To the Editor: I love reading your articles, and enjoy your open format in wed design. I recently searched your archives for stories involving MUD’s for I am still an active mudder and I would love to know where you guys think the genre is going. It could be an interesting story.
-Vhadakhan
From The Lounge: [Re: “Great Zombie Depression,” by Joe Blancato] Very good article. I am a first time reader, brought here by Stubbs. The Escapist now sits proudly on my rss list.
I specifically liked the part where you played again at the end. Sure Stubbs might be filled with meaning, and political statements and such, but that is just an underlying bonus. It’s the sort of thing you read about in a magazine after you have played through, and then have a nice sit and think about.
The conformity vs. more conformity argument never really struck me, but it is a bit amusing. Stubbs is really just changing zombies into zombies. Either way you look at it, it sucks to be the people of punchbowl, at least as far as various forms of expression are concerned. The bottom line though, is that it is good to be Stubbs. At least he finally gets what he wants.
I found it interesting that the band Cake was specifically mentioned, because this article read a whole lot like a John McCrea interview I once read. Soell and McCrea have a similar view of their work in that they hide a whole lot of meaning in an artistic package of some sort. What sets the two apart is their expectations of the audience. McCrea expects his audience to see the (often ambiguous) meanings that he has stuffed into his songs, and enjoy his music for the meaning, as well as the musical quality. Matt seems more than content if his readers love his game for being an excellent game. No meaning is being forced upon anyone in Stubbs, and for those that look for it, that makes finding something deeper all the more worthwhile.
-Ninj
From the Lounge: [Re: “Duck and Cover,” by Russ Pitts] The author of the article really captured my feelings as well. As a matter of fact I was bound and determined as a child to get my parents to put in a fallout shelter. (They never humored me, however) And many of us felt the same anxiety, I think.
I had much the same reaction to Fallout also. To this day if someone asks my favorite game of all time, I say Fallout without hesitation. It got so many things right, that one couldn’t help but to enjoy it. I remember everyone going on about Baldur’s Gate the following year (or so), and after playing it thinking “that’s a great game, but it’s no Fallout.”
Great article. Really hit home with me.
-Jon D.
From The Lounge: [Re: “Retro Like You’ve Never Seen It Before,” by Pat Miller] Now this was an interesting read. I’ve been a fan (though not a hardcore one) of Shmups since I was young, and when Ikaruga came out I snatched up a copy. These games of Kenta Cho are quite superb. I’ve downloaded about three already and each one is excellent. I particularly like how their control scheme is standardized. The learning curve is lower that way.
I could go on further, but I don’t want to bore anyone. Thanks for bring these titles to our attention.
These and the likes of Geometry Wars might just bring a resurgence of these simple but addictive genres … if they catch on with the general public that is.
-Jeff Staple
