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Denver, 10:40 PM
Wed Nov 25
53 posts in the last 24 hours
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03/07/09
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03/07/09
This is coming from a serious anime fan, so don't start railing on me for this. MGS4 is the best game ever made, but that doesn't mean I can't see its flaws.
03/06/09
I think it's safe to say that film has become accepted as a medium that's worth critical attention, a medium fully capable of telling stories. Yet aside from text to movie adaptations (or vice versa), does anyone now really think that one of these two mediums is simply better at telling stories than the other? Clearly both mediums are capable of conveying stories. But the way in which they do so differs to such a degree that it's illogical to compare them 1:1 or assume that they should be judged by the same merits. The same is true of videogames.
Why should videogames have to surpass text or film? Why bother with a direct comparison at all? Videogames will never tell stories... as a book would. This is also true of film, live acting, etc.
Consider what makes videogames unique in their abilities to tell stories. I don't pretend to know the entirety of what that might be; the genre is very much in its infancy. But I'm convinced that this uniqueness is what will eventually lead to the same acceptance and critical attention that is now afforded to film, far more so than any attempt to outright surpass genres that videogames are not.
03/08/09
But.. the point he was making probably was that if you're writing a video- game, you can engage the player more directly than you can in a film. While it's possible to smuggle in the story- telling you would rely on in a novel.
So.. seems to me you have the "it's own voice" right there.
03/06/09
I've been waiting for that game for 20 years and resigned myself to it never being made. I mean... a little Fallout, a little Fuel, a little rage, the size of Oblivion (or maybe 10X larger), the realism of FarCry two and/or Crysis, AI of Halo 3 on legendary, the resource scarcity of Resident Evil and the depth of roll playing as an Ultima underworld game.
I'm not asking for a lot hear... I even offered head... I swear I'll do it. I will ho myself out for someone to make this game!!!
03/06/09
"AI of Halo 3 on legendary"
Oh you mean the part where they take turns going at you in fear that too many attacking enemies would be too much to deal with on thumbsticks?
Surely there must be better examples than an AI built to take it easy on regenerating health.
03/06/09
03/07/09
If you ask me, the only thing missing from Fallout 3 were vehicles and long stretches of road. The entire Fallout series is a shout-out to The Road Warrior.
03/06/09
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03/06/09
Barlog: Two years ago I designed a game big enough to serve as an adequate sequel to a well established game franchise. You wanna make a good video game? Talk to me.
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03/06/09
Games simply do not need stories. The best games have no stories, in past (Super Mario Kart -- what in the world would possess a plumber et al. to climb in go karts and go racing?) and present (CoD4 -- hell, most people don't play through the actually pretty good story mode). What the hell does it matter? Those games are fun.
I don't think this takes away from his point, though; as a medium, video games are very young and have not have their full potential seen. There have been recent games that have shocked players by their story. Two examples that jump out at me are Final Fantasy X and Bioshock. Bioshock was a masterful twist that calls into question everything a player does during a first-person shooter, essentially calling the player a sheep.
But what does it matter? Just about every other FPS on the market has a dime-a-dozen plot (Halo, Resistance, Gears of War) and sells even better because the game is fun. Why would a developer spend money on designers to work on a million dollar story when they already have a million dollar game?
I would love to see developers have something of a paradigm shift and gain an increased appreciation of storylines. I don't expect it too soon, though.
03/06/09
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03/06/09
The way it messes with choice gives the narrative ludology folks a giant boner.
03/06/09
"Portal is just a pretty neat physics puzzler." With or without the story that's all it is.
03/06/09
03/07/09
LEGO (insert IP name here).
03/07/09
No, this is more of a statement that movies are just getting THAT DAMN LOW. For every "Coraline", there's at least 10 "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li"s. When is the last time you drove by a movie theater and thought, "Hmm... that looks interesting! Let's pick up tickets!"? Every time I drive by the multiplex, it always ends in disappointment.
So, in short, Video Games and Movies are just about equally garbage.
03/07/09
MarioKart would have absolutely NO relevance if Super Mario Bros. (and I guess Mario Bros.) didn't come first, and THAT game, my friend, had a story. Weak as it is, you need to justify why Mario is chowing down on mushrooms to get r done. MarioKart then becomes an all-star game, which is part of its selling point. You already know where all those characters come from, and their relevance to the Nintendo universe before you pick up that game. Try picking up Super Bombad Racing and tell me it rocks - chances are, you'll say it won't, even though it's just a clone of MarioKart. Why? Because nobody cares about a big-headed Jar Jar Binks.