Popfling

3. Marco Arment (Hosting Build and Analyze)

His laughter is soft and intrically woven into his speech pattern, often ending his sentences in a twist of joy. You get the feeling that mr Arment notices the funny or absurd things about the topic as he speaks it, and that he can´t help but laugh about it. This leaves the listener in no doubt about the sincerity of his enjoyment.

2. Jim Dalrymple (Hosting Amplified)

The new show Amplified shot itself straight into number two of this list thanks to the rapid and heavy laughter of showhost mr Dalrymple. This guy laughs like a machine gun - a wonderful canadian laughter machine gun.

1. Dan Benjamin (Co-hosting pretty much every show, founder of 5by5)

Mr Benjamin is not only the voice of 5by5, he´s also the laughter. He takes the number one spot thanks to the incredible range of enjoyment he sends out through the digital aether. There´s the subtle small laughter in a low pitch when he and John Gruber shares a moment. There´s the delighted outbreak of pure fun when he listens to Andy Ihnatkos diverse introductions at the Ihnatko Almanac. And there´s everything in between.

Enjoy the many shows of 5by5, and rate them in iTunes!

Steve Jobs´2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Some stuff happened. Some of it happened everywhere, but about half of it just happened in the UK. Some stuff happened only in the cartoon, and in the cartoon movie. Some stuff in the movie, happened retroactively in the comics, and stuff in the comic started to happen because of the movie, but the things that happened in the comics because of the movie never happened in the cartoons that came after the movie. So yeah.

First there was some comics. Then some other comics came. They where supposed to all happen in the same universe. That meant that Captain America could run into Spider-man and talk to him if the writers wanted. This they wanted, because it could help sell more issues. This Marvel Universe had stuff happen to it for several years. Over time, things started to contradict other things that had happen before. This was solved by a method called retroactive continuity, wich is a fancy way of saying ”we changed it”. The explanations for said changes in-universe ranged from ”a wizard did it” to ”she wasn´t really dead” to ”it was all a dream”. One method that allowed writers to change stuff as they went along was the idea of a multiverse. The original Marvel U got number 616, and there was said to be a (unlimited) number of other universes next to it that were slightly different. Basically this allowed the writers to make up anything and have it happen without destroying the continuity. A swell idea, except:

A) It arguably rendered the whole concept of ”continuity” meaningless,  since the whole point was to have stuff make sense. Having infinite numbers  of universes in wich everything might happen without breaking continuity is in practice very much like having no continuity at all.

B) The writers screwed it up anyway, since they insisted on having their stories take place explicitly in the 616 Universe, and kept contradict earlier stories.

Then they created Ultimate Marvel, wich was a separate universe were writers could screw up things. First it wasn´t even supposed to be in the same multiverse as the regular Marvel U, but after the Zombieverse was introduced, there is now a multiverse connection between the good old 616 universe and the Ultimate (wich apparently bears the number 1610). Don´t expect any crossovers soon though, until the almighty powers of marketing decides it might help sell some more issues.

Oh, and there is also the Marvel Noir Universe, the Marvel Mangaverse, the Marvel Adventures Universe and a very special kind of Marvel Universe where winter is everlasting. Also nowadays, the Marvel Cinematic Universe were many (but not all) of the Marvel movies take place.

PS. Like the idea of a multiverse? Check out the Marvel Megaverse and the Marvel Omniverse!

We chose our profession in defiance of the greed of the monarchy. We will not live for the sake of taxes to fatten the nobles pockets. We choose to live the only life available to those who would be truly free. We are thieves.

This was one of those games I knew I was gonna love, as soon as I saw the first screenshot some months ago. It looked something like this:

The graphics alone convinced me this was a must-have. I was hooked on the old AGI Sierra games as a child, and this style was very similar to those offerings. The setting also reminded me of those early fantasy games from Sierra, but with a darker twist. Something like a Kings Quest game written by Fritz Leiber or Robert E. Howard.

I bought the game the same day it was released. Downloading this for just 4.99 seemed like a steal, even before I tried the game.

What  first struck me as I launched it was the music. Jim Guthrie really went to town with this game. According to Superbrothers the game was developed as a joint project, combining graphics, gameplay and sound into a single unity. It shows. To often in games the music is added last, like an afterthought, but here it really is an integral part of the experience. The Scythians travels are accompanied by a lush and melodic soundtrack with echoes of everything from Jean Michel Jarre to Vangelis to John Carpenter. When the action heats up in the game, the music follows suit and transforms into a gothic horror soundtrack complete with mighty organs and wardrums. Being chased by the immortal Guardian after stealing the mystical Megatome was an intense experience. Thanks Jim. This is without a doubt the finest soundtrack this year. Here´s to it being the first Grammy nominee for a game soundtrack.

The sound and music also plays a big part of the game in-world. Many of the puzzles involve producing the right note in the right order or something along those lines. It´s quite simplistic, especially compared to Zelda games like Occarina of Time and The Wind Waker, both of wich included similar elements. But the mechanic works great with the touchscreen, and the ambigious nature of the ”sworcery”-magic is preserved well because of this decidedly simple approach.

You got the touch

Hardly surprising, the whole game is controlled by the touchscreen. 

Controlling a moving character with the touch of your finger is simple and feels natural, but it´s not perfect. Sometimes the game didn´t respond immediately to my finger, something that is very frustrating when you´re being chased by an immortal evil. One time I had trouble leaving a screen, because the path curved slightly and my finger accidentaly touched some bushes instead. This is nitpicking, and a consequence of a tochscreen by nature never being able to be as precise as a mouse. The puzzles however, benefits greatly from the fact that you´re actually touching the things. Rubbing a spirit shine just wouldn´t feel the same with a mouse, and some puzzles involves you pulling two things together with your fingers.

The fighting mechanic, like the graphics and movement control, is similarly simplistic. When the time for a fight comes, you rotate the iPad to unsheate your sword, and the combat then takes place in portrait mode. You are basically limited to one attack move and one defence move, but timing is an important aspect of defeating your foes. Some enemies trigger a quicktime event that you must swiftly respond to, unless you want to be hit by lightning from a levitating magical triangle. There´s not a whole lot of combat in the game, just enough to spice things up between wandering, exploring and seeking out spirits, and most of the fights are easy affairs. Some of the boss fights are truly epic though because of their length.

The graphics, music and controls are all important part of the Sword & Sworcery experience. What keeps all of it together though is the writing. It´s brilliant in its minimalistic prose. On the surface this is a typical low-fantasy tale of a nameless adventurer who fights an unspeakable evil from beyond the realm of reality. This game though takes this concept and runs with it, incorporating an atmosphere of both the television series Twin Peaks and old celtic mythology. In my opinion, the lack of extensive dialogue and backstory is precisely what allow the player to invest emotions in the main character and the few secondary characters. Neither The Girl or Loggfella are explored in great dept, but that just means that there is nothing in the way when we relate to them. Everything we need to know about them are there, shown on screen or hinted upon in the form of the sparse twitterfeeds representing their thoughts. This makes their relationship with the Scythian open for interpretation, as well as the mystery of her background and motivations. In fact, this makes for a hillarious joke in the game, when our hero takes some time off in front of the fireplace to tell Loggfella about her earlier adventures and the lands she comes from. Only to find that Loggfella has fallen asleep. Later we can read that he ”has a really low tolerance for lore”. Exactly like me.

If you haven´t downloaded and played this game yet - do so right away. If you for some reason don´t own an iPad, this game is the only reason you need to get one.

 

Buy it here. 

Scottish writer Andrew O´Hagan gives a great opening address on the Sydney Writer´s Festival from 2007. This is probably one of my all time favorite podcasts on the whole internet. Highly recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in creativity and litterature.

John Lennon