To Those That Shun Me...

There is a difference between my characters and I. I am not Gavin Moxley. I am not any of the characters in my stories and having said that I should point out that I create fiction not reality. I will not lie and say nobody and personal situations do not inspire me to write the stories that I do. The fact is that I am under the impression that after my first book, “Solstice”, people seem to put off by me as a person, especially family. I am not sure if it’s because of the content, the nature, or just the dialogue in the book but I find it frustrating that after the book had come out my contact with friends and family has declined drastically. Some people tell me that it is just jealousy and perhaps that they don’t agree with or understand why I am not living the usual lifestyle that most want in life. That may be true, but I am not vain enough to say that.

I was told at one point before I started the book that writing was a waste of time and that there was no money in it. That person is no longer on my radar anymore because I chose to surround myself with people that support me and what I am trying to do with my life. People may not like what I do and that’s okay because if you are writing and you are not pissing someone off then you probably aren’t doing something right. I am not going to apologize for doing what I and others think I am great at.

In the long run, it may turn out to be nothing. At least I put my name out there into the world and my work will always be around for others to enjoy in my lifetime, and maybe my child’s lifetime as well and while people choose to stick with what is considered “normal”, I am not that person and if you are so against writing, books, or the arts in general, I at least had the guts to try to make a name for myself in some way…so my question for those who oppose the idea of what I do is… “What the hell have you done lately that is so great?”

Bryan W. Dull, April 28, 2013

Get Your Head Out of Your Ass Square-Enix...I Hope You Learn Though.

I am not going into this ordeal a whole lot since its already been covered by the media. The Square-Enix videogame company, in it's fiscal report, stated that they did not sell enough copies in comparison to their projections and that their overseas subsidiary, Eidos, had failed to make enough money.

FUCK YOU SQUARE ENIX!

Tomb Raider sold about 3.5 million copies in its first month. Let's see, the game costs $60 and you get at least $40 back of that after portions are given to the store and the console company. So 3.5*40= $140 million dollars. You expect me to believe that it cost you $140 million dollars to make this game? You are full of yourselves and of shit as well.

The Eidos Company had made you money with games like; Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, and Sleeping Dogs.

FUCK YOU!

What has the Square brought to the table from their Japan location...(that's the sound of crickets)....that off shoot Kingdom Hearts 3DS that was okay at best and a Dragon Quest game the handheld as well.

Did you really expect a revisit to a dying franchise to sell 10 million games in a month? Call of Duty barely does that!

Square-Enix, you have brought us gems like the earlier Final Fantasy's, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Grandia, Children of Mana, and Chrono Trigger, to name a few. Face it...you got cocky and fell victim to your own success. You made these great games with awesome stories and great graphics as the Playstation released. You got arrogant with the your tech, and as each game came around the CG got better, but then you decided that people wanted to play a CG movie as opposed to a game. Final Fantasy XIII was veil of potential greatness, with a pile of pretentious crap on it. No one really liked it and you got panned for it. Fast forward a bit; then you give us sequels to a game that hardly anyone liked and did not ask for. Speaking of which, where the hell is Final Fantasy XIII Versus that you teased seven fuckin' years ago? Just call it Final Fantasy XV now, you might as well. Why are you composing teams of a few to generate nothing but cut scenes that no one wants for a game?

Reevaluate your shit! In these last several years you could have put out Kingdom Hearts III and could have made money hand over fist, regardless if it was good or not. Stop over projecting your profits and throwing the people that work for you overseas under the damn bus, and for the love of God...stop playing the victim! You're fans haven't changed...you have. Stop over producing your games with a small staff that is just costing you more money, or yen, whatever. Quit remaking the same damn games that you have already done for a new platform and just back to what made your company great.

I have faith in you Square, I really do, and hopefully the resignation of an upper level guy will help change that, but shame on you for blaming the people over seas for your fuck ups. This studio, Eidos, has made more money for you than you have made for yourselves 

Until you get your shit together...I think I'll pick up an Atlus game. At least they know how to entertain the gamer right now.

Just a random thought...

Not everyone will like what you decide to do in life and that's okay. However, those people do not value in your life and it comes to a point where you have to dismiss those people and find people that do. We live in a society where people will tell you "that's dumb" or "why are you doing that?" and those people are the ones, in most cases, are the ones that settle because its comfortable. Be proud that what you are trying to do or wanting do matters to people and if people don't like it...it's just words at the end of the day.

Bioshock Infinite May Be the Best Story You Will Never Read...But Play Instead.



Whenever I discuss videogame narrative, I usually get an eye roll or a certain pretentiousness from people that pretend they care. The fact is that people don't look at games as an art form right now, and perhaps they were right. I stress the term "were".

Ken Levine's and Irrational Games Studios may have just helped cross that line with Bioshock: Infinite. Set in the early 1900's, your character travels to a floating city in the sky to find a girl, Elizabeth, in order to erase his debt. I will not go into characters or spoilers as most people can Wikipedia it. However I will say a few things about it in general.

In a time of linear game experiences, we don't pay a lot of attention to the world in the game. We go through the motions of just getting to the next level and so on. With Bioshock it is the opposite. I dare any one of you to go through the game and not take a little extra time and look at the world around you and experience it for what it is.

The city of Columbia in the game comes off as peaceful and if you had all the money in the world you would want to live there. However, it is a world that still believes in minorities being the underlings of society. They worship America and it values up to a certain point in its history. When waling through the world, they have statues of John Wilkes Booth and a painting of him getting ready to assassinate Lincoln, with the president being portrayed with devil horns.

While this imagery is reprehensible, it adds to the game and leads into topics that games have not gone to, at least in my game experience. Other themes like alternate realities and oppression are main themes but the joy is the constant rush to the brain one can get when going through the storyline. So many things happen that circle around the beginning of the game, you will be left with the desire to come back to the narrative to experience it again; kind a like "The Sixth Sense" when it came out originally.

I am utterly fascinated with this game and Ken Levine at this point. As a writer, I wish I had half of that mans story telling talents. Bioshock: Infinite is the game that could change the way people view games. It doesn't have to be visceral all the time, which this game is, but rather make you think about the repercussions of what you do in life and what would have happened if you did the opposite. This is the game to redefine what games can be and will be along for the ride on the sky rails when other games start to.

5/5 Stars

Bryan W. Dull

Nominated for a HFA Author of the Year Award!

This is exciting for me since this is the first nomination for Solstice! Please friends and followers, all you have to do is email to shaggy1978@msn.com and put my name in the subject line.  That's it! please share with others so "Solstice" can get the recognition it deserves!

Bryan W. Dull