Token Female Gamer

In other fabulous April news (quick before the month is over!), Geek and Sundry has  been renewed for season 2 and its already begun airing brand new shows!! The announcement went live very close to April 1st, thankfully it wasn’t a joke and Geek and Sundry will remain alive and youtubing for another year. (Yes, I just turned youTube into a verb!)

Much of the show line up has changed and though I’m sad to see Sword and Laser go, I am super happy that Space Janitors finally has new episodes. It is by far the most entertaining show I’ve seen on youTube, probably ever. Then again I don’t go in for most of the reality based stuff that youTube panders.

But the best thing to come out of this announcement was the message that Felicia Day shared in her announcement video. After lamenting the commodification and hate mongering that has become the Geek online life, she made a call for taking it back, to honor the Geek we want to be regardless of anyone else’s opinion. “Your Judgment is not my problem” sums is up quite well and is a sentiment that I can fully support. Go Felicia Day!

The trailer for this short film, directed by Neon Genesis Evangelion‘s Shinji Higuchi, from Studio Ghibli aired last summer, but now we can actually watch the whole thing. It was announced not only as the company’s first foray into live action, but also as an attempt to capture an old style of Japanese kaiju filmmaking. Including: no CGI. The God Warriors are the ultimate danger in the world of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and they’re no less ominous for being placed in Tokyo. [via The Mary Sue]

A really stunning debut, I just wish I spoke Japanese.

Oh Kickstarter, another sucker punch to my wallet. Zach Braff, of the very fabulous Scrubs, is kickstarting a movie called “Wish I was here”. As of this writing, the campaign has been live for all of two days and has almost reached the $2million goal. Its safe to say this movie is getting funded. =)

I was quite charmed by Scrubs, but Garden State wasn’t my favorite movie. Probably because I like my funny a little more happy. Which is why I waited two whole days to support this new venture! Actually once they added an advanced screening near me all my excuses for not spending money vanished in a very convenient puff of smoke.

Which means I now have a date to see a movie in 2014 sometime. I hope its good.

The Veronica Mars thing has been so distracting I totally forgot about Pi day. FOR SHAME! So happy Pi day everyone. (Thats all I got, pitiful, I know!)

In other Veronica Mars news, the Kickstarter offered more bit parts in the movie for exorbitant amounts of money and once again they are all sold out (over $3million now). My yearly budget is very happy that I wasn’t able to snatch any of those up, but my inner dreamer is crying. ~sob~

<3

Was just wondering, is there a movie you guys would pay $10k to have a small speaking part in?

Holy shit, the Veronica Mars Movie Project is happening and all it took was a day. I can only imagine the scrambling that is going on behind the scenes trying to figure out some interesting stretch goals. Not that the fans don’t have plenty of suggestions, it is the internet after all.

With thirty more days to go, it will be interesting to see how much they end up making. As it stands right now there are still so many people giving money, you can literally watch the numbers increase. Its rather mesmerizing.

Someone tell Joss Whedon! Who knows, maybe a Firefly movie will show up someday on Kickstarter. Better start saving my money now!

This movie is happening!

Power to the fans. =P

OMG WHY AM I NOT FILTHY RICH?!?!!? Probably because I would spend it all on frivolous things like being in the Veronica Mars Movie!!!

In all seriousness I am completely happy with my financial standing, but every now and then a spare $10,000 would really be sort of nice for random dream fulfillment moments like getting the chance to be IN the Veronica Mars movie!!!!! Yup the top tier Kickstarter reward is a speaking part in the movie. Clearly I am not the only crazy fan who is willing to throw money at this project because EVERY tier above $500 is sold out. Ever single one.

This movie is happening!

Now I have to go rewatch the show. I might not be in the movie (sniff sniff) but I can at least support its awesomeness. =D

~sigh~

Clearly, I’m in a full fledged writing slump. Not that I’m very surprised by my apparent apathy. The end of thirty days of posting seems to have this effect on me. Pair that with holiday hangover and I can barely manage to drag myself out of bed, much less scrape together the brain power to write something worth reading. (I’m seriously trying here!)

But its time to get back in gear, lest what little skill I do have atrophy, so I’m going the least brain power required route with the Kickstarter update!

Yup, Kickstarter sucked me back in and roped me into supporting two new computer games. I still can’t decide if I’m just being overly optimistic or totally wasting money, I mean computer games are notorious for running late and over budget. Frankly I’m still baffled by how little money all these developers are asking for. Yeah, sure, its millions of dollars, but lets just remember that SWToR cost over $250 million to make. This perspective makes me wonder if these games will ever even see the light of day. Okay, totally rambling. Onward!

Godus is a new God Game from Peter Molyneux at 22cans. The description makes the game sound like a reinvention of Populous with the ability to shape terrain and influence your followers. The main point being that you get to be a god and lead your followers to glory. This wasn’t really an instant sell for me. Curiosity is what finally convinced me to sign up; Peter Molyneux has been making various version of god games for a long time, which speaks to his experience with the genre, but it also makes me wonder what he is trying to achieve. Maybe this version will be the One.

I am actually far more excited about War of the Overworld, which is to be a reinvention of Dungeon Keeper (ironically also a Peter Molyneux game). I was a huge fan of Dungeon Keeper back in the day, so anything even remotely related sounds interesting to me. My only (small) concern is that the developer is a new studio. I really hope this not only gets released, but that they do justice to the fun that was Dungeon Keeper.

Though both of these projects have already been funded, they are offering lots of post-kickstarter ways to still help contribute financially.

Lastly, another one of the projects I funded, Education Abroad: a Korean Drama, has completed and is now airing their shows on the youtubes. =D

It has been incredibly interesting to watch the transformation of Double Fine. I don’t know if this was happening before their Kickstarter, but since then they seen to be evolving into a full-fledged entertainment service. No more do they simply offer games, they are documenting the entire process of creating games and sharing it with all their lucky viewers.

Though lots of developers have been doing video diaries, Double Fine has taken that idea and blown it up into a full-fledged documentary. I would be tempted to call this transparent development, but I am really not sure how much of it ends up being scripted, how much gets left out, and how much is shown out of order. Video is a wonderful media, but lets face it, editing can really change a lot. =)

Now I realize one Kickstarter a trend does not make. It was this latest Double Fine contribution, the Amnesia Fortnight offering at Humble Bundle, which put solid weight on the transparent development idea. Then again, in this age of reality TV, it’s not surprising that a game development company would branch out into this medium.

Is this a bid for fame or a way to provide a more stable income for a small development company? I’m not sure. It does remind me of the Penny Arcade guys, who have expanded far beyond a simple web comic; in business terms, diversifying ones portfolio. It worked beautifully for the PA guys, so why not Double Fine.

It will be interested to see if this is sustainable. Being filmed takes time, which means time away from game development. Will production time be impacted by all the video work?

Ultimately if this helps a small developer like Double Fine stay afloat for longer, then good for them. And I will admit, even though I am not a huge reality TV fan, seeing the inner workings of how they create games at Double Fine is really interesting.

http://www.facebook.com/FeliciaDay

This Facebook Felicia Day post completely exemplifies how I have been feeling about games of late. Is there some sort of new holiday that I didn’t get the memo for, because games are coming out like its midwinter.

Borderlands 2 just released; I’m still deeply immersed in Skyrim (yes I know I’m just behind on that one); Guild Wars 2 is like a month old; Torchlight 2 is out next week, as is WoW: Mists of Pandaria; and the Marvel Heroes beta is going live any day now.

Its clear some of these will have to be relegated to the ‘will play in the future when I have time’ pile, which seems to just be growing and growing and growing. ~sigh~

Though I sound a bit whiny, I do think this is a wonderful conundrum to have, I guess I just wish I didn’t need so much sleep. Maybe no sleep at all. That would be a solid eight hours of gaming a day and awesome!

DC and Ken Block present Gymkhana FIVE: Ultimate Urban Playground; San Francisco.
Shot on the actual streets of San Francisco, California, GYM5 features a focus on fast, raw and precise driving action. Filmed over four days, director Ben Conrad and his team are back to work on their second Gymkhana production and delivered the entire city of San Francisco as Ken Block’s personal gymkhana playground. DC Shoes also provided fellow DC athlete and longtime Ken Block friend, Travis Pastrana, to make a cameo appearance on his dirtbike, and S.F. resident Jake Phelps of Thrasher Magazine fame also makes a cameo as Block hoons S.F. in his most incredible Gymkhana yet.

Its drifing in San Francisco!! I love this soooooooooo much!!!