Michael Abbott, who writes a blog called The Brainy Gamer, has a new post that strikes the same chord that our own Charles Berkeley Miller often does, musing on the design and culture of sports and intimating how it might overlap with digital game design. Abbott’s post is about the joys of keeping score in Baseball, and he wonders aloud if maybe some video games, specifically RPGs, wouldn’t benefit from more openly embracing their numerical side.
Archive for June, 2008
I’ve been reading theories about games and game design for a long time, and I’m always happy to come across writers and thinkers whose ideas interest me. Recently I discovered two writers who are approaching games from a very systematic, design-oriented perspective.
The new issue of the Escapist has an essay by Jason Rohrer in which he outlines his hopes and dreams for the future of games. Though the piece is wide-ranging, the core of his argument is that the problem with the industry is actually that most developers put gameplay first, trumping whatever artistic visions the creators might have had. According to Rohrer, in order to elevate games to a form of ‘high art’ it’s going to take putting the gameplay, as defined by the mechanics of a game, in service of the expressive potential of games, instead of rehashing old genres and slapping on any theme that comes to mind.
400 Words About Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Published by June 20th, 2008 in 400 Words. 2 CommentsLet’s clear one thing up right off the bat: Hideo Kojima does not make games.
Kojima makes media products that incorporate games. They also incorporate animated movies, as well as motion graphic novels, as well as radio dramas. Calling them ‘interactive movies’ though would be like calling film ‘recorded dramatics’.
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Dispatches: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part Three; Or: Dulce Et Decorum Est
Published by June 17th, 2008 in Dispatches. 1 Comment
Today on the Dispatches, we reach the end of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and perhaps the end of the Solid Snake’s story, altogether. But just because the Metal Gear saga’s over doesn’t mean the series isn’t about to continue, in all likelihood.
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Every now and then I play a video game that really shows what’s possible with the medium. A game where the context and the gameplay are tightly woven, with the meaning reinforced by every element, from the smallest player action to the larger possibility space. It’s even better when a game like this is really about something. Something that sticks with you long after you’ve stepped away from the screen.
Dispatches: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part Two; Or: Peace Is Our Profession
Published by June 15th, 2008 in Dispatches. 0 Comments
Today on the Dispatches, we cover the next stretch of Snake’s journey, all the way from the jungles of South America to the darkness of Shadow Moses, with a little bit of Eastern Europe along the way, and explore how Kojima manages to save this game from his own poor plotting with good old fashioned hunting and surrealism.
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Dispatches: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part One; Or: Why We Fight
Published by June 13th, 2008 in Dispatches. 2 Comments
Today on the Dispatches– oh, who am I kidding? Like none of you saw this coming…
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Adam Parrish gets a nice shout out from GrandTextAuto.org for his thesis “New Interfaces for Textual Expression.”
Ian Bogost has already expressed some love in the comments, too!
Dispatches: No More Heroes, Part Three; Or: Raise High the Beam Katana, Carpenters!
Published by June 9th, 2008 in Dispatches. 3 Comments
Today on the Dispatches, we finally reach the finish line of Suda 51’s No More Heroes, a real piece-of-work in every meaning of the phrase.
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