There are certain things that have happened to me or that I have done that I have never particularly dealt with, at least, in any kind of non-therapuetic, unassisted, completely-coming-from-myself kind of way. I think it’s that I feel embarassed. I have been told, almost trained in fact, to not feel as if there isContinue reading “WHAT I DON’T FEEL ANY MORE”
Author Archives: edsmith1990
TANGENT ONE
There is a natural and universally accepted hierarchy of videogame weapons, going back, as far as shooters are concerned, at least to the original Doom and perhaps earlier — I’m using Doom as an example because I know it well and so does basically everybody else. The bottom of the hierarchy is your melee weapon,Continue reading “TANGENT ONE”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE FLESH TRAP
As James runs after the shadow from the street he passes a small area on his right that is behind a waist-high chainlink fence, and within there is a red save square, which can be seen from outside of the chainlink fence. To enter this area and use the save square, you have to passContinue reading “CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE FLESH TRAP”
SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY
Amon Tobin’s soundtrack is usually, I think, the first — sometimes the only — thing that people remember about Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. It’s good music. There are a few tracks that I still listen to even nowadays, especially when I want to feel kind of cool and brooding and confident. It’s good music forContinue reading “SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY”
RESIDENT EVIL 4
I asked someone once who had worked on BioShock Infinite why the game had so much shooting combat even though to me and I think a lot of people who played the game was largely at its best during sections without shooting combat, and the person explained how when a game studio has invested moneyContinue reading “RESIDENT EVIL 4”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CONSTRUCTION AHEAD
Musical accompaniments for this article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXmZWN079JI and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOK1AEQ-3CQ&list=PL81PCiZWVPTDOvs588fT5Nk08oagI1_17&index=18 We’re nearly at the town now and we walk past a a chainlink fence and a streetsign that both broadly say the same thing: ROAD CONSTRUCTION AHEAD DETOUR/DANGER CONSTRUCTION AREA KEEP OUT. They have a straightforward, literal “meaning” — Silent Hill is in one sense, or atContinue reading “CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CONSTRUCTION AHEAD”
IT DOESN’T MATTER WHEN YOU KILL ALL THE CIVILIANS
Musical accompaniment for this article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtCtk3Txqlg I firmly believe that the player is the least interesting character in every videogame. Not the player character. The player, as in, myself. I’m not interested in being told things or asked questions about myself by videogames, not because of my self esteem, like I don’t feel like IContinue reading “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHEN YOU KILL ALL THE CIVILIANS”
CHAPTER TWELVE: MOUTH
In that moment when the camera stops and James accelerates away from it, he appears, naturally, smaller and even more enveloped by the fog. If Silent Hill is “alive”, a malevolent but intangible sort of entity, designed after James’ own mind to consume, digest and excrete him remade, in this long, wide shot, of anContinue reading “CHAPTER TWELVE: MOUTH”
CHAPTER ELEVEN: CAM
It’s darker when you leave the church and the fog is much denser. Compared to the initial downhill section, the road towards Silent Hill at this point becomes even more featureless, just wire fences and brown mud and a few small sections of pavement. More distinctive here is the camera — so much as aContinue reading “CHAPTER ELEVEN: CAM”
CHAPTER TEN: OROSCO
Three days ago, in a fit of rage, I threw my coffee table across the room and it bent one of its legs. I’m resting my feet on it now while I’m writing and it keeps rocking and buckling, but I’m not going to get a new one. About halfway through the long initial walkContinue reading “CHAPTER TEN: OROSCO”
RESTLESS DREAMS 