My Problem with the Ending to Krampus

Krampus, a film directed in 2015 by Michael Dougherty is a horror comedy where a demon attacks a family a few days before Christmas. It's in that special category of films that aren't terribly disturbing for adults but can make quite a horrifying impression on children aged 8-12. It's easy to compare this to films such as Gremlins, The Gate, Watership Down or Santa with Muscles. While on the whole I enjoy this film, I'm always a bit hesitant to recommend it as eagerly as some of those others I just listed. Krampus leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth and it's entirely because of how the last 30 seconds of the film contextualise the previous 90 minutes of screen time.

Nintendo Labo Just Happened

Nintendo, a company with a history of searching for inspiration through hiring people outside of dedicated computer gaming culture just announced a line of software that makes use of cardboard kit peripherals. Here's the video used.

Games from 2017 I played in 100 words or less each.

I've never bothered writing a TOP TEN GAMES OF THE YEAR list and I don't feel like doing one now. I do, however, have a brevity issue. Thus, I've tried to put my key thoughts on games I played this year up here in under 100 words a pop. The order is roughly what I played them in. Here you go!

Review: Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel Part 1: Presage Flower

This review contains spoilers for both Fate/Stay Night and Thor Ragnarok.

Cool moments in... Visual Novel Design?! Let's Perspective!

The modern visual novel is a curious beast. At times it's the computerised version of a Choose Your Own Adventure game book. At others it's a tool to provide dialogue in an entirely different game genre that can't fit such things in more smoothly. SRPGs for example basically alternate between pure gameplay and visual novel intermissions.

Silly Intelligent Systems. You do the family console release after the PC version with awkwardly placed sex scenes!

Questionable Moments in Game Design: Cuphead and Accessibility

I've intentionally chosen a rather loaded title for this piece in the event that I get more than 10 clicks so I can see who's actually paid attention to what I'm talking about. Sadly, the toxicity in certain communities regarding this game makes viewing it critically a minefield at the moment.

I Don't Care About 僕の vs My for Hero Academia

The official title of My Hero Academia is... exactly the words I just said. Given how heavy the influence of American superhero comics is on the work, it's not that surprising to have a Japanese text with an official title in English. Since it's published in a magazine primarily targeting kids, there's a Japanese translation of the title in the logo, as we can see below.

tl note: Boku no Hero Academia means My (casual male singular pronoun) Hero Academia