Jeez. The holidays come, then I get a flu, before you know it I've been away from the blog for a couple of weeks. Lots to catch up on, so forgive me if I just quick link-blitz you for now on a little of the stuff I've done here and there in the meantime:
Kotaku: New Year's Resolutions for Gamers -- How many do you think people will want to adopt?
Thought Catalog: How FourSquare Intends To Be Vs. How FourSquare Really Is -- Why I think geolocation apps and "games" aren't "social". Now with 50% more derision.
Thought Catalog: Five Emotions Invented By The Internet -- Deep angst in the digital age.
And I don't know whether to blame holiday nostalgia for younger days or the sense of juvenile vulnerability brought on by being sick for why I've launched on a deep, focused revisiting of Final Fantasy VII on my PSP. And I'm not sure why I assumed a game that I and everyone else loved on such a massive scale that it's possibly not been repeated since wouldn't hold up, or wouldn't be as interesting on reflection.
In a strange way, it's more interesting as an adult, looking at the little details of the game world, traits of the experience that probably wouldn't appear (for better or for worse) in modern designs, and try to think about why it was that the FFVII universe seized us in such a lasting way.
It hasn't even been that long since I tried to think about this, since I was very moved by playing Crisis Core when it came out (although this is my first real play-through of FFVII in some years). I've just never really been satisfied by any of the writing I did around it nor by the firmness of any of the conclusions I made. Going to try to do some fun and useful stuff this time around, so stay tuned.
Yeah. Crazy busy, but what else is new?
Other good stuff: While I was sick I watched this "Princess Jellyfish" show basically in one sitting and I am impatient for more episodes now.
Today's good song: Avi Buffalo, 'Where's Your Dirty Mind'
