Yu-Gi-Oh 10th Anniversary Bonds Beyond Time
Posted: July 30, 2011 Filed under: Anime | Tags: Animation, Anime, Arts, Games, Kazuki Takahashi, Roleplaying, Trading Card Games, Wii, Yu-Gi-Oh 2 Comments »Well as some of you more hardcore anime fans will know, Yu-Gi-Oh defined an era of anime similar to how Pokemon did in the 1990’s within western society. As the title says, Yu-Gi-Oh has been around for about ten years and has become the best-selling TCG card game in the world. The anime is based on the original manga, which translates to ‘Game King’ or ‘King of Games’, written by Kazuki Takahashi. Personally myself, I have only watched the original anime that launched the phenomena it is today played by adults and children alike across the world. Since then, there has been two more adaptations of Yu-Gi-Oh with new characters and new story lines, but it still revolved around the card game. Most people see these as poor adaptations that never recaptured the magic and charm of the original, both on story line and character development.
Well, getting on to the review of the film, I am personally a huge fan of the card game playing for many years, and due to this I have been looking forward to this film for a long time; but my God how it disappointed me. Personally, by my belief, this film was lazy more than anything; it dives straight into the film with absolutely no plot development. This is bad, due to new viewers who have no insight to the Yu-Gi-Oh world getting lost in the plot (or lack thereof) as soon as the film starts. The film throws you straight into an action-packed sequence, giving you a false sense of hope for the film as well as a poor representation of the TV show. The first character seen is introduced with no introduction or name, just assuming you will know who this character is; and this goes for all characters throughout the film.
Well I have given a fair description of the film but if I really wanted to go in to the negatives there are many, with few positives. So let’s go into some of these, in my personal opinion, positives of this film. This film was made in 3D and high-definition, making it very pleasing on the eye as well as some clear crisp animation. The music fluctuates throughout the film, being appropriate for most scenes with some epic music to fit action scenes. But in the odd occasion throughout the film the music was harsh on the ears as well as not fitting the scene itself. The major action scene in the film is a card game or ‘duel’ which Yu-Gi-Oh is based upon, basically consisting of monsters called ‘duel monsters’ with power ups and traps. Within the anime, these monsters can be summoned through cards, and these monsters are projected on a field using a VR system. But in some scenarios, these monsters will be real, summoned from another world.
More information on the rules of the game can be found here: ‘http://yugiohmagic.tripod.com/id4.html’. The positives of this duel are that it’s very pleasing to someone who is familiar with the rules as well as the nostalgia of the anime. The downside of this, though is it throws newcomers to the anime right in the deep end; this is due to having no explanation of some of the monsters/card effects, as well as not explaining the rules of the game.
This film is highly unbelievable; yes, I know, magic monsters and ‘card games on motorcycles’ are highly unbelievable. But at least these are explained in the anime and follow some logic. But in several occasions across this film, the major characters just accept that time travel is both possible and logical, totally accepting it as well as showing no fear to this phenomena. One character goes as far to say ‘I am pumped about time travel’ after seeing a guy miraculously appear in front of him on a motorcycle, claiming to be from the future, and is there to save the world but needs his help. This guy jumps at the opportunity, showing complete trust and devotion to this cause with no explanation or convincing.
The main evil character in this film who himself, is trying to save the world with a flawed theory. His theory is that if he destroys the past the future may be saved. Flawed concept? I think so. This story plot is poorly conceived and poorly explained to the viewer. The generic evil guy, A ‘paradox’ being his actual name, has absolutely no character development, with no feeling evoked from him towards the viewer. All this character shows to the viewer is that he likes big motorcycles and has a clear dragon fetish with an appetite for destruction.
Now this section is going to talk about one of my little nick picks about this film and the anime as a whole, but seriously, do all these kids wake up on a morning and style their hair with multi coloured lead paint? You watch this film and are utterly blinded by the colourfulness and pointiness of their hair. These kids need a risk assessment doing for lead paint poisoning and having the ability to stab each other with their hair. I am not naive enough to think this is the only anime that has mad hair, but really, this anime takes it to the extreme.
Overall the film is extremely lazy and has no value for money with it only being 45 minutes long, with it being labelled as a ‘feature length film’. The ‘film’ has very little plot and NO character development whatsoever. This film maybe enjoyable for children who are hardcore fans of the anime; except for that, I would not recommend watching. As one of the characters said in this film as a building was collapsing on top of him, ‘OH NO’!
By Richard Broadhead (with some input from a friend of mine, Anthony Ball)
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- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Duel Transfer – fact sheet (gonintendo.com)
‘Dead Space: Downfall’, Reviewed. A Post From Guest Blogger, Jonathon Wilson
Posted: February 14, 2011 Filed under: Film Reviews | Tags: Dead Space, Dead Space: Downfall, Electronic Arts, Film, Game, Games, USG Ishimura, Uwe Boll, Video game 2 Comments »
Image via Wikipedia
Dead Space: Downfall
Released: October 28, 2008
Running Time: 75 mins.
It’s a widely accepted fact that videogame adaptations make terrible movies. We need only to look at the work of German filmmaker Uwe Boll to see many examples of respected intellectual property butchered, for want of a better word, in its transition to the big screen.
The task of transforming a piece of interactive media into a product that can entertain and excite without the need for agency is undoubtedly a difficult one; video games succeed or fail depending on how well they adhere to their own language, rather than the language of film or other, non-interactive mediums.
The key in crafting a successful video game-to-film adaptation is simply setting the bar low. Trying to create the next big-budget blockbuster invariably fails unless you have the money, time and talent to see it through. Rather, play to the strengths of your license and understand exactly what you want your product to be. Such forethought yields infinitely more favourable results.
Take Dead Space: Downfall as an example. Developed b,y Team Roman in collaboration with Electronic Arts, this animated movie functions as a prequel to the events detailed in the original Dead Space video game, it’s closing moments set within minutes of the game’s opening.
It’s quite clear throughout the 75 minutes running time that Downfall isn’t a self-sustained narrative experience. Rather, it is to be taken as a portion of the overarching storyline of the series; although its culmination ultimately serves as a catalyst for the events in the first game, it doesn’t need to spend time establishing mythology and backstory – the meat of the exposition can be found in Dead Space.
Because, however, Downfall is an independent work separate from the main series of games, it’s important that we employ a different critical lens in the interest of fairness. In that regard, Downfall has several narrative shortcomings, the most prevalent of which being its hasty summarisation of important aspects of the universe which deserve more explanation. An 8-10 hour video game has the liberty of drip-feeding us context without spoiling the pacing, but a 75 minute movie has no such advantage.
We’re presented with a lot of questions and few answers are provided – we’re told about the Church of Unitology, it’s desire to uncover an alien Marker from a dead planet called Aegis VII, and the fact that several of its sympathisers or members have been planted on the USG Ishimura, the “planet-cracker” sent to lead the excavation of the artefact. We’re then required to accept these facts at face value.
Once the concept has been established, though, Downfall launches into a wonderfully drawn survival story. As the alien Marker begins to corrupt the members of the Ishimura, transforming them into hideous, savage creatures called necromorphs, security officer Alyssa Vincent must lead a ragtag group of her crewmates on a mission to summon help and, more importantly, prevent the Marker from being taken back to Earth.
Downfall’s primary selling point is its excellent art and animation, with an intentionally muted colour palette lending the dark, mechanical corridors of the Ishimura a real sense of place. The action, when it comes, is exciting and visceral, and the inevitability of the crew’s demise brings with it a terrific feeling of urgency. You know bad things are going to happen, you just don’t know when, or how, or to whom, and as a result many of its slower scenes are wracked with the suspense of the unknown.
The characters, while sometimes unconvincing, are nonetheless interesting to follow. While there are a few too many self-sacrifices for my liking, as dementia begins to set in it becomes a guessing game of who is going to succumb to the effects of the Marker next, and what the consequences will be.
As a huge fan of the Dead Space universe, Downfall was a highly-entertaining prequel for me. My foreknowledge of the finer narrative aspects allowed me to enjoy the movie for what it is, and that’s an exciting science-fiction story of desperation and the will to survive. If you’re a fan of animation this is definitely worth a look, and if you’re interested in the videogames, I’d even go so far as to call this a must-see.
A post from guest blogger, Jonathon Wilson, founder of Dynamic Loading :
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Meet The Gamer: Why is gaming looked upon so negatively?
Posted: December 7, 2010 Filed under: Posts With Thought | Tags: BBC, Games, Panorama, Television, United States, Video game, Video game addiction, World of Warcraft 1 Comment »
Image via Wikipedia
Well, with the BBC investigating Gaming addiction (which doesn’t help matters at all) it’s no surprise that gaming is looked upon in a negative light. Smoking, alcohol and drugs are all addictive but the problem of gaming addiction is much less severe. It’s only in rare cases where it affects people and most gaming brings out positivity, competitiveness and is good for socialising. I suppose it doesn’t help that gaming is one of the most profitable forms of entertainment in the world because of its wide audience.
It also doesn’t send out a great message that games like Call Of Duty and World Of Warcraft are played by people day in day out, but if it doesn’t affect their education and social life or work, then it’s not a harmful addiction and that is what we’re trying to say. Other forms of entertainment like TV, music and sport are equally as addictive but they are not highlighted as an addiction in the same way. Gambling is a type of game but we don’t class gambling as gaming because we play video games purely for fun, to escape and to enjoy ourselves. I remember when I was young and I was pretty addicted to games, I used to play day in day out, but it didn’t stop me from going out to play football in the park, it didn’t stop me from playing rugby for my team and it didn’t stop my aim of getting in education at a university level, maybe I grew out of it but I still play games now and my social skills are not deteriorating as a result.
The worrying began several years ago when Manhunt came out and there was a few cases of violent crimes linked to the game, in some cases it was circumstantial evidence but when you have a media like the one we have in Britain it’s hard to play down incidents like this. Then there was a similar case in the United States to do with Grand Theft Auto being linked to a murder and that turned out nothing to do with the game but in fact a dispute between friends.
Apart from these rare cases gaming actually does people good and there’s not a lot of campaigns like ours that promote this idea. Even when doctors prove it helps social skills and hand eye co-ordination, it seems only the bad aspects find their way into the mainstream media.
Our interactive documentary which looks at gaming in a less biased way will be up on youtube by next monday, so stay tuned!
Related Articles
- Panorama discovers games addiction: did we really need to be told this? (guardian.co.uk)
- BBC One documentary on video game addiction – reporter says games can be helpful in moderation (gonintendo.com)
- What Is The Truth About Gaming Addiction? (rockpapershotgun.com)
- Is video game addiction really so dangerous? (telegraph.co.uk)
- Blizzard comments on video games addiction documentary (massively.joystiq.com)
- Gaming: Can You Get Addicted? (lockergnome.com)
- Editorial: Panorama – Addicted To Games? (rockpapershotgun.com)
- Reports of WoW’s death have been exaggerated (seanmalstrom.wordpress.com)
- Computer games are addictive and use psychological ploys first tested on lab rats (dailymail.co.uk)
- Games industry responds to BBC One documentary on video game addiction (gonintendo.com)
