Interstella 5555: Addendum

To amend my previous post, you can buy each section of the movie (as music videos) in the iTunes Music Store while browsing Daft Punk's music. Enjoy!

Interstella 5555: Daft, Punk, and a Funky Musical

Techno group Daft Punk seems to have had a resurgence in the last 6months or so, thanks to the Kanye West song "Stronger" and the popularity of YouTube videos such as the Daft Punk Girls and Daft Hands. But I've known about the band since about 2002, when songs from their album Discovery - notably "One More Time" - began playing on the airwaves. I own the album in fact, and have for years, so I thought I would take a moment to mention something else Daft Punk related.

Interstella 5555: The Daft Punk Movie

Anyone who has seen the original four music videos for Daft Punk's Discovery album will be familiar with part of the movie, thought perhaps unknowingly. These music videos - One More Time; Aerodynamic; Digital Love; and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - are actually the first four parts of Interstella 5555. According to the Wikipedia article on the film, the band actually conceptualized the movie as they were writing the music. The movie, therefore, is very much a visualization of the album itself. The tracks play in order with no dialogue and very few additional sound effects added. As a musical, I can't say that it's the greatest I've ever seen. The plot is pretty nonsensical, and not all of the songs are terrific (personally, I feel like it loses strength after the first seven). The visuals however are great. Even if not every track is a winner, the animators have taken great care to match the tone of each track to the visuals on screen. I think of the entire movie, my favorite was part six: Nightvision/Superheroes. If you have the opportunity, enjoy techno and anime, or maybe just have some time to kill on YouTube (where I watched the movie), give it a look.

To give a taste, I've posted part four, "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," for your viewing enjoyment.

My Life @ Gekkokan: A Coincidence?

I'm about a month further along in Persona 3 FES and it's finals time. The funny thing is that it's finals time for me as well. I'm going to be spending the rest of the week studying and taking tests, so I likely won't be able to play FES until next week sometime (T-T). Oh well: it can't be helped.

My Life @ Gekkokan: Diving into Persona 3 FES

Last summer, I bought an RPG buy the name of Persona 3. I may have even blogged about it at the time, but I don't remember. I played the Playstation 2 title quite a bit that August, but once school started back up, I fell out of habit and never could quite pick the game back up. Plus, there was always the possibility that Atlus (the developer) would release P3 FES: an upgraded version of the original game. Well, last month they did, and in the last few weeks I've been playing it a considerable amount. This won't be a review (I'll like write one later), but more like thoughts I had while playing the game.

The Three Month Mark

Last time, I only played about 3 months worth of the game (Persona 3 takes place over a 12-month school year), so my first goal was to reach my old point in the game. Tonight I reached this goal.

• FES lets you import some of the data from the original game when you start, including your Persona compendium and personal stats like Charm, Courage, and Academics. I was over half way leveled with these three skills in Persona 3, so as a result I've managed to max out two of them already.
• Leveling up your social links is different the second time through. I've been playing much more efficiently. I'm likely going to have one of my relationahips maxed-out by the end of the month (in the game).
• I love the dating aspect of the game. Currently, I'm dating the School Treasurer, but I've also got the Track Team coach fawning over me. I understand that there's a funny event later in the game if you level up multiple relationships with girls, so I'm working hard to earn it.
• Atlus (the developer) nerfed a couple aspects of the game that irritated me at first. For example, you can no longer power-level in the main dungeon the night before the full moon. (Typically, you are forced to quit because your party gets fatigued; in P3, this didn't happen the night before a full moon.) Also, There's less insentive to level up academics by donating to the local shinto shrine. These haven't proved too detrimental however.
• Being told that I needed to be a badass (see image above) was one of the funniest things I've seen in a game (note: "Badass" is the highest rank for the Courage stat).
  
• The music is still AWESOME!
• Similarly, Bebe - a French exchange student who speaks with an accent (e.g., the = "ze") and randomly speaks Japanese - is still one of my favorite characters.
• I sometimes wish I wasn't playing an RPG and that instead the social aspect of Persona 3 was the entire game. It's very addictive.

I'll update more after I delve further into the game.

Why I play videogames

I've been thinking lately about my changing taste in videogames. I find that, especially since graduating from High School, there has been a definite shift in my gaming habits. I still play some of the same genres that I once did; however, more and more I'm finding that the games I buy fall under a few, self-labeled categories.

Games as Escapism

Most of the games I'd place under this category would be "casual" games. I quick glance at my library is Steam will reveal my recent buying habits: Puzzle Quest, Peggle, Geometry Wars, Lumines. None of these games have the type of high-production values that many modern gamers crave. I'd even through a game like Team Fortress 2 into this category, even though it's game mechanics are more complex. The underlying element that these games share is that they are easy to pick-up and play for a few minutes to an hour when bored. To me, this is escapism in its purest form.

Games as Narratives

Videogames are known for their narrative-prowess; however, a well-crafted role-playing game can often rival a light novel. Though the storylines likely won't win many awards, I've found that games like Dragon Quest VIII or the Metal Gear Solid series are fine alternatives to novels on occasion. Heck, the Ace Attorney games on the Nintendo DS are essentially interactive novels; the ammount of reading you do in those games is intense. Obviously, the game still has to be fun to play, but a good narrative will keep me playing into the wee hours of the night.

Games as Experiences

This last category is the hardest to define. Sometimes, my favorite games are those that can only be described as "experiences." When gamers talk about videogames as art, it is these games that I consider the closest to that ideal. Unlike the previous category, these games don't use cutscenes to move the game along (an element more befitting of movies). Instead, they work with the mechanics of videogames to create a truly unique and immersive experience. Among these ranks, I would consider Portal and Shadow of the Colossus to be shining examples, as well as two of my favorite games ever. I'm hoping that the upcoming first-person adventure game Mirror's Edge [the trailer is embedded below] will also provide an "experience."



A couple of other factors that contribute to my taste in games currently is "style," i.e. when a game has a unique and/or intrigue art design, and nostalgia, which is why I've currently sunk a small fortune into the Wii's Virtual Console. These categories are also not mutually exclusive, as some of my recent games purchases are good narratives and stylish, or are nostalgic escapisms.

At the end of the day though, I suppose this shift isn't such a bad thing. With my increase in buying Anime, Manga, and other crap from Japan, it's probably better that my gaming habits have decreased.

On Lucky Star

*after watching 15 minutes of Lucky Star*

friend: Is there any nudity in this show?
me: Umm... no.
*friend leaves*


(BTW, my Lucky Star DVD came today. Hooray!)

What My Social Networks Say About Me?

I'm a freak! I've come to accept this as just a fact of my life. I worry about things that honestly don't matter, fret over what I'm not doing, how my life is somehow not fulfilled because I'm not keeping up with X, Y, or Z. GAH!

Case and point, I concern myself too much with what my social networks say about me. I have Flickr, but I'm not taking photos I can really be proud of. I never show off my account for this reason. I flip through my photos from time to time and think "Why can't a take a photo actually worthy of sharing with the world?"

I use Twitter, but I'm tweeting as much as some other people. And even when I do, I think "what am I really saying? Is it even worth the effort to type it out?" The same happens with blogging.

Google Reader keeps me up to date with news, but is all the information really worth it at the end of the day? Am I somehow a better person because I'm totally up to date with the gaming and tech blogs?

And then there are the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world. For all that I use them, I might as well not have an account at all. I have people on my friends list that I only add so that I can delete them two weeks later without them noticing. I never recieve wall posts or post on other peoples walls, and then I get pissed when someone posts an obnoxious video or picture on my wall.

I really wish I could find a way to cut my net time down substantially...