Everyday Super Powers
Both Frank Lantz and Noah Sasso have pointed me to a post up on David Sirlin’s personal blog in which he recounts his experience at the most recent Evolution Tournament in Las Vegas. Evolution (or EVO) is the biggest and most important fighting game tournament in the US and features a range of games from Street Fighter to Virtua Fighter to Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
What is most interesting in Sirlin’s post is when he talks about his new-found ability to perceive time as moving more slowly, in his words to “see more frames”. This is a fascinating idea and I think is an under appreciated role in the play of games. A large part of the mastery of any game is simply the ability to ‘see’ more, or with a much higher granularity, than your opponent.
David Sirlin created an entire game, Kongai, around his last obsession, the phenomenon of Yomi (or ‘second-guessing’). I wonder if he will eventually design a game that centers around its player’s ability to enter ‘deep focus’?
This is a great subject !! I definitely love your blog guys :-)
I agree with what you say when games are actually most of the time about “see more” !
And they are a thousand way to interpret it !!
It reminds me Matrix and Neo when Sirlin says that he perceive time as moving more slowly..(the first and the third episodes are really good and ask a highly philosophical question but it is another subject)..
It also make me think about resident 5 which is gonna play of what you can’t see !! this episode looks great because it will make the sun your worst enemy. Once you enter inside a house, you won’t be able to see what is inside during a few seconds because the pupil of your eye will too close… So It all about seeing less !!! but wait and see…
I play Kongai and the relation with “see more” is interesting.
But anyway Kongai is the kind of game I hate most.. It is all about addiction, and eating your time…
There is no artistic interpretation, there is no philosophical question, there is nothing about Art!!! the idea is still interesting but it must not be use this way !! this unethical to me :-)
A game must moves you, it must make you cleverer, taller, bigger.. I don’t know.. this game makes you use your brain that is right, there is a little bit a chess in there … but it has no the benefit of a Chess game… when you finish a fight you feel relax, or tired, you just feel frustrated and you just want more and more, and time evaporates…
The feeling of beating somebody must never be the only thing that drive you, in a game…Otherwise do real sport, do real chess, do something in real Life !!!
I hope I will never play this game ever :-)…