Saturday 11 June 2011

Gaming: The New Canvas

As now I sit at my lovely computer having my exams and major commitments behind me or ignorable, I would like to talk about my feelings on gaming, and what it means to me.

As you may be able to tell by my blog title, I believe gaming is an art form, something in which artists who understand and can utilize it can weave forms of art that are to be admired and cherished. However, I do not see many games fully utilize the medium onto which they are born. Games like Call of Duty, while enjoyable, are merely nothing more than interactive movies, I don't feel as though I have any real influence over the story, nor do I feel my actions progress it. Contrast this with my favourite game of all time, Ever17: The Out of Infinity, which, while the story maintained a linear progression, unfurled itself in a way that made the player feel involved in such a way that gives you the feeling of tremendous control over the story, while not actually doing so.

Game companies, I feel, need to NOT follow the Hollywood blockbuster approach and focus on creating an experience than not only pull the player in but immerses the player in it. My 2nd favourite game of all time is another Visual Novel, Kana: Little Sister. Kana utilizes a games ability to not only tell a twisting narrative, but make the narrative, direction and ending feel unique to the way the player choose to nurture his terminally ill sister Kana. This cause a heavy emotional investment in the story and the way you begin to approach some of the major decisions later on in the game. It also caused it to be renowned for being THE crying game. When I first played it, I got the ending called Snow. I have never ever, even when my Grandfather died, cried so hard in my entire life. It was so twisting, heart wrenching and emotional, I cried solidly the entire last hour playing (for what was at the time 4 years since I had last cried). I dragged myself to bed, cried myself to sleep, teared up at the very thought of what unfurled in that ending for the next week and could not bring myself to load up the game for another 2 weeks. This can not be done in any other medium, this level of investment can only be reached in incredibly well manipulated and thought out video games. Until Ever17 came along a year ago, not a single game could even touch how highly I regard this game, it went Kana>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Everything else. Even then Ever17 wins ever so slightly and even then I'm not sure if I would think of it in the same way if I had played them the other way around.

I wrote this piece to convey how I feel about gaming in general, and with my upcoming reviews now that I am on holdiays bare in mind this is the approach I shall take to game reviewing. How well games utilize the medium to convey their message.

So my dear followers, What is your favourite game and why? And what makes it your favourite?

21 comments:

  1. I cant say I have a favorite game but I love smash'em up or cut'em all games like Ninja Gaiden,Onimusha or Devil may cry.Why?...Because I love action.

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  2. I love quite a few games but if forced to choose I would pick Halo. I know that there are some games that are better and more sophisticated but I would always go back to Halo.

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  3. You are right, Kana is great

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  4. I really loved Elite Beat Agents on the DS. I can pick it up anytime casually, have some fun and be entertain by it's crazy comedy.

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  5. Quoting you "Games like Call of Duty, while enjoyable, are merely nothing more than interactive movies" - completely agree bro.

    My favourite game? Deus Ex and Kotor. I love the RPG-style games. Everything about them, the connection to them makes it my favourite.

    I am also looking forward to SWTOR and DX:HR as both of them are modern continuations of my old, beloved games.

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  6. As I said in my blog, I regard Final Fantasy IX as one of the best games I have ever played, mostly because it opened the door to more serious gaming for me. There is, however, another game which I consider to truly be the greatest game ever made...

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  7. I like you passion about Video Games, man. I really can't say; I appreciate them all and they way I look at it is, on a typical video game, I've spent hours of my life on them, so I can always look back at a title and relate it to a period of my life.

    Pretty deep stuff.

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  8. nice post. snes emulator = f-zero

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  9. I agree with you. There is far too much emphasis on the usual hollywood explosive fast paced action oriented style. Never heard of Kana before though, will have to check it out.

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  10. I can't really nail down my favorite game but something that really matters to me is good voice acting.

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  11. What you said about your belief that games are an art form struck a chord with me. Once I was listening to the FFX soundtrack and my roommate came out and started talking to me about how video game music was "surprisingly good". I asked, confused, why he said "surprisingly" and he paused. There was a moment while we both tried to sort out where we were mis-communicating. Then he laughed and said, "Oh! You're Asian, you're, er, pre-disposed to be more accepting that video games can be art."

    I can't say I'm offended about this belief about Asians, and I'd say in your case and mine, it isn't wrong!

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  12. GTA - Specifically San Andreas.

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  13. Very awesome post.
    I followed you, brother,
    Can't wait for future content.
    Check my shit out!

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  14. it's a fantastic idea for a blog. Video Games have long been overlook as a legitimate form of art. Hopefully it gets the recognition it deserves over the coming years

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  15. If you're interested in some touching Visual Novels try Narcissu which is free online and Planetarian which was done by Key, both of those made me cry at the end.
    Also Saya no Uta is another good one, but more a bit gory at times.

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  16. I still love Halo- Combat Evolved. Mostly nostalgia :D

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  17. I can't really pick one game out of all the games I've played, but I guess my most recent ones are my favorites. GTA 4, and Ninja Gaiden 2. Then in comes the old favorites, Final Fantasy 7 and 8. (Which were really captivating)

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  18. neat blog mmmm

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  19. Some of this could be very cool.

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