The video game industry, with few exceptions, is moving further and further into a black hole of mediocrity. The trends toward 'realistic' graphics and AI, and hollow 'epic' or 'emotional' stories is a move towards a superficial misunderstanding of legitimate art. Developers think that by imitating the conventions of film (Kojima) and by abandoning the colourful world of imagination (every major Xbox game) they can create something that is somehow more appealing. This is of course wrong; how can you make something more appealing by removing anything that is appealing from it, like colours, accessibility, and joy? Games have gone the route of interactive movies before. Remember Dragon's Lair? Games should not try to be anything beyond what they are, and they are toys. This call for more complex AI will do anything BUT improve gaming. It can only further push the industry down this ridiculous path of pretending that a toy is not a toy.

You want to know why Nintendo has been so successful this generation? You want to know why it has always been successful, and 'hardcore gamers' have always been seen as nerds? Because Nintendo embraces the fact that games are meant to be fun, they are honest about it. Think of how ridiculous and uncultured you all looked when you cried for Aeris. That is how the mainstream will always see technofetishist nerds that take disposable media as high culture.

Hardcore gamers should all take a lesson from Nintendo and select other developers. Fun is the purpose of a game, not 'art' or realism or story. If you just focus on making a game that is fun visually, musically, narratively, and of course in gameplay, then it will naturally be art. Mario Galaxy and Bioshock are greater artistic achievements than any game that tries to be 'art' before it tries to create a fun experience. Shadow of the Colossus, I am looking at YOU.

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Wow! Way to win prick of the night! I thought Woozie was bad.

Think about this while you're playing your pathetic "It has to be fun" game... Ever think, just a bit, that many of us gamers may actually find things like Shadow of the Colossus fun? I find MGS4 fun. It's fun being with these characters and experiencing things. And you know what? I DO think it's superior to some of the old epics... The epics were just, for the most part, a bunch of action packed stories with some very minor things to say about human nature played out by gods...

I find Final Fantasy fun... (well, about 2/3 of them) I find Metal Gear fun. I also connect with the characters, and don't mind that I'm not moving my thumbs nonstop because I don't have as narrow a view of what's fun as you do.

Trying to call people out for not being cultured is a crock. Games can be loaded to the brim with culture. Proverbs, classical references, pop culture references, quotations from Masters... The list goes on, and many people enjoy them more for it.

The irony is that you include Bioshock, when... GUESS WHAT? Bioshock was VERY FSKING OBVIOUSLY trying to be art... Taking on Objectivism, how it picks apart Ayn Rand's work... It wasn't just about "fun" otherwise it put so much effort into trying to show you things like you'd lost control and pelted you with the downfalls of that world view... So you just proved what you're talking about as the difference between faux art and real fun is actually the difference between what is your tastes and what isn't.

So congratulations. Prick of the week.

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With MMO games and multiplayer FPS games increasing exponentially in the amount of hours been sunk into them, can you agree that in todays world of high technology and networked socialising that people can now experience some of their most treasured moments via multiplayer gaming?

I'm not saying that every treasured moment would be realted to gaming, that would be very sad, but personally, many of my most treasured moments and moments I know I will continue to treasure have happened via networked socialising while gaming.

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They're fun, they're escapes, they're realistic and can make you feel like you're in places you might never be able to go... but video games are NOT real life.

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The only problem with games are that the AI is only as advanced as the development is. Whatever the ideas, time, skill, technology, software, hardware, programs, or sweat developers input into the development is what is output in the game. Nothing more, nothing less.

In order for AI to develop and learn on their own as a productive unit, they need heavy amounts of programming, lots of backup storage (example: a cybertronic brain or storage module capable of storing to the capacity of a human brain, more or less), access to an infinitely vast data source (example: Internet), and the ability to reason.

Otherwise, the AI would only be as advanced as it's programming, thus being unable to learn and develop on it's own. I am not saying that current AI cannot learn and develop, but rather, "AI is in it's infancy."

It has only just begun.

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Hahhahaha, look at how 'hardcore' you are.

Go read any half-decent book, and if you're not a hideous man-child, it will most likely blow any video game out of the water.

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And MAG doesn't even have AI

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Um... The word "pretentious" comes to mind, particularly with the "man-child" comment. Pretentious and immature.

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*imagine

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Like I said, not that different.

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Im talking more realism. Its like how some people don't like watching the Saw type movies. They find the gore too realistic and, to them, they cant see the 'fun' in it. That's what I worry will eventually become of the more realistic games.

I play games for fun, not ultra-realism. I don't want to be disturbed while playing a game like GTA or COD, but I can see that becoming the way some games might go.

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On topic, this is why I can only assume we'll never see stringent adherence to realism in America's Army, even if the technology existed.

Even for a commercial title, ultra-realism could preclude fun, killing the point of the game. And yes, that was intentional.

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Kotaku (tips) receives THOUSANDS of emails every day, and even the personal accounts receive thousands of emails every day. It's hard to go through them all, especially if you juggle between writing and having a family like Ashcraft & Crecente.

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A small amount of emails can easily occupy 20 minutes a day. I can't imagine having to deal with a thousand.

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I don't know how much office life experience you have, but only the highest of the high have people who read all their email for them. And even then, the ones that get through take up a significant amount of time.

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A lot of people who talk about Citizen Kane probably haven't seen it. :P

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Rosebud...

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I've yet to see a game that was as influential to the medium's place in society as Citizen Kane was to film. Does it have potential to reflect and even change society in many ways--absolutely, but it has not happened quite yet in my opinion.

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The closest games get to being as commercially successful as it are properties like Mario, Wii Sports, Pokemon, and Halo... none of which are very deep.

On topic though, does anybody have any know of any politically motivated games besides crappy flash games and Super Obama World?

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Citizen Kane was not a commercial success. In some ways, you can say it's the first Shawshank Redemption, itself another film which came and left theaters without much sales or buzz, only to see its reverence grow over time.

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