Recent Going Ons

Dudes and Dudettes, major-league butt-kicking is back in town!

Actually I’m just here to write another post. And I’m not even major league at that! Two points to the first person to get what movie I’m referencing in the first line.

So anyway, I’ve been sending out resumes and portfolios for the past month or so, hoping someone will see my work and throw me a bone. Getting into the major creative industry from the outside in is a mountain of a task, and sheer luck got us (Brian, my co-blogger and I) as far as we did. It’s seriously a bear of a problem. It has claws and teeth, can out run, out swim, out climb, and over power you if you don’t come with at least two very big guns. It’s bigger than us and threatens to tear us in half if we don’t come prepared with our best possible material and a whole lot of luck on our side. So I’ve decided, while Sanctuary: Hope Is Not Yet Lost (go fig) is on the back-burner, I’ve been pouring my energy into my portfolio. The hope is to get hired somewhere (anywhere) and affect Games, Movies or Comics from the inside (gooey center), out (hard, calloused and crystalized, with thorny spikes jutting out in every direction to fend off strangers). Brian is also looking into potential positions as a creative writer for Ubisoft (a gaming publisher/developer), and perhaps others, so pray for us. I sent out a few more portfolios today –Naughty Dog Inc. and Dreamworks. Vision is the world’s most desperate need.

In other news, I went on a crazy errand spree today, my day off. It was so extensive I wrote down a to-do list. This is significant because I am a moderately spontaneous person and tend to just make the day up as I go. Plans change, which is why I’m reluctant to make them. But the day was so stacked if I had any hope of getting a responsible amount of tasks comleted, my only recourse was to organize. All this acting like an adult wears my legs out. I walk to most places to conserve fuel, get exercise, and some fresh air. It’s pretty enjoyable as long as I don’t lose my head taking care of business. Besides, I can say I got out of the house on my day off (which can easily not happen without a decent impetus).

Recently in the gaming community a certain gem going as Little Big Planet has been making waves as the public beta makes it out to anyone with a PS3 lucky enough to get a hold of an access code. The proper retail game is released in two weeks, in the mean time a fortunate few get to put the game through it’s nearly finished paces and put strain on their online servers so they can prepare for when they game hits shelves (and promptly sells out). For the uninitiated, LBP is, at its core, a platforming, running and jumping game. It’s incredibly charming and adorable (not unlike like yours truly), but what makes the game my current number one runner for game of the year isn’t that it’s a cute run and romp platform game, they’re a dime-a-dozen. What’s special is the game’s thesis: Play-Create-Share. The masterminds at Media Molecule have not only crafted a game, they have expertly given players around the world simple, powerful tools to build their own magnum opus. It can be as simple or as intricate as the player desires, but the true stroke of genius is that the game never gets too overwhelming or drown itself in its own interface. This allows people, already in the beta stage of the game to Create and then Share their own game levels to be Played by everyone around the world. Naturally a quality control mechanism is in place to temper rude content, and the best levels get pushed to the top via scoring systems. And even if you don’t have the desire or patience to go building your own game worlds, there’s 60 levels to play that come with the game at launch, and a tone of other, from my own experience, wonderful ideas and levels to experience that the online community has and will develop. I’ll stop gushing and show you what I mean.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

Or, you can make….a calculator (if you’re a scary genius).

With a some simple, powerful, and cleverly placed tools, sitting on top of a deep physics engine, the guys at Media Molecule have made, in my humble mind, the most significant contribution to popular culture in the past 10 years. You’ll come to play, you’ll stay to create, and you’ll stay a bit longer to share. Too bad I have a part time job that requires my attendance.
One-Love