Music Culture Composes The World Ends With You

Music Culture Composes The World Ends With You

by | Nov 25, 2015 | Features, Video Games

Calling… you hear the calling…

2007’s The World Ends with You gave Nintendo DS owners a lot to talk about. It follows Neku Sakuraba, an anti-social teen who dislikes trying to understand other people, as he wakes up in the Shibuya scramble crossing with no memory of how he got there. Barriers keep him trapped in the ward’s nucleus, and he himself is invisible to the crowds around him.

Please note that this article spoils the first major twist and the ending of The World Ends with You.

(more…)

Music Culture Composes The World Ends With You

5 Writers Whose Work Would Inspire Great Video Games

by | Nov 4, 2015 | Lists, Video Games

The indie video game community has been turning to literature for its inspiration, and in particular, the works of Haruki Murakami. Bitz Byterz is currently running a kickstarter to fund Memoranda, a 2D point-and-click adventure inspired by Murakami’s  short stories. Ackk Studios is also working on a Murakami-themed title, YIIK: A Postmodern RPG, in the style of the Mother games. Both are currently slated for late 2015 release.

With work praised and prized around the world, Murakami is one of today’s most influential and recognized contemporary writers and a go-to for postmodern literature. Taking his wind-up birds and hard-boiled wonderlands as inspiration for video games got me thinking: what other works of fiction could be reimagined for consoles, and what other genres could literary games emulate? Here are a few picks I wouldn’t mind seeing. (more…)

Music Culture Composes The World Ends With You

Self-Identity & Self-Confidence: Lessons Learned from a Foolish Replica in Tales of the Abyss

by | Aug 31, 2015 | Essays, Video Games

SPOILER WARNING: This essay contains spoilers for the entirety of Tales of the Abyss.

Since 1995, one of the most iconic RPG franchises in Japan—and, increasingly, with western audiences—is the Tales series. Each installment boasts high fantasy settings that dabble in magitech, references (if in-name-only) to mythologies from around the globe, and parties made up of fire-forged found families. (more…)

Music Culture Composes The World Ends With You

History of Barbie: A Visual in Pink

by | Jul 6, 2015 | Features

Welcome to WWAC Game Section’s summer Barbie series. These months are often the time that children are free from commitments, away from their friends, and ready to let their imaginations take over. For many of us that meant playing with Barbies, and over the next few weeks you’ll see the many different ways Barbies affected us. Enjoy! (more…)