10.20.08
Waggle Fest ‘08
If you were wondering how I’ve been keeping myself since ending my trip to Hyrule, let me warn you right now that this post contains graphic descriptions of me dancing. And not in the DDR “lol, arrow-stomping” sense that I’ve traditionally used, either. I mean it. This is not for the kiddies. Put ‘em to bed, ’cause it’s time to get down. Last warning, for srsly.
Horror of horrors, I liked it. Now, granted, the controls are a little weird. It uses two Wiimotes, ostensibly held vertically, but during the course of the game they’re not gonna stay that way. It’s going to take a TON of practice for me to even get through the one-star songs (the least emasculating of which is “That’s The Way (I Like It)” by KC and the Sunshine Band– let’s just leave it at that until I find/unlock the BT track), but dammit, it is fun. It’s one of those games that sounds silly on paper, looks dumb if you’re not playing it, but winds up being far more addictive than it should be. Some folks online say that the game becomes much easier if you make more of an effort to do the moves, following the on-screen character as much as the directions. Of course, it’s going to take practice, and it’s not one I could say is a very interesting party game (as it falls into the trap of “the guy who has the most experience will always win” owing to the slightly non-intuitive on-screen directives). But it’s earned its place on my shelf, and stands currently as the closest thing I’ll ever get to a home version of Para Para Paradise.
Also on the shelf (though for how long remains to be seen) is Samba de Amigo. The controls here are far and away simpler than We Cheer’s, and the game has a much smoother difficulty curve. (I opted out of getting the plastic maraca attachments– far too silly.) The problem is that after We Cheer it feels almost too simple. Granted, going from full-body, full-spatial waving to just elevation and angle-based shaking is going to result in an increase in accessibility, but at the same time it’s deceptively tricky. It, too, looks silly when it’s not you playing it, but it is the kind of music game I think that the Wii is perfect for, given the limitations of the Wiimote. I probably won’t be buying any DLC for it, but it is something to consider if/when I’ve played out all of the available tracks.
Oh yeah, one thing about Samba. The male announcer is probably identical to the one used for the Japanese version of the game, as he speaks with a thick, almost impenetrable accent. The problem arises in that sometimes he’s not speaking words that exist in either English or Japanese, creating an entirely new mangling of the Spanish language that I like to call “Mexanese”. It’s utterly hilarious to hear, and if I can record a couple of the lines for you fine folks, I will.
As for the music, I will do unpleasant things to you if you dare say anything about me dancing like a fool to Hillary Duff and/or Rihanna. I’m honestly surprised that there’s no overlap in the songs used between the two games… I would have figured at least one of the salsa-flavored tracks from Samba would have made it into Cheer. Ah well.
Anyway. The novel outline is progressing nicely; I’ve divvied up most of the plot pacing into scenes just about as long as this post, and I’m shooting for roughly 75,000 words this time. I’m sure I can handle it, given that I’ve got a far stronger sense of how I want to handle the story– I’ve taken an axe to great swatches of plot, and eliminated at least three useless characters while introducing several far more important ones. I will get this book written and published if it’s the last thing I do… which I kinda hope it isn’t.
Going to watch a little bit of Kanon now, and then off to bed. Later, folks. (I’m not making promises as to when the next blog post is gonna be, but let’s shoot for Wednesday again and see what happens.)