Note: This article is also available at Ideas Without End here.
What started out as a plan for a single article has turned by some process into an informal series blog; I won’t be religiously writing about each episode as I watch the series, but as and when sections of it stand out as interesting I will write about them, bringing in my views on the series as a whole.
Posted by r042 on 17 May 2012
http://superfani.com/2012/05/17/respect-and-peer-relationships-in-episodes-3-and-4-of-eureka-seven/
Note: This article is also available at Ideas Without End here
With regard to science fiction, I hold that setting should not overshadow plot, and exposition should be limited to the minimum necessary for the story. The 2005-06 series Eureka Seven, in its opening two episodes, effectively creates a sci-fi universe that is entirely believable, populated with characters who are similarly credible. While the setting is fantastical in nature, it is nevertheless convincingly portrayed and the viewer is able to easily accept it because those parts of it which are instantly relatable are realistic.
Posted by r042 on 17 May 2012
http://superfani.com/2012/05/17/the-difference-between-credibility-and-realism-in-episodes-1-and-2-of-eureka-seven/
Some days ago there materialized a Rock, Paper, Shotgun article about how the term “indie” is…well, let me quote:
In essence, it’s a relic. Perhaps it held meaning once, but now it’s a rusty reminder of bygone times. … We use it constantly, and it’s created a plethora of negative, oftentimes limiting connotations.
Eh. Basically what happened to “indie,” as in indie games, is the same as what happened to “indie,” as in indie rock. The term was chosen because those whose work it applied to were actually independent creators, once. But because these independent creators produced work with certain things in common, “indie” came to suggest a way of doing things, a toolset of tropes and choices. And I’m sure you know what we call such a word. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen — it’s a genre.
So, yeah, it’s “limiting.” By necessity. A genre is whichever genre it is by virtue of not being another genre.
If you object to the genrefication of indie (and part of me does, actually), here’s what I’d suggest: let’s come up with a way to differentiate between self-published games with no budgets (i.e. indie games) and games whose experience either 1. results from the direction of one or very few creators, and/or 2. relies partly upon your acknowledging the agency of an individual creator or small team. Because that’s what we mean now when we brand games indie. Minecraft isn’t independent anymore by most metrics — hell, it’s an industry these days — but Notch remains an important part of the whole Minecraft thing, even if he’s stepped away from the project in a literal sense.
This would allow for the existence of seeming oxymora like the EA “Indie” Bundle. It wouldn’t seem so objectionable if we called it the EA Auteur Bundle, which, practically speaking, is what it’s called already.
Posted by Pontifus on 8 May 2012
http://superfani.com/2012/05/08/why-indie-has-become-a-genre-word/
Let us be clear about this from the outset. A vote (in the, you know) for We Remember Love on Monday is a vote for two posts by me. It’s a vote for two posts by Cuchlann. It’s a vote for dialogues in which lelangir and Shance play considerable parts. It is of course a vote for a whole goddamn lot of posts by Ghostlightning, who has contributed to Super Fanicom posts both thoughtfully imaginative and imaginatively thoughtful. GL comments here often, and WRL is one of the few places I comment with any semi-regularity.
I won’t play the part of the angsty underdog because 1) my enterprise and Ghost’s are pretty well entwined, and 2) owing to Ghost’s considerable skill at writing, forming webs of connections between bloggers, and somehow finding the time to blog while working and having a kid, he deserves the win. He’s invested more into blogging than I have — it’s as simple as that.
Or maybe it isn’t. I have another, somewhat more selfish reason for appreciating Mr. GL.
Posted by Pontifus on 6 May 2012
http://superfani.com/2012/05/06/we-remember-love-is-my-opponent-and-other-allies/
One of my favorite depictions of far-future space travel comes from Dan Simmons’s Hyperion (or it might be Fall of Hyperion, which takes place five minutes later, so it doesn’t matter). Therein, your average ship of the line has a crew of about ten, all packed into a relatively small room full of consoles. You tell the computers what to do and the computers tell the ship what to do.
Of course! Right? Why wouldn’t spacecraft work like this? Why, on anything but a passenger ship, would you need more than a dozen crew members? Our computers can drive cars, and presumably they’ll improve in the next thousand years.
I was happy to find that Mouretsu Pirates embraces this kind of practicality. In fact, I suspect it’s a lot more sensible a show than its ridiculous (bodacious?) anime veneer would lead you to believe.
Posted by Pontifus on 30 April 2012
http://superfani.com/2012/04/30/bodacious-space-hacking/
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