Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 8)

This volume of my Favorite YouTube Videos is another mostly musical grab bag. I should point out that I'm starting with my favorites that are farthest in the past on the list and as such this shows how my use of YouTube has changed over time (basically, warning the vloggers are coming). This volume has some cool video game music, some interesting animal videos and a weird admission from my undergraduate degree.

• The first video is another by perpetual appearer in these posts, Brentalfloss. Here we have his with lyrics version of the Ducktale's Moon Theme. 
• The second video is another by the other perpetual appearer, CalebElijah and his rendition of one of the quieter more contemplative pieces from Secret of Mana. I'm always amazed by the amount of artistry in these videos, you don't think about it, but keep in mind that not only does he play all the instruments, but he edits together all the video as well.
• The third video is one that stick with me at least in part because of the music. It's a slow enjoyable moment relaxing and watching the fish go by.
• The fourth video demonstrates that squirrels are smarter than you think and are capable of getting into more places than you'd hope. Please to enjoy squirrels solving obstacle courses. With the necessary Mission Impossible cover, of course.
• The final video for this volume is a bit of a weird one. It's a remix of the theme of Tiny Planets, which was a children's television show about this bigfooty-thing and its ... pet ... thing ... destroying children's understanding of physics while improving their understanding of basic math and cooperation. I have really fond memories of watching this show before heading into classes on Fridays during the first year of my undergrad (in fact it and Neon Genesis Evangelion are some of my major memories of that year and between the two Tiny Planets is actually still watchable, if weird).

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 7)

This week the grab bag of things that once held my attention on YouTube (known of course as Favorite YouTube Videos, volume 7) is all over the place with stuff that at one point held my attention. For what ever reason that means that this week we get a few cool stop-motion animations, some inspirational moments with a group of cellos and two very different kinds of video game covers.

• I love animated short films. The one things I'm most likely to see at the annual film fest here is the  animated shorts program. I enjoy getting my mind bent around new ways to look at what's going on in the everyday. This one, by PESfilm in a nifty take on making dinner.
• Interestingly right on the heels of that first video the second one is a commercial for RBC which we were bombarded with during some major sporting thing (I'm fairly sure it was the 2008 Olympics). I really like this for several reasons, one of which is the animation, the second is the structure of the one long pull back and the third is the architecture of the pavilion that builds up around Mr. Muffin. One of my favorite ads of all time.
• The next video is a cover of Final Countdown played on cello with orchestral backing. Need I say more?
• Brentalfloss is known for his Video Game Music ... With Lyrics series and this is one of the early entries. I like this one and will sing about taking the stuff of poor mangle monsters whenever the opportunity presents itself. I will say though that the one time I played this for my D&D group after one of their victories I was met with rather uncomprehending faces.
• Finally we have a remix of Mario music. It's missing a video (as a lot of music things do) and it's pretty housy (I think, I'm a lousy gauge of music genre), but it's fun and I think it would go well in a Mario game.

Blog: Thoughts on Pikmin

I recently finished replaying Pikmin. Pikmin is a real-time strategy game released by Nintendo for the Gamecube in 2001. Pikmin was later followed up by Pikmin 2 and now Pikmin 3 is scheduled to be a launch(ish) title for the Wii U. In it you play Captain Olimar, erstwhile space ship captain who has crashed into a terrifying planet full of giant captain eating monsters. You have to find the 30 missing parts of your ship  with the help of 3 different, colour-coded for your convenience, species of animate carrots. I rented it (and played it through) through when it first came out and recently picked it up at my local game store.

Piiiiiikmin (via GameFAQs)

You play Pikmin by raising up a swarm of these small simple creatures who's basic functions are to fight things and carry things. You get more pikmin by having them carry food back to their "onions" from which they sprout new seeds which bloom into pikmin which you then pluck and put into forced labour fighting monsters, removing bariers and carrying more food and your ship parts. Different pikmin are immune to different environmental hazards. Put together you get a game that's part puzzle game part action-strategy game.

It's a simple game and really short (I finished it in 3 light evenings, and I wasn't that good). I enjoyed enough to feel like writing a bit about it, especially because of the brightness of the game and how much fun it was it was to play.

What I Liked

The greatest part about Pikmin is the feeling of the game. It's bright and colourful and the controls are (for the most part) not frustrating. It's easy enough to see a problem, decide on a solution and implement it (whether or not it will work is another story). The controls feel good and the game doesn't fight you outside of a couple of AI elements, since the pikmin are supposed to be independent creatures you sometimes have to work with what they want. This doesn't detract from the game at all though.

It's kinda fun to hang out with these guys. (via GameFAQs)

I like the constrained nature of the game. Your ship has crashed, you have 30 days to retrieve 30 ship parts. Pikmin fight things and cary things. All you need to do is make sure the paths are open (which you do by using more pikmin to fight things. The game isn't overwhelming with complexity, either in the gameplay or the story, so it's simple to sit down and play for a few minutes when ever you feel like it. Days last 13 minutes, so it's easy to get a small snippet of Pikmin in although it sometimes takes a couple of days planning to get a task done and it's easy to forget what you were aiming to do.

What I Didn't Like

The biggest issue I had with Pikmin is the strength of the enemies. This is partly due to my having played a lot more Pikmin 2 where the a lot of the bosses from Pikmin become easier, regular field enemies and you have stronger Pikmin to fight them. Still I would describe Pikmin as an easy game, except for the combat. It's also true that most of the enemies are based on patterns and the more you play the more comfortable you get with the correct way to fight each kind of enemy.

Patience is a virtue rarely explored in video games. Watch out for the feet. (via GameFAQs)

I also found that the game is a little bit small and simple (despite my having like the constrained nature above). Again this might be my experience with Pikmin 2 peeking though, but the areas are a bit small and there aren't any extra things to do. It would be nice to find a few extra surprises here and there to expand on the game a bit.

While it's mostly alright, the AI was not all it could be. While most of the game felt like you were collaborating with helpful, mostly compliant creatures (who sometimes had their own agendas) every once in a while the covers fall off and you run into problems. One instance I had was when a bunch of blue-pikmin who are able to walk through water (they have gills) wouldn't carry a ship part back to the ship unless a bridge was repaired for them to carry it over the water. It's a case where what should be a largely emergent AI system was trumped by traditional video game design and it made the game worse for it. From what I recall they did make this much better in Pikmin 2, but as an AI researcher its frustrating to see something we could implement much better going to waste.

Things I Noticed

Pikmin was also re-released on the Wii and while I haven't played it (I have watched Chuggaconroy's Let's Play), I noticed that they signifiantly reworked the controls. This seems to have removed a lot of the issues I've had with getting the pikmin to the right places at the right time. While I don't think the Gamecube controls are terrible it does look like the Wii controls make the game a lot easier.

Things I'd Include in a Game

The bright and happy aspect of Pikmin shouldn't be underrated, even if it causes people to feel like it's a "kiddy" game. It's obviously not appropriate for every game, but sometimes its nice to be able to relax and enjoy the atmosphere ... although this possibly makes it more horrific when you get a swarm of pikmin eaten.

How can it not be charming? (via GameFAQs)

I also like the bite sized chunks attached to achievable goals. This game came out long before the "social gaming" trend started and it's a good reminder that small fun pieces of game play doesn't have to also be about microtransactions.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed Pikmin and if you're able to get your hands on it I recommend playing it. It's a lot of fun by itself and an interesting example of where video games have been in the past. I'm really glad I picked it up and I'm pretty excited for the forthcoming Pikmin 3.

It is the fundamental nature of the Pikmin. All things must be carried. (via GameFAQs)

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 6)

Welcome to the sixth volume of my favorite YouTube videos. This is another grab-bag music week (this will eventually become less frequent, but it's the kind of thing I was focused on at the time, plus I didn't really use YouTube that heavily).

• First we have a nifty piece of music constructed out of the sounds of the Windows Operating System. I like the song and I think it's a cool idea. It's also good for making people wonder what the hell is wrong with their computer.
• The second video is ... faintly embarrassing. But I'll admit to having watched and enjoyed Kim Possible. I also enjoyed that after the first few seasons we started actually seeing the characters change clothes. You know, like people? Sorry about the music on this one.
• The third video is pretty much my favorite song of all time. I love Chrono Trigger. I love Robo's Theme and this song, by Star Salzman, is great. The video that goes along with it also great and has a few funny / awesome moments.
• The fourth video is another great video from CalebElijah. This time tackling the iconic "Shadow's Theme" from Final Fantasy VI.
• And the final video for this volume is the very exciting Yoshida Brothers, playing the Hockey Night in Canada Theme. Ok well not quite, but Rising certainly evokes that before transitioning into it's own version of awesome.