muse-shake

xxpblog: You may have noticed that we’re taking a bit of a...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:44:37 +0800

You may have noticed that we’re taking a bit of a break here at XXP

This is because we have something big coming. So please, stay frosty

That being said I’ve started doing Nintendo News Weekly Wrap Ups for vooks so I give to you the first in the series.

This is a pilot so hopefully we’ll improve on things a lot as we go. :)

~ muse shake

xxpblog: Injustice Gods Among Us Collectors Edition Unboxing +...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:57:46 +0800

xxpblog:

Injustice Gods Among Us Collectors Edition Unboxing + Close ups!!

also more photo close ups of the edition at this post

Just a really quick unboxing of the AU statue edition for injustice. I didn’t want to waste your time, but I think from what I’ve seen this is one of the better videos giving detail on the statue out.

~ muse shake

did not expect this video to get the attention it has. Who knew people liked unboxings..

xxpblog: Bioshock infinite Teeyeah last night I was a bit hyper...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:30:39 +0800

xxpblog:

Bioshock infinite Tee

yeah last night I was a bit hyper so I worked on this. Took me way longer than expected but I’m fairly happy with it. I liked the take on ‘just do it’ nike slogan that had been floating around, and felt that iconic image of elizabeth falling sort of resembled the tick, so figured I’d .. give my own take on the design

you can purchase it here on my redbubble along with a bunch of other dumb geeky shirts and designs I make/will make etc

if you ever have a shirt you want designed, feel free to hit me up and I’ll try to work on it if/when I have the time

~ muse shake

Wow this is my first ever shirt to make a sale as anything ever!! … yay?

xxpblog: Edit: Reblog, re-tweet or share our link Facebook to...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:19:36 +0800

xxpblog:

Edit: Reblog, re-tweet or share our link Facebook to win a copy of Tomb Raider on 360! Competition closes one week from today 16/04/13

So here Muse and Ari chat about Tomb Raider! Plus a competition for how you can win your own tomb raider!

We also got given two questions via @ShadowOfADream, we didn’t have enough time to film them, so here they are:

Question 1.
Before buying the game myself I read a few reviews and one of them was quite negative/angry that the game was so gruesome and bloody (I suspect she was mad her 14 yr old couldn’t or rather shouldn’t play the game)….
Just wondering if you think it was over-done/excessive or it fit the story well or somewhere in between?

Ari - I think the gore was fine, really it wasn’t that much? But I am pretty accustomed to gore. What I would have a problem with little children seeing, is Lara die over and over in really personal ways. Not to spoil it, but at one point you’re up close with LC as she has the life choked out of her. Squishy rock murder, fine, being choked while a man calls you a whore in another language? Now we’re in creepy fetish territory.
That said, depending on the age of my kid I’d still let them play it (if they were 14, hell yeah) after I talked to them about it.

muse - The only time I was taken back by the gore was when I didn’t quick time event fast enough and a spear went through Lara’s neck. That was pretty gore-tastic but I didn’t think it was a gory game myself. I think we’re not used to seeing these things happen to women and it amplifies it a little bit. So I guess to answer the question I didn’t find it over done at all - but I like gore..

Question 2.
The original games were quite … interesting in that the objectification of Lara was very obvious, intentional… just wondering what your thoughts are (from a female perspective) about the new game…

Ari - We touch on this in the video, but she’s an immensely strong female character and I feel for the most part she’s not considered an object. I can’t speak from a males perspective, but even though it was 3rd person I considered myself to be her and not to be protecting her. Which some of the commentary indicated. (But, as a woman, society doesn’t train me to white-knight).
I think she’s actually well portrayed as a young woman, coming of age, being head strong but NOT in a bitchy way (as Muse mentions) which female characters often are portrayed!
What I like most of all is that they give a way for her character to develop, and also really explain her character. Like why she always seems to work alone, and her silly double pistol thing. It also gives her room for character development. Basically she’s well written, hooray!

muse - Like Ari says we cover this fairly well in the video - albeit somewhat accidentally. I like seeing her body look athletic and young, but it’s still totally sexualised just not in an over the top manner. You can’t tell me she’s not sexy, especially after watching her move through rocks. She’s the new version of sexy though - our ideas of body type are always changing and it’s not uncommon to see a busty woman replaced with someone who appears more sporty or fit now days. She seems realistic, if a little idealised - I guess it’s a good start.

Remember you can always Ask Us A Question too!

WIN ALL THE THINGS..

or just that one thing..

xxpblog: A while ago .. a long while ago I posted a blog about...

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:22:00 +0800

xxpblog:

A while ago .. a long while ago I posted a blog about Gaming Tattoos and in part how negatively they are perseived by society. I recieved a massive amount of positive feedback from peeps about how tattoos should be a personal thing, and screw anyone who says that games are not worthy of being tattood. Basically the sentiment that no one can tell you what is worth getting perminantly marked on your body - it’s yours, and personal to you.

In that blog I spoke of gaming tattoos I have planned, largely of getting an eevee tatt but am still unsure on exact design and positioning. It is definitely something that will happen, but in the mean time I finally got my first ink, and it relates to another favourite game of mine.

Vampire The Masquerade : Bloodlines is a game you’ve all heard me gush about on perhaps far too many occassions. I even made Rib play it, and she liked it so much she reviewed it here. It’s a cult classic, the general consensus is it’s an amazing game - and it’s always rang fairly strongly in my heart.

For those who haven’t played it or just don’t know, Bloodlines is based in White Wolf’s World of Darkness - which is a table top game akin to the likes of Dungeons and Dragons. This means that there’s a whole lot of lore around this game, and as it’s just a computer game it really can only go so deep in to it all. To give you a basic run down though there are various clans of vampire, each carrying their own curse. They only manage to include a few in the video game and the two who I could really relate to were the Toreador and the Malkavian.

The Toreador are a bit self indulgent if I’m honest. They’re usually beautiful, but that’s not really the point. Their curse is in their obsession with beauty, they’re the artists, the ones that can’t harm a sensitive soul, the ones who’ll get themselves killed not being able to look away from the beauty of a sunrise.

Now the Malkavian are my preferred way to play the game. They’re insane, absolutely bat shit crazy, and it makes for some of the most in game moments I’ve ever had. All of your dialogue is different than how any other character you might chose speaks, and your power is to make your enemies experience your insanity. You also gain some perception through this insanity, like looking through a broken mirror out in to the world. Hence the clan’s logo is a broken looking glass.

I’d been toying with the idea of doing a mashup of these clans symbols for a while. A broken mirror reflecting a rose, broken glass in the shape of a rose etc. It wasn’t until I came upon the idea of the rose sort of shattering the mirror that I made a design I was happy with, and now I have a tattoo.

All of these pics and a couple more can be found on my instagram

So this is the first in what will probably be a fair few of gaming tattoos that will become a part of my body - what games tattoos do you guys have or are planning to get?

~ muse shake

Hey Tumblrians.. you should subscribe to our youtube.

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:56:30 +0800

Hey Tumblrians.. you should subscribe to our youtube.:

xxpblog:

we are 5 subscribers away from 100, and plan to do some subscriber giveaways soon to celebrate us HOPEFULLY reaching 100. Being a subscriber is beneficial to your health.. do it

#pokemon plush collection so far. Need MOAR #eevee!! #gaming...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:44:25 +0800

#pokemon plush collection so far. Need MOAR #eevee!! #gaming #videogames #nintendo #gamer #collection

Newest #eevee plush :) #pokemon #gaming #videogames #nintendo

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:39:47 +0800

Newest #eevee plush :) #pokemon #gaming #videogames #nintendo

xxpblog: So being sick gives me time for other...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:09:43 +0800

xxpblog:

So being sick gives me time for other lame endeavors.

I really want to make a lame series of valentines things.. because I’m lame. I’m going to post the files here so if you just want the image feel totes free to print it and use it or whatever because yay making people happy with art.

I have however also put this up on my redbubble as a card and a shirt http://www.redbubble.com/people/museshake/works/9954818-raichus-you?p=greeting-card

So if you.. I dunno.. Want to give me some money for them that’d be sweet to. Money will mostly likely go towards making XXP better so you should do it ;D

my full redbubble is here http://www.redbubble.com/people/museshake but it’s still pretty new, and the XXP shirts are set at no profit to me hence the cheaperness.

If you have any cool ideas for gaming and geekery shirts I could make I’d love to hear them.. I need to make some that aren’t pokemon eventually xD

Hopefully more dumb valentines things to come before the day so stay tuned :3

~ muse shake

Another update

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:22:20 +0800

No rules have been broken but not much has happened either. I’ve not had a day where I haven’t seen someone IRL because a friend and I have a firm Bubble Tea addiction and live five minutes walk from one another, and Utopia is 5 minutes drive away. This is probably not good for my health.. I don’t think being healthier includes drinking a litre of sugar a day..

I have for the past 3 days done approx 30 mins of exercise a day, it’s made far easier by my at home Gym, but far harder by not doing it when parents are home. I don’t need their snide comments to demotivate me.

the at home gym http://instagram.com/p/Uz0qqCI4DM/?fb_action_ids=10151462762308060&fb_action_types=instapp%3Atake&fb_ref=ogexp&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=282366635119873

speaking of you should follow me on instagram muse_shake I tend to post there a reasonable amount.

I’m hoping to do more gymming as I get more familiar with it, and hopefully I’ll get to a point where that bubble tea won’t matter so much.

I had an interview with people who run the charity Bright Blue for helping sick kids. It’s started by the police commissioner of WA because some cops kids had brain cancer and he wanted to raise money to help out. It’s become a lot bigger and they need a volunteer to help out. Mum asked me if I could and I’ve got the time and some knowledge so I figured why not - doesn’t help to give some time for a good cause and build some connections.

Because of that I’m going to be spending some time a week there helping out so definitely doing things. Also think some of the things they’ll have me doing will coincide with uni which I will be starting recently.

Uber excited about uni.. lets see how long that lasts.

that’s PRETTY MUCH all to report.. feeling very motivated this week.

~ muse shake

XXP: Melbourne used GAME AND MERCH STORE it's a CRITICAL HIT

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:09:52 +0800

XXP: Melbourne used GAME AND MERCH STORE it's a CRITICAL HIT :

xxpblog:

Ever been sad that you can’t get an imported game or collectable withinAustralia? You’re not alone as again and again our fair country seems to continually get shafted for games. Even importing can be ridiculously expensive and when it comes to physical editions you can’t be 100% about what…

xxpblog: muse shake’s TOP 5 video game weapons of all times I...

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:05:33 +0800

xxpblog:

muse shake’s TOP 5 video game weapons of all times

I put this up last night so there’s a good chance most people missed it :)

~ muse shake

xxpblog: Put down your Crappy Farmville and Zynga bs, and play...

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:18:01 +0800

xxpblog:

Put down your Crappy Farmville and Zynga bs, and play games that HELP someone.

This is something I need to look more in to and actually play a bit more of but if you’re in to this kind of game you can play it and help charities in need rather than feed that filthy game stealing bulldog your hard earned money. You don’t even need to pay as ad revenue also goes towards these charities.

Games supporting charities in these kinds of ways is a bit of a new concept, and is basically unheard of here in Australia. Hopefully by sharing this around a bit more we can raise awareness of the opportunities games can offer - and if you haven’t noticed I’m always happy to take clientele away from Zynga.

Give it a look and let us know if you think it’s worth a play, or if the idea is a feasible one?

~ muse shake

im guessing your referring to the cyberpunk 2077 controversy which in my opinion i dont see anything sexist about just because the person getting shot at is a woman and she's wearing little clothing doesn't make it sexist. if you read the description it says that she's known as a psycho ae a person who overuses implants and substances. and as you can see in the trailer she is barely human anymore and she' surrounded by dead bodies. i think people a just over reacting.

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:00:57 +0800

It’s definitely a topic up for debate but I’m actually not even thinking of that yet. I haven’t even got around to watching the Cyberpunk trailer, this was mostly sparked from the Dead Island Rip Tide collectors edition, with the bust.

This is for the persistent troll that you seem to have. Why do you belittle someone whom is genuinely trying to seek answers to a complex series of complex questions? Why make yourself the fool instead of the educator?

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:31:48 +0800

cheers for this :) Good to know what I’m saying is getting across

What's your beef with anonymity? Why enable anonymous asks if you're just going to derp on about it? I don't have a tumblr, that's why I am anonymous. Get over yourself, my god. All the ego and none of the brain to back it up.

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:23:40 +0800

I have no problem with anon posts specifically for people who don’t have tumblrs. You could chose to sign your posts though, if you wished to be known.

Been nice chatting with you, I don’t often get asks
In fact..
I think all the attention is inflating my ego even more.

How elating!

Btw, explanation is that women and men are stereotyped differently. A half-naked woman is sexism, because society regularly treats women like sex objects and belittles them for it, but that would be empowering for a man. A half-naked man is a half-naked man. Men are stereotyped in very different ways and oppressed in different ways - and none of those ways enclude being sexually active or sexually expressive, like women.

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:21:11 +0800

I get all those parts, but I want to go deeper in to it. I’m looking for things that also include all the words that are new to me like ‘male gaze’ and involving ‘privilege’. I want things that site examples, changes over history and uses correct terminology so I can do the same in turn.

appreciate the help though.

That's just the most pathetic thing, honestly. Don't recycle other people's feelings, don't ask other people to tell you what to feel - that's just sad. That's not what feminism is. If you feel it, sit down and figure out how to express it. Don't expect others to write you a script.

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:11:14 +0800

Being anon comes close..

You clearly don’t understand what I’ve said. Feminism is a long and difficult topic that takes a lot of learning and understanding to get right. I’d be doing the movement a disservice to discuss it with people in an ‘educating’ way without reading up first.

Words hold a magnitude of power, wielding them without sufficient instruction in important matters is just stupid.

I’m asking for source material to broaden my knowledge. I wasn’t aware that was such a bad thing.

What? Too much of a dumb bitch to form a coherent counter-argument by yourself?

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:32:39 +0800

wow, that’s super rude of you, hi. Cool that you decided to stay anon for it.

I am not as educated in feminism as I’d like to be and am always looking for things to read on it. I find the more I read about it, and other topics the better informed I am to consider perspectives I might have otherwise not thought of, and to put things to people that better explain.

It’s not really about a counter-argument, for me it’s about a discussion and I’d rather be well informed to discuss these things to people. Put forward ideas they might not have had and work towards a greater understanding together. I’d rather have as much information as possible to make the discussion a productive one.

Hey Tumblr!! You’re good at this! Can you please point me in the direction of a good...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:58:58 +0800

Hey Tumblr!! You’re good at this! Can you please point me in the direction of a good explanation/rebuttle to the ‘but if that was a man’s body we wouldn’t be saying it’ or ‘if that was happening to a man’ etc. I find myself having the feels but not the words, so I’d like to read to steal those of someone more educated and eloquent than I.

cheers