Visions of the Future of Gaming

Curran, S. (2004) Game Plan – Great designs that Changed the face of Computer Gaming, Mies (Switzerland): Rotovision. ISBN 2-88046-696-2

(013) (Peter Molyneux – The Future of Gaming)
‘So the future of computer games: if we’re going to entertain the masses, we have to do more then just kill and shoot people. And that means game designs that appeal to us as gamers, but also appeal to people who watch soaps. I have no doubt that games are going to become more episodic; the idea that we build these huge, five- to ten-year projects….I think it’s more likely that we’ll build worlds, and you can see that with the consoles. Microsoft and Sony are both talking about making online connectivity central to their consoles, and we will be able to deliver content to people in a way that’s like going to the movies’

(036)(Noritaka Funamizu, Producer of Street Fighter II, Developed and Produced by Capcom 1991 originally for the arcade)

‘I hope one day we can create something ‘game-like’ in games. I hope we can create something that could only be achieved by the games, rather than attempting to emulate movies or other forms of media’

‘I do not see the audience or delivery method of gaming changing soon. In my opinion, games will remain games for a long time. There wouldn’t be a specific or drastic change in the bottom line of the game. Let’s just say that as long as we are playing the game through TV monitors, we will always recognize what we are doing.’

Farenheit

Much like Ico I'm slightly torn on this game, on the one hand I find the narrative really intersting and the way you can swith between characters is a nice idea. This gives you a more complete view on the situation rather than seeing the whole story unfold from just one persons perspective.

ICO

ICO is a game that I can't make up my mind on; I mean on one hand it looks incredible especially for it's time (2002), the lighting and atmosphere really makes for an immersing gaming experience. The gameplay on the other hand can be irritating to the point of just switching the game off altogether, not the puzzle element, which I admit I can find annoying because you do get the sense of satisfaction when you finally figure it out, nor the cinematic following camera view, which can at times severely hinder the game play. But by the stupidity and general uselessness of the princess Yorda, I mean ok they don’t speak the same language and she has been locked up by her fruitcake of a mother so she’s probably a tad malnourished, but you can’t leave her alone for a second without having to run back and fend off some shadow monster that’s trying to drag her off. If it succeeds by the way then its game over and you have to go back to the last save point.



She won’t even make any attempt to run away when the monsters come for her and to start with you’re armed with a stick which is about as much use as swatting an elephant with a feather, ok that’s a slight exaggeration but you get my point. Maybe it’s just the whole ‘escort-quest’ style of gameplay that I hate in general, I mean it must be an absolute nightmare to program an NPC to do what they do at the moment so I know I’m asking for a lot, but It can’t be all that hard to program her to ‘/on combat initiation /run to ICO/ failing that just /run away/ Yorda’ or something. At least in Wow the NPCs make some effort to defend themselves.

On a lighter note the packaging that the game comes in is really well considered and even includes some game cards that really present the game well, and after all it is a visual joy to watch and interact with. The kind of thing that makes you feel like a grown-up and that it’s something you’re long suffering girlfriend could tolerate having on in the same room as her, or at least the same building.



Much like ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ (SotC) the back-story, and to some extent the in-game one to, are kept vague. For instance he’s a boy who was born with horns much like what your character in SotC ends up turning into in the final scene. This is seen by his neighboring villagers as a curse and he’s shipped off to this fortress where he finds Yorda and they then have to escape together. However in the intro scene you see Ico being led to the castle by three horsemen two of whom have horns.

Anyway enough for now, I’ll post more when I’ve completed it.

Violence in Games

Edge Magazine – Dec 2007

Biffovision (Grumble Feature Enabled) author -Mr Biffo

Responsibility

ITV boss Michael Grade speaking at the Royal Television Society Conference described ‘videogames as existing in a “moral vacuum” ‘

‘Grades position was that TV had a far stronger moral standpoint than videogames, because it’s able to contextualise its content within a dramatic narrative.’

I’m not sure I entirely agree with this, admittedly I’ve been out of the ultra-violent game loop for a while, or at in least the case of the realistic ones if this is what Grade is referring to. I’m not sure which channel shows it but the Ultimate fighter programs show two willing and above all real people beating seven shades of sh*t out of each other for three rounds, how much more real and disturbing can you get? I mean they don’t kill each other but how much longer will it be before combatant programmes such as this reach the level of the Roman Arena’s of old? At least with videogames the only thing that is dying/being beaten up are pixels, and for most rational people this is quite obvious, isn’t it?

‘Lets face it, many games exist purely to let us indulge the darker areas of our psyches.’

Indeed I’ve played videogames for around 17 years and I’ve never been in a fight let alone killed anyone, admittedly I wanted to at times, fight I mean, not kill. But various ethical and moral codes hold you back along with the knowledge of the consequences. With games you of course don’t have that same problem, or at least not to the same extent. But even with a common target for this sort of ‘videogames are the cause of all antisocial behaviour in youth’ mentality, namely the Grand Theft Auto series you do have consequences, the police and later if you go completely ‘psycho’ the army, will come and either arrest or kill you. Admittedly it takes them a while, but then this is first and foremost a GAME, and secondly it does have an 18+ age rating.

‘…lets work with the legislators to keep these games on the market, but out of the hands of kids. Admittedly, we all know they won’t stay out of the hands of kids, but showing a bit more willing might get them off our backs.’

I also think that violent games have been something that kids have initiated for centuries if not since the birth of humankind, whether that be with sticks for swords, cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. And where does this influence come from? Adult society, whether that comes from hunters, soldiers or the law keepers, maybe we should be looking to the way society works as a whole not looking to make scapegoats of whatever seems to be the current zeitgeist. People were shooting each other a long time before the dawn of videogames after all.

‘We all know that videogames aren’t to blame for all of society’s ills – of course it seems churlish to target popular culture at all when our own leaders seem gripped with a sort of bloodlust these days..’

Thoughts on 'Hyper-realistic gaming'

Edge Magazine – Nov 2007

Biffovision (Grumble Feature Enabled) author -Mr Biffo

Quoting Terry Pratchett to say

‘Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can.’

Although not a fan of Pratchett he was lamenting the loss of creativity in games in the pursuit of greater and greater levels of realism in. In essence all games are in some way fantasy although not in the

‘dragons/elves/ breaking-into-peoples-cottages-to-smash-their-vases sense of the word, but in the more general sense of being transported to somewhere that isn’t real.’

‘The more real our gameworlds become, the more mundane we risk them becoming.’

I don’t think this is an argument that is exclusive to videogames, painting was forced to some extent to re-invent itself and its methods of conveying ideas with the advent of photography, it was no longer required to represent the world with as much realism as possible. Some would argue that this gave painting a ‘shot in the arm’ and forced the medium down routes that may have otherwise never been taken. However for games at least there are some genres that by definition will always strive for greater realism, for example the ‘Gran Tourismo’ series relies on recreating real world racetracks and cars as accurately as possible, does this make it a better game then say ‘Burnout’ which takes a far more unrealistic line on the driving experience? Also surely there must be a stage at which a simulator game, whether that be driving, football or wargame, becomes so realistic that by definition it could only be played successfully played by the top F1 drivers, professional footballers and soldiers. At that stage Biffo hopes that;

‘…once they’ve decoded the genome of realistic physics and animation then all of that will take a backseat to the fantasy.’

Of course there are bigger questions to answer, what is reality? for example. Maybe if we do ever get to the stage where games are photo-realistic and played with VR helmets and some sort of sensory suit so that games become a reality of sorts, then of course it all comes down to smell. Yeah you read it right, the last sense to be recreated in entertainment, so maybe they invent some sort or olfactory generator. Could people spend their entire lives in a game? And then later would that be the idea? Matrix anyone?

Shadow Of The Colossus- SPOILER- Do NOT read if you haven't played it and are planning to!

This game has to be one of the best I've ever played, it's combination of amazing artwork/atmospheric lighting and a whole new way to face 'boss' encounters makes it somewhat revolutionary. In essence the 'boss' encounters are traditional platform play, the revolutionary aspect comes with the strategy needed to do this on an ever moving target who's trying to shake you off. No 'trash' mobs or mindless killing, just 16 colossi each with different weaknesses to discover and exploit. From fights that take place in the water and can be as much about trying not to drown as anything else, to encounters that involve enticing flying creatures to swoop down so you can then get carried off to carry on the battle in mid-flight.





The first image shows the place that acts as a hub for your adventures, It is where the first interactive scene starts and where you return to after killing each colossus. And also is the resting place what you can only assume to be your 'love', who is your characters motivation for killing/freeing the colossi. Although this is a bit of a gray area as the introduction scene just shows you ferrying her unconscious form to this spot and a benevolent form seemingly coming from a hole in the domed ceiling telling you to kill the colossi to free her. So without any real knowledge of why, you set off to do the bidding of a being whose agenda you are totally unaware of.




Using a combination of strategies you have to reach the the top of the above colossus' head, whilst he tries to stomp you and hit you with his sword in equal measure. I did feel quite a lot of pity for these guys as the game went on, I almost felt like I was slaughtering over sized teddy-bears who whilst not being entirely benevolent, seemed to bit a bit to stupid to really be perceived as evil, but as you travel the landscape you notice a marked lack of any other inhabitants, save for the occasional bird or lizard, I began to see them as more an unwitting bain to life, leading a cursed almost automaton existence simply attacking anything that moves. In that sense I did almost feel as if I was doing something good, as it turns out you don't really seem to have done anything that black and white.

Once you kill the final colossus the last black shadow surrounds your unconscious body/corpse this happens every time you kill one by the way and you become possessed by what appears to be the true colossus, a kind of shadow demon. As this is happening a band of men have arrived at the starting chamber and our more than a little angry that someone has taken 'the sword' and has been using it kill the colossi, maybe implying that their 'Brotherhood' were responsible for the creation of the colossi in the first place, they try to kill your character and in doing so release the true demon they flee the temple barring your escape and in doing so suck the 'shadow demon juju' out of you and trap you and your newly awakened girlfriend in the valley (the map the game takes place within). You are then revealed to have changed into a baby with horns.

'Ico' a game released by the same game company in 2001 features a boy with horns who is trying to escape from a castle which he has been trapped in. I'm looking forward to playing it and finding out if Colossus is indeed the prequel to that. The scene at the end seems to show life returning to the valley whilst at the same time being condemned by the leader of the Brotherhood as now being uninhabitable. So the game itself even after completion leaves the idea of what is right and wrong a little ambiguous, much like the real world.

On a technical note there were some small annoyances, such as the way in which the horse either walked, cantered or galloped. As well as the ever moving cinematic third person view style that seemed to hinder the game-play and ability to accurately control your character at times. But thats about it, otherwise I found it to be a beautifully realized game that showed a better way to make a game, I only hope that more people will take this torch and continue to run with it.

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official site

Video game/Computer game a definition war I was never aware of.

To define something as art I guess you first have to define what that something is, as I found on Videotopia there seems to be quite few different ideas about what defines a computer and a video game. I always thought that they were one and the same, and that the American video game was what the English referred to as a computer game and vice-versa. From what I can tell a video game is something played on an arcade game (coin-op). Whereas a computer game is played on a Home PC or console. In the case of conversions from one to the other it is the whatever platform the original was written for that gives the game its definition. Although another argues that the difference is more social,

'Bennett Campbell: I think of the main differences between video games and computer games is the level of social interaction. Video games are played in highly sociable places like arcades, bars, arenas, and the like. Computer games are played at home, often alone.'

If this is true then what is a Massively Multi-player Online Role-playing Game (MMO or MMORPG) defined as? It is played on a home computer but by it's very nature you are interacting in the same world with hundreds if not thousands of other people, yet unless you're networking the game in the same room as others then you are playing at home alone. So by the above quote is it video or computer game, or is it one of the many paradoxes that is blurring the lines between one and the other? He goes on to say;

'I'm a college student, and I've met more friends playing games in the arcade than I have in my classes. When a dozen people are clustered around a game of Tekken or Soul Edge, you can't just ignore the other people. The link that everyone shares - the game - holds that crowd together with something in common.

Computer games, on the other hand, often focus on strategy and use the computer's AI much more intensively. These games can and are played for hours on end, one lone person sitting at a computer. Lately, many of these games have gained the option of playing another human via the internet, yet the player is still isolated by themselves, with their computer. The minimal amount of chat that goes on is nothing compared to the social gathering of the arcade. Games like Command and Conquer, Civilization, and Warcraft are all solitary games, though they can be shared by multiple players far away.'

Bennett seems to think not, but being a player of an MMO I can say from experience that chat is not always minimal in fact quite the opposite at some times, also certain programs allow players to talk to each other with microphones as they interact with each others virtual characters. So if you can speak to people as you play and interact with them in a virtual environment then surely it becomes, to a certain extent at least, a social gathering. It seems to me that if there was ever a difference between a computer and a video game it has all but disappeared, with so many titles coming out at the arcades and then consoles and PC's can we really say which is which anymore?