I can really do without a lot of the corporate sniping that happens in this industry. Plus, as a licensed demagogue, they're horning in on my territory when they say ridiculous things or make baseless verbal assaults! I mean, I have mouths to feed. Seriously, I have more than one mouth.
The quotes from today's strip come from a GameDaily piece and an older bit from GamaSutra - the part about the "hardware/software synergy" is pretty rich. Given the language, these statements are almost certainly for financial analysts as opposed to the enthusiast gamer, but that's not likely to stay our hand. It's like a Zen koan - if you say something stupid, and no one is there to hear it, are you still an idiot?
The best part of these claims is that Red Octane and Harmonix built Guitar Hero, itself an improved Guitar Freaks, and Activision simply bought it, as you or I would buy a jar of Miracle Whip. The difference is that you or I - upon buying said Miracle Whip - would not then claim to have invented mayonnaise, or that other people would have to work very hard to top our sandwich spreads. He claims that "mainstream consumers" don't know about Rock Band yet, but I don't know if I'd bet against the almost horrifying amalgam of MTV and EA when it comes to projecting insidious marketing messages.
I saw a mention that "Pre-Teen Raider" - Gail Simone's animated take on Lara Croft - was ready to view over at the Gametap site. Upon visiting, I was surprised to find seven other episodes available by a potpourri of artists. I knew these were coming, as Tomb Raider: Legend revitalized my interest in the Lady Croft and her exploits, but I always imagined that they were "coming soon," as in, "arriving in the vast and unknowable future." It turns out that we are living in the future now. No, now. Now. Maybe we're always living in the future? If so, we should celebrate.
The song I put together for (DS Guitar Simulator) Jam Sessions is up now, I guess they have a MySpace set up for the program, and my "track" is available down a bit, on the right, in an embedded player. Entitled "My Belruel," it's... Hm. It's sort of like a folk song written about a game that doesn't exist. I could do something far more elaborate now, but they needed it back then. The chord progression is extremely basic - I was trying to see what I could wring out of the application in terms of dynamics, and I came away pretty surprised. Lyrics are here, if you are interested.
(CW)TB out.
