Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991) by Douglas Coupland is that strange kind of book that quickly becomes iconic, epitomising an era in the minds of everyone who reads it, before drifting into relative obscurity as the time it depicts slides away into memory. And Generation X was iconic.  It lent its name to the age group it writes about, the oft-overlooked Gen-Xers who were born between 1965 and 1980. The book skewers American culture, politics and commercialism of the time with extreme enthusiasm, and coins terms such as: McJob - “A low-pay, low-prestige, low dignity, low benefit, no future job in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never held one”, Boomer Envy - “Envy of the material wealth and long-range material security accrued by members of the baby boom generation by virtue of fortunate birth”, and Historical overdosing/underdosing - “To live in a period of time when too m...

WE'RE BACK and this time, join The Curmudgeon (myself) and Accounting For Games in our podcast discussion on the classic 1982 tech-noir Blade Runner !

Special thanks to  Curmudgeon Film Talk   for providing the drawing 87 hours and 36 minutes. That’s how long it took me to get to the end of Persona 5 (2016). Oh, I mean get to the end of the plot, it’s not like Skyrim (2011) where you can complete the main quests in a day but fill out the time with endless side missions. It’s nearly double the play time of NieR: Automata (2017) and you had to play that game 3 times to get the true ending. Persona 5 is one of the longest games I’ve ever played. And one of the best.  Anyway, let’s start with the hard part: summarizing the plot. Within the Persona universe, there is a dimension running parallel to it - referred to as the Metaverse - which reflects the strongest and darkest desires of humanity. These evil impulses manifest themselves as “Palaces”: labyrinthine structures that embody how an individual views the world and themselves. Palaces, and the many monsters dwelling within, pro...

The Curmudgeon and Green Ornstein of Curmudgeon Media talk about everything and nothing at the same time. This instalment's topics range from Scrubs, Anime, indie games, and more. Full list of topics are time stamped in the video description!

One of the biggest compliments I can give a creative of any kind is the ability to embrace new ideas. It’s even more impressive if they are able to pull those ideas off without sacrificing what made them good in the first place. One games company that not only strives to do that, but succeeds, is Supergiant Games. "I think the general consensus is that the soul from our previous games is still very much intact. We don’t try to make something for everyone, I think our games are very specific." - Creative Director Greg Kasavin Since its founding in 2009 by Amir Rao and Gavin Simon, they’ve made 3 games with the 4th, Hades (2020), set for full release in the second half of 2020. That said, I think now would be a perfect time to take a look at Supergiant’s current work to see what each one brings to the Indie game table. Both their strengths… … and their flaws. Kicking this off, we have their landmark debut. Bastion (2009) Bastion is ideal f...