Pixilated Wonderland

Spore: If Done Well Enough, Perhaps the Best Game Ever

2007-04-25T12:23:00.000-06:00

As the title suggests, I was extremely impressed with the videos and commentaries on Spore. The several reasons are listed below.

Perspective. I've always enjoyed simulation games, but Spore seems to take the cake. The idea that you can advance a species from the molecular level to space age is incredible. The inspiration video serves as a great depiction of this perspective, apply a concrete medium to understand something like evolution that for most people exists in only abstract thoughts.

Assortment of Several Games. While the game is created by the simulation master, it does appear to have many types of games built into it. The first molecular stage does look like Pac-man. The civilization stage looks more like an action/adventure game with possible algorithmic stategies built in. The space age appears, on the grander stage, like space strategy game where you have to make sure your resources and "assimilate" different places. It's not to say that the game designer will implement all these genres completely, but it at the very least pays homage to them.

Endless Gameplay. From the looks of it, I believe I could play Spore for the rest of my life and still find things new and interesting about it. Especially considering how the game is called "massively single play," incorporating data from other users' files, the possibilities of interaction are endless. This may be the greatest part of all: the user's strong impact on his or her experience. Instead of following a fine line toward a certain goal, as in most other games, Spore offers the game more freedom to manipulate the game and its code in broader, more desirable ways. Everyone has a unique experience.

I'm not sure this game can meet my expections, because if it did, I might not have a social life anymore.

Novels and Games: Peas and Carrots?

2007-04-23T11:20:00.000-06:00

So at the beginning of another one my English classes, I have been having discussions with the professor about the validity of studying games. The basic argument against video games, as I see it, is that video games as a visual experience has so much going on that it can miss the subtleties that the novel's language can achieve.

We live in an increasingly visual society. With the emergence of movies, television, and now video games -- all staples of popular society -- looking at things has been considerably more "important" than reading things.

I, however, would like to suggest that while things have become more visual, reading is still a part of the art.

Visual Art. Like interpretting a painting, video games have scenes that merit examination. Take Okami for example. The beautiful cell shading reflects the mystical and spiritual elements. If the game were built like any other game, it would not leave the same impact on the gamer. It would not have the same quality.

Interface. There are always signs in a game when you are supposed to hit a button. Some games let you have a choice when you want to hit the button (Mario jumping over the chasm). Other times the moment comes so quickly that if you mistime it, you have to start over again. This addition to the narrative, making the gamer physically feel a part of the experience, allows the gamer to feel like a part of the experience.

In my final project I want to explore these and other issues and compare them to how a novel works. I believe our discussion on agency and how the text of the media introduces ideas is helpful.

Game or Not a Game?

2007-04-07T10:03:00.000-06:00

This is the what I came up with in class inductively to with the "gameness" of Facade:

Myst is similar to Façade in the way you manipulate the environment and progresses through non-linear puzzles. Myst is a puzzle game. Since Myst is a game, and Façade is similar, Façade is mostly likely a game.

Let me expand on this with some support:

Games--computer games in particular--appeal because they are configurative, offering the chance to manipulate complex systems within continuous loops of intervention, observation, and response. (Moulthrop FP 63)

Any game consists of three aspects: (1) rules, (2) a material/semiotic system (a gameworld), and (3) gameplay (the events resulting from application of the rules to the gameworld). Of these three, the semiotic system is the most coincidental to the game. (Aarseth FP 47-48)

Moulthrop's quote concerning "intervention, observation, and response" works well with the principles present in Myst and Facade. In both games the gamer finds themselves intervening, in the sense that their is an artificial, algorithmic pattern occuring and the game tries to manipulate that to progress. In Myst this is largely present in the skilled use of switches, pulleys, etc. Facade has this element in the quick text entries given to the AI. Observation is self-explanatory; both games encourage the player to use his or her surroundings to progress the game. Response comes after the player's maniplulations, leading to the advancement to another world (Myst) or the mending of a relationship (Facade).

Aaseth also has a three part elemented observation to describe the content of a game. All games have rules. Myst, though much more non-linear that other games, does have rules built into the game. A cardinal rule would appear to be the limited ways you can move; you can only walk into the frame the game will allow you. Facade has a similar rule of restriction, allowing only certain entered text to cause a response. Aarseth's use of the word "coincidental" for the material world strikes me as appropriate. Both games use graphical architecture to create worlds (however fanciful in Myst's case) altogether unique. Just as the egg comes before the chicken, so the gameworld comes before the game, giving birth to the ruled experience gamers enjoy.

I'm not convinced to this argument, but I try to engage some critics to support such a way of thinking. It's on that fine border line between game/no game.

Self-Experimentation: Final Project

2007-03-25T14:47:00.001-06:00

So I've been looking around on the internet for a while (on and off), and it was just a matter of time before I thought of the correct sequence of words to find some interesting ideas for my final project.

As I've told a few of you, I'd like to do a formal "self-experiment" on myself involving the effects of video game violence. I have a couple of ideas:

First, in a general sense, I found stuff on the scientific method. I figure for anything I would do to be taken remotely seriously, I would have to adhere to the scientific method. So first would be the research phase, which I am beginning to enter right here and as I begin to play the game (not to mention all the other violent games I've played). Research has also been a large part of the class, since we had the presentation on Resistance: Fall of Man and Zelda/Okami, all of which involve some degree of violence.

The next step would be the formulation of a hypothesis. I believe in the "keep it simple" dogma (i.e., Ockham's Razor). There are several possible hypotheses I could choose, but when it comes down to it, the one with the fewest complexities will be the easiest to work with and prove/disprove.

Then there's the predicition aspect. This is fairly self-explanatory. I expect little to no change in behavior.

Then comes the actual experiment. I found this Roberts and Neuringer article on self-experimentation, where one of the discussions revolves around behavioral studies. They even offer a numerical scale for quantifying behavior changes. So I wanted to use ideas these guys presented and have sketched out ways of planning the experiment:

The constant would be the game and setting. The game would be God of War II and the setting would be my room, at a fixed distance from the television sceen in the same chair (to eliminate any accident variables).

Possible variables:
Time playing the game, e.g., half hour compared to two hours.
Toggling the settings (difficulty, blood animation, etc.)
Presence/Absence of Sound

I've also got two other ideas floating around in my head:
The inclusion of another, non-violent game (like Tetris) as means of comparison.
The inclusion of randomization. Let's say, after I play for an hour, I write down the first dozen words that immediately come to my head.

Finally, there is the conclusion, which at this point I can obviously say little.

Please send any comments you have or articles you might have come across. I'm trying to base this in the scientific method, but I'm the first to admit I'm no scientist. I really think little actual attempts (besides mindless correlations made by politicians) have been made in this area that has such a prominent place in adolescent (and yes, adult) culture. I'd like to have some sort of video presentation for the exerpiment as well, but obviously a lot of that has yet to be worked out.

References:

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~roberts/self/#Mood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-experimentation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ockham%27s_razor
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/scientific_method.html

God of War II: First Impressions

2007-03-19T17:57:00.001-06:00

So after having seen 300, God of War II is the perfect next step to the violence study I plan to do for my final project. I've played through the first hour of the game, and the gratuitous violence and nudity doesn't stop. I would like this opportunity, however, to argue that the gratuity does not limit the games capacity to reach its audience on a meaningful level. In fact, I think it has much to offer the thoughtful gamer.

Moreso in this game (so I am told) than in its predecessor, mythology has a greater role at the story's center. More is more, but it has a purposeful place. Yesterday I was reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and I found a place where the narrator, Jake, references one of the characters as Circe, a goddess from Homer's Odyssey. God of War II takes that sort of metaphor to ancient culture and extends it to its fullest capacity. Already in the game's first hour I see the manipulative relationship gods have with humans. That point does not stray at all far from depictions gathered in Homer's epic poetry. Regardless if the game's authors depict the mythological facts correctly, they have a core theme in place that is central to mythology of antiquity.

However, as I type I notice a potential counterargument. From my perspective, someone could say the FPS persona Duke Nukem is a satiric, pointing to modern decedence and excess. Duke Nukem, a lewd, foul-mouthed gunslinger, would be far removed from many thoughtful gamers' minds. However, just like there is no "reading too much into" Hemingway, as long as you have the support of the text, you as a reader and gamer can make any argument valid. There very well may be elements in Duke Nukem that could support this argument (admitedly, I have not play the game in a long time). But certainly the argument could be made above for God of War II.

This is my jumping point into my research. Please provide any insights you all might have that you think would be helpful.

Games and Music

2007-03-12T23:05:00.000-06:00

We saw before the the break the extensive detail given to sound effects in Resistance: Fall of Man. The shrapnel grenade had an individually programmed sound for each shrapnel's hit of a particular surface. But the musical soundtrack -- varying in composition from game to game -- plays second violinist to graphics and gameply, somewhat unjustly.

A band by the name Select Start performs their own rock renditions of many popular video game anthems (e.g., Castlevania, Metroid). Bands like these cover their favorite video game tracks and play them in front of crowds. Nobuo Uematsu, composer of most of the Final Fantasy game soundtracks, tours performing some of his game music around the world. People find video game music entertaining outside the games which they normally inhabit.

Much effort goes into composing a video game soundtrack. A game for PS2 called Xenosaga even uses the talents of the London Philharmonic Orchestra to compose a soundtrack that enhances the game while standing on its own merits. The same could be said for movie soundtracks, and video games use music in a similar way.

Now that I've briefly established that video game music is popular and important to the game, it is important to note again that video game music is a clique-ish by default, even though its increasingly becoming a valued part of the gaming experience. Some electronica music, taking inspiration from jazz, also finds material from even the 8-bit Nintendo games. As video games become a greater part of our cultural experience, the music they present, especially that which is well-composed, becomes a part of our musical cultural history.

Looking to the Shadows for Guidance

2007-03-02T11:35:00.000-06:00

After thinking more about the Wark interview and what he said about looking more at the shadows in Plato's Allegory of the Cave than for the shadows' sources (the Ideal), I tried to think of way I could concretely justify this with elements I saw in the presentation of Resistance: Fall of Man yesterday. FPS does provide an interesting way for attempting to create an authentic illusion of reality.

The game does capture elements of war that would otherwise be absent from many people's experiences. The interface suggest that the gamer holds the weapon and responds to the sounds and movement presented by the speakers (even more intensified by surround sound) and the TV. The feeling of urgency that often comes out in a battle is mimicked in a game. In that sense this "shadow" of a real experience aid in understanding.

However, there are plenty of elements in the game that do not refeclt anything. Many of the weapon do not exist (alien), and the enemies, though humanoid, have transformed feature that dehumanizes them. The gamer kills a cartoon rather than an actual representation of a person. Most importantly, the type of fiction the narrative presents is escapist, not really engaging the gamer into any introspection.

Overall, like books, FPS provides insights into what might be an Ideal, but ultimately just presents one of the chained person's perspectives.

Cultural Artifacts

2007-02-18T14:32:00.000-06:00

"More than a boundary or a sealed border, the paratext is, rather, a threshold"
Genette, Paratext: Thresholds of Interpretation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratext

In an earlier post I had explored ways in which cultures, consciously or subconsciously, expressed themselves in video games. Now, as we are continuously touching upon this term "paratext," I wonder if it does not cover these cultural phenomena that become largely apparent to the gamer.

Let me express the thought process that lead me to this journal entry.
I was catching up on the world news, and I came upon the headlines that North Korea is in the process of discontinuing their nuclear programs, talking with representatives from the U.S., Russia, and Japan. This sparked a thought about nuclear reactors and the great degree modern society finds itself immersed in this technology.

I thought back to one of my all-time favortite games: Final Fantasy VII. You start out in the highly industrialized, smog and dirt filled city of Midgar. Here's a picture from the opening FMV:

From this city surrounded by "Mako Reactors," I got the feel that maybe the authors of the game were trying to tell me something about the world in which we live. The Midgar culture is entirely dependent on these reactors for energy, which, the gamer later find out, literally "suck" the life force from the planet. Many could compare this to the social concerns people have today about nuclear power and our growing dependency on resources that are harmful to the planet (i.e., that lead to global warmings).

"Para" is the Ancient Greek preposition meaning "near to." Genette aptly constructs a word that leaves much room for interpretation. Paratext can include all which is associated with the main text. So these cultural inspirations for the authors, interpretations for the reader, become part of that paratext, usually manifest in critical reviews.

These sorts of cultural artifacts do preserve the culture and, as in the example above, point to cultural concerns.

Giving Audiences More Respect

2007-02-16T11:55:00.000-06:00

Perhaps this comes our generation's ever-shortening attention span, a motif that seems to come up in my blogs, but does anyone else think that some games deliberately aim at those lower standards? This goes beyond my previous entry on graphics and narrative.

I think this reflects a bit on the discussion we had in class Thursday, 2/15, about paratext and canon: what should be included in each category. This blog brings that idea to a more overarching sense of games and, for that matter, novels and movies: do authors deliberately dumb down their work to make their stuff more palatable to a wide audience?

I read a few online sites that often mention the declining state of movies. Movies are not made with the same quality that they were even in the previous decade. This may sound like grandpaw's argument about the good ol' days, when the world was full of heroes, but it seems to have some substance to it. Take the most recent attempt at romantic drama, and compare it to Casablanca. Does any of it stack up?

In almost every English class I've had, the professor will, directly or indirectly, refer to the declining state of the novel. Who is the great American novelist of our day and age? Stephen King?

Now I've been a gamer for a long while now, and games today seem to have less of a quality approach than they did a decade ago. I'll be the first one to say I'm wrong and I'm just acting like one of those nostalgic grandpaws. But could it have truth to it?

It's an inner debate I'm having with no clear-cut answer. If you guys have any comments, hopefully it will expand this sketch of ideas (which probably has one of those "art vs pop culture" lead ins written somewhere, which I did not necessarily intend) and lead to...well, something.

Graphic Architecture versus Game Narrative: Survival of the Fittest?

2007-02-12T14:52:00.000-06:00

Comparing Myst's graphics to its narrative, it might be easy to argue that graphics prevail. The story is so convoluted (and, for the most part, hardly accessible to any but the most industrious gamer) that it seems to fall short. Yet Myst proves to be special, in that the gamer creates his or her own narrative, choosing which puzzles to solve and which Ages to go through first. The non-linear basis of Myst allows the gamer to write his or her own story.

However, that could be a thing of the past. Games developers (as taken from various interviews) seem focused on always marketing the game on its graphical strengths. Indeed, the majority of pre-release videos out there show off FMV (full motion video) cutscenes as opposed to actual game play. Notice the Okami clip our group showed in class. Though it did not make it to the final cut, the basis for that marketing plan, and many others like it, was to show off the games graphics.

Now, I could speculate on and generalize about various reasons why this happens. This generation's group of gamers has a notoriously short attention span (something I can be guilty of), a primary reason why they leave the books on the shelves in the first place. Also, much of the graphical work out there is gorgeous, and certainly deserves praise for its accomplishment and the labor ivolved in its making. It's just that much easier to market.

But take the Mario series: doesn't Mario still have a narrative, albeit a simple one? Save the princess from Bowser. That's the underlying objective, but there's more to it than that. Each Mario game puts out a new twist on how you, as the gamer, accomplish this goal. The first NES game has you going on, above, and under the earth to get to Bowser's fortress, encountering different enemies and different situations. The Nintendo 64 version, the first 3-D one, has you jumping through paintings (an interesting study right there) to go through different types of worlds. While the plot is the same, the story is not.

So, back to Myst, the narrative is more than the plot. Myst does not have much of an ostensible plot (unless you really dig into it). But what it does have is a narrative, one which the gamer helps create. That's part of its allure. This idea remains in games today -- RPGs like Final Fantasy, Adventure games like Zelda, and even Grand Theft Auto. While its not the most marketable aspect, it rests as a firm part of gaming.

Self-Referencing in Games

2007-02-05T22:16:00.000-06:00

In my Modern Novel class today, the professor mentioned on an aside that postmodern novels tend to self-refernce themselves, making the reader aware that he or she is reading a book. I thought about it, and I have determined with fair certainty that all games have self-referential qualities.

I came up with this list of different instances of self-referencing:

Spelling out the game's controls, usually at the beginning -- Notable in pretty much every game I have played, games' beginnings lay out specific ground rules for how to manipulate the games' universe. This might be to press X to speak to an NPC (non-playable character) in an RPG or even the ever-present guide to the popular simulation/sports game, Wii Sports.

Characters noticing they are in game -- This is a much rarer instance, but I have noticed a few times in my gaming experience characters that seem aware they are part of a game. Sometimes characters spell out the controls to the gamer. Other times a silent character might look into the "camera" to express a state of unknowing. The classic example: "It's up to you to [insert epic goal here]!"

Humor -- Sometimes games will reference things that do not exist in that game's world. After creative a massively complex fantasy world, making a reference to something non-existent in that world (but existent in ours) would reveal that the game has self-awarenes.

Other examples probably exist, but these are the ones that come to my mind. This is another way how text in general is almost a living, breathing creature, adapting to and absorbing the world around it.

Myst and Framing

2007-01-31T14:09:00.000-06:00

Like novels and motion pictures, Myst has a way of framing what the audience (herein, gamer) sees. Nothing should be discounted as insignificant, especially in a game like this. Close attention is warranted. So I would like to briefly examine more closely the opening frame and look closely for what might be the motivated details. The point of this is to understand not only that these details are useful for solving puzzles, but a vital part of the text of the game.

Here's the first frame of the game:

This is the very first frame the gamer sees in his/her unexplained start of the game. A few things come immediately to mind: 1) you're at the very least on a coast (and, indeed, on an island), 2) it's daytime, and 3) the terrain is unorthodox (the gears in the plateau). These details might be taken for granted by a gamer just embarking on a new game. However, these details have significant bearings on how the author crafts. The seeing the coast immediately gives the gamer a feeling of seclusion, especially with the sunken ship. No life appears to operate on this harbor. The author chose daylight not only to show off his/her cool ability to make shadows, but to also highlight the oddness of the setting. Finally, the unorthodox terrain, namely the gear in the plateau, provides a clear image to the gamer (who can be considered the audience and narrator in a way) that this world of Myst, as the title implies, is fanciful, strange, and intriguing.

Just like the opening paragraph of a good novel always aims to make the reader think/feel a specific way, Myst as a game does the same. It provokes feelings of isolation and interest, just by use of details in the setting. Gamers (like readers) take for granted the detail while embarking on the ever-frustating yet addictive puzzles.

The Legend of Zelda and Medieval Courtly Love

2007-01-28T12:13:00.000-06:00

Upon thinking of the archetype of the green-clad knight the world has grown so fond of, Link, I realized where the author(s) received their inspiration from: medieval courtly love. The idea of courtly love is simple enough. The hero goes on a quest, typically with some antagonist trying to halt his every step, to prove himself and, invariably, win the affection of noble lady. Edmund Spencer's
The Faerie Queene, a British Renaissance poem, underscores the idea of medieval courtly love in the relationship of the Redcrosse Knight (Saint George) and Una. The Redcrosse Knight goes through many trials and tribulations to woo Una and earn her love.

I would argue that Link's (basically eternal) struggle with Ganondorf to save the princess is a reflection of this idea of medieval courtly love. First, it is necessary to provide a brief synopsis of the Zelda bLink starts out each of his journeys in a small village with little to no knowledge of what his future epic quest will be. Princess Zelda eventually (or immediately) becomes Ganondorf's captive, and Link struggles with various challenges to eventually defeat Ganondorf and save the princess.

This game has to have gotten inspiration from medieval courtly romance for at least three visible reasons. One, the setting clearly reflects a medieval setting. Link, with sword and shield in hand, traverses a medieval setting full of castles, farms, and small villages, void of any modern technology, in a word hierarchically not so different from the British feudal system. Two, Link fights a villain clearly inspired by the "Turkish Snipe" archetype. Ganondorf, with his darker skin, red hair, and overall distinguishing feautures, has a noticeable similarity to the foreign representation of an Eastern person (i.e., the Turks and foreigners encountered in the crusades). Lastly, the triforce of power, not far from the Christian Holy Trinity, is central to all of Link's quests and underscores the importance of this Western influence. Link harrows through hell (i.e., Ganondorf's world) to save a pure soul (Zelda) from evil. Although these games never end with Zelda and Link's marriage, the games certainly leaves room for interpretation. The overall feel from the games suggests a borrowing from the ideas found in medieval romance.

To conclude, this example shows not only a link between two different forms of texts, but also signifies the interesting fascination Japanese culture has with the West.

Text within Text

2007-01-22T22:52:00.000-06:00

"I define 'texts' to include verbal, visual, oral, and numeric data, in the form of maps, prints, and music, of archives of recorded sound, of films, videos, and any computer-stored information, everything in fact from epigraphy to the latest forms of discography. . . . Until our own time, the only textual records created in any quantity were manuscripts and books. . . . A slight extension of the principle--it is I believe the same principle--to cope with the new kinds of material constructions we have in the form of non-book texts which now surround, inform, and pleasure us does not seem to me a radical departure from precedent." (McKenzie 13-14)

Voice acting is growing into a more popular medium for dipicting a video game's narrative than the traditional text boxes. Most of the exposition in Final Fantasy XII is shown in brief cinemas, using the Playstation 2's hardware to its fullest to generate crisp, life-like scenes among the characters. A question arises: does this transition to voice acting begin to nail the lid shut on the coffin of text within the game, especially those with deep narratives? More importantly, does it even matter? Is dramatization better than text boxes?

McKenzie uses the word "text" as a blanket term, covering more than the written word and encompassing the various forms of media still developing around the world (ala YouTube). By this notion, voice acting is a part of the larger text of the game that has a valid existence. Just as certain novels, one form of text, have been made into motional pictures, certain character interactions in games, especially RPGs (Role Playing Games), normally fleshed out with miniature boxes with words, now have full motion videos with actors (giving Mark Hamil [a.k.a. Luke Skywalker] a boost to his already iconical status). McKenzie, from the quote above, would seem to agree that voice-acted only adds to a video game's allure.

However, coming from the tradtion of the word boxes, I appreciate what they accomplish. Having little to work with (8 or 16-bit graphics), game designers and writers used these boxes, primarily for dialogue, to leave more for the gamer to interpret. In a novel the exact tone of a speak is unknown; the narrator's perspective usually inhibits a precise interpretation. The variance in interpretations for an acted piece, however, has little ambiguity, since the gamer hears the speech from the proverbial "horse's mouth." The allure of the simple text boxes endures even as technology grows more expansive.