Manga, Game but no Camera

Posted on: Thu, 07/20/2006 - 09:43 By: dae

Of the three things defining [CP24] AccBLue, I have no proficiency nor passion in Camera. The heart of photography, the composition, is not a thing I am interesting. However, the other two, Manga and Game, are what I am fond of. Sadly, it is usually regarded as things-not-for-grown-up. Nevertheless, they are still dear to me. Two weeks ago, my lab friend were moving and thought that he has too much of "not-my-style" manga. He then brought some to our Lab, hoping that someone might find them interesting and then adopt them. Amongst other, the first volume of PLANETES was lying there. Planetes is one of my favorite manga but seems like it does not touch my friend's heart. However, Peam seems to like it and asked me to bring other volumes for him, that was a week ago. Well, I managed to dig it out of my pile of books today.

Planetes_v1

The story of Planetes is not much in detail because it has only four volumes but depth and thought are shining like a diamond in this short manga. This is quite exaggerated because I have a strong tilt on it. It is the story of the space, a story of a small man living on the space not in a far future. I do not know why but the space is always a thing that touches me. It has grandness giving the sense of adventure, the sense of uncharted land, etc.

That also reminds me of Homeworld 1 & 2, a game from relics studio that I love it so much. Homeworld is a RTS that allows you to take control of a space armada ranging from a small fighter, a hundred-time-larger frigate to an enormous battle cruiser. The media, backdrop, music help the player feel the gigantic size of the space. Peam are also falling in love of the Ur-Quan master, a free (as in a beer) remake of the Star Control 2, a game of space exploration made by an MIT student. It contains a lot of nerd-like puns and humors but at its core, the vastness of space is greatly depicted. Despite its dated graphic (it is only 2D, if you care), the game play are one of the best. I watched Peam play this game too much so that I cannot bear losing time playing this one since the climaxes of the game are mostly spoiled.

Ur-Quan master

I wish that a manga, or better, a game, that also giving this same feeling are constantly published. Unfortunately, I never heard that there is a sequel of Homeworld. Galaxy 999, a reprint is still a classic but I did not love it as much as I was when I was much younger.