Allow me to introduce....myself.

Hi, I'm George, and I like games. Games with guns, where you get to shoot stuff. Explosions and boobs are cool, too. If a game were to have all three of those, I would give it a 10 and buy a copy for my mother. Not that she would play it, but if I came to her house, it would at least be there for me to look at the box and giggle like a schoolgirl. And by giggle like a schoolgirl, I mean pump my fists in a manly rage.



Just kidding.



The rather auspicious start to my first entry here at The Grind Spot was made to illustrate a point. I'm not really a story guy. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely games that craft a well told story, but those are exceptions to the rule. I'm not going to get into the age-old debate on whether or not games are art. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But for me, the most important part of playing a game is having fun. A game could have the greatest tale ever burned to disc, but if it sucks to play, I'm probably not going to waste my time struggling through the crap to see what happens next. That being said, story can play a big part as to whether a game is fun or not. A prime example. Some people need to learn that a game is not a movie, and the same techniques won't necessarily work when applied to a wholly different medium. I honestly think writing a script by trying to emulate a movie is a bad move. At least in its current state, the games industry just isn't capable of eliciting reactions on the same plane as a good drama.


I wouldn't say video games is the medium where screenwriters go to die; it's more like Florida for 65 year-old retirees, only they're more mobile, and they seem to have an eagle's eye for locating the epic struggles of the most obnoxious people ever in existence. If you were to pick ten random games, how many do you think would have something worthwhile to say? One or two? If I seem harsh, it's because that's a cold, hard fact of life. Some people may want it to be different, but the industry just isn't at a point yet where it can stand next to, say, film, and be shown in a positive light. One thing to keep in mind is that the film industry has had time to sit in the corner and think about what it's done, while a lot of developers are still in time out, wearing a dunce cap and waiting for the teacher to let them eat their snack pack.


I don't want you to think I'm placing blame squarely on the shoulders of people who write these stories and produce our entertainment. Sure, they have to want to strive for excellence, but it's not entirely their fault. One major thing will have to change before we can move forward in the way we look at the quality of stories in games: the consumer. Obviously, if you're reading this, your taste is impeccable and you yearn to play a deliberately paced character study about a man contemplating suicide. But besides you and me, who would actually buy a game based on The Fire Within? I'd be the first to plunk down five bucks on a pre-order, but the reality is that no one would give a shit about it. By and large, as an audience we're still looking for the familiar. If it doesn't resemble in some fashion something already made, the chances of it selling are pretty slim.


Again, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, Shadow of the Colossus sold almost a million copies, but if you were to look at it in passing, all you would see is some dude riding on a horse for ten minutes. Sadly, games like that are few and far between. Not the ones with dudes riding on horses for ten minutes, but the ones that have narrative built into every detail of the game, forgoing exposition for the sake of inference. Instead of reaching emotional highs by creating characters you feel for and building said emotions over the course of a game, we're stuck with this. There's nothing particularly wrong with the scene itself(I actually think it was done fairly decently), but it wasn't a conclusion to a tightly woven narrative. It was just a throwaway cutscene that was quickly forgotten once you finished the level.


Therein lies the dilemma a lot of companies are faced with: go for broke by trying for something with more substance and possibly less action, or keep it simple and aim for the demographic that always buys your shit. Not an enviable position to be in, and far be it for me to criticize anyone for wanting their game to actually sell some copies. Unless you're these guys. So for now, I'll just hold out hope that in the years to come, more people will be willing to give new things a try. You never know; Heavy Rain might just be the catalyst this industry needs to spark change.