4 those who see(k) the art in games
Archive for November, 2007
Family tree
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Here’s a theory I have about the origins of artistic games, one that might explain their rarity: unfortunatelly for us artsy gamers the bulk of gaming is inherited from the pure mechanics type of gameplay, as so eloquently illustrated by Pong. To this day a lot of game carry with them this mechanical side: action and reaction, a test of reflexes. Therein lie the bulk of the games I dissaproove with: games that rely on trial and error, games which reward persistance and repeating the same tasks over and over again until the player is so good at them that they pass them. Take for example Prince of Persia: Warrior Within that I am now struggling with: while there are many satisfying parts to the game, it has segments where it is just full of frustration: weather it is sections with impossible puzzles that I simply can’t figure out on the first go, or sections where I am running from the Dahaka and the timing is so strict that it takes say 5-10 tries to figure out exactly what I have to do to get away. I believe all these are relics from the times when games prolongued the experience through increase in difficulty and forcing repetition (see: easy/medium/hard/impossible difficulty options in games referred to as ‘replay value’) .
But games also have the other side of their parenthood: the side I believe inherited by those people who would play text adventure games, people fascinated with words and concepts. Also this merged great with the other group of people more into the fictional part: those who enjoyed getting together with their friends and playing roleplaying games for the sake of imaginative stories, with a Dungeon Master acting as a story teller and arbiter.
But I believe it would be wrong to assume that all the games an artistic oriented gamer (artsygamer :P ) likes come from the second cathegory. Why? Because I believe like with many fields often times great ideal things come from the polishing of practical things. Take for example Math & Physics. Math might be the more ideal part of the two, but in reality I believe a lot of advancement in math came not from it’s ideal "anything i can think of" approach but from the practical problems imposed by Physics. Similarly, I believe, happened with games: those same games that I dislike for over-emphasis on the mechanics and less on the artwork slowly evolved: in order to diferentiate themselves, and because often times an artist hides behind the most rational looking-acting programmer, the little sprites became more and more decorative, until some became forms of art in themselves. Which is the answer to the unsaid question: why am I playing PoP: Warrior Within if I find it so frustrating at times? Well, because though it has many frustrating moments, and the story is barely sketched out through cinematics, somewhere behind it were great artists: from the concept designer to the texture artists and the modellers, it is for their work that I’m playing it, because while I did experience plenty of frustration, it is worth it (taken in small doses) for the sake of the story that the artwork itself tells.
Heavy rain
04 years ago
by Void
in Cinematics
Fahrenheit is to me a beacon of hope as to what games might become, at least in one of their branching directions (possibly their main one?): interactive movies, movies with involvement, choices… So it’s really great to hear that Quantic Dream is on it’s track towards it’s next big game according to gamesindustry.biz:
Acclaimed Fahrenheit developer Quantic Dream has bought the latest motion capture technology from Vicon for its top secret PlayStation 3 exclusive.
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"To do so, we have invented our own format called ‘interactive cinema’ in which realistic, believable characters play a central role. "
Sounds to me like there’s going to be a ton of great cinematics! Yeayyy!!!
The Metagame
04 years ago
by Void
in Entertaining
Yep, games are such a big cultural thing that we’re starting to see games about games, bringing the picture on a bigger scale. For me that is The simExchange trading market… but here’s a new and very interesting one from MTV:
So here’s a first round:
The video game crash of 1983
04 years ago
by Void
in Games Industry
A bit of spooky history today, with the help of the ever so kind Wikipedia article on the subject. First it’s causes:
Seems to me I see some similarities to today. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t happen again, especially these days when with the explosion of casual games and big profits from small games, so many publishers are turning towards low budget simple games…
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Zero Punctuation: Clive Barker’s Jericho
04 years ago
by Void
in Entertaining
This week’s Yahtzee has a one-on-one with Clive Barker’s Jericho (by Clive Barker). Sit down & strap in, this may get ugly. Here’s to hoping the industry will make less squad based shooters!
(yes, I’m looking at you Mass Effect, game I so wanted until I heard you control 3 characters instead of an immersive one you can identify with)
In-game advertising promisses to be huge
04 years ago
by Void
in Games Industry
gamesindustry.biz has a very interesting article on in-game advertising featuring Google AdSense for Games’ Bernie Stolar, promissing that it will become a billion dollar industry by 2010.
‘If you look at research, there are more people playing games than watching television. So what does that tell you? That tells you there’s a whole different audience," Stolar said.The demographics have changed. So the rules have changed.
A lot of gamers are very scared by things like this, but I believe it will be a very natural placement. It’s already started, but it should go everywhere IMO: the hero is drinking his last can of brand soda in a dramatic moment before parachuting into enemy territory, you drive by some billboards with real advertisments, you listen to a radio featuring real advertisments slightly tweaked for the game, brand name cars, you shoot your way through hallways with posters… the possibilities are pretty much endless. Maybe even more importantly though, games will be able to cost less, finally closing the gap between the high price of gaming and the free-ness of television.
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Kingdom Hearts 2 intro
04 years ago
by Void
in Cinematics
One of the best game intros that comes to mind. Engaging, emotionally charged, stirring interest and curiosity for the game to come, a memorable & exciting song…
Sci-fi hand air movement – the possibilities
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Quite ingenious, don’t you think? Thumbs up to the guy for actually doing it!
I was thinking a few days ago about the possibility of such game control in the context of wondering about the audience captured by the Wii through the more physical game interaction. A possibility that wouldn’t surprise me (and at the same time, of course, it would) was if the Playstation Eye would be used for motion tracking and big games would be made based on it. I imagine good motion tracking is a rather difficult problem, but say you had to paint the tips of your fingers different colors to aid the recognition, or were to wear a glove, nothing electronic, just so that it’s colored. Game interaction could be changed forever. Well, for certain games, like the Wii speciffic games. I myself love the gamepad control system, both in precision and complexity (well, it should evolve in precision until we can play strategy games as easily as with a mouse).
The times when people went “awwwww!!”
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These days I’ve been playing Metal Gear Solid. No, not 4, but the classic MGS3. Yes, I know it’s been out there for ages… but I tend to very much avoid stealth and war/military themed games. It says a lot for the level of polish and superb attention to detail that the game has that it’s got me playing it. If only more games had this kind of detail…
But that is not my point. After just about each save there’s a couple of minutes where the Para-Medic engages Snake into a conversation where she tells him about this or that big movie that just (1960) came out, about martians, about James Bond, about alien worlds… She’s always very excited, and often finishes with “you’ve got to go see it!”. There’s a strong atmosphere and feeling in these discussions, one that rings true to me: there was a time when movies were a big social event. Everybody knew about a big one that came out this year. Sure, we have big blockbusters today, but it’s okay if you haven’t seen one or another. There’s just so many of them. Tailored for different tastes. But there was a time when if a big movie had come to the cinemas it was a big social thing, if you didn’t keep up you could unexpectedly find yourself in a bad social setting if you couldn’t debate it. No, I haven’t really lived those times, just hints of them many years ago. It was like one generation back I believe.
So where am I going with all this? Well, I think that is about where games are now in their respective timeline: if a BIG game comes out every gamer knows about it, and probably at least tries to play it or form an opinion from seeing it. I think actually games are even more in their (relative) past: in that time you could recomend somebody a movie, with just excitement, no guilt that you’re pushing somebody into big expenses. With games nowadays though, a certain game you recomend may require a certain console or a powerful PC + the game price… so that’s not so cool.
But does that mean we’re living bad, (movie relative) ancient times, in gaming? Well, sure, I’d love for there to be as many good games to choose from like there are well made movies & tv series, so that I could choose exactly the genres and topics that I find interesting… but at the same time these ‘ancient’ times are also magical ones: it’s been ages since I’ve seen many people really blown away by some movie. People are no longer amazed by special effects or plot twists. They don’t feel like they were there. They don’t talk about it with excited shouting voices: “woooww!!! you should have seen that! it was like the rocks came alive! and the way he jumped on the cliff… and almost fell… took my breath away”, instead they say calm things like “yes, it had quite good special effects” or “It was an interesting story, very simila to …, though “. In the meanwhile though you see people talking about games they loved: “And I went there, and I jumped onto the platform and shot at the three headed monster! Maaan.. it was soooo coool!!! Took me 30 minutes till I figured out how …”. It’s a magical time when each new big game has people going “ooo!!! That was amazing! I’ve never seen that done before!!!”.
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music4games.net
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What a gloooorious discovery! A website dedicated entirely to game music, interviews with composers, samples…