Life Lessons: Persona 4

Video games are at their best when they teach us things about ourselves or about the world, when they make us take a moment of introspection to realize things about ourselves and how we fit into the world. There are only a handful of games that have made a lasting impression on me that lasts over years, and even fewer games that I can say helped motivate me through traumatic periods in my life. Let me tell you why Persona 4 practically changed my life. Just a warning like usual, I will be spoiling some aspects of Persona 4.

Persona 4: Golden released in November of 2012, I purchased the game around Christmas of that year. I didn't get to playing it until a couple months later though. At this time I was living with a girl I'd been dating for about a year and a half, I was going through a lot financially and emotionally. It certainly didn't help that I'd pretty much lost contact with every single friend I had. In January I was "dumped" so to speak, it was one of those you wake up one day and suddenly everything is different things. I ended up having to move back with my parents after this as I couldn't afford a place of my own.  Needless to say I became morbidly depressed, I was alone and I had no one to talk to no one to spend time with. My relationship with my family has been decidedly rocky over the years.

I was floundering in every sense. I stopped going to college and hadn't been back in two years, I wasn't making much at my job and had no love for it, and wasn't really doing anything worthwhile honestly. But I did have lots of free time on my hands, but games weren't really doing it for me.

I talked about video game fatigue before, and because of my emotional state I couldn't spend more than 30 minutes on any given game I tried. Then I decided that I wanted something to do during breaks at work and on the go and such. Persona 3 was already a personal favorite of mine that I had played the previous summer, and I decided to pop in Persona 4 for a go. What I found next was an incredible experience of friendship, facing your inner demons, and facing down life and fate.

Persona 4 casts you as the protagonist who you name(he'd later become known as Yu Narukami). He is a voiceless hero who's answers you decide, although he does develop more of a personality than many mute protagonists. Yu is on his way to the small rural town of Inaba in Japan, he's from the big city but will be staying with his uncle Dojima for a year as his parents are out of the country. Yu begins attending school at Inaba High. There he begins to make friends, like the clumsy Yosuke, or the meat lover Chie. The plot begins to develop as a girl named Saki(who Yosuke has a crush on) is found murdered one morning. Rumors of something called the "Midnight Channel" begin popping up. Every night at midnight this channel runs on TV so the rumor goes, and if your face appears on the TV you wind up dead the next day. This is going to be a jump, but at some point Yu and Yosuke find out that they can enter the TV and go to "another world".

With this basic setup the main characters form the "Investigation Team" to solve the mystery of the murders that are happening in Inaba. In the TV world each of the party members awakens to the mysterious power of Persona. Another self that grants them the power to fight the forces of evil called shadows. This is a very very brief description of the plot setup of Persona 4, but the essentials to know at least.

Now we get to the point that Persona 4 really drew me in. The first few hours of the game deal with setting up the scenario and introducing the characters as they begin to become friends. The moment that I knew I'd found something special was the first time Yu and Yosuke enter the TV world. Here the group finds a recreation of a convenience store in Inaba. Inside Yosuke finds a note from the now dead Saki, saying how much of a pain in the ass Yosuke was and how much disdain she had for him.

This is when a shadow version of Yosuke appears making fun of him, what a blubbery baby he is and how he's actually the one who thinks everything is a pain in the ass. The shadow claims to be Yosuke himself, but when he rejects that notion the shadow turns into a giant monster that attacks the party as a boss battle occurs.

Once the dust clears and the boss is defeated, Yosuke has to come to grips with the situation. He has to realize that this shadow version of himself, was really talking about the parts of himself and the thoughts that he didn't want to admit. Only by accepting those things as a part of him, something he needs to embrace, can he finally be rid of the shadow.With these words Yosuke accepts the shadow, "I knew it wasn't lying......but I didn't want to admit it." he goes further saying " Dammit..... It hurts to face yourself....". Once Yosuke finally realizes this the shadow is vanquished and he awakens to the power of Persona inside him. This one scene encapsulates what Persona 4 is as an experience in many ways. The themes of facing yourself, embracing your shortcomings to realize your full potential are all on display here through Yosuke.

This same difficult realization happens with every party member in the game. Chie has to face her tomboyish nature and judgement at not being feminine enough. Naoto faces the fact of her father wanting a boy, through which she alters her appearance to be more manly and ambiguous going into the family business of being a detective. Teddie has to face the question of his existence, and why he even lives in the first place. Kanji has perhaps the most impactful realization, as he struggles to accept his sexuality and the fact that he doesn't like girls. Although his story is a tad downplayed in the English version, this realization still holds true for Kanji.

The Persona series also puts an emphasis on building relationships with characters in the came through something called social links. The games are split into two parts, the every day school life and the dungeon crawling shadow fighting gameplay. During the every day life parts you have opportunities to bond with characters and find out more about them, raising these social links. Many of these stories are incredibly impactful, like the nurse in Persona 4 that takes "advantage" of Yu as he works nights at a hospital doing janitorial work. By the end of this social link, the nurse leaves for good leaving a note for Yu detailing her wish to retain her youth.

Her entire fling with Yu, had been out of a desperate need for her to not accept her age and feel like she still had a future ahead of her. By maxing these social links, your character becomes more powerful. Even past that, obtaining multiple social links becomes necessary for making it to the true endings of the games, and in the case of Persona 3 actually saving the world.

Persona 4 does an incredible job of building a sense of cammaraderie, because you make choices as Yu, as a player you feel like you've become a part of this group of friends. Never before have I played a game where I felt like I knew the characters so well, not even in Persona 3. Besides the TV world, saving the world stuff, these are normal high schoolers.

They all have every day problems, Yukiko has to help run her family's inn something she has very mixed feeling about. Kanji loves his mother, but because of his tough guy act yells at her and calls her things like an old bat all the time. They go to school festivals together, take trips to the beach together, get food at the local shop, and hang out at the department store Junes. Over 60 hours of gameplay, the Investigation Team really becomes a tight-knit group of friends that you feel a part of as the player. It's the strongest cast of characters I've ever encountered in a game, and I truly mean that. Even the main villain has a motivation for the murders,  that's deeper than you'd expect. And of course the "villain" ends up not really being the main villain at all.

People love the Persona games for their mix of every day life, and world saving fantasy action. Persona 4 so far is the pinnacle of that. Every story in this game is meaningful, every character intensely interesting. The sports team you join, the music club, everyone has a story to tell. An incredibly human story.

At a time when my life was a wreck and I had lost my way, Persona 4 taught me something. Before I had blamed my breakup entirely on the other person, playing the victim. The themes of Persona 4 taught me to take a step back, realize there were things about myself I didn't want to admit, that I didn't want to face. I had to accept those things, realize I was to blame for things, that I had things to work on about myself and the bad parts were just as much of me as the good. I began to accept myself a little bit more, and even began to come to grips with who I was as a person.

On top of this Persona 4 and the series taught me another thing. I had said earlier I lost all contact with my friends, seeing the cast of Persona 4 become such a loving group of friends really hit close to home. I remembered the group of friends I used to get together with every Friday night and play games. I realized something important, that I still think is true. One of the most important things in life if not the most important is the bonds you form with other people. That's where life really becomes valuable, when you can make connections with others and share experiences.

There's so many people out there, and every single one of them has a story and something to share. I still struggle with keeping in touch with people, but I make efforts now to keep up with others. Even just making conversation with strangers is still making a connection, forging some kind of bond. There's so much entertainment out there that's wonderful, but one of the most valuable thing you can ever have in your life is the experiences and memories you create with other people. Don't ever forget that.

Persona 4 literally changed the way I approach life, and helped me think more positively. Something I never in a million years expected a game to do. Video games can teach us about ourselves, about the world. There are many great experiences out there in gaming, and Persona 4 helped me realize everything that a game can be.

 I keep the soundtrack on my phone to listen to when I'm feeling down, it give me a feeling of warmth that I really can't describe. I'm glad that we've received spin-offs of Persona 4 as well. When I played Arena and just recently started Dancing All Night, it felt like I was seeing friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I built such a strong connection with these characters, that every chance I have to come back to them is welcome.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Persona 4 is one one of the most important games ever made, and is a great example of how video games can teach us about ourselves. To end, I'm going to leave you with a couple songs from Persona 4, and I'll put in a couple comments from people on the video. I hope you can learn something from video games too, different games will mean different things to people, but we can all find an experience to learn form.

"As someone who is scared of whats in store for the future this song fits my life."

In response to this comment- "Que sera sera freind. Day by day reach out to your truth whatever that may be and where ever it may take you :)"

"As a senior in high school this song resonates deep with me. Its gonna be tough to say goodbye to my friends."

"Whenever I play persona games, can't stop I've been playing 154hrs on persona 4 golden and 200+hrs on persona 3. Just wish the game never ends. And I cry every time I finish playing the game."

"I'm not gonna lie I cried when I beat this game. It was like I was saying goodbye to good friends"

"No matter what your Shadow says, you're still yourself. Never forget that."

Expanding My Horizons

Salutations one and all. I wanted to take a moment and let everyone know about some special things happening in the future for me. I've recently signed on as a writer with two new outlets. I'd like to tell everyone about these, and hope that you'll take a look and follow my work. In addition, this certainly doesn't mean an end to Optional Analysis. This blog may just change a little bit. Let's go through these in order.

Twinfinite.net- First up, is the gaming site Twinfinite. Maybe some of you have heard of it in the past. I'm not on-board with the site as a reporter/writer. Much of what I'm doing will be news based, but Twinfinite is special because of their feature approach to gaming. If you haven't checked out the site already, I would recommend it. Twinfinite is all about keeping things fun and interesting, highlighting positivity within the realm of gaming. They have original video content, and a special category called Featurama. I'm really looking forward to working with them.

Metrosphere- The Metrosphere is the literary and arts magazine for the university I attend, Metropolitan State University of Denver. This will be a bit of a different focus for me, but I'm excited about what I can do with it. My work here of course is going to be focusing on the arts. I'll be attending events throughout the school year and writing about them, as well as I'll be profiling a lot of individuals. For the magazine itself I'll be covering professors at the university and online with the blog I'll be starting a series I like to call "People of the City". In this series I'll be interviewing and profiling people around the city of Denver. Everyone and everyone, the point of this is going to be to illuminate the people that make up the city. Highlight the vast array of things happening, and how easy it is for all of us to overlook others.

Optional Analysis- Yep, this blog is still going strong. However, it may slow down if I'm being completely honest. Of course at this point it's become a much more critical and thoughtful platform and it will remain so. I'm going to make an effort to post my commentary on something at least twice a month, and because I'm an official member of the games press again I may be highlighting some interesting upcoming games on here as well. Things that might normally not make their way to the big headlines, but one's that I feel deserve a chance in the spotlight. These could be anything: indie games, AAA, kickstarted games, mobile games, anything.

It's a lot going on admittedly, and I'm going to be swamped for the foreseeable future. But for anyone who want's to join me in everything I really look forward to it. There's a lot to talk about and dissect within gaming and I hope everyone helps me on that fascinating journey.

20 Years Later, Chrono Trigger Amazes Me

For as many games as I've played, I have a few glaring holes in my game history. I've only played two Megaman games, I didn't play Metal Gear Solid until I was 18, and one of the biggest gaps for me is how little I've played Chrono Trigger.

After I experienced Final Fantasy 7 when I was seven, the series quickly became my absolute favorite. The games of Squaresoft and eventually Square Enix at large also made their way to me, and I found a love of JRPGs. It's strange then that Chrono Trigger conspicuously went under my radar, especially considering that it's sequel Chrono Cross was a game that I played when it released. Either way though, I didn't end up playing Trigger until its release on the Nintendo DS in 2008.

At this point, I didn't find myself drawn in by the experience. I was in a mindset that it had to be like Final Fantasy for me to enjoy it, and Chrono Trigger was just different enough to put me off of it a bit. Another compounding factor in this was Chrono himself as the silent protagonist. I thought I wanted more "character", and this was before I realized how strong of characterization a silent protagonist can actually have.

Long story short I never finished the game, even though I played over 50% of it. This isn't to say I hated Chrono Trigger or anything, it just didn't keep me involved. After last weeks episode of Playing with Perspective where we talked about Chrono Trigger, I found myself inspired to pick the game up again to try and complete it. This time around I'm finding myself enjoying it much more, for a multitude of reasons. As I've matured, I've come to appreciate games much more instead of being in that mindset where they have to be one way or another.

One part of Chrono Trigger has really stood out to me so far though. A part I had completely forgotten about somehow, but one that is a fascinating commentary on player choice and consequence. Chrono Trigger opens with you attending the Millennial Fair, happening to run into a young girl named Marle. You're able to spend time at the fair and do some odd activities like racing, fighting a giant robot, collecting points, and finding random items. As the story progresses Chrono finds himself on trial for kidnapping Marle who turns out to be the princess.

Here Chrono is put on the spot and forced to defend himself as citizens from the fair get called in to testify against Chronos "character."This includes people testifying on things Chrono has done, that can be different depending on what you did during the Millennial Fair. In my play through, I found a sandwich sitting on a shop that of course I ate. I also talked to a little girl who was looking for her cat, but was too busy playing games and getting on with the story to bother with it. It's still an amazing turn when the game throws these things back in your face. It completely destroys the status quo that we've come to expect with typically JRPGs.

This is when something amazing happens with the game, because it belays your expectations here you come to think more seriously about choices and your actions in the rest of the game. Here is when Chrono as a silent protagonist really becomes you. As a player you see your choices directly effecting a character in the game, and now suddenly it feels like your more of a part of this world.

Chrono Trigger made an absolutely brilliant decision when it put this reactive scene in. Although the outcome of the trial is the same no matter what, by putting this design choice in the game, it gets the player that much more involved in its story and events. Anytime a game can do this in an effective way, you really see the pay off. We should use this instance in Chrono Trigger as an example of reactive design. This is something that a lot of Telltale games do well too.

I'm hoping that I can make the push to finally finish Chrono Trigger this time, and I feel confident that I can. I find myself much more involved with the story and characters this time. The trial scene was one of those instances that just lept out at me, as a wonderful design choice. Chrono Trigger is certainly a wonderful gem that I wish I hadn't missed.

Experiencing Video Game Fatigue

Sometimes there is some truth to having too much of a good thing. This applies to anything that you like or enjoy, and sometimes because of life events you just experience burnout.This has happened to me personally at various points in my life, and it happened again recently.

As much passion as we hold for video games, and as much enjoyment as we get out of playing games, sometimes it' just too much. Video game fatigue can hold especially true in today's ecosystem, because of the hugely flooded market we have. There's so many games to choose from, that sometimes it can just become overwhelming as you look at your 'pile of shame' twenty games high.

For as much effort I put into this career of becoming a video game journalist, I don't get all that much to to actually play games. With school, a full-time job, a second part-time job, research for a radio show, and my own personal research my life is a blur of business. Not to mention the struggle I have to keep any kind of healthy social life. With this fact in mind, I found solace in The Witcher 3. As a lot of people who might associate with me know, I sunk myself into the game and found utter joy in analyzing it as much as I could. However, some time after beating it I found out the mistake I made.

Sinking yourself wholesale into a game can be a dangerous proposition, you spend countless hours pouring over the games systems, lore, story and whatever else you might be invested in. In my example, I had so utterly sunk myself into The Witcher investing over 150 hours, playing it on every spare chance I had. Upon completion of the game, I felt lost. For almost two months I had played The Witcher, it was my go-to game whenever I had that rare chance of down-time.

Of course there is a caveat to this fact in the truth that the whole time I was playing the Witcher I was escaping from issues in my life. A myriad of issues had assaulted me this summer, from sick and dying family members to confidence and identity issues. The Witcher 3 was the game I needed at this point, a grand fantasy adventure that I could really get invested in, but it also led to my most recent bout of burnout.

Video games as a medium are different than other forms of entertainment. It takes a commitment on the players part, and in one way or another each of us has to take the time to put ourselves in the game and push through the narrative or our character/avatars development. Whatever game it might be, it requires that the player takes and incredibly active role in pushing the experience along. As we know, games have a level of interactivity that other things do not, and when you do a lot of one thing it can become exhausting.

In my case, I had been too involved with games both with playing as well as writing about them. It's important that we all remember there are other things we enjoy doing besides playing games, I know that's hard when you have very little time to relax and games are your favorite past-time in that event. But remember, that sometimes all you need to do is take a break.

There's a second side to this story though, something I wanted to point out that pulled me back into my passion for games. Although this burnout wasn't the worst I've experienced the same thing held true. A few years back, I went through a sudden unexpected breakup with someone I had been living with for a while, needless to say it crushed me. Now I don't want to dwell on this, but the fact is that this even along with others led me to my longest hiatus I had ever had with video games, to the point that I didn't play one game for over six months.

Obviously this was a big blow for me, as it also caused my writing to slow to a sluggish pace considering I had taken some time off of school a while before. Finally I made the push though, going back to college I wanted something to do in between classes. So I popped my copy of Persona 4 Golden into my Vita that I had purchased months before, and my interest became completely renewed. Person 4 would become one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the most influential for my way of thinking. After playing P4, I found a niche that completely drew me in with the indie game scene. Fast forward to now and that very thing is exactly what pulled me out of my most recent slump.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this at this point, but just last week I finally played The Unfinished Swan and Journey for the first time. I know I should probably be mocked in the street for this, but somehow these experiences eluded me since their release. The point though is that at a time when no game could hold my interest for more than 20 minutes, I found myself getting completely pulled in by these beautiful emotionally impactful games. Leap-frogging from this I played Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and found myself getting hooked by the disgustingly addictive Rocket League.

What this all boils down to, is the fact that video games are at a wonderful place right now. Although I found myself getting completely fatigued by games, the fact that I was able to play a huge expansive experience like The Witcher 3 then turn around and be just as engaged by an artistic three hour experience like Journey shows the wonderful diversity that games have right now. There really is something for everyone at the moment, and if you don't have time to sink into this hobby there are alternatives for you as well. Games that have bite sized chunks in the indie scene among other things are easily accessible for a fairly cheap point of entry. The face of gaming is diverse and colorful, and there are engaging experiences around every corner. Even the unexpected can be incredible surprises, I certainly didn't expect something like Rocket League to come along and completely blow my mind. With my interest and attention span getting renewed, I've also been able to hop back into the Assassins Creed series, which I've had a hell of a time playing for over a year.

The point to remember here is that there's a wonderful breadth of experiences available to all of us, and don't be afraid to drop something for a lighter experience if you need. Conversely, don't feel bad if you can't find it in you to focus on any one game, or any games at all for an amount of time. Even if you take six months or more off, it doesn't mean that you're passion or interest in games has faded or left. It's important for all of us to take a break, especially with a medium that requires such a high level of interaction from us. Video games aren't at their best when they let us forget our lives, theyre at their best when they remind us what we love and enjoy about life, and when they teach us things about how we think and feel. Sometimes, the time just isn't right for us to find this experience, so we can wait until it is.

Playing with Perspective meets Movie Hash

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd put a quick blurb out about a great experience tonight. For those of you who might listen (I hope you do) , my radio show Playing with Perspective is on every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30- 7:30 PM Mountain daily time.

We had a great collaboration with another show on air called Movie Hash. There's a lot of talk about the incredibly groan worth movie Pixels, and you can get some of our full thoughts. Then Nick joins us on our show to talk about movies based on games, and games based on movies. Take a listen!

https://soundcloud.com/playing-with-perspective/season-2-sidequest-playing-with-perspective-meets-movie-hash

https://soundcloud.com/playing-with-perspective/season-2-episode-16-watch-your-games

If you want to listen in to the show, listen at the link below.

http://mymetmedia.com/listen/

Otherwise, you can catch up on Soundcloud where the episodes get posted immediately afterward.

Cheers,
Hayes

One Single Line of Dialogue Highlights the Best Part of The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 is a massive sweeping fantasy tale, that spanned over 150 hours for me to complete. I recently finished the game, and was very surprised by one fact. There was one thing that had more of an impact on me than anything else in the game, one thing that tied up Geralts journey as a character. We'll get to the specific line in a bit, but first we need to cover the relationship that Geralt and Ciri hold. I will warn you that significant spoilers on the end of the Witcher 3 lie ahead, so read on at your own peril.

Through much of the story of Witcher 3 Geralt spends his time on the trail of Ciri, a young woman that is basically a daughter to him. As such, you spend most of the game one step behind trying to piece together the path that Ciri took while also playing the elusive young woman herself at a few different points. This is the driving force behind Geralt in the game, although there's much more going on within the world Geralt's only worry is the safety and well being of Ciri.

With this fact in mind, it actually altered some of the choices I made through the story. For example, there's one plot-line in the city of Novigrad that has you hunting down a crime lord named Whoreson Junior. During the process of all this you find out what a terrible person Whoreson is, a person who enjoys sexually torturing women to death. You also find out that during the time Ciri interacted with him, he may have done something to harm her. While none of this is confirmed, the fatherly love that Geralt holds for Ciri prompted me to immediately end the life of Whoreson Junior.

It was a knee jerk reaction that I had in an instant because of the thought of what the man might have done to another character. This man needed to be gone from the world of The Witcher 3. It's not exactly commonplace that a game has this strong of an emotional response from me, and I was amazed with The Witcher 3 when it happened multiple times. As much as I'd love to go on and on about all the emotionally impactful parts, the point I have here is to highlight the incredible job Witcher 3 does with the father daughter bond of Geralt and Ciri.

Once you finally find Ciri and bring her back from The Isle of Mists, you begin the final stretch of the game. After the huge event of the Battle of Kaer Morhen, Geralt gets some quality time with Ciri as they mourn over the loss of a friend. Over the next few quests and plot lines, Geralt has five different choices regarding Ciri thrust upon him. The girl is having an incredibly hard time coping with everything and there are multiple occasions where Geralt gets to decide how to deal with Ciri. This can result in a warm fatherly approach, versus a cold disapproving father approach. For example, let me show you the snowball fight scene. This is moment where Ciri is frustrated and unsure of what to do next and how to do it. With the positive choice you get an incredibly heartwarming scene where Geralt tries to cheer Ciri up in the only way he knows how. Just watch.

Another scene involves Ciri upset with being deceived by the elf Avalla'ch, once again you can see the unique relationship held between the two and even more so the father, mother, daughter relationship the two hold with Yennefer of Vengerberg. Again it's easier to just show you; 

These two choices, and the three others involving Ciri decide the strength of her resolve at the end, as well as the chances for her to survive which leads to one of three major endings for you. I hope this can highlight the intense loving relationship that the two have. After all, Geralt spends 50-60 hours of the game merely on the hunt for Ciri, putting up with countless headaches and problems in order to find her. The way Geralt feels about her, shines through in both the dialogue choices as well as his facial expressions. The interesting thing is, that this holds true whether you pick the warmer or colder option on how to deal with her.

The two ways of dealing with Ciri create very different experiences for the player and a very different interpretation of the relationship between the two. The colder way gives you an impression of a Geralt that cares for Ciri deeply, but has no idea how to treat her like a father and feels uncomfortable with that fact. Feeling detached from the child he used to know, he feels disappointed with some of the brashness that Ciri approaches situations with and wants to ensure that she gains the skills and knowledge she'll need to survive. On the flip side, the warmer approach denotes a Geralt that sees a Ciri who has taken completely after him, and knows how to be the father figure that she needs as her real father was never there. Both approaches are valid, and both develop an incredibly deep but different relationship between Geralt and Ciri. 

Now that we've covered that, we can fast forward to the ending of the game. After the final conflict with the Wild Hunt, events find you at a tower where the cold winds of another world are blowing in threatening to drown the world in a giant freezing storm. At this point Ciri explains that because of the power of her elder blood she's the only one that can save the world from this fate. This realization is a huge shock to Geralt and something that has a huge impact on him, as you see his emotions get thrown into a state of chaos. It's in this moment that you have a dialogue choice as Ciri is preparing to enter the portal to the other world. This choice is where Geralt desperately says, " Don't do this... to me. Please. Not now." It's at this moment that we realize, Geralt isn't the main character of this story. He's a supporting one. Here's the ending in full, note that this is the ultimate 'good' ending. With the happiest story tones wrapping up here. Each ending of The Witcher 3 I feel does some good things in their own way, but I may go into that another time. 

Ultimately the choice in the end is Ciri's, and it's up to you as Geralt to support Ciri on her path how you can. But in this moment, you see a usually emotionally toned back Geralt break. His daughter is leaving, possibly going to her death and everything he's done will be for naught. After all, it's not the fate of the warring countries or the lives of non-humans that Geralt is truly invested in during this journey, it's the life of his daughter who is the single most important thing in his life. The time he spent with her was a reminder of the love that he held for her. 

This single line of dialogue ties up the relationship between Geralt and Ciri no matter what approach you took to dealing with her. Like I said earlier, it's an important moment of clarity for the player in which we realize that we've merely been someone on a quest, on the trail of the real main character of this plot. Which can explain a lot about the pacing of The Witcher 3. Of course, I don't want anyone to think this is a bad thing. It's an incredible moment, one where we realize the powerlessness that we have as players at the end. Yes we found Ciri. Yes we altered the course of the war. Yes we defeated The Wild Hunt. But in the end, we are powerless to stop the most important person to our character from leaving to her possible death. You do have an impact on the outcome of course, but this is in how you build your relationship with Ciri, how you treat her as she struggles to figure out how she deals with the fate she's been dealt. In that moment, you see Geralt become emotionally broken and powerless, with even Ciri stating " What would you know about saving the world? You're just a Witcher." 

Herein lies the beauty of some of the final moments of The Witcher 3, and what I believe to be one of the finest parent-child relationships in any game I've played. It builds up the level of care and love Geralt has through Ciri throughout the game, illustrating the lengths he goes to in order to ensure her safety. Then it yanks the rug out from under you, and reminds you that Ciri is her own woman and you don't get to decide what she does no matter how much you might want to. In a game that so intimately features player choice, it's a stark reminder that as players and as people we don't always have control over what others do, even when those people are important to us and our characters.  

The Inexcusable Thing Batman Arkham Knight Does

Arkham Knight is the latest in big budget, highly awaited AAA releases this year. It's released to mostly critical praise across the board. I myself finished the game last week, and very much enjoyed it overall. In terms of storytelling it's easily my favorite of the Arkham series. However, there's one serious serious issue I had with the game. One inexcusable thing I can't look past, and honestly I'm amazed that more people aren't upset about this factor. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Arkham Knight, although admittedly those Bat-tank sections were a little rough.

The main reason that I play video games, that I've always played games is to experience the storytelling that only video games can give me. Admittedly, it's a little hard for me to justify purchasing a game where the focal point is multiplayer. I love seeing storytelling in games evolve, and the different ways that we can experience that story. Whether it's the subtle storytelling of Bloodborne or the text-heavy storytelling of a Final Fantasy game.

Not to keep you in suspense of the point of this article any longer, as much as I like the story of Arkham Knight, it does something inexcusable by blocking off the true ending of the game with collectibles.

The true ending of Arkham Knight has a pretty important plot point related to the end of the game. Without spoiling anything, it adds an extra wrinkle into the ending that could change your perception, and is pretty enjoyable to boot. With that said, it's incredibly disappointing that so much time grinding away on Riddler trophies has to be spent to see the whole story. Now I know what people say, by the game blocking the ending off it gives you more incentive to see the ending and is able to make your experience even longer. Unfortunately, Arkham Knight is a prime example of over-development. Adding too much content to your game that doesn't really contribute to the overall message.

Now I'm fine with the Riddler Trophies being in Arkham Knight, I think they can be a fun diversion for someone wanting to find all 243 of them. I cannot stand the idea that an important part of the story is sealed off behind optional objectives in the game. In my opinion this has the potential to stop a lot of players from finishing the game out, and seeing the full message that the entire story provides. Indeed a lot of players may not even realizing what they're missing out on because they just don't make it to the end. This holds especially true for a game like Batman, which is such a high profile release that many people that have minimal experience with games will play it.

Herein lies the integral problem that upsets me. The fact that you can be restricted from seeing the full picture of a games story, by completing menial tasks. It is true that many of the side quests hold meaningful story content though. But this doesn't excuse what I think is a horribly poor design choice on Rocksteady's part. In this sense the ending can become much less meaningful, as people flock to YouTube to watch it instead of making their way to the end. Which makes sense as Arkham Knight isn't necessarily a short game, a lot of people may not be willing to put in the time or have the ability to put in the time to do everything and see the secret ending.

Another problem arises here, with the player getting a sense of invalidation of everything they've done to complete the game. When you spend twenty hours beating the story of Arkham Knight, and expect to get a satisfying ending you don't want to "beat the game" and then be told you have to do a ton of extracurricular activities to see the whole picture. For some players I imagine, this could lend a sense of feeling less accomplished for what they have done in the game already.

As much as I enjoyed Arkham Knight as an overall package, the design choice of locking the ending away just doesn't sit well with me. So much so, that I feel I had to say something about it. I can see why a developer may do it, in an effort to provide players with more content and elongate the experience they have. However, I feel that many players like myself may feel a bit upset at this fact. At this point in my life I don't have a lot of time to play video games, and when I choose a game that I want to invest my time in there's a hope that when I put forth the effort to finish the story I can see the whole picture and get the full message that game wants to impart. By no means did the ending being blocked, totally ruin my experience with the game but sadly it did put a bit of a damper on my exuberance upon completing the game itself.

A Goodbye to Satoru Iwata

As you may understand at this point, video games have been a huge part of my life ever since I was a child. For myself and many others, we grew up with games. We played them through our child-hood and as we grew into adults.  This especially holds true with Nintendo, which is nearly a Disney equivalent of video games for many young people these days.

Just this past Sunday July 12th 2015, the gaming industry received sad news as one of the most incredible visionaries of it's ecosystem passed away. Satoru Iwata, the President and CEO of Nintendo has passed at the age of 55 due to a battle with cancer. It was very sudden and unexpected, and as we can see days later by the outpouring of tributes and kind words, Iwata was a man that made an overwhelmingly positive influence on the art form we love.

Iwatas influence on gaming and Nintendo was massive, he started as a programmer for the company HAL Laboratories in the late 80's where he would eventually be named president of the company in 1993, working on games like the Kirby, Earthbound, and Balloon Fight series. Following his career he would then be named director of Nintendo in 2000, and then finally as president and representative director in 2002, the first president of the company outside of the founding Yamauchi family. Besides his impressive resume, Iwatas lasting legacy on gaming can be seen in the wonderful experiences he helped to create and the unbridled joy he brought to the business at every opportunity.

 Satoru Iwata held a belief that video games were something fun at heart, and that everyone should be able to experience the joy that games can bring to our lives A noble sentiment to be sure, even if some may dispute the fact. Iwata always brought a smile and the feeling of joy to his work, and to fans. Throughout the years he led Nintendo through some drastic changes, Nintendo a company that had been stuck in their ways for years. Believing that what they did was best.

Since 2002, we've seen huge change out of the company under Iwatas leadership. Nintendo released the DS, changing the handheld game forever and introducing a new world of touch controls that changed how we play. A few years later they would introduce the Wii and revolutionize the face of video games, making them appeal to a broader audience than ever seen before.Even recently in the last year we've seen huge surprises from Nintendo, with Amiibo and the partnership with DeNA to make mobile games. The point is, Iwata wasn't afraid to be different to make the experiences we get from Nintendo as best as they can possibly be.

There's a quote from the late president that has been all over the internet this week, "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." Iwata understood what video games were more intimately than most people, which is why he had such dedication to what Nintendo did. We saw the advent of Nintendo Directs that usually featured Iwata heavily, he wanted fans to know he was there and that he cared. How many CEOs of billion dollar companies can we name by name, let alone feel like we knew personally? Satoru Iwata was welcoming, warm. He wanted to share Nintedo's creations with us, he was excited to share their wonderful imaginative creations with his fellow gamers. 

Nintendo games were hugely influential for me, and held some of my absolute favorite experiences of my childhood. From roaming the expanse of Hyrule field in Ocarina of Time, to blasting through asteroids and enemy ships with my Arwing in Starfox 64. These experiences helped form my identity as a gamer and a consumer of entertainment. The games that I play helped breed my imagination. During recess in elementary school my friends and I would pretend we were flying around in Arwings, shooting down bad guys while we made whooshing noises to imitate the ships.

To myself, Nintendo is so special because it captures the very essence and wonder of that childhood imagination. It reminds us all what it is to be pure fun and imagination. Just look at how fondly people remember their experiences with Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and the other titles in the incredible stable Nintendo has. These games and experiences that I had as a child, are what led me down the path I'm on today. I would be enraptured by Majora's Mask as a child, and years later come back to analyze it on the themes of sadness and grief that the game was inundated with. Game like Zelda, Star Fox, and Mario helped to breed a strong passion for gaming withing me and are definitely one of the biggest factors in my decision to work in this industry.

Games are at their best when their inventive and fun, they can be wildly immersive experiences. My ultimate goal is to make games myself after I have a wealth of experience in the industry, and with what I make I want my games to be strange and thoughtful experiences. I want them to make people feel things, and think things. Nintendo holds so many joyous experiences for so many of us, and Satoru Iwata helped get those experiences to us and make them as great as they could possibly be. He was a visionary, that taught us things about not only how we should make and experience games but what video games can mean to us and how we feel.

The industry mourns for him, and the outpouring of support and love for him as been heartwarming. He will be sorely missed, so many of us owe so much to him. As creators, as consumers, as gamers we will never forget the contributions he made. And as a small side note, the day after Iwata's untimely passing a rainbow was spotted over Nintendo's headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. A fitting tribute as we all hope Iwata made his way down the never-ending rainbow road.

Inside Out is the Best Pixar Movie Ever Made

Trying to decide the best Pixar movie is like trying to decide the best dessert at a critically acclaimed five star dessert bar.  We all have favorites, but certain ones resonate with us more than others and it may be different from person to person. Once thing can be sure thought, Pixar makes great movies that oftentimes illuminate things about life and the human condition.

When I saw Ratatouille I was convinced that no other Pixar experience would surpass it for me. The story of Remy and his plight to be a chef was an incredible underdog story, that taught us to follow our dreams and put all our effort in no matter the odds against you. To my incredible and joyous surprise though, I recently saw a movie that rivaled the Ratatouille experience for me and maybe even surpassed it. That movie was Inside Out.

I had been looking forward to seeing Inside Out for a while, but I didn't expect the emotional heartfelt journey that awaited me. Pixar has always been infamous for building incredible movies that make us think, beyond being enjoyable. Every movie they make has a theme or a message behind it, but never before has an animated movie been so much about looking inside ourselves as Inside Out. Even just the name denotes that very thing.

Inside out focuses on a young girl named Riley. A girl who, love hockey, does well in school, has a great family life, and has a happy young childhood all around. Underneath things though, the characters we get to know are Riley's own human emotions. That of; joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. These emotions are characterized as their own beings, entirely focused on that single emotion and instilling that emotion in Riley through a console in Headquarters (or Riley's mind.)

We see Riley grow up and have a wealth of happy memories being developed by the emotions, but when she turns 12 the whole world gets turned upside down when the family moves to a tiny house in San Fransisco. This sees the emotions of the young girl run wild as her life gets much more complicated. Through the lens of humanized emotions given character, we see the mind of a twelve-year-old girl go through  emotions trying to make sense of the change in her life. Inside Out shows us how conflicted and emotionally unstable a developing teenager can be when massive change happens.

Through this brilliant storytelling mechanism, the master storytellers at Pixar walk us through the story of a young girl coping. Inside Out as most Pixar movies is a ton of fun, but on top of that it has a wonderful message to impart to it's audiences. We see the characters travel through multiple parts of the human psyche, including imagination and the subconscious, as well as memory banks. Of course Pixar finds fun ways to play on each of these things, making it funny and heartfelt throughout. My personal favorite scene of the movie includes two characters hilariously trying to scare Riley awake through her dreams.

At various points we see the emotions of other human characters throughout the movie reacting to things that Riley does or things in the world. No doubt, some of the impact and message is lost on me with Inside Out as I believe anyone who is a parent will especially find meaning in the movie.

---------Slight Spoiler Ahead----------

Partway through the movie we see Riley lose the ability of her joy and sadness emotions. Because of this she reacts to things in very different ways. Lacking those emotions it's basically like those have been turned off. Through trauma in our lives, especially when we're younger it may be difficult for us to feel certain emotions. For anyone who's life has undergone a sudden change like myself, I believe we can identify with this. While the movie finds a fun storytelling way to do this, it's something that resonated very much with me. Sudden change like that at such a young age is incredibly scary and numbing, and although I never moved away from what I was used to I did find ways to identify with the movies story.

Growing up I lived a fairly sheltered life, as my parents went through a horrible divorce and custody battle through much of my adolescence I found myself very much without friends throughout middle school and high school. I spent my time with entertainment, as my mother was unwilling to let me go anywhere without being watched, or just spend time with friends by myself. This feeling of loneliness permeates your life, causing you to feel those emotions like fear, and anger and sadness more than anything else. Then at a certain point you lose the sadness too, and once joy and sadness leave you have only the emotions left that can cause you to do drastic things. Being driven by fear and anger causes you to think irrationally, and when you're a developing mind you may not know how to handle those emotions correctly something Inside Out shows perfectly.

The real beauty of Inside Out lies in just that, it shows something that many of us have gone through in our lives. The confusion of growing up and not knowing how to cope, or the confusion of dealing with a child going through that and not knowing how to help them. Pixar has impressed me on many many occasions in my life so far, but never have they created something so emotionally impactful and resonant for me. This is what our entertainment should be, incredibly insightful and meaningful pieces that cause us to think or feel something. Or something we can share with others, that will bring us closer. Which is also what I think Inside Out is, a piece that everyone can connect to and a movie that parents and children and families all need to see.

Indeed, Inside Out shows us the importance of taking time to be with not only the people we love but the things we love to do. In Riley's mind the things that are important to her form into islands. There's hockey island, friendship island, and family island among other things. These are the focal points of her life and what forms the basis for her as a person. We have to embrace the things we love.

Without droning on too much, I'd rather have you see the movie yourself. Let me just say that Inside Out is a masterpiece of animation and storytelling, everything about it is impeccable right down to the execution. It's an incredible piece of cinema that teaches us about the very most inner working of ourselves as humans. It's a piece that everyone young or old can connect to, and a movie you owe it to yourself to see. There's no doubt in my mind at this point that Inside Out is the best movie Pixar has ever made, and if you haven't seen it yet I hope that you choose to do so now. Inside Out is what we should strive to do with our entertainment, and I'm happy that I had the chance to enjoy it.

Persona 4 Dancing All Night Looks Fabulously Wonderful

There are few game series that get me as excited as the Persona series. With that in mind I wanted to take a second to note one of my most hotly anticipated titles of the year. Yes I'm not being sarcastic here, one of my most awaited games involves Persona characters dancing their butts off with disco fever.

In all honesty, when Persona 4 Dancing all Night was announced I like many others was totally skeptical. Looking back on that fact now though, Persona 4 is the perfect fit for a dancing game. I mean just look at this new trailer from E3.

Glorious, completely fabulously glorious. Persona 4s cast of characters are a prime fit for this style of game and so is the world of Persona 4. The original game was a bit of a change for the series, which is traditionally very dark  storytelling wise. While the original certainly had its dark tones (the game is about a murder case after all), the overall tone of P4 is totally goofy. It's a story about a group of teens banding together and learning about each other in the process while investigating a murder mystery. Of course anyone who has played Persona 4 knows that this investigation takes place inside of a mysterious TV world that people get trapped in. After Persona 4 another game came out that involved the gang getting wrapped up a crazy fighting tournament in Persona 4 Arena.

This makes the series easily accessible for a multitude of ideas from here, including P4DAN. In the game the investigation group gets back together to find abducted idols, and in the process ends up in another TV-like world where they have to dance to survive instead of fight. While a bit far fetched in theory, this idea sounds incredible to me. The world of Persona is very malleable, and the team always finds a way to stretch their storytelling muscles. The original Persona 4 is one of my favorite games of all time, and was one of the most emotionally impactful experiences I've ever played. I have high hopes for this new game, of course I myself am a huge fan of rhythm games.

I would encourage anyone interested to take a look at Persona 4 Dancing All Night when it releases in September, the Persona team has an incredible standard of quality in their games and this looks no different.

The final thought I'd like to leave you with is the impression that the Persona 4 games leave on me. Never before have I played a game that just gives me such a feeling of happiness with everything related to it. Persona 4 was one of the happiest games I've ever played, so much so that I put the soundtrack on my phone to cheer me up in times that I may not be feeling top notch. Seeing these characters return yet again in such a fun setting, gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. It may sound cheesy, but honestly no other game gives me the feeling that Persona 4 does. Maybe part of that reason is that Persona 4 got me through a really rough time in my life, with serious family issues a terrible breakup and an identity crisis. But that's something to delve into another day, and believe me I will.

Video games can be great escapes for us at times, as well as teach us many lessons. Sometimes as well, they can just be whole lot of fun. That's exactly what I'm expecting out of Persona 4 Dancing All Night, and boy I cant wait to take my favorite characters to the dance floor in another interesting tale. To close play the Persona 4 games if you haven't, they're all well worth it. It's easy to find some character or part of the story to connect to in such a wonderful game. Also, here's a picture to describe my feelings right now.

Unravel Deserves Your Unbridled Attention

This week fans of video games get to enjoy a crazy lineup of the biggest and best games that will be releasing over the next year and a half.  This E3 has been exciting, possibly more exciting than any E3 I've seen in the last 6 years. There have been so many announcements that are exciting to see, but also meaningful to me. 

In a show that officially announced the return of The Last Guardian and the long awaited Final Fantasy VII Remake, I'm amazed to say that neither of those or everything else huge at E3 is my favorite thing I've seen. Little did I know that a wonderful charming surprise lay in wait halfway through the EA press conference. Although I don't necessarily want to call EA's conference a disappointment, it certainly was the weakest of them all. There were high points, but overall I found myself unsatisfied with it. EA went on about sports games and certain features for far too long, and had a lackluster look at the new Mirrors Edge. Of course the ending footage of Star Wars Battlefront blew us all away, but there's one other thing that stirred something within me at the EA conference.

At about the halfway point EA pulled something completely unexpected out of their hat, an incredibly charming and emotional looking game called Unravel. This game completely broke the tone of the conference and the show in general, for a few minutes we changed gears from the violence and explosions, to a much more quiet and low-key adventure. It was this very change that was partly responsible for how incredible Unravel looks. 

You see, Unravel is a game about a small being entirely made of red yarn called Yarny. It's a 2D puzzle-platformer in which you use the yarn from your own body to keep progressing through the game and overcome obstacles to keep Yarny moving. What really drove home Unravel as my favorite new game of the entire show was just how sincere the entire experience felt. 

Our look at the game started with the creative director for the game, Martin Sahlin, coming out to talk about how the game came to fruition and what it meant to him and the team. I'll just let you watch it instead of explaining. 

The entire experience was incredibly sincere, and you could literally see Sahlin shaking on stage he was so nervous. This is where I really started to feel something about Unravel when Sahlin stated, "It was born out of the need to make something more personal, something with heart. The yarn it represents love and the bonds that we make, and it unravels because that's what happens when we are separated from what we love." That moment that we saw Unravel was so different from everything else we saw at the show, and made me feel emotional like I never thought I would when watching a stream of an E3 press conference. 

This brings me to the point of why I'm so excited about Unravel. Of course on one part it looks like an adorably fun platformer but Unravel looks like it could be so much more. If you've listened to my radio show Playing with Perspective, you know I have very strong feelings about what video games mean as art and what they can do for us. Video games have a very special unbounded potential to be incredibly immersive emotional experiences that stick with us, and teach us things about life and the nature of humanity. There are many games that have made me think and consider things more deeply, the first of which was Final Fantasy VII, a topic that I will be touching on very soon .

The point here is that video games have the potential to show the best and worst of humanity, on comment on the very nature of life. Unravel was something that fitted this feeling exactly. Among the flashing lights and in your face trailers, Unravel was a fantastic breath of fresh air. Now a developer shouldn't have to point out the themes and meanings in their games as that's something the player uncovers for themselves, but clearly this project means so much to the team making it. 

As excited as I am for Fallout 4 and Kingdom Hearts 3 and the other huge Triple-A titles of the year,  Unravel was the one game of this E3 that looked like it would truly make me feel something special. Of course I'm totally sure that I am wrong about that, and there will be many wonderful experiences with many of the games from this show. Unravel gave me a special feeling even just by it's trailer, and it's an example of the very reason that I have such a love of video games. As long as people keep making games like this I'll stay wholeheartedly invested in the video game industry. I'm stunned that this game is my favorite game of the entire show, but it's the greatest surprise I could have asked for this year. Take a look at the trailer and see if it means anything to you. 

Time For An Update!

Hello fine folk of the internet, I felt like I should give everyone a quick update here. If you've noticed its been a few weeks since I've been active and I wholeheartedly apologize for that.

With a hectic finals week for the semester, and starting up a brand new season at the amusement park I work for (running an admissions department isn't easy) I've been a bit short on time as of late.

However I'm pleased to say that there will be a wealth of content on the way. I've been playing The Witcher 3 and Splatoon lately, both of which have stirred up a lot of feeling and ideas in me about gaming. Also E3, the most exciting time of the year, is right around the corner. As such, I will definitely have a lot to talk about over the next couple weeks. So look forward to it.

Just a couple exciting notes too. First off, I'd like to tell you about an editorial series that I hope will run for a long time is going to be starting up soon here on Optional Analysis. All I will say at this time, the series will be called Life Lessons. Also exciting , season two of Playing with Perspective has officially started! Our first episode is all about E3, so I hope you'll take a listen here,

https://soundcloud.com/playing-with-perspective/season-2-episode-1june-9th-electronics-entertainment-excitement

Look forward to some exciting news to be forthcoming about Playing with Perspective and YouTube in the coming months.

Cheers,
Hayes

The Idea of Playing with Perspective

INTRO: Just as a precursor, this is a short essay I wrote about what video games mean and the definition of Playing with Perspective. For those who don’t know Playing with Perspective is the radio show that I’ve started with a good friend of mine, but it's so much more than that. It’s a game-centric college radio show, all about analysis and perspective hosted by KMET Radio and The Metropolitan State University of Denver. Besides this, it's a way of thinking and a way of approaching games and defining them as art. I hope you find something to enjoy in this piece, or find some kind of food for thought. Just as an aside you can listen to Playing with Perspective every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30-7:30 P.M. mountain-time streaming from http://mymetmedia.com/listen/. Thank you for reading.

Playing with Perspective. That’s a title that denotes a multitude of different meanings. It isn’t a title that was chosen at random, and its purpose is to frame the tone and intention of an entire show but can also mean different things to different people.

Video games are a medium that has advanced to a startling degree over the decades since their advent. They are something that was integral to my childhood and my development. Having two divorced parents that went through a malicious custody battle for years was traumatizing, games were dually my escape and my savior. I learned morals and the way to treat people, partially from the stories and experiences I gained in video games. 

To this day video games as an art form and an industry remain something that stokes a fiery passion within me.  A passion for many things; the stories we can tell, the ways we connect and bring people together, the bonds we can form over games, the beautiful music we can produce for games, and the ways we can bring all of these aspects together in the world of interactive media.

 Growing up everyone had that job that they wanted to do, that thing they wanted to be. Some wanted to be a fireman, an astronaut, a police man. Except me, I was the child that never said they wanted to be anything. With that in mind going into college I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do, I was listed as biology major initially. I spent a year floundering, just completing my classes and going through the motions. As jobs started happening in my life and things started moving forward I was at a loss at where my life was going, with no idea what to do.

There’s no way to pinpoint for myself the moment I made a career choice, for it was in fact more of a gradual process. The puzzle pieces just started to fall in place at some point. There was a magazine called GameInformer that I had subscribed to since I was 10 years old, I had always enjoyed writing and performed best in English classes in high school, and of course I had a deep love and admiration for video games. Everything clicked and I realized being a video game journalist was an actually obtainable thing I could do.

As the process began and continued, I realized more and more that journalism in general was what I needed to do and a plan began to evolve for me. The way I experienced entertainment began to evolve as I did more and more, and immersed myself into the gaming industry and journalism school.

Fast forward to now and these experiences have lent themselves to the creation of Playing with Perspective.  

Video games are art, that’s an indisputable fact in my mind and the mind of many others. They can teach people things, and bring people together with a common bond unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Just look at the fact of how people have come to socially identify themselves as ‘gamers’. However, video game culture and industry has many issues we need to struggle though. We have cultural issues, racial and gender issues, immaturity issues. We are an art form and an industry still in its infancy.

We regard games as art except for when it goes terribly wrong, and we rely on the fact that when it does we can explain it away as, “Well it’s just a video game.” We rely on this when we do something wrong or offend someone, and that makes me feel very uneasy. We need to embrace both the good and the bad in games, and have a platform for discussion and improvement of both. 

Video games and the culture around them can achieve so much, but it can also go wrong on so many levels. This is something we need to acknowledge. As a culture for people who play and understand video games, and for people who know nothing about video games, maybe we all can start playing with perspective.

Introductions Are In Order

Greetings,

And welcome to Optional Analysis. I guess I should take a minute to let you know who I am and what this blog is about. If you weren't informed already this is a very video game and entertainment-centric blog and news site. My name is Hayes Madsen, and right now I work as a video game and freelance journalist..... in training. I'm in the midst of getting my Bachelors degree for ...well its a bit wordy  but, Convergent Journalism with a minor in Digital Media. I have worked in the industry briefly for a few years now. However, I'm not here to tell you all about my history and past work and whatnot.

I'm here to invite you on a journey. A journey with me into the midst of the video game industry and the wonderful pieces of art that we call video games and the industry and culture that surround them. So on that note, what is Optional Analysis?

Optional Analysis is an idea, a way of thinking, a way of analyzing. Optional Analysis is the way that I approach my work and my career, it's my 'brand' if you will. What this means is that for everything we experience, games and entertainment, there's more than one side to them. For everything you encounter, there's some way that you can dig deeper, some way that you can find another meaning or another idea in it.

Basically, every game you play and movie you watch has an optional analysis to it. That's what I'm here to do, analyze and make my way through video games and the industry. Of course I'm still learning, every day. I also have a want to talk about more than video games and that industry so you may see me commenting on may things. Social issues, politics, entertainment.

Optional Analysis is the brand to carry me through the things that I do in my life whatever that may be. And so, I invite you to join me. I want to share what I learn with you, for our mutual benefit. I hope that any and all that want to, can partake in what I find. I invite you to comment with me, and discuss with me about whatever you feel like. All I ask is that we keep the conversation respectful, other than that everything is fair game. Over time if you choose to stick with me, you'll find out plenty about where I am and what I do so I don't need to explain that know.

Honestly, I do hope that there are those of you who want to join me in this growing experience. Welcome.

With Highest Regards,
Hayes Madsen