NES

I am fairly obsessed with the NES games as cultural objects these days. The imagery of them, the levels on which they can be understood, as games, as screens, as individual sprites, as puzzles to be TAS-ed, etc. And a general creative/lazy/postmodern urge has drawn me to a variety of art projects around these things, which maybe I'll post some day.

In particular, super mario brothers is becoming a point of obsession. I wonder what percentage of people my age, especially males, have played that game at least once. The layout of 1-1 is a powerful image. The sprites themselves are burned into our brains (though my image of the turtles has been replaced by the more satisfying, rounded ones from later sequels). There is great lore surrounding the locations of invisible 1-up blocks, and of course the mythic infinite water level.

I did some research into how NES graphics are constructed, read this article on bizarre bugs in the game, and seen this thing that shows you what graphics are loaded at each moment as you play - the underlying skeleton is being revealed, and while it ruins the magic somewhat, it reveals a far more powerful magic underneath, far more interesting, somehow.

Its like if we found out a championship runner was actually a complex construction of gears, springs and counterweights. Sure, he's lost his appeal as a fast runner, but holy shit! How does he actually work?

Braid

If you have an xbox360, there's no excuse not to play Braid. Gorgeous graphics and music, extremely satisfying puzzles, and a compelling, if cryptic storyline*. The whole thing just comes together, one of my favorite game experiences ever.

* That I was going to resist calling Lynchian but then David Lynch was one of five folks mentioned in the special thanks section of the credits so maybe its valid. Plus, it really is. I could go on for paragraphs.

play your part!

The new girl talk lives up to the last one. Hit it.