When you think of the DC Cinematic universe, a few things come to mind. There are the disjointed and messy films, the ambitious ideas of building a working universe like that of Marvel Comics but rushing to do so, without taking the time to let it happen organically through the origin stories, and of course the constant need to reshoot films to take out jokes or put a few in, or go in completely different directions from the original artistic view of its creators.
But another thing that comes to mind is the amount of controversies on the violence of its heroes, on the level of destruction and death they leave in their wake. A point that often comes up is the killing of Zod in Man of Steel and how that goes against all the character stands for. Continue reading DC Animated: Violent Hypocrisy
I’ve been going on about super heroes for a little while now, but it’s been comics and TV series, so how about we talk Super Hero RPG? Continue reading Super Hero RPG – Mantles
Young Justice is the second (or third, technically) series in my current project of watching all DC Comics Animated series. At the time of writing my piece on the Justice League, I still wasn’t done with this series, still having the second season to go through. And even if I had, Young Justice definitely deserves its own article. Continue reading DC Animated – Young Justice
Every once in a while, I get tired from the offerings on the current TV season, tired of seeing the same concepts rehashed under different names and with slightly different details, or sometimes even just want to see something I haven’t seen in a long while, a particular show to rekindle the memories and the emotions I felt when I first saw them.
Around this time last year, I was getting ready for Extra Life, putting together a list of games to play, prizes to give away, conditions for raffle entries and of course, the all-important donation goal. I worked tirelessly on this, getting in touch with game developers for keys, Blue Microphones for a Blue Yeti as grand prize and coordinating with the rest of the Tomb Raider Community Team. Continue reading Extra Life 2016
Last week I read the latest in the Opinion Battles hosted by Movie Reviews 101. It was “The Best Batman Villain.” I always read these at Emma’s site emmakwall (explains it all) and after reading the different opinions in the battle as well as the comments left on Emma’s site, I decided to drop my own, a mini-rant on why Joker was the best villain. Emma prompted me to write an entire article on it, so here I am.
My analysis on the Joke isn’t just in terms of films, but also comics, where most of my knowledge of the character comes from.
One of the biggest misconceptions about the Joker is that he’s a force of chaos, that what he does is just random and with the only goal being more chaos, but the reality is different. Continue reading Character Look – The Joker
This week on The Mental Attic’s YouTube channel, one of my first and longest running Let’s Play series comes to an end (more on that tomorrow) and next week another one will go away. They’ve been fun games and I’ve gotten into the groove of recording multiple series every week. Even now, I’m learning new things, improving my hosting skills and content creation in general. I’m starting to edit videos, think about the presentation and slowly building my own personal brand of entertainment.
When the first rounds of DLC came into the gaming industry, people split into the hating, loving and uncaring camps, with some denouncing the clear money grubbing scheme and others defending this new way of extending the shelf life of a given title. For me, it’s never been that simple. I’ve always seen DLC from the point of view of its worth. Is it worth getting it, will it add something to the experience and most importantly, is the price right for it?
As we stand now in the industry and with the ever-growing market for episodic and cut up games, we’re never getting rid of DLC. In fact, if we consider digital sales platforms like Steam, GoG and GamersGate, then every game out there is DLC, Downloadable products. We’re sliding more and more into an era where retail physical copies become extinct and everything becomes Downloadable Content.
It’s all DLC when you think about it! (Image Credit: Gamespot)
But even if that is true, the development, marketing and release of DLC (and I’m referring to add-on content in this) could see better practices, something that works more in the consumer’s favour. As my friend Timlah always tells me, “you only see the side of the consumer,” and it’s true, I do. Because I am one and because I feel developers should respect their audience, their fans and some of the current trends in DLCs feel disrespectful.
George Carlin once said: “One of the things I like to do in my shows is complain, it’s kind of a motif for me, complaining…so this next piece of material, like most good ideas is fairly simple. It’s just a list of people who oughtta be killed!”
As you know from reading many of my opinion pieces, I also like to complain. I don’t like to accept things as is and I will strive to make even a tiny change in the world, even if it’s just in changing your mind or opening it to new ideas—and my own in the process. “Think Better, Think Bigger,” is my motif.
Let’s face it, we all love the Arkham Batman Series. They’re fun and (for the most part) make us feel like the Dark Knight, prowling the streets of Gotham, beating justice into the faces of criminals. But that’s not to say they don’t have flaws, tremendous ones, when it comes to storytelling.
