Imagist

Everyone, I have a favor to ask: if you have some free time in the next couple of days and feel like thoroughly critiquing my entry, could you PM me a write-up of your thoughts? I'm trying to work it up into a final project of sorts for my creative writing class (1000 words max, so not much longer than its current length) and I could use all the input I can get, unless you have nothing more to say than "I liked/didn't like it." Anyone who does this by Wednesday (a second draft is due Thursday) will get an extra point toward their own submission--err, I mean... much gratitude.

Eh.I figured my last one was close enough to count. FYI, guys, half of the entrants have already voted (plus more), so I'd say this competition is getting a really good turnout compared to the last few. Thanks for participating, everyone! P.S.: Special thanks to Doulifee. He's so on-the-ball, I didn't even have to ask him to update the thread title! Thanks for all your hard work, Doulifee.

Okay, folks. Less than 10 minutes left. If there are any other submissions, get them in now! Speaking of which, here's mine. It's a little short and a little sloppy, but it's the best I could manage. These past couple of weeks have been tough. It Comes Apart Thump-a thump thump thump thump-a thump. Straight to the brain. “Can you even go a whole day without…?” Anne said. “Dunno. Never tried.” Hector turned the dial to the right and it came: harder, better, faster, stronger. The pulse made him come alive, or at least half so—enough to wrap his hands round the wheel, thumbs tapping out the beats. He strained to keep one foot on the pedal as the other doled out kicks in time. “Do you know where we’re going?” Hector inhaled, as though sucking in the very waves of sound emanating from the speakers. To tell the truth, the road he had taken out of Paris generally led to Berlin, among other places. But he couldn’t exactly say he was headed there. “Just because I’m driving doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere.” Anne put her head back against the rest and slumped down in her seat. “If you’re trying to scare me, it won’t work.” “Why would I try to scare my wife?” Hector hadn’t so much as looked at her for the half hour they’d been on the A 2, but he felt every move she made as a nervous spasm up his right arm. Straining to ignore them, he kept staring at the road ahead. When he caught up to another car, he got up very close and swerved around at the last second without skipping a beat. Beat. It was pounding Hector’s head, joining the excruciating throb already there to create an oddly syncopated rhythm. He reached for the dial again, but there was no turning it further. Even Daft Punk couldn’t drown everything out. Suddenly Anne skipped a couple tracks and LCD Soundsystem started up. Hector whirled to the side, intending to snarl at her ignorance, but her eyes met his and didn’t turn away. No ignorance behind that face, just insolence. She’d always had a cute bit of spunk. That’s how it starts... She’d always had a thing for James Murphy’s voice, too. “Anne, I told you I’ve got to have something with a touch more bass.” “Oh come on, ‘All My Friends’ isn’t exactly light and easy.” She broke eyesight to stare into the vast stretch ahead of them as her cheeks reddened a little. “It’s not like I put on My Bloody Valentine.” Hector gaped at her until Anne told him gently to watch it. He glanced forward and barely dodged the car he’d been about to hit. ...blowing eight-five days in the middle of France... He didn’t look at her again when she next spoke. “I’m worried, Hector. Is the vacation not helping? Dr. Rosenberg said—” “I don’t know why you got in the car with me,” he snapped. “Like I was going to let you drive off alone, the way you were acting! One day we’re enjoying a nice, relaxing visit to the Eiffel Tower and the next you’re hopping out of bed at 6 A.M. to hunt for the keys.” “Do you want to die? Is that it?” “Do you?” ...this could be the last time... His hands and feet were no longer moving. “It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” Hector saw that her eyes were glistening and had to turn his gaze partially out the side window to avoid welling up himself. “I wish you hadn’t come. You don’t know what it’s like,” he muttered. At that she slammed her fist into the dashboard. “What? What it’s like to ache until you lose consciousness every time you try to concentrate on one thing too long? What it’s like to forget what happened yesterday and have no idea what’s going on today or tomorrow? Or what it’s like to live, as you say, ‘a half-life’? Because let me tell you, Hector, it’s not exactly fulfilling that I can’t make love to my husband without him blacking out or, God forbid, getting bored and stopping.” “No, I’m talking about what’s it like to give myself to the woman I love only to have to take it all back because nothing but music keeps me going. What it’s like to have to lose myself in the beat to do anything right, only when I try to do even that you get sucked in too.” He meant to add, “What it’s like to have to watch you hurt the way I do and know there’s nothing I can to about it,” but his right thumb started tapping again and she covered his hand with hers instantly. “Hector, we’ve been over this. It’s just a depression. We can beat it… together.” She squeezed his hand tighter just as a piercing thump hit his temple and the resulting shudder relaxed his arms. It was instant panic. He was letting the wheel fly and another car was coming at them. So let it come, a part of him thought. But another part wanted her to be gone, to be safe at home, to be anywhere but there in that car. And yet, he could do nothing about it. She held on fast. ...you think over and over, “Hey, I’m finally dead.”

Is it me or did we lose an entry? Didn't dsx100 post something? Anyway, only about 9 hours left, folks. I might be able to finish fixing what I have before then, but if not, my submission's going to be pretty crappy.

Holy crap it's an ubernym. I might have just creamed my pants. You better stick around, man.

same here

Prot! Man, he was cool before he totally sold out to this joke of a project...

OCR sucks and this piece of crap will just prove that once and for all!

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=260

Please, please go play GT's Ganon, and then tell me you feel the same way about him. Also, Wintermute, we've been over this: I don't care how good a player you are, there is no amount of skill that can compensate for a bomb randomly spawning right in front of your smash. A better player just plays well, not guesses when the game's going to drop death and when it's not. Random elements, by definition, cannot be reliably compensated for. They throw off the competitive nature of the game entirely.

Brawl is definitely more fun than Melee. I think only a conceited prick who thought too much of himself because he was better than all his friends would disagree with that. But there is simply too much about the gameplay that's designed to "even the odds" which ultimately make it unsuitable for competitions of raw skill.

Your only example that smacks of "hardcore" to me is MKDS (and I didn't mean that snaking's presence and impact on the game was overexaggerated, I mean the snaking itself was overexaggerated--to the point where, as you point out, it became the only viable tactic, and basically defined the game for many players). I really don't understand your comparison to F-Zero; I would say F-Zero is by far the more "hardcore" game, from a much more sizeable slew of cars and racers (all of which, unlike most of the Mario Kart games except the most recent, vary widely in stats and properties--and even the variations between karts and racers in recent MK games have nothing on, say, F-Zero GX's capacity to build your car from scrap parts) to a far greater depth of gameplay designed to be difficult and challenging, not kind of goofy and, well, fun (like, for example, most of the tracks with oddball elements in MK games). The atmosphere and design of MK is, overall, a whole lot simple and more casual, to the point where anyone can pick it up and have fun with it. Even when it got more competitive with MKDS, it was very limited, as snaking was the only "advanced" technique involved and even with that, many people doubted that its prominence was intentional.

All right, then. The submission stage will be open one more week. Barnsalot and just64helpin, feel free to post a revision of your submissions within that time frame. Everyone else (myself included), get to work!

Lab work has, unfortunately, caught up to me, so I won't be able to get a submission in time. Unless we have more entrants show up before tonight, I was thinking it might be beneficial to extend the deadline. However, it's really up to you two who have entered so far, since doing so might affect your own submissions. What do you think?

I'd actually say parts of it were mildly amusing.

...Are you serious? I think the only game for which this statement is remotely applicable is the DS, and that was only because of OMGOVEREXAGGERATEDSNAKING. I don't think I know anyone who considers Mario Kart remotely "hardcore."

Really, really, really terrible. Our first match, Toon Link reacted to my commands about once every two seconds. I don't think I ever actually killed you our second match (once you SD'd kind of weirdly and then the cannonballs got you?). Then when I pick Dedede of all people, I get some decent response time (and that match was fairly close).

Brawl as DK 20 times. But trust me, the stage alone is not worth the trouble. Crap stage is crap.

You seem to be missing the point. By all indications thus far, no downloadable content means NO expansions whatsoever. Your next chance for more songs will be Rock Band 2. This "no-online" thing just pisses me off, but less because of EA's prior gold in MOH:H and more because of Harmonix's prior gold in just about everything they do. I could expect this crap from Red Octane and Activision continuing the GH franchise, but come on, Harmonix!

I don't know about anyone else, but that guy looks terribly unlike the NWG to me. Similar in a very generic manner, but not at all an exact match. When you posted the video and I checked it out, I had to triple-check the time you listed because I thought there was no way you could have been suggesting that guy was the NWG.

I think Tables just saved this thread. Also, Arek, you don't have me on your list. I should be.

The only reason no grabbable ledges is a bad thing as far as I can see: those with tether recovery are absolutely screwed. However, this is a completely ridiculous and unreasonable complaint on Onett, because there's nowhere to fall, and so if you're wanting ledges to use for some form of quick dodging or whatever then you'll just have to deal because everyone's equally screwed. This is the same reason I think Skyworld is a problem, because when you destroy the platforms some characters (tether recoverers) are screwed while others would actually stand a better chance at recovery from, say, the middle of the long, bottom stretch. The only reason I object to Port Town is you can get hit by cars even when you're up on the platforms. This is just stupid. Why have "safe" platforms if you can still get hit by cars passing directly beneath you? You basically have to stay in the air until all the cars are passed if you don't want to be hit, and not every character can do this. However, Big Blue is one of my favorite (I'm not going to call it one of the best, just one of my favorite) stages because it requires an entirely different tactical approach. I also don't see how Hanenbow is a problem. I hate the stage, sure, but that's because it's a little non-conventional in graphic and spatial design for my tastes, not because it's at all unfair or random. Flat Zone 2 is absolutely horrendous, though. Too much close quarters with off-the-wall, goofy environmental factors that can kill or lead directly to a kill far too easily.

Courses 2 and 5 are almost entirely about using your items right (no matter who you do it with). Course 2 is easiest if you make use of the Deku Nut, the rolling crate, the bat if needed, and the cracker launcher. Course 5 basically requires adept usage of the cracker launcher and beam sword for most characters. Course 3 is also a little easier if you make good use of the smart bomb.

Money?!?! I'm out!

I'm in. Tentatively.