The Simpsons Game (DS) (Part 2)

Part 1 can be read here. Please, go read it first if you haven't, or else you won't understand a damn thing in this article. Trust me, it gets REAL weird. In fact, I think I still need to get back into the normal mindset.

Dunno if that'll do the trick, but I guess it'll be just fine.

But if you don't want to read through 2,000 words, here's a short recap: In The Simpsons Game, the family finds out that they're characters in a video game and they all have superpowers. First they use the superpowers to stop regular crimes, until aliens decide to invade Springfield. Bart and Lisa go looking for help inside their own game's circuits, and come back with the strategy guide. They kick some alien ass, but that's not enough to force the aliens to retreat. As a result, the family goes into cyberspace to find a way to cease the invasion.

Told you it was gonna be messed up. Well, it gets even worse this time around. When we left last time, it was in the Bargain Bin, and we were about to save a pixelated version of the Simpson family stuck in a NES cartridge on its way to a furnace.

About Justin Carmical

NOTE: This article was originally a tribute published to the blog on January 26th, 2014. However, recent developments and revelations have led to me deciding to remove the tribute section. This article was edited on April 15th, 2018.

In January 23rd, 2014, Justin Carmical committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot to a temple in a bout of severe depression. When the tragedy happened, many of us who had been watching Channel Awesome were floored. Justin was "the nicest guy" on CA. A symbol of what we should try to become on this Earth. Not a single person making videos for Channel Awesome seemed to have something bad to say about him. I never watched his solo vides, though I saw him frequently in crossovers with other producers, including the Anniversary Movies (Kickassia, Suburban Knights, To Boldly Flee).

Fast forward to March and April 2018. Channel Awesome is in turmoil after multiple producers release a document about horrid business practices held by Channel Awesome. One of the accounts comes from an few Anonymous women who claim a member of the site sexually abused them. These are serious allegations.

A couple days later, on April 12th, Channel Awesome (or its CEO Mike Michaud) released a "response" to the document where they addressed critiques contained in the document and refuted them, without ever giving an apology for their bad behavior. They even held screenshots of chatrooms which, ironically, sometimes only confirmed a lot of producers' complaints. Some screenshots sloppily hid the name of the sexual abuser in the chat logs about him, and made no effort to hide the dates and years those discussions took place. And when I say "sloppily", I do mean "sloppily". Some letters could still be recognized. As a result, it didn't take the most clever of Internet sleuths to realize the abuser was Justin Carmical. He was allegedly taking advantage of conventions to seek victims to abuse.

If you watched the man back when he had his review show, you are probably floored by the news. If you knew him by reputation or through crossovers, you're probably shocked. If you didn't know him, then now you probably don't wish to know more about him.

Many people currently find it difficult to conciliate their memories of Justin and the sad truth of what he has done. And it's perfectly understandable. It's a tough reality to accept. It's never easy to see your positive image of someone crumble and fall after allegations come out. 2018 has really been the year of broken pedestals. I take no joy in writing this. As for the traffic, I consider the message getting out far more important than the views on it. Same goes for my newer articles about the controversy around Channel Awesome. There was some schadenfreude to be had with the company so blatantly avoiding any sort of direct apology, and suffering for it, but any sense of enjoyment stopped after this reveal. We're dealing with an extemely serious topic.

On my end, on the first days after the reveal, I've had a sort of crisis of trust in humanity, an innate fear of each person's darkest secrets and how well-hidden they may be. A fear of even the nicest people I know turning out to be complete assholes behind closed doors, or doing very reprehensible or illegal things as long as they felt they could get away with it.

There is no defending Justin Carmical for what he has done. You can separate the art for the artist, and appreciate the videos he has released. I know I would be incapable of doing so. I am perfectly fine with a man's legacy to be tainted by new revelations years after his passing. This does not invalidate the good years we spent fondly remembering him, but it certainly throws a shade of sadness upon those years.

And, because this has to be repeated: Do NOT attempt to figure out who the victims were. They chose to remain anonymous for a reason. Do not gather information, do not seek them, do not harass them. Coming forward with these allegations has been extremely difficult for them, and their request for privacy must be respected. Do not make it harder for them. Y'know... don't be an asshole, is what I'm getting to.

The Simpsons Game (DS) (Part 1)

In the wake of the Simpsons Movie, Matt Groening and the production team behind this cinematographic event were trying to hide the movie's plot so that nobody would discover it before the film's release. That whole dome thing, the family escaping to Alaska, Homer saving the city... I'm sure you all knew about this, right? (If you didn't, well... Oopsie!) Well, the whole plan was to be sure that nobody would know before July 27^th, 2007. Hey, I went to watch this film in theaters for my 15^th birthday! You can't give any better to a Simpsons fan!

However, I can't help but believe that this extreme secrecy had an effect on all the merchandise that would inevitably come because of the film's popularity. Many movies nowadays have their video game adaptation... with, ahem, “varying” levels of quality. My guess is that, among others, the Simpsons producers didn't want the advertisements for an upcoming video game to contain scenes that are too close to the movie's plot... And thus, we got a story that was unrelated to the film in all regards. Or they wanted to make sure nobody on the staff at Electronic Arts would spill the beans on their ultra-secret plot, so they chose to create a totally unrelated story. Or maybe it's a reason totally unrelated to the Movie. Regardless, what is said story?

The family discovers they're in a video game!

… Oh God.

This is the Simpsons Game, everyone. The DS version. And get ready, because this is gonna be one Hell of a surreal mind screw of a ride.

Why Did The Angry Birds Become So Popular?

Hey everyone! For today's Editorial, I thought I'd discuss something that I really like, and I know many others like: Angry Birds!

The little birds appeared for the first time in 2009, in a game for Apple's line of portable products. In less than four years, many versions were created by Rovio Entertainment, from the original series to Angry Birds Seasons to Angry Birds Star Wars, and there's so many I'm missing. These games, which are available for free - although in some cases, you have to pay a bit to buy items that will help you with some levels - have therefore reached a total of about two billion downloads. Picture that, almost one third of all of mankind. The franchise has also grown to include a cartoon series, a line of building toys sold under the K'nex line, little figurines to attach to your phone, and so on.

It was an instant breakout hit, and we gotta wonder why. Yeah, that's a good question. Why did the Angry Birds become so popular?

The Simpsons: Road Rage

Well, I haven't had the best of luck with the Game Boy Advance games. Two of the worst games I've reviewed were for the GBA: Mario Pinball Land and Garfield: TheSearch For Pooky. That's why I'm getting scared now every time I have to review one of those. But I shouldn't fear. Not all these games are bad... right?

Now, let's talk about something that brings a collective small “yay” from a crowd and a collective groan from another: The Simpsons. The series has been going for twenty-five years now, and it's still going, as impressive – or as annoying – that might be. Has it gone on for too long? Well, it still extracts a laugh from me from time to time, and some recent episodes were fine (if we forget the horrible pacing problems) but yeah, quite a number of recent episodes were sorta hit or miss. Yeah... As for the games? They're also kind of hit or miss.

The Simpsons: Road Rage is one of a few Simpsons games based around driving cars. Fun fact, both are also references to Grand Theft Auto; they reference other road-based crimes. Road rage, and Hit and run. Now, is this game as clever as its title? ...Hm, not sure...