Laboratory of Mathematics and Writing

Jet Set Radio When someone says "Sega Dreamcast", I automatically picture Jet Set Radio in my head. I'm not video game historian or cultural analyst, but I feel like the Dreamcast occupied a very specific aesthetic at very certain time. The time, of course, being late 90s and early 2000s. The aesthetic is something I can't quite put into words. I believe it comes from each game striving to appear unique in its on way. This resulted in many games in the Dreamcast library truly standing out not only from each other, but from other games on other consoles. It's a combination of attitude and rebelliousness along with playfulness and whackiness. The two best titles that I believe more most exemplary of these descriptors is Space Channel 5 (I don't like it, but my sister did) and my absolute favorite on the console and one of my favorites ever: Jet Set Radio. Love at First Playthrough I actually acquired my Dreamcast after the ...

I Still Don't Like Turn Based RPGs After all these years, I finally played Super Mario RPG. To tell you the truth, I never really had a strong desire to play the game. I am just simply not into turn based RPGs besides Pokemon. But I feel like Pokemon doesn't count simply because Pokemania took over our lives in the late 90s like nothing ever has before and probably even since. It was nuts. But we're talking about Super Mario RPG. It arrived late in the Super Nintendo life span, 1996, so there was no mania about it. The problem I've had with rpgs, and even to a certain extent, Pokemon, it was very easy to just spam the strongest attack and win every battle. I only ever had to strategize at the very end with the final boss and, even then, all I did was have Peach spam healing while Mario and Geno spammed their strongest attacks. So, the battling is not particularly challenging or engaging. The story is cute, but also p...

Chronicles of Riddick - Escape From Butcher Bay I recently played this game on the original Xbox. Yes, I am going back in time. I actually remember wanting to play this game back then, but never got a chance to. I definitely missed out. I am missing out no more The game revolves around the titular character voiced by the guy who played him in the movies, Vin Diesel. Between his portrayals of Riddick, Fast and the Furious, and XXX, I feel this guy can not have existed any other decade besides the 2000's. His voice performance is terrific in this game and the attitude exuded by Richard Riddick is totally Y2K era. This takes me back in a very cozy way. The gameplay is very good. Controlling Riddick is pretty much what you would expect in any action game. It's hard to say just how groundbreaking this was at the time, but some of the hand-to-hand combat didn't quite age well. It felt a little clunky. Everything else was fi...

I just talked to a very close friend of mine over the phone. Without me even mentioning it, he revealed that he was going through a midlife crisis as well. He touched on the most important point I iterated: we now have adult money; it's time to buy some toys! He even brought up how, as a kid, you're not able to obtain the things you really want. Now as an adult with adult money, you can! We are both looking forward to our next years. Although, our knees and our backs aren't what they used to be.... Another important point of discussion he brought is how money can buy you happiness. Well, maybe not quite, but it does help. I remember when I would see a cool shirt, or maybe a cool game, and not buying it because I had to hang on to every penny. Not exactly a happy feeling. Now, I can walk into a local store that sells used shirts and buy an awesome Escape to the Void Sepultura shirt. Not even purchase it for myself, but for a friend of mine. I ev...