While I fully realize that "Feel the Hatred" was last month's homework assignment, there is something that I feel the need to express. The fact that a live-action Dragonball movie is being made makes me want to vomit profusely. From the time I was twelve years old, I have been a fan of the Dragonball series. Nearly every day at 4 pm, I would rush home after school to catch the next episode of Dragonball Z on Toonami. I was instantly hooked, and I started watching in the middle of the Frieza (read: Freezer) Saga. Now, that's dedication. Thus began my slow descent into Anime fandom. (Save your assumptions; I assure you that they are incorrect.) Several years of Japanese and two visits, including one year of Study Abroad to Japan later, I am still a fan of Dragonball. But, you never outgrow the originals. I think that is why this movie irks me so very much. Someone, I don't really care who, decided it was a good idea to take the Dragonball story and make into a live-action Hollywood movie (read: contrived insult to the original story).

Seriously, though. Can anyone say Bulletproof Monk 2? We have a young, Caucasian male as the hero. Following that, is a young, Caucasian female as the side-kick. (Yeah, and Bulma was never into Martial Arts...She preferred to shoot first and ask questions later.) Chow Yun-Fat playing the wizened, old martial arts master. I'm not sure, but I think the producers of this movie are trying to target a certain demographic... Admittedly, there is no real racial distinction in Dragonball, but there certainly is a cultural one. It is based, albeit loosely, on a famous piece of Chinese literature called Journey to the West. This is emphasized in the settings and characters, which have their basis in Chinese culture.


*gags*

To quote the most recent poster on YouTube for this video, "Looks like a B-grade movie..." *shakes head* For me, Dragonball opened up a new world. It inspired me to draw, to learn about other languages and cultures and to visit other countries. In my opinion, this kind of movie only promotes ignorance of other languages and cultures. It takes those unique cultures, throws them in a blender and serves them to America as one big, jumbled mess. The producers of this movie have taken the base storyline behind Dragonball and thrown Hollywood actors at it, in an attempt to make money. What made Dragonball what it is will not be there. The spirit of Dragonball lives in the linguistic and cultural references, the plays on words, the on-the-edge-of-your-seat action and the unique style of animation that grasped the hearts of children and adults everywhere.

I give this movie one finger up.

BioWare can read my mind?! No, wait. Let's be rational about this...They bugged my car. Not a week ago, I said to my husband, and I quote, "...Sonic Chronicles?! They need to get to work on Mass Effect 2!!!" I mean, how else could they have known...Oh. Wait. I might not be the only one who was thinking that Mass Effect 2 would be a freaking awesome idea! In fact, according to IGN.com, Mass Effect was "Conceived as a trilogy..."

Heh, heh. *swallows* Sorry, got a little weak in the knees for a second there... *clears throat* But, seriously, folks. Let's consider for a moment, all the ways a sequel to Mass Effect could rock my socks...again.

New Armor


Don't get me wrong, I commend BioWare on the amount of customization they put into the gear in Mass Effect. But, to be honest, I feel like I went through the majority of the game with the same armor equipped...And, why was there no Spectre armor made available?

My husband brought up an interesting point that had been sitting in the back of my mind, unspoken for some time: It would be really cool if your armor changed in appearance when you upgraded it. What's more, he wondered, why does every character carry every available weapon? I do have to admit that while my vanguard is only proficient in pistols, she does look extremely bad-ass armed to the teeth with high-tech weapons. He also mentioned the fact that the hair options were not terribly extensive in Mass Effect. I theorized that the designers probably didn't add too many hair variations because the main character is constantly in combat situations. But, he did comeback with a fair argument...Being a Spectre is like being in the Special Forces, who are allowed to grow their hair out. Not to mention that one is usually wearing a helmet in combat, anyway...

Now, one couldn't have asked for more creativity when it came to the setting of Mass Effect. But, let's consider the other species for a moment. First, we have the "mono-gendered"

Asari
,

...who resemble human females and can "meld" with any gender of any species. But, before you start thinking that a species that is entirely female and can perpetuate itself with any other species is strange, ask yourself: Where are all the females from the other species?! Have you seen a female...

Krogan
,

Turian
,

Elcor
,

Volus


or

Salarian
?

Come to think of it, maybe I did see a female Salarian once...Nah, I was probably just imagining it...

Before you ask: No. I did not forget about

Tali
.

Perhaps it is my personal interest in foreign languages and cultures showing, but I would love to learn more about each of the other species in Mass Effect 2. Apparently others, such as those at www.gamingsteve.com/, agree with me.



One last thing, I would be more than willing to endure elevator rides that are twice as long as in the first Mass Effect, if it meant that the Mako's shields would regenerate even the slightest bit faster!!! Please?! PLEASE?! PLEASE?!

I have, in the past, found myself not wanting to try something for fear that I might fail at it. Video games are no exception. In fact, they are probably the prime example in my case. This amuses me, because the first video games I played as a child were what we now call "Nintendo-hard." In the 5 years separating the time we gave away our NES and I finally convinced my mom to buy a PS2, everything had changed about video games. Suddenly, I had little faith in my gaming skills. Instead of attempting to play a frustrating game, I would simply insist I didn't like games of that type; probably more in an effort to convince myself than the person with which I was speaking at the time.

Let's take a moment to explore this, though. It seems to be the case that people often claim to dislike that which they fear. They say they hate something when, in point of fact, they really mean, "I fear that." Moreover, people often fear that which they do not know or understand. I've encountered this reaction many times in my study of foreign languages and cultures. Yet, the fear of potential failure seems to be the quintessential fear of the unknown. A famous philosopher once made the argument that it is more logical to believe in God than not to, because the benefits of doing so outweigh the potential losses of not doing so.

I feel the need, at this point, to stress the difference between the fear of potential failure and truly believing that there is no chance of winning. There are games that I will refuse to play on the basis that I do not believe there is even a remote chance that I could win. This is not a fear of failure so much as a refusal to waste my time. Before you assume that I am just a sore loser, let me give you an example of one of these games:

Smash Bros Brawl
.

It, honestly, doesn't matter with whom I play or how many times I do so...The chances of my winning are probably around 0.0000000000000000000000000001%. This, coupled with the fact that there isn't enough of story to keep me interested, usually means that I am not going to volunteer for a round of Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Now, back to the subject at hand: fear of potential failure. For a long time, I would refuse to play a game on the grounds that I might fail. Eventually, I learned to give it a go anyway. I discovered that the fear of potential failure could be outweighed by the hope that I might win. This is one of the main reasons that I have been able to succeed at games like:

Metal Gear Solid


and Mass Effect
.

Third person shooters have often been the most frustrating, while at the same time the most rewarding, for me. I believe this is because it presents challenges for me to overcome. One of the challenges I've had to overcome in these games is getting used to the programming that dictates how the analog sticks control your character. This problem likely stems from the fact that I spent a fair amount of time in high school playing games like Final Fantasy X and Dynasty Warriors 3 & 4. This left me forever needing to invert the Y-axis of any shooters I subsequently tried to play. Shooters like MGS and Mass Effect require much more attention to detail than a typical RPG, as well as a much higher level of dexterity from the player's fingers. This was a battle of will which demanded much patience and persistence on my part.

Perhaps, then, it is less a sense of hope than it is a sense of pride that drives me to succeed in games? I'm certain this must be the case with games like:

Guitar Hero
.

//This reference would make more sense if you had witnessed my unrelenting quest for a perfect score on Guitar Hero the night before my 7:30am Mandarin final. (I got an "A", if you're interested...) It probably didn't help that it was after midnight and I'd had 2 Grande Caramel Macchiatos throughout the day...// But seriously, no game whose controller resembles something made by Fisher Price is gonna kick my ass!

In short, my greatest fear when it comes to gaming has probably always been failure. Luckily, my winning (read:stubborn) personality and supportive (read:other gamer) friends helped me overcome said fear. And remember, there are worse ways to

.

Finally, a game that gets me! It's been too long since a game has so thoroughly and
effectively glued my butt to a couch and my eyes to a screen. But, before I have a joy-
gasm just thinking about it, let's "Tarantino" the story just a bit. (Yes, that's a Dane Cook
joke...)

Recently, my husband and I convinced ourselves that an Xbox 360 would be worth the
investment. I, finally admitting to myself that the third installation of Katamari Damacy was
not likely to be released for Playstation 3 any time soon, had begun mulling around the idea
of getting a 360. As soon as I mentioned this thought to my husband, I was immediately
bombarded with an onslaught of puppy-dog eyes and six-year-old Christmas morning glee.
How could any decent and loving gamer-wife say "no" to that? Soon, the question of which
version of the 360 to get became the question...followed, of course, by which games to
take home that first day. My vote, as you may have guessed, went to Beautiful Katamari.
My husband's game of choice was a game that I had seen him play briefly at a friend's
house called Mass Effect...



It looked mildly entertaining...But, how good could it be, really? I watched disinterestedly
as my husband played through the beginning of the game...Meh, I guess I could get into
that. Then the fateful moment came, when he extended the controller to me and asked,
"Do you want to try making a character?" "Sure, I'll give it a shot...," I say without much
in the way of enthusiasm.

Twenty minutes later, Commander "Phoenix" Shepard is ready for action. She is a spacer,
war-hero Navy brat. Not a thing like me, except, maybe, phenotypically-speaking...So,
doubtfully, I launch myself into the game...and I get my ass kicked. WHAT?! Oh, hell no!
Stupid, third-person shooters! Stupid Xbox controllers with their analog sticks in weird
places! But...I can't put it down! I'm already too attached to my character. The story has
reeled me in and refuses to let me go. (I'm not sure, because I couldn't tear my eyes
away from the screen long enough to check, but my husband probably had a look of dread
on his face at this point. A look of horror that his XBox had just been taken over mixed
with fear that he might never "get any" again...Nah. It was probably just a look of proud
admiration that his wife was a nerd.)

So, not only did Mass Effect grab my attention, but it kept it, too. At every opportunity, I
was at the helm of the Normandy, flying through the Milky Way on some mission or
assignment. Bioware out-did itself this time, I have to say. The only complaint I have in
regards to this game is the loading time, and that is due to the limitations of the Xbox. (:(
Don't get me wrong, I love our Xbox... But, sorry, Xbox fan-boys, you have to admit that
Sony's PS3 has wins out with it's real-time processor...)The amount of detail in this game
floored me. There are several clusters, containing numerous systems, housing a
surprisingly varied amount of planets. The alien species are as varied and unique as one
could wish. The art and architecture blew me away. But, the Mass Effect team didn't spend
all its time on the setting. There is the intricate story within which you find yourself. But,
best of all, is the fact that you, the gamer, choose what will happen next. Your story is as
unique as you are. All other story lines will seem suddenly more contrived and less
personal. Things happen if and when you say they happen. Granted, this is not the first
game to give you said options; however, it seems to be, in my opinion, the only one that
does so at such an extreme level, all the while entrancing you with it's beautiful graphics
and extensive setting. I will admit to being pulled into the romantic sub-plot, as well.

As I was finishing my first play through of Mass Effect, I sat tense and attentive in our
recliner, watching to see what the outcome of all my 43 hours of play would be. My
husband, looking at me in amusement and chuckling, says, "Look at you nerding out over
there..."



"YES! It was everything I thought it would be and more! Haha!"