GTA: Chinatown Wars, Quick Post Script

March 12th, 2009

I recently posted a follow up of my article titled Taking Handheld Gaming Seriously which I originally posted over at Zath, this time I spin the topic around the upcoming Grand Theft Auto installment for the DS. You can find the article over at Zath.co.uk. The following is a bit of a post script to the article, collating my general thoughts on the game.

Just three quick points of reference that I didn’t get to touch upon from the previous article, completely unrelated to the controversy issue.

Firstly, the Chinese theme of this game does interest me and I look forward to exploring its effectiveness within the game. The story of the rich ass, American-born-Chinese gansta does appear to be teamed with the same generics of western folk making Asian orientated movies, but it could be cool. There are Koreans in the game too. Should be interesting how they handle the two ethnicities.

Secondly, how much does this game look like David Jaffe’s Calling All Cars? I reckon it looks surprisingly close. The whole low-res cel shaded DS graphics teamed with the GTA heritage of the 2D top down titles and modern inclusions sound like a fantastically fruitful mix.

Lastly, one of the less explicit points made in my editorial was that activists against violence in video games are actually more important than we realized. They’re some of the only people that accept that video games are an influential medium, and therefore such things as violence should be discussed. Ironically, this is a huge step away from players themselves, many of who adopt the mantra “It’s just a game”. Of course, it goes without saying that you’re probably not one of those people.

Likening Games to Music (Videos)

March 11th, 2009

They may appear foreign on the surface, but the inherent qualities of music and video games are arguably quite similar. To prove this, I thought it’d be fun then for me to take – what I consider to be – a couple of meaningful music tracks and directly contrast them against their approximate video game counterparts. Pretty self explanatory huh?

Slight Disclaimer: Some of these songs feature comfronting material, themes and a little bit of language.

Angel – Massive Attack

Massive Attack are a widely acclaimed trip-hop/abstract, musical pact that produce provocative music which is highly sensory, intimate and personal. Each track they write seemingly relates to some abstract form of emotion or issue with deep emotional issues – birth, a mother’s anxiety over losing her children, cloning, love between anyone etc. I selected Angel and Inertia Creeps for this experiment, so starting with Angel (the easiest of the two) let’s try and relate the experiences created by the music with similar experiences in video games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygw2zmEVsvc

Angel is a slow burn of energy, a build up, a rush and then a hasty warm down. The name of the song, soullessness of the lyrics, pictures in the video clip and insensate singing all converge at this one idea of some mysterious being in pursuit, some sort of angel perhaps.

The momentum of the song paces itself like many euphoric experiences – think of a few, go on. In terms of games, the flow is very akin to a standard boss battle. You begin in search for a way to damage the boss, you then discover how and continue to exploit that approach. The intensity of the battle increases as your life diminishes and the boss becomes more aggressive. Finally you initiate the final blow and the boss is defeated, you can relax.

The angel part itself is thematic rather than structural. The video clip depicts a man being followed and eventually chased by a mass of people. The same theme of hurried pursuit echoed by the strained in the music is present in games like Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and the Clock Tower series, both which centralize around escaping from the pursuit a dangerous foreign being.

Inertia Creeps – Massive Attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZB4B5Wdcis

The second Massive Attack song is furthermore unsettling and even more difficult to interpret. You may wish to read the lyrics which can be found here. My interpretation is that this song is related to some twisted murder or rape with interjections of psycho sexual undertones as sung out by the lead. He is in fact the perpetrator of these terrible acts, and the song is a frustrated description of what took place with intimate details clued along.

The closest game experience that I can relate this to is Silent Hill 2, which I haven’t played but have heard much about. The game’s narrative seems equally subjective, with similar psycho sexual themes regarding the protagonist and his obsession to find his supposively deceased wife. The nurses are a good metaphor for this, but I don’t know enough about the game to say much more. It’s on the shelf though. >_<

My Name Is – Eminem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmdRauWVbwg
God I love this song, it’s mastery of annoying and smart arsery – hate the soft radio edit though. The lyricalism obviously carries a lot of weight, but so too does the simple background loop and occasional added sound effects. Like a lot of Eminem‘s work, as much as you may loathe him, he does make a strong point. Trying to interpret whether his words are somewhat justified is another matter of untangling his own hypocrisy and mangled identity. It’s brilliantly destructive in that sense.

Eminem‘s self referential announcement to the world is similar to cult hits, ill of convention such as Wario Ware, Bishi Bashi Special among many others. The back cover of Wario Ware Inc. Mega Party Game$! on the Gamecube has Wario speech-bubbled stating “Hey! Buy my game!” followed by a paragraph of Wario self wankery. Its the same unabashed love for oneself that the song emits. The game itself is full of this too.

Segagaga is another title of the same vein, while Wario Ware is similar in pieces to Eminem‘s introduction to the music world, Segagaga is self referential through and through. Released only in Japan, late in the Dreamast’s life cycle, Segagaga sees you, a young boy saving the ailing Sega corporation from financial ruin.

Paralyzer – Finger Eleven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYGCT4AQIR0

The Canadian hard rock five-some bang out some pretty rocking tunes. Paralyzer is probably my favourite track from the band. The clip is typically high production, a staple of Wind Up Records with a style that matches the sense of lyrics. I love the wicked dance posse too.

Like many radio rock songs of this nature, there isn’t particularly much that distinguishes this song from similar productions. At the same time the song is fresh, modern and catchy. It reminds me a lot of action games that steal heavily on existing mechanics but hide their unrestrained borrowing with polish or a decidedly new premise. New games built on familiar foundation. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, The Club or Dead Space.

Jack Johnson – Go On

jack-johnson-sleep-through-the-static

You can go ahead and listen to the whole album if you like. ‘Go on’ is the track of interest, but the following playlist is also okay.

All At Once
Sleep Though the Static
If I Had Eyes
Go On
Monsoon
Losing Keys

Jack Johnson‘s music is beautifully melodic, almost soothingly so, with clever, sometimes completely non-caring lyrics.

The pacifist intent behind these songs almost clashes with gameplay itself. Born and still evolving from the arcades, conflict is more often than not the catalyst for gameplay in videogames. Very few games rely on anything but conflict to constitute themselves. I guess this example is a bit of an anomaly then? Not so. Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing are grounded on similar terms. Both Jack Johnson‘s music and the worlds created by these two game are filled only with the trivial conflicts of day to day life. Both media teach you the trade of the simple life. They are born detached from serious drama or threat.

Link Out (8/3/09)

March 8th, 2009

patapon-header

You’ve probably noticed the sudden increase in video streams included in the most recent posts. Well at least I hope you have, but more importantly I hope you’ve gain a sense of why I’ve adopted this approach. It’s not a trend that I wish to continue for every post thereafter, rather the last few topics all benefited from some video contextualization.

Same old deal: I’m battling to keep this segment running just within a monthy basis – I always seem a week or two out of the month. As always I’ve tried to seek out the most interesting links from a wide variety of sources. The latter I consider to be pretty important. It’s surprising how many bloggers simply link to the same 3-5 people in their friends group and leave it at that. Tsk, shame on them. I also need to update that blogroll sometime.

A Progress Worth Saving – Critical Gaming

I’m a sucker for personal anecdotes, and Richard does a beautiful job at drawing me in with his description of the power of print, the strength of physicality and how the importance of these things don’t quite equate into the virtual space. I’ve probably spruiked Critical Gaming in the past, but if you haven’t caught on, go ahead and start reading this goldmine of information. I’m currently backlogging myself, seriously, great work at hand.

Legacy of Ys: Books I & II Review – GameCritics.com

I went on silent revolt once I read the changes that GameCritics adopted on their review structure some months ago. I returned though and I’m pleased that I did. I got a lot out of this review of the latest revival of the Ys series. The way Mike ties together rose tinted nostalgia and modern day realities is handled with great respect.

Edge Killzone 2 Review: A Disservice To Game Consumers PSX Extreme

I bet someone over at this site is probably kicking themselves for letting this blind-sighted moron post something so shallow. How did this ever get through editorial? This site deserves all the ridicule that’s been layed upon it. Silly, silly people.

New Games Journalism is Dead. Long live New New Games Journalism.

Chris’ discussion here is an interesting one, I personally disagree with some of the direction, but – as taken up via email – I think we feel pretty mutual on the topic at large. An interesting dissection of the evolution of progressive games writing and a suggestion that we are perhaps running off the rails.

Lunchtime Video – The Importance of ‘Mario Kart’ Sales – MTV Multplayer

There’s been a small dip in quality since Patrick Klepek left late last month, but Stephen and Tracy are still doing a good job at holding the fort. Stephens insightful musing are perhaps the real hook for me which is why I wanted to point this one out.

JetSetRadio Future – GameSpite Issue 12.4

Not so many people are aware of the Xbox JetSetRadio iteration. Fortunately this article puts the nuances between the Dreamcast original and Xbox sequel in good light. The article’s also got me pondering the relationship between Sega’s bolstered Xbox support and the relation that had to do with Windows CE being featured the Dreamcast.

They Call it the Grind for a Reason – Versus CluClu Land

The past couple of days I’ve restarted my backlog through the (numbered) Final Fantasy games, with FF Origins on the PSone. I’ll discuss the game and my venture through the series in due time, for now let’s just say this piece is a suitable introduction.

Draughts Game Complete – Nexfinity.net

I also forgot to plug the latest indie hit sensation Draughts as developed by my twin brother. While the concept of draughts/checkers may appear daft, this is no ordinary iteration of the classic board game. Well actually it is, but Chris had been sure to develop the game on pretty low end code from the ground up. You won’t notice this much in play as the game was intended to be a used for crunching code rather than design. It’s neat though, so I recommend you check it out, the code is all open source too, so take a squiz and see if you can help him flatten any strange anomalies that might surface.

Good Times Spent With Friends – Press the Buttons

Cuties! I love these cute characterizations of the consoles and PC.

Other equally great stuff that I can’t put words to:

Through The Tubes – Raptured Reality

Child’s Play – Eurogamer

Behind The Charts: The Portable Rhythm Game Jam – GameSetWatch

Disney Capcom NES Games – HardcoreGaming101

Iwata: ‘Essence Of Fun’ Can Overcome Gap Between Japanese, Western Culture

Only in Japan – Japanmanship

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Tags: Link Out

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