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..’