Bullet Heaven- Shoot 'em Up Games

I picked up the latest issue of Retro Gamer and was excited to see that as well as featuring awesome art by Oliver Fray (who I have really like)  it had an article on shoot 'em ups. Whilst reading the article and munching on old skool treats I got to thinking about the genre. My first experience at the arcade was when I was 6 and it was at my local video store, there was Pacman and Space Invaders. I suppose that was my first intro to shoot 'em up games, that little sit down cocktail cabinet.

Retro Gamer and retro sweets, a winning combination.

They've always held a special place in my heart as once the enemy patterns are learnt and memorised you can look like a boss completing a game. I have a vivid memory of playing Rtype at Heathrow airport and getting to level 3, that huge base ship. I bought the game on the Amstrad CPC 464 and felt like a bad-ass as my little ship  took down a warship that was bigger than a screen, in fact it was a whole level in and of itself. Over the years I bought RType again on the Master System and then progressed to the Megadrive where I continued my love of shoot 'em ups.
Unfortunately over the last few years bullet hell games have taken over, I like them as I feel Zen when I play them but they are not the same as shoot 'em ups. Bullet hell games, especially the ones that have made their way West in the last few years on console including Deathsmile and Akai Katana have a place but they do feel stagnant compared to Dodonpachi and Ikaruga, the true exciting innovators of bullet hell. But generally bullet hell games have a different feel and mechanics.

So here these are some of my favourite shoot 'em ups, there are no SNES shoot 'em ups as I only had a Master System and Megadrive growing up and only got a SNES later in life. I'm playing some of the SNES shoot 'em ups now so this list will be updated later.

RType

Fantasy Zone

Ranger X

Thunderforce III

Thunderforce IV

Zero Wing

Christopher Lee and Me

It was with great sadness that I heard that the legendary actor, Christopher Lee, had passed away at the age of 93. He was an actor whose presence crossed  generations, whether it was playing Saruman in LoTR, Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun and Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man. But for a lot people of my generation and older there was one role which he will eternally be tied to, and that is of the elegant and darkly brooding Dracula.

I'm a child of the 80's and so wasn't alive to witness the British horror boom of the 50's 60's and 70's, however I caught a lot of the Hammer Horror films in my formative years on late night showings on BBC2 and the Bravo Channel.


Watching Christopher Lee's towering performances (he was nearly 6 1/2 foot tall) was something to behold; not all the films he starred in were masterpieces or even good but you could always depend on him to deliver a wonderful performance. The world has lost an actor, like Leonard Nimoy, who young people but also your grandparents will know.... and not many actors have achieved that level of fame. RIP Sir Christopher Lee.

Dungeons and Dragons and Storytelling

For over 40, 000 years, since the first cave paintings were discovered, telling stories has been one of our most fundamental communication methods. I wrote an article a while back discussing Storytelling With Games. I discussed how as teachers we can use games to provide children with a deep emotional and exciting experience. We do not have to use the whole game but sections as children with their innate skills to weave stories may make an infinitely more nuanced story. Computer games allow the pupils to become stimulated in the same way text and film can, but have a benefit over these other media in that they can interact with these worlds. If we want to go left we can, the world is literally our oyster, full of endless possibilities and the children know this. It taps into their innate ability to tell stories but provides a rich context for doing so. However before the evolution of gaming there was another gaming form which encouraged thought, creativity and interaction. This gaming form was table top gaming, specifically Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).

Now when I tell people I play D&D or that I’m a gamer I know that the first thing that pops into their minds is not a flattering image but rather a stereotype of fat Cheetos eating virgins who live in their parents basements. In the 80's and early 90's there were even Pastors and many people from the church warning against the evil of demons and spirits in the game.

However I want to challenge the stereotype. For those unfamiliar with D&D the core of the game lies is storytelling. You and your friends tell a story together, guide your heroes through quests for treasure, battle with deadly foes, take part in daring rescues, participate in courtly intrigue, and much more. The beauty of D&D lies in the fact that the medium itself incorporates the numerous books, computer games and board games (of which there are many iterations).

D&D offers an outlet for groups of people to form, develop a commonly created story, and develop rules including character creation and conflict-solving. The storytelling element is key here as the Dungeon Master must employ the skill of narrative and world building in order to move the game along. Storytelling is a very useful skill for individuals to have, as it helps the development of writing ability and oratorical skills. This skills are useful for employment but also society as a whole. There must be mutual trust for the players to succeed in their missions,  and so players are able to get out a lot of their own emotions, fears and belief in a cathartic release, in a game session through their characters. This provides them with an introspection that improves their self-knowledge and strengthens their behavior and beliefs.

Within D&D players are constantly asked to pit their wits against complex puzzles, this requires players to employ logic in critical thinking and problem solving. These puzzles help hone these skills which could be useful in all types of jobs. This benefits society through improving the creative problem solving skills of the players. D&D helps us develop skills as a people and encourages us to think laterally and on the fly.

In D&D players must take on a role and assume the part of their character, this helps teach the art of acting. Acting is a great skill as it encourages oratory skills but also develops the vocabulary. D&D builds an immersive and engaging world, to fully realise the game the Dungeon Master must offer detailed information on locales, characters and scenarios. To play D&D you need to meet other players and play face to face, this teaches socialisation. Typically D&D was played by introverts so for many it was a way for them to emerge out of their introspection and engage with others.

D&D is a useful tool to transform ourselves, to improve our personal development and become a more well-rounded person. Writers create worlds through vivid description, often these works provide lessons in moral and ethics to their readers through the imaginary experiences that compose their works- readers experience failure, pain, death and happiness. And in the end isn't that what being human is all about. In the end D&D teaches use to confront our humanity by imagining to be someone else.

LINK- Pastor Warns Against Dungeons and Dragons

The Return of Classic Adventure Games

The Adventure Game genre started in the 70's with the advent of computer mainframes at universities. The first know example being Colossal Cave Adventure created by Will Crowther. These were the early days of computing so software publishing houses were pretty much non-existent. It was up to individuals to create their own games and share them via the mainframes, many of these games have been lost to time but the majority were inspired by Tolkein and Dungeons and Dragons adventures. These games were pure text adventures that required you to imagine the envisaged world for yourself. These led to issues with the parser as you struggled to find the right vocabulary to solve puzzles and move on in the world.

Colossal Cave Adventure proved extremely popular around mainframe universities.

Having an Amstrad CPC 464 and with my best friends at the time having a NES and Sinclair Spectrum my first introduction into Adventure Games was The Hobbit, which had a noun-parser interface. The game was tough as nails but I was impressed with the visuals which showed the locales.

Even though I didn't get very far, the Hobbit was an amazing game that left a big impression on me.

With the increased power of computers many text adventure games were fleshed out with detailed colour graphics which showed locales, characters and items previously requiting just your imagination to see. However the key elements of the genre include storytelling, exploration, and puzzle solving remained.

The first big evolution to Adventure Games was when the parser-based interface was stripped back to a more manageable collection of verbs which could be selected by typing key letters or by using the mouse, this was popularised with the Apple Makintosh in 1984. This more intuitive interface allowed you to use, open or combine items in the inventory, opening up the possibilities and complexities in terms of story and ideas (for a good look at these check out Leigh Alexanders Lo-Fi game Lets Plays).  Even though the technology evolved and led to sub-genres, the focus on narrative and puzzles remained true.


It was during the heady mid to late 80s and early 90's that Sierra Games came into prominence with Kings Quest and later Lucas Arts with Maniac Mansion.

The rising power of 3D graphics cards and budgets meant that many games were now going 3d with polygonal sprites, many thought that the traditional 2D games were considered old hat. I would play a few classic point and click games like Broken Sword in my formative years when I would have access to this software library with my purchase of a home PC (for home work purposes of course) however due to many issues with compatibility it wasn't always possible to play these games. It wasn't until the popularisation of touch devices, specifically the iPad, when I would get to play and enjoy classic games such as Sam and Max, Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky and Myst.

A lot of the point and click games are difficult to play now as 90's game designers had no respect for your time, lots of trial and error which back then was not really a problem as not many titles available and prohibitive costs associated... Our skills to play these games have also atrophied, especially if you are under the age of 20. Broken Sword for iOS improves the experience for seasoned gamers as well as those new to the series by offering hotspots to avoid pixel hunting and providing layered clues for those unable to solve a puzzle. This makes these games enjoyable and less prone to frustrating logic puzzles that make no sense.

Broken Sword is a true classic of the Point and Click genre- and one of my favourite games of all time.

Critically and commercially successful games such as The Walking Dead game have gained widespread acclaim for what it added to the genre through its branching narrative and moral choices. It built on the shoulders of giants, creators like Ron Gilbert,  Tim Schafer and Charles Cecil. A new audience as well as more mature game fans are appreciative of these games, so much so that all have been crowdfunded into creating new projects.

There are new twists which allow the adventure game to alter and change and play with the technology like Simigo's thrilling Device 6, Steve Jacksons Sorcery and 80 Days. These are all novel twists on a very old Adventure Game idea but in an ever-changing medium that is very exciting indeed.

Since the rise of the internet there has been a democratisation of software, it has now never been easier to make your own games. Twine lets you create text adventure games of yore and there are many freely downloadable software which lets you create point and click games. There are many great examples of games created using the software online and I have linked to them below. I have also created some lesson plans to do with creating your own adventure game (both Twine and Point and Click) check it out if you're interested.

LINK- IGN Year of the Adventure Game article

LINK- Machinima Adventure Games

LINK- TES Lesson Plans

The End Of An Era (Sort of)

People say that fatherhood changes you and it really does. My wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl 7 weeks ago and it's been non-stop, as well as having the baby we moved out to a new house in Kent and have settled in. Settling in means unpacking, organising furniture and the services (including dropping down to just 3MB broadband- eeek!) and sorting out the man-cave. My old man-cave was a wonder to behold; full of comics, graphic novels, many retro and modern computer systems and a plethora of old games. The new place we have moved to is bigger and has 3 bedrooms, however the bedrooms are smaller overall than the 2 bed place we used to rent. So tough decisions had to be made and whilst keeping the man-cave I've had to downsize, the DVDs and my old retro gaming systems (Amstrad CPC 464, SNES, Megadrive, Master System, Xbox, PS1 and XBox 360 RRD version) have gone into the loft, it reminded me of the final scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Ark is kept in some warehouse, left forever more (until the crappy 4th Indy film but no-one counts that).... so in short, end of an era sort of!

In the loft are the Megadrive (Genesis), SNES, Master System, PS1, PS2, Xbox and Amstrad CPC 464. So long and thanks for all the fish!

Appreciating Video Game Music

Game music has evolved from the simple bleeps and bloops of the 70's and early 80's and the later chiptunes of the 80's and 90's to become truly cinematic and unique. Increasingly the computer game soundtracks are being taken as seriously as film music and even some classical pieces. Game music’s growing popularity, global reach and cultural influence is difficult to deny- yet over the past few years it has been growing in stature and respectability. This is reflected time and time again in soundtrack sales, sell-out concerts  and the many game music pieces placed into the Classic FM list of the year. I am pleased to say that Classic FM even has a whole site dedicated to computer game music, even providing you with 15 essential computer game scores that stand apart from the gaming experience as just simply wonderfully composed musical pieces.

This year in the Classic FM Hall of Fame chart, there was a good showing from computer game music with Gustavo Santalallo's score for survival action-horror The Last of Us landing at #193; Glen Stafford's StarCraft II music; The Legend of Zelda series, by Koji Kondo, was at #84; World of Warcraft was at #53; Yoko Shimomura's music for Disney/Final Fantasy mash-up RPG Kingdom Hearts was at #30; and Jeremy Soule's score for the Elder Scrolls series finished highest for computer game music representation at a very respectable #11. All in all a great year for game music, next year it may be even better!

Those Little Moments in Games

Many games nowadays are about spectacle, those amazingly honed set pieces that wouldn't look out of place in a Hollywood production. But what about those quiet more contemplative moments in games, moments that stay with you long after the end credits roll? Well I'm sure we all have them but these are some of my favourites in no particular order. If you can think of some more let me know. Oh and BTW Spoilers alert!

Red Dead Redemption- John Marston entering Mexico to that Jose Gonzales track. When I played the game the sun was slowly setting in the horizon and I had my horse at a gentle gallop to take in the beautiful scenery.

 

Superbrothers Swords and Sworcery- This game has many moments like sitting at the Moon Grotto or going to the Concert in the Woods but for me the ending as you float down the stream dead sticks out. Perhaps it would have been insincere to have the Sythian survive her wofeul erand.

 

Fallout 3- This is one of the most breathtaking moment I have ever experienced in a game. You open the vault door and with the sun blinding you, your eyes adjust to the light. Then you look out and you see the Washington Monument with huge chunks missing and the Capitol Building with part of the dome caved in- you realise just how fragile the world really is...


Assassins Creed 2- It's a-me Mario! Nuff said.

 

Ico- In a game about friendship and love the moment that most sticks with me is sitting down with Yorda. A moment of respite and peace in a hostile world.

 

Bioshock Infinite- This game upped the ante from the original Bioshock. The opening when you ascend into the sky and enter Columbia will stick with me for a long time. The scene with the candles and baptism is really spellbinding.


Journey- This game is full of moments but the ending where you die, just before reaching the mountains zenith is heartbreaking. However the journey is not over, you come back and travel the world as a spirit- this game is transcendant!

 

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons- This game is beautiful to look at, rather like those strange Eastern Block country animations and Jim Henson's The Storyteller style art prevalent in the late 70's and early 80's in particular. The ending is a real heartwrencher, I completed this game with my cousin and we both sat there in shock and full of despair. Get the tissues ready!

 

Final Fantasy 6- The opera scene where Celes poses as the Opera singer Maria and turns in a legendary performance. At the time this blew my mind!

 

Links Awakening- The Windfish waking up is a masterpiece on the Gameboy. This is one of my favourite Zelda moments of all time!

 

Monument Valley- In Monument Valley you'll guide Ida, the silent princess, through many levels that are filled with optical illusions, mysterious Crow people and more. You are all alone in this hostile world until you befriend a totem, then he dies.... slowly... in front of your eyes. Gaaaah the feels, the feels!

 

Proteus- This whole game is beautiful and full of wonderful imagery but I particularly remember the sunsets. Magical. In the video it starts at 12 minutes)


Okami- This is one of the most beautiful and underappreciated games of all time. The art style is unique and will never age but the thing that sticks with me is the marraige of the visuals to the sound, especially when the world is in bloom.

 

Thomas Was Alone- This game has some wonderful dialogue but Level 7.9 has some of the most honest writing in gaming; "James still felt weird, but he realised that everyone else was too. They were a crew of weirdos." It's difficult to convey the humanity of this game, especially because everyone in it is a quadrilateral, but trust me, it will get to you and make you think about friendships,  relationships and your past and formative years. It's that good!


Deadly Premonition- Out of all the games this was the one that will stick with me forever due to the pure weirdness and brutality of the deaths. For those who don't know a homicidal maniac known as the 'Raincoat Killer' is murdering people ritualistically. there are many horrible deaths but this one of Becky Ames is tempered with moments of beauty as she becomes a Goddess. A twisted masterpiece that needs to be played, especially for those who are fans of Twin Peaks and David Lynch.

So these are the moments of gaming that will stick with me, not all are wonderfully cheerful but they do have a beauty to them that I like. So are there parts of a game that will stay with you?

Amiibos and the Rise of Swag

For many our possessions become extensions of the self which we use to signal to others and ourselves who we are and what our interests are. However our relationship with our stuff is in a state of flux. For many book and music collections are stored on the cloud, no longer taking up space on dusty shelves. This flux is no longer confined to mere material possessions but also to our identity, we carefully construct our online profiles; choosing the best pictures, the funniest or most profound status updates and informing everyone of how wonderful (or not) our lives are. The self has become extended into technology, with the different online services acting as a memory bank.

Now unless you have been living under a rock you have probably heard the great furore surrounding Nintendo's Amiibos. For those who have been under said rock Amiibos are the Big N's foray into 'toys-to-life' gaming accessory business that also includes Activision’s Skylanders and Disney’s Infinity. These pieces of plastic have been spectacularly popular, but the issue surrounds supply and how many of the figures were on a limited run and are fetching incredibly high prices, some figures originally cost about $12.99 but are selling on ebay for over $70. Surprisingly, or not maybe, most of the people who purchase Amiibo's are the older males, most in their 30's. Why is that? It can't all be due to resale value or collecting for the future (like Beanie Baby speculators).

What I'm looking at in this article is the demand for the Amiibos and not just the Amiibos, but the rise in just 'stuff' in gaming. Amiibos are just one aspect which has seen a rise in physical products. Many people were proclaiming the end of gaming consumables, what with the move towards a digital only future where entertainment is consumed via online services however this is patently not true. I believe that there is a reason for this rise in demand for stuff. People want to show their affiliation and affection for their hobbies, its the reason I buy physical comics, magazines and games. Also it may be due to Kickstarter and the need to own something tangible, maybe the game will be crap but at least you got a cloth map, figure or limited edition card!

I love Amiibos, its great owning an official Nintendo product but there is also an issue where scalpers, like ticket touts, have artificially led to inflated prices... the issue is exacerbated by the limited run of Amiibos. First world problems for sure but  I love the chase of finding certain Amiibos, I don't want all of them but there are definite characters I want. I keep them in a box as I am a collector but am not 'that guy' that buys multiple copies of figures I already have and then resell them at a higher price.

Living in a small apartment with my wife and child I have had to de-clutter, and I'm sure that this is true for many people, but our relationship with our possessions remains as important as ever although the nature of the relationship is changing. I'm sure we all know people who have a huge Steam library of games they have downloaded but never played, or tonnes of albums bought on iTunes which haven't been listened to, or albums purchased on vinyl even though they don't have a record player. We all dream of some halcyon future where our past-times and pleasures will be revisited and so until we can let go we will buy stuff and that's okay.

LINK- Wired Article What Nintendo Did Right And Wrong With It's Amiibo Figurines

LINK- Article Vinyl: The Return of a Format

Music and Nostalgia

Authors Note: This was written on Monday 6th April 2015 on the way to Devon in the early afternoon.

I'm in the passenger seat riding shotgun in a car with my wife and recently born baby strapped into her car seat sleeping away behind me. We are in our Toyota Yaris which is bursting at the seams with baby related paraphernalia. For someone so small our baby requires a lot of equipment! Heading out onto the road for Devon my wife asks me to put on some music. Looking through the ipod I see some recent albums and artists, Adele-check, Emelie Sande-check, Ellie Goulding-check... Paul Oakenfold.... Check!  This last artist was the one I selected and as Bunkka started it brought forward a wave of nostalgia.

The late 90s were an amazing time, after xxx years of Tory rule hope seemed to be in the air with the rise of Labour and Blair. It was a time of optimism as football was coming home in Euro 96 but the biggest area of influence was music. Britpop was in full swing with Blur, Pulp and Oasis battling it out in the charts. In fact London was cool as a whole, claiming the title of 'Coolest place in the World' in Vanity Fair magazine.


This time will stick with me and many of the people of my generation due to the incredible diverse range of music.  Trance, dance, jungle and drum and bass would be battling it out in the charts next to the likes of Spice Girls and errr Aqua. The music hit the mainstream, so much so that when Sony were launching their Playstation console they promoted it alongside Wipeout with its cutting edge music tracks. There are many tracks created in this period that are stone cold classics; Beachball, For An Angel, 7 Days One Week and many many more. There are names that will stick out like Paul Oakenfold, Matt Darey, Tall Paul, Paul Van Dyke, Judge Jules, Fatboy Slim and of course Pete Tong. The music of this era had such a profound impact on my formative years that for our wedding playlist 50 percent was dance and trance, the other 50 was the usual pop fare. By far the dance floor was busiest when a pumping track came on, it felt like a club in the 90s. 
Well now with broken dreams from Bliars Labour, the Middle East up the shitter due to continued interference from countries with their own agendas and the economy in tatters due to greedy bankers and unscrupulous businesses I do look back fondly at those times. They weren't perfect by any means but the times seemed simpler. At least we still have the music memories.

Keeper of Classic Gaming

As a teacher and a parent many feel that it is my role to impart my knowledge and wisdom to the younger generation. However I got to a-thinking, apart from being older than those I teach what gives me the right to feel that what I say is correct or the choices I present are the correct ones for my wards? Rather shouldn't I help to educate the children so that they can make informed choices independently? These are profound questions which came from a very 'unprofound' place; gaming. What games should I introduce to my nephew as he gained an interest in gaming? My brother asked me to introduce his son to gaming as he had shown a keen interest in the PSP he had been playing.

Now being the Keeper of the Gateway to Classic Gaming, who am I to decide what games he should play? Of course I want him to experience stone-cold classics like Pacman, Sonic and Super Mario Bros. but maybe he should have a chance to experience gaming organically. This could include 'bad' games, like Dragons Lair on the NES or ET on the Atari.

In my formative years I played lots of 'bad' games but isn't taste objective? One only has to look online to find difference of opinion on just about anything. A prime example would be Deadly Premonition, I absolutely loved this game and in my opinion it was one of the best games of the last generation however in much of the gaming media the game was slated for being shonky and awkward. It was one of the most divisive games of the last generation garnering 10/10 on Destructoid whilst also gaining 2/10 on IGN.

Children are explorers, they like to find things out for themselves and decide what they like and don't like. I am not the Keeper of the Gateway of Classic Gaming, rather I am an observer and adviser. If the children ask me what games to play I can advise but I should not impose my tastes on them... let them explore and find their own interests organically.

Retron 5 Review

The Retron 5 has been a long time coming to the UK. Initially planned to be released in early 2014 the clone console was delayed, when the initial shipment was produced the machines went to America to fulfill orders there, unsettling those in the UK. And so we arrive, a year later than expected... But was it worth the wait?

First the preliminaries, the Retron 5 is a clone console which means it plays original hardware using emulation.
The machine has HDMI output and it is excellent, the picture clarity is superb and whilst it wont match the costlier upscalers it does a darned fine job making your old game gleam like they have never gleamed before.
The extensive menus also allow you to tinker with the visuals and add filters which significantly change the look of the game and you can screen capture images.

However its trump card is that it has 6 pad ports for SNES, Mega drive and NES controllers, for many this is the main attraction of the machine. This is just as well as the machine looks like a hideous toaster and comes packed in with a horrible controller which is best used to just navigate the menus.

Remapping joypad buttons is a treat for the games that had the jump button not keyed on for optimum ease and it also lets you save your progress at any time. For the Gameboy games you can change the screen colours and save your progress from cartridges with batteries (brilliant for saving your Pokemon progress from the mid 90s whose battery packs are dying, however this doesn't work at the moment but has been promised as a firmware update).
The machine has an SD card slot and it will only be a matter of time before some hackers figure out a way of allowing you to play the ROMs you want but may not have hard copies of.

So would I recommend the machine? In a word yes! Even though it is quite costly (£129.99) the Retron 5 is a space saving smart solution to playing your old games in the high fidelity you remember from your childhood but even better.

I have started a Retro Games Club in my school and we have been playing a different game each week. We started off with Street Fighter 2 on the SNES, then moved onto Golden Axe on the Megadrive and both games looked stunning on the HD 52 inch screen (for the article on this click here). This is what the machine is best for, not to replace your old original systems but to offer a way to play the games you loved in your youth in the simplest possible way,  As a soon to be father I want to make sure my child has access to the games of my youth to appreciate modern gaming. I look forward to sharing my passion for retro games without it taking over my living room and life.

My Visit to the Cartoon Museum in London

Not far from the British Museum is this hidden gem, the Cartoon Museum. I have lived in East London most of my life (32 years) yet I only became aware of its existence a few weeks ago through a flyer in a comic shop.... well, that's the beauty of London isn't it?

So finally I found myself at a loose end a couple of weekend ago (as my wife was having a girly day in with a friend) so I trotted along to Holborn and with a quick 10 minute walk was outside the museum.

The museum itself is not a large building but they made good use of the space available. There are free lockers available so you can put your bags and stuff it there so you can enjoy the museum unencumbered. The museum covers two floors and is not very crowded at all so I could spend a great deal of time looking at all the art and read the provenances.

Upstairs is a wonderful large room flooded with light from the skylight, there is an area to sit and lots of different cartoon books to look at. This is a wonderful change from many museums I have been to where I feel rushed and hurried through. There is a small adjoining room where children (and adults) can practice their artistic skills and read the many comics available for free.

Downstairs there is an exhibition hall where they were showing the art of Mark Boxer, it was interesting but as I am not a fan of his work I moved through this quite briskly. Of more interest to me were the original Beano, Dandy, Constantine and V For Vendetta works.

This is a wonderful museum which is run by volunteers who want to save the heritage of comic art from Great Britain. If you get a chance go along and support it. It will be money well spent, there are worse ways to spend 8 quid!

Japan: My Journey to the East

Yesterday my life changed forever, after years of believing it wasn't possible due to various circumstances my wife and I finally had a child. The introduction of my daughter is obviously a life altering event and late the next day has me becoming more reflective over my past. It is 4:04am on the Saturday as I write this, a piece about my dreams and aspirations as a child.

A couple of years ago I finally fulfilled a dream I've had ever since I was a child of 8, I went to Japan! Japan has held me in awe for so long due to a variety of factors. I was (and still am) a huge Mysterious Cities of Gold (MCOG) fan, which I found out was a specific style of animation called anime. For me the series had it all; relatable characters, amazing adventures and a thrilling story line. I found out much later that the series was only 39 episodes long but back then it seemed to stretch on forever, like Dogtanian, Ulysses 31 and Willie Fogg; all large sequential series that showed on BBC 1 and ITV weekly and then in large chunks in the morning during those looong summers.

Whilst wondering through our local WHSmiths (a newsagents here in England) I saw Manga Mania on the top shelf, next to the more salacious magazines. The art seemed reminiscent of MCOG so after seeing it a few times over the next few days I finally picked it up and fell down the rabbit hole. I vividly remember going over the next few months with my friend to WHSmiths and reading Fire Tripper, a lesser Rumiko Takahshi work but for me at the time I didn't know any better and it was perfect! My uncle who was only slightly older than me, saw that I had an interest in manga and gave me Devilman and Akira to borrow on VHS- not bad for a 13 year old kid enthralled by this new genre. At the time Akira blew my mind, I didn't understand it then and don't even pretend to now but I knew that I was watching something special.

This was the cover of the first Manga Mania I bought, in the letters section it had a comment about the 'Mysterious Cities of Gold' and I remember being excited to see my favourite show mentioned.

There was a local comic shop in our town called 'Rodneys Books and Games' which sold games, VHS films and books too, every Saturday my best friend and I would go to browse and occasionally purchase something.  Even though I knew they sold anime and manga it wasn't until I'd been given the films by my uncle that it clicked, these were the same genre and style that I'd liked- for all those years I hadn't noticed them but now I was all about them. The first series I worked through and completed was The Guyver, getting only a couple of pounds a week it took me a couple of years to complete the entire 12 part collection. Even now I have the series, unwilling to part with it even though I do not have a video recorder to play it on. My interest in manga peaked at the same time of the Marvel and comic boom in the early to mid 90's and I soon forged a group of friends who became Japanophiles and comic buddies, recording and swapping recordings off the Sci-fi channel and Channel 4 late on Saturday nights.

I loved the Guyver series, although it ended only a third into the manga.

For my friends and I Japan was a fantasy place where everything came out first and it was all amazing. This reached its zenith  with Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, two of the greatest series of all time. The late 90s were a difficult time in Japan with its economic bubble bursting. High unemployment and soaring suicide rates were featured prominently on the news and this soaked into the media coming out at the time. Being a teen with all the difficulties that entails I enjoyed the nihilistic and over the top mayhem of films like Battle Royale, which showed the anger and desperation of youth and a society trying to figure itself out.  But GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) showed another side, it made me laugh. I remember getting the last trade paperback and reading it on the train home. I stifled  laughter and a Japanese passenger who sat opposite me looked at me quizzically until I showed the cover, he then smiled as if he understood. Yup, there was no doubt about it... Japan was a huge deal for me.

Evangelion is still everywhere in Japan, the cottage industry that grew out of the series is unbelievable. Even in England the amount of Eva related stuff you could buy was mental!

So with only a few months to go before we were going to leave Cambodia where we had been teaching for two years Japan was booked. Even though we only had a little bit of cash it was now or never, my wife and I agreed that this was the time to do this- we would probably never be closer to the country geographically! Excitedly I told my oldest friend, the one I used to go to WHSmiths with regularly and share manga comics and films. In a weird case of serendipity he had booked to go near the same time as we had booked, there would be a couple of days overlap where we would be able to meet up. Considering he had emigrated to Australia and we would be moving back to England this was unbelievably lucky, almost like destiny. Neither of us had been to Japan and now after 32 years we had booked to go to Japan and there would be overlap. Wierd!

So having reached Japan, I can honestly say that it was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be. We stayed in Shinjuku and walked around the red light district Kabukichō, in the heady days of the economic boom unbelievable amounts of money passed through here. Now it is slowly recovering, highlighted by the fact that there was a robot fighting show opening that week, all at a reasonable price of £50 for admission- bargain!

A great book for a great megalopolis!

On the first day we explored Shibuya and Harajuku. Harajuku I knew through various quirky fashion magazines and Fruits books which I'd bought in Forbidden Planet in London. My wife and I explored the area for the day and loved it, the uniqueness and individuality of the products on sale were beguiling. Living in London where chain stores rule and very few independent stores exist or survive it was refreshing to come across a country that appreciated individual shops as well as the big chains. For lunch we had a quick MacDonald lunch and saw that people were there with their ipads, macbooks and tablets but when they needed the toilet they just left it at their table and off they went. The crazy thing was that when they returned their property would still be there, pretty much unthinkable in London yet here it was happening in a city of 20 million plus!
Working our way through Harajuku my wife bought a lot of makeup and trinkets and I bought a few skate stickers which I knew I'd put on my recently bought macbook pro.
Yoyogi Park was nearby so we headed down there, I was keen to see the cosplayers out in force as it was a Sunday. We saw a few but what really stood out for me was the peace and quiet I felt whilst in this  small park within a huge megalopolis. The temples were beautiful and I loved getting pictures around the Dori gates, now I felt like I was in Japan!
We travelled to Shibuya and I went into Mandrake, a well known anime and manga shop, whilst my wife went mall shopping.

The highlight of the journey for me was visiting Akihabara, the gaming and manga mecca. My friends and I had heard about this hallowed place in the 90s but being there alone seemed a pity for me. My wife is not a gamer and so had little interest in going with me, so I  deposited her in a nice French style cafe (after trying to persuade her to wait for me at the Gundam Cafe- which she didn't like). Walking around Aki with a pupils borrowed copy of the 'Guide to Japan for Geeks' book I walked around the various computing and manga shops in thrall to just ALL the stuff that was there. Much I recognised from my childhood but a lot I hadn't seen before. I bought a few games and an original Gameboy but wish I had more money to buy a lot more. I went to Namco Museum Arcades and Sega Gaming Parlours and played a few games including the Persona beat em up but it being a school day and just past midday there were very few people there. I loved the experience but just wished I had someone to share the experience with. I went into a pachinko parlour and left very quickly due to the amount of noise, even for an old gamer like me, someone who is used to arcades, the noise was deafening.  Akihabara held its allure for me but I know that if I had gone to Japan at the peak of my interest in anime and manga, then it would have been a much bigger deal.

We had booked tickets to go to Kyoto and I was very excited as I wanted to go on the Bullet train. However the cost was wayyyy to much for a return so we decided to go by bus and arrive back in Tokyo by Bullet train. The bus was extremely comfortable and cheap so that was a bonus and once we arrived we travelled to the Kyoto temples, the largest number of buildings under UNESCO in the world. The temples really didn't disappoint, the most spectacular being the gold temple and the famous Kiyomizu Temple.

The journey back by bullet was a real pleasure but to be honest having travelled by Eurostar it didn't have a wow factor that I thought it would. However it was great to see the Japanese countryside drift by at speed.

The last day in Japan we spent walking around Tokyo some more and caught up with my best friend for our overlap day. We walked around Shinjuku and chatted away and it was the first time that they had a chance to meet my wife. All in all Japan was amazing but make sure you take someone who likes hustle and bustle and the city as it is a very fast paced city with courteous and friendly people.

So why did the birth of my daughter lead to to think about this Japan trip from a couple of years ago? Well, I think its due to a couple of things. Firstly even though I had visited Japan I hadn't written about the trip until now... a bit of unfinished business I suppose. But also I guess I was just ruminating about what my life was and how now it is going to be very different from now on. It's now no longer about just me and my dreams but about my whole families- life is never going to be the same but that's okay... I am really for the next exciting part of my life. Gods in his heaven And all is right with the world.

Oliver Frey- The Fantasy Art Book

I was a very lucky child growing up in the 80's. It was an amazing time for music, animation and computer games (but not fashion... oh gosh the fashion!) Growing up in the 80s and played computer games you would have been aware of the incredible illustrations of Oliver Frey. His gorgeous airbrush artwork, which appeared on classic games magazines, such as Crash, Zzap!64 and Amtix stood out from the competition and made the magazines a huge seller. At the time I was very young but I remember seeing some of these covers and they are ingrained in my memory.

The Fantasy Art of Oliver Frey celebrates the life and work of the great man. It starts off with a brief biography about the evolution of childhood comic fan to full time illustrator at Newsfield. The artwork is presented without coverlines, logos or titles so you can appreciate the pieces in all their majesty. At the back of the book there is an index of covers for those who wish to age themselves but truly it is the sumptuous artwork that shines through.

Anyone with an appreciation of computer gaming art should check this out as the 80's really were simpler times with basic graphics, Oliver Frey brought the games and worlds alive through his artwork and game covers. A must read and look! For those who want to know more check out the brilliant film From Bedrooms To Billions which looks at the evolution of gaming in the 70's and 80's in Great Britain.

Ms. Marvel Can Change the World

Ms. Marvel received a lot of hype due to  her status as the first Muslim character to headline a Marvel series, but a year on and the comics series has become one of the industry’s best titles because it is an excellent superhero comic intelligently written with wit and pathos.

Superhero stories featuring teenage characters are notoriously difficult to write for but to create a monthly comic with a teenage girl of faith is something nearly unheard of in mainstream comics, let alone the religion in focus being Islam. Islam has not talked about a great deal in the comic series so far but Kamala is Muslim and as such it forms a major part of her narrative, it greatly influences her behavior and decision-making, adding tension to her life that doesn’t come from the more traditional sources like  romantic interests or the masked supervillain. In a medium which has been hegemonic in portraying powerful white heroes, the recent wave of real world representations in comics is exciting.

In the first comic of Ms. Marvel when Kamala first meets Captain America, Iron Man and Captain Marvel she is surprised to hear them speak Urdu, to which Captain Marvel replies,

"We are faith. We speak all languages of beauty and hardship."

This is a real nice touch that speaks to the universal humanity in us all, the underrepresented now being represented in a medium supported by the diverse community invested in these characters.

As a longtime comic book fan (I first started collecting when I was 7, Iron Man and Spiderman were my first loves) the fact that the main protagonist, Kamala is a child of immigrant parents from Pakistan, Muslim and a millennial changes the hitherto well tilled soil of fertile comic tropes. I have loved comics for years and certain aspects I could identify with, Peter Parker being picked on by Flash Thompson in High School, the various aspects of loss in the Death of Superman and striving to achieve against all odds, which is a common comic book trope but with Ms. Marvel it's different. I can identify with her, even though I'm not a millennial teenage girl I am a Muslim comic book geek who enjoys pop culture. I remember what it was like as a young teen trying to find my way through school and life where balancing my home life and religious beliefs and practices with those of my mostly white Christian friends was difficult. I wanted to go to parties, go out clubbing and have relationships. Other comics have covered these aspects but the fact that the struggle Kamala has in balancing her home and life outside rings true for me.

A moment that touched me occurs in issue 6, Kamala seeks guidance from Sheikh Abdullah, an Imam. Fearing she will be told off for not following her parents will she is surprised to be told,

  "... do it with the qualities befitting an upright young woman: Courage, strength, honesty, compassion, and self-respect.”

This message is one of positivity, which against the current media obsession with violence done in Islams name is interesting and challenging.

 For once I feel represented in a mainstream comic, usually I have had to read Indie comics to feel a connection but Marvel have changed all that. Ms. Marvel has been used to fight racism in the real world, Anti-Muslim adverts on the sides of buses in San Francisco have been defaced with posters of the Pakistani-American teen superhero. The adverts were run by the notorious right wing anti-Muslim organization, the American Freedom Defence Initiative (AFDI). Ms. Marvel author, G. Willow Wilson, tweeted,

“Some amazing person has been painting over the anti-Muslim bus ads in San Francisco with Ms. Marvel graffiti. Spread love.”

Who said comics can't change the world? By encouraging community and discussion change can occur as Kamala has shown. This is a well written comic story with a great character who has dynamic stories to be told and I look forward to reading more. Roll on the Ms. Marvel movie!

Preserving the Spirit of Media Past

Preserving the past is a tricky preposition and getting trickier with the amount of information stored on fragile digital media. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese have made it their mission to preserve classic films whilst Christopher Nolan has sought to preserve the medium of the physical film stock itself. However whose mission is it to save the audience?

We are at a watershed moment in film history, not just with the impending extinction of physical film but the demise of an audience equipped to appreciate some of its greatest works. I am a great lover of silent film and early movies, having been introduced to many in my youth by my parents and BBC 2 Sunday morning programming. I have fond memories of watching Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin. Having attended a University which specialised in media and film studies (but studying Anthropology myself) I was introduced to many 'new' old films almost through a process of osmosis. I would take 8 to 10 VHS tapes at a time and consume them voraciously between assignments, listen in to students discussing them in the library and although many years have passed I still appreciate and watch these classic movies.

The Great Dictator is an absolute classic and contains one of the greatest speeches ever written.

I was concerned that the medium would be forgotten by the new generation- these films exist out of the childrens palate don't they? Well as a teacher I have had to endure many wet plays and this past December was a particularly soggy one, so there were more wet plays than usual. So I put on some Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy short films. There was no hype, no boombast, no 3D and no dramatic Hans Zimmer score.

My 30 pupils were motionless for a few minutes, I assumed that they were struggling to find a way in but watching patiently out of politeness to me. After a few moments I asked "Do you want me to turn it off?" and the children shouted "No!" Then the laughter started, the children were mesmerised for the length of the 25 or so minutes, they requested more clips so I worked through my collection. Children don't need to be told what to like, they will intuitively try things out and relate it to their world and experiences. In this case Charlie Chaplin was like "An old Mr Bean."

In much the same way as cinephiles do not need to guard older films, we older gamers do not need to feel like guardians of gaming heritage.

This term I have started a Retro Games Club using the Retron5 with original controllers and games to introduce children to the games of yore. The first game I unleashed on them was the SNES classic 'Street Fighter II Turbgo.' The children loved it and recognised some of the main characters. This led to a discussion on other characters that the children knew like Megaman and Pacman as well as the more famous contemporary icons from more modern games. A few of the children told me that their parents had the old systems and so they played some of the older games at home.

Punchout is the spiritual father of Wii Sports boxing, a game many children have played.

This wasn't 'Fauxstalgia' (False nostalgia) but something palpable- the children could relate to these characters and games from their own experiences and those who couldn't recognised the mechanics from their current gaming experiences. In the same way that 'Punchout' was compared to Wii Sports Boxing by my children people will always find a way in and seek out the origins of thing. Our gaming and film heritage is in good hands; God is in his heaven All is right with the world.

Secrets in Games

In my youth, a time before the omnipresence of the internet, gamers would share secrets and advice. Some were true and some weren't, but there was never a way to know which were so you had to try them out. Here are some of the ones I heard of as a kid and tested out but to no avail:

 

Mortal Kombat 2- Play as Reptile

This was one of those school-playground legends that was actually true. Mortal Kombat was a popular game in my secondary school days, and challenging the mysterious 'Reptile' was a moment every gamer dreamt of.  When you were fighting at 'The Pit' stage, certain objects would sometimes pass by the moon. This meant that you needed to complete the tough task of a double-flawless-fatality. If you were successful, a green, poison spewing lizard-man would appear and and challenge you- the fact that it actually just a Sub-Zero/ Scorpion a-like with green trim didn't matter. Doing this made you seem boss. I never managed it myself but I saw a couple of people who actually did in my local arcades/ sweet shop.

 

R-type- Hidden Level

I had R-type on the Master System and I heard about a secret level somewhere but never got to it myself. I'm not sure where I heard this rumour but I just looked it up on YouTube and now like vicariously through this amazing gamer.

 

Super Mario Bros- Minus World

This is an infamous glitch in Super Mario Bros. 1, which takes you to a never ending water level known as the 'Minus World.' I heard of this glitch through friends in the playground and my best friend and I tried in for hours but to no avail. But again, thanks to the wonder of YouTube I can once again live through others.

Original Hardware, Emulators or Clone Hardware?

Playing old computer games is pretty easy nowadays with many games being available online through digital download services such as GOG, Steam and the numerous legal download services, as well as illegal emulator sites too. However when playing computer games there's nothing like to have the real thing, many of the retro games are available to play but the real problem lies with the joypads. There is nothing like playing a game with the controller it was meant for. Also for many gamers space is a premium and the problems associated with compatibility with modern television sets comes into play too.

The Retron5 comes in a very cool looking box

The Retron5 comes in a very cool looking box

I am a collector and have many of the original computers, consoles and games from my childhood but with my room being converted into a nursery for our imminent firstborn space is at a premium. So I purchased a Retron5 Clone Console, a machine that plays the original games AND uses the original controllers of the Famicom, NES, SNES, Megadrive, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and Gameboy Advanced. The aspect I am most looking forward to is the fact that it is usable on the current television sets and upscales to 720p. Also with fatherhood around the corner the use of Save States will come in very useful I'm sure.

I will be testing the system over the next couple of weeks and will be providing my opinions and feedback here.

Gaming vs Life

Something crystalized for me the other day whilst reading an online game review ... I'm getting old. Now this isn't a piece about gaming no longer being for me or my interest waning, in fact the opposite is true. There are more games of interest to me than ever before, even with the Summer 2014 gaming drought. The simple fact is that I don't have the time I used to have to enjoy my hobby. As a teacher I work from 6am to 6:30pm, often preparing work for the next day. After that I spend time catching up with my wife and as she's an early bird I often have an hour or two before bedtime. It's a case of splitting time between reading books and comics, working on this website or consuming media such as films or documentaries. We are living in a golden age of television, podcasts, comics and animation, splitting my time between all of these is difficult.

In the last year I've blazed through and completed Deadly Premonition, Tomb Raider, Devil May Cry, Dishonoured, Thomas Was Alone, Bioshock Infinite, Monument Valley, Gone Home, Broken Sword 5, Red Dead Redemption and Child of Light. I've played but as yet have a few games I'm still working through and it may sound strange but I have had some sleepless nights fretting that I wouldn't work through my gaming pile of shame, games that define a generation and are must plays. First world problems for sure!


I've been working through and been successful but now with impending fatherhood 3 months or so away it may be that generation is the point where I become less plugged in to gaming. I'll still play games of course but I may have to become very selective about the titles I choose. Most games are now 30 plus hours and getting bigger and longer, I would love to work through No Mans Sky but with the scope and scale I'm not sure I'll have the time to enjoy all that it has to offer. I feel I may have to play the games which are more contained and episodic, as in the hour I may get free during weekdays the feeling of progress will feel much greater than if I were to play a MMORPG or a long game. Well, time will tell!

Why I Collect

The internet age with all the social networking that entails has changed the hobby of collecting. Before it might have been just a few people who knew about someones collection but now with YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and blogging you can share your  collection online for all to see. But why do people collect? There are typically two types of collectors, the ones who collect to display and those that collect to play. Often the people who display are after sealed (mint) games or perhaps after a complete series or collection. Those who collect to play choose the games for the nostalgia and curiosity factor.

I collect games for the same reason other people might collect art- I appreciate and admire the craft and I want them. There is also a mix of nostalgia and the promise I made to my younger self that when I got older I would buy loads of games and all that I missed out on. I occasionally play the games I have in my collection, for the last 15 or so years the games I've really enjoyed I've kept. For me it's the idea of some halcyon future where I have free time to revisit these games, even though I don't have some of the systems to play them anymore.

I also collect games for completion, for example I have Final Fantasy 6 to 9 on the PS1 and would like to acquire the rest of the collection. Not because I'm a big Final Fantasy fan, although I do like the series, but because I just think it looks neater. It sounds strange but I am also a comic collector and so having an unfinished series seems wrong to me. I have already explained the pains I went through to finish the Battle Angel Alita collection even though the series had lost its appeal years ago for me. It may be difficult to understand but unless you are a collector it is hard to explain. So why do you collect and what do you collect?