The Story and Games of Magnetic Scrolls (ROUGH CUT) + Quick wrestling note, Rieko Kodama

Hey hey. I really wanted to get this up for you quickly before I gallivant off to Cambridge, and happily I've been able to fix something up...the Story and Games of Magnetic Scrolls! Now, do keep in mind that this is the ROUGH edition -- there's no backing music, lower thirds still need to be added, and perhaps a few more relevant quotes too. Still, this is something I'm very happy with so far -- I went into this one with trepidation, seeing as it's all about text adventures and I was worried that it wasn't going to be exciting...but the whole story ended up writing quite easily, and then expanding to over an hour. There's a lot in here not just about Magnetic Scrolls and Anita Sinclair, but about text adventures as a whole -- companies like Level 9 and Infocom do get involved, and the story does naturally take us to the commercial "end" of the genre at the start of the 1990's. So hopefully you enjoy it, even in this form -- it's still rough, but I didn't have anything here last week and I didn't want ANOTHER week with nothing up on Patreon. One of those big old compilation/crunch videos will be coming out later today as a back-up featuring the likes of Civ I & II, and SimCity.

Also, a quick note on the wrestling front -- and it's good news. I finally feel like I'm starting to really break the burnout, and I have an approach that I can hang a hat on. I really want to get a focus onto specific matches -- one match per video, a good strong analysis/breakdown, the story surrounding it and any relevant aftermaths. These may not necessarily be the "epic" vids of old, but I just haven't really been able to hit on anything there over the last few months -- with this approach, suddenly I have lots of thoughts on matches I want to do. I might start with something like KENTA vs SUWA in NOAH -- a very wonderful and unique little match for the company back then that's always been one of my favourites...perhaps some more of the big reaching documentaries can come back some day -- it's just not easy, really, to focus on something like that while also trying to do this Telecomsoft Universe series (I expect both Argonaut and Beyond to absolutely smash the hour mark as well, in all honesty), amongst other things such as a semi-regular Twitch and writing. Hopefully this brings me back to a nice balance.

Finally, I wanted to put something here on the sad passing of Rieko "Phoenix Rie" Kodama, one of Sega's very best...a sad time indeed -- this brilliant woman helped to create some games that are very dear to my heart, particularly directing Phantasy Star IV, which is one of those few "Intensely" special games. I have had a few people say, very passionately, that I should do a video on her, because of how much her work meant to them -- that's something I feel too and yes, I would very much like to, as her career's important to highlight. It's not something I want to rush though, so it will probably be a while before it happens, after the Telecomsoft Universe is done. Someone with a body of work like Rieko's deserves a full, extensive examination and celebration, not just some quickly thrown together condolences.

Anyway, hope you're all well -- have a good weekend, and enjoy this cut. As ever, the highlighting of any mistakes and flubs is most certainly encouraged.

Take care,

-Kim