Archive for October, 2008
23 October 2008
Ever hear of l’art pour l’art? Art for art’s sake? I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. It’s the philosophy expressing that art should be free from any didactic or utilitarian function.
When I first started drafting this post, I’d intended to prattle on about the (usually somewhat one-sided) dialogue that occurs where developer intent meets player interaction. Play, I reasoned, is casual experimentation. It teaches. As gamers, we take our learning experiences with us and apply them to new situations. Though a game’s lessons may not always be what its designers have in mind, games nevertheless seek to impart something, and therefore are not complete merely on their own time.
Or so I thought. Perhaps this was a silly assumption. In any case, the stuff I’ve been playing lately has caused me to reevaluate.
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Tags:art, art for art's sake, Baiyon, Cruise Elroy, Deus Ex, Deus Ex: The Conspiracy, Everyday Shooter, Ion Storm, jazz, Jonathan Mak, l'art pour l'art, ludology, narratology, NYT, Oslo/Chicago: Breaks, PixelJunk, PixelJunk Eden, Powerhouse Sound, The New York Times
Posted in Blogroll, Sony PlayStation 3, entertainment, essay, film, gaming, literature, music | 6 Comments »
14 October 2008
The Darkness is an absolutely fascinating game. It’s a joyous mess of great ideas, missed opportunities, and sloppy execution. As Jackie Estacado, an orphan raised by a Don of the New York Mafia, you navigate a particularly sordid incarnation of New York City, all the while performing acts of ultra-violent revenge and…cloyingly wholesome kindness. All things considered, you’re not unlike some sort of gothic Robin Hood.
Except, that is, for the pair of eel-headed tentacles growing out your back.
These little suckers are the physical embodiment of the titular Darkness, an ancient power that thrives in shadow. They have an appetite for human hearts and speak via psychic link in a single hissing voice. But when Estacado enters a well-lit, heavily populated area, they won’t even rear their ugly heads. Which leaves our anti-hero free to be his loving, caring, sensitive self.
A person slightly at odds with his occupation as Franchetti family hitman.
So — to reiterate: it’s a joyous mess and an absolutely fascinating game. Thankfully, however, The Darkness isn’t interesting because it’s problematic…it’s problematic because it’s interesting.
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Tags:2K Games, Cosa Nostra, Jackie Estacado, Mafia, New York, New York City, NYC, Robin Hood, Starbreeze Studios, The Darkness, Top Cow Productions
Posted in Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, entertainment, film, gaming, music, review, television | 2 Comments »
9 October 2008
Much as I’d like to be, I’m not an early adopter. I simply don’t have the money to embrace potentially flawed technologies. That said, I’ve always found a certain degree of convergence capable of pushing me right over the edge. For instance, when Blu-ray won the high-definition format war, that did it. I’d held out for ages, but suddenly, owning an HDTV was a downright irresistible proposition.
Perhaps more importantly, Blu-ray’s dominance gave me an excuse to invest in a Sony PlayStation 3.
My delayed next gen hardware gratification took many forms. As previously noted, it allowed me to experience HD film, games, and TV at home. The PS3’s been my go-to engine for the vast majority of this high-definition entertainment. I use it mostly for gaming, and (naturally) the graphics are stunning. But in all honesty, increased visual fidelity has had much less of an impact on my game playing than some of its other features.
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Tags:Achievement points, Blu-ray, Gamerscore, HDTV, high-definition, level, Microsoft, next gen, next generation, PlayStation Network, PSN, Sony, trophies, trophy, Xbox Live
Posted in Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, entertainment, essay, film, gaming, technology, television | Leave a Comment »
8 October 2008
I first encountered the following essay on Jason Kottke’s wonderful “home of fine hypertext products.” Kottke characterized it as an ode, but I saw an altogether different animal. Originally extolling the virtues of the short story, Steven Millhauser’s New York Times piece struck me as a manifesto for independent video game developers.
I’ve reproduced Millhauser’s work below, substituting “independent video game” and “Triple-A game” for ”short story” and “novel,” respectively.
[...]
The independent video game — how modest in bearing! How unassuming in manner! It sits there quietly, eyes lowered, almost as if trying not to be noticed. And if it should somehow attract your attention, it says quickly, in a brave little self-deprecating voice alive to all the possibilities of disappointment: “I’m not a Triple-A game, you know. Not even a short one. If that’s what you’re looking for, you don’t want me.” Rarely has one form so dominated another. And we understand, we nod our heads knowingly: here in America, size is power. The Triple-A game is the Wal-Mart, the Incredible Hulk, the jumbo jet of gaming. The Triple-A game is insatiable — it wants to devour the world. What’s left for the poor independent video game to do? It can cultivate its garden, practice meditation, water the geraniums in the window box. It can take a course in creative nonfiction. It can do whatever it likes, so long as it doesn’t forget its place – so long as it keeps quiet and stays out of the way. “Hoo ha!” cries the Triple-A game. “Here ah come!” The independent video game is always ducking for cover. The Triple-A game buys up the land, cuts down the trees, puts up the condos. The independent video game scampers across a lawn, squeezes under a fence.
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Tags:Jason Kottke, Kottke, kottke.org, novel, NYT, short story, Steven Millhauser, The New York Times
Posted in Blogroll, entertainment, essay, gaming, literature, manifesto, substitution | 7 Comments »
