Brian’s been focusing on the dangers of the real world lately, so in the interests of proper ying-yang balance and chi flow of the blog (or something), I will step up to supply some entertainment for you.
Today, I don’t have much to offer, quantity-wise, but I feel the quality makes up for it. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the trailer for Lego Batman. I, personally, am always excited when I see someone’s breaking out of Arkham, and if you toss in my love for Legos? Looks like a winner to me.
In your Calendar of Obscure and Largely Made-up Holidays, you might notice that today is GM’s Day, so be sure to give your game master, dungeon master, or story teller a quick thanks for their hard work, interesting plot lines, and extreme amounts of patience in not killing off your entire party out of frustration. Thanks, guys. Without you, we’d just be weirdos sitting in our living room, tossing around strangely shaped pieces of plastic. With your help, we’re Jedi, or half-elf mages, or dashing bandits, or mech pilots, or…
I’m afraid my post isn’t all good news, though. On GM’s Day, it seems oddly fitting to find out that Gary Gygax, the man at least partially responsible for the entire hobby, has passed away. I can only hope that an overly-elaborate, multi-level mausoleum will be built, and he’ll be buried with several powerful magical items that can only be retrieved by defeating the dozens of monsters that patrol the hallways.
Finally, in more of a middling ground, I enjoyed this article about Grim Fandango, one of those games that was entertaining, but difficult to market, and thus failed commercially. It was a somewhat odd game, but very fun. It was, as I recall, one of the first games I played on CD-ROM, and one of the last “adventure games” I recall coming out before the genre was grievously wounded by FPS, RTS, and console games. Unfortunate.
Semi-related posts:
Thank you for the balance.
1) Tom and I used to Grim Fandango all the time. Manny Calavera would laugh me to sleep in Cowden. Not many Monkey Island-type games anymore. Lucasarts, how you have fallen.
2) LEGO Batman, yes. LEGO Indy, no. I’ll wait for Indy 4 before I look at the game. I sat through Jar Jar, but can I sit through Temple of Doom? Thanks for the Batman trailer.
3) Sad to hear about Gygax. (But I morbidly cracked up about the tomb. I picture his possessions in giant chests with needles and fireballs.) He really did leave a legacy, when you think about it.
Happy GM Day to all!
Not quite as cool, but Firefly Lego figures are still pretty neat.
The Mal and Simon look especially cool.