I've reached the point where I get in on Friday night after whatever Friday's activities have been and find myself asking, "Where is Matt Chat?" It's now a fun, guilty pleasure. It's nostalgia on video. I responded to last week's Matt Chat by saying that most all of the games you have covered so far are ones I have not played. Oh! But have I ever played The Secret of Monkey Island.
I should do a full write-up someday about how I came to play SOMI. The short story is that I acquired it as part of a Creative Labs Edutainment pack. The pack contained the brand new Sound Blaster 16, a caddy-based 1x CD-ROM drive, and a slew of games and educational software on CD. One of said games was The Secret of Monkey Island. How ironic that one of my (if not the one and only) favorite games of all time would be a pack-in title for which I would ask the question, "What is this game?"
So my SOMI experience was the PC CD, 256 color VGA, redbook audio based version of the game. I loved it. Anyone that hasn't played this game in any form, I highly recommend giving it a spin. The interface, the comedy, the hilariously random events that take place after the player solves a puzzle all come together to create a great game and maintain a fun energy level. I had trouble saving this one and walking away when I played it in 1993. I would almost immediately want to come back. You know the feeling you get when you like a movie so much that you want to see it again in the theater? What about when you watch a TV show and feel like you are going to die from anticipation before next week's episode finally continues the story? Maybe you like to read books and have read some that you just can't put down. For me, this was a video game that functioned like a magnet. The music, the characters, the writing, the comedy - it was a package deal.
My opinion is quite biased. I am not the best person to sit down and critique this game because my feelings for it are almost completely based on nostalgia alone.
Matt - The opening of the video is great. It gets the energy level up and does a good job of setting the table. (Theme music is good, too!) I also have to say that you are looking more and more comfortable in front of the camera. I've always felt that this is something that comes with time. Here you are on Matt Chat number 8 already. Things are clicking right along.
A few production notes - You'll notice there is a jump cut around about the 2:47 mark. I don't know if you cut some video or decided to reorder something, but you may want to cut away before splicing in video of yourself speaking immediately after video of you... already speaking. (I love writing after 2 A.M. Makes for great grammar). You could cut to the images of the books, splice in some more music and footage, etc. A segue could come in the form of a simple transition like a wipe or something, but I personally don't like those much.
There were also a few times when the audio dipped a bit. No big deal - just pointing it out.
How do you keep your software collection at your place? Do you use bookcases? Do you have hard copies of the games in Matt Chat? You know what might add a real earthy feel to things? If you made some changes to the intro and spliced yourself walking to a bookcase and retrieving the box of the game of the week and then cut to you sitting down and putting the disk in the drive of the PC/Amiga/Commodore/etc... all while the music is playing. I realize you may not have all of the hard copies of that stuff, but I love collecting complete copies of games. It adds to the experience and immersion to see that sort of thing. Just a thought. I think it would give it even more of an "Armchair" feel. It's like when you are at a friends house and he pulls a book off the shelf and asks, "Have you read this?" Same thing here except it is you asking, "Have you played this?"
HD video was available just before 2:00 A.M. Central Time, by the way.
Hey Matt -
I've reached the point where I get in on Friday night after whatever Friday's activities have been and find myself asking, "Where is Matt Chat?" It's now a fun, guilty pleasure. It's nostalgia on video. I responded to last week's Matt Chat by saying that most all of the games you have covered so far are ones I have not played. Oh! But have I ever played The Secret of Monkey Island.
I should do a full write-up someday about how I came to play SOMI. The short story is that I acquired it as part of a Creative Labs Edutainment pack. The pack contained the brand new Sound Blaster 16, a caddy-based 1x CD-ROM drive, and a slew of games and educational software on CD. One of said games was The Secret of Monkey Island. How ironic that one of my (if not the one and only) favorite games of all time would be a pack-in title for which I would ask the question, "What is this game?"
So my SOMI experience was the PC CD, 256 color VGA, redbook audio based version of the game. I loved it. Anyone that hasn't played this game in any form, I highly recommend giving it a spin. The interface, the comedy, the hilariously random events that take place after the player solves a puzzle all come together to create a great game and maintain a fun energy level. I had trouble saving this one and walking away when I played it in 1993. I would almost immediately want to come back. You know the feeling you get when you like a movie so much that you want to see it again in the theater? What about when you watch a TV show and feel like you are going to die from anticipation before next week's episode finally continues the story? Maybe you like to read books and have read some that you just can't put down. For me, this was a video game that functioned like a magnet. The music, the characters, the writing, the comedy - it was a package deal.
My opinion is quite biased. I am not the best person to sit down and critique this game because my feelings for it are almost completely based on nostalgia alone.
Matt - The opening of the video is great. It gets the energy level up and does a good job of setting the table. (Theme music is good, too!) I also have to say that you are looking more and more comfortable in front of the camera. I've always felt that this is something that comes with time. Here you are on Matt Chat number 8 already. Things are clicking right along.
A few production notes - You'll notice there is a jump cut around about the 2:47 mark. I don't know if you cut some video or decided to reorder something, but you may want to cut away before splicing in video of yourself speaking immediately after video of you... already speaking. (I love writing after 2 A.M. Makes for great grammar). You could cut to the images of the books, splice in some more music and footage, etc. A segue could come in the form of a simple transition like a wipe or something, but I personally don't like those much.
There were also a few times when the audio dipped a bit. No big deal - just pointing it out.
How do you keep your software collection at your place? Do you use bookcases? Do you have hard copies of the games in Matt Chat? You know what might add a real earthy feel to things? If you made some changes to the intro and spliced yourself walking to a bookcase and retrieving the box of the game of the week and then cut to you sitting down and putting the disk in the drive of the PC/Amiga/Commodore/etc... all while the music is playing. I realize you may not have all of the hard copies of that stuff, but I love collecting complete copies of games. It adds to the experience and immersion to see that sort of thing. Just a thought. I think it would give it even more of an "Armchair" feel. It's like when you are at a friends house and he pulls a book off the shelf and asks, "Have you read this?" Same thing here except it is you asking, "Have you played this?"
HD video was available just before 2:00 A.M. Central Time, by the way.
Chris Kennedy, Editor
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Email: chris@armchairarcade.com