Put on Your Game Face

April 24th, 2008

resident evil zombie face I am aware that in the past few weeks I have been talking “around” games instead of focusing on software. Of late my interests have been firmly rooted in gaming culture and issues. The reason being is that recently I’ve found myself drawing numerous uncertainties and blanks with gaming culture. For the first time in a long time I have come across something that is beyond me, that I clearly cannot comprehend with the degree of precision that I’d like. So in order to gain a wider view and sharper magnification of these topics I want to use this blog as a launching pad to further discuss these issues.

The title of this article is Put on Your Game Face which I find to be a fitting title. In the past two years, I have been studying at University and mixing with a diverse set of people. With this I have become increasingly conscious of a behavioral pattern of mine. What I am talking about is the way I react within the presence of different people.

Fortunately the majority of my University friends are female and because of this I find that when we talk together I always alleviate from anything video game related. I try my best not to talk about games unless it is necessary or an appropriate turn in the conversation’s direction. I do this as a sign of respect, it is one of the philosophies that I try to uphold (read more here).

This process is something that I have never really had any issues with and its nothing that you yourselves probably don’t already have a subconscious understanding of. What really struck me though, was the following story:

Two weeks ago I was waiting for a bus in the city and this girl approached me and asked if I catch this particular train line in which I do actually catch. I answered and then she asked me; “Are you a gamer?”.

I’m not sure how she knew it (worth following up though) but somehow she had seeked out my gamer qualities. It turns out that she was one too, quite the role playing fan as well (read: Final Fantasy VII fangirl). I found out more about her on the preceding bus ride and we inevitably stumbled upon the topic of games sometime within our conversation. I asked her if she was a fan of the Metal Gear series and she said that she had played all the games and had throughly enjoyed them (alarm bells ringing, I know). So I followed on, sharing my hypothesises on various Metal Gear Solid 4 plot ideas. It was in this moment (as well as several other, later occurring instances) that I realized that I was beginning to excuse myself for talking so indepthly about games, that I had began to delve into some deep discussion and in response I was effectively trying to change the topic. She gave the notification for me to ignore this and carry onwards which I did but with some continued hesitation.

About an hour later, while I was falling asleep in a lecture (it was a good lecture but I was tired) my mind began to wander into an analysis of this situation. What I had realized was that in this exchange my subconscious was clicking back and forth between gamer friend and typical female friend. This situation has me completely floored and really caught me unaware. It made me ponder how I see people in such ways in relation to this hobby of mind.

I found this to be a highly educational experience on my behalf so I thought that it might prove to be an experience worth sharing. I believe that we all maintain a certain level of constraint in these types of scenarios, that we all have an idea of how to handle such interactions with different people. What about you? What are your ideas on this event? Does this sort of scenario happen to you? And how do you manage gaming with other identities? Please let me know.

It’s Okay to be Fanatical…

April 14th, 2008

phoenix wright fanatical

I’m not too sure of the direction of this post. You see I am in essence pushing an agenda and trying to use my experiences as the example in point. As mentioned before I have strong feelings about this whole fan culture that has been breed throughout our industry. To summarise my feelings I think that it is okay to be a fan, just not fanatical. When your fanaticism blurs fair minded perception then there is without a doubt a problem, one in which I always try to avoid.

It seems like in this instance though, the rug has been pulled from beneath my feet. Allow me elaborate;

One morning in the middle of last week, on the train to Uni, my brother, a friend and I were discussing games. My brother and I were reminiscing over what can be called the “old” LucasArts and their witty, intellectually humorous properties. A gap in the conversation opened up and I thought that I would use the floor to share some recent Metal Gear Solid 4 updates. Now between my game playing friends and I (and undoubtedly you readers too) it is no secret that I am literally breaking my balls over this game. That I am, in essence, a fan.

Perhaps it was a result of a work focused, sleep neglected night prior to the exchange but I was aggressively sharing my opinions on the Metal Gear series and with an unempathetic passion, pulling no punches. It was within my raging banter that my brother and friend began pulling my strings, when my brother slyfully labbelled me as ‘fanatical’.

Its quite a claim, isn’t it? So I pursued onwards and what followed was a series of verbal jousting matches between the three of us. I felt outraged and insulted by their very comments. I mean how dare these two non-believers, these two people whom have never played a Metal Gear title possibly understand how I felt and what this means to me?

It was then, as my brother and friend were indulging in their pot stiring that I stopped and asked the question; “Am I fanatical over MGS4?”.

metal gear rex metal gear solid 4

I pondered over this question considerably in the days that followed and as of writing I am still yet to draw my conclusion. I decided to brainstorm a list of habits that I regularly par take with relation to Metal Gear.

Straight away I felt a great sense of guilt. I thought back to spending tens of hours processing and managing the Metal Gear saga in my head. Carefully reading over Wikipedia pages for a hope of inspiration. Attempting to make logical ties within the franchises’ extensive story. I thought of how I regularly ensure that I watch the MGS4 trailers and other video that I have captured from the games at least once every 3 days. And how I often mimic the voices within such video segments. From here on out the list just unraveled before me.

Am I starkingly mad? I hope not and in my hope I have been searching for ties to justification to free myself of hypocrisy. Fortunately I have found it, unfortunately it is subjective.

Despite my high interest in this title, I don’t think that it is damaging. My love for this series is justified. I am a fan of this genre of game, of this genre of action (be it games or film). In difference to what my friends may think I believe that I have fairly realistic expectations for this game. I am more than aware that this game will have a few short comings, I know that the other games definitely did. My Twin Snakes bashing article proves this. I do think that the gameplay in MGS2 is not as refined as it should be and even though MGS3 reinvents this it is still dexteritally painful. I know that MGS4, according to various sources should streamline and clear away these issues but the game will still not be perfect.

So, onto subjectivity, do you readers think that I am fanatical over this game or just another interested fan. In anycase being this interested in a game is healthy in my mind. If we just approach all games with a cynical snark then what is the point? Excitement is natural, welcomed and healthy for us. Its what makes this whole charade so interesting. So am I crazy and what about you? What games are you totally bonkers over?

Posted in Culture | Comments (5)
Tags: fanboy, metal gear solid, video game culture

Link Out (13/4/08)

April 12th, 2008

lik out metal gear snake grey

To talk slightly off topic for a moment, I must say that in the past week or so I have been in a consistently chirpy mood and as such I would like bring forward this month’s Link Out post and share that happiness.

This happiness is in due part to my University 2 week break which starts Monday, completing a Chinese test and of course and the steady maintenance of this site. These are all great contributors but it is two other events in the recent days that have really made my day. Firstly I have been offered a $5000 scholarship and an additional $1000 travel grant from my University to study in ShangHai (China) from September to January this year. Secondly some of my recent articles, namely the Morgan Webb article has been receiving numerous trackbacks from sites like Shack News and GameSetWatch and as such my traffic has seen another large jump. Actually I am quite pleased about the GameSetWatch link out because I have much respect for that blog and it’s main site; Gamasutra. It reconfirms to me that my writing is on the right track.

So I figured that in my time of great happiness I would share the love and disperse another round of recommended readings for the month. So here are some of the links that I have been keeping in cold storage in the recent weeks.

MIT’s Jenkins On Gamers, Youth Culture, Brother Leeroy – GameSetWatch

Henry Jenkins is a professor over at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) he specializes in cultural convergence, learning through digital media and related fields. He is a leading researcher in under these fields and created many of the terms and concepts. This article outlines one of his recent key notes as well as some questions at the end. An incredibly interesting read.

Incredible Metal Gear Solid 3 Photo Captures

You remember the camera feature in the Metal Gear Solid games? Well take a look at some of these incredible images that this Japanese guy captured. You wonder how people figure these things out.

WAZ – Bruce on Games

Bruce Everiss brings to light something which should be a reference point for us gamers on the issue of video game violence. WAZ is another one of those disgusting torture porn flicks which appear to be filling new releases rental shelves everywhere. The point he raised was that the British Government recently provided a fund of a million pounds for the release of this movie yet contrast this against the rough time that ManHunt 2 has been getting in Europe. 🙁

Metroid 2 16Bit Remake

Another fan remake of a classic gaming title. This time its Metroid 2: Return of Samus being remade into 16bit. Unlike some of the previous fan remakes (OOT 2D, Metroid Prime 2D, Final Fantasy VII 2D, the list goes on) this one is actually might just get finished, well heres hoping. The blog proves to be quite resourceful on the remake and there is a downloadable demo as well.

Legend of Zelda 4 Swords – 5 Gamecubes, 5 TVs – Retro Gaming with RacketBoy

Back in the time of GBA/GCN connectivity and 8 player LAN Mario Kart my friends and I were always keen to test out these new play experiences. This article is a throwback to that sort of gaming culture. As the title states fastbilly1 and some of the community members over at Retro Gaming with RacketBoy strung together a series of 5 Gamecubes (4x utilizing GB Players) with 5 TVs each with a copy of Zelda 4 Swords Adventures (4 players + one main TV). The stuff of legends, there are images and video inside so take a look.

Bangai-O Spirits Critique – Action Button

While doing some random blog surfing I was directed to this site which provides some interesting game critique. I started reading this review of Treasure’s new Bangai-O Spirits for the DS and I was instantly grabbed by the linguistic rhythm of this writer. So I figured you might be too.

April 24th, 2008

April 14th, 2008

April 12th, 2008

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