Remembering Justin "Jewwario" Carmical

Video game growing pains here.  This is, sadly, the one year anniversary of the death of Justin "Jewwario" Carmical.  Even now, it hits me hard, every time I watch his videos...but I keep on watching them, because his energy, his kindness, and his love of gaming still shine through, bright as ever.  I did a text memorial last year, but this time, I have enough skill to create a small video memorial.  So, I want to share my memories of Justin with all of you.

Let us not forget the man in the yellow hat, who told us "You can play this!"  Let us always remember.  In that way, we can keep him alive in our hearts and our minds.  Justin has plenty of friends also honoring and remembering him, so...let me give you a few links, just in case you don't see the video on youtube.

For Justin's full body of work, please check out:
http://blip.tv/youcanplaythis
https://www.youtube.com/user/JewWario/videos

It's got all his videos and the ad revenue should go to support his widow.

For the Famikamen Rider Tribute that Marzgurl is working on, please check out:
https://fkrcompletion.wordpress.com/

Creator Spotlight: Kiyoshi Sakai

            If ever there were a developer I never expected to spotlight here, it would have to be Kiyoshi Sakai...mostly because I didn't know the name of the developer I had such admiration for until...about a month ago, when I was doing research on a game I dearly love.  Why am I spotlighting Sakai?  Two words.  Umihara Kawase.

Kiyoshi Sakai has practically no pictures online, but Umihara Kawase is his child and his face in the gaming community.  So, ladies and gentleman, meet Umihara.

            Umihara Kawase is a small series of games based around young Umihara.  And yes, this was another Japanese only game introduced to me by the fantastic Justin Carmical, who showcased it in his second You Can Play This video.  I could go on and on about that, but we're here to talk about Kiyoshi Sakai.

            Sakai is the very definition of a niche/independent publisher.  Hardly well known, works typically in informal wear such as slacks or in apartments, and is rather shy in demeanor and very seldom makes appearances.  What I can say about Sakai, though, is that he is a damn fine programmer.  Sakai himself is quoted as saying, "I’m good at making complex game systems.  I designed the game myself, and I did it in a way where I could use my ability to come up with a complex game system. I built the game design around that skill."  Translation?  Sakai is able to program a system that is remarkably complex in it's execution, but very easy to use.  That being said, most of Sakai's games have an incredibly high skill ceiling, making experts on youtube seem akin to gaming gods.

It takes skill to get to the bosses of the game and a ton of skill to survive them.

            Unlike most of my previous spotlights, Sakai has actually been around for a long time.  He got interested in game design due to his father buying a PC for work and he fiddled around with it, learning to program from there.  Sakai wanted to create something with his knowledge and this led to his career in game design.  He got started in the early 90s and his first commercial title as published in 1994, when the first Umihara Kawase game was released by NHK for the Super Famicom.  The game sold modestly well, but NHK faded into the background while Sakai's child, Umihara Kawase, lived on and had several sequels and ports.  Sakai himself is only credited as working on five games.  Four Umihara Kawase titles and the original Ape Escape.  Umihara is Sakai's legacy, as he created one game for the Super Famicom, one for the Playstation, one for the Nintendo DS, and his latest title for the Nintendo 3DS.  The PSP port of Umihara Kawase was made by an outside team.

            Now, I love Umihara Kawase, but it is damned hard...and I have Sakai to thank for that.  The game features a cute girl named Umihara in a strange otherworld in habited by fish who walk on land and strange larger than life items, like vegetables or bicycles.  Her only defense is her ability to jump, run, climb and use her elastic fishing pole, which she can use to reel in fish, or latch onto objects.  This is where Sakai comes in.  While he designed all the game mechanics on his own, what is jaw dropping is the physics engine.  See, Umihara can use her fishing pole to swing from ceilings or walls to try and get to new places.  Some of these swings are insanely hard, requiring momentum, precise angles, and a combination of the jumping and climbing mechanics on par with rom hacks, swinging from ceiling to ceiling with nothing but an ocean or a bed of spikes underneath.  For 1994, this physics system was amazing and has never been replicated except by, ironically, Sakai himself.  Like Bionic Commando, it features swinging from roofs and walls, however there is so much more finesse at play with Umihara, that I'd say the only comparable physics engine is actually in Portal, which uses momentum in a similar way.

Takes some out of the box thinking to make the physics engine work for you in this game.  It takes skill.

            What is perhaps more shocking is that Sakai hasn't worked on more games.  In fact, his Umihara games have been made by different studios each time, with the only real constants being himself and the series illustrator Toshinobu Kondo.  So, I want to give Sakai a bit of a spotlight for this amazing game system.  It is a testament to his talent as a developer that, for the Super Famicom, he created a physics engine on par with, if not better than, most modern ones.  Sakai doesn't really see any problem with a lack of recognition for himself or his series, though.  In fact, the most recent game in the series, Sayonara Umihara Kawase, seems to be closing the door on the series, and he's satisfied with how far it has come.  It would seem that Sakai saw game design and programming as a challenge and something that he enjoyed doing just for the hell of it, rather than getting rich off a franchise.  By his own admission, he built a prototype on his own and showed it to a friend who was working with NHK and asked if they could work together to make a video game out of it.  Despite this somewhat laid back appearance, Sakai has led the charge with all the Umihara games, being the visionary who has kept the series going.

Yes, that's a giant radish and a huge tadpole.  No, I don't know why.

            If I had to give a complaint about Sakai, it's his lack of story focus and at times his informal demeanor.  In truth, Sakai himself admits that Umihara Kawase came to be because of a happy accident.  The games feature almost no story, despite Toshinobu Kondo's illustrations of Umihara and the world around her seemingly begging for a Miyazaki-esque fairy tale to provide context to the weird world of giant fish, oceans, and rivers.  It features some unusual imagery that does actually make players wonder...like in the original game, bicycles, vegetables, and certain other things that in Japan might be related to childhood or how in the sequel there are hints at a more grown up perspective, with pencils and school supplies dotting the landscape.  All the while, the background focuses on rivers and oceans, hinting at recreation and the imagery of another life that might be an obstacle for Umihara's enjoyment.  Even Umihara having fishing as a hobby was just because Sakai thought it would be cool for her to do that in order to make his mechanics work.  He didn't set out to make a fishing game at all.  Ostensibly there is no story and even the game's title, Sakai admits to creating just on a lark.  Umihara Kawase refers to the choice cuts of meat on fish, Ocean Stomach, River Back.  Kondo's illustrations beg for more context to this world...

Sakai, I wanted to know more about Umihara.  Please, tell me more.

            Umihara Kawase has never seen an English release, but in 2014, English speakers are going to get their first taste of it through Yumi's Odd Odyssey on the 3DS.  Honestly, I'm super excited, but I also hope it's not the end.  The game seems to have a story of sorts attached to it and it will be our first taste of some translated Umihara goodness.  For many, it will also be their introduction to the hardcore, but oddly satisfying mechanics that has become Sakai's hallmark.  I would like for more people to know about Umihara Kawase and Kiyoshi Sakai, because they're just fantastic, all over.

Sayonara Umihara Kawase on the 3DS, known in the States as Yumi's Odd Odyssey.  Check it out to witness Sakai's mastery in action.

            Kiyoshi Sakai has little information floating around the web about him, lacking even a proper wikipedia page, but there was an interview with him on USgamer and he is credited on Giant Bomb.  Umihara has little information about it, but to see it's madness and it's beauty, this youtube channel is the best way to go.  And please, support Umihara Kawase by buying Yumi's Odd Odyssey on the 3DS.  It's a digital download from the eshop and is well worth the price.  Give it a look!

Diminutive Diatribes: The Game News Media's Double Edged Sword

                 I've made my disdain for the game news media and their hype machine preeeeeettty transparent in my past editorials.  However, even I can admit that they are a necessary part of video gaming culture.  I mean, without Kotaku spotlighting BrentalFloss or Laura Shigihara, they might never get thousands, if not tens of thousands, of fans.  Without the Escapist talking about a female game developer receiving harassment, how would we know?  And we do need to know.  We do.  Now, I have a complicated life...a frustrating life...and I don't like to deal with a lot of the drama of the world.  I know others who have a similar mindset and don't want to hear about some tragedy or some new thing to be scared of.  But we NEED to know.  At least in a cursory manner if not in a more indepth one.  Because if we live in a complete bubble, we're going to be left behind by the world and the people around us.

Games news media?  Essential.  Absolutely.  Both for our culture and for us as individuals.

            The game news media plays an important role in video game culture.  Hell, without Kotaku, Retroware TV, or any other game review/news media hub, people might not have ever known about Justin Carmical's tragic death or about the amazing work he tried to do for people.  We wouldn't know about the pros and cons of game consoles, we wouldn't know about the idiocy of companies like EA, the list just goes on.  HOWEVER, there is something that really grinds my gears about all this.  Editorializing.

Without news, a lot less of us would have known.  Even if we didn't want to know about his passing, we did need to know.

            Listen, I editorialize alot.  So do others on the sites I mentioned.  And, honestly, that's not really a big deal.  It can be fun, hearing a difference of opinion or being exposed to an idea that we haven't heard before.  As I've said, all opinions are important.  I actually tend to like editorials, like Ben Yahtzhee's Extra Punctuation or Kotaku's Random Encounters.  However, when we are relying on you to deliver the news...and you deliver an editorial...then we have a problem.

Whether they make you angry or not, an editorial is a clear as day, "this is my opinion" piece.  Just like this blog.  And that's not necessarily a bad thing.  Really, it's not.

            This may just be a personal preference, but every time, every post I see, basically playing Fox News with Nintendo, treating it's recent turn of bad Wii U sales as the end of the world, I get angry.  Because, you're putting either your viewpoint into an article that didn't really need it, because it's news, not an editorial, or you're trying to drum up views by sensationalizing the news.  That's not good.  Anyone who has seen modern news programming knows that they try to scare the ever loving crap out of their audience so they will keep watching...this has even begun to bleed into games media...and I hate it.

            Going back to Nintendo, Kotaku seems to have a particular dislike for it.  Blistered Thumbs had a similar disdain for the Xbox One...now, you're allowed to, in an editorial.  Editorials are basically our opinions put to paper to share.  But we DEPEND on you guys for the news.  We need to know if Dark Souls 2 is gonna be delayed or if the Wii U has lost more 3rd party support.  But what we don't need is all the fear mongering or sensationalism or hatred that gets added in.  Yes, Nintendo has had a bad time with the Wii U.  Know what else had a bad time?  The Gamecube.  What was that succeeded by?  THE WII.  You know, last generation's machine that practically printed money...why do you feel the need to make us believe Nintendo has ended in a NEWS article?

This and the controversy surrounding it?  Yeah, we need to know.  We rely on news.  So, why does so much of that news sound like a thinly veiled editorial?

            Point of all this discussion is that the games news media is a double edged sword.  We need it.  We need it to know if our rights are being suppressed by Congress, Youtube, or if one of our own, like Total Biscuit, are being harassed by an unscrupulous developer, so we can rally together and fight.  We need to know that women are being harassed so that we can tell people to knock that off and hopefully grow as an industry.  We need to know that the Wii U has had crappy sales and that this might affect it's future with other developers.  What we don't need to know is that you think Nintendo is dead, that women gamers are being butthurt, or that the world will end tomorrow if we don't fight SOPA and PIPA.  In news, we need facts...not wild speculation or opinion.  But we're human...so that's almost certainly what we're going to get.  It's almost impossible to divorce our opinions from any piece of news, especially when we're reading it.  And so, we have this eternal conundrum.  Game news media is the sword we use to defend our medium, but also the razor we use to cut ourselves in the bathroom.

            What can be done to solve this problem?  I honestly have no idea.  That's why this is a shorter discussion.  There ISN'T really a solution to this.  I mean, the best I can suggest is that people remember that these news pieces aren't the word of god.  They are biased.  They have people behind them.  So, take them with a grain of salt.  If you can remember that, then perhaps you can whether the promises of net neutrality dying, Nintendo going third party, or the Xbone being the first console to be dead on arrival.  Because these are just speculation...not fact.  And for the games news media, I just have to ask...try not to be Fox News.  Try not to sensationalize things for the sake of views.  Try and think about what you would think reading a news article that you've written.  How it would make you feel.  Don't try to spread anger or fear.  If we're going to grow up as an industry, anger and fear aren't what we need.  Reason, rationality, calm, etc. are.  Passion is grand.  Vitriol is horrific.

The sad thing is that even the article talking about Mario and microtransactions admits this is hearsay and that the talk of this is nothing new.  Then why did you need to report on it and spread anger/fear?

And also, please, know that you don't need to report on everything.  Games news media is like any news media...it feels like if it doesn't have a story, then we won't listen.  Maybe.  But we won't go away either.  We need you...so don't feel like you need to pad out your pages with articles that either don't matter or are just mean spirited.  Perhaps my favorite examples of this are, the Attack on Titan Burgers are disgusting (1, not your call, some of us might like them, 2, Really?  You really had nothing else to report on?) or the random person somewhat affiliated with Nintendo talked about making a microtransaction so that Mario could have a higher jump.  Why do we need to know or care about a hamburger marketed on an anime?  Why should we care about someone spouting rumors who probably has no power to influence what Nintendo says or does?  Answer...we don't and we shouldn't...but news media sites need their views.

Did we really need to know this exists, Kotaku?  I mean, really...you know, a slow news day isn't the end of the world.

            Like I said.  Stay vigilant and take all these "news" articles with a grain of salt.  More often than not, there's a subtext there.  Don't be taken in by it.  It kinda sucks that we, the consumers, have to pick up the slack for a vitriolic or fear mongering media machine, but...we NEED the news.  So, I think for the moment, that's how it has to be.  Maybe in the future it won't be like that.  We can always hope, right?

                             Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see
                                                                                    -Benjamin Franklin

Creator Spotlight: Amon26

            Okay...so, in an attempt to provide more content in less time, as well as a chance to branch out and try to discuss things not as terribly depressing as the state of the games industry, I want to talk about creators.  Game developers, composers, programmers, what have you, who I think need more exposure.  I don't know who reads my blog or who even cares, but...this is me paying my respects.

            I had originally planned to start with a fantastic composer, one of the only ones to ever make me cry, but instead I want to talk about horror.  Delicious, fun, soul chilling horror.  Believe me, this is going to be good.  This is Amon26.

Pretty amazing developer overall.  I have no idea why more people don't know him.

            I can tell you that I've never met Amon26 or even had contact with him, yet his work has been one of the most brilliant I've ever seen in the medium of Flash.  Amon26 typically works in flash games, but they...they have more polish, beauty, and mad genius than many AAA titles.

            For those who only play console games or only play games on Steam, there is a world of free games on Newgrounds, Kongregate, or any other number of flash game websites.  People create and share, for no other reason than to get experience, get their name out there, or to make others happy.  This is how Amon26 introduced himself to the gaming world at large.  He may have begun tinkering in game design around 2009, but Amon26 got his first major hit, and well deserved recognition, with Gyossait on Newgrounds in 2011.

Prepare for a beautiful nightmare.

            Gyossait is a game that is...difficult to describe at the best of times.  It has very little exposition and while Amon26 did give a cheat sheet on the story after many requests, it's best played first without it, then with it...because the experience is different each time.  Basically, the player appears, bled out of the skull of a fallen god, and begins a journey.  However something or someone is haunting him.  Trees full of blades, with flowers of blood are your waypoints and as you die, you are rebirthed to suffer, again and again until you persevere.  This is not mercy.  This is torture.  The one hounding you wishes to peel of your skin and wear it as a mantle to keep them warm at night.  All this, in the first minute or two of the game, told through only a few lines of text and the games visuals and playstyle.

Are you afraid yet?  ...you should be.

            This is why I wanted to spotlight Amon26.  His games are a perfect marriage of aesthetics and gameplay to create organic storytelling.  True, there are cryptic snippets of text that appear on the screen, but they do not exposit.  They are more like conversations half finished...things that you need to know, but you have no context for.  The true story is told through the world and how you interact with it.  At the start, you cannot kill.  You only have a shield and your wits to overcome enemies and puzzles.  However, one puzzle inadvertently kills someone...and from then on, you are allowed to kill.  You are given a gun, but never told to use it.  You can, at points, return to only your shield.  How you play with this affects both the ending and your experience.  Are you a destroyer, who will take the easy way out, or have you learned the value of life through your mistake?  These deep ideas are what a little organic storytelling can create.

This is about all the exposition you're gonna get before Gyossait starts.

This is about all the exposition you'll get in game.  Tell me that's not unsettling.  I dare you.

            However, let's talk about the visuals for a second.  Amon26, in an interview with Indiegamemag.com, spoke of how he had nightmares, vivid dreams of creatures half formed, believing themselves to be human, or perhaps jealous of our own humanity, and wishing to take it by force.  Monsters birthed not from some unspeakable Lovecraftian pit, but from the human mind...and these nightmares are the source for much of Amon26's visuals.  Gyossait is a ruined world, on the verge of collapse.  Monsters roam the streets, the bleakness is like a nightmare made manifest, and the first time you meet your "host," after she kills you only to taunt you and revive you for more suffering, you will understand horror.  It is not an adrenaline rush from a quick jump scare.  It is the knowledge that your life is in another's hands...they hate you...but they don't want you to die...they want you to suffer.  The world hates you and this hate is heaped upon you like a leaden net to weigh you down.  It is this atmosphere that makes playing Gyossait distinctly uncomfortable, but also engrossing.  Because you're not alone and being hunted.  You are in a living, breathing world that is apathetic at best and at its worst, cruel to a fault.

Nightmare fuel.  Delicious, beautiful nightmare fuel.

            I don't intend to spoil Gyossait's plot or endings, but this game is how I was introduced to Amon26.  His previous titles, All of Our Friends are Dead, a shooting game that had no story, but piled on the unsettling atmosphere in such a way that it felt like a nightmarish fever dream, and Au Sable, following a girl in a red hood, journeying into a deep dark forest, in search of her sister and finding the remnants of what once was human hunting, taunting, and crying, are equally unsettling.  Amon26 has a talent for creating stories that only need a little exposition before allowing the game design and visuals to take you on a journey.  I'd even go so far as to call him video gaming's Edgar Allen Poe.  Not widely appreciated in his time, but amazing in what he has done with so little.

All of Our Friends Are Dead.  True terror lies not in graphics, gore, or music, but in the unsettling nightmares we make for ourselves.  If a developer gives you the pen, you know you've got good horror.

          Ironically, Amon26's games aren't all grim or bleak.  His current project, Shomia Teaf, focuses on a fairy in a colorful world and seems far more lighthearted...however, there is an undertone of something being very wrong, as the violence in the game suggests.  Let's Win Forever is another game that is bright and colorful, but...feels distinctly off.  I can't even describe this thing.

Let's Win Forever.  I don't even know, but something seems...off.

            Amon26 is a one man development group and despite numerous setbacks, continues working towards not wealth, but some semblance of happiness.  He enjoys what he does and believes in himself, but...for all that I've sold him as some dark, brooding, angsty, tosser, he's actually much more like Justin Carmical than you'd think.  Amon26 does suffer from some personal demons.  Don't we all.  However, despite that, he tends to focus on the positive.  In his interviews, he always encourages people to follow their own path.  If they don't know what they want to do, strike out and do anything.  Don't let others dictate who or what you should be and don't ever think you're not worth something.  Amon26 is an odd character whom I've never met, but would someday like to.  His games show more intelligent design than dozens of AAA titles I've ever played with their sole issue being their brevity.  Gyossait and Au Sable each are likely beatable in under an hour.  However, I don't want that to discourage people.  They are games I feel everyone should experience, both for their own nightmare fuel, but also because they really are fascinating looks at how a story is formed not necessarily by exposition, but by the actions of the player in an unusual situation.

Au Sable.  You go into the woods looking for Harmonia and find something inhuman...or perhaps too human.

            Here's where things get a little odd, though.  Yes, just here.  Shut up.  Amon26 is what many on the internet might call, a digital wayfarer or vagrant.  His only wiki is on the independent games wiki, which does not have links for many of his games and even though it gives links to websites or what have you, most are abandoned or reverted to their regular domain name owners.  The man is hard to pin down.  The best way to look into him, however, is probably through his twitter and his tumblr, both becoming outlets for personal discussion on his journey through life and on his games.  Amon26, though still a relative unknown in the game development community, is a person worth watching.  He hasn't published games to any widely known platforms however he continues to develop because it is what he loves.

            I would encourage everyone to at least give Amon26 and his games, particularly Gyossait, a look.  Support him if you can.  Spread word of his games.  Follow him on twitter or tumblr.  Look into his youtube account.  Check out his music on bandcamp.  If you wish to donate, he's given instructions here.  More than anything though, try his games, many of which even I haven't tried...yet...anyway, they all have his signature style.  So give them a look.  And, while still free on Newgrounds, Amon26 has assembled a deluxe edition of Gyossait for sale, including bonus content in the form of mp3s, Au Sable, All of Our Friends Are Dead, and a prequel to Au Sable, The Hunt, where you take on his imagined horrors in a first person, Doom-style, shooter.  You can purchase that here.

The Gyossait Deluxe Pack has tons of extra...the Hunt is a prequel to Au Sable and it's just as terrifying.

            In spite of my plugging, this is meant not as a publicity tool, but a sign of heartfelt respect for Amon26, as someone who likes a certain brand of horror...his brand.  The kind that doesn't beat you over the head with musical stings or overwrought exposition, but which is quiet, cerebral, tense, and unsettling.

            Wherever you are, Amon26, you've got at least one fan here.

I Has Opinions. You Has Them Too. That's A Good Thing

Before we jump right into a discussions on how we all have valid opinions on the internet...yes, really...I wanted to give a brief update on the direction of this blog.  First, I need to apologize.  I've neglected it just a tad.  But, that's going to change.  I'm going to make the attempt to update the blog at least once a week with new gaming tidbits.  I'm going ahead with a game spotlight section, which along with diminutive diatribes will be short enough for me to keep up with while I finish my longer articles.  I'm also going to add a developer spotlight section so that special developers or members of the gaming community get some real notice.  Think of the Justin Carmical memorial as one of those.

We can go more into that next week though.  For now, let's talk about opinions on the interwebs.

            Considering how much vitriol, anger, and criticism I dish out regularly, I'd like to take a moment to actually try and be positive for a change.  I'd like to discuss opinions a little bit here.  This is less to do with publishers or developers, but more the game industry as a whole and our growth overall.  See...our industry, our culture, is still relatively new in the eyes of the world at large.  And it shows.  While the internet, and internet culture, has allowed people from all walks of life to feel included or to find something they love that they can share, gamers sometimes have...a bit too much passion.  And they don't really take kindly to people expressing opinions or views that don't fall in line with their own.  Things that they feel might threaten the medium they love so much.  However...an opinion isn't an absolute truth.  It's not a law that needs to be changed.  It's not even a pressure against this medium they care about.  It is a thought.  An idea.  We all have them.  You have them.  I have them.  And truth be told, that's not a bad thing.

Opinions are important for the game industry.  They affect everything from review scores to editorial articles to the very content of games...so we should respect them.  For they have power.

            Story time.  When I was younger, say about 16-17, I got Final Fantasy X-2 for Christmas.  I loved the game.  While I found the story only passable, the combat was enthralling, using the idea of changing the female characters' clothes as a job system...however, I admit freely that sometimes I'd have the characters dress in the skimpier outfits because I found them attractive.  Looking back, this strikes me as rather sexist, objectifying the characters for a sexual thrill.  Know how I came to this conclusion?  Anita Sarkeesian.

Yes, I played the Final Fantasy dress up game.  Sue me, I was in my late teens and a huge fan of the series.  Surprisingly fun to play, though.

            Let me put a bullseye on my back and say, I really don't like Anita Sarkeesian.  Probably said it before, but let me just put this out there.  I don't like her internet persona.  I find it a bit abrasive, extreme, and smug.  That being said, I don't dislike her as a person or really disagree with most her opinions.  I don't agree with all of them, but at the same time being exposed to them changed me.  They probably helped kick start me thinking about feminism in video games and the objectification of female characters in fiction in general.  I always considered myself a feminist and was overly fond of strong female characters like Terra Branford from Final Fantasy 6 or Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere but except for the most extreme examples, I'd never really connected feminism to video games...I was one of those "last bastion of fun" kinda players, trying to keep my games in a glass bubble.  However, even if I don't like Anita's internet persona and even if I don't agree with all her opinions, they have helped me grow out of that glass bubble.  They've helped me to change.  And that's a good thing.  Many gamers threatened Anita with things too reprehensible to repeat here and too despicable for me to want to.  Some carry a huge amount of hatred for her and her discussions of feminism on youtube, Feminist Frequency.  I admit, I'm not a fan...but I still respect that she has a right to her opinion.  Not only that, but her opinions carry merit and I for one am grateful that they are floating out there on the internet.  Why?  Well, because it's another voice.

Okay, look.  I don't like Anita Sarkeesian.  But she is not a coward for disallowing comments on her youtube pages, she is not ruining gaming by making feminist critiques, and she is not trying to subvert some twisted glass bubble we all think games exist in.  Just leave her alone and let her voice her opinion like anyone else, okay?

            Human beings are formed by the experiences, opinions, views, etc. around them as they grow.  Truthfully, humans don't ever really stop growing until death, so we are constantly growing, learning, and being molded by our experiences and the world around us.  They help us to mature.  All opinions help us to grow in one way or another.  Exposure to crass commercialism could lead to people becoming highly consumeristic and wanting everything they see on the TV or it could make them jaded about many products which are too in your face with false promises.  It could even lead to them being middle of the road about it, liking some thing but being a discerning customers in their own right.  Exposure to racist ideas could horrify, intrigue, elate, or just depress others.  It could make them staunch civil right activists or bigots...but either way, the fact that the opinion exists means that it will affect our growth.

Never gonna evolve if you don't try new things and get out of your comfort zones.

            Going back to Anita, I have to say that rather than trying to destroy her or discredit her or just make ourselves nuisances...why not simply let her speak?  She has as much right to an opinion as anyone and her opinion will help mold us and those who come after us.  When you have an opinion, you have a right to put it out.  Others have a right to criticize it.  And likewise, we have the right to criticize the critics.  This creates countless voices, many mimicking the opinions of others, but some speaking out, taking ideas in different directions, and ultimately offering something to the world.

It may be a chaotic maelstrom, but the sea of opinions in this world can change us...it's an eerily beautiful thing, in my opinion.  Hehe...see what I did there?

            Now, let's take this one step further.  We all have opinions.  So, how about we respect that?  In fact, how about we stop seeing all the bad in opinions and start trying to examine the good that we can see.  Every opinion can have something good attached to it, if you're willing to see it.  If a bigot appears in a comments section discussing the merits and shortcomings of creating a tribalistic class of enemies in Resident Evil 5, where is the good?  Well, it does spark some interesting awareness of both insensitivity in the issue at hand and for the community at large.  If someone is so rooted in that kind of belief, would not this rude awakening to a casual reader that will help either shock them out of their own complacency, reinforce their stance against racism, or even take the discussion in a totally new direction?  It might not seem like a good thing on the surface, but it can lead to a positive effect.  It can also lead to a negative effect, certainly, such as people being offended or the discussion turning into a flame war, however I'm trying to look at the positive possibilities.

Discussing racism is not easy, even if it's just exaggerated in a game like Resident Evil 5.  But we kinda need to...we shouldn't turn away from an opinion or something in front of us just because we dislike it...we may not want to, but we need to know, good or bad, what's out there.

            Going back to respect, I think it important to do two things if you disagree with someone else's opinion.  First, appreciate that you could be the one giving the opinion next.  Think about how you would feel if you put someone down just because you disagree with it.  Try and take into account perspective.  Imagine how Anita must have felt when, in trying to further feminism and highlight some ways the game industry could have improved, she started receiving death threats...now imagine if it were you.  This is the basic respect people should have for one another.  Phil Fish, sometimes an abrasive developer, quit the game industry and cancelled the sequel to his popular game, Fez, because he was so heavily criticized and insulted for his opinions by a pundit named Beer.  What if it had been Beer or any of the other critics who had to take the abuse Fish had to?  Would they then have been so willing to hurl abuse at the opinions and of others if it had been them?  Second, understand that there may be some truth to the opinion you disagree with.  Accept that you may be wrong in your beliefs or that they may be flawed.  Take into account the possibility to be wrong and if nothing else that there is something worthwhile about the opinion of your opponent.  This too, is respect.  The respect of someone to make decisions on their own and share their views with the world.  Bottom line, you are welcome to disagree.  But do it constructively and in a civil manner.  Take into account your own flaws in perception and the perspective of others and don't try to spread anger, but create something good.

The chance for a sequel to the breakout hit, Fez, died because people didn't respect Phil Fish or his opinions.  A tragedy for all of us.

            Now, why does this matter for gaming?  Well, our industry is full of vitriol.  Anger.  We tend to be very dismissive of any criticism because our industry is very young.  Our culture is less than forty years old, at most.  So, we don't like people from the previous generations criticizing video games and gaming culture when they do not understand it.  This tends to make us very defensive.  I would even go so far as to say abusively defensive, where we will get very angry and mean to people who disagree with any facet of our current game industry, such as gender issues set in place since the 1980s, ideas of corporate reliability such as the value of the Nintendo or Konami brand, or the issue of violence in video games.  Some of these issues have changed.  Some need to change.  And we fear change.  But...we really shouldn't.  Our industry, our culture, is only going to grow if people aren't afraid of change.  If we can share our opinions freely and learn from them.  So, every time I voice an opinion about how bloated video game publishers have become?  It has the potential to inform people about the situation the game industry and perhaps take notice, perhaps work for change, support indies, etc.  When Anita tries to make a change through her feminist examination of video games as a whole she has the potential to raise awareness of issues of gender in video games, encourage further learning, perhaps even cause an indie developer or a major publisher to make a change to their game for the sake of the issues she has raised, such as the Last of Us focusing on Ellie as well as Joel.  Even Jack Thompson, hated, reviled, and despicable attorney who so railed against violent video games can make people reexamine their views on game violence and cause change for the better.  Opinions shape our industry just as they shape us.  They help it to grow.  However, if we try to squelch these opinions, we will never grow.  We will stagnate.

This isn't the 1980s, guys.  If we want to keep improving, we can't be afraid of change.

            Some people are of the opinion that the game industry is fine as it is.  And, these opinions still have merit, despite what I have said previously.  These kinds of opinions can highlight what makes our current industry good and, once again, mold it to help retain these properties.  However, the people who have opinions that differ from these shouldn't clash.  Just because we have differing views does not mean we want differing things.  Sometimes we do.  Some people want Suda51 to make more games where you can freely walk on a stripper as part of a psychedelic experience as in Shadows of the Damned.  I personally don't.  The first opinion may argue for artistic merit, anti-censorship, or just playing to a specific niche audience.  All of these are good points.  I may argue feminism, offensiveness, and maturity.  While we want differing things and argue different points, both myself and this hypothetical person making the first opinion each want to improve or maintain the game industry.  We may disagree, but we should respect the opinions of our opponents as well as our compatriots because I think it's fair to say that we all want what we believe is best.  By respecting and understanding the opinions of others, we can work towards this goal.  Everyone believes they are the hero of their own story and that extends to their opinions, which they believe to be just.  You cannot bold facedly tell someone they are wrong and expect them to simply change when they are the hero of their own story.  However, you may be able to make someone rethink their opinion and gain some perspective if you can plant that seat in their mind with your own opinions.

Immature or not, Suda51's games have a place in our industry and people can like or dislike them as they please.  Their opinions are all valid.

            Opinions have power.  The Xbox One, which used a number of DRM features and required an always online connection, changed because of the opinions of the gaming public.  Opinions won the fans of Mass Effect an extended ending for the third game in the series.  Opinions are how Steam games get greenlit.  More than that though, opinions are interwoven into every purchase we make.  We are showing our opinion for a specific genre, publisher, developer, or even just the game itself each time we decide to purchase it, recommend it, etc.  And we shouldn't belittle people for these kinds of opinions.  Much as I despise the DOA Beach Volleyball series, people like it.  That's okay.  I disagree with it, but I respect their right to play any game they please.  If we start being judgmental on opinions, it is a slippery slope, as they say.

Opinions can change things.  Sometimes, an entire console.  Sometimes an entire people.

            Obviously, I'm being a bit idealistic here.  Opinions are like assholes.  Everyone has one and some people have bigger ones than others.  But, I think it's important to remember that we are learning creatures.  We learn from every experience we have.  That includes opinions.  So...how about we make the best of opinions?  Let's learn from them.  Let's respect those who give them.  And let's stop being so angry.  The other thing about opinions?  If you don't like them, you can always ignore them.  A game that someone criticizes and receives a 1/10 on Metacritic doesn't destroy every version of the game in existence.  You can still play the game...you don't have to listen to the opinion if you don't want to.  You might not learn anything from it, but that too is your choice.

Love it or hate it, Metacritic doesn't destroy the games you love...they still exist.  So...quit obsessing over scores.

             For me, opinions, criticisms, views, etc. are a lot like video games, movies, and books.  Even if they're not always good, the fact that they exist is almost always a good thing because they have something to offer.  A bad book or movie can be entertaining, a boring game can be an object lesson, and any opinion can have something to be gleaned from.  Opinions put something into the world.  They offer something that others can look at and grow from, or not if they so choose.  And it's far harder to bring something into the world than destroying something already in the world.  So, respect people for their opinions...because they are the product of their life and their presence in the world, one way or another, will shape us all.

            I have opinions.  You have opinions.  Everyone has opinions.  And there's nothing wrong with that.

Just want to take a moment to step back from my position as an editorialist and say I try to live by a simple mantra.  Do no harm to others.  That, alongside some interesting discussions about Anita Sarkeesian and similar personalities have led me to write this.  Gamers are often self entitled and frustratingly abusive in their opinions...and I cannot for the life of me figure out why.  I mean...why would you want to make someone else suffer?  It is such an alien concept to me...so, I want to encourage others to respect the opinions people have and to address them with respect and intellect rather than vitriol and ignorance.  I may not always be able to live by my mantra, but I try...and that's all I ask of any readers I have.  Try.

Memorial: For Justin "JewWario" Carmical

Okay...so, tonight I discovered that an inspiration to me in the realm of video games passed on Thursday, January 23, 2014.  It's been a tragedy to everyone because it was so unexpected and so shocking.

We miss you Justin.

Justin "JewWario" Carmical was a proponent of video games of all kinds, but especially imports.  He didn't believe that language should be a barrier to people enjoying good video games.  Now, I never got to meet Justin personally, but he inspired me in a number of ways.  Other people have, or are at this moment, holding memorials for him.  I don't have a wide audience and only a few people, probably just those I know, check out my blog.  But I wanted to give my own thoughts, share my own memories, and try to honor him in my own way.

JewWario was my introduction to importing.

JewWario was someone I discovered through That Guy With the Glasses.  He was a member of their team for a long time before parting ways with the group and appeared in numerous crossovers.  He was featured in their big movies, Kickassia, Suburban Knights, and To Boldly Flee.  JewWario was always very sporadic in these videos, being happy, funny, and entirely unpredictable, but above all else, someone you just loved to watch.  And that's why I looked into his other stuff.  Because I did enjoy watching him.

This was how I first saw JewWario.  He wasn't one of the lead actors...just the guy in the back.  But he was so fun, so earnest, so innocent and yet so passionate...

I've never been a big fan of the import scene.  I knew of it, I knew that Japan had plenty of games that never reached America, but JewWario was the person who stood up to the internet and said You Can Play This.  And that became his flagship series.  YCPT.  He would talk about games that featured no English translations and yet were still fun and enjoyable.  I frequently watched these videos just for JewWario, because he was such a quiet, but earnest man.  His passion was in his love for the games and he shared that with everyone, even if, at first, his skills were limited.  That's what really struck you about his videos...the passion.  He wanted everyone to be able to enjoy these great games.

For me, that has kind of become his legacy.  JewWario was always enjoyable to watch, however a part of me always wanted to play the games he'd show off.  Osu Tatakae, Ouendan in particular was very interesting, as was the One Piece fighter he presented.  Eventually, I started to think, genuinely, that I COULD play Japanese games, even if my skills in Japanese were less than perfect.  So, when I went to Japan, I made a point to, before I left, buy some Japanese games.  I wish I'd bought more, because I COULD and DID play these games and I loved them.  I got One Piece Gigant Battle 2, Culdcept DS, and the two Osu Tatakae Ouendan games.  Not a lick of English in these titles, but I could still play them, hell, I dropped at least 30 hours into One Piece.  I struggled with Culdcept, but I got through it.  And at the end of the day, it made me wish for more.  I have at least 4 or 5 current games that are Japanese that I want to play, which I will play, because I know I can play them.

This was released while I was actually in Japan and I bought it, day one, because JewWario convinced me that, yes, I could play it.  And I did.

I'd heard about this game through Elite Beat Agents, but my love for Japanese culture, along with that little extra push, helped me to get, play, and beat this game.

I always loved Culdcept, but never got to play the original, so when I saw it on a shelf in a Japanese Midori, I convinced myself that I'd get through it...that I COULD get through it.  And I could and did.

If anything, I wish I could have seen more of JewWario's work, because I know he streamed as well as putting out videos.  I wish I could have met the man in person and told him that he helped broaden my horizons in the world of gaming.  But I can't now.  So, even if it's just this one post, a part of me wants to keep his legend alive, because he changed a lot of people, myself included.  No one has had a bad word to say about JewWario who knew him.  And he always made sure to let other know that he cared for them.  His loss diminishes us all...

I have to encourage everyone to keep Justin's wife Jen in your thoughts and prayers, not just now, but always, because this kind of thing...the hurt never goes away.  Not entirely.  And offer her any help you can give, because this kind of thing isn't just emotional damage...

I want everyone to remember the man and his legacy.  Below are the links to his website and his videos, as well as a charity drive for his family and friends.  I encourage everyone to give it a look.

You Can Play This
Blip
Youtube
Charity Drive

Justin Carmical.  You were an inspiration, not just to me but to millions on the internet.  The man has passed, but the legend will live on, so long as we keep it alive.  Remember the man who loved games and carried a passion, a humor, and an earnest respect for all games and all people. 

May we one day meet, you beautiful soul, when our own times have come.