April 26th Reading.

1. I think Gee is on the right track with his Cutural models idea for games. Even if they don't know it players bring a great deal of personal baggage with them when they experience any type of media, be it games, movies, music, or books. These cutural models could also be a way to get people to experience things outside of their culture or area of interest and can even lead to people growing intellectualy. Games provide an easy way for people to ease into a different culture, be it a culture from a different country or race, or even a culture within games such as FPS games or RPGs.

2. I really think this would be a good way for the media to look at games. As I have always thought since the start of this class is that until games shake their child's toy image people will always respond retroactively insted of proactively. Maybe if critics like Gee continue to provide ways for games to be analyzed maybe people will be able to learn how to treat games as a form of media.

Game Journal:
Well I did it. I finally beat Zelda: the Wind Waker. As I saw that I have a ton of work to do for school for finals and whatnot I sat down and finished off the game over two 6 hour sessions over the last week. I am not going to lie and admit I looked a FAQ for the triforce quest. I did love the final dungeon and the battle with Gannon was top notch. Looking back on the game I would have to place it around 4th in my list of favorite Zelda games. The lack of dugeons and tacked on sailing mechanic took away slightly from the game but everything else about it was great and really makes me look forward to the Twilight Princess even more. This game took all that was great about the first two 3D Zeldas and refined them to perfection. I also really love the cel-shaded look because it gives the game a timeless look that can't be had with "realistic" graphics since you can always compare an old game to a new one. I mean look at some PS1 or even early PS2 games. Some look so bad you can't play them because they are so hard on your eyes. Overall I enjoyed my time with this game and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good adventure with a challenge but a challenge that is never so hard you quit playing.

Zelda Week 10

SO I put aside some serious time to get this quest out of the way. As I have been saying the entire time I have been blogging about my quest through the Wind Waker that I had learned to dread this quest as everyone I have ever talked to about this game as said the game was excellent besides this. I also know why I stopped playing this game almost 3 years ago when I first got it and that is because you have to go on a quest to get the items needed to get the triforce pieces. I learned that I had to find the rupee bag expansions so I could pay tingle to translate the maps I had to find. If the sailing was faster I would be a little more ok with this. When things like this are tacked onto games so reviewers can say " the game lasts for 20 plus hours" and unfortunetly companies need reviewers to say things like this so people will feel a little better about dropping $50 on a game. So after getting the needed things to go on my quest I started off on it.

Game Journal No .9

So after making up with my Gamecube after last week's outburst I dove back into the Wind Waker. I was relieved to find that I had actually saved at some point during the wind temple so I only had to finish that off. More clever puzzles in this one but it felt like a copy of the earth temple. In both you have a sage you have to escort through the temple and you have to use both Link and the sage to get through the temple. I thought that the Earth temple's puzzles made much better use of this mechanic. Oh well, it's time for the triforce hunt. This is one of those weird gameplay moments when you have heard so much about a segement of a game from other players that it affects the way you play the game. I have played the whole game with the idea that I knew at some point there was a rather tedious fetch quest towards the end, that for some spoiled an otherwise great game. I am trying to clear my mind of these thoughts as I go into this. I'll let you know how it turns out next week.

Reading Responses
Question 1
Things have changed a great deal in the 12 years since she wrote this book. The main thing that was changed is the level of graphical detail and customization that players can put into games now. Back in 1994 online was almost exlcusively text based with the exception of maybe a few First Person Shooters such as Doom. Now adays though, we have stunningly realistic enviroments and even additional features like voice chat, that make us feel like we are living a second life online. In a way there already is some acknowledgement of on-line activity in the real world but it is mostly limited to other fans of the game. Saying you have a +9 Ice sword might make you the hit of the Everquest con but it won't land you a job. Online play isn't wasted time though because while it's not as personal, it is another form of communication. Like any other situation where there is a common theme, you know you have at least one thing in common with other players of the game. This might lead to discussion of other games you might like and so on.

Question 2
I really like to think I am the same person both online and in real life. I keep the same name where ever I might go and try to act the same as well. I find that in real life I tend to sit back and let other people do the talking and just absorb what they say and then use that knowledge to my advantage. I do the same thing online when doing something like reading a message board. If someone has posted the latest press release and then nine other people already debated it I find that I don't really feel the need to join in. I don't think this is true for everyone though, since I have played online games and you can tell when someone is putting on an act, espcially since the rise of voice chat in games. Some people come online and either act like the person they want to be because their identity is hidden or else who they think they have to be since everyone else on their counter stirke server is acting a certain way.Online games are like high school, everyone wants to fit in somehow.

Game Journal
The Gamecube and myself are currently not on speaking terms. I did something that I haven't done in a long time and that is get so mad at the game I just flipped out, yelled a variety of things about the Gamecube's mother and shut off the game. While that's not as extreme as say tossing the Gamecube down the side of the grand caynon, which would be a sizable feat from my location, it still is something I thought I grew out of. See back in small times, I was known among my friends as the angry kid. I always threw the controller when I lost, and one time I got so mad after losing 8 games of RBI Baseball in a row I removed the game from the NES, walked to the front door, and threw the game outside. Those days have long since past but last night playing Zelda my inner child came out to play. I had made it through the Earth Temple with relative ease and really enjoyed the puzzles that required the use of light reflection between Link and the Earth sage, so I figured I would keep on going. I found the next item, the iron boots, and the next sage, who is the sage of the wind. I had made it about halfway through the Wind temple when I got to a point where there was a very long jumping puzzl e that involved the long time zelda seires staple the hookshot. I kept messing up the last jump at after about five tries got mad and shut off the game. It was at this point I had realized I hadn't saved since the end of the Earth Temple. If you need me I will be on a flight to Arizona, with my Gamecube tucked in the overhead bin.