Nerd Tutorial Podcast

Ep 63: Doctor Who Tutorial

Topic: Doctor Who Tutorial

 

This week, we discuss the strangest Doctor you’ve ever met.  The series is a long running British TV show, practically a staple of any nerd convention, and with the start of a new era in 2005, a modern fixture of Nerds everywhere.  His name doesn't matter, he's simply the 'Doctor' and for our first British Tv Show, we couldn't have picked a greater show.  Come fine out about Doctor Who!

 

 

What

Doctor Who is a British Science Fiction TV series about a fictional character, known as ‘the Doctor’ who travels through-out time and space, fixing, interacting, and generally learning about events within history, even those that haven’t happened yet. 

 

Typically, the show follows ‘the Doctor’ an alien creature with multiple lives as he and a traveling companion, or more, transverse the galaxy/time/universe to encounter various species, bad guys, and historical figures and events, either to help interact with them, or to watch them play out.  Following a monster/adventure of the week element, the characters typically travel to a place, either for purpose or because the TARDIS takes them there, and the job of the Doctor is to preserve time or uncover the disturbance and the nature of events happening.  The companion typically acts as the show’s self-insert character, so that the world being unique and new is the same for them as well. 

 

The series is known as ‘Doctor Who’ due to the ongoing joke of the Doctor not having a last name, and characters being introduced to him, replying, “Doctor who?”

 

When

Originally airing in the 1963s, it continued through various iterations until 1989, with the series seemingly put on Hiatus for the time being.  The series continued as reruns in British TV and occasionally in America, where it developed a cult following.  In 2005, the series was brought back and has continued since then.

 

Typical seasons in the early years lasted about 26 episodes, but later seasons since the 1980s ran for only 13-14 episodes each a season, with a new season each year.  With the return of the series in 2005, the individual seasons are typically only 13 episodes long, but tend to take a one year break every two seasons or between Doctors.  Currently, the series began airing the 12^th Season in January and finished in March.

 

 

Who

the Doctor

The Doctor is an alien known as a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey.  The fictional Race was in charge of watching over the Universe and Time, ensuring that events played out as they were intended to.  However, after a fictional war with the Dalek, in which the Daleks won, the planet Gallifrey and all Timelords were destroyed and lost, leaving only the Doctor.  The Doctor himself stole an Obsolete TARDIS and used it to travel the universe. 

 

As a Time Lord, the Doctor has access to multiple regeneration cycles, or lives.  Once the Doctor spends all of his energy or life, he then goes through a process where we changes into a new person, still containing all the memories and knowledge from his past life, but taking on new personality and characteristics.  This mechanic allowed the series to continue on when another actor left the role.  To date, there have been 14 different actors who have portrayed the Doctor over time.  Typically an actor takes on the role for roughly 3 seasons, though some have lasted longer and shorter. 

 

While each actor adds or prays the Doctor in different ways, they typically continue to have several key personality traits, such as curiosity, Disarming and Mercurial, wise, melancholy, but holding back some form of darkness.  While often childlike and jovial, when pushed, the Doctor can be serious and even threatening.  This also includes a deep sense of right and wrong, but is usually dislikes violence of any kind, often being critical of those who use it.  The doctor typically knows about every event that has ever happened, along with most major figures of history that play in them, though not necessarily everyone involved.

 

To aid the Doctor he has his trusty Sonic Screwdriver.  The Device is like a universal tool, capable of doing just about anything the plot needs, from unlocking mechanical locks, hacking computers, a flashlight, conducting medical scans, microphone, and even as a weapon.  The tool basically lets the doctor do just about anything, though it isn’t perfect, and the Doctor often has issues getting the device to work properly.  As well, the Doctor carries Psychic Paper: while purely white, if the Doctor mentions credentials or a status, the paper will show such information to anyone who sees it. 

 

Similarly, the Doctor’s has a particular look that remains consistent throughout the doctor’s tenure.  IE: if the doctor jeans, a black shirt, and a black leather jacket, they are always wearing this exact same costume.  The Doctor’s clothes even work like Psychic Paper to locals, so while still wearing the same bit of clothes, locals believe he is wearing period piece clothing.  Because the clothing stays consistent throughout the tenure of the Doctor, there have been various signature items that have been worn:

Sixth Doctor – Multi-colored Jacket

Seventh Doctor – two Long scarves and a straw hat

Ninth Doctor – Leather Jacket

Eleventh Doctor – bow ties

Twelfth Doctor – Bolo, looks like a magician.

 

All incarnations of the Doctors have been Caucasian, British, none of which have had red/ginger hair, which the doctor laments each time.  While all previous Doctors have been male, with the Thirteenth Doctor, it was the first time the character was played by a woman.

 

 

TARDIS

Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space

To do so, they travel in the TARDIS, a time-traveling space ship that takes on the form of a 1960s British police box.  The TARDIS is perhaps only a 1x1 meter box approximately 2 meters tall, however the internal form of the TARDIS is actually bigger than a house, housing various rooms, closets, a kitchen and an elaborate control system, stylized around a circular room and central control console.  While the insides of the TARDIS stretch seemingly forever, the outside remains the same.  Originally the TARDIS would change to mirror the location the TARDIS arrived at, as to allow for camouflage with the local area.  However at some point toward the beginning of the series, the form got stuck as a 1960s era British Police box and hasn’t been fixed ever since.  The TARDIS, itself, is characterized as having its own personality sometimes, either faulting or malfunctioning until a moral or lesson is learned, and acting of its own accord if necessary.  Depending on the series, the interior of the TARDIS has also changed to reflect the Doctor’s current life.

 

 

Companions

Companions are characters of our own time period(of which the series was filmed) that act as the primary audience POV for a majority of the show.  These characters act as surrogates for the audience, allowing the new elements of the scene or world to be seen with fresh eyes.  The Doctor has always traveled with atleast one Companion, if not more, depending on the seasons.  Companions often stick around for around two seasons, with some transitioning in to the next Doctor upon regeneration. 

 

As of 2005, the Companions have largely been Female, in order to balance out the male lead.  While the Doctor has no romantic relationship with most Companions, often seeing them as children who are just following along, but in some cases, the doctor has had some relationships with Companions and other characters in the past. 

 

 

Various bad guys have been introduced to the series over time:

Daleks - Riding in mechanical armor shells, they are the oldest and longest lasting villains of the series, having been the villains that defeated and destroyed the Time Lords.

Cybermen – Cyborg humans from either a sister world to Earth or a parallel world.  They exist as coldly logical and emotionless cyborgs bent on replicating by turning humans in to Cybermen.

Weeping Angels – Statues that only move when not looking, they feed off of people by sending back to the moment of their birth and leaching off the ‘Potential Energy’ of a person as they continue to live out their life.

The Master – The Archenemy of ‘the Doctor’, he is a renegade Time Lord who wishes to rule over the universe.

 

A number of villains are usually Monsters or Aliens of some sort.

 

 

Why?

The series is a beloved Science Fiction series, often spinning in to different genre at a whim and with ease.  One week might be a western, the next a steam punk future, a very technological future, the next week a monster, and so forth, allowing the series to play in different time periods or with different setting each episode. 

 

Various spins have been created over time, including the most well known, Torchwood, an anagram of Doctor Who.  Torchwood would focus on the present and follow exploits of a team dealing with various issues in and around England and Great Britian, though with less Time Travel as Doctor Who.

 

 

Homework:

Series 1, Episode 1: Rose

Series 9, Episode 11: Heaven Sent

Series 3, Episode 10: Blink 

Series 2, Episode 13: Doomsday

Series 2, Episode 4: Girl in the Fireplace 

Series 11, Episode 3: Rosa

Series 5, Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor

 

Ep 62: Nerds Vs Covid 19

Topic: How has Nerdy things Changed during Covid 19

 

Myself and Mom and have skirted around the concern about the pandemic, especially how it's changed just about everything in the world.  As it is now, we've been stuck at home for nearly two and half months, going on three, and probably four or five.  A lot, including myself, have lost their jobs and in this uneasy time, not even our favorite Nerdy passions haven't been effected either.  So, this week, we go in to see what's happened and has changed in light of the world's sudden changes.

 

Movies

Box Office movies as of early March expect to lose $5 Billion US Dollars

Many major Studios will no longer be releasing Box Office figures until future date.

Nearly a hundred movies have been pushed back to later dates, including some movies set to release either within the last two months or in the near future.  Some movies that were set to release in theatres were instead released on home video immediately.

 

Released to Home Video/Streaming Early:

Frozen 2

Onward

Birds of Prey

Sonic the Hedgehog

Artemis Fowl

 

Movies in Production

Suspended:

Avatar Sequels

The Batman

Cinderella

Jurassic World: Domination

Matrix 4

Mission Impossible 7

Shang-Chi And the Legend of the Ten Rings

 

Delayed:

Fantastic Beasts 3

The Little Mermaid

Home Alone

Spiderman Sequel

Peter Pan & Wendy

Uncharted

 

Movies yet Released:
Wonder Woman 1984 – Set for June 2020, Tentatively set for Aug 2020

Thor: Love & Thunder- Set for Nov 2021, Tentatively set for Feb 2021

Top Gun: Maverick – Set for June 2020, Tentatively set for Dec 2020

Soul – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for Nov 2020

New Mutants – Set for April 2020, Tentatively set for Aug 2020

Mulan – Set for March 2020, Tentatively set for July 2020

Jungle Cruise – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for July 2021

John Wick 4 – Set for May 2021, Tentatively set for May 2022

Ghost Busters: Afterlife – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for March 2021

The Eternals – Set for Nov 2020, Tentatively set for Feb 2021

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse – Set for May 2021, Tentatively set for March 2022

Black Widow – Set for May 2020, Tentatively set for Nov 2021

 

 

 

Conventions:

With Concerns over social distancing and stay at home orders, the following conventions have been canceled for 2020.

 

BlizzCon – Mid November

PAX West(Penny Arcade Expo: West) – Labor Day Weekend (Early September)

Comic-Con San Diego – Mid July

Anime Expo – July 4^th weekend

Fanime – Late May

 

Many other conventions set for August and beyond are still set to continue, however these are likely to be canceled as well. 

 

For contractual reasons, many conventions are unable to cancel their events outright ahead of time like they would like to.  This is due to many contracts including a ‘Force Majeure’ clause within their contracts.  The clause is an element of most standard contracts that allows for the cancelation of the contract and agreement, presuming that the reason for cancelation is outside of the control of either party and was unpredictable. 

 

As example, an outdoor Concert or Event being canceled due to rain wouldn’t fall under this clause because rain for an outdoor event is predictable.  If the location was flooded due to rains, especially if the area isn’t known for flooding, this might fall under the Force Majeure clause of a contract.

 

For many conventions, they are unable to cancel their contract unless the city, state, or venue say you can’t continue as normal.  As a result, especially in the beginning, many companies canceled their events prior to the city or state starting lock-down procedures and stay at home orders.  Even though the orders went in to effect, if the venue canceled it before hand, the clause doesn’t apply, as the decision to cancel was made prior to order going in to effect.

 

This may be why many conventions and events are still scheduled to go, as many conventions need to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of time to reserve the space and technology needed for the convention.  Many conventions are also trying to play the waiting game as well, waiting to see if the concern over the pandemic will subside and allow for business to go on as normal. 

 

 

 

Pro-Wrestling

Initially was to be canceled due to Corona Virus, however in mid April, Flordia stated that Pro Wrestling is an essential business.  A Pro-Donald Trump for President PAC, ran by the McMahon family, donated 18.5 Million dollars to Florida Govern Ron DeSantis on day of the announcement that Pro-Wrestling was considered an Essential Service.

 

WWE

All WWE Live Events/House Shows have been canceled indefinitely

Filming for Raw/Smackdown/PPV filmed out of WWE Performance Center(Training Facility for WWE)

NTX Still filming out of Full-Sail University

Raw and Smackdown performs, as of now, are filming multiple shows worth of content at a single time.  This is in an effort to keep employees at home as long as possible in order to limit exposure.

Several wrestlers sitting out during Virus.  Roman Reigns is the most well known, was set to fight Bill Goldberg for Universal Championship at Wrestlemania, but pulled out due to concerns over his young newborn twin’s safety

Wrestlemania and Money in the Bank PPV shot at Performance Center

Wrestlemania was a 2-day Show, with Movie-like matches for AJ Styles Vs Undertaker and John Cena Vs Bray Wyatt

After Wrestlemania, over twenty main talent wrestlers were released, along with majority of Producers/Road-Agents and staff, amidst a desire to cut back the budget.  Reports claim that the reduction of staff would save potentially $4 million dollars monthly savings, however the company has over $500 million dollars in savings in the bank, along with lucrative TV deals still in production.

 

 

AEW

Continued with Empty Arena tapings, choosing to do so weekly rather than tapes, and only the one show. 

Moved operations to Jacksonville, Florida, where Company Owner’s NFL team resides. 

While initially shot in Empty Arenas, it was later moved to smaller venues. 

Audience is made up of other wrestlers.

New wrestlers continued to Debut during Empty Arena shows, including Matt Hardy, FTR(Formerly The Revival: Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood), Brodie Lee(Formerly Luke Harper)

New Mid-card Title created: AEW TNT Title, named and themed after network they broadcast on.

 

 

Independent Wrestling Organizations

Smaller Independent Wrestling Organizations have taken a major hit and aren’t performing.

With many wrestlers essentially out of work for the time being, Funds started by Former WWE Talent Rusev, who started by donating $20k for other wrestlers not working. 

Concern over cancelation of events and dates for organizations sparks concern, especially in the beginning.

 

 

 

Video Games

Lots of people have been stuck in doors, and with many people furloughed or with stay-at-home orders, they can’t do much.

• Major Gaming Consoles are not available in stores, need to be ordered online.
• GameStop and other retailers not open due to Virus.
• Video Game Sales is up by $1.6 Billion over last year.
• Twitch saw 1.49 Billion game hours watched, 50% increase over March
• Nintendo announced Sales of the Switch up by 24% over last year, with 13.5 Million copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
• Microsoft reported 130% additional gamers playing online

 

There are concerns over development of both games and Consoles.  As Nintendo’s delays in production only recently made the Switch console available for retailers, Microsoft’s Xbox X Series and Playstation 5 are now going in to production for a holiday release, and with production houses closed, the delay may mean that fewer or no consoles will be available for winter release, missing out on lucrative Christmas revenue.

 

Same is true for games themselves, with many production houses having to either shut down, or reduce staff/hours in order follow city and/or state guidelines.  Similar to movies, there are many games that will likely be either canceled or postponed to later dates due to the pandemic. 

 

https://twitter.com/theAdamPage/status/1238520148908179461?s=20

 

Ep 61: Anime for Kids Review

Topic: Anime for Kids Review

We're back again this week to talk about some of the anime we watched with my Sister in Law and mother of my two nieces who are only fledglings into anime. We watched some, but not all of the anime, as children do from time to time. But we talked about some of our shared experiences as well, and found that we’re not too different at all, just that some of us spent a lot more time watching cartoons and the other didn’t have children.

Sailor Moon Crystal (Hulu)

Card Captor Sakura (Hulu)

Kaleido Star (Hulu)

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki Kun (Netflix)

K-on (Netflix)

Cells at Work (Netflix)

Glitter Force (Netflix)

Teasing Master Tagaki-san (Netflix)

Fireworks (Netflix)

Violet Evergarden (Netflix)

Little Witch Academia (Netflix)

Ep 60: Animal Crossing Review

 

Topic: Animal Cross Review

 

We spent a week to let Mom give the Animal Crossing a try.  She actually started atleast a week or so prior to our first episode on the topic, but now that she’s been playing for about two weeks, we come back with more questions and comments about those Darn Raccoons and their plots to steal all of our Bells!

 

 

 

Some Cool Tips

https://www.wired.com/story/animal-crossing-new-horizons-tips/

 

Nook Miles Buy Recommendations:

Pretty Good Tools Recipes – 3000 Miles

This will give you the better versions of tools, upgrades from your flimsy versions you might have been carrying using before.

 

Pocket Organization Guide – 5000 Miles

There are two of these that eventually come up, but they allow you to expand your inventory from 20 to 30, and then to 40 items.  Which even then, will certainly get filled up fast. The first one comes up after you pay off your house, and once you get the Residential Center, the second one should pop up.

 

Tool Ring: It’s Essential! – 800 Miles

This allows you to map your most commonly used tools to a ring on the directional pad, allowing you to easily access your tools or put them away without always going into your inventory.

 

Custom Design Pro Editor - 800 Miles

This will let you develop or make your own custom designs for signs, flooring, and clothing.  Until you have this, you can't recieve or download them either, but once you do, lookout custom clothes.

 

Nook Miles Ticket - 2000 Miles

These are basically island adventures, where you can catch rare fish or bugs, but also find new fruits and crafting materials.  Occasionally, you might wind up on Scorpion or Turantula Island, which can be very profitable.

 

Top 8 Pop Hairstyles - 2400 Miles

Top 8 Cool HairStyles - 2400 Miles

Top 8 Stylish Hair Colors - 3000 Miles

These are new customize options for your character, including new hair styles and different colored hair.  If you want pink hair, only way to go.

 

 

The Stalk Market

This is an easy, but risky way to make easy bells in the game.

 

On Sunday mornings, until 12pm/noon, your in game time, there will be a boar named Daisy Mae, who will offer to sell you Turnips in batches of 10.  Later in the week, you can sell your Turnips to Timmy and Tommy Nook, hopefully for more Bells than what you bought them for.

 

The price for the Turnips fluctuate throughout the week, and change from morning to evening.  You’ll learn the prices by talking to Timmy or Tommy and asking the prices.  Sometimes, it will be for a much higher price than bought for, while others less so.  Ideally, you create a network of friends who are also playing, and trade what the prices for your turnips are.  Price vary, in some cases they go up throughout the week, and others go down. 

 

Alternatively, Reddit, being all Reddit, has a subReddit for people who want others to visit their islands to sell Turnips.  Beware that when the Nook boys are buying turnips for high prices, that it attracts a crowd, so expect long wait times for selling if you don’t get in right away on a post. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/acturnips/

 

 

Get the Nintendo App and Custom Clothes/Designs

Ever wanted to create/import your own unique logo/design in to Animal Crossing?  You can.

 

Download the Nintendo Switch Online app and register your friend code.  It knows what games you have, and once you install the Animal Crossing addon, which it will do for you, it will give you a ‘mini’ Nook Phone.  From here, you can scan custom QR codes online and import your own images into do the game. 

 

You can get QR codes online or make them yourself in an editor.

https://acpatterns.com/editor

 

There’s also a Nook Book of fashion, and once you get the Able Sisters tailor shop, you can download them for free from the internet.

https://nooksisland.com/designs

 

Ep 59: Animal Crossing Tutorial

Topic: Animal Crossing

 

Like alot of people right now, we've seemed to amass a great bit of time on our hands.  Those fortunate to still be working maybe not, but alot of us have been stuck at home and have been really wanting to find something new to do.  Thus, we offer this topic on Animal Crossing, specifically Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a new game perfect for people who don't necessarily like video games, but also a game perfect for people to relax with.

 

 

Nintendo Switch

Affectionately called ‘The Switch’ or just ‘Switch’, is Nintendo’s latest console released in 2017.  Unlike Nintendo’s main line consoles for the last few years, the Switch merges the comforts of a home console with that of a handheld console, two markets Nintendo is unique in their mastery in.  What makes it unique is that the console starts as a hand held, with controller on either side of the game screen, but can be docked in a cradle at home, allowing you to connect your device to a larger Tv monitor.  The controllers on the side of the switch can also come off, allowing you to use them as either a new controller mode, or use them as smaller controllers for two people to play at once.  The system itself is just behind the power of a PS4 or Xbox-One, but makes up for it with a classic Nintendo titles/games that can’t be played anywhere else, but also a robust 3^rd party and indie game market place.  Right now, it’s the console to have, especially as it’s very portable and inclusive for all. 

 

As Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a Nintendo exclusive title, you can’t this game for any other video game console but the Switch.

 

If you are new to the console and/or don’t have one already, but are interested in getting started, there are two major models to keep an eye out for: The Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.  The major difference is the Lite version has missing features, primarily that the controls on the side of the game screen do not come off and are permanently attached to the main unit.  As well, there is no docking option for the console, so you can’t connect it to a larger TV or monitor.  The Lite version is ideal for children and those without ease of access to a TV, but is more compact and mobile.  If you are not a serious gamer, and don’t mind the reduced screen size, the Lite version is a good compromise and decent price point.

 

As of writing and recording: a regular Nintendo Switch will typically cost $299 at retail, and the Nintendo Switch Lite around $199. Beware of Bundles or Special Editions, as they will charge you more for the base unit than necessary.  Bundles often also include a game or added tools, like a carry case, for your system; as where a Special Edition are merely additional decorations on the console, which may or may not matter to you.  In either case, expect to spend a lot more money for either cosmetic bonuses, which can be purchased cheaply, or additional items that purchased separately wouldn’t cost as much. 

 

In Mom’s case, she was able to purchase a Switch Lite for the actual retail price via www.gamestop.com.  Other retailer may have it available, but we found Gamestop selling it for the actual intended price. 

 

Also Keep in mind that Animal Crossing: New Horizons itself is a $59 game as of this writing and recording.

 

 

 

What is Animal Crossing?

Anima Crossing is a life simulator, similar in vein to other games like The SIMs or other simulators like Sim City or an Airplane Simulator. 

 

Developed by Katsuya Eguchi, a level designer and programmer at Nintendo, he relocated from the Chiba prefecture to Kyoto prefecture shortly after college, leaving behind all of his friends and family.  After moving, he realized how lonely he was after leaving all of his friend and family behind, and how being close to them was a great and important thing for him.  Thus, this was the impetus for creating the game.  He later recounted that he and his family loved to play video games, but never actually played them together.  He wanted to create a game that his kids could play, and that he could play too later in the day, seeing their progress and leaving stuff for his kids later on too.

 

All Animal crossing game follows similar gameplay experiences and roles.  You start as a villager arriving to an area, and after meeting with Tom Nook, you are given a place to live, but must pay off the rent/ownership of the house to him over time.  You do this by collecting various objects from around your island, town, or village, and either selling it back to Tom Nook or using it to decorate your house with.  You meet other anthropomorphic animals that act as fellow neighbors and villagers in your area, who you can communicate with.  They can come and go as they please, with new one appearing later on to take their place.

 

While the game has no root ending or endgame element, your encouraged to make your village, area, island, or town in to the best darn place possible and to decorate it as you see fit.  As the game has no base requirements for completing it, you are allowed to focus on individual goals to your leisure.  While many would ask what the purpose of Animal Crossing, the game has been described as a ‘Healing’ game.  In Japan, ‘Healing’ media are just media that are good and wholesome, and makes you feel good afterwards.  In terms of Anime, ‘Healing Anime’ have no real agenda, and typically follow characters as they live their lives and find either happiness in the mundane or little delights of life.

 

Examples of Healing Shows in America might be:

Golden Girls

Friends

Black-ish

Grace And Frankie

Gilmore Girls

30 Rock

Cheers

The Big Bang Theory

 

 

History of Animal Crossing?

Animal Crossing (2001) Nintendo 64 / Game Cube

First game initially titled: Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Forest)

It was initially intended to be released on the Nintendo 64’s 64DD expansion device, as it would have utilized the 64DD’s internal clock, but at the 64DD was a flop in Japan, the game was retooled and an internal chip was created for a cartridge version of the game in 2001.  It is considered the last N64 game released for the system in by Nintendo in Japan, and second overall. 

A few months later, a GameCube port was created, known as Dōbutsu no Mori+. This version saw added features left out from the original N64 version, including:

• Adding the Museum and Able Sisters
• Adding the second floor and basement to your house
• Adding more collectable Bugs and Fish
• Introducing Islanders (Similar to Nook Mile Islands)

 

This GameCube version of the game is the version we saw in the west as Animal Crossing.  Due to the localization processes, many elements of the games dialog, items, and events, had to be changed and altered for audiences.  This included:

• Various Japanese holidays being removed or edited, and new western holidays added to replace them.
• Reframing or removing cultural reference, and re-contextualizing them when unable to remove all together.
• Extensive re-writing of all the in game text, of which there was a lot. After localization was completed, it was found that there was more English text than Japanese.

 

Nintendo of Japan was so impressed with the results from the translation, that they re-translated the game back in to Japanese, leaving in the western changes, redubbing it Dōbutsu no Mori E+, or Animal Forest: English Plus.

 

 

Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005) Nintendo DS

The game is very similar to the original GameCube version, with slight additions and removals. 

 

The major feature of the game was its online abilities.  Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection would allow gamers to visit other players online, expanding the reach of the game.  While the game itself had to be scaled down somewhat, almost all the original features of Animal Crossing were there in the game, including even more characters, fish and bugs, and a whole host of features that expanded on the use of the secondary game pad on the Nintendo DS.

 

In 2014, the Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection was shut down to make way for new programs and services, meaning that players of Wild World could no longer connection via the internet.  Private servers and homebrew methods exists for those who play the game, as a means of connecting to the internet.  Local play is still an option as well.

 

 

 

Animal Crossing: City Folk (2008) Nintendo Wii

A Nintendo Wii Port of the major game, it carried over a lot of the added additions from the previous game.  The new major feature is the city portion, where you can hop on a bus to head to the city, where a lot of the shops and visitors that randomly appeared throughout a week had their own shops and stalls.  Previously, you would have visitors randomly stop by that would sell specialty goods or services, but now a majority of them could be found in the city.

 

A lot of players of the previous games found the newer title lacking in new features.  As well as the city being an element that you traveled to, only if you wanted to, and not a core feature of the game.  The added element of the Wii Speak module wasn’t as popular either.

 

 

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012) Nintendo 3DS

A return to the handheld generation, New Leaf was well received by the players for many new features added, the most since the original e+ version that was released back in 2003, 9 years prior.  Rather than a new resident moving in, you’re promoted to the Major of your town.  Some of the new features allowed more customization of your town and buildings, particularly where they could be found and placed, along with many new shops and stores for the player to use.  It also allowed more customization to the character and several graphical and UI updates to the game, giving the characters more human models and updating all the bugs, fish, and plants to more realistic proportions. 

 

The game was well received by fans of the series.  In 2016, a new version of the game was released, adding Amibo Support.  Players who already had the game merely had to download an update for free, while new players could buy the game outright.

 

 

Amiibo

Amiibo are Nintendo exclusive figure statues, roughly 3-4 inches in height.  Each statue has a chip in its base that allows the figure to read by modern Nintendo Consoles, including the 3DS, Wii U, and Switch.  Depending on the game, Amiibos can unlock new cosmetics or collectables for a game.  As Example, In Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing Amiibos unlock new villagers.  In other games like Mario Kart 8, Amiibos unlock new costumes for your Mii Racer.  In Smash Brothers, they store fighting data, so you can practice against targets that know your fighting style better and player better for practice. Amiibos were first released in 2013 for the Wii U version of Smash Brothers, with most, if not all fighters, represented by an Amiibo. 

 

The gimmick was first introduced in to the world by Activision and their Skylander series of games, with Activision originally offering exclusivity for the idea/technology to Nintendo, but they turned it down.  Other companies had done similar gimmicks: famously Disney did similar with their Disney Infinity line, using their various Disney properties and characters. 

 

 

Animal Crossing: New Horizon (2020) Nintendo Switch

Released on Nintendo’s newest device, the game a great success with players, as it released on March 20^th, alongside Doom: Internal.  Similar memes with both games came out at the same time.  The game was also hugely successful, as they came out around the time of the Covid-19 Virus and many parts of the world being asked to stay at home, giving people ample time to play.

 

Similar to New Leaf, the game offered many new features.  Rather than starting on an established plot of land, you actually start on an abandoned Island.  Once there, you go about upgrading your tent to a house, plotting the locations of important businesses and shops, and trying to make the island as successful as possible.

 

Along with graphical and UI updates, the game saw even more customization in characters and furniture.  The newer features include crafting, which allows the player to create their own furniture based of recipes found in the game.  Along with crafting, there’s the option to customize your items even further as well.   Added features also include Nook Miles, a specialty currency earned through accomplishments and milestones in the game, that can be used to buy upgrades and specialty items from Nook.  A more interesting feature is the ability now to dramatically reshape your islands layout, including moving or adding rivers and lakes, to making new cliffs or destroying them.  A much beloved feature as well is an automatic saving system.(in previous versions, a very angry mole, Resetti, would chastise the player if they didn’t properly save before turning off their system.  With New Horizons automatically saving progress, he has since been fired, but takes up new work else.) 

 

 

What do you do in Animal Crossing?

The majority of the game play in Animal crossing is fundamentally, trivial.  Nothing you do in game really matters, save for what you otherwise make of it.  The game was meant as a way to connect with others emotionally, rather than working toward a shared goal.

 

That being said, the game offers quite a bit of collecting and decorating for player to do.  A lot of what you want to do in game is meant to either decorate or sell for Bells.  Bells are the main currency of the game, and can usually be earned by selling items to the Nooklings Timmy and Tommy.  They’ll buy just about anything, from crafting materials, fish, bugs, shells, fruit, clothing and furniture.  Bells are used to upgrade your house, and in other games, used toward public works projects.  Bells are also the main currency for buying decorations and outfits. 

 

A major staple of Animal Crossing has also been updating the Museum.  Blathers, an owl that manages the Museum, takes donations of Fish, Bugs, and Fossils from the villagers.  So long as there isn’t one already in the museum, he’ll accept the donation.  Fish can be fished from rivers, lakes, and the sea with a fishing pole.  Bugs similarly, can be caught throughout the island as well.  Depending on the season and time of day, some fish or bugs only show up then, so it’s important to play frequently, otherwise you might have to wait a long time for them to come back in season.  Fossils on the other hand, can be dug up from cracks in the ground, which ones you dig up are random, and you will often come across fossils that have already been donated to the museum.  Anything you can’t donate can always be sold to the Nooklings as well.

 

Most decorations come in a few different types, but most don’t fit any standard.  Decorations can be widely classified as Indoor, Outside, or plants.  Plants like trees and flowers can only be outside, while Indoor and Outside decorations being able to mix and match as your leisure.   This can range from book cases, beds, tables, and chairs, to kitchen appliances, video games, fish or bugs you’ve caught, and so many more things.  Outside items are generally bigger and require more space, but can be statues, pools, even tables and chairs even.  A special care for flowers as well, as while you can only naturally get red, white and yellow flowers, mixing certain types of flower colors together will create variations on those flowers, causing Blue, Black, Pink, or Purple flowers to grow instead, which are rare and desirable from players.

 

Beyond the decorations and comforts of your home and island, meeting with and talking with your villagers is also important.  They’ll often talk about other people they’ve met, things happening on the island, and will occasionally gift you with items, like clothing, furniture, decorations, or even reactions.  Reactions  are little emotes you can make your character do, depending on your mood, with a total of 40 possible reactions.  The villagers do remember what you’ve done as well, and will mention your dealings on the island if they catch you doing stuff.  While some villagers will move away over time, you can keep them happy by talking with them, sending them letters, or even gifting them items, which you’ll see them wear or keep in their house from time to time. 

 

Some people have gone on to create specialty islands that have interesting themes or visions.  Some have created unique scenes, while others have created locations, like basketball courts or theme parks or even mazes for people to run.  A new type of youtube video has spawned of Island tours, which people visit other people’s islands to see what they’ve done with them.  Especially when the player gain access to the development tools to manipulate the island’s geography. 

 

 

Why Play Animal Crossing?

For someone like me, who has been stuck inside for the last two months, it’s nice to have something to do each day, but also rewarding to see my villagers come running up to me when they see me, if only just to talk.

 

For a lot of people, it’s a healing game, even TVTropes.com agrees with this notion, describing the game as essentially a healing Video Game.  It’s meant to be relaxing, pick up as you go, and enjoy.  The mileage for some will be greater for those who can spend more time at it, or those who wasn’t to get the most out of it, but with no inherent goal, it’s okay to relax and take one’s time. 

 

Animal Crossing Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxvZwQPpPt8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO7WBWGOPzo

 

Ep 58: Anime for Kids Tutorial

Topic: Anime for Kids

 

Today, I traveled a very FAR distance to come and visit my Sister-in-Law and discuss Anime with her.  Previously, I showed my nieces 'My Neighbor Totoro', which they loved.  Which sucked for me, because this was AFTER me and mom got back from Japan, where we saw Lots of Totoro just hanging out.  Had I show the girls this before we went, we could have gotten some killer stuff with them in it.  That being said, there's quite a bit of children appropriate Anime out there, and I'd love to get my nieces interested in the medium as a way of expanding their view points, and also having someone new to talk to about anime.  My Sister-in-Law gracious welcomed me in to her home, and we talked anime turkey.  If nothing else, give this woman a round of applause for raising two very well adjusted little girls, and also her first time ever doing a podcast.

 

What is Anime:

In Japan, any kind of animation, whether traditional 2d animation or 3d computer graphic animation, whether from America, Europe, China, or Japan, for Adults, Teens, or Children, all animation is considered anime.

 

In America, while there is no uniform consensus on what Anime does or does not include, I presume it to mean animation either from Japan or with heavy influence from Japanese Animation.  This means I would include some American properties, like Avatar, as Anime.  This means you can include Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon, and other shows broadcasted on TV because they came from Japan, thus anime. 

 

 

Common Themes of Anime

Unique/Colorful Character Designs

Interesting worlds

Mascots/unique creatures

Semi-realistic human proportions

Largely human cast

Attention to Physics

Stories that are more nuanced

Characters are Moral and Upstanding typically

 

 

Types of Anime Demographics:

Kodomo-muke (3-10 children)

• Typically shows aimed at small or young children in elementary age

Shonen (10-18 Boys)

• Typically Boy’s action/sports for young teens to adults

Shoujo (10-18 Girls)

• Typically Girl’s Romance/themed for young teens to adults

Senin/Josei (Adult/Mature Audience)

• Shows aimed toward adult audiences, tend to focus on more mature/nuanced topics or life

Hentai (Pornographic)

• Porn…. No really, that’s what it is.

 

While Children, Shonen, and Shoujo are aimed at their demographics, there’s a wide range of audiences that enjoy these shows too.  Many Shonen or Shoujo fans continue to enjoy these shows well into adult hood, while many teens continue to enjoy anime aimed at Children.

 

Types of Anime Shows (Genre)

 

Actions/Adventure

Fantasy

Science Fiction

Space

Mecha

• A show in which character pilot humanoid/animal based machines

Sports

Mystery

Magical Girl

• Shows were girls transform into Magical heroines

Card/Game

• Shows were the premise revolves around a card game or type of game, often used for promotions of other games/properties available in real world.

Romance

Slice of Life

• Show in which share the happenings of everyday life and the adventures around it.

Healing

• Shows that are meant to be relaxing and heartwarming when watched.

Idol

• Shows resolving around creation, management, production, or life of an Idol group consisting of 3 or more guys or girls, typically girls

School/Work

• Shows where the primary location for the show revolves around school(typically high school) or at work.

 

 

 

Children’s Anime

Anime is shown at all times of the day, but most particularly in the mornings and evenings.  Anime typically shown in the mornings are usually aimed at children or younger demographics, while anime shown in the evenings are often aimed at teens and adults. While a majority of children anime is shown in the morning, there are still some Shonen or Shoujo shown in the morning as well, and even some popular children’s anime is shown in the evening as well.  Anime typically can hold key evening times, including 8pm, 9pm, and even 10pm time slots, denoting its importance/prevalence.

 

Children’s anime tends to be simpler in scope and programming, often choosing to do a monster-of-the-week format instead of a long running story.  This means that the show often resets itself at the end of every episode, save for new characters, abilities, or statuses that are intended for use in later series.  Or the episodes are often self-contained stories: utilizing a few or single major character and other supporting characters to tells an individual story.

 

Children’s anime tends to be educational on some levels as well, teaching history, sciences, morals, or repeating important life lessons. 

 

There are four major types of Children’s Anime:

 

• Western Adaptations
  • Stories that are adaptations of traditional Western/European folk tales or stories
• Japanese Media/works
  • These are stories that are unique to Japan, often using linguistic puns/gags that don’t translate well in the west.
• Joji-Muke
  • Essentially anime for Young Girls, think Hello Kitty
• Shonen-muke
  • Essentially anime for Young Boys, typically focusing on toys or video games. These tend to have the greatest success.

 

 

Homework:

Sailor Moon Crystal (Hulu)

Card Captor Sakura (Hulu)

Kaleido Star (Hulu)

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki Kun (Netflix)

K-on (Netflix)

Cells at Work (Netflix)

Glitter Force (Netflix)

Teasing Master Tagaki-san (Netflix)

Fireworks (Netflix)

Violet Evergarden (Netflix)

Little Witch Academia (Netflix)

 

 

Ep 57: Video Games and Money

Topic: Video Games and How to Make Money

 

As a follow up to last week's discussion, Mom wondered how people make money in video games, and being the clever nerd that has actually spent along time in the meta narrative on Video Game creation and process, I came back with some information to offer.

 

What does it cost to make a Video Game?

 

This namely depends on the complexity of the game.  A game with Side Scrolling or 2D graphics will usually cost less than a game with 3D graphics.  But the nature of the game’s content and desire to fulfill it is also necessary.

 

Staff

There are a core number of elements you need to make a game:

Game Designers

• Basically the person who designs the world, mechanics, and fun of a game

Programmers

• Individuals that make the Game Designer’s vision possible via programming and developing tools or systems for the game

Graphic Design and Animators

• Video Games being a primarily visual media, requires people who will be able to create characters, worlds, and animate them in a game. It can also include menus, UI layout, and ensuring the game’s information is easy to understand

Sound Designers

• Every good game needs a sound track, or atleast needs to have an audio feedback to express what the character is doing, if it’s a successful fit or a critical miss. Sound Design relies on giving an audio cue to know you did something

Testers

• These are individuals who test your game to ensure that they catch bugs and errors in your game, ensuring that your game is as polished and presentable as possible. Depending on the complexity of game, they can also offer balancing and ideas to further the game.

Producers

• These are people who help keep the game in line: whether they ensure every member of the team has the tools necessary, coordinating deadlines and completed tasks, ensuring the game’s vision isn’t lost during development, being a fellow visionary on the game, and much more

 

Beyond that, you can have more specialized roles and staffs, including an Human Resources, Sales and Marketing, Integration with various console platforms, and so many more positions.  Some people may have varying roles or multiple roles, but these are the kinds of people you will needs, and each one will need a salary or compensation for work completed.

 

Technology

Most games are built in various software engines, on various computer products, and may need various tools and multipurpose libraries of useful assets or information. 

 

Software

• Depending on complexity of the game, you may need to buy or license a game engine to run your game and develop for it, which in of itself is not cheap. Some engines are free to use, like Unity, but more powerful engines often cost in the thousands to millions to license and develop on.  This is even before the powerful computers necessary to program in.  Less complex games can get away with reduced costs.

Services

• Depending on your game, especially in an always online world, you may need local and cloud based services like Maps, weather conditions, server space for save data, or a place to host multiplayer games. Services like this will certainly require additional money, especially if your game is popular and takes off.

Templates, Libraries, and Plugins

• Most video game elements are not created in a vacuum. Everything from characters and sounds, to how they and other objects have already been built once before.  So if you don’t need to rebuild the wheel, why not buy the assets you need for your game.  Especially if you’re aiming for certain elements of game play in your game, you can buy assets online that mirror or give you a starting point to develop your own game elements, which can save more time and money down the line.

 

 

Time

All games take a period of time to make.  This will always be dictated by the scope of the game and the size of the team.  So the bigger the game, the more staff, thus more time to produce the game, meaning more money.  Some games might also have tighter time constraints, as games based off of movies might need to come out around the same time as the movie, leading to rushed game development.  Games with a smaller scope can get by with less staff, but it still takes time. 

 

Typically, games with bigger scopes and large teams will take around 2-3 years to develop a game, as where games with smaller teams can probably take around 10-12 months.  These can be quicker or shorter depending on the game complexity and scope, along with the team working on it. 

 

 

Retail/Revenue

 

 

In Sum

Simple games like Angry Birds as an example, might cost around $10,000 to make, while games like Grand Theft Auto 5 might cost $100 million dollars or more.  Games that cost more are also expected to sell more too, so a game costing a $100 million dollars needs to sell upwards of 2 million copies before it ever breaks even. 

 

 

How Game Companies Make Money:

While it’s intended that all games are built to have fun, they are also primarily built to make money.  There’s lot of ways game developers and their companies make money off of video games:

 

Basic Box Retail

• This is the most basic version of how a game makes money. Thinking back to the days of the 80s and 90s, where you went to a store, bought the game, and went home and played it.  Basically, the act of purchasing the game in question. 
• Interestingly, most game consoles sell at a loss in the first few years of production. IE, an Xbox 360 might retail for $399, but the same of its parts and labor to put it together might be around $500-$600.  The logic being that while the technology is expensive, most people won’t buy multiple consoles, thus locking you in to preferred console.  From there, video games themselves can be expensive, $50-$60, and can only be played on that console
• Depending on the platform it will be played on, there will likely be fees/costs associated with publishing the game on that platform. Major Gaming Consoles like Playstation, X-Box, and Nintendo will take a small portion of revenue to be able to be played on their systems, but your game will certain reach a wide market.  Platforms like computers may have platforms like Steam who help sell your game, but take a portion of the profits from you as a result.  If you’re on a mobile platform like Android or Apple, there’s likely a fee to be on the store.

 

Subscription

• This is a pay to play model, where you pay a monthly/yearly fee to play the game. The game itself can have an entrance fee to purchase the game, or require you pay just the Subscription to play alone. 
• These are typically games that are intended to be played for over several months/years. These are also games with social aspects, whether working with or playing against other players.  Typically any game with online play will require a subscription.
• Major consoles Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo all have subscription services as well to be played to play online with their games. Namely since these companies host the servers connectivity with the games and their developers/publishers, subscriptions to play online are not unusual.  Though if you pay a subscription, you won’t be paying them additionally for each game.

 

Free-To-Play

• These are games which are free to play themselves, but may require that you watch/view material outside of the game, or pay to progress through it the game quicker.
• Advertisements
  • A game can be free to play, but will require watching or viewing of advertisements.
• Freemium
  • These are games that are free to play, but take a long time to progress, namely due to the gating of content or progression. The gating can be shortened or eliminated entirely by the purchase of game currency or unlocks, allowing progression of the game to continue.
  • Games that rely on this model are looking for gamers they term as ‘Whales’. These are games that will spend lots of money to unlock, progress quicker, or collect rare items in the game.  These are the type of people who will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on game.
• Free-To-Play are more common amongst mobile games.

 

Advertisements

• Game development can be expensive in and of itself, so some times game developers offer to include Advertisements in their games. It can a few different forms:
• In-Game-Advertisement
  • Some games may have advertisements built in the game’s world. EX: Grand Theft Auto 5 has some billboards that change throughout the year to advertise new stuff in the real world. 
• Product Placement
  • Because development can be expensive, some games may use Product Placement to help fund their game. EX Sonic Adventure 2 had a Product Placement  with Soap Shoes, which is seen on characters and developed a rail grinding element in the game itself.
  • Most games use fake or ‘Greek-ed’ names for items. IE  It’s not Coca-Cola or Pepsi, it’s just ‘Cola’.  But some Product Placement may request their items in the game, like cars or locations.
• Sponsorships
  • Some games may ask for a sponsorship detail, making it so it’s a preferred game and help with the advertising and marketing of a game. As a result of the company spending money to promote the game, they’ll take a portion of the revenue as well.

 

User Data

• More common, especially in Mobile Game markets, companies can collect information about you through your phone. They will always mention this in their term of service, but they may collect information on your play habits or even reference the kind of websites you visit.  This data can then be sold to marketing companies as a way of targeting their advertisements in the future.

 

DLC (Down Loadable Content)

• Typically games with lot of varied items, characters, or content will have DLC. These are usually additional offerings that are not required to play the game, but are purchase-able as a way to enhance or offer new content to a game.  This content can include:
  • Unlocked characters – either new characters or ability to unlock character right away
  • New levels/modes for games
  • Unlock weapons or skins for characters or models
  • Releasing future content of the game – IE, in a chapter based story, the next chapter
• DLC has been seen in big games, as a way to add additional content to the game without releasing a new game. Typically this offers additional content to the game that isn’t included in the base game.

 

Currency/Unlocks

• Similar to DLC, these are often means to unlock content included with the base game. These are typically used as ways to bypass restrictions or content in a game so that you can progress through it quicker or easier. 
• Example might be unlocking all character in a fighting game, rather than progressing through a story mode to unlock them.
• It might also be a unique currency in the game that allows you to buy the best weapons or abilities in the game, so that you can progress through the game quicker, or make it easier to do so.
• Another names for this is ‘Micro-transactions’

 

 

 

How can Gamers Make Money?

Gamers themselves have opportunities to make money off of video games.  In most cases however, the game becomes less about having fun, and instead become about offering/selling a product rather than enjoyment.

 

Game Testing (Quality Assurance/QA Testing)

• Gamers are in a unique position to Test Video Games, as they’re familiar with games themselves, they can be useful in understand how stuff works and doesn’t naturally, along with being able to explain it easier to a bug reporter.
• While you don’t have to be a gamer necessarily, understanding the logic and inherent controls of video games is a big plus.
• While most people think you might get paid to play video games, what you’re actually doing is testing elements or parts of a game for potential bugs and oversights. Typically, these are unfinished and/or unpolished games that need someone to go in and find where the problems are.  Depending on the game, as well as the culture, some testers will work long hours and overtimes, with some working 10-16+ hours in a day, as well as weekends. 
• The pay model will differ for varying game companies and vendors, with bigger companies offering more pay typically.
• Great webcomic and stories about this found here: http://trenchescomic.com/

 

Youtube/Twitch

• A popular model of revenue for people is playing games online for the enjoyment of others. This is often seen live via Twitch, or recorded sessions via Youtube, which some Twitch broadcast often uploaded to Youtube. 
• A majority of these channels that do well offer a unique experience. It can include:
  • Playing a game with commentary or discussions about the game and/or content
  • Playing online against other people, testing your skill against theirs
  • A play-thru of the game, intended to show your progression through the game.
  • Playing Online with friends or fellow games, usually requiring everyone to be able to communicate together
  • Performing unique play-thru. IE Speedrunning, or playing a game with rules, limits or criteria. 
  • Developing or crafting housing/worlds, Minecraft.
• On Twitch, people viewing the content are often asked to subscribe to the channel to help pay for the content, or can cheer for the channel with Bits, a one-time gift of money in the form of a Twitch based currency.
• On Youtube, people viewing the content will be asked to watch the Youtube ads or asked to support via Patreon
• In either case, subscribing via Twitch or through Patreon will gift the viewer with unique rewards or perks, such as chatting in chat, call out in the video, special emotes or emblems, or more depending on the channel
• Popular channels can make millions of dollars a year, however most channels do not make a lot of money, perhaps $10,000 to $40,000 a year depending on their frequency and content.
• Before you can start making money, you need to show either Youtube or Twitch that you have regular/routine broadcastings, you have a certain amount of viewers, and some other criteria. Once meeting these thresholds, you can apply for Partner Status and receive money from your content.
• While it can be lucrative for some, for most it is not. With so many people posting and streaming content, it can be hard to get noticed unless you’re either already popular, or you have a unique experience you’re offering.  The more unique, the better to make yourself stand out.

 

Tournaments/eSports

• Some games can be played professionally, especially multiplayer games. Tournaments offer the opportunity to show your skill and talents, with the best players taking home money.
• People who play in Tournaments often are people who do it full time, playing the same games frequently and often in order to build skill, tactics and strategies, along with understanding of the game’s mechanics and limitations. This is treated a profession at this point though, with only the best typically making money. 
• eSports are a natural progression of Tournaments, which sees sponsorships taking over potential prize money.
• You don’t necessarily have to be masters of these games though. You can play host to the eSports, offer commentary on matches, Act as a referee, or help with the marketing of a league, team, or tournament.  Advanced knowledge of these games are required through, so you can’t just walk in to it.
• Most of the players for eSports and Tournaments are usually already using the Twitch/Youtube model of making money, and are actually discovered on those platforms by potential sponsors.

 

Farming In-Game Currency/Services

• More unique to MMORPGs, people will play a game to collect the in-game currency or items to sell for currency from a game. After collecting the currency, they will sell it through website that offer the currency for Cash.  It’s more popular with MMOs because of the ease of collecting the currency or items, as the currency is endless and the transaction can be hidden or obscured. 
• Some players will offer to farm currency for other games that offer unlock/rewards for currency. IE: Overwatch has skins that you can win via-loot boxes, or pay for them via in game currency.
• There are some players who want to play with high level players, and thus will pay another person to play their account to unlock later levels/content, or improve their ranking or level so that they can be match up with higher level players. Some people may just start accounts, level them up, then sell it on eBay or websites, though this is frowned upon by gamers and game developers/publishers, often being against the terms of service.

 

Journalism

• A way to monetize your game play might be to do so as Journalism. Posting reviews on games you have played or unique commentary on you experience with it can be rewarding.
• Much Like Youtube/Twitch model, there are a lot of people out there trying to do this as well, so it can be difficult to get noticed or being to make money off of it without having a unique hook or reason for people to read.
• Blogs/websites, including Youtube, offer a way to express your thoughts and opinions easily.

 

 

 

Other people who Make Money off of Video Games

Re-selling Video Games

• More so with older games, and less so with more recent, older games can fetch good money, especially if they were popular at one point. Collector’s editions or special type of games fetch more money than others.
• Retail outlets like Game-Stop purchase used games and consoles, reselling them for more than bought in order to make money on them.
• eBay and other online auction outlets can be a good place to purchase and resell gaming media.
• People who can repair old systems are highly valuable as well, as people who can fix older consoles are becoming fewer, along with replacement parts becoming slimmer.

Video Game Merchandise

• While you can’t reproduce copyrighted material, you can pay homage to them. Websites like Etsy and eBay offer to sell gaming merchandise for people.  This can include one off bags or accessories, cosplay and props, along with trinkets and home furnishings.  It’s not unusual for people to take their love of gaming into crafts and create stunning objects for collectors.

 

 

Ep 56: Super Mario Bros Review

Topic:  Super Mario Bros Review + Speed Running + Twitch/Streaming

So this week, we had some homework that would have been difficult for some to accomplish if you didn't already have any of the included games.  I'll be linking videos for those who couldn't play the games, but this week, thanks to some help, Mom actually played them.  And while she had difficulties playing Super Mario Bros. 1 with out any help, even she admitted she'd get it eventually given enough time. 

 

Home Work:

Super Mario Bros. 1

Game picked because in video games, there’s quite a bit of learned knowledge that comes from years of playing video games.  Some of this includes controls, visual language, enemy interaction, and certainly familiarity with the world.  Some example of this learned knowledge is:

• Jumps are better when you run
• We always want power-ups
• Understanding Health Bars
• Controls in an FPS
• Pits are bad

I also choose it because the Game Design in Mario is very smart, even though it would never feel like it.  It assumes that you never played a game like this, because back then you wouldn’t have, and lets you experiment naturally with little punishment. 

 

Mario Kart

I picked this because it’s likely the second most popular Mario franchise after Super Smash Bros.  This game lets you jump in and goof around easily with friends, and always felt like it very easy to pick up and get going.  What I feel is nice about the game is that you can develop your skills over time to do better in races, rather than needing to develop your skills to progress further in to the game, which is difficult for some people to do. 

 

Mario Party

I picked this because I found it interesting how Mario franchise can be adopted to fit just about any genre, including a board game.  I appreciate the board game because it allows for lots of mini-games that always seem to offer unique game play and interaction.

 

Speed Run

The term ‘Speed Run’ comes from the intent of playing a video game and completing it as fast as possible.  Playing a game with the intent of doing a Speed Run is referred to as ‘Speed Running’.

 While there are lots of games that are fun to play, there are some that are better for Speed Running.  These are games that involve:

• Skill – mastery of the game and controlling your character
• Precision – the game must be consistent in its controls and how the game mechanics work
• Low RNG – RNG is basically randomness in enemy or world actions outside of your own.

While these are not deal breakers for many games that have Speed Runs, they tend to be the more common elements. 

 Some important terms:

• Frames – Essentially the micro-seconds of a game, or rather, states in which the game screen changes by even a small pixel
• RNG – Game Randomness, many games rely on random elements to keep players on their toes.  These can include random dice rolls, cards that are chosen, hit chance, or enemy actions.  Lots of games include RNG in multiple ways. EX: Pokemon: what a pokemon will do in battle.
• Cycles – In some games, enemies or mechanics work in a repeat cycle, IE, enemy will always jump, run forward, then jump again.  Various cycles or rotations in games exist and players who Speed Run tend to see them often enough to know what best to do when they encounter it.
• States – The state of the game at any time.  IE how far has a character progress, what upgraded or items to they have, what part of the story are they on.  Simple example could be board game, where the pieces are and whose turn is it is a ‘State’
• Glitch – An unintended error in the game, where the game doesn’t work right in one particular pixel or way, allowing players to exploit the game 
• Sequence Break – This is when a player performs an action that allows them break the intended layout or order in which the game developers intended the game to be played in.  IE: obtaining items out of order, skipping portions of a map, or skipping required actions the game intended.  These are usually done via Glitches or exploiting mechanics of a game to do things that the developer did not intend.

 Most common games for Speed Runs are usually older games, games from the 80s and 90s, but not exclusively.  Some popular titles include:

• Super Mario Bros 1. – NES
• Super Mario World – SNES
• Super Metroid – SNES
• Super Mario 64 – N64
• Doom – PC
• Quake – PC

 Some newer titles are also run, including:

• MineCraft – PC
• Resident Evil 2(2019) – PS4
• UnderTale - Multiple
• Mario Kart 8 – Wii U/Switch
• Super Mario Odyssey - Switch
• Cup Head - Multiple
• Portal 2 - PC

 Depending on the video game, additional rules and limitations can be placed on the game in order to achieve various different times.  This can include:

• Any% - Typically the simplest, completing the game as quick as possible, regardless of using glitches or sequence breaks to bypass elements of the game.
• 100% - Full completion of the game, Plus collecting all available items, collectables, or upgrades
• Low% - Full completion of the game, but while collecting the bare minimum of items, collectables, or upgrades necessary to complete the game.
• Glitchless – Similar to Any%, however, avoiding any glitches or elements of the game that were unintended by the developers.
• Challenge – These may be completing a game while invoking a challenge, IE, fewest jumps or weakest weapons

 Various websites exist to track the Speed Running community, where they upload videos or scores to leader boards to track their progress and who is currently the fastest.  One of the more popular is Speedrun.com, which tracks hundreds of games.

 It’s a community that is very much friendly with one another, as they try to find new routes or tactics to overcome the time crunch. 

 

Tool Assisted Speed Run (TAS)

A Tool Assisted Speed Run(TAS) is where a person is assisted by tools to complete a Speed Run.  So rather than completing it purely by skill, a person has manipulated the controls to allow them to play in a better or worse way. 

 Typically, this means a program will play the game by making precise inputs as previously recorded by a programmer.  The programmer, using emulation tools, will go Frame by Frame of a game, mapping out the inputs of the game at a speed or responsiveness that cannot be replicated by a human.  This allows a game to be played in the most optimal way to complete the game intended, or cause the game to do things unintended by its original developers.  Some example include: playing a game perfectly from start to finish, playing a game that is technically cheating but still winning, or manipulating the game to create new code and create new elements of a game.

 TAS are usually showcases for cool things in video games, IE, unintended cheats or exploits in games, to weird mechanics and programming that resulted from it.

  

Twitch / Streaming

In the digital age we currently live in: ‘Streaming’ is the act of broadcasting things people do not actively own, over the web, in real time.  Streaming example include: Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Twitch.  Typically, streaming is the act of watching or listening to something that is currently available only for a set period of time in it is available or in which the service is paid for. 

 If you watch a video on Netflix, you’re streaming because you do not own the material and you must pay for the service.  If you’re watching via Youtube, this isn’t considered watching a stream, as the content is intended to be free of charge and always available. 

  

Twitch

Is a Video Streaming service that primarily focuses on user-created Video Game Streaming, but also includes more general topics as well, ranging from Cooking, arts/crafts, beauty, talk shows/podcast, politics, music, and even just chatting.  These streams only include original content as generated by the channel’s users, IE: you can’t watch movies on Twitch as the channel’s user did not generate the content.  There must always be some kind of user generated input in showing the content.

 Originally starting as ‘Justin.tv’ in 2007, the website allowed people to broadcast user-created content for free to unlimited number of people.  The platform was intended for people who wanted to stream their lives as they interacted and lived through it, allowing people to live in someone else’s shoes, al ‘Truman Show’.  The website’s Video Game related content quickly became the dominate content and was thus spun off in to ‘Twitch’ in 2011.  Justin.tv was eventually shut down and a majority of its content moved to Twitch.  In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch and has since merged it with other Video game related communities, including Curse.

 Today, Twitch is the #1 streaming platform for Video Game, which allows anyone to stream their own user-created content.  For many games, it is also the home for eSport broadcasts, but also including Speed Runs.  Other game content includes people with unique narrations on their game-play, or multi-player games being played together my multiple people, which is usually the bulk of the channel’s content.

 Many Streamers are small time celebrities due to their views; due to the number of views, some streamers make a living off of streaming, with player Ninja making upwards of $100,000 a month while on Twitch.

 Twitch is the 26^th most popular website in the world, 13^th in United States.  It is worth roughly $3.8 billion.  Twitch’s competitor include youtube.com and Mixer, which is quickly joining the ranks of Twitch as it plucks off some of Twitch’s top streamers away.

  

eSports

eSports is a form of Sport for video games.  It usually is an organized competition between professional players, in either individual or teams, in order to win a tournament or competition.  Most of these competitions are over Multiplayer games, which require a one-on-one or team based game play. 

Some of the most common games include:

• MOBA – Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
• FPS – First Person Shooter
• Fighting
• Card Games
• Battle Royales
• RTS – Real Time Strategy

 Some of the most popular eSports, as sponsored by their developers include:

• League of Legends
• Dota
• Counter Strike
• Overwatch
• Super Smash Bros
• StarCraft
• Hearthstone
• Call of Duty

 

In recent few years, eSports have been recognized by the Olympics, along with Colleges and Schools, which offer professional and amateur eSport programs.  As of 2019, 130 colleges have some kind of eSports based program.

 

Ep 55: Super Mario Bros Tutorial

Topic: Super Mario Bros Tutorial

 

To get us off the rather serious, or rather, semi-serious topic of last week, I felt it was wise to move on to something completely different.  With a lot of people stuck inside as of late, I felt that we should consider video games as an avenue of discussion.  Since a great majority of Nerds love video games, we'll start off simple, and with the most recognizable character in Video Games.  So we're discussing and starting our topic on Super Mario Bros. and it's surprisingly lengthy history.

 

 

History of Nintendo

• Founded in 1889 as a Playing Card Company
• In 1975, the Company began pivoting toward electronics and Game Cabinets in Arcardes
  • Donkey Kong released in 1981
  • Jumpman was introduced as company Mascot, better known today as Mario
  • These games are developed by Shigeru Miyamoto, who would go on to be the ‘Walt Disney’ of Nintendo
• In 1980, Game and Watch series of games released, popular hand held games
• In 1983, Nintendo releases the ‘Famicom’ or ‘Family Computer’ as a video game console in Japan. It is released worldwide in 1985 as the ‘Nintendo Entertainment System’
  • 1985 Also sees Mario’s First Major outing in ‘Super Mario Brothers’.
• In 1988, Nintendo began publishing ‘Nintendo Power’, a monthly magazine for their new games and fan magazine.
• By 1989, Nintendo released the ‘Game Boy’ a portable video game console. It is arguably, the most successful and most sold video game console, (If you include it’s various iterations)
  • Nintendo stays strong in the Handheld market through out release
• In 1991, Nintendo and Sony begin work and development on CD Addon for Super Nintendo, but as CES(Consumer Electronics Show) in 1991, Nintendo backed out of the deal and went with Philips instead. The decision to break partnership with Sony caused Sony to develop the PlayStation, Nintendo’s biggest rival in the console market to date.
• 1996 sees release of Nintendo 64, Nintendo’s reliance on cartages over CDs causes a lot of its 3^rd party publishers to move on to other consoles.
• 2002 saw Satoru Iwata becoming President of company, leading the company through many new consoles
• 2006 sees release of the Wii, becoming a major Success for Nintendo and the most dominate 7^th generation console
• 2012 sees release of the Wii U, the successor to the Wii, bring in HD graphics. It is considered a failure due to lack of understanding how to use the system by consumers and gave developers
• In 2015, Satoru Iwata dies due to complications at 55
• In 2016, Nintendo release the NES Classic, a smaller device with Classic NES Controllers that included a number of popular NES titles. It did the same in 2017 with the SNES Classic.  Due to high demand and low inventory, a rather later secondary market continues to sell the consoles at double or triple the original price
• 2017 sees the release of the Switch, merging both Handheld and console gaming in to one device for Nintendo

 

Nintendo Consoles

1. 1985 – Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (3^rd Generation)
   1. 2016 – NES Classic Edition
2. 1989 – Nintendo Game Boy (GB)
   1. 1998 – Game Boy Color (GBC)
   2. 2001 – Game Boy Advance(GBA)
3. 1991 – Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (4^th Generation)
   1. 2017 – SNES Classic Edition
4. 1995 – Nintendo Virtual Boy
5. 1996 – Nintendo 64 (N64) (5^th Generation)
6. 2001 – Nintendo GameCube (GCN) (6^th Generation)
7. 2004 – Nintendo DS(Dual Screen) (DS)
   1. 2011 Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
8. 2006 – Nintendo Wii (Wii) (7^th Generation)
9. 2012 – Nintendo Wii U (Wii U) (8^th Generation)
10. 2017 – Nintendo Switch (Switch) (9^th Generation)

 

 

History of Mario

• Started life as ‘Jumpman’ in original Donkey Kong(1981) game. Name was later changed to Mario is Donkey Kong Junior where he is a villain.
• He would get his brother Luigi and star in his own game Mario Brothers(1982). This also marked the first time he was noted for being Italian and a plumber.
• Mario gets his name from ‘Mario Segale’, Landlord for the Nintendo of America’s offices at the time.
• Mario has appeared in over 200+ video game series
• Confusing Last Name, joked as “Mario Mario”, hence Mario Brothers, but no official Nintendo Stance on the last name

 

Characters of Mario

• Princess Peach(Princess Toadstool)

Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, main Love Interest, usually being held captive, but usually very resourceful, and can float/fly

• Luigi

Younger brother to Mario, often portrayed as a coward and scared, is lighter and has more floatier jumps

• Bowser (King Koopa)

Main Antagonist, a giant Bull/Turtle leader of the Koopa Race(Evil turtles) wants to marry Princess Peach

• Bowser Jr

Bowser’s Canonical Son

• Koopalings

Initially Boswer’s children, but later recon to be Bowser’s minions

• Toad

A loyal Subject of Princess Peach and recurring assistant/character to Mario and Luigi

• Toadette

A female version of Toad

• Donkey Kong

A big Ape, originally intended to be King Kong, he kidnapped Paluine in his own game and made Mario come to save him.  While he has never appeared in a Mainline Mario game, he is a staple of Mario’s various Spin Offs, including Mario Kart and Mario Party.

• Diddy Kong

A younger Cousin to Donkey Kong, he is portrayed a smaller monkey with a tail, a cap, and wearing a t-shirt.

• Princess Daisy

Lead Princess in Game Boy Mario titles, she is best friends with Princess Peach, often portrayed as a tomboy and upbeat personality

• Rosalina

While not an official princess, she often portrayed in similar fashion.  She is portrayed as mysterious, wise, and worldly

• Pauline

Original captured heroine of Donkey Kong, has made spare appearance in other Mario titles, most recently as leader of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey

• Yoshi

A rideable dinosaur for Mario and company. He has his own games where he is the hero. He is portrays as an innocent child with a long tongue that eats enemies and turns them to Eggs.  He was in original Design documents for NES Mario games, but wasn’t realized until Super Mario World

• Cappy

A newer character introduced in Mario Odyssey, he is a sentient hat that replaces Mario’s classic had when it is destroyed

• Wario

Mario’s Rival and a negative mirror to Mario, portrayed as money hungry and glutinous, often trying to best Mario whenever possible. He has a spin off of games that are semi-irrelevant and weird by intention.  The name "Wario" is a portmanteau of "Mario" with the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Mario"

• Waluigi

Similar to Wario, he is Luigi’s Rival and mirror to Luigi, portrayed with long lanky arms and willing to cheat to win.  Though he has never starred in his own game, never seen without Wario, and never appeared in any mainline Mario Games, he has a cult following and is the subject of lots of Internet Memes and jokes.

 

Mainline Mario Titles

There are 21 mainline Mario games, with atleast 10 rereleases for alternate Hardware.  Most games revolve around Bowser causing havoc in his efforts to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.  This often is forms in Princess Peach and her Castle being taken over the Bowser, and Mario attempting to save Princess Peach.  In other cases, Bowser has unleashed or tapped in to various new abilities, worlds, or associates to assist him in getting Princess Peach to Marry him and for him to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.

 

Mario is the primary hero of these games, with Luigi as a second player option; in more recent games, Luigi has slightly different abilities over Mario, leading to different gameplay.  Other games introduce Princess Peach or Toad as alternate characters that can be played, each of whom offer their own unique abilities that allow them navigate the game in different ways.  Mario’s goal is march through each level in a world or land, in order to reach the Castle and defeat a boss that will unlock the next world or land.  At the end, Mario must face off against Bowser in his castle/base to defeat him and save Princess Peach.

 

While Mario has little assistance outside of his brother, he can gain access to a number of power ups.  Most notably are:

• Super Mushroom - Makes Mario taller and capable of breaking blocks with a punch
• Fire Flower – Make Mario capable of throwing Fireballs
• Tanuki Leaf/Super Feather – Gives Mario the ability to fly and spin to defeat enemies
• Super Star – Makes Mario immune to any damage he might take for a limited time, instantly defeat enemies
• Yoshi – A rideable Dinosaur that Mario can ride and gain access to new abilities

Each game has its own unique power ups, some that reappear in other games, with others that do so only in that title.  If Mario gets hit by an enemy, he will lose whatever power-up he most recently had and transform back into his original form.  A following hit will cause him to lose a life, and Mario will need to start back from the beginning of the level, or closest check point that he cleared.

 

Most enemies in the game can be beat by hopping on top of them, punching them when they are close enough in later games, or attacking them with a power up.  Some enemies can only be defeated by some power-ups.  Bosses often take about 3 hits or more, depending on the game.

 

The mainline Mario games include:

• Super Mario Bros. (1985) – NES

First major Mario game, released with NES in America, often as a bundle.

• Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (1999) - GBC

Rereleased on Game Boy Color with updated over world Map

• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (1986) - NES

Technically Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan, it was considered too difficult for American Gamers and was not released in America until Super Mario All-Stars(1993)

 

• Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) – NES

Originally published in Japan as Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, a tie in with a Japanese TV Channel’s Mascots.  It was released in the West as Super Mario Bros. 2 as Nintendo felt it would be easier and better fit for Western Gamers.  Super Mario Bros. 2 takes place in Mario’s dream.

• Super Mario Advance (2001) - GBA

A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware

 

• Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) – NES

Return to a more classic Mario. First introduction of Tanuki leaf and raccoon tail/ears for Mario.  First time Mario flew, and first introduction of an Over-world

• Super Mario Advanced 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (2003) - GBA

A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware

 

• Super Mario Land (1989) - GB

                First Game Boy Mario title.  Introduction of Princess Daisy

 

• Super Mario World (1990) – SNES

First outing on SNES. Often released with the system. Started as a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3.  Introduced Yoshi, who had been planned as earlier as Super Mario 1, but cut due to technical limitations

• Super Mario Advance 2 (2001) - GBA

A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware

 

• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) – GB

Second Outing on Game Boy, Introduction of Wario, Mario’s Rival

 

• Super Mario All-Stars (1993) – SNES

A release of Super Mario 1, 2, & 3, and also first time seeing the Japanese Super Mario 2, renamed as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

 

• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995) – SNES

First Mario Title to focus on Another character, ie Yoshi, as the main hero

• Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (2002) – GBA

A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware

 

• Super Mario 64 (1996) - N64

First Major game in 3D, pioneered a number of 3D Platform elements that would become mainstream

• Super Mario 64 DS (2004) – DS

A rerelease on Nintendo DS hardware

 

• Super Mario Sunshine (2002) – GCN

Follow up to Super Mario 64, showing of new tech, allowing Rideable Yoshi, and more story driven than previous games.  Introduce Bowser Jr.

 

• New Super Mario Bros. (2006) – DS

A return to the 2d side scrolling roots of the Mario Franchise

 

• Super Mario Galaxy (2007) – Wii

First Major game to introduce gravity changing effects to the Mario series, in the form of planets. Introduction of Princess Rosalina

 

• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) – Wii

A follow up to their outing on the DS, this featured 4 player co-op play, along with a fully 3^rd art design over the pervious

 

• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) – Wii

First Direct sequel for a Mario title since early NES days.

 

• Super Mario 3D Land (2011) – DS

New major 3D Mario title on handheld, reintroducing classic Super Mario Bros 3 power-ups

 

• New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012) – DS

Another direct sequel to the first game

 

• New Super Mario Bros. U (2012) - Wii U

Following on the success of the Wii version, introducing new power-ups

• New Super Luigi U (2013) - Wii U

During Mario Brothers 30^th Anniversary, a special Luigi only variation

• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (2019) – Switch

Rerelease for Switch Hardware, including New Super Luigi material

 

• Super Mario 3D World (2013) - Wii U

Following success of Super Mario 3D Land, brought in 4 player co-op and more vertical elements

 

• Super Mario Maker (2015) - Wii U

A 2D Side Scroller Maker, in line with ‘Little Big Planet’, allowing people to make their own Super Mario levels in various design styles, and play other people’s as well

• Super Mario Maker 2 (2019) – Switch

A rerelease for Switch Hardware, with improvements and updates

 

• Super Mario Run (2016) – Mobile

First Mario Game on Mobile devices, criticized for being pay to play.

 

• Super Mario Odyssey (2017) – Switch

Main line Mario game for Switch, first introduction to non-Mario-design humans and realistic world.  Introduction of Cappy.

 

 

Non-Mainline Mario Games

Beyond the main Games, Mario has starred in and helped launch several other genre of games in the past.  These include:

• Puzzle Games
• Kart Racing Games
• Role-Playing Games
• Party Games
• Sports Games
• Educational Games

There are also some games released outside of Nintendo with their Blessing.

 

Puzzle Games

• Mario (1990)

This series has Mario as a doctor, throwing pills at viruses that the player needs to match up. The pills are thrown one at a time and travel downward at a consistent pace. The goal is to connect four of the same red, yellow, or blue colors together, with atleast one Virus among them.  Once matched, they’ll get removed, along with the virus.  Each Pill has two colors on it, so if one of them disappears, the other will drop down if able to.   Dr. Mario has had numerous rereleases for each console.

 

Kart Racing Games

• Super Mario Kart (1992)

Considered the most popular Spinoff, Mario Kart sees various characters in the Mario cannon racing around a themed track.  What makes it unusual to traditional racing games is that characters can collect items and use them against their enemies, allowing character to progress or hinder other players in the process.  The game has a secondary Battle-mode, where the characters are on a map and use the same items to attach other players with; there hits will cause a player to lose, with the last standing player being considered the winner.  The series has had multiple iterations across all of Nintendo’s platforms, each adding new elements. 

• Super Mario Kart (1992) - SNES
• Mario Kart 64 (1996) - N64
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001) - GBA
• Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003) - GCN
• Mario Kart DS (2005) - DS
• Mario Kart Wii (2008) - Wii
• Mario Kart 7 (2011) - 3DS
• Mario Kart 8 (2014) - Wii U
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017) – Switch (Rerelease with added content from Wii U version)

 

Role-Playing Games

• Super Mario RPG: Legends of the Seven Stars (1996) - SNES

The first RPG in the Mario series, created by Square, it treated the game like a traditional RPG Game of the 90s with Mario Elements.  It was the first game to ever represent Mario in a 3D fashion.  Never rereleased on to other consoles outside of the Super NES Classic.

• Paper Mario (2001) – N64

Created by Intelligent Systems, it shows Mario in a chibi-2D form, similar to a stamp or paper cut out, as he navigates the Mushroom Kingdom to saver Princess Peach from Bowser.  The game adds a number of Puzzles and unique design choices for the look of the Mario World.  It spawned other games of its own, including:

• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004) – GCN
• Super Paper Mario (2007) - Wii
• Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012) – 3DS
• Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016) – Wii U

• Mario & Luigi Series

Created by AlphaDream, it follows Mario and Luigi on the Game Boy and DS hardware as they navigate a wackier version of the Mushroom Kingdom.  These games are unique in that there are only ever two party members in Mario and Luigi, they have special team up attacks, and is based off timing and elaborate attacks.  This series also plays more comedic, with lots of in joke at the expensive of other Nintendo Titles/character and gaming tropes.  Other games include:

• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003) - GBA
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005) – DS
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (2009) – DS
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013) – 3DS
• Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015) – 3DS

• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017) – Switch

A more recent entry, created by Ubisoft, it is a crossover between Mario and the Raving Rabbids Franchise.  It is also the first Tactical Strategy RPG for Mario, as Mario must navigate a space and defeat enemies, using the humor and weapons of Raving Rabbids Franchise.  Very comedic and light hearted, a unique gameplay that mirrors more realistic tactical games, but with a more light hearted setting. 

 

Party Games

• Mario Party (1998) – N64

Developed by Hudson Soft, it follows characters from the Mario universe playing a board game. Each character represents a board piece on the game, with four players playing each game regardless.  Players take turns rolling dice, deciding how far the progress on the map, landing on tiles that either reward or take coins, offer special bonus or penalties, or trigger events.  At the end of each round in which each player has gone once, players will be asked to play a mini-game to earn additional coins.  Some mini-games free-for-all, 3vs1, or 2vs2, based off what tiles you landed upon.  Players are rewarded more coins based off their results in the mini-games.  The intent of the coins is to get to the Tile selling Stars and buy the Star, with the player with the Most Stars winning.  Stars can be awarded via special events, and even stolen by other players if they land on certain tiles.  At the end of the game, additional Stars are awarded to players that performed well during the entire game, and the player with the most stars win. 

 

The series has been adopted on to multiple consoles since the N64, and always include four players.  Recent entries have had all players working together at the same time, and had board games maps that don’t circle themselves.  Mini-games are always swapped out and rarely reused for each game, with new mini-games developed to match each console’s Hardware. 

 

Titles include:

• Mario Party (1998) - N64
• Mario Party 2 (1999) - N64
• Mario Party 3 (2000) - N64
• Mario Party 4 (2002) - GCN
• Mario Party 5 (2003) - GCN
• Mario Party 6 (2004) - GCN
• Mario Party 7 (2005) - GCN
• Mario Party 8 (2007) - Wii
• Mario Party 9 (2012) - Wii
• Mario Party 10 (2015) - Wii U
• Super Mario Party (2018) - Switch

 

Sport Titles:

Mario and company have been in a number of sport cross overs.  Most sport games are taken as straight games with Mario Characters in them, versus some games have more fantastical elements gameplay elements added in.  These Genre include:

• Mario Tennis
• Mario Golf
• Mario Baseball
• Mario Soccer
• Mario Basketball
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

A crossover with Mario and Sonic characters where they compete in Olympic style games.

 

Educational:

Mario has taken part in a number of Educational games, some teaching typing, geography, and history.  These games initially not released on Nintendo hardware, instead for the PC and Mac, but were eventually ported over to the NES and SNES.  These games, as educational games, did not fair well, and were poorly reviewed.

 

Fighting:

• Super Smash Bros. (1999) – N64

While not a direct Mario Title, Mario and company have been mainstay regulars of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros series since its inception.  Mario is often the first playable character, or listed as the first from the select screen.  Mario, much as the other characters, are portrayed as close counterparts to their own games, using similar moves and abilities from their games. These include:

• Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) – GCN
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) – Wii
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) – Wii U & 3DS
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) – Switch

 

 

Homework:

Super Mario Brothers 1

Mario Party

Mario Kart

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE

https://youtu.be/RQ-m6UFw6PQ?t=5649

https://youtu.be/SlFJv01rhLA

Ep 54: Zombie Review

Topic: Zombie Review

We're back once again, talking about Zombies at point in which it feel all too familiar.  Both myself and Mom felt a bit uneasy watching the movies this last week, but it's a good reminder of what we're dealing with and what're facing right now.  Interesting conversations to be sure.

Shawn of the Death (2004)
ZombieLand (2009)
World War Z (2013)
Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies (2016)
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress  (2016)