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Show WeekendDtoenions Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 Page 7 Top five gaming myths revealed another and they each offer a different experience. For example, I'd recommend a Nintendo Wii to anyone wanting an approachable beginner experience. The Wii is also a great party console. Pros: affordable, by and easy to play. Cons: not Tim Russell many Wii games appeal to hardcore gamers. The PlayStation 3 is for users who like high-defif 1. Video games are just for nerds. #4. Games cost too much nition, online play, and Playstation Portable funcLet's be clear, I am a money. tionality. Pros: blu-ray supnerd. I'm not ashamed to When it comes to games, say so. Also for clarification, you pay for what you get. port, and iric online play. no, we don't act like the Let's say you've been tasked Cons: expensive hardware. nerds from "Revenge of the with purchasing one, perThe Xbox 360 is very simiNerds." We're approach- haps as a present. Do not lar to the PlayStation 3. The able, I swear. buy games sitting in a dis- biggest difference would be the large amount of Xbox But onto my point, there count bin. seems to be a common misThe average cost of games 360 games available. Pros: understanding about which today is roughly $50, which great online play, and afforddemographic video games is because they're extremely able. Cons: hardware is are really for. They're for technical and expensive to prone to malfunctions. everyone. In the past year make. In fact, it's not uncomgaming has grown tremen- mon for a popular title to be There's a lot to be said dously, especially among in development for two or about gaming, much more female gamers. Because, more years. So, if you ever than just five topics. So, I'll much like Justin Timberlake, see a game selling brand- be here every other week Nintendo is bringing sexy new for significantly less spreading the video game back to people of all ages. than $50, think twice. There love. This means reviews, How? By releasing afford- are better ways to spend local events, and more - it's able and easy to play games. money. a good time to become a Nintendo is convinced even nerd. your grandparents can be 15. One game console is gamers, male or female. Tim Russell is a sophomore better than another. majoring in print journalism. Purchasing a gaming con#2. Controllers are just too sole should solely depend on You can reach him at tim. hard to use. russe!l@aggiemail.usu.edu. what the user plans to use it Video games are really for. No console is superior to not as hard to play as some people think. For those who don't play, it's easy to take one look at a gaming controller and feel discouraged. But I promise - it's not that bad. In one way or another we all use computers in our lives and most also use keyboards. So ask yourself, "which has more buttons/ keys, a keyboard, or a gaming controller?" If you can use a keyboard, you can use a controller. Ail it takes is practice. Too often people are confused by video games. Admittedly, nerds can be awfully complicated sometimes. So, consider this a primer, because I'm here to ease the pain of USU students and promote gaming literacy. Below are the top five myths non-gamers should understand. j&cketr $10 fir ftp* Old Navy $1 $53.00 compiled by Debra Hawkins Indie films under seige from many directions ByDUANEDUDEK Milwaukee Journal Sentinel : We all know what an independent film looks like. They are modestly made and intensely personal. Hundreds are released each year, and countless more are made. But if no one sees them, do they really exist? This is less a rhetorical cliche than a way of introducing the sad fact that we haven't seen many of them lately. These are dark days for those who want to experience films' ability to challenge, provoke, stimulate, depress or enlighten, with a like-minded audience in a communal atmosphere. There is a retrenchment in the distribution and exhibition of such films nationwide. And the locally tangible evidence of that retrenchment includes a canceled fall film festival and the marquee at Milwaukee's premiere art house, the Oriental Landmark, advertising blockbusters. The indie film movement is bleeding from a thousand cuts, and one of them is from "The Dark Knight," with the budget and box office of a blockbuster but the complex and ambiguous qualities of art-house fare. Mainstream films such as "Dark Knight," "Iron Man" and "Pineapple Express" were embedded with an indie sensibility by filmmakers from that world. But if blockbusters can provide our minimum daily requirement of brain food, what do audiences need indie films for? •.-:;,£<• '.:;• .,<; .. Below we examine what is wrong with the indie film business and what can be done tofixit. from a prism of perspectives. The Art-House Exhibitor TedMundorrXCEOof Landmark Theaters Landmark has five screens in Milwaukee, and playing 'Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mial" wasn't their first time at the blockbuster rodeo. In the past. Landmark theaters played "Spider-Man" and the "Star War" reissues. But this year, the indie films they might have normally played "just weren't compelling enough," Mundorff said. "We're a 365-day business. So... when there's lack of product, we will reach out and select movies that we can play." But just because they are also blockbusters, he said, "does not indicate we're going away from indiefilm;it indicates that indie film isn't there." Indie films are a dime a dozen, but successful ones are few and far between. Since distributors do not spend money here to market a film that has failed elsewhere, they wither and die before they reach us. Theaters "do not participate" in this decision but cannot afford to resist it, Mundorff said. "We are a tool of the distributor," said Mundorff. "When a film opens up in New York and Los Angeles and doesn't perform, smaller markets suffer. The history of a movie will tell us what it's going to do in different markets/1 Audiences, he said, "will not come in Milwaukee if they do not come in Denver. We know this. Its historical." The Studio Chief Tom Bernard, copresident of Sony Pictures Classics Smart summer films like "The Dark Knight" are the bane of indie films. "The stupider the better," said Bernard. "When they're stupid, we do great." Sony Pictures Classics, a specialty division of Sony, makes about 40 percent of its own films, like "Rachel Getting Married," the new Jonathan Demmefilmpremiering in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, and buys the rest, like the animated Israeli film "Waltz With Bashir." Analyzing the current indie film malaise, Bernard lamented the failure of exhibitors like Landmark to program and promote films for individual cities, and he called the DVD rental service Netflix "the most influential film critic in the country right now" because it recommends things to see based on previous rentals. Still, Bernard believes the indie downturn is temporary and cyclical. Until recently, specialty divisions associated with major studios kept indie products out of the hands of smaller companies. But now that a lot of these divisions have been shuttered or are in distress, he said, "you'll see this new crop of smaller companies cropping up" to bring a new generation of independent film to the marketplace. "And they'll go on for a while. And then something new will happen. And then." said Bernard, "there will be a new metamorphosis." The Film Festival Director Piers Handling, director of the Toronto International Film Festival Toronto has one of the three top film festivals in the world, along with Cannes and Sundance. And this year, Handling said, it has a "strong cross-section of international work," especially from countries with a "cultural policy" of subsidizing national cinemas. By comparison, the free market system in the United States favors blockbusters that "pay the bills" and whose "marketing budgets are enormous." In such an environment, Handling said, "it s increasingly difficult for indie filmmakers to get their work out there and have it sustained. Word of mouth.. . doesn't exist anymore. The days when you could keep a film four orfiveweeks and have it build are over and #3. Gaming is like a foreign language. Okay, so it is not really a myth, but worth mentioning. It's normal to feel frustrated and intimidated by video game lingo. Even game titles can be hard to pronounce and understand. The problem is a mixture of technology language and Japanese, mostly Japanese. Popular gaming originated from Japan. And here in America, the majority of games played are produced by Japanese developers. So even though most US games are in English, the occasional foreign words do pop up. Furthermore, the video game industry has it's own style guide. No really, even professionals don't know what the heck is going on. Gaming 101 We've Expanded and can now accommodate large parties For your special wedding event Receptions • Weddings • Bridal Suites • Showers • Luncheons 168 North 100 East in Logan Call to visit us 435.752.7727 www.theritermansion.com Study Abroad ALSO Postal Service PASSPORT FAIR Apply for US passport Bring: Proof of Citizenship, Photo ID, Payment $100. http://travel.state.gov/passport. Pictures taken onsite for $ 15 STUDY ABROAD & RASSRQRTFAIR Tuesd9ggg§eptember 16, 2008 ;00pm TSC In te mat ion/Sun burst Lounge, USU Study Abroad [ ] See INDIE FILMS, page 8 • www.usu.edu/studyabroad- £-. 797-0601 /1253 |