Why must everything be sequelled to death these days?
Why is it that we have totally lost our ability to use our imaginations?
Why is it that we insist on seeing every last detail of every last story told in pointless sequel after pointless sequel?
Why is it that we are no longer content with one satisfying story that tells its tale, completes its arc, and leaves us alone? Instead, we insist that retreads of once unique story worlds will be forced upon us time and time again by marketing executives who are just looking out for the bottom line, but who are doing it by giving us what we seem to want.
How many more times will the tragedy of the Matrix sequels have to play itself out before we realize that one interesting story should be enough? How many unnecessary trilogies will we suffer through before we realize that sometimes it's good NOT to see what happens next in a universe? How many times will a compelling story be stretched out over too many movies, too many games, too many books, before we catch on and begin to yearn for the days when a story could appear, amaze, and then disappear, to forever live in our memories as a terrific one-off experience that we will cherish?
The news that I feared would come, that I knew would come, has apparently surfaced. District 9 was one of the most fantastic movies I've seen in quite some time. Its ambiguous ending was refreshing in that it didn't seem so much like an obvious sequel hint as it did an ending that closed up what it needed to without explaining too much.
I don't want to see another movie in that universe.
I've seen what I want to. I don't want to know anymore. I don't want to be told any more. I don't want the magic, the uniqueness, of the original to be spoiled by a pointless, money-driven, over-explanatory sequel that can't hope to stand up to the wonder instilled in me by the original movie.
But it seems that even for this refreshingly original movie, a sequel will soon enough be shoved down my throat.
When will we learn?
Do we really want District 10 to turn into The Matrix: Reloaded?
Take the awesome nerd anthem "Do You Wanna Date My Avatar" by Felcia Day and the folks behind the awesome MMO comedy "The Guild" and replace the human crew with the actual virtual characters from World of Warcraft competitor Lord of the Rings Online, and what do you get?
This, which was made with the help of a couple of my friends and edited by the leader of my kinship in the game:
If this isn't the very definition of nerdy/cool, I don't know what is.
After writing nine days of Dreamcast articles in such quick succession, I rather need to take a break from significant writing chores this weekend. Rest assured, however, that Twilight: Journey Into the Abyss will return in fine form next week.
I'll even try to make up for the long wait you've had between articles somehow....
Other, non Dreamcast or Twilight stuff will surely come as well.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd pass this highly enjoyable link along. It is a review of the Twilight movie from a perspective that, you might say, is not quite that of its target audience.
Kind of like my own take on it, come to think of it.
I don't know whether it's healthy for a writer/blogger such as myself to link to an article that is potentially much more humorous than his own, but I'm going to do it because this is just so damn funny. I'm going to have to work very hard to even come close to this level of entertainment if I ever get as far as reviewing the movie.
I ran across a number of different Dreamcast articles online whilst in the midst of my own recent Dreamcast nostalgia. I thought I'd pass some of them along and share the joy.
Gamasutra posted a fascinating seven-page article entitled "The Rise And Fall Of The Dremcast," which is exactly that. Well worth a read for any Dreamcast fan.
Peter Moore, one of the key executives at Sega during the early days of the Dreamcast, posted his thoughts on the little white console, its impact, and his experiences working at Sega. He provides a very interesting inside perspective.
Giant Bomb did nine of their always entertaining Quick Look videos over notable or entertaining Dreamcast titles in celebration of the anniversary. ChuChu Rocket, Crazy Taxi, Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Samba de Amigo, Typing of the Dead, Virtua Tennis, and Power Stone 2 are all given a run through. Typing of the Dead is embedded below. You're highly advised to check out the rest in the link above.
Giant Bomb also found this wickedly disturbing ChuChu Rocket commercial. Watch it at your own peril.
Not every memorable moment in Dreamcast history is a positive one. This cursed title was the warning sign that signaled Sonic’s descent into madness. This should have been the clue that the poor blue mascot was destined to star in countless odes to suckitude in the years to come, one relentless dose of terrible after the next, until there was nearly nothing left of the hedgehog we knew and loved.
All of that doesn’t mean Sonic Adventure wasn’t totally badass at the time, though.
Personally I was too excited by its spectacular jump into 3D-O-Vision at first to really notice its flaws. They took a while to sink in, but sink in they eventually did.
I’ll never forgive it for those damn Knuckles levels.
Curse the repetition. CURSE IT!!!
Before the truth reached my young brain, however, this little clunker managed to worm its way into my fond memories before I knew any better.
The moment I knew that this game was going to be the most awesome thing ever created was when I first saw the trailer, and later the demo, that featured Sonic running down a dock as a whale chased after him, destroying everything in its path.
A freakin’ whale! Sweet!
I felt more sheer anticipation for this game than it deserved by a long shot, waited for it more anxiously and with more innocent excitement than just about anything else I can remember that didn’t have Zelda in the title, but until the horrible truth finally sunk in, it delivered.
The graphics were truly better than anything I had seen before. The sense of speed in Sonic’s levels was truly addicting. The worlds I got to race through and explore were new and exciting. Finally conquering the rest of the game and reaching that glorious point where the cheesy 80s metal that I love so very much for some reason blared and I got to transform into fucking Super Sonic and beat the crap out of the boss put an embarrassingly large smile on my face.
And those little Chaos were just so damn cute.
For a short, wonderful time, Sonic Adventure was glorious.
It’s possible that Sonic Adventure’s failings helped transform me into the jaded creature that now types these nostalgic words. My childhood excitement for the Dreamcast, what it represented, and the unique games I could play with it was eventually betrayed by poor business decisions and a Sega that was losing its grip.
It sure was one hell of a ride, though.
The Dreamcast gave me some of the most radical, unique, and memorable gaming experiences I’ve played to this day. My innocent excitement over Sonic Adventure; my sheer addiction to Crazy Taxi and the love of The Offspring that it spawned; my long-awaited conquering of Grandia II and the ever elusive JRPG genre it represented; my fascination with the enveloping yet insidiously boring world of Shenmue; my time spent playing Jet Grind Radio by myself and with friends and loving the sheer creative spark that radiated from it, not matched by many other games even to this day; all of these are memories I truly cherish.
But the short-lived system soon began to falter. Its popularity wasn’t enough to save Sega from its troubled past. Its utterly unique games didn’t draw the audience necessary to dig it out of the hole it had dug for itself.
The creative spark that had once defined Sega, that had once enthralled a generation of gamers, that had once captured so many hearts and imaginations and developed a strong rivalry with boring old Nintendo, would quickly fade with the Dreamcast’s passing.
The great saga of Shenmue remains unfinished. Sonic Adventure II, along with every Sonic game that followed, was utterly forgettable at best. Crazy Taxi 2 and 3 both sucked. Sega soon devolved into just another publisher of mediocre action games and forgettable sequels, with that oh-so-rare diamond in the rough coming out of nowhere and reminding of what once was.
Without its own console, its own piece of hardware to call home, Sega just couldn’t take the risks it used to. It couldn’t afford to be the company we once loved. The safety net had been taken away and its built-in audience had disappeared, forcing the accountants to take over and move it into that dreadful hell of “play it safe” game development.
Sonic Adventure may have been the death knell of a great company, but I yearn for those troubled days. They were the last of the great ones for Sega, and some of the last for my youthful enthusiasm.
It is true enough that my jaded nature may have come more from age than from any betrayal by Sega, but it is hard for me not to want to pin the blame.
The PlayStation 2 just wasn’t the same; the GameCube not as magical; the Xbox, by comparison, a faceless computer.
The Dreamcast was special.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime culmination of circumstances that could never be recreated, but that offered one of the greatest concentrations of unique titles ever to be seen. It is all too true that some of them, like many things in our memories, do not hold up well when revisited today.
Sat, September 12, 2009 at 12:00 AM 
