pedants-r-us - Tumblr blog

[pedants-r-us]

Whenever you feel like you’re being a jerk, just remember you will never be as dickish as Winnie the Pooh in the old Disney comics

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Couldn’t find this anywhere else, or at least not in as good quality, so thought I’d do the honours. 

This is the song from the credits of Foodfight. Yes, that Foodfight. There are no interruptions, so enjoy.

Indisputably bad as the film is, its soundtrack had a few gems. This one ain’t half bad.

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man: *makes rape joke*

woman: that’s offensive

man: stop PMSing

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So, I was looking through the new wave of Sonic Boom toy releases on the Toys R Us website to see what’s coming out and JESUS H FUCK WHAT DID THEY DO TO TAILS

I mean I know it’s supposed to be engine oil but he just looks demonic 

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Also, I’m presenting this game in tandem with other games, so this is really just a dashed-off ‘itinerary’ so to speak of the points I’ll cover for this one.

It’s not a matter of me not knowing this stuff - hell, I can sing along to essentially every Crush 40 song - but I had to dilute/exaggerate in parts both to make for easier reading when structuring the actual thing and to demonstrate how drastically it differs from other instalments.

Best. Coursework. Ever.

I’m so happy

I’m taking Media Studies for my A-Levels and we get to choose the essay title for our coursework examining how different media industries/outlets have changed according to market demand and become darker and edgier to appeal to a more desensitised audience. Naturally, I instantly knew what industry to write about. And I’m damn sure as hell I know which game is gonna be my central focus:

Seguir leyendo

[pedants-r-us]

Thanks for the heads-up, but this isn’t actually the essay, far from it. It’s more a general list of points I’ll make in the actual dissertation, so it’s obviously not 100% factually accurate in terms of the plot. 

I’m actually a huge Sonic fan - frankly, would I be doing this game if I wasn’t? :P - but I don’t intend on going into huge detail in terms of the narrative, just some general examples, compared with more violent series like CoD in this day and age.

So again, thanks for the corrections, they’ll prove useful, and trust me, I know my stuff when it comes to Sonic (in truth, I partially exaggerated some of the points on this initial list in order to sell the idea for the essay to my teacher since she was kinda skeptical) and sorry if I really ticked you off. The actual piece ain’t gonna be this. This is as rough as it gets :P

Best. Coursework. Ever.

I’m so happy

I’m taking Media Studies for my A-Levels and we get to choose the essay title for our coursework examining how different media industries/outlets have changed according to market demand and become darker and edgier to appeal to a more desensitised audience. Naturally, I instantly knew what industry to write about. And I’m damn sure as hell I know which game is gonna be my central focus:

Seguir leyendo

[pedants-r-us]

Best. Coursework. Ever.

I'm so happy

I'm taking Media Studies for my A-Levels and we get to choose the essay title for our coursework examining how different media industries/outlets have changed according to market demand and become darker and edgier to appeal to a more desensitised audience. Naturally, I instantly knew what industry to write about. And I’m damn sure as hell I know which game is gonna be my central focus:

Don’t believe me? Here’s my title:-

Explore how computer game franchises have developed narratives in order to appeal to an increasingly desensitized audience, with a particular focus on ‘Shadow the Hedgehog’.

And here’s my initial list of points I’m making ‘bout the game for my structure: 

* Narrative in video games

* Audience interaction

* Critical response to morality systems in games

* Narrative perspective/audience position

* Difference between gameplay styles and cinematics

Shadow the Hedgehog Main Points

* One female character wears revealing clothing

* Shadow carries a wide variety of firearms, ranging from basic guns like pistols and shotguns to even sniper rifles, RPGs and AK47s; Shadow can also rip out blunt objects like street signs and tree branches and beat people upside the head/stab people with them in graphic detail (red/green blood spurts); all of which are useable ingame and can be switched out at will. The range of weapons available, and that they are represented with such casual visual detail, is indicative of desensitisation.

* Swear words like ‘damn’ and ‘hell’ are thrown around liberally during gameplay – even Sonic, otherwise a kid-friendly mascot, curses at times. Shadow tells the game’s villain that he will send him “straight to hell and then [he’ll] destroy this damn planet”.

* The game features several songs by American metal bands Crush 40 and Powerhouse 5000; one features the lyric ‘heaven can’t save us and hell is a joke’, implying religious and satanic themes.

* Throughout the narrative, a series of dark scenarios play out:-

* The core plotline of the game is Shadow having amnesia and having to collect the 7 ‘Chaos Emeralds’ for a threatening alien race called the Black Hands who have waged war on Earth; at several points during the story, his allegiances switch, and he kills innocents in cold blood to achieve this end.

* Black Doom, their leader, makes no secret of the fact that the consequences for Shadow disobeying will be apocalyptic – Shadow exhibits a callous disregard for the planet and claims he’s only collecting the Emeralds for himself – not an ideal children’s hero.

* The plot partially revolves around Shadow’s creation aboard the ‘Space Colony ARK’ which was shut down by government forces who invaded the space station and killed everyone aboard; including a 9-year-old girl named Maria who, being terminally ill, befriended Shadow on the ARK; it is revealed she was among those assassinated, and her death is shown onscreen through Shadow’s memories. Naturally, outright killing a child is an immensely dark narrative element.

* It is also revealed that Shadow was created as a prototype cure for Maria’s disease which accidentally mutated into a living being after coming into contact with Black Doom’s blood, hence their connection – again, very dark themes.

* In one ending, an entire city, presumably inhabited, is annhilated in a nuclear blast. In another, Shadow outright murders Black Doom and implies he’s going to destroy the entire planet. In another, he murders the secondary antagonist by snapping his neck (offscreen, though the sound is clearly heard).

* The game’s true ending reveals Black Doom’s true plans for Earth which would not be out of place in an R-rated horror film: he reveals he wants the Chaos Emeralds to warp his home planet to Earth in order to unleash a paralysing neurotoxin on the Earth’s populace, then release an army of alien spawn on the planet to feed on their unconscious bodies and repopulate Earth – effectively implying mass genocide in an immensely gruesome fashion. Black Doom tests the gas on Shadow’s friends – Sonic included – and they all clearly grimace in pain.

* The game’s opening features Shadow mowing down several human soldiers with a machine gun, then shooting Sonic in the head, who slumps to the ground, presumably dead (the game later shows him to have survived, much to Shadow’s chagrin).

* One mission has Shadow attempt to assassinate the President.

Dis gun b fun.

[pedants-r-us]

To quote Dr. Eggman: take a look.

I’m a Sonic fan, just to clarify, and this is the first episode of a new LP of the incredibly polarising Sonic Unleashed that I'm doing and intending to be a 'reboot' of sorts for the channel (in that I'm actually going to finish it) and I'd like some criticism.

Now, before the inevitable "don't use a camcorder" comments come rolling in, I'm fully aware of the fact that it isn't optimum quality (the video, anyway, even though HD is available - the audio's like butter to the ears), but I'm on a budget and don't want to pour vast quantities of money into a professional capture device that may or may not even work with a PAL Wii U, finicky piece of hardware that it is. The visual quality luckily improves from Part 3 onwards, should you care to stick around.

As such, I'm more looking for feedback on my commentary. As in, do you buy into my brand of anarchic hyperactivity and enthusiasm? How'd you find the humour? Am I engaging? All that kind of stuff, and since the audio is infinitely higher quality than the video, it'll be easier to critique my voiceover anyway. Lucky!

Thanks everyone!

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Sonic: we will fight again, but next time it will be me who makes the rules

Shadow’s last words to Sonic in Boom’s final episode (translated from French)

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Why are Sonic and Amy so terrified?

You’d think they’d be used to Sticks being a complete nutjob by now

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Oooh, Zooey ain’t gonna like that...

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I like how Sticks is the only consistent thing across all the versions of the story

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...ice breath. Uh-huh.

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SONIC KNOWS

HE KNOWS SHE LIKES HIM

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JESUS AMY

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I just realised something.

In Sonic Unleashed, Sonic literally never gets a single wink of sleep. The game obviously takes place over several days, given the constant day/night switching, and he’s running around all day and doing Werehog stuff all night (why he doesn’t just sleep it out is beyond me).

And yet he still functions perfectly and is able to kick ass. What a boss.

[pedants-r-us]

Welp.... that explains it.