MOVIE REVIEW – INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE

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Indie Game: The Movie is a Documentary Film initially released in 2012. It takes a look at the Indie Game industry and follows the creators of three successful indie games at various stages of the game development process.

The main indie games followed throughout the film are Super Meat Boy developed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes, Braid created by Jonathan Blow, and finally, Fez created by Phil Fish.

Around 2008 a surge in the number of indie games released into the market started, mainly due to the rise of digital distribution channels, which removed the barrier of entry related to physical distribution indie developers struggled to overcome in the past. This growth in the indie games released has resulted in a healthy and robust indie game industry today, filled with many passionate and driven people chasing their dreams.

The film features numerous interviews with these individuals throughout the development process and gives incredible insight into the enormous passion, sacrifices made, and challenges faced by Indie Game Developers. Throughout the numerous conversations with these indie game developers, one thing becomes abundantly clear, and that is that the games they work on are far more than simple games, but rather a way of deep and meaningful self-expression, sharing a part of themselves and exposing personal vulnerabilities.

Indie Game: The Movie is a must-see film for anyone interested in the video game industry or game development in general, and it is one of the best films on the topic.

MOVIE REVIEW – INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE

BOOK REVIEW – BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

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Batman: The Long Halloween is a 13 issue comic book series that was initially released between 1996 and 1997. It was written by Jeph Loeb with artwork done by Tim Sake.

The story in The Long Halloween takes place at a time when Batman was still relatively new and inexperienced in his crime-fighting career. In the Story, Batman, with the assistance of Commissioner Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent hunt for a killer who kills on notable holidays, such as Halloween, Christmas, New Years, Mother’s day and so on.

Various members of Batman’s Rogues gallery make an appearance including the Joker, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, and Catwoman, to name a few, and the story also covers the transformation of Harvey Dent into Two-face.

Batman: The Long Halloween is widely considered one of the definitive Batman stories, but saying that it is not one of my favorites as there are numerous plot holes and logic leaps that I find detracts from the overall story.

It is still a very enjoyable read, however, if someone is interested in getting started in the Batman comic series, I would instead suggest Batman: Hush or Batman: Year One as a better starting point.

BOOK REVIEW – BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN