The start of something big and Sunday Sketch #11 (Strip #73)

2005-10-23T21:40:33Z

That's right, fellow Zeroes! You're reading the first of hopefully many LJ community posts directed specifically at you, the loyal Amazing Superzeroes reader! After seeing many other webcomics do the same thing, I figured it would be a great way to connect even more with those of you that read the strip with every update and maybe even go back through the archives just because they're that good.

So I should post something about the current strip, which is the Sunday Sketch #11 entitled, "Innovation". More than likely, I'll have a lot more to write about with the Sunday Sketches than I will the regular episodes because there is so much more personal investment in the things I tackle each Sunday than with the episodic, continual bits of story. With that said, my thoughts on the latest sketch...

Simply put, video games are getting old. Not just the industry, which is now about 20 years young (Happy Anniversary NES!), but the formats and genres themselves. It takes something truly special to come along and end the drought that is my own game playing habit, and in this case the honor goes to several games on the Nintendo DS along with one in an unexpected place; the usually conformity-centered PS2 is now home to Shadow of the Colossus, the spiritual successor to the critically acclaimed Ico. The game features gameplay unlike nearly anything you've ever seen and is thus that much more worthwhile to play. You like your boss battles big? Sorry, not big, GIGANTIC? HUGE? FRICKIN' ENORMOUS?!? Then you cannot miss this game. You don't jump in their faces, you don't even wall-jump to barely reach their face just to give a quick swipe with your sword. You have to SCALE these bad boys. There are plenty of mountains and elevated spaces for you to explore and in this game the upward mobility before a boss battle plays an integral role; it's training you for what's to come.

Of course, one game cannot carry the industry through to more prosperous days (and yes, I'm talking in terms of ideas, the game industry is now more profitable than it's ever been). Luckily, there are several others spear-heading the charge, from We <3 Katamari to the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-like Indigo Prophecy (both strangely for the PS2... hmm... ), but the need for innovation is still a great one. Nintendo has led the charge with the DS, but what if a gaming CONSOLE were to embody such changes, on a grander scale? Enter...the Revolution. With this new, evolving piece of technology, Nintendo hopes to accomplish what it did with the NES almost 20 years ago; jump start the industry that it perceives to be in danger of smothering itself with complications in game design and a lack of innovation. With it's completely unique interface and inclusive (yet still vague) game design, Nintendo has the best shot in recent history at changing the face of gaming once again and I applaud them for their maverick spirit and desire to change what many don't feel is broken and will be first in line at my local game shop to get mine on day 1. PS3? I will almost certainly wait. Unless they get something like Shadow of the Colossus ready for launch day. Then I MIGHT be persuaded to change my mind.

Amazing Superzeroes...UNITE!

The start of something big and Sunday Sketch #11 (Strip #73)