Thanks to Paul Michael Egan over at his blog for nominating us for the Liebster Award (a little while back – sorry Paul!) and Fallyn at Late Night Comic for the Sunshine Blogger Award. Reading either is a lot like peeking into a friend’s living room window as they play games, watch movies, do what they do. But more entertaining, and less creepy. Probably. Definitely stop by both if you’re into interesting blogs (which, since you’re here, we will assume you are).

We always want to support initiatives to get to know fellow bloggers and point readers in the direction of other fun and/or insightful blogs. As it happens, we’ve done this before (twice actually) so we’ll stick to Paul’s questions here, but please do follow those links to check out random questions, facts about us, and (most importantly) some other blogs that we think you should check out. Enjoy!

1. Which type of starting Pokemon do you choose?

Dyl: Generally go for the water guys, not because of type necessarily but I usually think they are the cutest.

Des: Fire, since I identify with fire as an element generally. Amusingly, I veered away from Fire in the era of pokemon when they did three fire/fighting starters in a row, despite also quite liking Fighting as a type. Guess I just got bored.

2. Who is the better Captain, Picard, Kirk or Janeway?

Dyl: Picard. Missed the generation of Kirk, and we watched Voyager but mom had an emanating dislike for Janeway (the rest of the cast is awesome). No Sisko? It’s hard to captain a space station too you know.

Des: Not much of a Star Trek person honestly, but yeah, Sisko.o

3. What is the best Zelda game?

Dyl: This is a hard one. I have played them all except Spirit Tracks. I feel like Seasons and Time as a package were a very awesome experience that encouraged fellowship and had a wonderfully immersive game experience.

Des: A Link Between Two Worlds for being progressive, the original for being groundbreaking. Honourable mention to Majora’s Mask for experimenting with a structure and some associated mechanics that even today I’d like to revisit from the design side, even if it didn’t appeal to the core audience as much.

4. What are the worst games you’ve played?

Dyl: I’m a pretty positive guy and just like most media and play/watch/read. That being said, I really didn’t take to the game Evergrace and stopped playing after like 30 minutes.

Des: I write a blog based on the premise of finding something good to learn from in every game I deconstruct, good or bad. Not that I don’t think of some games as better than others, I’m just not that into a generic quality rating, since it depends so much on the player, the conditions in which it is being played, etc. etc. So, er, next question?

5. What are the worst films you’ve ever seen?

Dyl: Same as above, and I am pretty good at avoiding movies I won’t like. Live action talking animals is often a recipe for disaster… but then again, “I think not baby puppy”.

Des: This almost turned into a paragraph answer, but just see my answer to the previous question and sprinkle with Dyl’s answer just above.

6. Do you prefer fast or slow zombies?

Dyl: Slow… obviously. Immobile would be a best case scenario. Best best case scenario, immobile and rapidly decaying.

Des: I prefer no zombies. I’m sort of sick of the ‘zombies as a reflection of X’ or ‘zombies in media showing us whatever about ourselves’.

7. Do you prefer films shot on film, digital or can you not really tell/care?

Dyl: Doesn’t really bother me either way.

Des: I appreciate finesse in crafting anything, but I’m not an expert so I can’t really tell.

8. Why didn’t you buy a Gamecube when it was released?

Dyl: Nintendo Fanboy + Best controller in all of gaming history = Did. Still chills in my closet here, and I bust it out for Melee every once in a while.

Des: Yeah, see Dyl’s answer. I bought a second for my own personal use when I stayed in London and he went back to the States with our first.

9. What is the scariest game you’ve ever played?

Dyl: Not really one to play scary games. RE4 isn’t really scary but it’s the only thing I can remotely think of.

Des: Hrmmm… I’ve stayed away from GTA5 and shy away from most military shooters on the grounds that their prevalence and popularity scares me?

10. Should video games focus on realism or fun?

Dyl: I don’t see these as mutually exclusive at all. It depends entirely on the game and the goal of the designers. Thinking about it from the MDA lens, I think realism can (somewhat oxymoronically) help a lot with the fantasy aesthetic some times. If you are trying to create a game that puts the player in a realistic role that they can’t otherwise be in easily (a coach for a sports team for example)

Des: Mu. (Check out 1:12 of this, and while you’re at it, you can watch the rest of it too)

11. Who is the best Doctor?

Dyl: Haven’t watched it ( :O LE GASP). I don’t watch much TV in general, so… yeah.

Des: Meh. David Tennant makes a really great bad guy, so, Matt Smith I guess (only really have watched some of the more recent Doctor Who, and even then don’t follow it regularly)?

-Des & Dyl