Intrepid Homoludens

Watch it, breeder! I, as an extremely demanding gay guy, happen to think Sam is one of the handsomest, sexiest, and downright fuckable game hero. What do YOU know about gorgeous men?

"Half-Life 2, even outside of its combat, felt like a wonky on-a-rail experience." So are you saying that a game has to absolutely be brand spanking new in anything to be 'amazing'?

loonyboi, you're retarded for not liking BG&E and PoP:SoT.

You like Lighthouse Family? Did I ever tell you how much you turn me on?

The booth babes look forward to your arrival. Good point. But we here at Thumb also need to get word out what the big, limelight lighted airheads are doing. The smaller Turks need to be paid attention to, and it's a good idea for some ongoing feature articles and interviews. Besides, if anyone there is willing to give the time for a nice newsworthy chat, it's the smaller indie devs.

The gadfly approach, eh? Very evil. Jake, think of it this way. Think of these impromptu interviews as a kind of Socratic dialogue, where it's difficult to shrug off probing yet honest questions and the same time provoke the interviewee to think good and hard about the decisions made that affected the net quality and nature of whatever game is being discussed. Trep: "Given the commercial success yet critically questioned art direction of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, what's your stance on the idea that gamers prefer to go with stereotypical notions of what they're supposed to love in their games?" Ubisoft rep: "I'm not sure what you mean, but according to our market research, the majority of our fans wanted a darkier, grittier game this time, and we gave them exactly that. The sales figures prove it." Trep: "How exactly did the sales figures 'prove it'? Were you able to interview a cross section of dedicated gamers and casual gamers? Did you set up a focus group? Did they really tell you that they wanted the line 'You bitch!' included in the stock dialogue, as well as a big-breasted, scantily clad evil female villain in a metal thong? Or is it an extrapolation based on what many other games readily have that are marketed to a largely male demographic? Is that what they really wanted?" Ubisoft rep: "Erm, I would have to speak to the marketing department about that." Trep: "How important do you think is the content, originality, and conceptual integrity of a game like Warrior Within compared to its marketability to as large a target as possible? What's your definition of a truly good original and integrated game that is also hugely successful commercially, beyond it merely being what bunch of corporate businessmen who otherewise never actually play games themselves assume the market wants?" Ubisoft rep: "Hey....listen! It's about my lunch hour now. My replacement is due here in a minute. Maybe you could ask her these questions. Bye now, thanks for your time, okay?"

Good. Kiss your testicles for me and enjoy.

Hey DUDE. Did you NOT read their store policy regarding preorders? Instead of asking us here, why don't you CALL them and ASK THEM what THEIR policy is. After all, if you're gonna try to work that system, you should know how that system works.

So that means that unless Nintendo wants to be #1 in the world market for video games and they'd have to diversify and expand their market to include types of games beyond the typical Japanese taste, they're not planning on adapting any time soon. It really looks like they don't give a damn about any other country or demographic outside Japan, at least not an aggressively serious damn. Nintendo will always be a consummate game company for the Japanese market. Which is reflected in most of the titles they churn out, many of their games are idiosyncratically Japanese.

That old friend's gonna back to you and rip your testicles off, sautee them in fresh Belgian creamery butter with sweet scallions and truffles, and serve them to you for dinner.

Trep: "Scary shit. Here, try some of the guacamole. It's a little spicy."

Did that curator survive?

*hides*

Are you taking any Asian art history? Good stuff! Especially if you got a great professor. It's good to take 'cause there are influences and parallels with some contemporary western 'isms' and individual artists. I love comparing Agnes Martin's stuff to ancient Chinese landscapes, for example.

How sexy for you. How's classes going? I forgot, are they making you take requisite art history?

Oh that one. The Nearsighted Puzzle. That was dumb but kinda cute. In a dumb way.

We had our share of dumbasses at SAIC, too. Most of them were spoiled rich kids who were goth or punked out or wore expensive clothes with obscure labels. They were not talented, but they were excellent at posing and making it known that they were in the program of a top art school. The talented ones were those who rarely ever peeked outside their studios and were on grants and scholarships. They worked their asses for the money. Some of my greatest times were spent going to starving art student parties in Pilsen, Bucktown, or Wicker Park, where The Smashing Pumpkins came from. One of my erstwhile schoolfriends, Christine, was a painting major and was at the time lead singer Billy Corkin's girlfriend, and we would occasionally go to one of their local concerts (usually at the Metro in Lakeview, near Wrigley Field). This was before Smashing Pumpkins got famous and big. I didn't go out all that much because I had to work on my projects, but I always had an awesome time when I did. Usually there would be a local gallery or co-op space showing grad student work and we'd go there for the free beer. But most of the time I was stuck in the studios late at night working. In the other departments - photography, painting, filmmaking, video, performance, etc. - there were also students doing 'overnighters', we all lived off the vending machines near the Film Center, and bummed cigarettes off each other and drank cold stale coffee with No-Doze to stay awake. Twas a great time of bonding, yeah.

Wow. I read that email Marek linked to and I gotta say, I'd love to have the guy at one of my swanky cocktail parties with my very few very close best friends in the world.... < David Hasselhoff music playing in the background > Trep: "Guys, really. Thanks for coming, I feel that much more fabulous around you all tonight." Senator Ahhhhnold: "Wot dah Stet of Cahhhleefonia needs....eez moah streht couples mehrying.....ahhhnd leysss.....sehm sex couples mehrying..... < notices the bathroom is suddenly available > .......ahhhl bee behcckkk....." Paris Hilton: "My cellphone!! Goddammit, where the fuck is my cellphone??!!" Trip Hawkins: "My magic eight ball says Nintendo will be acquired by Microsoft within five years." Trep: "Try the crab dip, it's fabulous!! I made it myself!"

Yes, let's you and I have sex and make Yuster watch.

Ya know, back when I was s-s-s-strapping young youth with a huge head and a t-t-t-tiny paintbrush.........

Actually, I had never heard of Art Institute affiliates until after I got my BFA. Isn't the one in Houston related to the one in San Fransisco, and some other U.S. cities? The Art Institute Of Chicago is on its own (not affiliated with other schools), and it was one of only two on my list. It just happens to be one of the top art schools in the world and I picked it because it was in my hometown and because I used to take high school summer studio art courses there (which were what turned me on to it). I was interested in fashion design and fine art, the other school on my list was the [back then] Ray-Vogue College Of Design. I was so dumb then, I didn't know Ray-Vogue was a cheap ass trade school for talentless fashionista wannabes that doesn't even offer a full 4 year degree program, just an associate's degree (I'm such a fucking snob), and I'm glad I literally chickened out from applying there. Instead, my sister (god I love her!) pestered me until I applied to SAIC - and I got accepted!!! I'm so glad for that, because it turned out that many of the world's top contemporary artists actually go there to teach classes, and I got to take some with them. One time I even got to see Andy Warhol in person some time before he died (he looked so surreal, like a waxy department store mannequin in a bad white wig, fragile and all). In the Fashion Department my sketches were critiqued by Gianni Versace and someone took a picture of us and gave it to me later (Versace was so fucking sexy in person), and there were days when artists like Twyla Tharpe, Ed Paschke, or even film directors like Jim Jarmusch would show up to give lectures. Usually I couldn't attend because I was too busy with projects. Oh, and Hugh Hefner ended up donating his Chicago mansion to the Art Institute, so some of my classes took place there, and they even turned part of it into dormitories for the students. Unfortunately it got too expensive for the school to keep up so they had to sell it. Man, those were some of the best times of my life.

Personally I liked it a lot, but it can definitely be boring much of the time. There's just simply no interactivity other than the two or three characters per 'chapter' to talk to and the puzzles themselves. And I don't even buy that 'deep, epic' shit from people who claim that the 'barrenness' of life and whatever in the game is justified because it's supposed to be a highly 'introspective' experience. Yes, so is watching grass grow but at least the wind blows it around so it's still noticeably more exciting than pointing and clicking Kate Walker from one end of Valadilene to the other while trying so very hard not to fall asleep. I liked it a lot, but then I was in so much in the mood to play it at the time that I did. I would give Benoit Sokal a good yelling about it if I ever met him face to face.

Shit man! They let just anyone in here these days!

Thanks for sharing.

METALLIS IS SWEATY! METALLIS IS SWEATY!!