This thread has convinced me to play Outer Wilds.
My picks are:
- Game: Portal 2.
- Book: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
- TV show: Bojack Horseman.
- Movie: The Shawshank Redemption.
Game, Outer Wilds
Movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Game:
GoldenEye 007, but I want it to be in 1997 playing on the 27" CRT TV in the basement with my brother. Technically, it was my N64, so I always got to use the gold controller that it came with. We sat on the carpet within feet of the giant wooden TV cabinet, because the cords weren’t very long. My dad was a carpenter and only recently refinished the basement with tongue and groove cedar. I still remember the smell of the wood and the sound of the furnace clicking on down there. He even cut a crescent moon into the bathroom door as if it were an outhouse.
We liked to play Golden Gun in the temple. We even made up our own games within the game, like hide and seek. Back then he was my best friend. He made some life choices that were different from mine. We were never as close as when we played that game. We’re not in a bad spot or anything, but those days now just memories.
- Game: Return of the Obra Dinn
- Book: House of Leaves
- TV: Twin Peaks
- Movie: The Matrix
Outer Wilds and Piranesi.
Game: Super Mario Galaxy
Book: The Rama series, Arthur C Clarke
TV: The West Wing
Movie: The 5th Element
It makes me happy to see Rama mentioned here! I read the first book in the series when I was 8 or 9, and it’s what really hooked me on science fiction. Like, I had to read it with a dictionary open because some of the language was way too technical for me, but I was absolutely enthralled.
Other people who’ve read it and who I’ve talked with seem to be split over whether the first book is better than the sequels, or the other way around. I prefer the sequels, my wife prefers the original. Do you have a preference?
As a child, I greatly preferred the original. A lot of the emotional subtext from the sequels went over my head (since I was raised in a very emotionally repressed environment), but I could totally grok the cold, somewhat impersonal nature of the first book. It was easier to imagine myself in this huge alien structure when I could understand the characters. Nowadays I think I’d probably prefer the sequels since I derive a lot of enjoyment from interpersonal drama and conflict. I’ll admit that it’s been ages since I’ve read them, so I can’t say for sure.
Oh wow, I actually haven’t read the Rama books (been meaning to!), but I vividly remember the flawed-but-wonderous PC adventure game. Have you played it by chance?
Haha, grokking abstract space-math associations maybe wasn’t my strength when I was like…7 or something (prolly still isn’t LOL). But I sure did enjoy crudely drawing the biots and aliens. :D
The soundtrack is still one of my favorites from any game, ever.
This humorous review is fun to watch, but there’s really good gameplay and stuff without commentary too. :)
I played the game back when it originally came out. Like any media based on a book, it was slightly frustrating for a while that the graphics didn’t match the visuals I had imagined whole reading the book. I still have the discs somewhere, might see if I can get it running somehow. I suspect I’ll find the game mechanics to be clunky but today’s standards.
I’m surprised there hasn’t been a movie made yet.
