Kotaku
behind the scenes
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dead space
Explore Dead Space Narrative With No Known Survivors
EA continues to display an amazing amount of dedication to the story aspects of their upcoming sci-fi horror shooter Dead Space with the launch of No Known Survivors, a website that will feature two tragic stories from the Dead Space universe, told through the use of 3D animations, voice talent, original video and interactive elements. The website launches with nine body parts floating through space, each of which will morph into the shape of a mutated necromorph body part before becoming clickable, with one a new chunk of content activated every Monday, starting this week.
The first of the two stories, "Misplaced Affection", is the story of an organ replacement tech who falls for a female officer. The second, "13", features the story of a sleeper agent faced with tough decisions. It's all terrible atmospheric, doing an excellent job of heightening my excitement for the game. Head over to NoKnownSurvivors.com right now to check it out.
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discussion
Hellgate - A Novel Purchase
When I first played Hellgate: London during the late stages of beta, I was somewhat less than impressed. I loved the concept and the graphical style, but the gameplay seemed kind of empty and hollow to me for some reason. Then one day will wandering through a local bookstore I picked up a copy of Hellgate: London Exodus, the first in a series of game-based novels by Author Mel Odom, whose name I recognized from several books in the Shadowrun series years ago. The story chronicles the early days of London's invasion, following templar Simon Cross as he seeks to avenge his father's death at the hands of demons that he once refused to believe in and the rise of the sorcerous Cabalists to power. After reading through the 466 page story I immediately went out and purchased the game, and found myself enjoying it more than ever. Having immersed myself in the fiction, suddenly the game seemed much more developed and interesting to me. More »1:00 PM on Fri Dec 7 2007
By Mike Fahey
2,334 views, 41 commentsLatest by Collins1: If a game has good gameplay and a crap story, ignore the story. duh. more »
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thinking caps required
Archetype vs. Stereotype, The Dealio
In Activision employee James Portnow's weekly column, he justifiably calls out the gaming industry for creating stereotypes where they mean to create archetypes.
we tend to end up with stereotypes when what we're looking for is archetypes. If you look at almost all of the most memorable videogame characters...they are all archetypical. The problem is that the line between an archetype and a stereotype is very subtle and, as established above, conveying that subtlety in the limited context of a videogame is often too much to ask.
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spray party
Ken Rolston Talks Story, Kinda Scares (Excites?) Us
"I'm spraying you guys hard in the mouth, knocking you down," said Ken Rolston, his brow glistening. And other than that awkward innuendo, no, including that innuendo, Rolsten's creamy white beard and stoic to animated dynamics remind me of my junior year high school English teacher.
Rolston is referring to all of his writing philosophies —a lifetime's worth of genius or folly—being pumped into our open and willing/possibly-still-intoxicated-from-last-night ear drums.
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analysis
Symbolism and Story in Silent Hill 2
Leigh Alexander, scribe behind Aberrant Gamer, has an excellent analysis detailing how symbolism drives story in Silent Hill 2. It's an article with a "deep reading" of the game—analysis too often reserved for 18th century romantic literature and Far Side cartoons.
Some of the first enemies James confronts resemble piecemeal jointed mannequins, naked, shiny and flesh-toned, jerking as they move. But while they may be composed of human parts, they're not even complete mannequins—instead, they appear to be two hips fastened end-to-end, thighs splayed...the immediate onslaught of these telltale monsters is like a sudden break with reality—and for James, one could theorize that might be exactly what's happening, thrusting him into a white-edged limbo state deep inside the self, wherein he has the opportunity to confront the truth about...his deeds.
Sure, paranormal walking hip mutants aren't exactly the epitome of subtle symbolic themes, but they can be a lot more effective at reinforcing narrative than yet another cut scene or instruction manual filled with unread backstory.
The Aberrant Gamer - 'Sundering the Mind' [gamesetwatch]
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bioshock
Gamers With Jobs Takes an In-Depth Look BioShock
Julian "Rabbit" Murdoch over at Gamers With Jobs took the trek to Irrational Games' studios in Quincy, MS and had a chat with ken Levine about BioShock. Of course, in and of itself, this is nothing new. Levine has been interviewed up one side and down the other about his creepy underwater brainchild, but what sets this article apart is it's attention to the details of the story and not just the gameplay. There's a great breakdown of the game's plot as well as a showing the comparisons between it and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. If you are a BioShock fan and looking to learn more than just surface details, this is a great piece of weekend reading. More » -
gta
Retailer Organization Vows to Pull San Andreas
If you want a sexy copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas you better hit a store now and cross your fingers. The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association says all of their members will immediately stop stelling the now AO-rated game. More »
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