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[andreizanescu]

[andreizanescu]

Black Panther dir. Ryan Coogler

[andreizanescu]

Meet Ruth Carter: The Black Costume Designer Serving Looks In Black Panther

Carter is a Hollywood veteran, having outfitted some of the culture’s most iconic films from “Malcolm X” and “BAPS” to “Five Heartbeats” and “School Daze.” And now the multiple Oscar and Emmy-nominated costume designer is taking on afrofuturism fashions in the film set to debut next February.

She took to Twitter soon after the teaser trailer dropped on Friday to explain some her references in creating the iconic looks. From Kenya’s Maasai tribe to Lesotho’s Basotho people, the motherland is widely represented.

“I love being a costume designer because I love telling the stories of people,” she told ESSENCE. “And that’s what costume designers are; they are storytellers.”

[andreizanescu]

I’ve been buzzing about Wonder Woman since Thursday’s showing and after being asked by a few of you to talk about it, I’ve decided to write an opinion piece. First off though, I’m not the voice that really matters on this. There are a number of incredibly moving reactions like Alicia Lutes’ review for Nerdist, or Susana Polo’s Polygon review of where Wonder Woman stands in the genre, or even Tasha Robinson’s more industry oriented analysis. I’d also give a particularly close read to Emily Gaudette’s piece on body image in the film, written for Inverse Entertainment. There are so many reviews and opinions coming out, written by the film’s intended public and that’s who we should listen to first and foremost.

For reference: http://nerdist.com/wonder-woman-no-mans-land-scene/ https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/30/15675084/wonder-woman-review https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/2/15728630/wonder-woman-review-gal-gadot-dc-extended-universe-patty-jenkins https://www.inverse.com/article/32457-wonder-woman-amazon-army-themyscira-comics If you’re still reading this after checking out those pieces, then awesome! Prepare for a spoiler-laden discussion. Seriously, I’m recommending you go see the movie before reading anything else. Go see it because it’s an amazing movie. Go see it because it supports the inclusion of women in the industry’s leadership and production roles. Go see it because we need more movies like it. Go see it. Everything hereafter is a risky read.

                            ---Production Spoilers---

If I had to describe Wonder Woman in one word, it would be “triumphant”. The film’s tone is one that meshes together an active and infectious optimism, with the courage to open yourself up to suffering and empathy. It is at its heart a movie about understanding the conflicts around us for what they really are, and to begin dismantling the systems of thought that produce them. I suppose though, I should give a quick rundown of more production related aspects.In terms of directing, Patty Jenkins hit a home run. Every single scene is crisp, well shot, well cut and laden with color. Even the dreary grays and browns of London and the Belgium front are incredibly deep. Each locations feels choked by pollution and industry or caked in mud and rain in the Western Front. The feeling of misery and hopelessness is conveyed without even needing to tell you what’s happening. As for Themyscira, the island is the complete opposite. Portrayed as an ageless paradise, the island is lush with greenery, beaches, ancient marble temples and magical pools of water. Jenkins’ selections of what to portray and in what way preemptively sets the tone for the entire film and prepares the viewers.

The casting also works on so many levels. Gadot’s portrayal of Wonder Woman is the rock that the film gravitates around and never falters. With standout supporting performances by Robin Wright as Antiope (as one of the most badass characters I’ve ever seen) and Connie Nielsen as the stern but wise Queen Hippolyta. Danny Huston and David Thewlis as military characters also portray mirror images of each other, as though both characters are one decision from each other’s positions, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of war. Elena Anaya as Isabel Maru and Lucy Davis as Etta Candy ground the movie by filling out the stellar cast. Chris Pine’s casting as Steve Trevor also does wonders for the movie. By casting a strong actor as the supporting role to Wonder Woman, the entire classic structure of lead and support is discussed. I’d argue that although Pine is clearly the secondary character, the way his character is portrayed brings to light how poorly women have traditionally been treated in their supporting roles. This in turn gives storytellers new ideas about how to portray these roles in the future, in much more sensitive and respectful ways.

We should also take a moment to talk about Rupert Gregson-Williams soundtrack, which is nothing short of a masterpiece. In twelve years, since Batman Begins’ release, not one film has managed to create a unique sound for its character. Gregson-Williams takes the core theme created by Zimmer and Junkie XL for Batman v. Superman and refines it by a number of degrees. The theme is deconstructed and recomposed across the album. From No Man’s Land, to Wonder Woman’s Wrath and finally to Action Reaction the theme grows and changes along with the character, while always remaining recognizable. If anything, this is the theme I’d peg for long term longevity in the genre. The soundtrack doesn’t always hit hard though, and some of the softer tracks inflect a haunting sensation or a lingering nostalgia for more innocent moments in the film. I’ve been listening to the album ever since going to the screening and every time it brings to mind specific moments and almost gets me immediately back in that theater seat. There is no higher praise for a film soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL1wfOnvM8s

                                 ---Story Spoilers--- The only way I can talk about the story is through my own perspective and that is very much note the perspective of the intended audience. The story of the movie speaks to me as a lover of Greek mythology, period pieces about the Great War and an avid superhero fan. This film, it feels to me like, speaks directly to women and to minorities, but also to all people who are trapped living in world where one’s own optimism and desire for harmony is constantly assailed by systems of thought that seem needlessly cruel and arbitrary. Diana’s journey felt harrowing to me. Having already seen her in Batman v. Superman, we knew her as a jaded heroine who had retreated for the modern world, disappointed at the recurrence of war and misery. In a sense, the viewer met a character who felt that she had failed her quest to save the world. This film presents Diana from her early childhood to her first days as a superhero. The film skews bittersweet because in many ways, the viewer knows where the story ends. What I was not prepared for was the extent to which the journey would be a touching and hopeful tale about fallibility and failure. Diana is a naive and hopeful crusader for justice. Bent on ending the war with what seems like an implausible method, she sets off with Trevor in tow. What follows is a series of conflicts in which the audience can’t help but cheer for Wonder Woman’s choices. The No Man’s Land scene is an incredibly touching scene that will remain with me for a long while. 

As someone whose family served in the Great War (my great-grandfather), I’ve heard stories about the despair and helplessness of soldiers and civilians alike. When confronted with that helplessness though, Diana does what we wish as the audience that we could do in real life: Act. There is a beautiful simplicity in the vulnerable act of resistance. For each one of those scenes in the film, I found myself cheering and wishing that she would win, no matter how impossible or naive. What I found was that it wasn’t Diana who was naive as a character, but Trevor (whom I greatly relate to) who was cynical. Diana was not being heroic for the sake of a cause or an ideal. She was heroic simply because she is good, because human suffering is repulsive to her that she would do anything to see it stop.

In contrast, Steve Trevor’s story spoke a great deal to me. His origin point is as a spy, a tried and tested soldier who believes that war should be stopped, but is hampered by real world considerations. Trevor’s journey was first to understand that long term victories matter, but so do all the small instances of human kindness. Saving a few villagers becomes as important as defeating the god of war, or ensuring the armistice. His second arc is also coming to a point where he understand that everyone is responsible for the misery around us, as they are responsible for compassion. His realizations run counter to the patronizing reality that armistice debased and forced certain peoples to bear the weight of the war, while the victors washed their hands of the acts they had committed in the quest for peace. Trevor’s journey to understanding that the allies are not necessarily any better than the Central Powers. 

In Ares we see perhaps the most striking figure of evil and callousness. In fact, in many movies Ares wouldn’t even qualify as a villain. His choices are pragmatic. Offer choice and the path to power, and then watch humanity kill itself. His point of view is that humanity has the potential for destruction and therefore that destruction is a foregone conclusion. This is the rhetoric of many political leaders today and should come as no surprise to viewers. Ares appears as a war profiteer professing to be the god of truth and that the truth is that humanity is ugly, selfish, and violent and embodies a boundless death drive. As Diana’s foil, Ares allows us to understand the importance of optimism and compassion in the face of horrors that occur across the globe.

Wonder Woman is a heartening tale of the power of understanding, empathy and courage in the face of systems of oppression and profiteering. It’s a movie about the need to fight callousness which oftentimes feels like a needed shell in the face of injustice and helplessness. It is a tale about vulnerability and failure that left me cheering. Every act of resistance and every moment of shock that Diana displays is what I wish we engaged in every day for the people who aren’t able to do so. Films like Wonder Woman are important and they are timely. Don’t take my word for it though. Go see the film and read what’s been written by those that the movie champions.

[andreizanescu]

Pixelnews August 2 - September 2

On this week's Pixelnews, Andrei recaps the month of August for movie releases, games and a tad about comics. From Sausage Party, to No Man's Sky, to World of Warcraft's newest expansion, there's plenty to talk about. At points rant-y, Andrei unburdens himself from the problems with the games and movie industry. Tune in and discuss!

Featured music is: End of the World Sun by 65daysofstatic (No Man's Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe) Four Guardians by Kamil Orman Janowski (Path of Exile: Atlas of Worlds)

[andreizanescu]

Chip Channel 4 – No Country for Old Kongs

Good evening listeners! This week’s Chip Channel is all about Donkey Kong Country, the original SNES trilogy. We pay homage to David Wise (DKC 1, 2 and 3), John Beanland (DKC 1) and Eveline Fischer’s (DKC 1 and 3) enduring masterpiece. Donkey Kong Country holds a special place in many gamers’ hearts, both as a technological wonder of the mid 90s and as an emblem of VGM. As one of those fans, Andrei takes us through Donkey Kong Country’s genesis as a game, and through the meteoric rise of David Wise, from part-time freelancer to full-time legend. Tune in for some jungle beats and tell us about your favorite DKC tunes! As always, thanks for listening and if you feel so inclined, leave a review!

 0:00 – Island Swing (Donkey Kong Country)

7:19 – Life in the Mines (Donkey Kong Country)

11:54 – Jungle Groove (Donkey Kong Country)

14:14 – Aquatic Ambiance (Donkey Kong Country)

17:39 – Bad Boss Boogie (Donkey Kong Country)

24:00 – Ice Cave Chant (Donkey Kong Country)

27:52 – Gang-Plank Galleon (Donkey Kong Country)

30:33 – Steel Drum Rhumba (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

34:42 – Primal Rave (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

38:02 – Hot Head Bop (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

41:37 – Stickerbrush Symphony (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

48:29 – Donkey Kong Rescued (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

50:54 – Disco Train (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

54:17 – Mining Melancholy (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

1:01:30 – Enchanted Riverback (DKC3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!)

1:04:19 – Rockface Rumble (DKC3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!)

1:06:41 – Pokey Pipes (DKC3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!)

1:10:09 – Forest Interlude (DKC2: Diddy’s Kong Quest)

[andreizanescu]

Chip Channel 3 – Praise the Golden Sun

Hey listeners! Welcome to the third episode of Chip Channel. This week, we’re going through the entire Golden Sun series, from one end to the other. An enduring and beloved series from the GBA, Golden Sun has a special place in the heart of many a JRPG fan.

From the original game, through The Lost Age and Dark Dawn, we revisit Motoi Sakuraba’s masterpiece, as we talk about the reception to the games. We also feature a quick overview of the mechanics and story of the games, so there are a few spoilers. Tune in at your peril!

 All music composed by Motoi Sakuraba:

0:00 – Prologue [Golden Sun]

5:25 – Vale [Golden Sun]

6:51 – Battle with Saturos [Golden Sun]

7:56 – Sandy Deserts [Golden Sun]

12:24 – Sea of Karagol [Golden Sun]

13:29 – World Map Theme [Golden Sun]

14:56 – Venus Lighthouse [Golden Sun]

 20:18 – Prologue (Book Two) [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

21:16 – Jenna’s Theme [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

22:00 – The Secrets of Air’s Rock [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

23:34 – Inside Gabomba Statue [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

24:34 – Apoji Archipelago [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

28:51 – The Lost City (Lemuria Theme) [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

30:27 – Jupiter Lighthouse [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

31:38 – Prox [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

33:05 – The Lighthouse of Fire [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

34:25 – The Doom Dragon [Golden Sun: The Lost Age]

 39:18 – Introduction (Story Theme) [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

40:35 – Isaac’s Battle Theme (Tutorial) [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

43:22 – Matthew’s Battle Theme [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

46:09 Patcher’s Place (New Vale) [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

51:45 – Mountains [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

54:23 – Boss Theme (First) [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

57:44 – Tonfon [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

1:00:01 – Boss Theme (Second) [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

1:07:18 – Saturos Battle Theme (Dullahan – Star Magician) [Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]

[andreizanescu]

VGM: A Musical Redux - Part II

I wrote the first article on this blog, VGM Redux, about the revival of classical video game music through various remixes, homages, covers and even new work put out by classic VGM artists, like Keiji Yamagishi. The VGM redux, though, owes its resurgence to the staying power of classical hits. Music like Beginning from Akumajou Densetsu remains such a strong core for what video game music has developed into. However, even NES classics have roots going further back, into the very origins of Chiptune. Prepare your eardrums for a trip through the 70's in VGM and nascent EDM.

Chiptune music roughly refers to the music that was made with the chips found in computers. The earliest noted instance of chiptune dates back to 1951, when the CSIRAC (originally registered as the CSIR Mk 1) and Ferranti Mark 1 (also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer) were publicly displayed for the very purpose of creating real-time computational music. It’s worth noting that the Ferranti was the first commercially available computer due to its reduced size and cleaner interface, but had yet to be distributed freely at the time. As far as the CSIRAC is concerned, it had the measurements one is likely to find in a military mainframe from a James Bond movie. Hardly accessible instruments by any means, but their display launched a new era in music. The 60’s were fairly uneventful in terms of serious breakthroughs, but the 70’s are an entirely different story. Arcade machines left and right were displaying sound clips and then finally in 1978, Tomohiro Nishikado achieved the impossible. Space Invaders was the first game to have a continuous music loop cycling through its four sound channels. Although games had been trying to accomplish this feat for years, the music industry had been working with synthesizers as an inspiration for the “sound of the future”.

Two significant artists/collectives stand out in this period, one in the West and one in the East. The latter came into prominence in 1978 with their self-titled album, Yellow Magic Orchestra. YMO, a Japanese collective, became a smash hit in the Asian market. Their music directly sampled Nishikado’s Space Invaders and his earlier work Gun Fight. Although they started out sampling contemporary video game music, they would almost immediately experience a shift relative to the game industry.  

Their second album, Solid State Survivor produced a veritable behemoth, Rydeen.  By the early 80s, multiple games, including Sega’s Super Locomotive (1982), Trooper Truck (1983), Daley Thompson’s Decathlete (1984) and Stryker’s Run (1986) had covers of Rydeen in their soundtracks. YMO towered over the game industry and went on to influence notable game music auteurs like Nobuo Uematsu (known primarily for his Final Fantasy compositions).

Europe had an entirely different boom. Starting out in the early 70s, musicians in Italy and Germany were experimenting with an entirely different piece of equipment: the Moog Synthesizer. Instead of a computer chip, the Moog was an analog synthesizer. Although it lacked the distinctive sound of the Ferranti of CSIRAC chips, the Moog could arrange music just as well, while incorporating much more sophisticated instruments, like the synthesizer. One of the first to pick up on this potential was Giorgio Moroder, an Italian avant-garde musician who would go on to pioneer the very roots of EDM and Italo Disco, as well as dominating the German disco scene for years, even inspiring modern acts, like Daft Punk. Moroder, Vangelis and other pioneer artists of the era saw the future of music in computerized music, but divorced from VGM, and it is in this regard that EDM, VGM and Chiptune remain distinct even though the intellectual project was largely the same.

Although the origins of Chiptune and EDM can be traced back to this era, there is a whole lot more to unpack, especially in regards to Alternative Rock from the 80s, but that’s a tale for another time.

[andreizanescu]

Streaming like a Pro: The Modern Sisyphus Part 2

This is the second part of an article dealing with the problems and challenges encountered while working as a video game streamer. you can read part 1 here  

Now that I’ve been working at it for a month and a half. I can say with certainty that if you put your back into it, anything is possible. I watched some streamers I liked and took a page out of their book to apply to my stream. For instance, I have two kids, so my streaming hours are when they’re not home, in the morning until they come back and after dinner, where I get some quiet time to stream. I take this endeavor seriously, so I take the appropriate measures to be efficient. Then, most people have a webcam. They either use a dedicated room for streaming, such as an office, or a green screen to hide the background so there is nothing distracting. Again, with the kids, I wanted something to hide distractions. So I invested in a green screen. I bought a decent webcam, because what I had was dated and had trouble matching the screen’s color to make a united background. I also set up alerts, on websites such as streampro.io, so I know when someone follows my channel, donates, chats with me, or subscribes to my Gamewisp or patreon plan. I set up an analytics account, so I know when people are watching the most, and when it’s less likely people will come in. So far, 12:30 AM is what I would call my deadzone  

With all this work, I can say that I gain about a follower per day, steadily. I schedule rounds of Drawful 2 to engage with my chat when I have some time available between games. I am very lucky to have a wife who earns a decent salary for the both of us, while I try my hand at this. She understands that streaming implies being in front of my computer for extended periods of time with little to no breaks, and supports me in other ways, like retweeting my broadcasts, playing some games with me live and so on (she does like her World of Warcraft farming).

It is not all fun and rainbows. There are times where I stream games literally to myself.  I did a Telltale Batman interactive stream I ended up playing alone, because no one came in at the beginning of the game. But as even Dan’s gaming said in a letter he wrote to other streamers, he struggled with viewership in the beginning, going as far as saying hundreds of viewers a day is a modest number. However, he admits the struggling to be partly his fault as he was playing games he liked, rather than the popular ones (Remember the first advice earlier?). You could force yourself to play one of the less popular games. If they appeal to you, that’s great! But what if it’s not a game you can see yourself playing for 4-6-8 hours straight? Seeing what he does today, I assume in Dan’s case it was less popular games. Currently, he’s replaying, Skyrim and Morrowind, games that although very popular, are outdated. He still brings in around 4000 on an average weekday afternoon   As to how it applies to my type of stream, I am a variety streamer. So I can’t set up a fanbase on a particular game, since I change games frequently, either during the day or in the week. I don’t do a single playthrough constantly of a single game. That’s not the kind of gamer I am. I enjoy playing a few hours of an RPG, then switching to a shooter, then to a MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), and so on. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a game that could grab my attention for more than a few hours thus far, other than the evil World of Warcraft. As a former QA analyst in the industry, my job consisted in slogging through games. To find bugs, that’s the perfect way to go about it. To entertain yourself and viewers, it’s a terrible way to do it, in my opinion. It always depends on the game. An average game takes about 20 hours to complete, when there is a story. That’s fine. In theory, that’s only two days of streaming. But a game like the aforementioned League of Legends that is online and essentially has no end, I couldn’t see myself streaming thousands of hours of this on end. Dan’s Gaming also admits that streaming, he had to deal with jealousy of other streamers: “This is one of the hardest things to deal with. There will always be someone that does more in less time, someone who has more viewers than you, someone that just seems to get all the attention, love and support of twitch staff, etc.”  

Taking this with an open mind might help deal with it. I generally watch a stream, including MAN vs GAME and Dan’s gaming, trying to discover the secret of their popularity. Is it the equipment? Is it the show they put on with their personality? Is it the game? What is it?! Truth is, they stick to the advice I put up there. They remain true to themselves. They pay attention to their viewers. They love what they do. What you see out there is the real Dan, the real MAN. Which, in contrast, is the opposite of someone on YouTube filming reactions or other types of clips. The famous Pewdiepie records himself playing horror games and shrieking like a little girl when something spooky happens (amongst other things). It works. He gets an audience. But that’s a constructed version of himself. I can’t imagine him shrieking if he hears a weird sound in his apartment at night. It’s just not possible. There’s editing, outtakes, all of which are impossibilities  in a live event.

So as a result, the quest to be a paid video game player is a hard one to complete. Partner status on Twitch is definitely out of the question in the first year, at the very least. That’s why I went with a Gamewisp and a Patreon page. A month and a half in, I already have a Patron that generously donates me 13$ a month to play games with him, give him shout outs in my videos and streams, among other benefits. I have a nice corporate identity with some apparel available for purchase on Threadless.com. I have applied for the content creator program of Trion worlds. Because that is also something that exists. As product endorsements become more and more ubiquitous, games also seek to endorse players to stream their content. You may have seen some streamers sit in a nice DXracer chair, some of which can be priced as high as 600$. Most of those are from endorsement programs. Others are endorsed by glasses for gaming, helping people deal with the high amount of white light created by the screens we use each day. Or even energy drinks and pills. Why not!? It’s gaming and entertainment, but keep in mind that all of this remains foremost a business.

[andreizanescu]

Chip Channel 2 - The Transformers The Movie The Soundtrack The Tribute

Welcome back for the second episode of Chip Channel folks! It’s a special occasion near and dear to my heart: the 30th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie (1986)! An entire generation grew up scarred and bewildered by this movie and it’s only fitting that we have a musical tribute to it.

From the original Transformers cartoon, to the movie, to more modern takes, I'll blab about what the heart (or matrix) of Transformers is! Tune in for tidbits about production of the movie, casting and it’s lasting legacy as an icon of the 80s!

0:00 – Intro (Transformers G1 Soundtrack)

1:59 – Noble Autobots Transformers G1 (Transformers G1 Soundtrack)

3:30 – Decepticons (Transformers G1 Soundtrack)

6:01 – The Transformers Theme (Alternate Version) (The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

8:39 – Escape (The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 13:23 – Autobot/Deception Battle (The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

22:22 – Dare (The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

26:21 – The Transformers (Theme by Lion) (The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

35:01 – Arrival to Earth (Transformers: The Score)

40:27 – Transformers: The Fallen Remix (by Cheap Trick)  (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Album)

48:15 – Fight Theme 1 (Transformers Devastation Soundtrack)

50:29 – Fight Theme 3 (Transformers Devastation Soundtrack)

56:11 – The Touch (The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

[andreizanescu]

Streaming like a Pro: The Modern Sisyphus Part 1

This is the first part of an article dealing with the problems and challenges encountered while working as a video game streamer. Part 2 will be posted in a week! We’ve known for a while now that there are ways to make money creating original content and broadcasting it on popular channels. Youtube is the generalist of videos on demand, while Twitch is leaning towards live video streams. When it started it was primarily aimed at video games. Since then, they added creative and social eating categories, amongst others, to diversify their content and give more people a chance to stream their passion. More and more people now call themselves streamers, with content and schedules varying greatly. But what makes the difference between a casual streamer, who streams his Counter Strike matches once in a while, and a pro streamer that streams constantly and gets paid doing it.

Let’s start by looking at twitch.tv’s conditions to be a partner. A streamer who is popular enough to offer benefits to his viewer while getting paid.;

“To qualify as a Twitch Partner, we look for:

·         Average concurrent viewership of 500+ (not just a one-time peak)

·         Regular broadcast schedule of at least 3 times a week

·         Content that conforms to our Terms of Service and DMCA Guidelines

 Minimum broadcast requirements are a general guideline. Exceptions are handled on a case by case basis. We're always excited by broadcasters who stream unique games!”

So to be able to make a living by streaming, you need to consistently stream a minimum of 3 days a week, and gather a crowd of 500 people every time you broadcast content. Of course, other channels were later created that would help smaller streamers get some form of payment. Websites like Gamewisp are allowing streamers to create their own subscription plans. Others flocked to Patreon, as they were creating digital media or making t-shirts, giving their subscribers physical rewards as well as streaming benefits. So there is hope for the smaller streamers, but just how hard is it to become a professional streamer?

Looking at some of the popular names, someone like MAN vs GAME has been streaming for 5 years, generally investing money in material before making any benefits out of it.   Two years in, he finally quit his full time job to stream full time. He currently streams for 9 hours straight every weekday, usually during the night.  Dan’s Gaming has a similar story, offering some words of advice to new streamers. He started streaming video games on Justin.tv before it was bought out by Twitch, and is now streaming 7 days a week as a full time job.

I have been trying my luck at the streamer profession myself for the past months and stumbling upon pages and pages of research, this is the most relevant advice I’ve found:

·         Stream the top 20 to 30 most watched games. Sure, I like League of Legends(#1-2 most viewed game daily). Everybody does (ah!). but the number of viewers is split between so many streamers that your stream has no real chance of getting the front top 10 streams. Something like Path of Exile (#30-40 most viewed game daily) though generally has 1 or 2 big streamers in, while the rest of the viewers wander around in smaller channels. This is a better chance to get your content seen and make an impression on people.

·         Be either very good at what you’re doing, or very entertaining/interactive. Some streamers are incredibly proficient at their game. So good in fact, that people watch them for the Olympian feats they pull off playing and not for jokes or chat engagement. They want to see results. That’s fine.  But chances are you’re an average Joe just like me. In that case, people will still come to watch your stream, because the main appeal at first is the game. But your best chance is to interact with your chat. Show people you care.  Read the chat. Answer it. Say thanks if someone follows your channel or donate money.

·         Be constant. Like any other product. You’re trying to sell yourself. Find your style and stick to it. That means having a corporate identity. Sticking to a persona that is unique to you. Find your schedule. A schedule that fits you first. You have to find a time where you will be comfortable streaming, maintaining peak condition while you do it. Nobody wants to see you slouching in your chair, falling asleep while you play.

That being said, there are resources, like small organisations that can be found through social media, where you can advertise your stream and get some visibility. Twitter has some accounts dedicated to spread the word when a stream goes live by retweeting directly the announcements the streamer posts. Next week's part 2 will be exploring the personal struggles faced as a full time streamer and how I applied the pro methods to my channel. 

[andreizanescu]

Pixelfaded 13 - Not-So Suicidal Squad

Evening true believers! Craig and Andrei have a new episode of Pixelfaded out. This time, they explore the nitty gritty of Suicide Squad. You can expect general plot breakdown (spoilers abound), character discussions and a lot of talk about the production of the movie, as well as industry happenings. Strap in and enjoy! As always, thanks for listening because this show is for you, the listeners. Also, drop us a comment, rate on iTunes and spread the word!

The featured music for this episode is: Heathens by Twenty One Pilots (Suicide Squad: The Album) Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Suicide Squad: The Album) Bohemian Rhapsody by Panic! At The Disco (Suicide Squad: The Album)

[andreizanescu]

Nearing the first day's end in No Man's Sky and it seemed like the perfect time to have a little water cooler talk. I'm having a blast with No Man's Sky, but it's no understatement to say that it's a tough game to wrap your head around. Actually, Philip Kollar over at Polygon has an interesting piece about how the game defies expectations, for better or worse. The short of it is that No Man's Sky is a loner's exploratory paradise. The long of it is that the game is so open, it might be disorienting for modern players accustomed to structured play.

The game can be played in a free exploration mode or a quest mode, but even that mode is pretty sparse in its directions. Other than a short opening sequence surrounding ship and equipment repair, players can pick how they play. They can spend copious amounts of time exploring one world or they can hop planets and systems as soon as resources permit. I got really lucky and has a wide range of flora and fauna to explore on my first system, so I wanted to explore as much as possible. 

Even play styles can vary widely. You can be a total pacifist and only harvest ore and plants, or you can shoot asteroids for minerals with your wanna-be X-wing. Sky's the limit, pun intended. There are a few unavoidable activities however. Harvesting crafting materials is the one core mechanism that you can't get around. Crafting gets you ship parts, weapons and suit upgrades. That's only the basics though. Aside from that player activities can be roughly categorized as:

Archaeology, by exploring ruins, monoliths, plaques and artifacts, which allows you to better communicate with aliens. (This has been my go to)

Looking for shelters and drop pods, to find technology and suit upgrades.

Looking for bases, manufacturing plants and trade posts, to find harvesters/weapons and to sell resources.

Space exploration, to look for dogfights and rescue beacons

Ground exploration writ-large, to find and tame fauna or to rack up travel distance.

All these activities correspond roughly to achievement categories that can structure play in a more completionist way, though players can always throw caution to the wind and play their way.

This open sandbox universe containing quintillions of worlds can nevertheless feel a bit bereft of narrative at some spots, leaving players feeling aimless. Although there is a quest, it's hard to remember it, or that anything outside your own small ship matters. In a way, No Man's Sky is a perfect pastoral reverie in the setting of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. There is only the players and the cosmos by and large. Players looking for a Star Wars simulator will no doubt be disappointed, because combat (at least in my experience) is more of a garnish than a core component. Emotively, the game channels the narrative feel of Star Trek, but I play it as though I were chasing my proverbial white whale, learning all languages. The game's core mechanics do skew repetitive, but the bewildering expanse No Man's Sky offers has left me absolutely overwhelmed so far.  No Man's Sky might not succeed at being the best at everything, but if it's goal was to build an immense universe for players to relax into, then Sean Murray has exceeded the mark by a healthy margin.

[andreizanescu]

Chip Channel 1 – First Fantasy

Welcome to Chip Channel! A new series in the Pixelfaded family, inspired by the positive feedback we received from our more music-centric shows.

Chip Chanel is all about guiding listeners through game soundtracks from the past four decades. We play a ton of music and we talk a little about it. Sometimes discussions are about the music itself, sometimes about the games!

0:15 – Prelude (Final Fantasy)

2:07 – Inside a Boss Battle (Final Fantasy PSX)

6:15 – Temptation of the Princess (Final Fantasy II)

10:19 – Battle 2 (Final Fantasy III)

15:02 – Theme of Love (Final Fantasy IV DS)

20:30 – Clash on the Big Bridge (Final Fantasy V)

25:58 - Edgar & Sabin's Theme (Final Fantasy VI Sean Schafianski Cover)

31:27 – Those who Fight Further (Final Fantasy VII)

39:20 – Liberi Fatali (Final Fantasy VIII)

45:48 – Vamo' alla Flamenco (Final Fantasy IX)

51:07 – Mountain Path Conde Petie (Final Fantasy IX)

[andreizanescu]

Pokemon Gone: The Meteoric Decline of a Great Game.

Have you ever played pretend when you were younger? Knight saving the princess? Teenager catching Pokémon around the world? If so, you might be one of the millions of players playing the popular Pokémon Go game on your phone. Niantic Lab is to thank for this game's success, but also for its problems. Since its release, the game has run into its share of issues. First of all, the developers settled on a tapered release, releasing the game only in a handful of countries at a time. It seemed to work for a while, but it pushed people who had no knowledge of current technologies to make US AppleID’s or download an unofficial version to play it ahead of the official roll out. Think about it. The game was so desirable that people were willing to try various processes to gain access to the game. The servers were so unstable that when the game finally came out, they had to be adjusted for the population and quickly became more stable. For once, it seems that pirating worked in their favor by alerting developers to incoming population issues.

As the game became an overnight phenomenon, people talked about it, people downloaded it and played it in droves. After weeks of the "three-step bug" being ubiquitous, suddenly,  players were left scratching their heads: “Why is my step counter no longer there for any Pokémon?” It turns out Niantic had outright disabled it. Presumably, it’s because they couldn’t get it to work properly. Whatever the reason, they officially removed step counters from the game, to fix the previous issue.

So, basically, if my car had a leaky roof, I could just whip a grinder out, and cut off the roof of my car. Problem solved, the roof won’t leak anymore. This development got people angry, with good reason. For someone playing in New York, finding Pokémon around is easy. There are spawn points pretty much everywhere, Pokéstops at each corner, gyms everywhere. Life’s good in New York for a Pokémon trainer. In a rural area though…. If you're living in the middle of a field surrounded by more fields, get your good boots on and venture outdoors, trainer! Naturally, it angered some players. Then, some benevolent souls came forward and programmed websites that would pinpoint the spawn areas of Pokémon around, most notably Pokévision . Some were working based on reports from players, others were pinging the Pokémon Go servers so often it caused issues with them. Either way, it helped trainers maintain the same pace of play as they were before.

Niantic had a problem with that. The programs that interacted with the servers were served DCMAs. I think we can all agree that if you interfere with the well being of a game server, it is a problem that needs to be addressed.  Programs that didn’t cause such issues though, they should’ve been left alone. But Niantics decided to shut them down anyway, further angering their player base. Then today, they hit the game with a patch, making Pokémon harder to catch and slowing the GPS tracker's refresh frequency to 10 seconds instead of 5. What this means, is that players in roller blades, cars (please keep your hands on the wheel)  and bicycles can most likely no longer play while rolling at a reasonable pace. They have to walk.

So basically, we went from a rather enjoyable Pokémon game (with a lack of features, in my opinion), to a game of Marco Polo where no one yells Polo anymore, you have to swim using only your legs and people are covered in grease, wiggling out when you catch them. It’s not fun anymore. They’re deliberately making changes to the game that are unnecessarily "rebalancing" the few existing mechanics, making people so angry that they just leave the game. It’s even worse if you spent money on micro transactions and don’t enjoy the game any more due to changes. Pokémon Go is sure to be one of the games with the quickest growth and decline story of all time so far. Some games are great and get better. Some are bad and get worse. Rare are the games that start great and finish terribly. But then again, we can’t wholeheartedly blame a company that worked only on Ingress before, and is now trying to balance a game with a population hundreds of times bigger than their last community. Then again, have they ever pretended being a good video game developer?

[andreizanescu]

I feel like Mob and Morty would get along p well, which is why I adopted them both. My precious sons. 

[andreizanescu]

Marvel’s Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Coker discussing the show at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 (x)