The Day The Other Sam Was Poorly
Added at 9:30pm and filed under Offline, family, gaming
I don’t know, I’ve been sat here at my laptop trying to think of how to ease myself into this paragraph, but there’s not an easy transition, really. My parents dog – a gorgeously fluffy, dopey, friendly German Shepherd who shares moniker with my first born – is really ill. On Monday he stopped breathing – simply quit breathing in and out, just like that – and my mother had to give him mouth-to-mouth to bring him around. (Aside: I originally took this with some skepticism. I think I’d assumed that she’d simply been mistaken, that maybe Fluffy Sam (as he’s referred to in order to distinguish him from my own Baby Sam) been heavily asleep or unconscious, but my brother was there at the time and said that when they tried to move him he was utterly lifeless so I’ve since had to reassess.) Today he went in for exploratory surgery, the vet looking for a blockage or a tumour or anyfuckingthing and the surgery itself is risky to a dog of his size and age (he’s 9 – 10 in April – which is a solid age for a Shepherd). He’s come out the other side okay, albeit groggy and a little tipsy on his feet, and whilst they can confirm that he’s fit and healthy, with a strong heart and good organ function and healthy lungs, they haven’t found anything to explain what happened.
Which leaves my mother spending the remainder of her birthday nursing her poorly doggy and frightened shitless every time he closes his eyes.
And he’s such a gorgeous old thing. So sweet and happy and affectionate. Even though I’ve never lived with him, the thought of losing him hurts as much as any dog we’ve lost prior. To him, M, S and I are family, as Fluffy Sam is very much family to us. :(
Anyway.
Finished up Fairytale Fights tonight. It’s been my game of choice recently and Sam (Baby, not Fluffy) and I have been playing through on multiplayer for the last couple of weeks. I have to say it: the boy haz skillz. Although there’s not a hell of a lot of combat dexterity required for it (it’s as insane a button-masher as I’ve ever played in my life – even gives Street Fighter a run for its money), there’s plenty of places where tricky timing and jumping skills are required and he pretty much nailed them. Mummy’s so proud. Heh.
The totally weird thing about this game is that it came with a 16+/Mature rating which is just . . . bizarre. I spent twenty minutes or so with it at the Eurogamer Expo last month and couldn’t figure it out. Now I’ve since completed it, I still don’t understand. Yeah, there’s violence and you chop people up with axes and kitchen knives but it’s all bright and cartoony and no worse than any old Tom & Jerry or Ren & Stimpey episode. So whilst it’s definitely not suitable for all, you definitely don’t need to be able to vote (or drive a car for my Stateside friends) to stomach it. ESRB doesn’t give much away, so my only guess is that the occasional curse word (bastard, ass – not much worse than that I don’t think?) must’ve pushed it over?
And finally, did you know that I broke the global exclusive that Akira Yamaoka – sound director and latterly producer of Silent Hill – left Konami? Yeah. Little me. Weird, eh? It’s been a surreal couple of days.
I’ve chucked the whos, whys and whats of my whole Yamaoka story behind the cut, so if you’re not interested in my nerdy SH stuff, you can promptly escape. Go on. I won’t hold it against you . . .
It’s not often I’m privy to much – well, anything, really – but I’ve developed close links with Konami (Japan and USA – yet oddly enough not in the UK) over the years, close enough that I quite often get told SH tidbits that don’t always make it to the gaming press. I’ve always been very grateful to the SH dev teams the world over who take the time to foster and maintain a dialogue with us nerdy fans.
I was first informed that Yamaoka was leaving on 6 October, but I was sworn to secrecy and I promised not break the news until he left, which I was told would be the 24 November. So I waited for the 24 to come and go, waiting for the news to hit the SH community but . . . nothing. And then more nothing. And then more. And it was then that I realised that if SH fans were going to hear the news, it was probably going to be from me. Shit.
To be honest, I didn’t particularly want to be the one to break it. One, I couldn’t name my source in order to respect and protect their privacy – which is why I reported that it was a ‘rumour’ when I knew damned well that it wasn’t. And two – well, I knew that the news was going to go down like a lead balloon. Which it did. (Plus since news broke several SH sites have been all snarky, convinced I’m lying/deluded and essentially trying to discredit me/my site but – heh – I totally expected that). But that said . . . well, it’s massive news and it was KILLING ME keeping it to myself!
So now we have a gazillion devastated SH fans, mourning Yamaoka’s loss and essentially lamenting the death of the franchise (and, quite possibly, THE REST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD). Personally, now I’ve had time for it to sink in, I’m just looking forward to Konami’s next move. Yamaoka is undeniably awesome and, admittedly, I find it hard to envisage a game without him but we’re speculating A LOT here – we don’t even know that he’s gone from SH yet, for he could still well be contracted back in if he goes freelance. So right now I don’t think this signals the death of Silent Hill, but quite possibly just the rebirth . . . heh.
And now I’m getting dozens of emails a day asking me for more information that I don’t have and – and I WISH I was making this up – asking me to ‘put in a good word’ with Konami on behalf of people who think they’re good enough to replace him . . .
Hmm. Pretty video game heavy tonight, aren’t I? I’d apologise but you may have to make your peace with it – these days Vixx comes equipped with a console!
Comments: (11)
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On 2 December, 2009 at 9:48 pm, Audrey said:
I promise not to ask you about Silent Hill stuff. (I don’t play horror games; I am a scaredy-cat. :b ) Sad about your mother’s dog being inexplicably ill. :(
On 2 December, 2009 at 10:19 pm, Vixx said:
Thank you, Audrey. Means a lot. :)
V xx
On 2 December, 2009 at 10:20 pm, Ash said:
I’m not too worried about Akira Yamaoka leaving Konami… I think if the developers are careful they’ll choose a good composer. His work was awesome, but most of my favorite instrumentals by him were in SH 1 & 2. After those two games there weren’t many songs by him that really captured me.
Sorry to hear about the dog your mother’s dog. :( Hopefully everything turns out to be OK.
On 2 December, 2009 at 10:21 pm, Ash said:
*your mother’s dog
‘Scuse stupid typos. I’m sleepy. :P
On 2 December, 2009 at 10:25 pm, Vixx said:
Really? I loved the OST for SH4 – think it just pips 2 as my favourite album. :)
Thanks for the kind words.
V xx
On 2 December, 2009 at 11:00 pm, Sharon said:
Hope the dog’s going to be ok, so scary when things like that happen :(
On 3 December, 2009 at 1:56 am, Whitney said:
Oh no :( I hope the dog gets better. I still tear up when I think about our old dog (he had to be put to sleep due to cancer). Having a sick pet is no fun so I really hope he gets better soon!
I thought you breaking the Akira retirement was sooo awesome! All I got to say is fuck all the haters they are just jealous they don’t have such swanky connections :) I mean that’s the only reason I talk to you-errr I mean…umm what were we talking about? Oh yeah! …hey man can you introduce me to Akira since you know him so well ;) hehe j/k
You are still working on his website correct?
BTW have you seen the new Official SHSM site?
http://www.konami.com/shsm/
On 3 December, 2009 at 11:35 am, Ash said:
SH4 had some good instrumentals, that’s for sure… and so did SH3, but my all time favorite was definitely the SH2 soundtrack. :)
Thinking about it more… not only did SH4 have quite a few good instrumentals, but it was also a really good game, in my opinion. Probably my third favorite of the series (SH2 & SH1 being the top two). I don’t understand all the crap it gets. :P
On 3 December, 2009 at 3:46 pm, Vixx said:
Thanks, Whit (lol!). And nope, I hadn’t seen the site – thanks for the link.
Ash – me neither! It’s actually my second favourite game after SH2!
V xx
On 3 December, 2009 at 5:06 pm, Claire said:
How’s Fluffy Sam today?
Poor thing – I completely get your attachment to Sam even though he’s not strictly “your” dog: both my grandparents and my dad had dogs throughout my childhood and still think of them as fondly as if they had been my own. My Dad’s dog was a long-haired German Shepherd called Simba, who lived til the ripe old age of 13 until canine cancer had its way, he was such a lovely dog :(
I hope Sam is ok and makes a full recovery from his surgery and whatever struck him down in the first place. *hugs* (Ziggy sends waggy-tail, houndy love, too)
On 6 December, 2009 at 9:43 pm, Vixx said:
Thanks, Claire. *hug* I’ll update in another entry soon, but – for now – he seems fine. We spent the afternoon there yesterday and he was his usual, fluffy self.
We spoiled him rotten, of course. :)
Our last Shepherd, Max, had cancer at seven. He had a tumour removed from his mouth, which meant he had no whiskers on the left side of his face. He lived until 13, though – incredible.
Tell Ziggy Fluffy Sam sends tail-wags back!
V xx