Music Theory #3: Turmion Kätilöt

So this is a slight departure from the schedule I had planned. We’ve been recording podcasts on Tuesday nights and it so happened that after the recording session I was a little too exhausted to put what I considered a worthwhile amount of effort into a full writing article. So for this week (and future weeks until our podcast scheduling changes) I’m moving the Music Theory posts to Wednesdays since they require less work overall.

This week’s band is one I’ve listened to for a long time and is a departure into a different genre than previous weeks!

Band: Turmion Kätilöt

Latest Album: Universal Satan

Genre: Industrial metal

Favorite Track: Grand Ball (See above)

Other Recommended Tracks: Verta ja Lihaa, Tirehtööri, U.S.C.H!, Sinä saatana, Dance Panique, Sikiö

Why I Enjoy Them: I first learned about Turmion Kätilöt from the very old flash video “Bunnykill“* – a take on the popular Madness Combat Flash video style from back in the early-to-mid 2000s. The video used Verta ja Lihaa as its backing track and I really enjoyed the hard metal beat and how well it paired with the action of the video. Over time I continued to follow the band and every album they released always had a few songs that really got me pumped up and excited. I consider them one of my favorite “action scene imagination” bands – a lot of their songs sync up well in my mind with hardcore action, and I have planned many story beats and action sequences in my head to Turmion Kätilöt’s music. Despite them being a Finnish band, I have always considered them one of my low-key guilty pleasure bands, especially since they have helped me with my creative processes numerous times.

*While the first Bunnykill does not hold up as much, the last sequence of Bunnykill 5 is something I still watch from time to time because of how ridiculously awesome it is.

Episode 19 – HYGGE!

HarveyZ’s back for a new episode of Make Me A Gamer! After educating TMan on the philosophy of HYGGE! the two talk about the latest Overwatch news & controversies. They also cover the hit new Venmo trend that’s been going around, along with Nintendo officially making Bowsette non-canon, Soulja Boy’s consoles getting pulled off the internet, and Bethesda’s Nuka Dark Rum misfire.  Then they end with a short discussion about board games. (This episode was recorded January 8th, 2019.)

TMan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tmanplaysgames

HarveyZ on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ThaZIsSilent

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E-Mail Us at: makemeagamerpodcast@gmail.com

As always, thank you so much for listening and please leave us ratings and feedback however you’re listening to our podcast!

4X: Excite, Excel, Exhaust, Exclude?

Yesterday my friends and I had a snowy day to contend with and we passed the time by playing a board game. It’s a game called Scythe that I got as a gift from my girlfriend for Christmas. Scythe is described as a 4X board game – and just in case you didn’t listen to last week’s podcast, 4X stands for Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate. You explore a map, expand your empire, exploit the land for resources, and exterminate your rival empires.

These types of strategy games are found in both the spheres of both board and video games. Classic examples of 4X video games include the Civilization series, the Masters of Orion series, Endless Space, and Stellaris. Examples of 4X board games include the aforementioned Scythe, Civilization: The Board Game, Twilight Imperium, and Clash of Cultures.

4X games often take a very long time to play – I’ve personally spent a whole day playing Civilization 5 on the computer and not finished the game, and it took two long gaming sessions to finish one game of a board game version. This is because there are often a lot of intersecting mechanics and choices you have to make and since it is a strategy game there are lots of considerations to make every time it is your turn. Also because there is a lot of information to cover, the first time you play such a game it will take a lot longer to set up and understand.

I really enjoyed playing Scythe with my friends and am already eager to try it again. However, when I’m faced with a 4X video games I often shy away from them aside from the Civilization series. So why is 4X more palatable to me in board game form over video games? That’s what I’m going to explore and expand upon (get it?) in this article.

Continue reading “4X: Excite, Excel, Exhaust, Exclude?” →

TMan’s Top 5: Movie Trailers

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another top 5!

In honor of the Velvet Buzzsaw trailer releasing yesterday (and it being a phenomenal trailer to the point that I almost considered dropping it on this list straight out the gate) I decided to list my top 5 movie trailers of all-time.

Movie trailers are very key in garnering interest in a movie. The right trailer can add hype to a movie when there was none, and a bad trailer can make people less interested in seeing it. Sometimes trailers give away too much, others don’t give you enough idea of what the movie will be about. Some trailers have stuck with me more than the movies have and others have led me to watching some of my all-time favorite movies. This is my top 5. (And Velvet Buzzsaw is #6 at this moment for sure.)

All trailers are linked to in their list number.

Continue reading “TMan’s Top 5: Movie Trailers” →

Music Theory #2: Dance With The Dead

We’re back with another Music Theory! This week’s band is Dance With The Dead!

Band: Dance With The Dead

Latest Album: Loved to Death

Genre: Synthwave

Favorite Track: From Hell (see above)

Other Recommended Tracks: Graveyard Shift, Poison, Riot, Diabolic, The Man who Made a Monster, Snap, Into the Shadows

Why I Enjoy Them: I don’t remember how I ended up listening to them – I think their album The Shape popped up as a recommended YouTube video at some point and I just fell into a hole of listening to all of their discography. Dance With The Dead just excels at that retro 80s techno sound with awesome beats and great synth. They’re a good pair to Infected Mushroom for me in terms of the spectrum of techno that I enjoy. Their tracks are also some of my favorite to Audiosurf to as the constant drums and their usual fast beats per second make a great challenge. They’re one of my top “listen to while driving” bands.

 

Overwatch & LGBT+ Representation

Soldier 76 is gay. Blizzard has now revealed both of what would be considered the “primary” Overwatch characters to be LGBT+. The first reveal was Tracer being in a lesbian relationship in a comic, and now Soldier 76 through the short story Bastet. Tracer is the face of Overwatch – she’s on the box when you buy it and was the primary good guy of the very first Overwatch short. And Soldier 76 is the grizzled veteran who is who you control when you boot up the tutorial in Overwatch and is considered to be one of the easiest and most basic characters to introduce you to the game.

Blizzard has been very inclusive with Overwatch with characters of all different races hailing from all different countries. Aside from the continued controversy over a lack of a playable black female character, the representation has been wide enough to include most everyone. So it’s no surprise that some of the characters are LGBT+.

But the question I pose with this article is: is Overwatch gay enough? Is Blizzard taking the right approach to sexual representation in their game, or is this more of an appeal to the masses for good press?

Continue reading “Overwatch & LGBT+ Representation” →

Episode 18 – Nanomanagement (Ft. Slim as Special Guest)

On today’s episode of Make Me A Gamer, HarveyZ is off living the jet-setting corporate lifestyle, so TMan has brought in a special guest by the name of Slim! While Slim is more of a regular gamer than HarveyZ, he tends to favor older games. So he and TMan delve into his favorite games and why he likes them – the topics range from Starcraft to Descent to Masters of Orion. There’s also discussion about the Civilization series and Age of Mythology and its fifteen-years-later expansion. We hope you enjoy the special guest host! (This episode was recorded January 5th, 2019.)

TMan on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tmanplaysgames

Make Me A Gamer on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MakeMeAPodcast

E-Mail Us at: makemeagamerpodcast@gmail.com

As always, thank you so much for listening and please leave us ratings and feedback however you’re listening to our podcast!

After The Hype: The Witcher 3

So this past weekend I started playing Witcher 3 for the first time. I read The Last Wish (the first chronological book in the Witcher series, although it is a collection of short stories and not a full novel) for a book club my friends and I participate in. The characters and world building were enough to intrigue me and finally got enough of my attention to actually start the Witcher 3. I’d bought the complete edition for PS4 during a sale who knows how long ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf as a “to play” game for a long time.

Despite it getting rave reviews and it winning a ton of Game of the Year awards back in 2015, I was never super jazzed about the game. I’d played the Witcher 2 on the XBox 360 and finished the first chapter, but I didn’t end up completing the game. I don’t remember a lot about the story (other than Triss was there and Geralt was in a town doing witcher things) and I ended up dropping it in favor of other games. It always struck me as generic fantasy – well done and in an interesting world – but generic fantasy nonetheless.

I watched everyone rave about how good it was and how the sidequests and stories were very well developed and meaningful. But I was hesitant to jump in since I knew I’d already given up on Witcher 2 and I have a low tolerance for generic high fantasy worlds. But nonetheless I ended up with a copy of it since it’s reputation was so strong and it just laid in wait until I was inspired enough to play it.

Which is apparently now. So for today’s article I’m going to talk a little bit about my first few hours of Witcher 3…just three and a half years later than everybody else did.

Continue reading “After The Hype: The Witcher 3” →

TMan’s Top 5: Overwatch Characters

It’s Friday! And since it’s resolution week, it’s time for yet another New Year’s resolution from me! Well, sorta. If you haven’t noticed, there’s been a post on the blog every day of the week this week. As I mentioned on Wednesday, I wasn’t terribly happy with my output quantity by the end of 2018, so I’m looking to change that this year. So my goal is to have a post on this blog every weekday. To create some semblance of a schedule, here’s what the content will look like:

Monday: Gaming Related Article
Tuesday: Podcast Episode (no real writing in this one, but keeps with my current schedule of posting podcasts on Tuesdays)
Wednesday: Grab Bag (article can be about anything)
Thursday: Music Theory (as seen yesterday)
Friday: Top 5

As I’ve noted before, I like lists. And as such, for Fridays I’ll be posting Top 5 lists for all sorts of different categories. Maybe this way I’ll get some of those sweet, sweet BuzzFeed clicks. I’m guessing some of the lists will be more in-depth than others.

To start us off, I’m going with my Top 5 Favorite Overwatch characters in honor of me recently opening and playing some Overwatch for the first time in a long while. They’re my favorites all-around, including the actual character, any story they might have, and if I enjoy playing as them as well. Here we go!

Continue reading “TMan’s Top 5: Overwatch Characters” →

Music Theory #1: Infected Mushroom

We’re on a resolution roll here at TMan Writes, and so today’s post is about another change in habit that I’m enacting in 2019. As you’ve probably picked up by now, music is important to me. But what shocked me as 2018 ended was that I’d barely listened to any new music. I’d picked up a few new bands, but a lot of albums released this year from bands that I like and I hadn’t given most of them even a cursory listen.

I was a bit surprised at myself, but I also realized that I’d strayed away from music in general in 2018 while I focused on other things. My podcast intake increased while my music intake decreased. So in order to get myself back into the habit of keeping myself up to date with new music, I’m introducing Music Theory as a weekly endeavor.

These posts aren’t going to be long-form; instead they’ll likely be focused around a specific artist or album and have very limited actual writing involved. But I love music and want to spread music I enjoy, and hopefully having a weekly motivation will help keep me in the loop music-wise this year.

Anyway, for the first Music Theory I present to you Infected Mushroom.

Band: Infected Mushroom

Latest Album: Head of NASA and the 2 Amish Boys (2018)

Genre: Psytrance/Electronica

Favorite Track: Spitfire (see above)

Other Recommended Tracks: Guitarmass, Head of NASA, Vicious Delicious, Suliman, Herbert The Pervert

Why I Enjoy Them: I follow Monstercat on YouTube and through them I first heard Spitfire, which then led me to listening to the rest of Infected Mushroom’s discography. They were a slow burn, but once I warmed up to their music I really dug it. They are the exact type of electronic music that I like: good beats, enough variation to keep me engaged, but also repetitive enough for me to be able to listen to their tracks while I’m doing other things. I prefer their instrumental tracks to the ones that use vocals, but they have standout tracks of both. Techno/trance is a genre that’s always been one of my favorite and Infected Mushroom just nails the sound that I want from the style.