Metal Monday

YouTube Obsession

I’ve mentioned before how much Giant Bomb has influenced me and is still some of my favorite video game content on the internet and that’s largely because of Jeff Gerstman. His latest project: The Jeff Gerstman Show is basically a continuation of every bit Jeff has been doing since the mid-aughts.

Only now he has three young kids and being “a gamer of a certain age” these days, I find it more relatable than most of games press.

It does baffle me however that he still maintains that his job is to protect consumers. Help gamers make decisions on where to spend their money with inside news and early access. And my man, he doesn’t realize any power reviews had over purchasing decisions died when video content of games became widespread. Like, a website you created and “Quick Looks” videos helped cause the downfall of reviews.

No one reads reviews to decide if they want to buy a game. By the time a game is ready to buy, I’ve already seen 10minutes of unedited gameplay and that tells me all I need to know. Reviews are criticism today and people interact with them like they are criticism. Most don’t even read reviews, they only want to see a score¹ and go ballistic when a Zelda gets a 9/10.

So no, I don’t think Jeff prevents me, a grown adult, from spending my money a game he doesn’t like² . The dude likes Burnout: Paradise, so him saying a game is good is nothing to me. I like Jeff because he has a million connections and experience in the gaming world that color his criticism.³  

Also, he ranks energy drinks.

Watching

It’s spooky season!

SO I’ve been watching some spooky movies that I’ve never seen before. Probably the most glaring blind spot in my movie viewing is the original 1931 Frankenstein. It is surprising how effective this movie still is today. At 70 minutes long it really gets up and goes from the start, climaxing in a scene at burning windmill that still looks incredible.

Bride of Frankenstein really jumps past the German Impressionism vibes of the original and leans heavily into the goofy camp of it all. It’s for the worse really but the absolutely unique and unsettling mannerisms of the bride are worth it. Too bad she is only in the movie for 3 minutes.

I’ll be watching the other Universal Monster movies the rest of the month so follow my Letterboxd if you want to keep up!

Reading

Did I mention I’m obsessed with Battletech at the moment? Well, I am still digging into all the lore and tabletop rules like a madman. So far, I haven’t made any purchases other than the "Beginners Box” for $20. Which is pretty good for a TT game. Though I am definitely putting the official hardcopy rule books on all my publicly available wish-lists.

I am also reading Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel. A non-fiction tell-all of the secret world of the shipping industry through the lens of one pirate hijacking. Big business conspiracy thriller is exactly my jam and I am thoroughly enjoying the book so far.

Playing

One of the games that will never leave my hard drive is Metal Gear Solid: V. It’s just one of those perfect video games that will never get old. I spoke about MGSV in my very first Metal Monday so it tracks that I’m due for a re-play.

And I know it’s gonna sound crazy, but I think the game has gotten better over the years. It jut stands in the face of what open-world games have become: Either an Ubisoft outpost liberation live-service or an overwrought Rockstar slog.

On the first point: In MGSV you don’t liberate outposts per say but it is advantageous to do so, not because it will unlock your ability to hold your breath longer underwater or some shit but because doing so feeds into a multitude of other systems in the game.

Secondly, yes, MGSV simulates a lot of stuff. Alot of stuff. Yet it never feels bogged down by it’s own mechanics like say Red Dead Redemption 2. MGSV’s open world is not egregiously huge, Big Boss can run indefinitely and travel never feels like a slog. Every mechanic feeds into another smoothly and naturally. It’s not just there to have a “we simulated the horses balls” quote on the box. As an example, you can order your horse buddy to shit. It may seem like a useless silly thing to put in the game but horse shit causes light vehicles to spin-out and stun occupants. It’s there for a reason.

“It’s there for a reason” is exactly how I would describe MGSV’s story as well. Gameplay is the story of the game, more here than in any other game I have ever played. When the regular missions end and the player is forced to replay missions with only slightly different objectives; There is a reason the game is doing that! Kojima is asking the player to engage with narrative in ways that most games could not.

It’s a 10 year old game that continues to bring me hours of enjoyment to this day. I hope you all have played it and if you haven’t you can pick it up for so cheap.

Other Notables

** The US military, despite all of it’s problems, is a huge employer of queer and trans people. Returning benefits to people discharged by DADT is huge. At least that ever-inflating $800 billion dollar budget is going toward that.

** Why witches tho?

** The only ghost investigation I will ever trust…

1  Which is the opposite end of silly. I remember either PC Gamer or Games For Windows just got rid of reviews and focused on games criticism and it failed because people just wanted a score.

2  There are always exceptions to the rule. Phoenix Point was from the creator of Xcom and looked like it was right up my alley. But good reviews revealed it’s long-game flaws underneath it’s visuals.

3  Literally 7:30am on Monday morning Edit: Jeff discusses this -briefly- in his latest episode. Walking back statements he has made before about games press. A more down-to-Earth albeit doomer take on print media and reviews.