Playing on your own

Way back in the very early 90’s, in a time when chatting to people involved meeting up in real life and Burritos hadn’t been invented yet… I got a NES. The Nintendo Entertainment System. When I first played it, everyone watched. I jumped on Goombas heads and hunted some ducks whilst that damn dog laughed. People watched. When I got new games and then new consoles I excitedly hooked them up, rounded up the family members and despite their waning interest and I forced them to watch. Then came the Wii! And people wanted to watch again. I loved showing off that magical little box and how amazing it was to have a game of bowling without having to wear those sweaty, crappy shoes. Now I live with the wife and every so often I say “watch me play this,” which then brings on that crushing disappointment that she’s not impressed and wants you turn it off in time for Big Brother.

Sometimes though, you don’t want people to watch. There are games I’ve played in which the thought of a spectator would completely ruin everything. The most recent example for me is Flower. I knew I wanted to blog about it, to write about its loveliness and profess my adoration in the hope that some soul out there might +1 it on google and prove I’m not alone. Trying to put into words why it’s great seems like a near impossible task though.

In Flower you play as some petals. Yup…

You fly a petal leaf in the direction of some other flowers, they bloom and another petal joins you. Soon you’re flying this big group of flower petals through the air and then… Well that’s kind of it. You’re going to go and buy it right now aren’t you?

I need to mention the music, which is bliss. What I can’t do for the life of me is describe to you just how great it feels.. The wife watched me play me a bit of it and questioned my masculinity. She also can’t comprehend a game just feeling great because she’s a competitive sod and it’s only a game if you’re winning. Having someone sit beside you as you play it changes the whole thing. When I played it on my own I just flew about and watched as the world changed and the music adapted to my motions. I was immersed in doing nothing really, just relaxing. When someone’s watching you feel a need to show them a point, to entertain them or validate your chosen use of the TV.

I’d guess it’s the same as reading a book. You can talk to people about a plot or your favourite characters but have you tried reading a book with someone, sitting beside that person and sharing that experience? Well of course you haven’t, that’s just silly talk. When you read a book you’re sucked in and all of its intricacies form your enjoyment. You wouldn’t enjoy reading a plot summary on Wikipedia but at the same time that’s the bit you’re going to tell your friends about and the hook with which you hope to reel them in. How do I convince you to try Flower without the same hook? I’m really struggling so I’ll stop. I loved it and if you’ve agreed with any of my other blog posts then you might just love it too.

Back to that point about playing on my own.. Games in general have always had some kind of social element. That’s part of the territory when 90% of them are competitive. Nearly every big release has some online component and the rise of eSports is still a strange thing to even someone like me who loves the medium (American sports networks are televising game tournaments now!!) I still love the local multiplayer of Mario Kart and as I’ve said before there are games in which I’ve loved playing with the wife beside me, a shared experience. There are games however (and books, and music) that are expertly crafted for you to be on your own. Sometimes it’s best to get completely sucked in, sometimes it’s nice to have an hour in which nothing else exists.

Too much TV

At the time of writing this blog, I just so happen to be… writing a blog. Funny that. What I am not currently doing is playing games, watching TV, reading comics or paying my wife any attention. I’m rambling away internally and hoping my fingers press enough buttons that something appears on this here screen for the reading pleasure of you fine folk. Blogging was to be my new thing, my new hobby. I needed a new hobby to take up my time, and yet.. I don’t have enough time for all my hobbies.

“Have you seen this? And that? And oh man you really need to watch series three of thaaat..” My friends like watching TV and films, heck you probably like it too. You’d like my friends. You could watch 10 episodes of Making a Murderer in one day then discuss your theories, or debate if that guy really died on The Walking Dead (is that a spoiler? I don’t watch it, loads of people died I think..) I haven’t seen half the shows they’ve seen, there’s just too many to watch and I’ve just too many games to play. I could play less games and finally get round to finishing The Sopranos or even starting Breaking Bad. I could also stop listing shows on here, get to my fricking point and start watching something that isn’t on Cartoon Network.

Ok I just realised I don’t have a point. I had an idea for a blog but with no real idea on where it was going to go so I just started typing and hoped for the best. I’ve watched one hour of TV today and I don’t really have an urge to watch more. I cannot binge watch. I treated my eyes and ears to the silky smooth blissfulness that is Mad Men and when it was finished I went and read a review of that same episode. My focus was 100% as I consumed that hour of TV, mulling over every morsel and then digesting its buffet of subtleties and themes. I am full. And you’ve had enough food analogies. You’re just lucky I didn’t write the sentence that included ‘spoonful,’ and ‘Christina Hendricks.’

But yeah that was enough, one hour. Yet when I turn on the PS4 in two paragraphs time I’ll happily play a game for two hours straight. Games keep my attention for longer spells than any TV show can. Any show I have tried to binge watch has seen me checking Facebook or wondering if those photo frames on the shelf need their angle shifted just a smidge. Games keep me doing things, keep my mind occupied and keep me from getting distracted. So I choose games.

Oh yeah, that was the point of all this but you probably knew that if you read my previous entries. This blog might even be a subconscious apology for only talking about games so far in a blog titled ‘Movies, Games and VideJoe.’ I do love some TV, and I adore a good cinema trip. I’m just really fussy about what I watch because I’ve the attention span of a five year old who had Haribo for breakfast. Right I’m going to end this one here…. If you struggle to keep up with all the TV your mates watch then leave a comment! Join me in the silly mind-set that says you don’t have time to watch all this good stuff while we sit here on the internet, reading or writing this crap…

Next time: I might actually talk about shows I like. Or have a point before I start writing. Maybe

The best game I've never played

Way back in blog one I mentioned the wife... She doesn't really play games and anytime she has it's been for short bursts that see her freak out at how many buttons she has to use or get really wound up when I Red Shell her derriere in Mario Kart.

This hobby of mine needs shared however (or forced upon people, depending who you ask) and one day a game got announced that instantly made me say "I'm going to watch the wife play that."

Until Dawn isn't the type of game I’d normally play. A great big portion of it is watching stuff and if I’m going to watch stuff then it really should be Mad Men or one of the highbrow productions on Cartoon Network. The wife likes watching stuff and she also likes horror movies.

The story of this game sees a bunch of teenagers spending their weekend in some cabin in the woods. How original, eh? We've seen it before and every time we do the wife has said things like "Run you stupid b@%$h," or "Stab him in face!"

Yes I fear for my safety too.

So the wife’s now in control of her horror movie stereotypes and the choices are all hers. Those choices are weirdly nearly all the complete opposite of what I’d pick myself.. You're being chased towards a door, you drop a key and your girlfriend trips. I'm thinking pick up your girlfriend, keep them all alive because that has to be the aim of the game and that’s what any heroic protagonist would do. The wife gets the key, opens the door and mutters something like "to hell with her." The game decides she made the right choice and both survive. Round 1 to the wife.

You meet a vicious looking wolf/big dog and you've got a weapon in your hand. A button prompt flashes on screen and you've got seconds to hit it or that dogs going to eat you alive. "Press the button you idiot!" I screech. Now if you're judging me then you probably cry more at films when a dog dies than a person. You probably also don't play games because you'd be all too aware that animals in games are blooming annoying. There was a badger in Far Cry that was harder to kill than a group of twenty mercenaries. The little shit. Anyway, back to the dog... Well you've guessed already. She didn't hit it because the wife would never hurt a dog, not even in games. It didn't attack her either, no instead it just wanted a petting and even helped us out later in the game. Round 2 to the wife.

I make it sound like all my choices were wrong when in reality I don't know. The game gives you choices and the story takes its course based on whatever decisions you've made. I still haven't played it but whilst watching it I was already contemplating how my play through would be different, how I’d keep them all alive. It's genius and it's a big part of why the wife was kept engaged for about six or seven hours over a week. She couldn't really fail, just get a different result. She could fail in Mario Bros. And Wii Sports. And countless other games but if I mention them all she'll probably stab me in the face.

The other glorious part of the game is of course the scares. It is a horror game. Stuff jumps out at you, things makes noise in the distance and characters run away from scary things whilst the player has to press the right button at the right moment or they'll trip over that log and be a bit closer to dead. The wife got scared a lot. She jumped out of her skin, cowered behind the protection of a PlayStation controller and said "no no no no no nono NONO NOOOOO," till she ran out of breath. I laughed at her each and every time.

Round 3 to me.