#we plan almost everything together about our gameplays. we share opinions about our stories and etc. the point is: we’re always helping

[mamaluigi2018-commsopen]

Mama Luigi’s Top 10 Favorite Games of All Time.

Hey, everyone! Mama Luigi here. Just wanted to create this list to show appreciation to the games that have given me the most joys in my life and so you can all have an idea what kind of games I love. I will be going into small detail on each game, give a description on why I love these games. and also add my favorite track from each game. Alright. Let’s begin!

10. Mega Man 10 (heh....funny)

This was the most recent Mega Man game we got until Mega Man 11 arrived. This was released in 2010 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and WiiWare, and now available in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The story is that a virus called “Roboenza” has appeared and have caused robots to go out of control. It’s up to Mega Man and for the first time joining his side, Proto Man, to stop the menace and uncover the cause of the virus. Many would think that at the 10th game, the gameplay of Mega Man would get stale. Not so! The platforming is still tight and a fair challenge, the robot masters are some of my personal favorites of the series with Blade Man, Nitro Man, Strike Man, and my baby boi Sheep Man. The music is fantastic with tracks such as Stage Select, Solar Man stage, and Wily Stage 1. The weapons may not have been as useful as Mega Man 9, but the good ones are really good like Blade Man weapon and Nitro Man weapon. Plus the added DLC with playable Bass and 3 stages based on the Mega Man Game Boy games are a great bonus!

Favorite Track: Nitro Man

9. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Released in 1997 for the Playstation and rereleased on the PSN store and PSP as part of the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles. After the disappearance of Richter Belmont, Alucard is tasked with invading his father’s palace and put an end to his reign of terror. Symphany of the Night broke the mold of  the Castlevania traditional platform gameplay with a non-linear explorative action adventure similar to the Metroid series, which coined the term Metroidvania. Later games would adopt the Symphony of the Night gameplay such as Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia. What I love about this game is just the amount of free roam the game allows for you to do and what kind of items you can find. If you are having trouble with a part of the game, there is a variety of solutions such as a certain spell or a certain weapon combinations that can help you out. The graphics are a clean, smooth sprite style and the music is some fantastic CD quality music. The love I have for this game makes me even more excited for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to come out in 2019.

Favorite Track: Dracula’s Castle

8. Kirby: Planet Robobot

Released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. Planet Popstar has been converted in a mechanized world due to President Haltmann and his goons. Able to snatch one of the bots, Kirby embarks on a robotic adventure to free his planet from the machine menace. I love Kirby. I love Robots. Put them together and you get a absolute fantastic adventure with great Copy Abilities old such as Sword, Fire, and Hammer, as well as new such as Doctor, Poison, and ESP. The levels are well design to emphasized the robot theme and the soundtrack was given a more techno feel. The best parts are definitely the Robobot segments! It can not only smash enemies along the way, buy also copy it’s own set of abilites!

Favorite Track: Super Nova (vs. Star Dream Soul OS) or “P.R.O.G.R.A.M”

7. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, Smash 3DS was a companion game for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Nintendo’s greatest are pitted against each other in battle to see who will come out in top. Due to not owning a Wii U, I was a bit skeptic about getting the 3DS version, thinking it was only a dumb down version. I can now say it was not the case! Smash 3DS is just about as a real Smash game as the Wii U version. Having a cast of 65 characters, there a character for almost anyone. The addition of Omega Stages allowed for any stage to be play for competitive match. The choice between For Glory and For Fun was a fantastic idea that allowed any kind of player to have fun. Smash Run was a fun game mode to run in a maze collecting power ups to face your opponents. The music was god like with themes coming from a variety of games and remixes included. So many hours playing with my friends, I know I will always cherish this game and am looking forward to Smash Ultimate this December. BTW, my mains are Pikachu, Luigi, and Lucina.

Favorite Track: Tie between “Gerudo Valley (Legend of Zelda)” or “Main Theme”

6. Shovel Knight

Released in 2014 for the PC and Wii U, with later releases on 3DS, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch. Shovel Knight stars our titular character on quest to stop the evil Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter with his trusty shovel. Steel thy Shovel! Shovel Knight is an indie created by Yacht Club as their first game, and man do they give it their all! Shovel Knight is styled after the NES days not only in art style and music, but in difficulty as well. With exciting stages with their own gimmicks and precise platforming, Shovel Knight is definitely for those who want to relive the NES days. The music is amazing, the characters have so much personality, and the 3 DLC are basically full games put in. Plauge of Shadows is a fun mode with combining different potions. Spector of Torment is my favorite mode with wall climbing, slicing enemies, and Scythe Skating (yes I said Scythe Skating). King of Cards is not out yet, but is showing promise to be just as fun as the 3 other campaigns.

Favorite Track: La Danse Macabre (Spector Knight Stage)

5. Sonic Colors

Released in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles “Tails” Prower must stop Dr. Eggman from capturing planets for his Interstellar Amusement Park and free the captive Wisps. Sonic Colors takes the game play the day time levels from Sonic Unleashed and puts him in a high speed adventure with amazing level designs such as Tropical Resort and Starlight Carnival. The Wisp power up allow Sonic to absorb the Wisp and take a variety of forms such as the Cyan Laser or Yellow Drill. What I really enjoy is how the White Wisp the only thing that gave you the Boost so you had to plan out when is the best place to use it. The best feeling I get from this game is sense of speed I get.

Favorite Track: Planet Wisp Act 1

4. Hyrule Warriors: Definite Edition

Released in 2014 for the Wii U, released for 3DS in 2015, and finally for the Nintendo Switch. The Dark Sorceress Cia has called the greatest villains from across the Zelda timelines. Now Zelda, Link, the White Sorceress Lana, Self-Proclaimed Hero Linkle( and best girl), plus heroes from the entire series must stop her and save Hyrule. An absolute fantastic hack n slash adventure where you get use your favorite Zelda Characters and just wreck everything in your path. With a fantastic soundtrack of original tracks and remixes of past Zelda themes. An expansive Adventure Map where you can collect heart pieces and unlock new weapons, collecting material to expand your characters strength. You can spend so many hours on this game and just have a good time.

Favorite Track: Linkle’s Theme

3. Metroid Fusion

Released in 2002 for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. After an expedition to SR-388, Samus is infected with X-Parasite. After being given a vaccine containing Metroid DNA, Samus is tasked with investigating the BSL Station. This game. This god damn game was my first horror game. It terrified my 8 year old self. The tense atmosphere, the feeling of isolation, the horrible monstrosities all being after you was made perfectly. And we can not forget about the the nightmare fuel that is the SA-X. That thing was horrifying! The gameplay is fantastic with just shooting down monster after monster and fighting to survive.

Favorite Track: Vs. Nightmare

2. Super Mario World

Released in 1991 as a launch title for the SNES. Mario travels to Dinosaur Land to save Peach(again) from Bowser(again). Super Mario World was my first console game and I share many fond memories of it. The graphics are great with a nice color palette, the levels are fun and varied in design, the Super Cape is an amazing power up, allowing you to skip levels with the right timing. It also introduces one of our favorite dinosaurs, Yoshi. The music is catchy and is remixed into almost every track in the game. This game is truly a masterpiece.

Favorite Track: Staff Roll

1. Pokemon Emerald.

Released in 2005 for the Game Boy Advance, Pokemon Emerald is the 3rd game in the Gen 3 Pokemon games, following Ruby and Sapphire. As moving to the Hoenn Region, a young trainer travels defeating gym leaders, catching Pokemon and stopping the villainous Team Magma and Team Aqua. This is it. This is without a doubt my favorite game of all time. My very first game I ever bought with my own money. Many hours put in to catching all the Pokemon, training and raising different teams, competing in the Battle Frontier. Team Magma and Team Aqua were the first villains to actually feel like a threat, the Hoenn region is an amazing land scape with well known areas such as Mt. Chimney, Meteor Falls, and Sootopolis CIty. The Pokemon designs were made more excotic looking and the music is simple sublime with the use of trumpets. I love this game and I will continue to love and play for all of eternity.

Favorite Track: “Littleroot Town” “Route 120″ and “Ending Credits”

So what did you all think? Do you share any of my opinions on these games? What are some of your favorite games of all time? I would love to know! Have a great day to you all and this is Mama Luigi signing out!

#mama luigi talks #pokemon emerald #super mario world #metroid fusion #hyrule warriors #sonic colors #shovel knight #super smash bros #kirby planet robobot #castlevania symphony of the night #mega man 10 #games #video game

[kylydian]

Music and Cross Art Discipline in Games: Bridging the Gap

Video games take a lot of different artistic disciplines and make something cohesive.  That might have been the most redundant statement I’ve ever said... In video games, you have developers, writers, artists, composers, sound designers, modelers, marketers and oh so many people who add artistic direction to the vision. Many times, these disciplines come together to create something amazing, but so many times does it feel that music is just added on top.  I believe that the music of a game should encompass all that a game is, and that the game should also encompass all that the music is.  The same could be said about the art and music, or art and game, or story and music, or any combination of disciplines!  The game wouldn’t exist without the art, so likewise should the game not exist without music or purposeful lack of music.

Now I just sound pretentious….

Artistic disciplines have been combined for millennia, most notably through dance, drama, and music, but now have expanded to encompass all art forms within the last couple centuries. However, video games are an extremely new medium in the annuals of time.  So often do you play a game that has good music, but has music that simply exists.  While this music may be great, all too often does it fall back in our mind as we dismiss the soundtrack.  But what about the great soundtracks?  Why do we remember soundtracks that are deemed incredible?  I’m of the belief that we remember these because they present music as being equal to everything else in the game.  It’s almost like the music is so present that it’s fighting the art, sound, story and the game itself, while also working together with them to make a better product.  

So how do we achieve these seemingly effortless mergers of the arts like you see in Super Mario Galaxy, Nier Automata and Persona 5?  There’s many ways to do this, but I think most people’s gut response would be through trial and error.  Don’t get me wrong, trial and error are part of it.  But I think there’s something more.  Something less obvious.  You can understand art without actually understanding it.  In cases like this, if we look on the surface we’re already dooming ourselves to the same monotony that so many other games fall into musically. I think the answer lies in understanding each other.  

As composers, we have an idea of where we want music to fall in the spectrum of a project, but developers also have an idea about this.  We need to understand the visions of developers, and where our music falls in a creation mindset within the world we’re creating.  However, this is pretty obvious.  We’re hired to help bring a vision to life.  The key to a breakthrough is that developers also need to understand the vision of the composer.  Composers have an idea of how a game is going to sound, and there needs to be a supportive back and forth between dev and composer, between dev and artist, and even between composer and artist.  Everyone needs to have the same vision.

There’s an incredible GDC talk from Mick Gordon, the composer of the 2016 reboot of Doom that describes this relationship much better than I ever could. 

To summarize it briefly, Gordon was presented with a very clear, but impossible vision.  The vision was so clear that he realized he needed to approach the entire project from a different angle.  When he originally thought he found the answer, he was told that his unique idea wasn’t good enough, but that he was on the right track and to keep trying.  This instantly validated the work, the person, and the vision while also allowing the developers to say that this wasn’t what they had in mind.  He went back to the drawing board and found the answer to the “Doom Instrument” that is heavily featured in the game.  In turn, the sound team said they didn’t want guitars in the soundtrack.  Slowly Gordon began to implement guitars into the soundtrack, telling them, “Guys this is Doom. You need guitars.”  He also had a vision of what the soundtrack needed to sound like. This is a perfect example of composer, developer, and the sound team working together to create something that was truly fitting.  The soundtrack to Doom 2016 was one of the most appropriate soundtracks in recent memory, and it wasn’t only because it was metal as fuck. The different teams worked together, and continuously verified each other work.  To make a cohesive game across the arts, taking the time to understand each other’s vision is absolutely imperative.  

The visual arts tend to not struggle as much in communicating.  Don’t get me wrong, it still happens all the time.  But if you think about the amount of times an average person looks at something critically versus listens to something critically you’ll notice there’s a huge difference in frequency.  If developers don’t like a model or a piece of art, they’re going to easily be able to say “Hey, I wasn’t really thinking that for the claw. I was thinking more of a tiger claw instead of a bear.” As humans, we pass visual criticism all the time, doing so somewhat accurately, even without a direct understanding of visual art.  That’s because it’s normal to us.  For music and sound though, not everyone is equipped with this skill set. Most people have preferences on music, and can tell if they like or don’t like a piece. But if a developer doesn’t like a track we write, it’s all too common to hear back “I don’t like this, I don’t know what it is, but something needs to change.” And as musicians we’re sitting here and are asking ourselves “Oh god. What did we do wrong? Was the melody bad? Maybe the harmony was repetitive? No that can’t be it, the harmony was pretty varied. Maybe the mix was unbalanced?  Did they not like the use of trombone over a more traditional string melody?”  And we have no idea what to fix or how to make our client happy.  Often when I reply back to responses like this, I’m greeted with something like “I don’t really know how to describe it. It was a little low.”

“What was a little low? Was the bass too soft? Should the melody be higher? Do I need to put it in a higher key?” Our thoughts race again, until we ask:

“What do you mean by ‘a little low’?”

“I don’t know, you’re the composer.”

This is so counterproductive.

When talking with developers, I find it very beneficial to set up some key terms about music that make communication much more effective.  These can vary from vocabulary terms, musical ideas, instruments, genres, or literally anything about music.  I’ll generally try to establish different key terms depending on the project, because each one is different.  

The situation presented above might have been prevented if we took the time to talk with the developers to find a mutual understanding about music.  If we had done this, the first time they might have been able to say “Hey, I thought that the lowest bass instrument was pitched too low. Could you maybe bring that up a bit?” This is much easier for us as musicians to understand.  By this we instantly know that that our lowest instrument was too low in pitch, and that we might need to bring it up an octave.  Obviously, this still isn’t too specific for composers, but we now know what the problem is, and we can devise a plan to fix it.  

And granted, sometimes I don’t have to do this!  One thing I really liked, was about a month ago someone I’m working with told me “I’d really like it if we could begin to implement some leitmotif ideas into this track.”

Bam.  That’s a winner right there.

But just imagine what would have happened if the developer didn’t know how to articulate this.  I don’t want to think about it…

And this same kind of tactic can be employed with all types of disciplines within the game industry. The music should compliment all other forms of art in a game.  When possible, I like to run the music by everyone in the team to get their opinions. There’s going to be one person who has the final say, but if everyone is aware of what you’re doing, I think it’s beneficial for the entire team.

I try to start writing music only after I see visual art for what it is I’m writing for, and a plot summary for the game or scene.  I can’t do this at all times, but I feel that my music is much more appropriate when I’m able to do that.  In turn, my music then can influence the art and gameplay.  

Granted this is just what I prefer to do, everyone has a different process.  

So. Takeaways

For Developers

· Communicate your vision with everyone on the team

· Listen to everyone else’s take on the vision, but remember in the end it’s your project

· Validate the work of not only composers, but every creative discipline

· Provide pointed and directed feedback

· If you don’t understand how to articulate something, ask your creatives for advice

For Composers

· Writing truly fitting music comes from sharing the same vision as the entire team

· Take the time to understand the vision of everyone, and also make your        interpretation known

· Educate those who aren’t able to provide detailed feedback on music or sound

· Be flexible on the needs and wants of the team

What it all boils down to is understanding the vision of the team.  Everyone will have opinions on what the project should look like, but to create truly immersive experiences that I would call complete packages, everyone needs to have the same or a similar vision.  Communication and education is key for creating industry defining games.

Games are shared knowledge, and shared dreams. Make them that way.

We’re creators, let’s create something great.

#Video Games #Video Game Developer #Video Game Development #Video Game Music #Music #Art #teamwork #indie dev #indie music #indie game #ost #soundtrack #arts #Kylydian

[kitsunesbooks]

Nier Automata is a Better Dark Souls than Dark Souls

There is a trend in modern media, especially within video games, in which the story tells the tale of a character who must suffer a great deal before ever reaching their supposed happy ending. Nier Automata is no exception, and it is a game that most certainly takes inspiration from the grandfather of this trend, Dark Souls. However, it is my honest opinion that Nier Automata handles the theme of suffering and the concept of repeating cycles far better than Dark Souls ever could. The most obvious contribution to this opinion is the much more focused writing of Yoko Taro. While his stories can be extremely convoluted and confusing, his characters are far too endearing for players to dwell on the more questionable details of his work. Dark Souls on the other hand has been hit or miss with its characters over the course of the three installments, and the series’ focus on open ended storytelling doesn’t always resonate with players. These two games both have common themes that tie back to our everyday lives and have even helped people like myself to pick themselves off the ground and continue walking forward. The overall concept is something truly wondrous and powerful and something I hope to explore in this article.

The beauty of the first Dark Souls game is how it blends a noble quest with a feeling of pointlessness. Throughout the game, you understand your goal to be the rekindling of the First Flame, but as you fight your way through the Undead Burg and the Undead Parish you begin to ask yourself a pivotal question. “What is there left to save?” The kingdom of Lordran is in ruins, undead walk its cobbled streets and there are few people left with their sanity intact. It is a dismal situation to say the least and it depletes your motivation to almost zero. You constantly doubt your goal is even worth struggling for because you aren’t even certain if it will even fix anything. Even then, there isn’t much to save in the kingdom of Lordran. Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki wanted to tell a story that was both inspired by the Western fairy tales he enjoyed as child and as well as his favorite manga, Berserk. Both inspirations are more than present within the entire Dark Souls series, this is especially true for the former. Growing up, Miyazaki enjoyed Western fairy tales, but because he wasn’t very good with English, the stories had many gaps within them that he would have to piece together himself. This open ended story telling is what influenced the Dark Souls series as a whole. It is also what allows that overwhelming sense of pointlessness to persist throughout the game.

Dark Souls’ blend of hope and hopelessness is reflective of life itself and that is one of the reasons the game resonates with players so much. It rekindles the pleasure brought on by getting through some sort of trial. Whether it be a tought college semester, and important project, or just a rough patch with friends. The almost iconic boss fights within Dark Souls capture that great sense of relief when you finally defeat one after so many tries. It is a truly beautiful and almost genius metaphor for our own existence. We constantly find ourselves trying and trying and ultimately failing time and time again. Despite so many failures we keep pushing ourselves to succeed. There are times when we are defeated and we can’t get back up for awhile, but we still persist. Dark Souls is a game that rewards persistence, but not only that, it rewards skill. Dark Souls encourages players to analyze situations and think quickly in order to find the best course of action. The very way the game controls is meant to feel more real than most “hack n’ slash” kind of games. The controller itself is divided up to represent two halves of a body. The very mechanics and controls reflect the lore and themes of Dark Souls which ultimately helps bolster the kind of metaphor it is aiming to portray. The ultimate flaw in this is that these themes are not presented upfront. Everything in Dark Souls takes a back seat and gameplay is at the forefront. Because of it’s open ended storytelling, few will be motivated enough by a single cutscene of exposition. Though, for the few that do stay, they experience a great metaphorical challenge and a test of resolve.

Nier Automata is the game that does away with the open ended storytelling the Souls games are known for nowadays, while still keeping the core themes and metaphors that were present in those same games. Yoko Taro is a master of character drama, and while the NPCs of Dark Souls are endearing and entertaining to interact with, they still have a level of open-endedness about them. Granted, Yoko Taro’s focus is only on the three main characters of Nier Automata, their interactions with one another and the overall arc of the story helps to perpetuate the concept of the repeating cycle. Even the first words uttered by 2B in the first route of the game state clearly that this story is neverending. The beauty of Nier Automata is the fact you are not playing an avatar like in Dark Souls. The fact that Dark Souls puts you into the world via a created character and its NPCs are more or less lackluster in terms of an overarching story means that the ties you have aren’t nearly as strong. Nier Automata puts you in the shoes of three fleshed out characters with personalities far different from your own. They talk to each other, they share moments together, the player, in this instance, is just an observer. I think that this is what helps Nier Automata pull one out from underneath Dark Souls. Its three main characters and the ways they interact are completely endearing and it makes the story all the more emotional when things don’t go their way. You find yourself wishing desperately that those three androids could be happy and that is the root of Nier Automata’s emotional investment.

The suffering that 2B, 9S, and A2 all go through is yet another reflection of life. Everyone just wants to be happy, but we are all caught in a cycle of happiness and suffering. Happiness doesn’t seem to be permanent for anyone. When things finally hit rock bottom for our heroes, we find ourselves empathizing heavily because we more than likely have been in similar places, or were experiencing those same emotions when we sat down and played. It is an almost cathartic experience as you can’t help but cry with those lovable androids as they slowly break down emotionally. Route C/D of Nier Automata is no easy thing to complete as it is the most emotionally charged part of the game, and honestly, one of the most emotional parts of any game I’ve played. It is when Yoko Taro really does bring out his best talent and forces us to watch as the characters we spent two whole playthroughs bonding with collapse under the weight of their problems. It replicates the feeling of empathy we get towards a close friend and represents a powerful understanding of emotional writing. Giving players all this time to bond with 2B and 9S only to then drag them through the mud is one of the best writing choices this game made, but it is by far the absolute best.

The greatest thing this game has to offer is it’s final ending. Ending E is one of the best endings I have ever seen in a video game and it is what brings the themes of Nier Automata to forefront. The game takes a dramatic shift by addressing the player directly and essentially interviewing the player. The final conversation the player has with the game is one of the most heart wrenching and relatable things I have seen in a video game and I think it definitely is one of the best ways I’ve seen to end a game. It was that ending that cemented Nier Automata as one of my favorite games of all time. The powerful message behind that ending and the ultimate breaking of the cycle is a moment still imprinted within my mind and it will stick with me for a very long time. It is the same feeling I got whenever I defeated a particularly tough boss in Dark Souls, but magnified exponentially. That is what makes Nier Automata so good. While Dark Souls rewards persistence consistently with each boss fight, Nier Automata holds out on that feeling of relief to absolute end of the game. That is what makes that relief all the more potent and heartwarming.

Both of these games represent powerful metaphors for life and the struggle we go through day in and day out. Ultimately, Nier Automata’s character drama gives it an edge over Dark Souls as it also reflects the mechanics of the Souls series in terms of the way death is handled. Both games have extremely similar themes, but Nier Automata is far more relatable and its charm and gameplay are what will drive more people to play it, while Dark Souls will forever be recognized for its difficulty alone. It is a shame, but understandable why. Nier Automata is one of the best souls-like games in terms of theming and I hope that Yoko Taro’s next project does more with these themes. Nier Automata is a game I plan to treasure for the rest of my life and I urge anyone going through a rough patch in their life to sit down and play it. You will not be disappointed.

#Nier Automata #2B #9S #A2 #Yoko Taro #Hidetaka Miyazaki #Dark Souls #Solaire #Praise the Sun

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Whisper Network, Bradbury, James Bond, Isle of Dread

H. P. Lovecraft (DMR Books): The first thing to keep in mind is that this cache represents one of the great epistolary friendships in the history of letters. The two never met in person, but the Mutual Admiration Society CAS and HPL formed between them was forged of eldritch steel. Both considered the other the Greatest Living Weird Fiction Author. It is obvious in every letter they wrote and confirmed by comments they sent to other correspondents.

  Comic Books (Bleeding Fool): Two weeks ago, we published the second part in our ongoing series of articles investigating the secret “Whisper Network” – a secret group of (mostly) women that’s been allegedly colluding to torment comic book pros and publicly harass creators they disagree with. Within that exposé, a major story was uncovered that should have rocked the comic book industry when it first happened, but was buried or “memory holed” by comic industry press at the time, with sites like Bleeding Fool erasing it after publishing it and Comics Beat, IGN, Newsarama and all others ignoring it entirely.

Cinema (Bounding Into Comics): In a new video interview J.J. Abrams declared that his film production company Bad Robot will make hiring based on looks a top priority. Speaking with Time Magazine about the film industry Abrams discussed what he wants the industry to look like in the future. He then made it clear that Bad Robot will be focused on people’s outward appearance when it comes to hiring.

Robert E. Howard (John C. Wright): As previously announced, Jeffro Johnson, author of Appendix N, Zaklog the Great, Nate the Greater, and your truly gather electronically to talk about Robert E. Howard’s verse….

Ray Bradbury (Pulpfest): Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois. From an early age, he was a voracious reader and consumer of popular culture — movies, pulp magazines, radio programming, newspaper comic strips, circuses, magic, and more. He was enamored with the Buck Rogers newspaper strip, the stories of L. Frank Baum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and more. By age twelve, he wanted to write.

James Bond (25 Years Later): Raise your martini glasses! We are only a few months away from (hopefully) another fantastic James Bond adventure (er, at least, we think so. It’s already been delayed once by a global pandemic that is starting to feel like something a diabolical Bond villain would think up). No Time To Die, the 25th official James Bond release, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation), stars Daniel Craig for the fifth, and likely final, time as superspy James Bond ending what has been a sterling era for the rugged 52-year-old.

Fiction (Benespen): This is another expedition into the past of popular literature. Abraham Merritt, whose byline is nearly always A. Merritt, was a popular author who wasn’t even best known in his own time for his fiction. Rather, he was a celebrity journalist, making enough money to travel widely and pursue arcane hobbies.  The Moon Pool [Amazon link] is the work I usually see cited as typical of Merritt’s work, and it is listed in Gary Gygax’s “Appendix N” as an influence on Dungeons and Dragons. Let’s dive into the Moon Pool and see what happens!

Science Fiction (Starship Cat): This novel is pretty much a direct follow-in to Citadel, and continues to be mostly Dana’s story, with occasional appearances by Butch and some cameos by Vernon Tyler. Dana’s story is pretty much an enactment of the proverbial Chinese curse “May you come to the attention of those in high places.” Her heroism at the end of the last book has made the Powers That Be decide that she’s leadership material — and send her to the new station, to command a squadron from the various Latin American countries.

H. P. Lovecraft (Tentaculii): I’ve encountered an interesting item which perhaps throws a small sidelight on the use of the telephone in Lovecraft’s “The Statement of Randolph Carter” (1919). You’ll recall that a telephone is taken on the descent… The telephone might sound like an unlikely thing to take down below. But wired long-distance field telephones were a known ‘thing’ at that time, not least because of their use in the war.

Conventions (Dragoncon): Part two of our three-part interview series where past Dragon Award recipients talk about their award-winning novels and their Dragon Awards experience. In part one of our three-part Dragon Awards interview series, our award-winning authors talked about their background, what motivates them to write, and about their novels that captured Dragon Awards audiences everywhere.

Cinema (0themastercylinder): William Smith. He was born in 1933 in rural Columbia, Missouri on a cattle ranch. That background served him very well during the many Westerns he was to appear in later. The first big surprise I got in examining his background was how early his film career started. He appeared as a child actor in 1942’s “The Ghost of Frankenstein” as the boy who befriends the Monster portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr.

D&D (Paint Monk): wo years ago, I picked up Goodman Games’ Original Adventures Reincarnated #1, where I re-lived the fun of TSR’s original D&D modules “In Search of the Unknown” and “The Keep on the Borderlands”. This month, I finally picked up OAR #2 – The Isle of Dread, and I’d like to share just how much I enjoyed this book and the work the fine folks over at Goodman put into making it a success.

Fiction (Dark Herald): Been a while since we’ve seen a new Dresden Files book and we will be getting two this year. So at least 2020 isn’t a total write off. Butcher’s last addition to this series was in 2014. He had been rather productive up until this time. Usually producing one or two books a year. I’m not sure why there was a prolonged interrupt, possibly it was his divorce.

Beer (Trinkelbonker): Got these as a delayed birthday gift the other day, six cans of Ace Of Aces American Lager with a rather nice (and collectable, if you ask me) motif. The aircraft you see is an American Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the pilot that flew it was Richard Ira Bong, the first child of nine of Carl Bång, an immigrant from Sweden and Dora Bryce, who was an American by Scots-English descent. Richard, nicknamed Dick by his friends, shot down over 40 Japanese aircraft in the Pacific Theater during WWII and became one of the most decorated pilots of the war.

Game Review (Black Gate): This is the second article in my “explanation” of Conan 2d20. Last time I focused on 2d20’s core mechanic and on this game’s design philosophy insofar as it is an emulation of the “physics” and flavor of Robert E. Howard’s Conan fiction. This one will detail more aspects of gameplay, particularly player character components and action scenes. Last article, I maintained that Conan 2d20 characters begin as powerful in mechanical ability (unless the alternative Shadows of the Past character generation is used).

Cinema (Irish Times): because these things only happen in the greatest superhero movie ever made: Flash Gordon. The 1980 camp classic, which has been restored in 4K to mark its 40th anniversary, has a history of happy accidents following its hero’s first appearance in a comic strip in 1934. Buck Rogers, another intergalactic hero, had already spawned novelisations and toys when King Features Syndicate – a subsidiary of the Hearst newspaper empire – approached Edgar Rice Burroughs with a plan to adapt John Carter into a comic strip.

Small Press (Tentaculii): New on Archive.org…Howard Collector #5, Summer 1964.  Howard Collector #6, Spring 1965. With the poem “Who is Grandpa Theobold?”, from a letter. This would count as another early use of ‘Lovecraft as character’, albeit not in fiction. I wonder what the likely year on this poem is?

Cinema & T.V. (Dark Worlds Quarterly): Heroic fantasy films and television changed after 1982. The release of Dino DeLaurentis’ Conan the Barbarian sent Fantasy films in a new direction. Movies had to have a mix of violence, sex and flash that previous movies seemed to lack. Whether you like or hate these films is a matter of opinion. There were bright spots of Fantasy filmmaking among the direct-to-video duds like the Brian Froud-Jim Henson films, Legend by Ridley Scott, and Ron Howard’s The Lord of the Rings known as Willow.

Book Review (Benespen): War Demons [Silver Empire affiliate link] is the veteran’s take on supernatural horror. Sometimes we casually refer to the men who come back from war suffering from PTSD and survivor’s guilt as demon-haunted; but for Michael Alexander it is anything but a metaphor. We now come to the third book covering similar territory I have read recently. I don’t often end up reading lots of similar books together in succession, so I can compare and contrast these.

Science Fiction (Future War Stories): Packed in seemingly every military science fiction work are futuristic firearms and some, like the Colonial Marines M41A1 Pulse Rifle has become an icon of sci-fi weaponry…then there are others that never get their day in the limelight. One of those military sci-fi weapons is the United States standard issue endo/exo assault rifle of the 2060’s: the M590. Featured in the legendary 1990’s FOX one-season TV show Space: Above and Beyond.

Science Fiction (Rough Edges): Robert E. Vardeman has been writing top-notch science fiction for about forty years now, and that’s almost how long I’ve known him. His latest novel, THE DUST OF STARS, is the first book in a new series called ENGINEERING INFINITY, and it’s everything I love about science fiction. First, it has big ideas. And I mean E.E. “Doc” Smith big: An ancient, long-disappeared alien race scattered planet-sized machines throughout the galaxy.

Pulp Fiction (DMR Books): Merritt outlived the CAS-HPL correspondence of 1922-1937, though not by much. In the CAS-HPL letters, one sees Klarkash-Ton belatedly discovering Merritt–and HPL belatedly discovering The Metal Monster. Throughout the course of the correspondence, Merritt was the most successful exemplar of the weird fiction that CAS and HPL were themselves creating. While they did not always agree with the directions he took in his fiction, there was no denying that Merritt dominated the market for pulp fantasy.

Tolkien (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, for years I’ve been convinced that the old story about the Tolkien Estate having gone after TSR for their use of hobbits, ents, balrogs et al in early printings of D&D was wrong and that it was actually Saul Zaentz’s group, Tolkien Enterprises (the movie merchandising people) who’d issued that cease-and-desist back in 1976. But while I’ve able to build up a probable case I’ve been lacking direct proof. Now Gygax has provided it.

Sensor Sweep: Whisper Network, Bradbury, James Bond, Isle of Dread published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/