Cozy Talk – Sunshine Blogger Award Nomination part 2

In the previous article: “……….

………

…….BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!”

 

And now to the final version of the second version.

 

Imagine me surprised then when on the 2th of April, other notifications suddenly popped up on my phone with my username on Twitter about an article put out by NekoJonez that also involved the Sunshine Blogger Award. Now, this is where the strange thing occurred since after reading the article through it became clear that also here I have been nominated for the award.
I already have gotten to know NekoJonez from talking with each other on Twitter with some teasing and general discussions on different themes for games, life and such, though we also do converse in the comments given in articles on our website. He’s a person I’m happy to have gotten to know and of whom I would enjoy talking about video games over a cup of coffee, maybe a glass of whiskey at the bar.

 

Shouting that I need to answer these questions before it’s too late, it probably would be better to move things along. The same rules from before still applies here.
These are the questions he asked to me:

 

1. Explain as poorly as you can how either Minecraft or Pokémon works.

It’s something where you do something, walk around to nothing and see animals that can do stuff like Tamagochi, but with a fighting style like Final Fantasy and a story like Legend of Zelda. Trust me, it’s a good game for you and the animals are cute to boot.

 

2. Explain a game cryptically and let your readers guess which game or game series it is.

One man encounter an ancient curse that could kill himself as well as an eminent threat out for his world. The only way to save it, is to collect companions and make them stronger in order to gather magical objects and in the end, hope he’s not too late.

 

3. Do you sell games you have completed/beaten or do you keep them in a collection?

Well, when I was a kid, the only way I could really get a game I wanted to was to sell my previous ones or some toys, books, films etc. at the local market we held in town a couple of times in the year. However, today I don’t and while I miss my old games they can always be bought again, instead I have a shelf full of games with both PSP, PS2, PS3, PS4, PC, Nintendo 3DS and GameBoy games. There are quite a lot but there can always be room for more.

 

The reason why is simply there’s just something about having a physical copy standing to proudly represent the industry that I love and want to support. Granted, I do have games digital…a lot of these are also on many of my platforms but sometimes it’s because a good offer stands out and the physical version is too expensive, which then can go the other way around. So, no I don’t sell my games and never want to after I still miss my old ones from when I was a kid.

 

4. Which game/genre does interest you quite a lot but you are unable to get into the actual game/genre?

That is an interesting question as I do enjoy all types of genres. It is the game on the other hand that can differ from what it withholds. Over the years I’ve come to play all genres there is and found some great ones to them, but one that still to this day has a love/hate relationship with me would be horror.
This isn’t because I dislike it, this is a genre that can be fantastically explored into the human psyche and the way it works. No, the thing I hate about horror is the exploitation of what people think horror should be like and how they utilize “the monster” of whom we must escape from.

 

Going into the first thing and you probably have heard it a thousand times…the jump scares are too predictable and lazily designed to “get a scare” out of you. There’s nothing terrifying about knowing that something will come up the stairs when looking down into the basement, only for it to come up the stairs once you look down in the basement. I could bring out many different examples to make my point clear, but what I am saying is that horror games are too formulaic in its design as a game and the way it tells the story to us players.

 

The other is “the monster”, this one I just hate as for me there’s nothing more boring than seeing a monster like character you can only run from, die to with one hit, is nothing more than an obstacle within an obstacle just to irritate you even more. Granted the monster does get shown to be a psychological aspect of the main characters psyche (think Pyramid head as an example), one he/she must confront in order to defeat their fear and rise as a better person.

However, once again for me it’s the fact we always see the monster that the thing which should scare us disappears out of the window. I said before that I enjoy horror to the human psyche, for film this is something that really gets my head spinning because you can sit down and interpret how psychologically this works.

So, imagine when the monster can never be seen, there’s no one other than what you the player conjure up as an obstacle which becomes more and more clear that you might be the real monster from the beginning. So how do you defeat what is your self’s worst part of your humanity, but it cannot be seen?

This might just be me wishing for something new but when I see horror games, they begin to look all the same to me and therefore if you ever sat playing with me…a lot of sighing would happen because I can straight up tell you what will happen long before the game shows it to you.

 

5. Do you think it’s possible that there will be ever an amazing game movie?

I do, while not all are the best because it’s never the same as when you go in watching a movie based upon a book you loved reading. For a video game movie adaptation, it should always look to the movie goers first and gamers second, since it cannot have the interaction the game would have.

 

An example here would be Uncharted, if you strip away all the interactivity and just let it play out as a two-hour movie flick. It wouldn’t really hold a candle to Indiana Jones, which it essentially is just set in more recent times. What is needed then? For me it means it should be told and shown as a movie, it might not go out and be getting an Oscar, since it’s the interactive aspect that raises the title of said video game to a higher level.

 

Therefore, I do have a guilty pleasure that everybody hates which is the Resident Evil movies. I enjoy all of them and like what they bring different to the table that might not have anything to do with the lore of the games. Then I really like the first Hitman movie from 2007 starring Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, it’s not a movie like Expendables but it is a decent action flick that stays true to most of what the lore from IO Interactive had made in the previous games.

Then there’s Prince of Persia, love the game and enjoyed the movie for what it was. The same can be said about Warcraft, I play World of Warcraft from time to time and even then I was introduced to the Warcraft universe from the Warcraft III games (Reign of Chaos, The Frozen Throne), once again the movie was a good watch with many easter eggs to both the MMO as well as earlier games. Since it was based upon the first Warcraft game Orcs & Humans (1994).

 

I truly believe that the reason why people always are disappointed in video game movies are because of two things. One, it most often steers away from the original premise of the game they played, therefore being only an adaptation of it makes it harder to grasp the idea that the movie can have its own version. Two, since the interactivity is gone, the many hours or days even, that the players spent journeying with the main character through his/her story became a personal quest to the players as well. In the cinema they just see a two-hour version of a story that withheld so much more when they played the game.
That is why it’s exactly like when people go into watching the movie and only see that it’s not like the book or video game, it’s simply because it’s not their vision of the movie and somebody else’s. Plus, it most often is only that…an adaptation and therefore a great many things must be left out in order to fit a certain time period.

Could it work as a tv-show? Who knows…

 

6. Would you ever consider blogging full time as a job?

Yes and no, there are a lot of things I would like to do in my life. Now, blogging makes me happy and keeps my brain working both creatively and analytically. That is why if it became possible to blog as a full time job, it would be amazing since being a media journalist with emphasis on the video game and film industry is a dream to work towards.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, to boil it all down being able to do it would be fantastic but I won’t settle with only blogging. There are many other things to do. One can only hope though…

 

7. I haven’t gotten a Switch yet! Quickly, recommend me a game.

1-2 Switch GO!….Or do the right thing and go with your gut feeling but I do recommend Octopath Traveler once it comes out.

 

8. If you had to choose between Sony, PC or Nintendo platforms and emulation DIDN’T exist, which platform would you choose and why?

An interesting question but one I can easily answer, it’s quite simple actually and that is I’m going with both Sony, PC and Nintendo as there’s no reason to choose only one. All of them have great games which you can only play on their system (Nintendo mostly here) and each give you completely different experiences when you play games on each platform.

I agree with what have been said before that PC might be the superior in tech but in my opinion, tech isn’t everything that matters. We are already aiming pretty high in what games can do graphically, pushing our components to the maximum output without damaging them. So you will find me sitting down with a game on a PS4 that is more enjoyable there than on my PC, but you might also find me on the go with my Nintendo 3DS XL playing games fitting for such a platform, then in the end I will sit at my desk and play on my PC alone or with friends in games that really goes well on that platform.

 

Plus, it would be rude to the others if I only went with one.

 

9. What is the platform you grew up on and tell us some fond memories.

Well my fondest memory of a platform I began playing on was the Gameboy Color, that bad boy was phenominal and I can still remember the day when it was a bit cold outside, the rain was just about to drip from heavens above and we were on our way from the park to visit my grandmother. I had been put into backseat, grapped my Gameboy out from its bag popped in Pokémon Blue (plus switching between a few others like Donkey Kong, Super Mario and the one I can’t remember but was like Metroid…if you can remember it please write it down in the comments. As well as a ninja game) and went on my first adventure with – the Pokémon I chose – to become the very best.

Yet, it is the PS1 that has the best memories I can remember fondly, but that must be a story for another time.

 

10. Tell here a random story you want to share with your readers

Well there was this time when I was a teenager when I saw….

Okay, maybe not type of random story. So thinking on the top of my head, OH YES, there was a time when I was playing video games late into the night – granted I was also a teenager here – but suddenly I could hear the steps on the staircase of somebody walking on their way up. In a flash I quickly put the laptop on slumber, turned the screen of which the laptop was hooked into off. Jumped from my chair on to my bed and pretended to sleep sitting up when with a SLAM my mother looked into the room.

I thought I was brilliant but clearly she knew what I was doing, but didn’t say anything….until next morning when I sat at the morning table.

 

 

 

These were some interesting questions and I fairly enjoyed answering them all, but now it is time once again to nominate the number of people that was in the same amount of questions.
Like in the last article, these people are some of whom I enjoy reading their content and believe deserve this award, granted there are so many but only the amount to the questions can be chosen:

I Played The Game – Is a fascinating blogger, he has little time for gaming but when he finally puts his thoughts on the written page through his website. Suddenly I lose track of time reading posts like this and this.

Arthifis’ Place – We’ve only met recently but I can already tell you from reading his posts like this and this, as well as just talking a good amount of time on apparently who might be the sexiest man in anime. He brings a warm personality to the things he writes and therefore deserves this.

Overthinker Y – One thing I can say about Chris is he is unique. His way of looking at things when talking about how characters can do stupid things in cutscenes, to then go about this or even this. I always enjoy talking with him, since it always gives me an image of being at a bar talking about life in the most philosophical way possible.

Dawn Wairimu – Dawn has her own fun little corner where she writes about things happening in her life. Everytime I read one of her posts like this one or this, it really leaves a smile on my face when I walk away and more relaxed than when I arrived.

Shoot the Rookie – Pix1001 has this place I want to visit when I want to read interesting posts like this or if I’m ever in a creative bumb, then reading a post like this can help bring me back on the road. Plus, another lover of beer is always a person you can enjoy a Friday evening talking with over the grill or maybe some homemade pizza.

Hungrygoriya – She makes some interesting posts that always brings me back into nostalgia mode when reading about her findings of loot in posts like this or this. It’s a cozy place for the ones who wants to go back in time and remember the games we played as children or even just want to revisit some old classics.

Falcon Game Reviews – A fellow game reviewer and philosopher when it comes to video games. Shelby has a knack for asking the right questions at specific themes and I can’t stop myself from jumping straight into the fire with him, trying to find the right answer. It is posts like this and this that keep making me coming back for more everytime.

Cheap Boss Attack – I am beginning to see a trend with having a troupe of game reviewers at hand, but who can blame me when a great person like Brad has you in his grasp with intriguing reviews like this or just sitting down with you at the morning table talking about this. Such a fun person talking to and somebody I hope to collaborate with in the future.

The Shameful Narcissist Speaks – Talk about lighting up in the sky like the aurora borealis, with her fanfictions like this one that makes for quite the reading when enjoying a cup of coffee in the afternoon, or even when just talking about the latest book she’s reviewing like this one. Just beware that if you start talking about Sephiroth…I’ll probably see you next week then.

Later Levels – This one is especially aimed to Kim from Later Levels. She has helped me more times than I admit, and I cannot thank her enough for it. With great opinion pieces like this or trying to make events like this. No wonder the sun shines so bright at their place on the internet. You deserve this and thank you.

Power Bomb Attack – I can’t point my finger on what it is that makes Imtiaz so interesting. Maybe it’s when he writes things like this or maybe when he dabbles in reviews like this. He is a person I enjoy having met, who time and time again have shown me ways you can talk about video games I haven’t even considered before. A warm person deserves this warm nomination.

 

Those are the nominees, which I hope you will get to enjoy reading their content as I continue to do so from when first meeting them. They all deserve this award for the way they can make light shine through even the darkest of places, and that is why I nominate them for the Sunshine Blogger Award.
Thanks once again to NekoJonez for nominating me, it means a lot that I can make somebody smile the same way he can lift me up when I feel down. I look forward to see more of your content and hope that there is room for a collaboration in the near future, in order to find more interesting topics within the video game industry to talk about.

Nevertheless, I also have to ask the new nominees some questions, let us see if you can come up with an answer I haven’t predicted:

1. If you could choose one type of food to eat for the rest of your life what would it be?
2. Oh, I forgot, please introduce us to you in a way as if we saw a movie in the theatre.
3. Would you write in diary or record one instead? Why?
4. What is your favorite commercial you can remember to this day?
5. I am in a bind and in need of a book to read before going to an event, can you recommend me a great one?
6. You can travel where ever you want…where would you like to go?
7. Let us know the quote that best describes you as a person.
8. What is your favorite genre in film? Why is that?
9. Being in the mood for good old classic games, what would you recommend me?
10. Rats or spiders?
11. Congratulations! You are now the new designer for the next new jingle and burger that McDonalds will use from now on. What will you do?

 

Is this it? It seems like it. Well I hope you enjoyed reading the second part of my two nominations I’ve gotten from The Gaming Diaries and NekoJonez. Thank you so much to the both of you, this is what makes writing so fun to do and I can only live up to the expectations from here on out.
Remember to check out all nominees from part one and this one here, as well as the ones who nominated me.

Stay Cozy and have a nice day!