Brutal Legend & Afro Samurai

My wife posted just before me, so you ladies can skip this for the next post about babies.

Gaming is a multibillion dollar industry. In the three years since its release, Microsoft has sold more than 28 million units of the Xbox 360; the earnings on Xbox live in that time—buying subscriptions, gamer-pictures, downloadable games, etc—has topped $1 billion. This year was their biggest yet. The number of 360 units sold outstrips the Playstation 3 by 8 million worldwide.

Playing video games has become as ubiquitous to American life as watching movies: at least, for those of us who have been born since 1970. Movies have been considered for their artistry and depth for some time, and now video games are taking on some of those same characteristics. The artistic quality and technical effort put into video games has skyrocketed since the release of the original Sony Playstation in 1994; and with the development of the "Next Generation" systems (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii), the only limit on what game makers can do is their imagination. These systems are capable of absurd realism and visual effects that match Hollywood.

Therefore, gaming has become the cutting-edge of cultural expression. Though there has been artistry and astounding creativity in making games for quite some time, the world of gaming has seen continual growth in artistic expression, especially in recent years. 

This trend took its first giant leap when companies like Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) and Capcom began hiring gifted composers to do scores and soundtracks for their games, notably Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series), and for Capcom, Yasuaki Fujita (Mega Man 3–4, Metal Slug), and began producing games with deeper and more complex stories. The role-playing genre brought gaming to a new level: it insisted that there be a story, and a character with a history. Few games succeed without them; those that do, succeed solely due to their immediate gameplay value, such as racing games, puzzle games, and fighting games.

Formulaic games—with the same basic plot, characters, and action—are becoming less and less likely to succeed; along with them are games based on movies. Innovation is the name of the game, and game developers are being forced to take risks. In the past year, the games that have succeeded, and that have won the gaming awards, have been the games that have done something different.

These successful games, such as Bioshock, Fallout 3, and Grand Theft Auto 4, have a cinematic quality to them. Cinematic concerns like lighting, setting, sound, and music are breathtaking and create a believable and dramatic world in these games. Their plot lines are deep, and the twists and turns are sometimes jaw-dropping. Character depth and development take an 

unprecedented turn for the profound; Grand Theft Auto—which some have said to be the best game of all time— traces the story of Niko Belic, an immigrant who follows the promise of work from his cousin in America, as he finds himself entangled in the underworld of Liberty City; as the story develops and Niko digs himself deeper and deeper into the world of crime, the player can see and feel the sickening of Niko's heart as he becomes a darker and more foreboding character.

And now I finally get to the point of this post: I am excited to see this movement towards depth and artistry continue. I am most excited to see the use of voice actors for NextGen games. Already announced is Brütal Legend, an action-adventure journey through the world of heavy metal album art featuring Jack Black as the voice of protagonist Eddie Riggs—this looks to be an awesome game in its own right, when the design process consists of "What do you think of this creature? Would you see it on an album cover?" 

Also in the works is the Batman game, Arkham Asylum, which will be voiced by several actors from The Animated Series, including Kevin Conroy as Batman, and Mark Hamill as The Joker. Not only that, Samuel L. Jackson is voicing the lead for Afro Samurai, which will be released on the 27th. Of course, Ghostbusters: The Video Game will have the original actors doing voices, including Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd.

Games that already have been released using voice actors, and I just found this out: Liam Neeson plays the role of the protagonist's father in Fallout 3; and, Keifer Sutherland plays the role of Sgt. Roebuck, and Gary Oldman plays Sgt. Reznov in Call of Duty: World at War.

Gifts and Options

Baby received her (or is it his?) first gift this weekend from April, Chris, and Ella. The Baby Book and two precious cloth diapers! One diaper has little pandas exploring a bamboo glade and the other has fuzzy creatures that say "ooga booga". Suitable for Baby Boy or Baby Girl. It's funny to think that Baby is one or the other, but we just don't know.

The cloth diaper option remains, even though I waver back to the "disposables are easier" mentality occasionally. The truth is, of all the people I have talked to who use cloth diapering, no one has said it's too much work to handle or that they tried it for a while and couldn't stand it any more. They all love it. I even have one friend who has been a disposables user, but is getting into cloth diapering and loving it.

My current thought is that there are so many options for cloth diapering and all require a certain routine or system (just like disposables, truthfully---think about it, you have to make trips to the store, fill and empty your little diaper pail, and buy more diaper pail refills---that's a routine), and all it takes is finding the one you're most comfortable with. Since Trey and I haven't had a baby before, we'll be getting used to all new routines and systems, so we might as well give the cloth diapering a try. I'm at least going to do some more research.

Another Owens

We are always undeserving, yet the Lord persists in blessing us. We have a very special blessing at present whose little hand you may be able to hold sometime in July. I'll be keeping "Little Toot" mostly to myself until then, though. What a special time!

Moving on?

I thought about shutting down this blog and creating a new one. It's hard to pick up from Grandpa's death and keep going. I don't want the part of my life that has Grandpa in it to be over. But he isn't here and this life keeps moving. As Meredith once said you can let life drag you along in the dirt or you can try to run with it (loose paraphrase).

Even if we as a family do come to a point where it's "normal" for Grandpa not to be here, our lives will always be broken by his absence. Makes me look forward to the second coming more. And I suppose that will be the case with every death of a fellow believer.

Good bye, Grandpa.

Grandpa

Thank you, Jesus, for blessing the world with this man for eighty-eight years. Grandpa followed Christ from Harperville, Mississippi through medical school at Tulane in New Orleans during World War II. During his medical internship in Memphis, Tennessee, he met and married my grandma, Rebecca Lisanby. Together they survived Birmingham, Alabama, San Francisco, California, Clarksdale, Mississippi, and finally made their home in Cleveland, Mississippi for almost 60 years.

Samuel Duff Austin was a faithful, loving husband to his "Becca" for 63 years; he loved and provided for four children, Cathy, Susan, Richmond, and Melinda. He delighted and adored his nine grandchildren, always saying something sweet to the girls, taking the boys fishing, and sharing a Hershey's Kiss or Snickers bar with all his chocolate-loving family. He welcomed his first great-grandchild to the world on August 20, 2008.

His patient hands and listening ears administered grace and medical care to his patients during his over-60 year practice. God gifted him with the skills and abilities to be an excellent diagnostician, and in his practice, he served as a vehicle of God's grace and care to many who were suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally.

He has pictured Christ to his family and friends. Always present, always loving, always providing, always compassionate, always giving. His absence leaves a great void in our lives. Christ alone gives us peace while we miss Grandpa, just as Christ has already healed and completed Grandpa in his own, glorious presence.

When I was a little girl and would visit Grandpa, he always held his hand over his heart and told me that his heart was missing something when I was gone from him. On November 3, 2008, that earthly heart that he would hold his hand over failed him and failed his body. But his Lord Jesus has made his heart more whole than it ever was on this earth, and one day he will live in a new body without disease, and his whole family with him. And we will praise the LORD as we ought in that day.

Thank you, Jesus, for blessing us through Grandpa's life. Thank you for redeeming him and for claiming his whole family for your own. Thank you for loving him better than any of us, who love him so much. Come quickly.