E3 and Me, 2018 Edition: Ghost of Tsushima (Playstation 4 Exclusive)
Ghosts of Tsushima Cover Image. Image Source: Gamespot
Word Count (What I’m Writing); Updated Daily (mostly)
Project Independence Word Count: @4000 words (+203 words)
Project Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel Page Count: 12
Goal = 121 words (5000 words by July 1). Currently at approximately, 4800 words
Actual = 500 words Monday & Wednesday morning/. So, Monday night I managed to hit my
Scrivener
goal of 127 words, but didn’t make my
250
word goal. I was too tired to work on this Tuesday night, but did work on it 4th of July (morning) and got about
Currently Reading (What I’m Reading); Updated Daily (mostly)
For Fun:
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy Novel, Stormlight Archive Book 3)
Finished this last night. I’ll write up my impressions of this title and post it for a blog entry next week. Look out for it.
Transhuman edited by Mark L. Van Name and T. F. K. Weisskopf
Just started this anthology – it was given to me at a LibertyCon some years ago, but I’ve just now gotten around to reading it. I may not finish it/read all the stories, but so far, I’ve read the first story and liked it.
For School:
Ancient Rhetorics, Digital Networks : A book that combines New Media (digital rhetorics) and combines them with ideas and theories of the Ancient Rhetorics.
Lingua Fractal: A Rhetoric book that details the convergence of Rhetoric and Technology and how they interact in today’s world. Finished a Book Review for it on Friday for class.
For Research/Personal Development:
Great Aircraft of WWII by Alfred Price and Mike Spick (for Project Skye)
Reading two or three chapters in Oathbringer every day. I really shouldn’t be, but it is so good, that I generally read it while eating dinner (and then I go back out to the library to do reading for school). Great Aircraft of WWII is a book that I’ve had in my collection for sometime–I’ve glanced at it periodically, but never read it cover-to-cover. Now, with Project Skye, I intend to do just that.
A Ghost in the Machine
So, Ghost of Tsushima debuted at another Sony event about 6-8 months ago, but all that we knew about it was that it was in the form of a trailer, the title of the game, and the studio making it, Sucker Punch, who was known previously as the developers on InFamous, an open world original superhero game (that incidentally taught me how to play open world games–Main Quests and Side Quests and how those two progressions affect the gameplay loop). Well, they’re back with a new game and GoT (not be confused with Game of Thrones) is an open world game, but features the mongol invasion of Japan. One samurai fights to save his homeland and you play as that samurai.
Stabby, Stabby Action
One thing that has impressed me about the game was the attention to detail. I’m just a little bit of a martial arts fan (a huge understatement), so I really like the way that Suckerpunch pulled out all the stops to get their vision of what a martial arts game should be. I really like the way the world and the system were envisioned in this game. It is based on a real-world event and there is no magic, no science fiction, no genre elements to this game at all, but what it does do is shows how one person can try to make a difference in the world based on their beliefs and their skill set. Again, for me this game is an aberration as it has none of the escapism elements that are usually associated with the games that I like to play. What it does have is great 1) characterization – I feel like I know and understand the character and his motivations for why he is doing what he is doing in the game, 2) the game world – even though based on a real place and a real historical period, it feels fresh and different and new, and crucially, it feels realistic, like some place that had I lived at that time, would have been a place that I could have visited.
This is a game that, while a Sony PS4 exclusive, is a game that really shows what can be done if you “grow” your studios and trust your developers (aka Sony) vs trying to go out and “buy” your way to success (aka Microsoft) and their purchasing of Halo/Gears of War (and now those series have petered out and are also-rans) where this game is an amazing new IP with many stories to tell in its universe if Sony continues to believe in the “narrative” game.
Sidney
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Read Faerie Knight in the anthology Fae, Rhonda Parrish, Ed. or the Kindle Edition
Read Ship of Shadows in the anthology Visions IV: Space Between Stars, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
Read WarLight in the anthology Visions VI: Galaxies, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
Read Dragonhawk in the magazine Tales of the Talisman, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, David Lee Summers, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
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