re needlessly convoluted. I Remember playing MGS: 2 and I couldn’t believe how many cut scenes piled up the further I progressed. It got to the point where I had to skip these scenes because I wanted so desperately to be in control. It’s my belief that 90% should be about gameplay. If I wanted to watch a movie I would watch a movie.

Maybe, it’s not fair to judge the whole industry with such a small sample size, but I can only speak from personal experience. The way we interact with games is different from how we interact with movies or TV. We control the pace and rhythm of a game. In a way, we the players are the writers because we control the action, and actions are the most important part of storytelling

When you take control away from the player for the sake of exposition you lessen the experience. There’s never a time when I was relieved to see a cut scene. Perhaps I’m impatient. Or it could be I’m not your typical gamer. I respect games as art but more so I respect them as recreation. And when I play, I want to PLAY. No one should be rewarded for taking that away from me. Just a thought.