Will Ooi » Favourites

A Memory of Game Exploits and Player Integrity (but also Friendship)

Will Ooi — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:34:11 +0000

Inspired by a particular Tumblr blog, drawing this map has brought back a flood of memories and emotions. Around about 1997, I was hooked on the original Command & Conquer, having first read about it in one of those great 90's UK game magazines (CVG I think it was) and deciding to get it on the Sega Saturn. (As an aside, I used to always hate how reviews of the Saturn version criticised the gamepad controls, especially the inability to assign teams of units to buttons - but you could! It was the PS1 version that didn't have that function!) After pouring hours into the game, and gaining perhaps far too much satisfaction in slowly building up a ridiculous and unnecessarily large GDI army to crush and torment those enemy NOD bases (I used to have my units wait patiently outside their barracks, annihilating any newly produced men as soon as they walked out), I had finally met my match. I mean, as far as difficulty levels and player feedback went, I'd gotten used to playing all night and failing missions, using that trial-and-error experience and coming back stronger the next time round. But wow...this one stage. It was almost as if there was hidden karmic balance code on the disc, keeping track of the number of enemy soldiers I'd brutally vanquished and just waiting for the right time to punish me for it and striking down with furious anger. And with the debut of the NOD Flame Tank unit, all it took was one, slow-moving, ugly-looking but devastatingly monstrous vehicle to achieve such righteousness.

[Gamasutra Feature], [Mapstalgia]

Searching for the Humanity in Human Revolution

Will Ooi — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 05:46:21 +0000

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

Jensen looked for the staircase amongst the near-deafening, conflicting distractions of bass-heavy dance music and the raised voices of tangibly multilingual but otherwise unidentifiable background chatter in the immensely crowded Hive nightclub. Were it not for his augmentations, he thought to himself, the noise of this busy Hengsha social scene may have caused some discomfort; although that had now been replaced by those sudden interruptions from colleagues coming in through the InfoLink embedded in his skull.

But that wasn't the hardest thing to get used to. It was the knowledge that everything he could see would be instantly relayed back onto a voyeuristic screen in some cold, sanitised facility hidden away in shame and secrecy. By comparison, that constant threat of intrusion by - quite literally - a voice in his head, cutting short his own thoughts when he dared even to daydream for a mere moment, was somehow less invasive.

*Incoming transmission*.

~ [Gamasutra Feature]

Nostalgia

Will Ooi — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:11:30 +0000

Inspired by Pep ~ A trigger takes me back to a precious moment I’ve kept dear The mere thought of which elicits a tearful sadness alongside a warm sense of comfort and safety ~ Revisiting a golden time and place from long ago with a fresh wonder and joy for a world so new That [...]

Life Cycle

Will Ooi — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:09:23 +0000

~ It hits me only now that this image I’ve had of my mother, all this time Has long been affectionately biased by the rosy tint of these youthful eyes ~ I am now at an age, corresponding closely to that time when she had me Faced with a similar prospect of our lives changing [...]

Mr Rent-a-Friend

Will Ooi — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:00:00 +0000

~ Business Booming For Rent-a-Friend Agencies ~ I am a best man, an old friend, even a husband For those who need that special someone I never judge their motives nor their reasons I am happy to put on that predefined face ~ For friendship isn’t just a case of reciprocity Neither is it a process [...]

Thread

Will Ooi — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:00:00 +0000

What if it was just that one little thread Which meant the difference between him going to her instead of me What if it actually never happened Existing only as another ‘what might have been’ ~ What if I were to weave this thread in my tale Diverting it into a vacant and adjacent stitch [...]

DVD Cover Review: Punches They Didn’t See Coming

Will Ooi — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:00:00 +0000

They say you should never judge a book by its cover; but what about those particularly obscure macho sporting DVDs usually found in the ‘Specialist’ section of a DVD store right next to the awkward softcore pornography section (rather ingenius target demographic product placement if I do say so myself) or deep down within the [...]

The Bank Robber

Will Ooi — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:00:00 +0000

It isn’t about the loot Or the fear on people’s faces It’s all about me returning To my most natural and comfortable state The rewards may be plenty Allowing me to live that ‘normal’ life And yet, on the contrary The appeal is in the danger of losing it all It’s the adrenalin [...]

Candle

Will Ooi — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:00:00 +0000

A candle doesn’t need to be lit In order to be a candle A candle doesn’t need to be of its original appearance either So long as it can still be lit Melted down into trails of dripping wax Solid now and preserving a state of what once was Warm or cold [...]

Lobotomy

Will Ooi — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Memories of me are escaping, shattered into shards of mirrored glass and exploding out in a red mist of reflections and sharp edges and pulpy matter. I am helpless to catch them all as my eyes search in a flurried desperation to recall my key moments in existence before they are all gone for good. [...]