Stardust Speedway 049 - End of the Semester and Getting down to Buisness

Well; it has finally come and I am excited. The end of the First Semester and I think I have deserved a bit of a rest for the moment anywhey. Now that most of my Main Project work has been completed; I can get down to finally writing my Dissertation and getting it completed.

Now the last problem which I have encountered along the research stage is due to the inclusion of Individualism; I have had to research and find two titles which display this social system successfully. Now the previous two research topics were easy to find games for as I knew the games well and knew they would support my argument well; but to find games that display elements of Individualism in a medium where it is always the story scenario of the Good Guy VS The Bad Guy and the Good Side always helps each other out. It did take me a while but I think I have cracked it and found some good examples of Individualism.

TITLE ONE: No More Heroes (Wii; 2008)

Now this title took a while on the Research stage of things as I stumbled across the title towards the end of today. Now this is one of my favourite games on the Wii and a great title as not only does it show elements of Individualism; but a great parody of the games industry in general. It is a shame it was overlooked on the console and even though it was not picked up by many players of the console; it is a worthy research title and created by a very creative games designer; Suda 51 (A.K.A Goichi Suda)

TITLE TWO: Street Fighter 4 (PS3, Xbox 360 PC; 2009)

This was the harder choice of the research titles as my original thoughts were many games within the Fighting Genre all has the same themes; a player could choose one of the game's many characters and play through their story; slowly defeating other characters randomly selected by the game and thrown to the player to defeat in order to progress and complete the game. There were many choices such as Dead Or Alive; Killer Instinct; Mortal Kombat; Tekken and Virtua Fighter to name a few but I felt that Street Fighter series (and its latest incarnation in Street Fighter 4) was the most respected game within the genre and the best examples that I would like to portray within my Dissertation Research.

I think these titles will add a good level of research and material which can back up my materials within my essay. I have gone for two titles for this section of my research as I have done two for the other areas and it would be unfare and unbalanced to include anymore within this section as it could show that I favour Individualism over capitalism and communism

Stardust Speedway 048 - I am doing this task on My Own (Introducting Individualism into Project)

Well today was the final drop in session for the dissertation was in today and I have had a lot of good feedback from both of the tutors which were in the drop in session. During the session; we discussed the potential for expanding my Dissertation into Individualism as well as it provides an alternative from both the Capitalist and Communist sides.

I have a small amount of research for this already as the Iain Smedley essay which I found which talks about Sonic the Hedgehog as an Individualist Character can be used within this section also; but I am going to extend my research period for another week which allows me to find some information about Individualism

It is nearly done and I can get to write it next week which I am looking forward to a lot of the time at the moment.

Stardust Speedway 047 - (Reading List: Capitalism: A Graphic Guide by Dan Cryan; Sharron Shatil and Piero)

Well; this is it; the last piece of research for this dissertation and the end of the research which I have been doing since May. This was not going to go in as I have only just picked this book up from the Borders closing down sale (RIP) called Capitalism: A Graphic Guide.

This book is a detailed history of the entire history of Capitalism and has provided a good read; I thought that it would be going over old ground but has provided me with more information than before and also it is like a comic book which for a geeky person like myself is a good thing.

The current plan at the moment is that I am going to start writing my Dissertation

Stardust Speedway 046 - Proposed Essay Layout

Well; it has been leading up to this being created for the final meeting; the final plan of study and the first proposed essay layout for my dissertation. I have put the document on my mediafire account and I would like to hear peoples feedback about this layout.


The layout document can be found at:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/20mm4jmymtz/Stardust Speedway - Plan Of Study (Version 1.3).doc

Stardust Speedway 045 - Reading List: (The Motorcycle Diarys by Che Guevara)

Well; the time has come for my third Dissertation Meeting and I am going over everything with a fine tooth come for tomorrows meeting. I have planned to have my first Essay Draft planned and complete for tonight so the adding of new material begins.

The next piece of research that I have added was reccomended to me by a friend and has become my latest read of choice. The book in question is The Motorcycle Diary's by Che Guevara.

Everytime I read an essay about Communism; the name Che Guevara come up again and again and for good reason he is the single most influential and successful Marxist in existence and his famous picture taken by Alberto Corda has become one of the most recognised pictures in History; so this book will help me find out more about this legendary figurehead.

Stardust Speedway 044 - Anne Allison Details

I have been using an essay by Anne Allison over the last few months in my research which discusses Pokemon within a Capitalist Viewpoint; but the only problem that I have had was that there was no details of the author on the paper and I could not find anything about her until today.

My tutor Tamara said that I should type her name into Google Scholar and it turned out that she has wrote a few essays about Pokemon and Japanese Culture in General and this webpage details her work and what she is doing in more detail.

The URL for the page is:

http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/CA/faculty/anne.allison

So I am going to list these details down on my research bar so that I can give credit to the essay and use it further in my research.

Stardust Speedway 043 - Reading List (Game On - The History and Culture of Video Games by Various Authors)

Recently I have been looking more at the culture of videogames and I have found a few good books on the subject which I found on Ebay for not much money. The first book is called Game On: The History and Culture of Video Games and is more a collection of individual book/journal entrys about various aspects of video games and has been a good read so far.

Some journal entrys which have been highlighted for this project was one about Pokemon wrote by Masuyama (First name not given) but I am note sure if it will become a valid contribution yet so will put it on here for now anywhey.