anime watched, but games unplayed

[khedron]

A few weeks ago, I started a post about two anime series I'd just finished, and the game I was in the middle of playing. However, then I got caught up with painting the master bedroom, other baby-prep stuff, and watching the Olympics. I didn't finish the post then, but nothing's really changed in the interval since, so I'll try again.

Anime:
I just finished Death Note and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. DN was one season long, and I mostly watched while on the exercise bicycle downstairs. CG was two seasons long, and I ripped to the iPod so I could watch it in small increments (like, an episode or two before bed occasionally). Now, desdenova or qwrrty might object that seeing Code Geass on the small screen is a Crime Against Art, and given that it was drawn by CLAMP, well, they'd be right. But I think it says something that I watched the two shows in about the same time.

The two shows have a couple of unusual surface similarities. Death Note is the story of a young man, son of a police chief, who finds a notebook that grants him a power: he can write someone's name, while visualizing their face, and that person will die in the way he wants. He decides to use this power to punish criminals he thinks the legal system isn't handling properly, and eventually he works to take over the world in order to carry out his twisted form of justice. Meanwhile, Code Geass is about a young man, exiled son of the Emperor of Britannia, who meets a girl who grants him a power: as long as he has eye contact, he can give anyone a single command which they will obey absolutely. (Note, that means it's not like the old D&D "command"; his very first use of it was to order someone, "Die!" The commands don't have to be in a person's interest for them to carry them out. However, I was genuinely surprised by the twist towards the end of season one, which caught me completely off guard and took things in a tragic direction.)

So, there are similarities in mechanism. But, Death Note is primarily a one-on-one battle of wits between secret criminal vs super detective (think of the detective from "Zero Effect"), while Code Geass is about an angry young man working to raise an army, avenge his mother, protect his sister, and overthrow the Holy Empire of Britannia. The two shows play very differently.

(Also, Code Geass has giant robot-like things, while Death Note, apart from the magical notebook and the existence of "Gods of Death", is very much rooted in the ordinary world.)

Early on, I would have said that Death Note was by far the superior of the two. However, it flagged a bit towards the end of the show for me. Meanwhile Code Geass became a bit less heavy-handed as it went on (or perhaps I just got used to it), while the weird combination of robot battle tactics and high school student council hijinks grew on me. Death Note is still probably the better show, but I liked them both.


Games:
I'm something like 100 hours into "Dragon Age", I think, and am paused for the moment. I've gotten the alliances of dwarves, elves, and men, so I'm all up on that. I'm also around level 20 or so. I think that means the end of the game is in sight, right?

On a different note: It seems like there's a growing trend of "gamer dads" being talked about right now. There was this post on Penny Arcade, talking about "Heavy Rain". A Wired story about the game, goes into more detail -- they say the initial inspiration for the game was someone getting lost from his son in a mall. Meanwhile, Penny Arcade linked to this story on Kotaku about "the daddening of videogames". Then there was this post on ars technica about headphones who want to listen to non-kid-friendly things while still being able to hear their kids. (That might be useful soon!) Finally, one of the podcasters I've been listening to while doing stuff around the house regularly talks about games he's played with his daughter.

It just seems like these stories are everywhere. Now, I might just be especially receptive to this right now, or maybe it's because I'm about the same age as this group of people I happen to read (or listen to). It's still interesting to see.

Comments

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

Anime: Awesome Code Geass AMV I saw at Anime Expo

dragonage: I think my first Dragonage playthrough clocked in at ~120-130 hours, all told. You've got one more major area to do before the Final Battle. (I assume it is not a spoiler that there is a final battle, since you have played tons of RPGs and are well-versed in the Epic Fantasy genre.)

gamer dads: It's a reasonable development, given that the people doing game development now are our age-ish, and grew up with video games, and have reached the child-producing phase of life. THAT BEING SAID, it is painfully obvious that, as ever, gamer women are being totally ignored in the media and by the industry. Call me when somebody starts talking about the phenomenon of "gamer moms."

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that the last bit might come off like me harshing on a topic which is important to you, which is not my intent. Indeed, I am pro- the idea of expanding game themes to include parental issues. It's just that it gets wearying, seeing more evidence that an industry that I contribute many dollars to continues to pretend that my entire gender doesn't exist. So, sorry for sounding bitter. It's 'cause I'm bitter.

[khedron.livejournal.com]

Anime: Nice video!

Dragonage: Good, that's about what I was hoping for. I expect to be around 140s then, given how I tend to fart around and talk to people.

Gamer moms: The Penny Arcade guys and the "Brainy Gamer" podcast both talk about their wives playing video games, relatively frequently. However, I don't know if that counts since I'm not hearing about it first person.

There are three women-run gaming blogs on my list (1, 2, and 3 (a friend of m00nglum's!)) However, two of the three aren't posting much right now for various reasons, and none of them are parents to my knowledge.

We're still at the point where finding women who makes games is a big deal. There's been a small amount of press in the past year about the fact that when you include Facebook and "social" games, the average gamer is a 43-year-old woman. But that's still not quite what you're asking for.

I see there is a gamer mom's blog, but it's only got 51 fans on facebook, which is virtually non-existent. So... yeah.

(Note, on that list of women who make games is another friend of m00nglum's. And, reading her blog, she's getting married and is contemplating kids. So maybe there's hope yet?)