If it's going to be groundbreaking, it's got to be organic... and no, I don't mean without pesticides...

I guess I should probably follow my esteemed colleague and introduce myself as well. Don't worry, I'll be brief. I agree with most of everything that George said, although I would also say that by having a background in literature, I do prefer a good story in a game over one without.

That being said, Metal Gear Solid 4 is an extremely poor example of that.

I would put myself in a category that is probably more leaning in the direction of game creator Jonathan Blow. That's not to say I'm the biggest fan of deliberate ambiguity, or messages hidden within excessive layers of over-interpretation.

However, I will introduce myself by making a blanket statement. Video games as a medium will have the potential to elevate themselves into the category of "art," along with films and novels, the day that they finally realize that all the aspects of a game (graphics, sound, gameplay, story, etc) have to feel organic. What this means is that all of those aspects have to exist in conjunction with the other elements of the game.

A great example of this NOT happening would be in games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4. In GTA4, unlike it's past iterations, we were meant to understand that Niko Bellic was a sympathetic anti-hero who had a moral dilemma when committing murder, even if he had to do it to survive. That might sound like an interesting premise for a story, but it ran head-on into a paradoxical gameplay mechanic where after every cutscene, should your heart desire as the gamer, you could make Niko essentially commit mass genocide on a city street by blowing up, shooting, and beating to death, hundreds of civilians. Sure, we've all had our fun moments doing this in a GTA, but it doesn't fit with the character design Dan Houser and his team were going for in Niko.

I want gaming to elevate to that level of art, and there have certainly been many games in the past that have done this to incredible levels. George mentioned Shadow of the Colossus and Ico. Games like Bioshock and the original Deus Ex have also done this extremely well, just to name a few, in which the gameplay and first person perspective lend themselves to the overall meaning and point the game itself.

In Bioshock, you had singular objectives that you completed because, well, the game required you to. Atlas said "would you kindly save my family," and "would you kindly kill Andrew Ryan," and, as the player, you followed orders because, just like the protagonist, that's what you were programmed to do. Bioshock made the player very self-aware of a linear video game, because after all, when you put that game in, are you really NOT going to do what the game tells you?

Deus Ex used the first person perspective in the opposite way of Bioshock, in that it was all about perception and choice. Every newspaper article you "decided" to read, every email account you hacked that revealed what was being said behind your back, all served to allow the player the feeling that which side you ultimately took in the grand conspiracy of the story depended on your own initiative in seeking out knowledge. If you never took the time to learn the history of the world in Deus Ex, then your character simply followed orders as he was intended. But if you found yourself suspicious, and confirmed those suspicions for yourself by taking a few minutes to read the notes on your boss' desk, you suddenly realized you were a pawn being guided to selfish ends.

There's other games that do this well, I'm just not going to sit here and name them all. My point is that it's been done well in the past. The technology keeps improving, so there's no reason why the core of gaming has to remain stagnant, or even rescind backwards.

Here's to hoping the golden era of gaming is right around the corner... in the meantime, Fallout 3, GTA4, and MGS4 aren't how we're going to get there.

Oh, and I guess I lied... it was a long post. By the way, my name is Brett. Read more...

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. Read more...

The Sleeper Year of 2009

Forget 2007 and 2008.

As my first official contribution to our brand spankin' new website, I thought I'd kick things off by making a perhaps bold (but what I believe should be somewhat obvious) prediction that 2009 will end up being a sleeper year, becoming the greatest year in gaming since 1998.

There's been a lot of talk by many various outlets about how 2007 and 2008 were some of the best years in gaming history. While I won't argue against the many great games that came out in each of those years, most of the major hits that came out during those times were sequels to major series that were more refinements to existing formulas than true alterations to the series' expectations.

That being said, I've created a list of games that all have been pretty much confirmed for release in 2009. Each of these are titles that have shown real potential to bring something entirely new to the gaming medium, much like the famous titles from 1998 did. As such, any sequels and major titles that, based on early previews, appear to be more derivative and conservative in their execution, have been excluded (i.e. Killzone 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5, etc).

Heavy Rain
Mafia 2
Infamous
Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
God of War III
Beyond Good and Evil 2
Bionic Commando
Alan Wake

Note that the other obvious releases are not on this list, not because they won't probably end up being outstanding games, but because the games listed have the potential to break new ground with the medium if taken in the right directions.

Feel free to email me, and let me know what you think of this list. Did I miss any? Are any overrated? Read more...