The Thing, a Dead Space Predecessor pt.1/2

NOTE:  THIS POST INCLUDES SPOILERS!  Don’t whine and cry if anything gets ruined for you.  A fair warning’s been given.

On Tuesday night, I watched The Thing, directed by John Carpenter.  It had been on my “to-watch” list for a while, and I am ashamed I waited so long to see it.

The story revolves around an isolated, American Antarctic team that come into contact with… the Thing, after it is chased to them by the remnants of a Norwegian team.  This Thing is in the form of a dog from the team from Norway, and had previously obliterated that team.  The two Norwegians conveniently died, leaving the Americans without a clue as to what is now in their midst.

Very quickly, the team sees that this dog is something monstrous, as it proceeds to attempt to absorb their dogs.  It is ghastly, gross, and consists of some of the best monster effects I’ve ever seen.  Throughout the movie, the team is busy trying to figure out which of their members have been infected by the Thing, turning on each other while subsequently being attacked by the creature.  In all the action, the main characters find out that the Thing is actually an alien that crash landed hundreds-of-thousands of years ago - being preserved in the ice of the continent - and can absorb the cells of any other creature and create a perfect copy; imitation happens in about 2 to 10 minutes.

The end of the movie is a cliffhanger, but the action throughout is in a constant ebb and flow in a crescendo of fire, ice, and gooey monster bits.  Oh, and spider heads.  The frikken monsters can fall apart into many monsters.  There is a shocker as well in that killing the Things doesn’t always leave them dead.  Is any of this sounding familiar yet?

Continued on pt.2!

Eth – A Spiritual Companion

The game team I’m serving on right now, Team Squaybies, is making Mami – an ethereal 2D puzzle-platformer set in the spirit world.  The player controls the actions of a small child in this world who’s being accompanied by Eth, a … “companion,” of sorts.  The other day I had the request to expand upon the description of Eth after an iteration presentation.  So, here goes nothing!

Mechanically, Eth provides the light that the player can see by (the dead spirit world is a dark and gloomy place), is the main tool for acquiring objects, and acts as the primary interface between the child and the environment.  Eth also is an inventory, for he can literally swallow-up other spirits and needed items found throughout play.  Eth uses what is in the inventory to project powers that eliminate opponents and help overcome similar obstacles.

Narratively, Eth is much more than a simple tool.  This “Guardian Spirit” first introduces himself by swallowing the first spirit that the player meets during the tutorial introduction.  This shady character will accompany the player through thick-and-thin as the user attempts to get out of the spirit world.  Though Eth is helping the main character, he may have motives of his own …

Well, that’s a quick overview of Eth, the Guardian Spirit of Mami!  If you have any questions more about this character, or Mami, or Team Squaybies, (etc. etc. etc.) comment below or write me at my email.  Thanks for the read!

LoL

So… ya.  I played the infamous League of Legends the other day.

League of Legends is a multiplayer online game based upon the world-wide hit Defense of the Ancients (DotA).  Users duke it out against bots or other players in 1v1, 3v3, and 5v5 setups.  With the number of characters a player may choose, the spells used, the combos implemented, choices of characters of teammates and opponents, and the huge amount of buffing gear to buy, anyone can do anything nearly anytime.

The game is free-to-play, but too many people get suckered into buying character skins and the champions themselves with cold-hard-credit.  The free aspect is what brings a person in, but the skin buying pays the bills for the LoL team.  Despite the freedom to play, I like to think that I’m a rare exception to the trend.

I’ve hosted and organized LoL tournaments, seen it played, know the discussion, and steadfastly said no to all requests (be they demands?) to play.  But on Monday, my League virginity was taken!  I won’t go into how I came about to play the game - just know that I did not install it on any of my machines!

The character I played was Nunu, the Yeti Rider.  It was a 5v5 easy bot game (so I wouldn’t get completely trounced).  During play, I learned a lot about alts (super-powered, end-all blasts of epic-ness), buying gear, making builds, and staying the frak away from those pesky turrets.

All in all, I had a good time.  The game is not the most fun I’ve had, but it works as a nice time-filler.  I would play again, but League won’t ever see a byte of memory on my laptop.  However, having at least played the game now, I have been granted “critic” privileges over the players of LoL.  I can’t say that I can really bash the game now, especially after seeing nothing inherently wrong with it (that, and it is an official MLG title).  But, for those people who get a wee-bit too much into it, I don’t mind letting them know they’re addicted.

Conclusion – LoL is a good game.  It is free to play.  Some things cost money.  Approach with caution.