June 2008
Monthly Archive
Ripples in the Blogophere
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 30 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Links, Readings
Michael Abbott, who writes a blog called The Brainy Gamer, has a new post that strikes the same chord that our own Charles Berkeley Miller often does, musing on the design and culture of sports and intimating how it might overlap with digital game design. Abbott’s post is about the joys of keeping score in Baseball, and he wonders aloud if maybe some video games, specifically RPGs, wouldn’t benefit from more openly embracing their numerical side.
Back to Basics
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 27 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Links, Readings
I’ve been reading theories about games and game design for a long time, and I’m always happy to come across writers and thinkers whose ideas interest me. Recently I discovered two writers who are approaching games from a very systematic, design-oriented perspective.
A Measured Response
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 25 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Links, Opinion, Readings
The new issue of the Escapist has an essay by Jason Rohrer in which he outlines his hopes and dreams for the future of games. Though the piece is wide-ranging, the core of his argument is that the problem with the industry is actually that most developers put gameplay first, trumping whatever artistic visions the creators might have had. According to Rohrer, in order to elevate games to a form of ‘high art’ it’s going to take putting the gameplay, as defined by the mechanics of a game, in service of the expressive potential of games, instead of rehashing old genres and slapping on any theme that comes to mind.
300 Word Review – Metal Gear Solid 4:
Guns of the Patriots
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 20 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: 300 Word Reviews
Let’s clear one thing up: Hideo Kojima does not make games.
Kojima makes media products that incorporate games. They also incorporate animated movies, as well as motion graphic novels, as well as radio dramas. Calling them ‘interactive movies’ though would be like calling film ‘recorded dramatics’.
With that settled:
As a game, Metal Gear Solid 4 is an improvement over its predecessors. By making the game more of an action game the developers give the player a more tangible decision in how they’re going to navigate the battlefield: peacefully, violently, or a creative mix. This makes it a little easier to avoid ‘playing the game wrong’ than in previous installments. Unfortunately, the game still isn’t as snappy as it should be by now and learning the controls is tantamount to learning the oboe.
The long and frequent cutscenes, while beautiful and tasteful, feel archaic and prove once and for all that they will soon be a thing of the past. Metal Gear Solid 4 is probably about 50% slight- to non-interactive cinematic. This dooms Guns of the Patriots to be a monument to its past, as well as old video game motifs, rather than a signpost pointing the way forward.
All this being said, I loved Metal Gear Solid 4. Having followed the series from the beginning, this game gave me something that I hadn’t felt in a long while: closure.
I’ve often been disappointed when games have been given ambivalent endings in order to leave an opening for the inevitable, and interminable, sequels, or simply didn’t live up to the drama of their gameplay. For all its flaws Metal Gear Solid 4 succeeds at drawing the convoluted, often ridiculous, storyline to a close. Which means a lot to those if us who have been following it this whole time.
Dispatches: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part Three; Or: Dulce Et Decorum Est
Posted by Bob Clark on 17 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Dispatches
Today on the Dispatches, we reach the end of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and perhaps the end of the Solid Snake’s story, altogether. But just because the Metal Gear saga’s over doesn’t mean the series isn’t about to continue, in all likelihood.
Love Instead of Fear
Posted by Charles J Pratt on 16 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Games, Links
Every now and then I play a video game that really shows what’s possible with the medium. A game where the context and the gameplay are tightly woven, with the meaning reinforced by every element, from the smallest player action to the larger possibility space. It’s even better when a game like this is really about something. Something that sticks with you long after you’ve stepped away from the screen.
Dispatches: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part Two; Or: Peace Is Our Profession
Posted by Bob Clark on 15 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Dispatches
Today on the Dispatches, we cover the next stretch of Snake’s journey, all the way from the jungles of South America to the darkness of Shadow Moses, with a little bit of Eastern Europe along the way, and explore how Kojima manages to save this game from his own poor plotting with good old fashioned hunting and surrealism.
Dispatches: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part One; Or: Why We Fight
Posted by Bob Clark on 13 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Dispatches
Today on the Dispatches– oh, who am I kidding? Like none of you saw this coming…
From the Interactive Fiction Department…
Posted by Charles Berkeley on 12 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Links
Adam Parrish gets a nice shout out from GrandTextAuto.org for his thesis “New Interfaces for Textual Expression.”
Ian Bogost has already expressed some love in the comments, too!
Dispatches: No More Heroes, Part Three; Or: Raise High the Beam Katana, Carpenters!
Posted by Bob Clark on 09 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Dispatches
Today on the Dispatches, we finally reach the finish line of Suda 51′s No More Heroes, a real piece-of-work in every meaning of the phrase.