Stay Out Of My Game

I was very disheartened to find out recently that Mortal Kombat 9 will be featuring Kratos from the God of War series. Now, I have to say that of all the characters in existence, Kratos has got to be the best possible choices for a Mortal Kombat crossover. He’s brutal, he’s violent, he has his own plethora of ‘fatalities’. Ripping off the head of Helios, impaling the hydra onto a ship’s mast, forcing a guillotine blade through Clotho of the Three Fates, the list goes on and on. However, to put it plainly, he just doesn’t belong in a Mortal Kombat game.

Firstly, didn’t Midway learn from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe that Mortal Kombat shouldn’t venture outside its own franchise? That had to be the worst crossover series I’ve ever seen. Liu Kang vs. Superman? Shang Tsung vs. Batman? Lex Luther? Wonder Woman? The Flash? Why are these spandex clad superpeople sparring with Scorpion and Sub-Zero? I mean really, was that a joke? Because not even the Joker thought that was funny. In fact, the Joker was probably the only character that could have worked in that game, but the sheer idea of those two worlds crossing over was nothing short of ridiculous.

Now, as I said, Kratos, if anyone, would mix well in the Mortal Kombat universe considering his already violent nature. But you can’t come out with seven, count them, SEVEN titles in a series that stands on its own, and then just start doing crossovers because you’ve run out of ideas. MK1-4, DA, D, & A were all defined by their own lineup of ninjas, warriors, and otherwise bloodthirsty characters. So there’s really no place for any other series to be intruding upon them. Soul Calibur, for example, has always worked because aside from the original Soul Edge, every title has had a guest character. Yoshimitsu (Tekken) permanently made his mark in SC1. Link (Legend of Zelda), Heihachi Mishima (Tekken), and Spawn (Spawn) were in the Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox versions of SC2, respectively. There were no guest characters in SC3, with the exception of Yoshimitsu. And then Yoda, Darth Vader and the Apprentice from various Star Wars titles joined the fray in SC4, in addition to five original characters contributed by various guest artists. Finally Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny featured Kratos from the God of War series. Yes, Kratos has already been featured as a bonus fighting character, so what makes his appearance in MK9 so special?

Point being that Soul Calibur initially defined itself as a game with its own original roster of characters, with each game presenting a couple of game-specific characters joining the fray. Mortal Kombat did not. Mortal Kombat started running out of good character ideas after Mortal Kombat 3, and now feels the need to compensate by borrowing already-established characters like Kratos. And this is especially a shame, because although their past few titles have been pretty dismal, the new Mortal Kombat coming out was actually looking really good. I mean so far, only characters from the original three titles have been announced, plus tag team gameplay, returning classic stages, three [great] fatalities per character, I mean what were they worried about?

Collaborative fighting games need to be careful when making a crossover. The two (or more) clashing franchises need to clash together well. Recently, Tekken vs. Street Fighter was announced. I don’t know much about either, but physically they seem to work well because of similar visual styles, and they’re also arguably two of the most popular series out there. Marvel vs. Capcom is a series that you’d think would be as unsuccessful as MK vs. DC. However, I believe this worked because it was established as neither a Marvel game nor a Capcom game, but it’s own series entirely, unlike MK vs DC, which was really established as Mortal Kombat 8. Also, MVC characters match pretty well in terms of visual style. Marvel is gritty, and fewer of their characters fit the spandex and cape appeal like many of DC’s characters do. And just like Super Smash Bros, another phenomenal crossover series, there’s a huge variety in characters. Be it anywhere from X-men, to Megaman, to Resident Evil, to the Avengers, to Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom makes for a very broad range of character choices. Just as Super Smash Bros takes from Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Fire Emblem, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, etc.

Now, with Mortal Kombat 9 slated for release in Spring of 2011, I’m not too worried about it. Kratos in no way belongs in Mortal Kombat, and he really does pull away from the focus of what Mortal Kombat is. However, Mortal Kombat 9 has a lot more going for it, and one poor character choice isn’t going to ruin it. It just baffles me when a company makes a mistake like MK vs DC Universe, and instead of avoiding making that same mistake again, they openly try again just with an altered perspective. DC didn’t work because it was a terrible choice, but it shouldn’t have been a crossover to begin with. Now, that being said, I’m not saying MK can never enter another franchise fray. On the contrary, I think a Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter STANDALONE title could be great. After all, MK draws a lot of inspiration from the Street Fighter series, they’d clash well in terms of visual style, and they were rival series back in the day. But when making a crossover series, it must be its own new series. Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter =/= Mortal Kombat 10.

But can you just picture it? Chun Li versus Sonya? I’m there.

The Legend Must Die

A number of weeks ago, I held a conversation with my sister (who you can find at These Gentlemen) about a stunning new record. The sales of music from the hit TV series Glee have surpassed the Beatles in record sales. And apparently a lot of people are upset about this. Now, this is understandable considering the sheer musical dynasty that the Beatles were responsible for. In the seven years before they disbanded, they recorded 12 studio albums, 13 EPs, and 22 singles, on top of the 56 compilation albums released over the course of the past 48 years, leaving them with approximately 305 songs, making nearly 15 straight hours of music, and that’s not even counting their solo careers. And apparently the cast of Glee, which have only been around the past year and a half, have surpassed this feat.

This is not entirely true, however. Whether we were misinformed, or I simply misheard, the record in question was actually the number of songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list. The Beatles have had 71 songs take place on the Hot 100 list throughout the course of their career, 20 of which actually managed to hold the No. 1 spot. Glee, however, recently surpassed them with 75 songs making it onto the Top 100 list. None of them, however, have managed to be No. 1, with their rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” being the highest at No. 4. The record sales of the Beatles still trumps the Glee cast in terms of sales. The Glee recordings have sold an impressive 11.5 million in terms of sales, but the Beatles still dwarf them at over a billion albums sold.

Statistics aside though, what if what I had heard was true? Love or hate Glee, this is an issue I see a lot of. The Beatles were a phenomenal band, no one is disputing that. But someday, someone better will come along. The Beatles weren’t always number one, after all. Before the Beatles, there was the Beegees. Before the Beegees, there was Elvis. Before Elvis, there was Sinatra. And just as with everything else, there will be a successor, just as there was a predecessor. The Beatles won’t be the best forever, so there shouldn’t be such a stink when a new talent comes along and surpasses them in any manner of fashion. After all, this is the entertainment industry, so as long as we’re being entertained, it shouldn’t be an issue. Considering the fact that their music continues to be as popular as it is nearly fifty years later is an impressive feat in and of itself.

This is also not to mention that times and tastes are changing.  What defines pop today is radically different from pop forty years ago. In that sense, there are plenty of people today who may not even like that style of music, and because they didn't grow up with it, they may not have that same connection with the music. In reference to Glee however, Glee has surfaced during a critical time period in our lives where the internet is like a second life to us. It’s now easier than ever to purchase music online instead of purchasing a physical copy. Plus, Glee is the first television musical to date. It’s sole purpose every week is to take an average of five or more popular songs anywhere from today’s pop culture to the British invasion of the 60s to the jazzed up musicals of the roaring 20s and who knows where else? This means that every week, they’re releasing roughly five songs that were all popular hits at one time or another. If the cover is good, which many of them are, then hundreds of thousands of people will be downloading at least one new Glee vocal each week. And at a quick and easy $1.29 per song, no one is upset about making a few purchases to add to their mp3 library. Those make for some considerable numbers in the long run, and although when Glee does eventually die, I don’t expect the sales to last quite like the Beatles before them, however there very well could be another successful group or artist that does.

But that’s not the entire issue here. This issue is faced every time a popular song gets covered by anyone. This can be said about Glee, Across the Universe, Mamma Mia, and really, any artist out there that’s ever covered another song. Just like I said in my previous “Book Was Better” post, the original isn’t always going to be the greatest. I’ve heard plenty of excellent covers in my life. They may not necessarily be “better” than the original per se, but are oftentimes a good match if nothing else. I’ve heard at least three different versions of “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, and the Beatles version is actually my least favorite to be honest. You can make your own comparison with the list I’ve made at the bottom.

The point is, Lily Allen’s “Womanizer” isn’t as good as Britney Spears’. And just about every cover Glee-star Cory Monteith tries sucks. But I’ll tell you what, if it weren’t for the fact that they’re chipmunks, I’d even like the musicality of Alvin & the Chipmunks’ “Livin’ on a Prayer” better than the original Bon Jovi’s. And I frickin’ love that song. But they’re chipmunks, so no dice. And you know what else? I think David Cook’s take on “Always Be My Baby” is so different from Mariah Carey’s, a proper comparison can’t even be made, so personally I love them both. When two songs are so radically different, it’s best to just accept them both if you like them.

To end this week’s post, I want to post a few links to some good covers. By no means am I saying I think all of these are better than the original. Some, I am. But many of them are just good covers. Each song listed has both the original and at least one cover to follow. At least, who I think is the original. There may be a few I'm wrong about.And I’m not saying everyone should agree with me. This is, afterall my own opinion. However give at least of a few of these a listen if you haven’t already and I’ll let you reserve your own judgment. Oh and one last thing. Glee haters can rejoice because I held back. I wanted to do so many more Glee songs, but there's only a couple on here. And these will be audio only, so there's no video bias, even though Chris Colfer's performance broke my heart. Though there are a few I couldn't find a vid-less version of. And yes, I am serious about the Chipmunk musicality. Just listen to it and picture a human voice.

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I Wanna Hold Your Hand – The Beatles

I Wanna Hold Your Hand – T. V. Carpio

I Wanna Hold Your Hand – Chris Colfer

Always Be My Baby – Mariah Carey

Always Be My Baby – David Cook

Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi

Livin’ on a Prayer – Alvin & the Chipmunks

Dreams – The Cranberries

Dreams – Faye Wong

Me Against the Music – Britney Spears & Madonna

Me Against the Music – Heather Morris & Naya Rivera

Hey Jude – The Beatles

Hey Jude – Joe Anderson

Defying Gravity – Idina Menzel feat. Kristen Chenowith

Defying Gravity – Lea Michele & Chris Colfer

Smooth Criminal – Michael Jackson

Smooth Criminal – Alien Antfarm

Vogue – Madonna

Vogue – Jane Lynch

Hallelujah – Rufus Wainwright

Hallelujah – Elisa

Helter Skelter – The Beatles

Helter Skelter – U2

Helter Skelter – Dana Fuchs

Empire State of Mind – Jay-z feat. Alicia Keys

Empire State of Mind – Glee Cast

Distant Worlds – Izumi Masuda

Distant Worlds – Susan Calloway

Il Dolce Suono – Gaetano Donizetti

Il Dolce Suono – Inva Mula

Il Dolce Suono – Vitas

Scarborough Fair – Simon & Garfunkel

Scarborough Fair – Stella Voci

Finally There

For a change of pace, I’m not going to talk about things industry related. Not directly at least. It’s been about two weeks since my last entry, and for that I apologize. But there’s a good reason why. My personal life just pulled a complete 180 on me, and I am now situated in Los Angeles, CA. In fact, my last blog post was being written in Baltimore/Washington airport. Since I got here, I haven’t had the time or the resources (internet) to update, so that’s why I’m a little late.

But after a hectic first couple of weeks I can officially say that I am now a part of the industry I’ve been blogging about for the past eight months. I got a job doing stereoscopic conversion for a company called Stereo D, which is why I made the move to begin with. Now, for those who don’t know, which I imagine is nearly everyone, stereoscopic conversion is directly related to the new 3D craze all CG movies seem to want to be a part of. Basically what I do is take flat, 2D footage and draw shapes around the characters and environment aspects. These shapes are animated to follow their movements, so that they can be roto’d, or cut out and separated into layers, which is what creates the 3D effect.

Now by trade, I’m not a roto artist or compositor of any kind. However, I picked up roto quite easily and am doing well so far at the company. Traditionally however, I'm an animator, and anyone who reads this blog can find my work at http://www.chasecg.com. What I ultimately would like to do however is get my Master’s in Media Design because I want to be at the creative head of my own company someday. Whether I form the company or rise to the top of my own, it doesn’t matter as long as I get there. But I’ve always been interested in characters and story most, so I would like to work in character design and story development. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve created stories and characters in my head, so I already have multiple projects in the lineup.

In the argument of movies versus games, I’d really be fine working on either. What’s great about movies is that they have a larger audience, but I would rather develop video games solely because of the vast scale of world they bring, and the sheer length of story they tell. With a movie, you get two hours, three max. But video games are often praised the longer they are, and can get up to forty hours, or fifty hours before reaching their conclusion. These are immense stories that I want to tell because I have too many ideas to trim them down to a two-hour flic.

Another aspiration of mine is to be a voice actor. Once I’m more settled in, have some money to spare, and am not working an insane amount of hours, I would really like to get an agent and start doing voice work for movies, tv, and games. My biggest goal is to be a Disney villain someday. The 2D kind (no offense to Mother Gothel). I don’t simply want to provide my voice though, I want to provide multiple voices that all sound different. Christopher Sabat is a very talented voice actor who sounds completely different in multiple roles (when he doesn’t sound like Piccolo at least), and that’s what I want to do. I’m always making up characters, and alter-ego personalities, male and female, young, old, or otherwise that all sound entirely different, so I would like to provide voice work for various, “Disney-esque” characters if you will. Characters where the voice makes the personality.

Finally, related to that last paragraph, I would like to have a say when it comes to English dubs. While English dubs have gotten better by leaps and bounds over the years, I still keep seeing common mistakes when a great Japanese dub receives a less-than-stellar English voice over. But I’ll save that extension for another post. It’s probably too big of a dream to strive for my own dubbing company on top of my own game company and a professional voice acting gig, but hey, impossible dreams are the ones that keep us working longest. Either way, I’m finally here in the industry. The first job is the hardest to get, but it does get the wheels in motion. So for anyone that’s still struggling out there, and feels like their dreams will never be attained, they certainly won’t if you just sit around all day and don’t do anything about it. I applied to over a hundred industry jobs, both in and out of the country, related and unrelated to my craft, hiring and not hiring, and I finally got one. And that’s really what starts it all.