Batman: The Game, The Comic, The Legacy

My game of choice the past two weeks has been the 2009 Game-of-the-Year-nominee, "Batman, Arkham Asylum." Gamefly sent me this gem while I was in the opening stages of "Red Dead Redemption", and because I want to get the most value for my Gamefly-dollar, I took a break from cattle-russlin' to do some Joker-russlin'. I wasn't disappointed.

I have always loved Batman. His dark past, his interesting and colorful foes, his genius detective skills were all very appealing to a young man of 10. So hearing so much praise for this game I was more than a little excited going in. Because of Batman's rich history in movies, television (I loved the cartoon as a kid) and comics, this game had a lot to live up to.

One thing I think Arkham Asylum really did right was giving the game it's own original story and universe. I was happy this wasn't another movie rip-off, although most of the voice actors were from the cartoon and video series, staring Mark Hamil as the Joker. By the way, he is fantastic in this. All of the voice actors are lively and perfectly matched. They jumped off of the screen, and often brought a smile to my face.

The game play and combat were very satisfying. Punches felt solid, your acrobatics seemed natural and amazing, and the gadgets were fun and inventive. My only gripe, albeit small, was the save system. Maybe I'm and idiot, but I couldn't figure out how to manually save, and the game never tells you when you have reached a checkpoint. Turning off the game I was always wondering just how far back I would have to start tomorrow.

As the challenge of Arkham Asylum ramped up, a deeper sense of the Batman universe opened as well. Unlockable bios and back-story for many MANY characters were revealed. Who ever heard of "Calendar Man"? What a stupid foe! But there he was, debuted in a 1985 comic. Some of the villains went back to the mid 1930's and I really found a deep story that spans over 700 comics.

Batman is OLD!

I've never been all that interested in comics. I know, it's the missing garnish in my nerd salad. This game, with all of it's deep history attached, more than any other Batman I've encountered, made me want to discover this worlds history, to read the comics and see Batman in his original element. I downloaded the comic reader for the iPhone and read thru a few later that night. The artistry and story were nothing less than jaw-dropping. I'm so glad I finally have an "in" to this missing part of nerddom.

Did anyone see "The Dark Knight"? That movie freakin' rocks. Every time I see it I get something new.

Sure Batman has had his dark times, the 70's show was pretty lame in my opinion, the second thru fifth movies were terrible, "Tonight, Hell freezes over!". Ugh I couldn't even make it to the end of that one. But Batman, it seems is going thru a Renaissance, a rebirth into what we always wanted him to be: a gritty, grounded, genius detective with solid action and compelling story. It is such an exciting time to be a fan of Gotham and the Dark Knight, I can't wait to see what's in store for the Caped Crusader!

/Highfive Chris Nolan!

The Studio

It started with an empty garage. Mixing in a small bedroom dependent on my sons sleep schedule told me right away I was going to need something better, somewhere I could track and mix whenever I needed. I drew up a plan, bought the studs and PT plate and went to work.

Phase One: Framing

I've worked with my father in finish carpentry for around ten years, so it only made sense to do most of the work myself. Beginning in mid April, my father, Dean Ivester and I knocked out most of the framing in one Saturday.

Phase Two: Electrical and Duct

I hired a licenced electrician to run the wire, as I have no experience in this. He did the whole thing in two evenings. Track lighting, sconces, two separate 20amp breakers for the control room and live room, and dimmers.

The duct was going to be too expensive to hire out so my Dad and I tried our best with it. A friend who was a professional in the field inspected our work and signed off.

Phase Three: Insulation

Did this myself over a week period. Very boring, but I did catch up on an audio book I had been meaning to listen to.

Phase Four: Soundboard and Sheetrock

Although I did most of this phase myself, I was fortunate to have some great friends come out and help. Dean Ivester, Michael Nelson and Lucas Adams all helped me get this phase completed quickly. First we covered all walls with 1/2 inch Celetex (sound board). This stuff is a pain to work with, very dusty and fibrous. Next we put up the sheet rock and we were ready for mud.

Phase Five: Mud

I hired a long-time family friend to do this step, as I have no experience with it. Over the course of three days, he mudded and sprayed the walls for texture. The texture was added only in the control room in order to match the existing walls.

Phase Six: Paint

I hate painting. Again I did most of this myself over three days, but I was happy to have the help of my wife for several of those evenings. She also helped my pick out the colors, as I am colorblind, maybe that's why I hate painting. Everything got two coats of primer and two coats of color, however, the control room took four coats of primer because of the existing wall color.

Phase Seven: Doors and window

My Dad installed all of the doors during times I was unable to help. The three doors are exterior solid-core as to allow the minimum sound transference. Weather stripping works wonders for keeping sound out.

The first thing I had ever bought for this project was the glass for the window between the control room and live room. It was custom made, vacuum-sealed with two different thickness as to not transfer sound waves. We put weather stripping on the stops and sealed it up tight.

Phase Eight: Floors

The floors went down so fast I couldn't believe it! I went with an oak laminate. Now I don't really like oak, I would have much preferred maple, but it was on sale and less than half the price of the latter. Thanks to my Father-in law Joel Huffman, and Michael Nelson, we knocked this out in about two hours!

Phase Nine: Finish

My Father pitched in again and we had the casing and base complete in couple of days. I caulked them all to insure no air or sound would escape. Foam insulation was applied to seal all gaps in the doors and window.

Phase Ten: Diffusors

I build some frames and purchased fabric to cover them. Inside, I used the last of the insulation and attached them to the walls. I was able to reuse my store-bought diffusors in the live room and along the back wall of the control room. This, however, was not enough to cover every space needed, so a further diffusor purchase will have to be made.

Phase Eleven: Move in!

Breaking down and hooking everything up again took about two long days. Ryan Saari helped me move in the couch, woo hoo thanks Ryan! I ended up being short one patch cable, and a DVI cable went bad on me, but otherwise, everything went very smoothly. Below is a quick tour of the control room and live room.

Today I put up the pictures and performed the final cleaning. It feels so good to have a space to do my work again! The addition also makes our house feel much bigger. I couldn't have done it without the hard work and charity of my good friends and family.