A Super Wonderful Cross-Promotional Post

In the immortal words of the (still-living) Chef Gordon Ramsay, I’m going to do something I’ve never, ever done before.  You see, I’m in the habit of uploading posts here on Cross-Up as well as onto the community blogs of gaming site Destructoid.  It doesn’t happen super-often -- less than 1/7^th of the content here has gone there -- but it’s nice to give my posts some extra play on a gaming site of some renown.

In any case, some of the posts there are specifically tailored for Destructoid and its audience.  That’s a pretty rare occurrence, but it has happened before.  This is one of those cases; having hit a major milestone there, I decided to take time out to thank the community.  And since I’m me, that “thanks” ended up becoming a 3,000-word post that made a general statement about The Wonderful 101 (i.e. why it’s so friggin’ good).  There’s some substance to unpack in that post -- so much so that I didn’t want to just leave it there on Dtoid.  So!  Instead of uploading a different post here, I’m linking back to that post and having you read content there instead.  Don’t worry; this probably won’t happen often.  Just think of this as the first official Cross-Up field trip.

Click on this link to head on over and give it a read.  Or, alternatively, click on this link to see Overwatch and JoJo coming together in LITERALLY THE BEST way possible.

A Creator's Responsibility

Video games?  We need to talk.

Do Video Games Need Good Stories?

Short answer?  Of course they do.  Post's over.

Long answer?  The rest of this post.

Bored with Power

You know, I’ve been thinking.  (Cue the frenzied screams of a thousand innocent orphans.)

I like video games.  I like a lot of video games -- and say what you will about the industry today, but there are still LOTS of gems out there, so it’s safe to assume that I’m going to keep gaming for a while longer.  But even with that in mind, I find a lot of games today frustrating.  Aggravating.  Inspiring sadness and exhaustion, rather than solace and elation.  I don’t like feeling this way about one of my favorite pastimes, but it’s becoming increasingly common.  And I think I’m starting to figure out why I have problems with so many games.

I’m tired of feeling powerful.  Dead tired.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Forever Tails

I missed out on the NES generation of gaming.  If you asked me about World 4-2 of Super Mario Bros. or the sixth dungeon in The Legend of Zelda, I’d probably just stare blankly at you for a little while before letting fly an enlightened “…Guh?”  The NES was just barely before my time, I think -- and that was a problem only exaggerated one Christmas morning.

I woke up to have a huge box waiting for me under a tree sitting at the bottom of the staircase.  And after faffing about for a bit, rocking to and fro in the fetal position with a Joker-sized grin on my face while I waited for my parents to wake up and we could do that whole “celebrate Christmas as a family” business, I tore off the wrapping like a wolverine.  And what should I find but a Sega Genesis, bundled with a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog 2? 

Dreaming: FM Punks

This is probably going to be the most hypocritical post I’ve made in a while.  (Also long.  Strap in.)

Not too long ago, I went on record saying that games don’t need combat -- swordplay, gunplay, Kid ‘n Play, what have you -- to succeed.  Video games are a medium with plenty of possibilities, and the moment we start to limit our understanding of what they can do for us is the moment all of us start to lose.  So I advocated a sort of “alternate universe” Mass Effect as an example of how you could have a game without combat.  Playing as a researcher and exploring the galaxy in a modern-day, beefy-budgeted adventure game sounded pretty good on paper; if it were real, it might be a dream come true for some ironsight-weary gamers.  And now my theoretical game puts an undeniable, almost shameful focus on combat.  Contradictory?  Yes.  But I wouldn’t comment if I didn’t think it had potential.

And that is why I unveil my dream game here and now!  Like, right now, as soon as I finish this sentence -- can you feel the suspense, knowing that as soon as I add a period to this string of words, I’ll have revealed to you the game that I’ve had brewing in my heart of hearts for genera…

Okay, enough hamming it up.  Let’s talk about FM Punks.