MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME - Behind the Scenes - EPISODE FOUR

Go behind the scenes of EPISODE FOUR! Meet Ian Roberts, the exception actor who plays Sarge and watch Jennifer snap Loyd's neck several times - but the real question is; who has the bloody tomahawk!?

MENU'S VLOG: THE FORTRESS AND Q&A

MENU VLOG: THE FORTRESS AND Q&A

The latest Menu Vlog is up and answers some questions for you about The Fortress and Cannibalistic Computer Systems!

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME - EPISODE FOUR: KILLSTREAKING

EPISODE FOUR: "KILLSTREAKING" - The final episode of the First Person Shooter arc is upon us as the events of the strangest day in Don's life come to an explosive finale!

Don't forget to like, comment, share, subscribe and ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etkICLkyE8A&list=PLcMwg93nTbMur0MerqevrfK9NVLfp4PcX&index=4

Behind the Scenes - EPISODE 3

While we wait for our computer woes to end with EPISODE 4, check out our Behind the Scenes of Episode 3!

MENU'S VLOG

WE DID A SUB-SERIES OF MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME
The floaty head guy now has a video blog!

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME - EPISODE THREE: NO "I" IN TEAM DEATHMATCH

EPISODE THREE: NO "I" IN TEAM DEATHMATCH - Don comes up with a risky plan to try and take down the Sniper warlord known as "The NoobKiller". Kera and Sarge agree to the plan but there is definitely something wrong with Sarge; that guy has got some serious issues. Will the super-soldier be the team's wildcard that brings them success or ruin?

NEXT EPISODE AIRS TUESDAY DECEMBER 2nd! Subscribe to see it first!

Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mylifeasavideogame
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MyLifeasaVG
Shoot us an email: info@leonfilms.net

DIRECTED BY

Brian Dickson

WRITTEN BY

Petros L. Ioannou ( http://www.twitter.com/PetrosOfSparta )

PRODUCED BY

Petros L. Ioannou

Brian Dickson

April Joy Haddad

STARRING:

Petros L. Ioannou as Don DeWitt

Jennifer Polansky as Kera Althorn

Brent Black as The Menu System

GUEST STARRING

Ian Roberts as "The Sarge"

Jon Bailey as Col. Killem's Weapons Emporium

Written & Created by Petros L. Ioannou

Produced by Leon Films, Ltd

Martell TV: A New Home For Online Video?

This Martell TV thing looks pretty interesting. Creating your own station, like TV networks have done for years sounds cool. It also seems a lot more social media friendly in general. The ability to have that "scheduled release" and run times thing looks nice. Also the ability to schedule ads as part of your own show and change it up however you want sounds pretty good. We've seen how certain YouTube creators have had placed ads for things like Netflix or whatnot, but they only get a certain amount of money from it and then it's stuck on their video forever. I like the idea of being able to do those paid ads but not have them stuck in there forever.

Below is a list of stuff that Martell TV can do that YouTube can't, or any other major uploading side like Blip/Vimeo e.t.c. As can be seen, it's actually not an uploading site you just embed your video form other sites, so you really have nothing to lose as YouTubers old videos will remain in place on YouTube and will continue to upload to YouTube, just also get added to this more "scheduled release" style.

The interesting thing is that the image on their site shows a mock-up picture of their application running on a Samsung tablet, so this tells me two things. First of all that the people behind this know exactly what they're getting into, an audience that will be watching the majority of their content on hand held devices like tablets, smartphones and so on, and I'm guessing because of those pre-installed ads that you can place, is kinda banking on it a little. In another albeit long shot, maybe they have a deal with Samsung, otherwise, why are they using their logo?

Anyway, feel free to drop a line in the comments below and check out the their full presentation and website at this link here:

http://www.strikingly.com/martelltv

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME - EPISODE TWO: DUTY CALLS

EPISODE TWO: DUTY CALLS

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME premieres it's second episode and it's sure to be a blast.

Don is finds himself a war-torn world surrounded on one side by a mysterious but beautiful woman and the hulking super soldier "The Sarge" and on the other Nazi's, Communists and Terrorists in the most awkward of alliances out to kill him. Time to First Person Shoot and questions later!

NEXT EPISODE AIRS TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20th! 

Subscribe to see it first!

Watch Don fight his way through real life video games, First Person Shooters, Arcade Beat 'Em Ups, Space Combat Simulators and more, only on Leon Unity.

Watch/Subscribe to us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/LeonUnity
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mylifeasavideogame
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MyLifeasaVG
Shoot us an email: info@leonfilms.net

DIRECTED BY

Brian Dickson

WRITTEN BY

Petros L. Ioannou

STARRING...

Petros L. Ioannou as Don DeWitt

Jennifer Polansky as Kera Althorn

Brent Black as The Menu System

GUEST STARRING

James Ramon-Baker as Greg Nathanson

Sabrina Jean-Hughes as Don's Ex "Jenny".

Created by Petros L. Ioannou

Produced by Leon Films, Ltd

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME - EPISODE ONE

EPISODE ONE: LOADING...

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME gets off to with a bang.. literally, there are explosions within 5 seconds.

What if your life was a Video Game? Don DeWitt is what you'd call a "hardcore" gamer. So much so that it's been to the detriment of everything in his life from work to romance. One day however he gets more than he bargained for when he is pulled into an alternate reality where video games are real life and realises that things are a lot tougher when your life is a Video Game.

WATCH EPISODE TWO NOW

Watch Don fight his way through real life video games, First Person Shooters, Arcade Beat 'Em Ups, Space Combat Simulators and more, only on Leon Unity.



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Shoot us an email: info@leonfilms.net

CHECK OUT THE GAMER BAR FROM THIS EPISODE: "LOADING" (Yes, it's real).
www.drinkrelaxplay.com
Great bar, now located on Rupert St in Soho, London.

STARRING

Petros L. Ioannou as Don DeWitt

Jennifer Polansky as Kera Althorn

Brent Black as The Menu System

GUEST STARRING

James Ramon-Baker as Greg Nathanson

Sabrina Jean-Hughes as Don's Ex "Jenny".

Written & Created by Petros L. Ioannou

Produced by Leon Films, Ltd

MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME - Launches Nov. 12th 2013!

The moment has finally arrived, like with my blog, I've been terrible at keeping everyone updated, but now I can officially confirm that TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12TH 2013 is the official launch date of MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME.

Hope you guys all enjoy watching it!

Top 5 Things I Love About Man Of Steel

As those of you who follow me on Twitter will be aware. I was not a fan of Man of Steel, in fact I was screaming betrayal at the top of my lungs and proceeded to get very drunk straight afterwards... and drunk-buy video games from Gamestop too. However, in an effort to try and come to terms with an adaptation of Superman that I really, really wanted to enjoy but felt it missed the mark, quite dramatically so with the ending, I am going to do two lists, this week is the Top 5 Things I Love About Man of Steel. This is because there are very good parts to the film, but next week will be the Top 5 Things I Hate About Man of Steel.

Obviously SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MAN OF STEEL, so don't read any further if you haven't seen it yet.

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Okay? We good. Let's begin with something easy...


1. THE SOUNDTRACK

Starting with something easy, The Soundtrack to Man of Steel is excellent. Hans Zimmer brings the epic quality he had in his work on The Dark Knight trilogy to this movie and perhaps does an even better job. With Batman the soundtrack was as epic and great but at times a little repetitive. Now if there's anything about Superman I can say that I really enjoy, it's that despite all these powers Superman in general is one of the more subtle and harder to understand. As I've said before, he's not someone to be related to, but looked up to - to aspire to be like. This soundtrack truly captures this feeling, of a man alone, with the weight of the world on his shoulders but rising above all that, above the petty wars of humanity but never to a height we can't reach ourselves. The soundtrack feels very human at times, like for example in "What Will You Do When You're Not Saving The World" a track remixed for the trailer. When the piano parts play and we get this really soft melody that grows, adds drums, adds strings and grows triumphant until we truly get the feeling that this is the rise of the hero, not just any man, but a Superman as he bursts onto the scene for an adventure. The theme for Zod is bombastic and dangerous but never feels campy. As with the main theme there will always be inevitable comparisons to John Williams's amazing work on the original movie. Zod's theme in that was perhaps a bit better and more terrifying but also more fitting for a Zod that felt more evil than "programmed this way" as the Zod in this movie is.

In the end the soundtrack had to change, even if Williams's soundtrack is my favourite of all time, Zimmer's is nothing to be scoffed at and helps establish this movie as truly it's own. This says Superman but it also says Clark Kent, it says Smallville, it says Metropolis and it says Krypton. It really says it all while being so subtle and doing something inherently of it's own that it doesn't even require comparisons to Williams's work because they're both very fitting for their versions of Superman. I've seen for example versions of the Man of Steel trailer with the Williams music, it works and shows you the tremendous power that score has but the Zimmer score is a better fit for the story they're trying to tell, one with less mystery to Krypton and more of a journey for Clark Kent to become Superman.


2. SUPERMAN VS. ZOD

While I didn't like the way the fight ends and the overt destruction porn element of it all. This fight sequence is absolutely fantastic, really hard hitting, edge of your seat kind of stuff. This is the kind of fight that Superman II wishes it had. While I do enjoy watching that it feels a little dated. This fight is even better than the last 45 minutes of The Avengers for me with the Battle of Metropolis feeling more focused and far more personal for Superman as he fights his nemesis than The Avengers fighting in the Battle of New York against a bunch of nameless faceless forces before Hulk shows off just how much of a "puny God" Loki really is. They're using their powers to their fullest, punching, flying slamming at full speed, picking up objects and hitting each other, melting said objects with heat vision; you really feel like this is a battle for the ages, two titans clashing in the skies above a city as Superman and Zod duke it out for the fate of the world, finally capturing what a superhero fight sequence this epic should look like in live action like it's never been done before outside of comics and animation.


3. AESTHETICS - COSTUME, KRYPTON & MORE

Rather like with the soundtrack, while I really enjoyed the way Donner made Krypton look and the fact that to this day I still don't think Christopher Reeve in his blue skin tight spandex and red underpants looks even remotely silly, he pulls it off; this movie excels in the production design from the costume to Krypton everything looks fantastic and the visual aesthetic of the movie is gorgeous. It's a beautiful movie and really shows off everything that a realistic, but still comic book based movie should look like. I'd liken this to the 1989 Batman's aesthetic. While I never disliked The Dark Knight's style, I always felt it was a little too... plain and real. In Batman Begins it looked very nice seeing the scummy underworld but as the movies progressed they became less stylised and more "crime drama realism" which while it showed the effect Batman had on his city it also showed Gotham as just any other city, there was nothing unique about it. The Tim Burton movies had this overt cold gothic feel to Gotham City that made the city feel like it was a character of it's own. The same can be said for how Metropolis looks and feels, how Krypton looks and feels and how Superman looks in that chain-mail esque suit of his. It's real, it feels tangible but still stylised beautifully. Look at Zod's Kryptonian battle armour in this clip here, it looks functional yet stylised it looks awesome and epic, comic book, yet real, it feels fantastic.


4. THE CASTING & CHARACTERS

Henry Cavill nails it. No-one can ever replace Christopher Reeve in the red and blue suit but Cavill does his own thing and looks the part. He looks like Superman through and through and he plays the role fantastically. And he's not the only one from Amy Adams as a much smarter and more interested adaptation of Lois Lane,  who like pulitzer prize winning journalist that she is, figures out who Superman is long before anyone else does, a realistic and dramatically different take to the norm but very believable. Especially the way she's played by Adams. Michael Shannon screams and rages a lot, he's Zod alright, that over the top character once made famous by Stamp, sadly never saying "kneel" not even once, but every bit the over the top aggressive mad man. But this one is very believable and somewhat empathetic. He's a product of the broken Kryptonian Caste system and Shannon portrays him as such, he sees nothing wrong with what he's doing as it is what he was born to do, literally as that's how people are made on Krypton, not via natural birth as Kal-El is conceived at the start of the movie but as perfect members of society, told how they will act, why they will act this way and their entire lives planned out into utter stagnation from there on out. Perry White played by Lawrence Fishburne feels like the character, he's tough, he's funny and he isn't taking any shit from Lois because he knows better. The casting is great, and while I was overall disappointed with this movie as you'll find out next week, the cast and their portrayals in general, especially Cavill as Superman make me want to see what they'll do in a sequel.


5. YOU THINK YOU CAN THREATEN MY MOTHER?

This single scene made the list because it's incredible. But more than that it shows who Superman really is, he's not the Man of Steel, he's not Kal-El of Krypton, he's Clark Kent, he was raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent on Earth in Kansas, as the line goes at the end of the movie "I've lived here for 30 years, I'm from Kansas, General, I'm about as American as it gets." Like the scene later in the movie where Jonathan sees his son with the cape as a child, and that gorgeous piano music plays, signifying that Jonathan knows who Clark really is, who is he desitined to be, the protector of Earth and his son. This scene shows how Clark truly cares about the people of Earth and how he isn't going to take any shit from Zod or anyone else from Krypton. The moment Zod threatens Martha, Superman slams into him drags him through a cornfield and slams his fist into him over and over again, it's an awesome scene and really shows Clark's protectiveness of his family and that no-one not the military not even Zod would dare lay a finger on Martha for fear of unleashing all hell... that all too human side of Superman that will protect his own and will do the same for the whole Earth, maybe he's not there quite yet but he's doing what he can. It's a badass moment and easily my favourite scene in the film when it's followed up by Clark talking about how his parents taught him how to harness his powers properly, remembering that great scene in the school where his X-Ray vision and super-hearing kicks in and the young Clark realises the gravity of his existence on Earth. Martha helps her son to make the world small, make his mission small, one person at a time and in this moment this person is her. He saves her and punishes Zod severely.


So those are my top 5 things I loved about this movie... next week, I unleash my inner General Zod and rant about why overall I was disappointed in this.

The Apartment: A Screenplay Analysis

THE APARTMENT
Screenplay Analysis by: 

Petros L. Ioannou

The Apartment is a 1960 film with a script written by Billy Wilder to be later directed by him also. As per usual Wilder continues his magic on paper and screen in this film. The Apartment is a romantic comedy and whilst not the first it did set something of a standard for the genre, which many films have oft tried to reach but few have ever done so. The copy of the script I’m working with shows it written in a most unusual manner, though not unfamiliar to me as Sunset Boulevard was written in the same way. A two column spread across the page made it a little confusing to read at first because it sometimes felt hard to see which part I should be focusing on, but after ten or so pages I adjusted to it. This unique style seems to have been a trademark of Wilder’s and interesting as it is, it can be a little disorienting for the reader. The script itself is a fairly lengthy one coming in at roughly 104 pages of double column script making it unusually long for a romantic comedy given the standard page-per-minute estimates. The film itself runs for just over two hours showing how unusual it is, given most in this genre only last for an hour and thirty minutes generally speaking. However not a second is wasted in this screenplay and every scene counts.

The story follows C.C. Baxter, C for Calvin, C for Clifford, but everyone calls him Bud. Actually they don’t. No-one in this entire screenplay calls him Bud, and there’s a very good reason why; he’s no-one’s bud, just a means to an end for everyone to walk all over him. What we have in Mr. Baxter is a man who is a walking definition of a spineless corporate drone. A man who will let people walk all over him in order to get a promotion and climb up the corporate ladder. He wants to be the man in the power suit with all the cash he can get, and he’s willing to be pushed around by everyone and anyone in order to get that promotion. Baxter is no-one’s “bud”.

We see this from the very moment the film opens; Baxter is letting Mr. Kirkeby use his apartment to have an affair with a woman named Sylvia so his wife doesn’t find out. Baxter is forced to stand in the street whilst he waits for Kirkeby to do his business and leave.  The question right from the start when reading this screenplay is why on Earth is Baxter letting Kirkeby do this? At first it seems like he’s just being a “good friend” as that’s what Kirkeby refers to him as when he’s trying to shovel Sylvia out of the titular apartment. We learn later that Kirkeby is actually one of four managers, Baxter’s superiors, at the insurance company he works for whom he lets use his apartment for extramarital affairs. First of all, let me just stress that I find the fact he works at an insurance company very important to showing the character of Baxter. It’s not like his dreams are to become the head of a talent agency, or become first pick in a professional football team, he’s working in what is famously one of the dullest industries on the planet and yet he’s willing to compromise his integrity to get ahead and rise on that dullest of corporate ladders because THAT is his dream, to be the man in charge, perhaps so that he can be the one stepping on people and not the other way around. Baxter will let all four of these men defile their marriages in his home so he can climb that ladder.

It works for a while and the four managers all give Baxter glowing recommendations to Mr. Sheldrake the company director. An interesting side-note is that this is actually the second time I’ve seen a Mr. Sheldrake in a script written by Billy Wilder, the previous having been Sunset Boulevard, a minor role as a film studio executive. It’s an interesting note that shows even great writers like Billy Wilder have the same ticks as people like myself including in-references to their own work, having always included the word ‘Elysium’ in some form or another in each script I write. It shows that no matter how far you go back writers have always been trapped in their own worlds and realities when writing a script, even if no-one but themselves will notice it. Mr. Sheldrake however in this screenplay has a much larger role than the Mr. Sheldrake in Wilder’s film from ten years prior. This time Sheldrake is the walking definition of sleazy corporate executive. He’s a womaniser and a right bastard. Sheldrake finds out about the famous apartment and decides he won’t fight the promotion Baxter is receiving if Baxter will let Sheldrake use The Apartment too.

I capitalise The Apartment above because I believe The Apartment is a proper noun here. It’s a character all on its own with its very existence being a part of New York City and the high-rise life that exists there. Every one of Baxter’s neighbours has an Apartment to themselves for the most part, they scold him  believing him to be a sleaze ball himself; bringing home a different woman each night. Each person is stuck in their own little world set as Writer Wilder called it “Apart” from each other. That’s why this film is called The Apartment, it’s not just because of the location, The Apartment is a character in itself as much as the Taxi in Taxi Driver or the suit in Iron Man. The Apartment sets people up in their own little worlds where they can judge other people’s worlds without all the facts and from a distance still safe in their havens, set ‘apart’ from each other. The Apartment is the location for the moral corruption of C.C. Baxter, he is no-one’s bud; he’s their Pimp and his Apartment has become a glorified brothel.

Sheldrake uses The Apartment to have his affair with Ms. Kubelik; the elevator operator that Baxter has a crush on also. The irony being that Baxter is letting people step all over him so he can get a promotion and become the kind of man that women like Ms. Kubelik would want to be with, a man of authority in a power suit, like the one he buys right after his promotion. When he finds out Baxter is devastated but continues to let Sheldrake use The Apartment. Ms. Kubelik is constantly trying to break free but finds herself always drawn back to the womanising Sheldrake as Ms. Kubelik is not the first affair he’s had. In fact sleazy Sheldrake has had one with his secretary and many others as the secretary recalls, it sort of reminds me of a soccer team’s squad rotation. This drives Ms. Kubelik to attempt suicide inside The Apartment. It’s over the next few days that Baxter helps her recover physically, emotionally and mentally. It is here that Baxter’s moral corruption takes a 180 and makes him stand up for himself. He was willing to forgive her when she stood him up to be with Sheldrake on their “first date”. He was willing to let Sheldrake take The Apartment over and use it as his love next. He was willing to take the scolding of his neighbours and a beating from Ms. Kubelik’ brother in the face. But now he’s had enough!

After Sheldrake loses his family because his secretary tells his wife the truth after she was fired, Sheldrake becomes a bachelor but continues to string along Ms. Kubelik like the rotten bastard he is. This culminates finally in him asking Baxter to use the very site of Ms. Kubelik attempted suicide; The Apartment, for a rendezvous with her. He declines, specifically stating that he won’t let him go near the apartment again, “Especially not with Ms. Kubelik”. This is the crux of the film, after being walked all over, getting his promotions and new suits and a fancy paycheck by letting his very existence become meaningless. He’s had enough, and he’s not standing up for himself as much as he’s standing up for Ms. Kubelik, that’s how much he cares about her. She inspires him to take a stand and quit his dull meaningless corporate job and stop being a drone and become and individual. To me this moment is as complex as all episodes of Star Trek and The Borg in terms of questioning individuality combined. In a few seconds he breaks free of the shackles of being just one of eight million people living in New York and becomes an individual who is willing to literally “stick it to the man”, here he is embracing the 1960s as they roll in on the New Year, a new decade has begun, one that had been forming slowly throughout the 1950s as we’d seen in films like On The Waterfront and Rebel Without A Cause, one of liberal individuality and Baxter has embraced the times with them, Ms. Kubelik. She finds out about what Baxter said to Sheldrake and runs to The Apartment. He declares his love for her and she doesn’t respond but tells him to “Shut up and deal!” the cards that she was uninterested in at first when he was taking care of her but now wants to play. She is now interested in him, not sleazy Sheldrake.

The Apartment is an exceptionally well written script and shows the quality of Billy Wilder’s writing throughout. It’s such a different script from Sunset Boulevard and demonstrates just what a talent he is. I’ve always been able to admire someone who’s able to  switch genres at the drop of hat and succeed marvellously at both and a Noir to a Romantic Comedy is about as dramatic a switch as can be. When questions of individuality, standing up for oneself and an almost prophetic message about the coming decade of free-liberal-thought as opposed to the corporate world where money means all of the closing decade where everyone is referred to as Mister, Misses, Miss, all by their last names and impersonal. The Apartment exemplifies all this and so much more in probably the best romantic comedy ever written.

Sony E3 Press Conference

Sony... Sony, Sony, Sony. My hats off to you guys, because there has not been a body slam like that since this one here. Only this one ends with Sony marching out triumphant and Microsoft walking away in tears. I literally cannot see a way back for Microsoft at this point, this launch period at the very least, they don't stand a chance in hell. Okay so onto the conference. This was possibly the best E3 in history, I know it's early to call this as Nintendo are going to have their hour-long Direct in less than nine hours and they're going to hopefully be bringing a lot to the table but not one of the conferences has been disappointing and this one was not the icing on the cake nor the cherry on top of the icing, or the cherry on top of the icing on top of the sundae of awesome. This was a whole extra cake added on and being told it tastes just as good but is completely sugar free and gives you superpowers. It really hit hard bringing out their strongest for what has turned out to be possibly the most epic E3 ever putting doubters like myself in their place.

Starting from the beginning, Jack Tretton stuts out on stage and essentially says "We know you've all been waiting for the PS4... so we're going to talk about the Vita". My instant reaction being "Give it a rest, the Vita is dead dude...". He starts talking about it, stats, PR bullshit, what have you. Now he's on about the PS3, yeah, yeah, get to it. Shows a bit of The Last of Us, the new game by Naughty Dog which is getting rave reviews at the moment.  Then a new game called Pupeteer takes the stage, looking interesting. Another game called Rain is shown, seems very stylistic, don't know anything really about it though. Beyond Two Souls goes out there, looks like an interesting mesh of Movie and Game starring Ellen Page. Gran Turismo 6 is unveiled, congratulations, you've successfully made the same game for about ten years now. They go on about "tessellation of polygons". I was getting a bit bored at this point to be honest. A bit more went on, we saw another CG trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins and a little bit of Grand Theft Auto V. These are all great games but nothing Sony should be bragging about too much, we knew they were coming and they were dragging time here. Well, from what I can tell, that was intentionally so.

Here begins the PlayStation 4. Starting out with finally showing the design, a somewhat unremarkable black box, or trapehzoid, nothing special. But the Sony Entertainment Network is expanding to include more movies, more music, and an Exclusive Sony Network of TV and Film on PSN Tailored specifically to gamers, whether this is like a Sony Netflix or their old shows and movies streaming for PSN+ customers, I'm not entirely sure. They're also bringing Redbox Instant, Live Events Viewer (A god send for me as I have no cable) and Flixster to PS3, Vita and PS4.

Onto some games; Killzone: Shadow Fall, we saw this at the February conference in New York. It was a somewhat unremarkable Sci-Fi First Person Shooter, as we expected. Nothing new, but it's a launch title none-the-less. Then there is DriveClub, a game free to PSN+ users on launch date, once again nothing new, same old. Next up is inFamous: Second Son, the spin-off title that actually looks pretty damn good if you ask me and something I hope that can be made to be a lot of fun. The trailer looked pretty slick, with the lip syncing almost perfect a rarity in video games because often mouths with move a bit, but it feels like a voice over, this felt like the voices were coming from their mouths, their lips truly moved. A New Steampunk game, called The Order: 1886, set in Victorian London, kinda looks like a cross between Dishonoured and what I assume is Arthurian Lore as they had a guy called Gallahad, and a quote from L'Morte De Arthur at the start, could be an interesting take to see some kind of Arthurian Legend revival in a Steampunk based setting. Knack seemed interesting a kind of action fun quirky game. Interesting visuals, a launch title. The Dark Sorcerer looks very nice, thought it was another cheesy generic dark western fantasy game turns out to be...well I have no idea, there was a green screen and a film crew involved and a bit of comedy.

Then they went onto the independent titles, right now Steam and Nintendo lead the way with indies, but Sony seems to be set to give them all a run for their money with the ability to self-publish content. Transistor, from the creators of Bastion looks pretty slick similar gameplay different setting and style, very nice looking. Don't Starve was another indie game shown off, didn't quite catch a lot of this as my stream kept failing on me. Mercenary Kings kind of a retro shooter along the lines of classic games like Metal Slug, from the creators of the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World game. Young Horses, Rays, a Western Game, a space sim called Galaxy and a game I can't remember the name of because I was too busy laughing at Sony's ability to poke fun of their own bad meme by saying it's based on fact but does not contain any "Giant Enemy Crabs".

Then onto their blockbuster titles coming to PS4. Diablo III, without the always online requirement, and new Sony based items from games like Uncharted as special exclusives. And then what came next was like nothing we'd ever expected....



FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII... or should I say FINAL FANTASY XV. A Sony Exclusive taking the elements that were once a part of the fabled Versus game stuck in a hellish development cycle now put into Final Fantasy XV, a game that had gameplay that looked incredible, seemed to play smoothly and was visually stunning. For a Final Fantasy fan like myself, this was the killer blow to Microsoft, that was enough to make me get a PS4 over and Xbox but they didnt' stop there... Kingdom Hearts III. A game we've been waiting for since the days of the PS2. It's like Square Enix essentially have turned around and said "We're done f-ing around with mobile games, spin-offs and crap like that. We are bringing the big guns to the forefront!" Not to mention that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which was being warmly received by this point after all the good news, was console exclusive to Sony. A Final Fantasy double and Kingdom Hearts III really has put them on the map. Let's hope they can deliver. After that they showed a little more of Watch_Dogs, which looks great as ever, some more of Assassin's Creed IV: The Black Flag. The Elder Scrolls: Online coming to PS3 with an exclusive first run beta of the game.

Then came the actual killer blow: in what almost seemed like a mockery of Microsoft, Sony tells us it will back the player, play used games, everything that is normal for us now, will continue and given recent fears it's great to see they've listened and totally gotten it right. They even released this hilarious commercial about how the PS4 shares used games and deliver a damaging blow to Microsoft. With Jack Tretton back on stage now gleaming ear-to-ear. What came next was well, to put it in Mortal Kombat terms, a "Fatality". The price point of the PS4 is... $399. That's one hundred dollars LESS than the XBox One and it includes all the exclusives mentioned, plus all the third party titles like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This killer blow to Microsoft has left them in the dust. Come Holiday Season 2013, there will be one winner and it's the PlayStation 4. They've also made Microsoft look so bad now that they might be forced to drop the anti-used games policy or good news for Nintendo fans like myself, it's likely many people will go for the Wii U also.

Final Thoughts: This conference was masterfully performed and has made me realise just how much I'm going to miss the crowd at tomorrow's Nintendo Direct. It's been an epic day at E3 and Sony has taken top prize delivering the best E3 Press Conference in recent memory if for no other reason than it has proved gamers still have a say.

Rating: 10/10 - PERFECT

Ubisoft E3 Press Conference

Ubisoft, last year's "winner" by popular vote of E3 mostly due to the epic bursting onto the scene like the kool-aid man of Watch_Dogs, hit back again today with the same brand of somewhat awkwardness and simply quality titles we've seen in the past. This year there was no specific focus on the Wii U as their focus shifted more toward Next Generation consoles. And unlike most games we've seen so far, there was definitely a concerted effort to not only make things look next generation; but play that way too. While I've been critical of Xbox One's "semi-perma online" console, I don't have a problem with online games - so long as it's stated that way. Games that are specifically multiplayer online games have been around for a decade and a half, longer even. But bringing that online always aspect to a game that doesn't need it for the gameplay like say, Sim City, which had a few online elements plugged in but was a single player game. Online is practically everywhere now so Ubisoft are pushing this with their new games "The Crew" and "Tom Clancy's The Division". They also showed off some other games like Rabbid's Interactive TV Series and of course Assassin's Creed IV: The Black Flag.

The Crew in particular sparked my interest, being something that seemed to be brand new for a driving game. I've seen racing games, like Gran Turismo. I've seen open world driving games like Need for Speed: Underground. But this is something new; this is something that is open world, racing, online and wholly new -- at least from my perspective. The Crew looks to be something interesting, something new and fascinating. I'm looking forward to testing this game out and seeing how exactly it will go down for someone like me who hasn't really enjoyed a racing game outside of Mario Kart since Gran Turismo 2 just because of the bog standard that they all seem to be to me.. When I bought Need for Speed: Underground 2, I expected it to be essentially the racing game version of The Fast and The Furious, well The Crew seems to be very much that with a bit of the newer films thrown in for extra action. You can cross roads, bridges, off-road it looks pretty awesome to be honest and I'm quite excited.

Then there was the odd one, the Rabbids Interactive TV Series. I'm not quite sure what was going on there... people were screaming at the television to break a glass over a Rabbid, they were bouncing around. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of an interactive TV series, it sounds fascinating the idea of a game TV series as such. So often games right now are more like interactive movies, big epics. Then there's games like Back to the Future and The Walking Dead both by Telltale which are episodic in nature. I'm not quite sure what this Rabbids thing was, and if it were anything other than the most annoying creatures in media history, I'm sure I'd be invested in this.

Tom Clancy's "The Division" was a hefty introduction, it looks like an awesome online game that uses multiple interfaces from consoles to tablets in one world. Here's hoping the game is also cross platform online too. The game is basically a third person shooter set in a post-disaster New York by the looks of things. The trailer was very vague only really setting up the backstory for a society that is a House of Cards waiting to fall and well... does so after an epidemic breaks out. Ubisoft seem to have a pretty solid Online Third Person Shooter RPG on their hands here. I'm interested to see where they go with this in terms of actual plot and story rather than just the setting they showed here.

There was of course Assassin's Creed IV, which was a CG trailer this time around, not much to comment on that other than, well it's probably going to be a fun game, there's already been a lot of news on that. Much like Watch_Dogs, which as a game just looks to be phenomenal and really strong.  We'll see how that all pans out, I want to play this game now. Maybe if there's some time after all the editing I'll be doing at E3 over the next few days, perhaps I'll get a chance. But the game looks freaking awesome and a very interesting look at how technology is evolving and integrating into our society in our daily lives in ways we often forget when we're screaming "damn computers" or "stupid piece-o-shit iPhone!"

Finally, Rayman Legends,  a game that looks to be fantastic... a little frustrated as it should be out by now on Wii U and owning one just makes me angry that it's no longer an exclusive to that console and I can't even imagine how it's not going to be anymore given what I've played on the Legends demo for Wii U. The trailer looked pretty bad though, at least visually. But we cannot forget the #NagasakiFart, the South Park RPG, South Park: The Stick of Truth, a game that has been in development for a while, switched from THQ to Ubisoft, but still looks to be epic, not shying away to bring in more gamers, this is a South Park game make no mistake about it and I can't wait to see how it plays and pans out in the end because it looks seriously great.

Final Thoughts: Overall a very solid conference, new IP's, old favourites, new ideas, real next gen stuff and not just the boring "oh yeah we've got better graphics" stuff we've seen so far, this is real next generation gameplay and ideas from The Crew's online open world racing/driving game to the weirdness of the Rabbid's fascinating idea of an interactive TV series. Hopefully it pans out but this was an incredibly good conference.

Rating: 9/10 - EXCELLENT

E.A. E3 Press Conference

Now for a quick rundown on Electronic Arts's Press Conference and my opinions on it. The start made me laugh, they opened with a rundown of what's to come then said "A franchise loved by millions" will be on stage next. Suddenly we get what appears to be the static, drums and lens flares of Battlefield 4... followed by; "BRAAAAINS!" Yep, that's right, it's Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, the game that actually might convince me to buy a Used Xbox 360 (yep, that's right Microsoft, suck it, I'm getting a whole used console now). It looks to be a lot of hilarious fun and it's coming to both Xbox 360 and One, take a guess where I'll be putting my money. After this however things take a bit of a dip then rise, dip then rise for an interesting EA Press Conference.

Star Wars: Battlefront, let's put that out there. Whatever they're doing with this game, it looks to be exciting and it got the nerd community all riled up even if it was just a basic 5 second CG trailer followed by a logo. That was a rise, what followed was the announcement of Need for Speed: Rivals. A game that looks pretty solid, but it's really gotten to the point now that not much new in the way of racing games can be offered, a problem faced by Nintendo with their own comedic racing franchise, Mario Kart. The cloud-based opponent A.I. from Forza looks interesting their "Drivitar" as they called it. Yeah, that's going to be an E3 meme for years to come alongside "My Body is Ready", "Giant Enemy Crab" and of course "Non-Specific Action Figure"... man that last one was weird. I'd call Need for Speed a dip, but it was actually alright, it's just they didn't announce anything actually new for it and spent an awful lot of time on it.

This semi-mistake was followed by showing off Dragon Age III: Inquisition, a game they seem to be taking their time with now, due to be released about three and a half years after it's predecessor Dragon Age II, the game is going open world, with you having your ability to influence the world to save it or destroy it. Oh and there's actual dragons this time. So basically it sounds like a better version of Skyrim. The lore in Dragon Age always appealed to me more than in Elder Scrolls, especially the Quinari, they're pretty awesome. I also love the way Dragon Age mirrors their world to ours in the middle ages but in a more fantasy setting. This was followed up by about twenty minutes of sports games. Don't get me wrong, I like sports, hell I love football, I am an ardent Tottenham Hotspur fan, often waking up at 4am to watch games over here in L.A. that are airing at sane hours back in London. But EA Sports took to center stage for so damn long with a weird lyrical intro with a basketball, lots of talk about dribbling and while I'm sure it's all nice and I've played Fifa quite a bit, though I still suck bad, they spent so damn long on it. Especially right after they spent no more than three and a half minutes on what could be BioWare's masterpiece. Perhaps like Battlefront EA just didn't have much to show off of the game. It was a CG trailer once again afterall. Interesting that they've kept the more stylised art style.

There was also a bit more on Battlefield 4, doesn't seem all that different to Battlefield 3 but still looks like a solid game and given how fed up I'm getting with Call of Duty, seems like the game I'm going to try out next as an FPS, along side their new I.P. Titanfall, which looks pretty mecha-badass too. The visuals of BF4 and it's sound are once again absolutely superb I should add. Though aside from "Commander Mode" returning from their previous entries, I didn't' see much new stuff about Battlefield 4, afterall the game is due out soon, so how much more can they say?

Final Thoughts: Overall EA had a fairly good conference, it wasn't much in the way for more hardcore gamers. Nerds like myself were a little disappointed we didn't see more but there's certainly a lot to look forward to and either way, there's always... GARDEN WARFARE.

Conference Rating: 7/10 - GOOD

Microsoft E3 Press Conference

Microsoft's E3 Press Conference went down pretty much as expected. They threw games out there, lots of games. Everything they didn't' show at the XBOX One reveal was shown. They showed a lot of games that were new like RYSE: Son of Rome and Titanfall as well as old favourite like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a game we all knew was headed to XBox after Rising became the first Metal Gear game to crossover to Microsoft and become cross-platform. Then you've got the surprise announcements, like Killer Instinct returning this time to Xbox, which for Nintendo fanboys like myself serves as a bitter reminder of the fact that Nintendo has lost so much third party support. That being said even if it's not the same Rare that was at Nintendo, it's nice to see them reviving an old favourite once again, I look forward to smashing some skulls as Glacius. Or maybe I don't because the price point rolled around. $499...

And this is for a console that essentially bans used games and puts the power with the game publishers rather than the gamers themselves. The 24 online check in requirement and other DRM issues were not addressed at all in the conference, probably to their benefit or else they'd probably cause all kinds of issues. To be honest, had they just ditched the disc drive system, they might have avoided a lot of this hassle for themselves because that's essentially what they're doing, but discs are still around and I literally can't remember the last PC game I bought that had a disc, it's all steam or formerly Direct2Drive for me.

Now speaking as a person who before the reveal, wanted so badly to be excited for the next XBox and for their E3 presentation. I am not an XBox guy, I have never owned a Microsoft games console but I'm a PC user all the way, even a somewhat defender of Windows 8. I'd hoped the Xbox One would blow me away, and honestly, between the extortionate price point and the ban on used games, I feel I can't justify the purchase of their new console. I don't think I ever can unless they sort these issues out. The Microsoft Press Conference was solid for gamers, until you look behind the scenes a little more and realise that for all these great games, there are the huge flaws and issues in the Xbox One.

Perhaps for many Xbox Gamers, they don't care too much about that, they'd like to play the new Halo game that was announced, with no number or subtitle, we'll see how that goes down. But it's looking like the console will have a solid line up but it's a line up that for the most part, Sony will be able to compete with, match or even out do, we'll find out more soon enough.

Final Thoughts: A Solid Presentation of Games and Exclusives, but the $499 Price Point and the DRM issue still lurks over the Xbox One.

Conference Rating: 8/10 - GREAT***

*** Note the conference was great itself, but not enough to override what they'd said in the past, which at least they got out of the way early.

Pre-E3 Expo Thoughts

Just a short update this weekend. This week I will be at E3 Expo 2013, I'll get to see all the awesome new stuff Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft put out there, as well as see what else is in store. Will there be a new Zelda? A New Final Fantasy? Will Call of Duty: Dog Warfare be any good, or just yet another cash-in sequel by Activision and Infinity Ward. And perhaps most importantly, does the Xbox One actually play video games?

I'll be doing a three-day analysis at the end of each day, try and give you some impressions of what I get to play. Bearing in mind I am working at E3 this year for gaming website Screwattack.com, for whom I'll be editing many of their videos in the media room. However I'll try and give my best impressions, specifically relating to the major conferences, we have Sony and Microsoft dishing them out and Nintendo with their hour long Nintendo Direct trying to bring the conference less in a bombastic approach and a more... well direct one.

How will E3 go down this year, no idea. Everything seems pretty level this year, Sony and Microsoft have their new consoles coming up, Sony appearing to be in the lead here. They've shown off more games, though people seem to forget how bad their conference was in face of how disastrous the XBox Reveal was. Microsoft have be all about the games this year, tell us what is going to make someone like myself a person who has never owned an Xbox console before, buy one. What exclusives are you bringing to the table? The DRM thing is a real crap, so maybe they might sort something out there, but it's growing increasingly concerning that they won't be changing that any time soon and we'll all have to pay full price for used games, which frankly is BULLSHIT.

Sony on the other hand have shown off a few games, however they haven't shown off any heavy hitters really just the usual Sony stuff that we expect from them. When I saw the PS4... the presentation that is, I really hope they actually show the goddamn console this time, I was quite disappointed that all they showed off were games that had minute graphical enhancements and there was nothing new about the PS4. They've spoken about using the Vita in a similar way to the Wii U, but for someone to do that would cost them somewhere in excess nearly $1000 in all likely-hood. One thing they should emphasises is a worldwide price cut for the Vita and a massive push for cross-platform play. I love the idea that you can play one game on your PS3/PS4 then go play it on your Vita when you leave your house. The only problem is that you have to buy full copies of each. They've changed that for a couple of games but really they need to make it across all games, buy one copy get the other digitally free. Or buy the game digitally and you get the game on both handheld and home console.

Nintendo have to show off their big guns on the software side, with a very rough start to the Wii U, as an old-school fanboy I'm hoping they can pull something out of the hat. We're expecting Smash Bros, Mario, Zelda and hopefully a few surprises along the way. I'd hate to see their direct show off stuff we already knew was coming. I'd like to see some Mario Kart going on and perhaps most important for me, I want to see what Monolith Soft is working on, everyone keeps talking about Retro Studios... yeah, yeah Metroid Prime was a good game and DKC Returns was great too. But Xenoblade Chronicles was probably the best game on the Wii, and now Monolith Soft are bringing that kind of awesome RPG to the Wii U. What's coming up, I have no idea. But I'm very excited, let's just hope they don't flop like last year's conference, which started out so well and then completely lost steam by Nintendoland, which ironically has turned out to be one hell of a game.

How will things go down, it seems all companies need to focus on their games, with Nintendo probably a step behind because despite their one year jump on the others, they've not done much with it. Let's see how things go down, I'll see you guys and gals on Tuesday.

Cloud Atlas Thoughts

I finally saw Cloud Atlas today and found it both very interesting but also very confused film that I don't think ever really hit its mark. I think it's a movie that is trying to tell us about the human condition and our existence, but when you're telling a SciFi movie like that, you really must make sure your audience does actually understand your meaning, otherwise it can come off as random incoherent babbling. Sadly Cloud Atlas, though commendable for trying to be intelligent SciFi and more than just another explosive movie, feels like it is heading for this big crescendo revelation that it never quite happens.
I'm not really sure what story this movie was trying to tell. That we're all connected? I guess but that's kinda implied before you've even watched the movie.
Was it about souls, love, slavery, the afterlife?

I will admit I have not read the novel this was based on but I have heard that it was good. However, a work of art should stand on it's own, and while unlike many of my pompous contemporaries I find that some of the film adaptations are often better than the original source material. An example of this for me is the Lord of the Rings films, which I felt were far more succinct and felt stronger in overall narrative than the books. Those films did not need any "homework" to understand the movie and Cloud Atlas should be no different. In the end I was very confused by the movie and that's not a good sign. Any one of the stories in the movie would have actually worked very well as singular movies, but even with the 3 hour runtime none of them quite get the development they need and instead it all comes off as an incoherent mess. Any of these stories would have worked better than the whole in the end. Because there is no truly tying thread to it all, nothing that would make an audience member say "Ah riiiight I get it now" this is what it's all been about.

In many ways it has a similar problem that I feel Game of Thrones has too, but where that show succeeds in many ways because of the length and uniting threads of the story. Instead in the end the movie gets lost in its own mythos, unable to have a single theme and trying to tell multiple ones about our existence with nothing to tie them together except perhaps that they're all human experiences. But that's not enough in the end and the movie just doesn't work overall.

I have a theory about movies, they should get better every time you watch them, but at the same time they should get their point across and their general message on the first viewings the rest is in the details. On this part Cloud Atlas fails, and quite miserably so.

 It's a shame really because ever since films like Inception,  I'd hoped intelligent but interesting mainstream SciFi was making a comeback. When I'd heard about this fascinating jaunt through time by the creators of The Matrix, I'd hoped that something might come out of this that would be awesome, instead we got this, a movie that I'm sure made perfect sense in the minds of its creators but was a complete convoluted mess on the screen in the end. What was its meaning? I have no idea, it's clearly trying to convey a multitude of them but as such loses its focus and basically just says "Hey, um... Reincarnation!" without really stating its implications or what this story is trying to tell us.

In Defence of Kickstarter

There has been this misconception in the media that Kickstarter has become a haven for con artists, or worse rich people who have the money and contacts to do something about it but choose not to and would rather get money for free. Specifically the later since the Veronica Mars movie got funded and Zach Braff's second directorial feature "Wish I Was Here" also reached its goal. A lot of people have been saying that Kickstarter should be only for the desperate, those who can't rally the funds together to get their project made but that once you are making money, forget about it. Well, speaking as one of those desperate people who used Kickstarter to raise $30,000 for my web series MY LIFE AS A VIDEO GAME, I can safely say, that the people who say that... Really don't get that Kickstarter is about something more than that. Perhaps more important, it's certainly not a con.

Lets go back a few years, for starters to look at Anita Sarkeesians project "Women vs Tropes in Video Games", many people called her out as being a con artist because she raised over $150,000 for her project, a project that could have been done on a lot less... Like say, the $6000 she  asked for. People often forget that fact when criticising her and her campaign. She never asked for all the money that was contributed, she in fact only asked for a small sum, but people saw the merit in her argument, and the points she wanted to make. I also saw much of the merit, even if I do disagree with many of her points in her final product; her overall argument is a very valid one that even if I didn't agree with it, I would respect. People contributed money to her campaign because they believed in her cause. She not once turned around and said "Hey... Umm I actually need bazillion dollars for a million foot high green screen." She was very gracious as anyone should be for the funding she received. But more than giving her money, it gave her a following and community, good and bad... More on that in a bit.

Fast forward to more recent history and other campaigns. VGHS: Video Game High School raised over $270,000 for its first season. But like many projects even though they only asked for $75,000 they received a whole lot more. But also like many projects,  they either went over budget or Kickstarter was just the beginning of their funds. A way to Lo and behold; Kickstart their project into existence. The eventual budget for season one was $636,010, over double the Kickstarter investment. They invested a lot of their own money for sure, they had sponsorship deals etc. Now I've not looked into this too much, but I'm sure if you asked the team at Rocket Jump, what people had said, I'm sure you'd get trolls saying things like "Why did you go so over budget..." Or "What could you possibly have spent so much money on?" Or even "Bullshit! You're just saying that for tax/bragging/because you took a lot of the money for yourself/insert some other shite reason here". How do I know these questions? Because even I have gotten them. My Life as a Video Game raised $32,314 in total. Not even 1/8 what VGHS season one raised (let alone their record breaking season two campaign). And I STILL had detractors. 

But here's the kicker, I know what it's like for the Rocket Jump team because my own project wasn't entirely funded by Kickstarter either. I have invested to date a lot of money and I estimate I'll put in a lot more by the time the first season of this project is complete. This is money I have borrowed, or had to sell my car to get. While I am immensely grateful for the Kickstarter money it didn't cover all of it. And that's what a lot of people have failed to realise is that Kickstarter even when you reach your goal, is often just the beginning, even with money you will likely have to invest yourself too, there is the stress, the egos, the rage and the overall hell that comes with making a huge project like VGHS or My Life as a Video Game. The same knowledge can be said for even bigger Kickstarter projects like Veronica Mars or Zach Braff's Wish I Was Here, both of which will undoubtably require additional funding and heartache, blood, sweat and tears to be made.

Then there are those such as Ken Levine, who said in his own blog, that people will contribute their money to projects like Braff's or Veronica Mars instead of projects like mine. That's simply not true, for starters Kickstarter projects had more funding during the time Braff had his up than ever before. And no where is it mutually exclusive that you must contribute to one and not contribute to another. Now Levine, though a talented writer that he is and I'll always give props to one of my own, has clearly no clue what he's talking about on this subject. Yes, Hollywood will always try and take advantage of things, but that's the problem isn't it? That's why Kickstarter funds projects like my own, because when people do get involved when money-men get too involved in projects they want their say, studios want things done their way. Instead people like Braff and myself have gone on the record that we want this to be a community project, funded by a community that a community can follow and bring other people into the community. It doesn't defeat the purpose of Kickstarter and it never has, Levine has clearly never done a Kickstarter, so he has clearly no idea what goes into one. He says "support a Veronica Mars movie by buying ten tickets to it". Well without Kickstarter, without fans saying they want want and proving it so by helping make it possible there would be no movie to buy tickets for. And it's not like fans are conned out their money here, they offer it, and they've done it in the past long before Kickstarter was even around. Fans tried to bring back Star Trek: Enterprise for a fifth season raising over $1 million back in 2005 long before Kickstarter existed and a mere few months after YouTube was founded. For Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas came up with the idea because Warner Bros turned it down, but agreed to license it and give them money should they reach their goal and prove it's a viable movie. If anything projects like Veronica Mars and Zach Braff's Wish I Was Here, bring attention to Kickstarter and to other projects like mine. I won't deny there are dangers but the reaction is honestly actually a little insulting to me. Let people use their money in whatever way they see fit. Not to mention this isn't a charity drive, people are getting their returns, as I write this I'm in the process of sending out personal thank you songs, t-shirts and posters to my own backers.

And in spite of this, I'd go as far as to say Kickstarter is about far more than just money. Money can be gained from investors, from studios, billionaires who are drunk. But people like Zach Braff, Freddie Wong, Anita Sarkeesian and myself, went to Kickstarter for more than just money. This is about creating a community, getting people invested (quite literally in some cases) in your project. It also proves that people believe in you. People get back things from Kickstarter in the form of rewards, and they are helping people realise a dream. Together they become a community, they get updated on the project, they get told more and more about it and become invested in seeing things get made. I have backed a number of projects myself, including Braff's, VGHS Season 2 and ScrewAttack Gaming Convention's return. I am a part of those communities now. Kickstarter brings people together as a part of a project. I had very few fans and/or subscribers when My Life as a Video Game was launched on Kickstarter, when Brent told everyone about it, his fanbase came to the Kickstarter and it grew, more and more people joined the Facebook page. Over 4,000 of them are now on the Facebook page. Of whom only a small percentage are Brent's fans. This is thanks to Kickstarter a lot, because even though our fans came from one place they became our fans, they became our supporters and many more joined us.

Kickstarter is near and dear to my heart because without Kickstarter I'd have no community, no project and probably nothing that good going for me in my professional life. Because My Life as a Video Game and Leon Films, my company that produced it, are my full time job now and wouldn't exist without Kickstarter, without the community and the help they've provided financial being only part of it. I've had people who were fans, who came to help on set when we were desperate. We've had people send us encouraging messages which really have pushed me up when I felt down and like the weight of this project was going to crush me.

So to all who contributed and continue to, thank you. I believe in Kickstarter and I believe in those who help us create awesome shit in doing so, in spite of those who would hurl insult and berate. Kickstarter has helped hundreds of people, I'm just one of them. May they continue to help many more.