Crash Bandicoot?

So apparently I am getting an original Playstation from my boyfriend for Christmas.  He claims I lack a passion for video games because I was not introduced to the culture correctly at a more tender age.  So his solution? Crash Bandicoot.

Crash Bandicoot is a game that came out in 1996 for the original Playstation platform.  It is about Crash, a 'bandicoot', created by the game's antagonists Doctor Neo Cortex and his henchman Doctor Nitrus Brio.  Crash is on a mission to foil his creators' plot of world domination.  In the meantime he must clean up pollution they cause and also try to save his girlfriend Tawna, a female bandicoot.

In the game Crash can only do three moves: run, jump, and a spin attack.

This I find interesting, I guess I'll have to wait & see what I get under the tree this year! ;]

Call of Duty consumes lives.

So ever since the release of Modern Warfare 2 a couple of weeks ago, I have seen less and less of some of the guys I know on campus.

After trying anf failing miserably in class, I will be steering clear of CoD but I cannot say the same for my boyrfriend and his friends.  Conversations in class or in the cafeteria have recently included many statements similar to "Later, man, we're completing all of Echo.." or "DUDE, SPEC-OPS." 

This kind of talk goes completely over my head.  When I watch anyone play the game, especially when being played by more than one player at a time in the same room, I just witness the strategies being laid out.  These guys will plan out meticulous attack and defense strategies that show me critical thinking skills that I previously didn't think any of them possessed.  It makes me wonder what they could accomplish if they put those tactics to work in other aspects of their daily lives? Hm.

Wii!

So this past week in class we had game day.  The class divided into two room: one with an Xbox and the other with a Wii.  Most of the avid gamers ran next door to the Xbox room to play the new Call of Duty which has been consuming lives since its recent release.

I, however, stayed in the room with the Wii.  I have had very limited experience with video game systems, especially the Wii.  I had played Wii bowling and boxing MAYBE once a couple of years ago. This time around, we took turns playing different games found in Wii Sports Resort.  I watched a couple of my classmates play the Waterskiing game and it was very amusing.  Other students played an Archery game, which I knew I would be terrible at.  As I sat there, I felt like the poor student in math class dreading his turn up at the board for fear of being terribly wrong.  However, I lucked out and by the time it was my turn to play the magnificent game of Wii Swordfighting was up on the screen.  I had a feeling this game would actually be fun and a healthy way to channel out my frustration of being terrible at playing video games in general.  I played a few of my classmaytes and suffered losses as well as experienced triumphs.  This is a game I actually hope to play gain in the near future, I even broke a sweat.

UPDATE: I have succeeded in smuggling my friend's Wii system into my apartment and am about to go set i up to play some games I don't fail miserably at...

Womb Raider

So my highly anticipated halloween costume turned out to be almost all I hoped it would be.  Womb Raider manifested herself twice this halloween season fully strapped with hand gun and baby dolls.  I was only disappointed in my hunt for baby dolls of multiple ethnicities.  I went into multiple stores across the island and could only find a minimal selection of caucasian baby dolls.  I was so sure I would be able to easily get my hands on an African baby as well as an Asian baby doll in order to realistically portray Madamn Jolie and her diverse group of adopted children.

For those curious as to the final outcome:

 

Sadly I could only represent the biological twins.  

Fail.

SO due to forgetfulness && shotty internet connection in my apartment, I have had a lapse in postings..I am currently typing from my parents' home computer, sweet.

SO new in my gaming world: I have officially purchased my first video game! Even better is that it's Batman: Arkham Asylum.<3 

I am still not passed the first parts of the game however, because I am atrocious and ignorant when it comes to console game play.  I am lost when I have someone over my shoulder playing backseat gamer yelling things like "PRESS X, NOW A, DOWN TWICE . .WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING C'MON!!"

=(

I'm sorry, I suck.  No other way to sugarcoat it, I am a crazy novice to all of this.  I am going to try though, because it's a skill so many my age have to a certain degree, I may as well at least attempt to be a semi-mediocre player. If I can only be so lucky..

The game itself it awesome though. I can't critique it how others can because I don't know enough about games to make such distinctions.  I can just say it has an interesting back story, characters I have always loved, and insanely good graphics attached to the dark allure of the game.


I'm going to go back to my apartment now, & try to play for a few. ;]

P.S. Batman is super jacked.

Hallow's Eve is A Comin'

Every year I like to put a good amount of thought into my halloween costume.  This year I've been brainstorming and might just addorn myself with a video-game inspired look.  There are two ideas I've been entertaining, but I'm still not sure which one is better.
While surfing the web, I cam across a website with all sorts of costume accessories.  One thing that caught my eye was this wig: http://www.pierresilber.com/redwigs2.html which could help me transform myself into a living Guitar Hero.  If you've ever noticed, the characters in the game are colorful and dressed ridiculously.  I feel it might be appropriate to make myself up as such since 70% of all the down time in my apartment seems to be taken up by my friends playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

Idea number two is more cliche: Lara Croft.  This makes me want to give the traditional costume a little twist.  If I can come up with a way to put this together properly, I'll make myself a hybrid costume based on the Lara Croft character and Octomom.  Angelina Jolie has six* children thus far, so she's well on her way to dethroning the infamous Octomom anyway.  I'll have to gather a bunch of baby dolls, lip plumping gloss, and a couple gun holsters to become the Womb Raider...

*I actually had to look up how many children she has: "Brad and Angelina have 6 children: Maddox Chivan, Zahara Marley, Pax Thien, Shiloh Nouvel and their new set of twins; the boy Knox Leon and the girl Vivienne Marcheline. "  Thank you WikiAnswers!

So I'm starting to think that video games can inspire aa number of things, first my friend's tattoos and now my future costume.  We'll see in a couple weeks what I can put together. ;]

..

Video Games as Body Art?

Two popular items of young culture these days: video games & tattoos

Have you ever seen them combined?

I have a best friend named Skye.  These are two of her seven tattoos, with more to come.  However, I thought it was interesting that although not a huge video game fan herself, two of the designs she chose to permanently mark her body with are from popular video games.

The first is the star from Mario.  These cute little tokens, when attained in many of the Mario games including Super Mario Bros. series and the Mario Kart series, provide the player with temporary invincibility.  This saves the user from harmful projectiles and enemnies while also increasing the player's speed greatly.  Certain great dangers however, such as lava, and falling, the player is still suceptible to making him/her not completely invulnerable.

The second design here, but in reality Skye's first tattoo, is a winged mixtape design.  It is not as obvious as the close-up shot of her ankle tat, but you can still clearly see the design on her hip in the photo.  Skye has always been a music junkie, and has been a sucker for mixed tapes/CDs for as long as she can remember.  It is pretty simple to understand why she chose a cassette tape design with wings over a compact disc.  It doesn't make for as cute of a tattoo,  and cassettes are more symbolic of the personalized music mix. 

After settling on this, she took her idea to the tattoo parlor.  When asked to draw it up, the artist's easiest mental reference for a design was from the popular video game, Guitar Hero.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, think about what you see on the loading screen after choosing a song.  It's a fact or random statement about life as a performing musician along with a moving graphic which in many cases is the winged cassette tape.  He drew this design for her, and she was pleased with it.

Personally, I love all of her tattoos. But my question is: have video games become such an integral part of our culture that it is now commonly acceptable for designs relating to them to be tattoo ideas?  I know tattoos commonly come from religion, art, ethnic heritage, music, and even movies & comics.  But the thought that something from a video game can be adapted in a way that one willingly tattoos the design on their body forever is an interesting thought, maybe even debate.  Can a tattoo idea taken from a game ever be taken seriously?  Do you feel that one can find personal meaning and significance in a design adapted from a video game?