#yeah i was inspired by that todd in the shadows video on ''i know what boys like''

[mmfpeg]

the radio's started playing christmas songs so it's Officially holiday season. happy december, you lot.

if you wanna play something of a secondary game to whamageddon (quick explainer for those who don't know: go from december 1st [that's 15 days ago!] to december 24th 23:59 [whichever timezone you identify with] avoiding "last christmas" by wham) (did you know that the 4k version on youtube was actually created from the masters instead of upscaling, which is why it looks fucking awesome?) (that's a tom scott video not a link to the song itself dw)...

something i cooked up the last 2 decembers: #christmaswrapped. hashtag optional. anyway: be on the lookout and get to listen to the entirety of "christmas wrapping" by the waitresses (including the jingling bells intro at the start) while you still haven't lost whamageddon.

obviously without going to youtube and listening to the song yourself or whatever. so, radio, maybe tv, maybe even malls (spotify radio/playlist i personally allow but eeeeh. you can see the whole of the playlist and see if the song's there, which isn't fun, no. but if it's being played by someone else, you know, you're at someone's place or so, that's still pretty good i think).

it's a fun game because the song is really good (not that "last christmas" is bad wham are fucking legends but you understand why whamageddon is a thing), but the band was an underrated two-hit wonder, the waitresses. i don't know exactly if it's a "staple" christmas song, certainly not to the level of "last christmas" or SIIIMPLY HAAAVING; it's the kind of song you'd find on Assorted Christmas Mix #46, so it could be a proper challenge. you could try speedrunning it (maybe next year?) and stumble into a radio that plays it at december 1st 00:01 or whatever (oh yeah radio request of your own doesn't count also!!!!), but even if you hear the jingling bells intro at 23:59 of december 24th, it's still a win.

[mdhwrites]

How Did I Get into Analysis?

My brother and I talked a bit a couple days ago about the era of online review that we were first introduced to analysis with. We JUST missed AVGN but we were neck deep within the wave of criticism that came afterwards. To us, it wasn't the style pioneered by Cinemassacre (who unfortunately I never got into) but the style of Channel Awesome who back in college, almost a decade ago, I was HUGE into.

But that's not technically how I began. It's also definitely not what I prefer nowadays, nor for the past half decade at least. Before I actually get into the fun background of what caused me first to start using my critical eye, albeit by no means honing it, I just want to let you know some of the video essayists that I do listen to nowadays in case you want to see my inspirations. (This part is longer than I expected so if you want to skip to the silly story, just jump over to when I use bold text)

Linkara: Of the old Channel Awesome style, I think Linkara is potentially the best that style can be without morphing into something different. I admittedly am not a huge comics person but I've relistened to a lot of his coverage of the bigger events a lot of the time and he's just really good at what he does while being genuinely funny and unapologetic of the style he uses. He never got defensive unlike someone.

Todd in The Shadows: This is the ONLY person I listen to regularly still from back in those days. I drop everything when I see a new TiTS video. You might think that makes him beat Linkara in the style but it's not. He hasn't technically altered his format drastically since he began but I would rarely call him a reviewer. It's not even the majority of his content nowadays. I would put him more as a documentarian and as someone who loves himself some history, I genuinely love what he does. Speaking of documentarians though:

Defunctland: If you have watched any video analyzing theme parks, you've probably heard about this channel. He goes over the history of no longer running theme parks, television shows, etc. For the Disney fans in my audience, I highly recommend his video on the Disney Channel theme but honestly, all of his stuff is good.

Noah Caldwell Gervais: Before I move away from the historical essayists, I would be remiss to mention Noah. I don't watch his travelogues but he's expanded my knowledge on so many game series that I will never touch due to my own tastes. It's a little outdated now but a real highlight for me is his Call of Duty videos where he actually examines the stories and themes of the games and their single player modes and isn't uncritical of the franchise but also isn't blindly shitting on it either. He's a fan for a reason. Another akin to that is his more recent Gears of War series.

Folding Ideas: You can actually see on my blog when I got into this channel. The whole "Put a pin it it?" I did in a blog or two? Yeah, that's straight up just stolen from his 50 Shades of Gray reviews. He does a lot of stuff on scams, including crypto, and is very good.

HBomberguy: The newest addition to my theoretical playlist, I got into his stuff with the video about the Ooph sound and its origins. Just a solid essayist with good delivery and interesting topics.

New Frame Plus: I feel bad for almost forgetting about the ever delightful Dan Floyd. I followed him after he moved on from his previous channel and like 99% of what I know about animation comes from him. When I criticize how Amity adopts a silhouette that's a bit too close to Luz's in S2? Yeah, that's only possible for me because of his video about the subject. He also has great credentials for talking about this stuff as an ex-Pixar animator who has done lots of other work in television, movies and even does animation in games nowadays. He's also a delightful Let's Player who is one of the few of those I still follow.

That went on way too long.

So what actually started me on all of this if not Channel Awesome? What first dragged me into overthinking everything? Besides the fact that my brain already had a hard time ever just shutting up of course. Well that answer is shockingly simple if not extremely embarrassing:

The Bronalysis community. The Brony Analysts. That is not a joke. I actually have a bizarrely vivid memory of one of the first proper reviews of anything I ever watched being a review of the fan made episode of My Little Pony featuring a blind filly who's talent had to do with snow.

Which also highlights why it's embarrassing... But does make a sort of sense. My Little Pony was the first time I was ever part of a fandom. It was the first time I got that deeply invested in a work to even want to discuss it in depth with other people. Before then, I never really had an urge to go and seek out such content because Youtube for me was mostly for sillier things like silly videos about Naruto, AMVs and Dragonball Z abridged. Admittedly, part of this comes from being later to the internet than some of my peers. I was in middle school when I started understanding what the internet was and didn't have my own laptop until High School. A lot of it was just that I didn't use things like Youtube much, even while still being the same sort of nerd I've always been.

And what do I think looking back on those early days? I mean... They were ROUGH. And I by no means was immune to it. I've stated before that part of why I don't do individual episode reviews is because I eventually found them kind of tedious but more than that: Shallow. It's hard to have something deep to say about every episode of a work unless it's a genuine masterpiece. I've been watching Frieren with my brother and while I adore that show, I think it is genuinely incredible in almost every way, there are still episodes of it where I would go, "This is good. To say more would just be me repeating statements I've already made about the work."

Recap and snark was the name of the game back then though. It's why they were called reviews after all because that's always been easier than critique or a deep dive. A bad or lackluster review is just easy to make since you lay down what the plot of the work is, snark on a few elements and then give a recap of your thoughts at the end. It's probably part of why some people like Doug Walker used it as much as a vehicle for their own talents as comedians and writers rather than just how good of an analyst they were because, well, that's what they were more passionate about but they also did reviews.

This isn't to say that there isn't still snark or comedy or even some amount of personal validation to more recent essayists. The video I recommended for Defunctland is genuinely a documentary and also has him use his worries about if he'll be considered one or just some Youtube guy someday as the framing. One could mock him for that, he even fears it in the video, but the difference is that even if you ignore that component, ignore his personality, the information and depth of knowledge and research on the topic is good enough to still warrant watching the work. That wasn't always something you could always say about analysis a decade ago, not the big channels at least. A lot more of them were personality driven, not driven by how good the reviews were as reviews.

It's all just interesting to look back on for me, especially while I've stayed casual in my analysis. I may write full on essays at times for a blog but I am no video essayist. I do not do the sort of research that's required for such things which does make my stuff much more opinion based and what advice I personally feel is good without the depth of wisdom to be an authority on it. At least I don't plagiarize though? XD But I have always said that I analyze things second to me being a writer and I still hold firm to that so I'm fine with that being where I keep things, bare minimum for now. I care much more about being seen as a true storyteller, rather than simply a delusional fanfic writer, than I do of ever being seen as some grand critic.

Just felt like sharing tonight. Thank you for reading and see you next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[dashingdcboys]

Jason respects Wamen

I’ve been reading this book, and it inspired some Jason Todd hcs (which i’m not sure have been done before so bare w me)

So there’s this discreet home for female victims of domestic abuse in The Narrows, Gotham, and I say discreet because, well, it’s an official place of business but it’s not registered - just in case some of these women’s jerk ass husbands/boyfriends come looking for them for one sick reason or another.

But on the whole, it’s a well guarded place where women (and possibly their kids) from all over the country can rest until they get back on their feet. It’s funded by Wayne Enterprises, of course, but money can buy only so much security. And again, the men in question are stubborn asshats, and stubborn asshats can be dangerous.

Though, the place is guarded by a mask, one notorious for being a bit trigger happy. Red Hood. 

Jason had known about this place since he was a kid, having grown up in that shittier part of a shitty city, but with everything he’s been through in the last few years, he hasn’t thought about it for a long time. Not one seemlingly normal day, when he rescues a woman from a mugging - a woman who happened to be the owner of this home for mistreated women. 

She was just as he’d remember her, when she’d stand watch from within those fenced up walls, with a no-nonsense look on her face even after almost being mugged. Like she was prepared for any attack, despite her aged face. He’ll never forget those stern yet warm greyish green eyes that had looked upon him with pity as he walked past the home every day in search for a new illegal way to obtain money - back in the days his father was dead and his mother had resorted to drugs and alcohol to keep herself in a flase state of happiness.

She had offered him a bed in the limited space she had at the time, but he always rejected her help. Mostly because he knew her cause was a righteous one, and reply along the lines of “Don’t worry ma’am, save that bed for the helpless. I’ll be fine.”

to which she’d always respond with, “Don’t call me ma’am, it makes me feel old. But you reconsider my offer when your back’s against the wall, y’hear?”

He did consider her offer, quite a few times, especially after his mum died - but by the time he could make up his mind, he had stolen the wheels of the wrong - or right, depending on how you look at it - car.

As the memories of this place’s existence came flooding back, and because he’s a giant softie, he followed the middle-aged woman back to the home from the shadows that night, and kept a vigilant eye on the building - just to check on the state of things. The place seemed to be running smoothly, but he had a feeling there was more to it than that. Since this was a discreet haven, any unwanted guests were probably never reported to keep the reputation. So, he placed some of his own security cameras and sensors.

Surely enough, within 2 nights of this building coming to his attention, he spotted a man trying to climb the fence as his buddies taunted the occupants of the home. Little did they know, they’d be receiving a knuckle sandwich from the most feared outlaw in Gotham city. 

Least to say, word got around, and no one really dares invade these women’s lives for as long as they’re in Gotham - and depending on the intelligence of the men in question - outside of Gotham either.

Though word also spread among the occupants of the building, women and children alike started regarding the red hood as their guardian angel, and the kids of some of the victims would even stick childish drawings of him on their windows, or leave him braceletes they had made. Jason almost fried the contacts in his mask with tears from looking at them. Occasionally, he’ll even get requests from the females, such as

“If you see my husband, Gregg - kick him in the dick for me.” 

And the next day, they’d receive a video, front view, of the guy getting kick in the nuts - if they were ever dumb enough to show their faces around this place again.

Not all of the batfamily knows of this little community of red hood fans, except for Bruce and Barbara, because they make it their business to know. Yet, both are supportive of Jason’s work. 

It was all pretty fulfilling for Jay too, making active changes in peoples’ lives without having to resort to murder. And even though his mother and father had never come to this point in their lives as a married couple, he felt a bit of retribution there. He had wished his mum had got help from these kinds of people, far back then, instead of the drugs and the booze - which somehow eventually led her to joker. 

So here he is, on his normal patrol route, temporarily stopping at Gotham’s Home for Women as he’d occasionally do a few times a week. That’s when he heard the familiar voice of the owner from atop the roof. 

“I guess you really didn’t need my help after all.”

She was leaning, hunched over the window sill, her frizzy, thick, curly, dark hair lightly luminated by the moonlight, showing some grey stray hairs within the fuzzy mass, neatly held into a bun. She idly held a cigarette in one plump, bronzish-brown hand, and stared into the distance.

Jason wasn’t surprised she had discovered his secret identity in the slightest. As a kid, he had always considered her a wise woman, and he wasn’t just some other dumb kid. 

“What gave it away?”

“Does it matter?”

“I guess not. For now.”

“Yeah, well I just wanted to thank you. My clients have been feeling a lot safer when you masks started frequenting here more. I don’t know how you got here, and I’m not judging. I just wanted to say - I’m proud. I just have the feeling not many people tell you that.”

“Uh, thanks.” he thought back to his recent rekindling relationship with his dad, “But I’m starting to hear that phrase more often.”

“Good.”

“So . . . do I get to call you ma’am now?”

“Get your arse off my fucking roof.”

And for the first time in a long, long time, Jason let out a genuine, hearty laugh that echoued throughout the guarded institute.

[spicynbachili1]

Is Hi-Rez living in Blizzard’s shadow?

Hello-Rez, the builders of Smite and Paladins, don’t have it straightforward. They compete head-on with Blizzard’s juggernauts; with their fingers caught in the identical hero-shooter-flavoured pies the comparisons are inevitable, and barely beneficial. Relying on whose questionable prolonged metaphors you take heed to, you would possibly hear it argued that they spend their time taking a look at the place their rivals’ fingers are, after which observe swimsuit.

You may also hear that their video games will be uneven, or poorly managed. A few of that rings true, although a lot is hyperbole. Hello-Rez have made just a few missteps, however that’s partly as a result of they take quite a lot of steps on the whole.

They’re behind the lengthy deceased World Agenda, the recent-ishly deceased Tribes: Ascend, and the cancelled Conflict Royale-inspired Smite Rivals. 4 video games are nonetheless dwell and kicking: there’s Paladins, a crew FPS the place wizards wield fashionable weaponry and craft their playstyles through card-slots; there’s Smite, a third-person God-squabbling MOBA that’s tied to their CCG, Hand Of The Gods: Smite Ways; and there’s Realm Royale, a battle royale recreation presently in early entry with lessons, a sensible Forge system for upgrading loot that minimises the lulls endemic to the style, and on-death rooster transformations that I am keen on. Loads.

Two issues must be apparent, at this level. These video games are much like another video games, however they’ve bought loads of concepts of their very own. Good ones.

So, why do individuals hate on Hello-Rez?

First let’s cowl the missteps. Final month, CEO Erex Goren instructed a Realm Royale streamer to “play the mode like you might be speculated to, with a crew and cease crying”. Earlier this 12 months, a Paladins advert pinched some artwork from Overwatch – a wince-worthy fuck up, within the face of quite a few accusations that decision out Paladins for ripping off Overwatch.

Then there’s Playing cards Unbound. Playing cards Unbound was a system for Paladins, eliminated after the gamers – and the devs – rebelled in opposition to it. It required gamers to stage up their playing cards by discovering duplicate playing cards in loot packing containers, offering incremental energy (or worse, the possibility of gaining incremental energy) with each micropurchase. To provide you some thought of how Not Nice the thought was, each the system and the response to it was akin to EA’s Star Wars Battlefront 2.

From the skin, it might be straightforward to see the Playing cards Unbound system as about greed. After I requested Paladins model director Alex Cantatore about it on the Hello-Rez Expo in Atlanta, he instructed me it was about survival.

“About this time final 12 months, Paladins was in a really tough monetary state of affairs. We had quite a lot of gamers, however none of them spent any cash – we had been haemorrhaging money hand over fist simply preserving the sport alive. It was reaching some extent the place the corporate wanted to decide. Do you retain investing in a product that’s shedding you cash, or might these assets be higher put elsewhere?”

Monetising energy turned the reply. In some methods, it was the proper one: “For the primary time, as we put out Playing cards Unbound, the sport was at the least breaking even. It wasn’t blowing the doorways off or something, however we had been doing OK.” In additional methods, it wasn’t.

“It was a tough time to return to work on a regular basis. Individuals weren’t comfortable, as a result of day by day you come into work and everybody on Twitter and Fb is like ‘dude, you’re ruining your recreation. Don’t you perceive we don’t need this?’ It’s like, we perceive, however we’re going to exit of enterprise if we don’t begin making a living. It’s one thing that we didn’t need to do, however the firm felt like we needed to.”

Paladin’s present system, the place cash is constituted of cosmetics tied into occasions that develop an ongoing story, proves there have been higher choices on the desk. The takeaway is twofold: firstly, Hello-Rez have now stepped additional away from monetising energy than they ever have, and demonstrably be taught from group suggestions. Secondly – as straightforward as Reddit makes it to suppose in any other case – Hello-Rez do have a passionate group, and they’re prepared to stay by them.

I met a few of them. They had been at a panel with the Paladin devs at Dreamhack Atlanta, which additionally hosted the Hello-Rez Expo. There can’t have been greater than two dozen of us within the room, however watching devs work together with their followers, with individuals expressing open admiration for his or her work, was one of the crucial healthful sights I’ve seen on this trade. Hello-Rez get slammed extra closely than another firm I can care to call, but there I sat, witnessing the precise reverse.

It’s not simply Paladins. There’s a Reddit battle over Realm Royale, too, the place posts bemoaning unwelcome modifications and posts that inform individuals to cease whinging can each achieve traction. Whereas the vitriol in a few of these posts is abhorrent, I can see why there’s pushback. Some updates have briefly stripped Realm Royale of its finest concepts – however that is all entangled with the twisted brambles of early entry. I just like the dev’s experimental method, but in addition discover their experiments a bit daft.

I requested Realm model director Rory Newbrough in regards to the problem of conveying their design philosophy, contemplating how completely different devs deal with early entry. “There was a mismatch on what the sport was making an attempt to do and what individuals anticipated out of it. As a result of we had been iterating laborious on the sport design facets somewhat than making an attempt to replace it and put content material on the market, there was some stress.” These recreation design facets are firmly locked in place now, together with Realm’s development from alpha to beta.

Which is strictly how early entry ought to work: making an attempt numerous issues so you possibly can decide on the very best. When Newbrough talked about they had been being extra cautious with the console betas and solely offering keyed entry to the early phases, I requested if he regretted not doing the identical for PC.

“I believe that might have been the very best play. It’s laborious to say, as a result of we bought quite a lot of nice engagement, proper? We didn’t do any influencer promotions, we didn’t do any partnered promotions, every little thing was pure natural. The influencers that performed the sport wished to play the sport, they caught on to it on their very own, they usually instructed their buddies they usually actually loved it. So we bought quite a lot of nice buzz, the identify Realm Royale was on the market, there’s quite a lot of worth inherently there. But when we had been going to return, it’s laborious to say – hindsight’s 20-20 – however contemplating keyed entry for alpha would have been on the desk.”

Whereas Realm has struggled to get individuals to know early entry, Paladins has struggled with individuals’s understanding of iterative recreation design. It’s true that many Paladins characters have comparable skill units to these in Overwatch, however it’s additionally true that each video games are indebted to TF2. It’s some extent Cantatore was understandably eager to emphasize: “I believe all of us owe rather a lot to Group Fortress 2, which outlined a lot of the style within the first place. The entire thing began for Paladins once we had been like ‘yeah, let’s make World Agenda 2. We will type of make it like Group Fortress 2, that’ll be enjoyable!”

I assumed I’d have to spend longer dissecting the historical past of Paladins and the extent to which the sport differs from Overwatch, however then I discovered this Reddit publish from Hello-Rez COO Todd Harris. It’s a relaxed, evidence-backed takedown of clone allegations, with a neat part that highlights Overwatch talents which are much like these in World Agenda.

It additionally speaks to a broader level, which is that builders studying from and deploying one another’s concepts ends in higher video games for everybody. It’s some extent that applies to any inventive medium – in addition to simply ‘concepts’ on the whole. It’s additionally some extent that may get drowned within the turbulent seas of rival fandoms.

Hello-Rez live in Blizzard’s shadow in as far as Blizzard is greater. However measurement isn’t every little thing.

Measurement didn’t matter to the individuals at that Paladins panel, nor the one the day after the place gamers and devs collaborated to rehash a personality’s lore. It didn’t matter to the gleeful faces watching the esports occasions, banging their inflatable tubes along with gusto. It didn’t even significantly matter to me, when after watching a number of hours of the Paladins semi-final I made a decision to go and play some extra myself.

I did have a superb time – although sure, I’ve had extra enjoyable taking part in Overwatch. However that’s the improper punchline.

Hello-Rez be taught from their very own errors and successes, in addition to these of others. Their video games apply unique concepts to confirmed formulation, and are all the higher for it. That’s one thing that the cynical shouldn’t lose sight of.

from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/is-hi-rez-living-in-blizzards-shadow/