[19] Sim Life

console

< Piro >

"ohhh, I like <i>this</i> game!"

Tuesday - September 26, 2000

The last time I was able to get a reading on largo was about four days ago when I heard some kind of squeal out of him like 'BG2 is here!'. Since then there has only been the faintest signs of life from his corner of the world. I've considered launching a rescue mission, but then again, I don't like to go there, it scares me.

The weather up here is starting to get rather crisp, almost chilly. Ah, I love fall. One of the things i missed when i was living down south was that it just didn't get cold enough. To me, there is nothing better than freezing your ass off, arriving home, and curling up in your chair with a hot coffee and a PSX controller, feeling the life start to creep back into your toes as you play a favorite game. Am I nuts? Perhaps, but there is just so much opportunity for moodiness and a pleasant kind of warmth you only get in a cold environment. Even Ping-chan, shown here wearing one of largo's sweatshirts can sense the chill and react by dressing accordingly. :)

Snow is rare in Tokyo, and when it does snow, it's a big deal. Snow is considered to be romantic, and I don't think that there has been a Christmas in anime where it doesn't automatically snow at some point in the episode. The lack of snow and cold weather in Tokyo is what prompted me to look for another location for 'warmth', a story that needed a colder environment. After some discussion, tsubasa and I settled on Sendai, which is just far north enough to be cold in winter, but a big enough city to give the feel I was looking for. We are still researching this, and I am just waiting for tsubasa to get up there to do some field work and get some pictures and record some sounds for me. :)

Probably the best use of a snowy scene I've seen, and one of my favorites, happens in Kaitou Saint Tail - when Asuka Jr. challenges Meimi to meet him in the park, and he waits in the phone booth because he is so cold... and he can't see her face because he's fogged up the inside of the phone booth... (sigh) I love that episode...

(runs off to get a hot chocolate...)

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< Largo >

"sword, meet evil..."

Tuesday - September 26, 2000

[Largo] - 11:12:00 - [link here]

Okay, so for the first time since we started, Piro has managed to get his drink on and his rant on before I did. No matter, I've come back from the depths of Baldur's Gate II, having finally beat the game. To give you an idea of the time I put in it, realize I received the game late Thursday afternoon, from that time forward I've done nothing but the play the game, and some laundry - though I won't get into that. I liked the ending, again I'm satisfied with this franchise, Bioware has scored two for two and now I want them go make me some more kickass games.

Today's strip is more a jab rather then a insult to Maxis. I even liked playing The Sims, for all of four hours… After that I did like everyone else and just locked my Sims in a tiny room with no doors and waited for them to keel over. Don't look at me like that! Everyone was doing it!

As Piro says, it's getting colder, and I do love the cold weather, it's my all time my favorite climate, which makes me wonder why I've lived most of my life in such warm areas of the country. Perhaps it's because like all things, including games, when you are around it everyday, you don't see it as refreshing and wondrous as you once did, all things over time will lose their luster. It seems everything has a cycle from fresh beginning to climax, and then the fall to the end. This process can be quick or dreadfully slow, hell - it took Star Wars twenty years to do it. I bring this up because I've thought about comics as of late, and this seems to hold true even for them, I don't pretend to know why people read comics, I can't even explain why Piro and I are making one now. If the only reason is entertainment, then I acknowledge we too, are not immune to this cycle - and this is how I think it should be.

With all the shows I've watched, I always preferred series' that before even the first frame was inked, the creators knew the series had a beginning, middle, and end. Rather then the ones that find something the audience likes, and then milks it for as long as they can. Effectively ramming a once good idea about fifty miles into the ground. Who really wins in this? The fans trade in what could have been a great epic in favor of a seeing their favorite characters on a regular basis. For the creators, true - they make more money, steady employment is never a bad thing, but they get forced to spend several years doing 'the same old thing'., which to a creative type person - can be very painful.

I suppose there are tradeoffs to everything.