Look, let's be straight: there is nothing wrong with Arkham City. It looks to be a wonderful game, and the two hours I've spent in it I have reveled in the brimming waves of comic nerdery and dream actualization of being Batman. But the problem is with me, not it: for whatever reason, my head is not in Gotham right now. My muscle memory of the game is still there from when I finished Arkham Aslyum, my hands twitching almost by themselves as I swoop down and boot some poor sap upside the head. The combos all drifted down from whatever pile of neurons they have been residing in, with the end result being that City doesn't feel new to me, but an extension of something I already know and love.
Which isn't what I need right now.
So I've put it aside in order to finish Persona 3.
For the first time since I bought a PSP, I played it without aid of headphones. The sound quality from that elongated game tricorder was like discovering the aural equivalent of Eldorado. Pity I spent most of last night simply having my character enter a bathroom and use the facilities, the technological wonder crafted by those far off Sony wizards sending a pitch perfect sound of a flushing toilet through my living room. Not once, but several times.
On the reading front, I'm currently enjoying Bakuman.
It's by the same team that created the can't be recommended enough Death Note: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. This manga is about two young manga artists trying to break into the business. It's a very honest look at creativity mixed with a deep love of comic books, and at those people who live and breathe the artform. My friends and I can relate.
I'm also still making my way through Grave Peril, Book Three of The Dresden Files. If you're a fan of Marvel horror comics from the Seventies mixed with smart assery, then you should probably be reading this. This time Dresden is up against rampaging ghosts, which is only the beginning. Butcher is a modern day pulp writer, with far more talent and plotting ability than most of those who worked the field back in the early twentieth century. I like Dresden, and miss him when I'm not reading about him.
As for my own feeble attempts at art, I'm making headway on a new short story. It's completely different from anything I have ever written before. There is no magic, no monsters, no science fiction, and no rampaging monsters birthed through the embryo of radiation and bent on humanity's destruction. So that's been an interesting journey.
And what geekery are YOU up to?
3 comments:
How do you find the time to do all this? That alone is very impressive.
I felt the same way about Arkham City as well, having just finished the copy of Asylum you loaned me. It's too soon. I'm sure I'll be ready once it drops in price.
I'm still trying to get through Durarara(ra?), but I keep falling asleep. I can't read small subtitles late at night it seems.
Then there's this Pathfinder thing, which, after a year, I'm still not playing right. Turns out that if you don't tell anyone, people might not notice that you don't have a clue. Sort of like the rest of my life.
I total get where you're coming from re: Arkham City. I've put in a solid 2+ hours and, while it's fun and familiar, it's not the same 'gee whiz' experience that was Arkham Asylum. The writing is good, the open environment is gorgeous, but hopping over from Skyrim was a bad idea - too much cognitive dissonance (that's hipster talk, you know).
Still trying to get into Zero History, but it feels like I'm forcing myself. And I just KNOW some bastard is going to give me Neal Stephenson's latest opus for Christmas and I'll have no choice but to put my Winter on hold and read every word at least twice. By the way, Grave Peril = awesome (says I).
There's other geekery involving right triggers and GameCubes, but I just can't being myself to talk about it right now.
Still loving American Horror Story. It's goofy and campy, but every other episode truly surprises me with where they go with the plotline and what they do with (and to) the characters.
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