• 13May 08

  Good-bye, Ocarina of Time

  I just can't help but feel that Grand Theft Auto IV's rise to glory is overblown. How can a game whose main goal is to provide a violent and sexual power fantasy mostly geared towards adult males be considered even better than a game whose main goal is to provide a beautiful, emotional experience that everyone can enjoy? The latter description refers to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which was recently bested by GTAIV as the best rated game of all time after almost 10 years.

  GTAIV, while providing inmersive gameplay and wonderful though-out mechanics is still a game that puts providing a power fantasy over providing a deep, emotional experience (and accomplishes it well). In other words, whatever such experience may result from GTAIV is a side-effect, not the main, intended effect. OoT, on the other hand, while providing an epic power fantasy as The Hero of Time, is still a game that puts providing a wholesome deep, emotional experience over providing said fantasy (and accomplishes it well). In other words, whatever power fantasy may rersult from OoT is a side-effect, not the main, intended effect.

  By "deep, emotional experience" I mean an experience where experimenting emotions such as happiness, sadness, sorrow, sympathy, apathy, awe, etc. is the intended purpose. "Power fantasies" themselves do not provide these experiences, since they aim to make people feel the "rush" and "glory" of being the best at something, or being (by definition) powerful in some sense. The "power fantasy" appeals to feelings that are simple and physical, the "deep, emotional experience" appeals to emotions that are complex and mental (unique to human nature).

  So while GTAIV can provide the emotional experience, it certainly seeks to provide the power fantasy before anything else. OoT, on the other hand, may provide the power fantasy as a side-effect, but it clearly aims to provide the emotional experience first and foremost with its storytelling and character development.

  This is not to say shooters can't have different priorities: Gears of War, BioShock, and the Metal Gear, Metrod Prime and Half-Life series all have the emotional experience first, and the power fantasy second, since they all shine first and foremost for their atmospheres, stories, and cast of characters, and second (a very close second) for whatever power fantasy they may provide. The fact that all these games take place in fictional worlds may very well be an indicator of how poorly the industry has managed to project realistic shooter experiences so far.

  Fictional worlds can have power fantasies as first priority as well: Halo 2 and Resistance: Fall of Man are good examples. While the Halo series as a whole is strongly story-driven, in Halo 2 the focus clearly shifted to providing the (online) power fantasy over the emotional experience.

  So the question I'd like answered is this: which is more important, the power fantasy or the emotional experience? To this current age in videogame culture, which is most important? The choice is apparently the power fantasy, if GTAIV's scores are to be believed. Then, is this really the kind of videogame culture we want? Opinions are kindly welcomed.

  To me, the best games provide both, but the emotional experience must come first. That's what a masterpiece is all about: providing both, with the emotional experience as first priority. Great games with power fantasy as first priority are always remembered, but quickly put away or resold. Great games with emotional experiences as first priority are also always remembered, but are also usually preserved much longer than other games, both in our shelves in our minds.

  • Posted May 13, 2008 9:08 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 30Apr 08

  The Price of GTAIV's Awesomeness

  Grand Theft Auto IV, the new iteration of the wildly successful series, has hit retailers and Internet communities everywhere with 10's across the board. As it stands, in fact, GTAIV is at the time of this writing, the #1 game of all time, with a full .85% lead over The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; and considering OoT is rated at 97.688%, and that it has retained its #1 status for over 10 years, a .85% difference is a lot. Coupling this with the absurd amount of incredible games that have been released since 2007, it's pretty obvious we're sitting in a post-modern golden age of videogames. There's definitely not a better time to be a gamer than right now.

  Naturally, however, GTAIV will inevitably be accompanied with controversy. Different from the other GTA this time around, is precisely the fact that GTAIV has received such critical acclaim. Will this really make such a difference this time around?

  Just imagine it: "You want proof of how appealing violent videgames are to our children? Look for no further proof than the fact the 'greatest game of all time' is neither Mario or Pokémon, but Grand Theft Auto IV, the very game that has consistently pushed the limits of what is acceptable both in violence and in sexual content; the very game that gives our children the power to behave socially and morally irresponsible with no consequences whatsoever; the very game that turns our children into gangsters and killers, and rewards them extensively for it.

  "This is the game that is loved and acclaimed by the so-called 'gaming community'; this is the game that sells millions upon millions of copies, and finds its way into our children's hands as merely another plaything; this is the game that defines the gaming community.

  "I ask you, who listens to me, is this not a horrible foreboding of our society's future? Is this not a reflection of the sorry state of our youth? Is this not sufficient proof of the horror that our government's inaction on the matter of violence in videogames is spreading into our society?

  "It is knowing this that I propose that videogames...".

  Whether a lame-brain politician will actually use GTAIV's acclaim in such a fanatical way remains to be seen, but either way we should be ready to face the cost of GTAIV's awesomeness, should it ever be billed to us.

  Perhaps Grand Theft Auto IV marks the peak of the new golden age, or perhaps it is only the halfway point, and yet more awesome games will be released in the coming months, though the latter seems highly unlikely (though Metal Gear Solid 4 could prove me wrong; not that I'd mind). All rises to glory are inevitably followed by equally glorious falls; it is our world's nature. And whether it will be caused by GTAIV or not, it is obvious it is near, since it is highly unlikely GTAIV will be surpassed for the next 10 years, should it remain at #1.

  I don't intend to be pessimistic, I just want to say that we should continue to enjoy this golden age of games, and even the time after it, just knowing full well that there will come a time of drought where games that achieve this level of awesomeness will only be seen after quite a few years. So, let's make it a point now, not to say things like "videogames are dead to me; ever since GTAIV, everything's been crap," come the year 2015, or something like that. After the first golden age of arcades and Atari, the "silver age" of Nintendo, the "silver age" of FFVII/Ocarina of Time, the "silver age" of PS2, and now the new golden age of... awesomeness, we should know better.

  Just have fun with whatever comes our way in the coming years, whether it reaches the level of awesomeness of this golden age or not, and don't bother other gamers with the "videogames will never be the same" idea. Patience; a new age will come.

  • Posted Apr 30, 2008 9:10 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 10Jan 08

  The Death of Anime (and the Fate of Videogames)

  2007 was a wonderful year for videogames. It saw the release of games like Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, Bioshock, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, among many other great titles. It wasn't, however, a great year for anime. In fact, it was a horrible one. Geneon USA closed up shop, The Anime Network 24/7 channel was dropped, and very few of the year's anime (both newly released in Japan, and licensed outside of Japan) were noteworthy. Anime DVD sales plummeted, and the industry is in a generally degenerate state.

  How did we get here? How can something that caused such a cultural explosion be about to die?

  An animnewsnetwork editor wrote that one of the greatest problems is the fact that neither Japan nor the countries that import anime have truly dedicated themselves to finding an effective way to distribute anime quickly and inexpensively outside Japan. In other words, fansubbing is one of the reasons the anime industry is collapsing, but the blame for the fansubs falls upon the anime industry itself; not on the users who download the fansubs. I agree that it is mostly the fault of the industry itself, but I'd be morally corrupt to say we users aren't to blame also.

  In the end, anime lacks an effective means of distribution outside Japan.

  The sad thing is that even if we had an effective means of distribution, we'd have no good anime to import. 2007 saw very few great anime releases. What's more, established favorites slipped considerably in quality (Naruto Shippuuden is a far cry from the original, pre-filler run of the series). Moe continues to infest anime releases, corrupting the industry with deranged Japanese otaku fantasies.

  In the end, crappy anime is much too common.

  The few titles that are actually good will usually have very small potential of generating any real money, thanks to the fansub community. Anime licenses are very expensive, and if the anime generates no profits, the licensing companies (responsible for making anime widely available to us) are the ones who suffer.

  In the end, anime's target audience doesn't buy anime.

  And why don't they buy it? There are many reasons (mostly because it can be found free at the risk of lower quality), but one very influential one is the perspective some people have of anime. Some of the people who don't buy anime are simply (understandably) not interested in viewing anime as an art form or anything more than "cool cartoons", and thus only want to watch anime much like we watch TV, and don't necessarily feel drawn to spending money on anime, much like we don't always buy series we watch. And those of us who do view anime as an art form and something other than just "cool cartoons" feel many times drawn to owning the anime we like, but soon find it is very expensive to have large collections. And so we are limited to only buying certain series (like I do) or not buying anime at all (like many do) and rely on fansubs to create our collection.

  In the end, there are many "casual" anime watchers that won't buy anime, and anime is too expensive for dedicated fans.

  Through fansubs, anime (much like the music and movie industries) has fallen prey to rampant digital piracy. But while movies can generate millions through the box office, anime (like music) must rely on the people that buy the hard-copy releases to generate money. Movies can co-exist with piracy, and since DVDs, Blu-Rays, and HD-DVDs aren't terribly expensive, it can still generate significant profits from its hard-copy releases. Music and anime don't have this advantage.

  In the end, anime hasn't found an effective way to counteract the effect of piracy.

  Anime will die in the coming months.

  And what does this spell for videogames? The music and anime industry have both been toppled by digital piracy. Videogames are purely digital media. Game piracy has already grown significantly in the last decade, and unlike movies, videogames don't have a "box office" of sorts that will generate income regardless of whether people buy games or not. The videogame industry is on top right now, and is in the perfect spot to prepare countermeasures against piracy. Appropiate measures must be taken now. Let's at the very least learn from other fallen industries.

  I hope that anime dies much like videogames did: they were great, they collapsed, and then they revived into a striving industry. I also hope that better technology is developed to prevent piracy in general, so that in 20 years from now artist is still considered a profitable profession.

  • Posted Jan 10, 2008 10:43 am GMT
  • Category: Editorial
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