themblan's blog

Nintendo reminds me of myself. I used to be like everyone else, but something happened, whether my self-confidence was shattered, or I realized I was different. I no longer wanted to be like everyone else; I wanted to be different. Nintendo is the same way. They will never change nor become what they were meant to become in the '80s and '90s. Just like we have to accept people the way they are if we love them, we have to accept that about Nintendo. It's not like we can directly change them. Nintendo 64 was the first and last time that Nintendo really tried to create the most powerful console on the planet. Thus, it is only natural for them to not care about power after it bombed. Nintendo is not one to try a failed experiment twice, at least in a row. Nintendo needs their confidence back. NS's success might provide them just that, so that they might make a powerful, home-exclusive, home-console next generation, which is exactly what many people want.

I think about children being born into the world today, and I pity them. What a shame it is to be born into a world where your worth is measured by how you compare to others. It's no wonder why there are so many mental disorders on the planet, whether it's an eating-disorder, depression, manic depression disorder, or a general feeling of unworthiness. Growing up, we are constantly competing against our peers, and yet people wonder why we are not united in adulthood. In high-school, people wonder why school-spirit only seems to exist in the cheerleaders and the athletes, when we are constantly competing against our classmates for our grades. Competition is not a noble thing. Animals compete for mates, and for dominance within a group. Are we not better than animals? Have we not transcended them? I have a dream, that one day, this world will rise up, and stop being an endless competition.

I don't like it when battles and aggression (aggro) from AI trigger battle-music in videogames. It is unnecessary. Combat already is stressful; there is no need to amp it up. In horror-games, it totally ruins the sense of surprise necessary for jump-scares. In Resident Evil 4, whenever you aggroed an enemy, even if you couldn't see him, her, or it; the battle-music was triggered. It let you know that you had to fight. When the battle-music was not playing, you absolutely knew you were safe. When is combat-triggered game-music okay? It is good in random encounters in RPGs. You're walking along the overworld in an RPG. The mood is a certain way, and so the music reflects that. Your next step triggers a battle. The screen makes a transition-effect to a whole new scene: the battle-stage. The battle-music plays. This is okay. This is good. There may be other scenarios where combat-triggered game-music is okay, but in general, it is not. Having combat-triggered game-music i...

What is hope, but an illusion of power over powerlessness? We pray and hope for things to actualize in the real world. Sometimes these things come true, and most of the time, they don't, but if one of our hopes do come true, we feed this lie to ourselves that our mental energy of hoping contributed to its happening; when in reality, it had nothing to do with us. Hope is a reaction - a self-defense mechanism over the feelings of powerlessness and non-actualized desires. It is a crippling emotion that prevents us from expanding our consciousness beyond the surface-levels of our brains and subconscious minds. By focusing on what we don't have, we obstruct the ability to appreciate what we do have. By only hoping and using mental energy, we don't try other strategies of achieving happiness. We narrow our minds, like children focusing on one toy they want for Christmas. It is ironic that the feeling designed to escape powerlessness serves to perpetuate it. We must fight...

It's no secret. Open-world, sandbox-type games are in right now; they have been for a long time. As a gamer who grew up in the '80s and '90s, however, I prefer more linear games. There are at least two camps of gaming that emerged from the beginning: the home-computer games, and arcade-games. The games I grew up with were mostly inspired by developers who played and developed arcade-games. Even Nintendo's roots were in the arcade, so it's only natural for me to enjoy linear games more. The problem is that linear games are less-respected, especially, by professional game-reviewers, who will easily hand out high scores for open-world games, whereas they won't as easily for linear games. They let their left brain do most of the talking. In theory, it seems like you get more from open-world games: go anywhere , and do anything . The reality, however, is that linear games provide an experience that is more fun and challenging. Personally, if you tell me that ...

Nintendo-fanchildism is like a vortex. It sucks you in, kills your brain-cells, self-identity, and personal tastes. Nintendo Directs are like sermons preaching to the masses. It's easy to turn into a Nintendo-fanchild, especially if you err on the side of religiousness; but it's not a good thing. It feels nice to feel like you're part of a group - the congregation of Nintendo-fanchildren, part of something greater than yourself, but is it really? You are the greatest thing, not some corporation. Nintendo is not greater than you. They may have more money and more fans than you, but you are the most important thing in your life. One of the worst feelings I get is at large social gatherings like church-services and wedding-receptions. In church-services, everyone is urged to sing the same song at the same time. At wedding-receptions, people are urged to go on the dance-floor and do things they don't want to do. People are reduced to faceless balls of energy - robbed of t...

There are a lot of videos on YouTube with people saying they were wrong about Nintendo Switch, as if they're proud to admit they were wrong. They are so desperate to be part of the majority, the sheep, the "verdict," that they lose all semblance of self. Maybe you were wrong about it not selling well, but you were right about it not being something you would like. After an initial honeymoon-period, which wasn't long, I do not like the NS, just like I knew I would, deep down. It's an underpowered home-console, and it's an overly big handheld; it's literally the worst of both worlds. Just because it's selling well and people like it, doesn't mean it's a good thing. The converse is also true. If something doesn't sell well and people don't like it, doesn't mean it's a bad thing (e.g. Wii U). NS is selling well because of marketing and the hive-mentality that comes with capitalism, and not because it's actually a go...