Unique Blogger Award!

Alright, guys, it’s the end of the month and I haven’t posted a “Gaming Thoughts” post yet for the month of January.  So you get a blog overload this week!  But this is a fun one.  You see, NekoJonez nominated me for the Unique Blogger Award!  Yay! Fanfare, Confetti, and Balloons!  Jonez is, in all honesty, one of the nicest and most supportive bloggers out there.  And his blog is a beauty to read.  He delves deep into games to write riveting reviews and seems to always find games I’ve never heard of!  Which is a blast because it helps expand my horizons.  If you don’t already follow NekoJonez, please go do so right now and enjoy his blog as much as I do!

And now for the award.  Jonez provided we the nominees with three questions and asked us to answer them.  I thought long and hard about my responses, especially because the first question gave me so much trouble!  But I finally figured them out.

Question 1: If you were able to erase all memories from one game to be able to fully experience it again, which game would it be and why?

My first reaction to this question was Ocarina of Time.  But then my gut started to wrench and I panicked.  My childhood, my life, has been shaped by that game and my memories of playing it as a kid.  Everything about me is formed by my adoration for Link and Legend of Zelda.  And I realized I couldn’t possibly give up those memories, even for the amazing experience of getting to experience it, brand new, all over again.

But it didn’t take long to come up with the answer I do want to give: Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask.  I had been playing OoT nearly nonstop for 2 years.  When Majora’s Mask was released I was ecstatic, thrilled to play another LoZ game.  I honestly can’t remember if I bought it myself or if my parents caved and got it for me (or, more likely, “the family”).  I remember going downstairs on a Saturday morning, opening the packaging, and literally sitting there and playing through the entire game in one day.  I would stop for bathroom breaks and food but otherwise I was glued to that TV.  When I finished it I was disappointed.  I was disappointed at how easy it had been, at the fact that it had only taken me, on a first run and having never read a manual, 13 hours to beat that game.  And I’ve never played it again.

I know it’s people’s favorite game, that it has high acclaim, and a pretty strong following.  People even claim they like it more than Ocarina of Time (the heathens!).  But I have never been able to dump the sour taste my barely-twelve-year-old mind had when I finished a LoZ game that quickly.  I’m sure I was just too young to understand the depth of the story and the complexities of gameplay that mean everyone loves it so much.  And I’d love to have the ability to do it over again.  Experience it fresh.  Having thought a lot about this the last few weeks makes me think I’m going to give it another go this year and try and capture whatever I missed as a child.

Question 2: If you were allowed to help in the production of a game, which role would you take on and why? The role of producer, voice actor, writer, designer…?

This one’s an easy one.  Craft Services!  Right?  Game production has craft services, the amazing people who cater the film, I mean, game… set, I mean studio… Maybe not.  Blast.  Probably not.

While I wish I could say I was super creative and had amazing story ideas/musical composition abilities… I don’t.  What I do have is an incredible attention to detail, mad budgeting skills, some past experience, and an absolute love for a good spreadsheet.  And even if she didn’t know it, LaterLevels in a recent article about game production Dream Teams, pegged the exact position I would take in the production of a game: Producer.  You see, my husband is a film producer, which gives me a bit of an edge.  I know what the position is and what is needed for it.  I’m also incredibly conscientious about money and finances.  I overlook our personal budget nearly every day and, as I like to say it, “do the math” on basically any purchase or financial whim that comes in to my head.  And my scientific background really pushes me to check out the details of how a system works and ensure that all the cogs are rolling along.  So I think that’s what I’d be best at…

Question 3: What is one of the earliest video game memories?

My earliest video game memories are of Aladdin, The Lion King, and Sonic and Knuckles on our Sega Genesis.  I would wake up at an obscenely early time on Saturdays to play one of these three games.  As a kid I remember thinking the stampede scene in The Lion King was the most difficult level on any video game ever.  We had an unfinished basement where my parents had set up a small TV with the game systems and my little brother, sister, and I would sit down there, wrapped in blankets, and play until my parents got up, realized where we were, and would force us to come up and do our chores.  Oh, to be a child again…

And now, here are the rules for the nominees:

1. Display the award. (See above).
2. Thank the individual(s) who have nominated you and include a link to their blog. A little promotion for their blog is also welcome.
3. Answer the questions asked by the individual who has nominated you.
4. Nominate an arbitrary number of bloggers and have them answer three questions you put forth to them.

Here are the questions:

1. If you could only listen to one game soundtrack for the rest of your life, which would it be and why?  And then pick one track from that soundtrack, which would it be, and why?
2. Pick one villain to be the main playable character in a new game series.  Which character would you pick and why?
3. What is one dead IP or game that you’d love to see resurrected and why?

And here are the nominees:

Video Games Nebula

My Passion for Gaming

Gamers United 

Insert Memory Card

Quite frankly, it’s rough going after Jonez because he nominated a significant portion of the people I would have nominated, who then nominated nearly all the rest.  And while it’s awesome that everyone is getting a chance, it leaves me woefully unable to nominate more…  But don’t worry!  I think I found a few who have been skipped!