Mass Effect 3, Love Letter

So, here's my biannual post, if anyone still reads this rotting wooden shack of a blog. Wow, the post composition window is clinically minimalist. A little unsettling. Not a joke, every time I post this interface is a little different. That's what I get.

Well, I went to the Hollywood launch party for Mass Effect 3, met Casey Hudson and the VO team, as well as Tobuscus and Harley Morenstein of EpicMealTime, who both happened to be there. It was pretty cool, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Probably around 200 people were there, maybe more. West Hollywood looked super sketch, and because of the smog you couldn't even see two blocks down the road.

I've been so busy I've only just recently gotten around to playing the game itself. I know, I know. But it's amazing. I'm about 22 hours in, and it just may be the best of all three. The story is grand and gives you a real sense of trying to defend an entire galaxy. The scale and stakes are large and high. The characters are written so well you really get attached to them. Your choices feel as though they really do have consequences, much more so than in previous games. Almost every single choice you make in the game has pros and cons for each side you take. I can't wait to finish it.

Well, something else that is really cool is this movie a friend of mine is writing, called "Love Letter". Here's the synopsis: "THE STORY: Garrett's got a case of writer’s block.  It turns out writing the perfect suicide note is not as easy as you might think.  And it’s even harder when you're writing it for an ex-girlfriend you’ve got tied up in your garage who, even though she totally deserves what she’s getting, unfairly refuses to sign the letter.  Things get more awkward when Garrett accidentally takes the pizza guy and the pizza guy’s sweaty girlfriend hostage after they stubbornly refuse to die from the poison he slips in their drinks. The situation goes from bad to….well...more bad as Barry, the landlord, gets put out that hostages are being held at his property.  It sucks, but Garrett may just have to kill everyone."

I would love it if anyone reading this would at least share their kickstarter page, and hopefully donate what you can to them: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1423478098/love-letter-feature-film

I have confidence that this movie will be worth it. Well, that's all I got guys! 

Farcry 3

Grrg. I want to start a new blog, but every time I do, I post one post and leave the blog to die. I can't even remember some of the blogs I've started, and so I have scattered them across the great ocean of the internet, each one a ship with only one passenger, and no captain. Lost forever. So I'm here again, with some more thoughts on what has always been the vague theme of this particular blog: video game opinion.

I saw an ad for Farcry 3. I did not search it out, but in fact it came to me, rather rudely, in front of a Mass Effect 3 trailer that I did intentionally look up. But I humored it and watched the whole two and a half some minutes, as I greatly enjoyed its direct predecessor in spite of its flaws, which were occasionally quite frustrating. Seeing another sidebar ad, now, I have assembled a vibe that Ubisoft is putting out with their marketing campaign for the game; a sort of more realistic and therefore darker Borderlands vibe. I think it was the weird colors and the crazed characters and blatant disregard for human life displayed in the trailer combined with the sarcastic slogan "relax and unwind with us" on the ad. However, it somehow feels worn out. I like how Farcry 2 played it straight. No humor. And the trailer dropped one too many f-bombs, as if they were trying to be edgy. Which they most certainly will. But excessive language and violence doesn't cut it anymore, you actually have to try. Borderlands nailed the Borderlands vibe in 2008 (I think), and as an aside, I absolutely loved the Borderlands 2 trailer. Way to go, Gearbox. And having personally spoken with Randy Pitchford and co. at a couple of PAXes, I can testify that they genuinely seem like good people who care about their games, and more importantly, their gamers; this I found out when I was one of the few hundred to receive a free copy of Borderlands 2 at PAX Prime 2011.

But back to Farcry 3. Even though they are trying a bit too hard with their marketing, if the gameplay improves (that's the key word) upon FC2, then I will most likely get this game. FC2 certainly was a lot of fun, I dumped a little over 50 hours into it somehow (more than I put into Mass Effect 2 :O [which I liked better]), but there was something about the openness of the world that made me not care too much about the almost immediately respawning guard posts and the cars and guns that would break down after just a few hours' use. Do something better, Ubisoft! I don't know what, that's why I'm not a game designer.