Welcome to the RIGHT Side.

I decided to help my girlfriend out with this blog in the hopes that we could appeal to both sexes, and perhaps provide a little more variety in the kind of things we post.

Here's a little bit about me, not a lot, as I'm sure I will reveal more about myself in the coming posts.

I'm Gil, I'm an artist, and an aspiring animator. I love Kim (the Left Side), movies, and playing video games.

My favorite movie is Who Framed Roger Rabbit

My favorite game is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

My favorite show is The Simpsons

And my favorite book is Watchmen

I plan to analyze why these things appeal to me personally in dedicated posts for each respective item of interest in the coming weeks.

Of this generation of consoles I currently own a Playstation 3. I'm online a lot, so you can add me, my PSN handle is Rated-G.

Get your Portable ID!

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Introduction aside, I'd like to express my appreciation for a game that is particularly close to my heart: LittleBigPlanet.

This is one of the most entertaining games I've played this generation, it is pure, lighthearted fun. It has brought my friends and I together many times for hours of laughter, yelling, and sack slapping.

But the main reason I hold this game close is because it pulled Kim and I closer together. We started playing this before we had both admitted to our mutual feelings together, and after playing through it one day, trying to Ace all the levels and collect all the items, cheering for each other when our lives were limited, and high-fiving whenever we completed difficult challenges together; Kim paused the game and spilled her feelings toward me. I was shocked at the suddenness of it all, but admitted I felt the same way. There was some awkwardness as she said "Ok!" and un-paused the game. We continued playing as we were, a great team.

It's because of her help that I was able to collect the last few items, and her encouragement that I survived all the levels without dying. It's just a game, but it's a game that helped bring her and I together. We've completed the game already, but we still love going back and playing through the game, trying out some user created levels online. This game helped us see how well we work together as a team, and we have maintained that strong team ethic ever since.

If you have feelings for someone; sit them down, play a game of LBP. It's the perfect game to pick up and play, you can run it in bite-sized chunks, it's simple and challenging, and even non-gamers can enjoy it and catch onto it. The lack of a split-screen option for multiplayer forces you to stick together, and the many opportunities for teamwork will give you a little peek at how well you two might work together.

An idea that I haven't even tried yet is creating a level together, expressing your creativity and building something with each other, for other people to enjoy could be tremendously rewarding! Give it a go!

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As a game itself, LittleBigPlanet is a great throwback to side scrolling games of past console generations; Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, and the like, whilst still retaining a certain freshness. The story mode doesn't offer a very deep narrative, but it has a sense of direction. There are plenty of levels on the disc itself, well built, and carefully planned to provide just the right level of challenge with a finely crafted learning curve. And when you're bored of those, you can jump online to see what other people have created. Some haven't put as much effort into their levels as others, but there are quite a few gems out there to be discovered.

The game has a handmade style to it, everything having a fabric, or craft element look to it. It's all very endearing and makes the game really stand out. The graphics are great as well, you can feel the texture of the fabrics in the game, and it's just realistic enough to further enhance the hand crafted style of the game.

Sound design is excellent, lots of quirky sound effects, a wide range without any feeling out of place. And the music choices are also excellent, some licensed, some original, all catchy and beautiful.

Oh, and it's narrated by Stephen Fry... need I say more?

If you own a PS3, and you have loved ones, kids, or kids at heart, you owe it to yourself to pick this fantastic game up. It's been out for just over a year, and I still enjoy the heck out of it.

Also, for those who have the game, check out my levels! Search for my screen name in the game and give me some feedback!

Next post I will discuss Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as I start to dissect my favorites.