Sunday, June 24, 2018

Skyrim on Alexa: The joke that FUS RO DAH'd into reality.

First, some background.

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the biggest trade show for video games around. If you are anyone in or around the industry, you are at E3. If you cover the industry, you are at E3. For the gaming world, this is like the Oscars meets the NFL draft and they had a baby and that baby was made of awesome trailers, jump scares, beautiful graphics, and pizza.

Skyrim is the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls game series. It debuted in 2011 and follows a RPG format set in a sword and sorcery fantasy world. One part of Skyrim's success has been the developer's (Bethesda Game Studio) willingness to make it available on damn near every device and format every made. It been a fan in-joke for a while.

Funny, though not entirely accurate. Still funny.

So, you have an established game with a proven record, a fan base not afraid to poke fun at it, and a widely popular event. Here's the result:



Yup, that's Keenan-Michael Key of the amazing Key & Peele comedy duo with Jordan Peele. If you don't know of whom I speak, then you need to. I will restrain myself from spending the rest of the blog just talking about these guys. Witty and not for the faint of heart. My kind of comedy.

Fans and the casual generic gamer public liked the joke. Bethesda scored points for showing levels of fan and self-awareness not often seen in the market place. Fans felt the warm embrace from knowing they were heard. Not a bad exchange, all things considered.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Only, they didn't. But not the way you think because that wasn't an ending.

 
Yup. I enjoy Jacksepticeye. And Markiplier, for the record.

People were happy because Bethesda asked itself if the joke they were going to make was actually doable. It was! The "joke" was a troll of a joke which turned out to be true. Let's let Bethesda explain. Here's their interview with Gamespot from E3. Skyrim starts at 19:10.



That's really fun. That sort of meta-joke just pets my fur in the right direction. Plus, for us...older?...seasoned?...experienced?...Yeah! Experienced gamers the prospect of playing what amounts to a talking ZORK or AD+D game is enticing.

Unless you have use an Apple product.


Fear not!

Reports are coming in that you can play via the Amazon App on your Apple device.

https://mashable.com/2018/06/14/how-to-play-skyrim-on-alexa/#YvKdH16HWaql 

I haven't tried this yet BUT I'm seeing this on multiple sites. Hopefully this isn't a case of copy-n-paste because we know that NEVER happens on the internet. Nope.

So, there you go. Now YOU can play a video game without the video! We truly live in the future. Imagine it! Playing games without a screen. Never has such a thing been thought of! Truly wonderful. Imagine what it must sound like! Maybe like this?

 
The Dead Alewives

What's next? Playing games on flat cardboard surfaces with dice and sheets of paper? Only time will tell.


Roll to save, gentle reader.

-Sam

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