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| Skyrim: providing a limited -- yet intriguing -- chance for player creation of odd subplots. |
I know there's been a lot of talk here recently about both Skyrim and storytelling in games. And it's not my intention to beat a dead horse.
(Though I'm getting used to horse carnage. If you play Skyrim like I do, there is a lot of equine collateral damage. I treat my horse like it is a mountain goat and can hop from cliff to cliff with ease, which is not always the case.)
Thing is, Skyrim ranked ninth in Joystick Division's recent best-of list on game narratives of 2011. The reason cited for its inclusion on the list wasn't that its main quest was more inventive, compelling or fresh than other games, but that given the breadth of choice that the player is afforded concerning his or her adventures as Dovahkiin, there are myriad routes the story can take in any given play-through.
Since getting the game from a friend, I've been diving into it every chance I get. And, to be sure, I'm excited by the possibilities of Skyrim. But do my actions really interact with Bethesda's meticulously detailed world in such a way that actual, identifiable subplots are created?
Following are a couple subplots that have emerged through my thirty hours of gameplay thus far -- subplots that I've created as much as the game has. Sometimes these are created more by the programming and sometimes they're made more by my imagination based on subtle hints from the game. But they were both delightful little reminders of the continuing advancement of open-world games and also the human ability to cobble together a story out of even loosely connected elements. Here they are (mild spoilers ahead):
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This is Joystick Division columnist Aaron Matteson (left) and me (right). What you see here is a picture of us getting wasted together in celebration at a bar in Brooklyn, just after a series best-of-5 round of foosball. See, Brooklyn where he lives, and where I'm visiting right now. (Big deal, since I live in Seattle.) And this is the 2nd anniversary of my first column on the site -- now 1,153 articles later.
So, Aaron and I have been close friends and collaborative writers since about 2004, a year or so before we graduated high school together. You may know him from our brilliant Five Things weekly editorial. While we've been writing for Joystick Division for about 18 months together, this is the first time we've documented it and felt compelled to reach out to everyone and say "thank you" for being our followers and for reading our columns for such a long time. The consensus tonight, in all of this stupor, is that this website and the writers within it work hard to put out content for you to adhere to. And we love it to our very cores. And we love you.
That said, "Hi, there!" You marvelous, wonderful people. We look forward to all that's there in the future, and to what we can achieve together.
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I say holster, because it steadies and readies that shit like a gun.
I don't have much more to say, except that I told you a few days ago I would be delivering news more and more frequently. And, if you're the kind of gamer that would've fit the stereotype in 1999, this shit is news to you. (Made by Ben Heck. Please fast-forward to the last two minutes if you want to see it completed and working. Before that, its just DIY.)
Tags: hot pocket
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Recently on this site, one of my colleagues wrote an article pointing out the rather massive story deficiencies in Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This wasn't an attack on the game itself, but more the idea that the game is trying so hard to invest the player in the store when the story is so structurally unsound. While this often isn't a problem, if the game plays well enough... but there's always that moment when a bad plot development kicks the gamer square in the head.
Bad video game writing has been with us since the medium's inception, and will likely always be with us, but sometimes, a game features a bad plot turn so heinous, so irritating, so "Were-they-even-paying-attention"-ny, They must be pointed out. For if not, we'll forever be... Trapped... in the Plot Hole.
SPOILERS AHEAD
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I'm going to be doing A LOT OF NEWS (yah!). I can't promise 3 per day, but this place is going to be the fuckin' banger for the 411 on shit you need to know. And that's in addition to all the great editorial pieces we have been pushing out. If you came to this site originally to get a feel for what was happening in the industry, I want you to feel comfortable. And don't come here looking for hot news about video game plushies. That isn't news, although sometimes people like to say it is and it isn't. That shit just doesn't fly here.
Funny trailers. Fan films. Press releases. Industry announcements. Conventions. Informative and funny. Mind-blowing and important. Unique and speculative.
Thanks for reading and I am so jazzed about this next piece of news, I could pee. So stay tuned.
Tags: Joystick Division news!
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Marcus Fenix of Gears of War, who is a pretty tough dude, benefits directly from a Tears for Fears cover. |
There's something about incongruity that interests the mind. Two things that don't seem to fit together being combined can be a source of fascination, humor or even awe. It's the reason we are interested in a great many things. Examples of these kinds of odd pairings are everywhere. Sweet and sour pork is one (How can one serving of pork be both deliciously sweet and also mouth-puckeringly sour? Visit your neighborhood Chinese restaurant to find out!). Gator Golf is another ("What could be greater than golf with a gator," a philosopher once mused).
Rat-cat-dog is perhaps the ultimate expression.Sometimes, video game trailers will rely on this to draw potential players in by matching game footage with music that is both totally unexpected yet somehow extremely effective. The most famous example of this to date is the masterful trailer for the original Gears of War, which featured an armored mega-badass running and gunning against a terrible, alien foe in a bombed-out cityscape to the sleepy, melancholy strains of Gary Jules's cover of "Mad World." It's a dynamic that has worked in other trailers since, including the Bioshock Infinite trailer recently released.
I can't help but wonder if this same trick of amazing game footage paired with gorgeous yet unexpected music would work for other upcoming releases as well. So I took the trailers of a few of the most anticipated games coming up in the future and thought about what music might have that "this is ridiculous... wait, actually, this is awesome" effect.
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Here's a fun thing that showed up at JD Central yesterday: two airplane model kits to promote City Interactive's Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II. It just so happens that I'm a sucker for WWII dogfighting games and I used to be quite the model aficionado, so this is just the type of swag mailing that gets a game onto my radar.
Well played, City Interactive. Combat Wings releases Feb. 7, and I'll hopefully be assembling these bad boys over the weekend. You can be sure I'll post some pics when they're done.
Tags: City Interactive, Combat Wings
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Because gamers need to know if their politicians are crooks. |
Welcome to 2012, everyone! We hope you've had a nice two days of recovering from the furious hangover with which you invariably ushered in this new year, but now it's time to get down to business. CAUCUS BUSINESS.
That's right, people. It's time to huddle together in mobs and talk loudly about who we would like to be president. It's the 2012 Iowa Caucuses today. The outcome of these caucuses will be scientifically analyzed and a winner will be selected. This candidate will then go on emboldened by his (or her, but let's be honest, it's not going to be her) victory and then may or may not be immediately forgotten.
But while this event of clear national importance takes place in a state of dubious national importance, let us all -- Iowan and non-Iowan, American and non-American, the fervent among us as well as the apathetic -- yes, let us all ask the pressing questions about video games and the politicians within them. And let us be thankful that none of the figures mentioned below can be elected to any form of real-life office.
This is Ten Slimiest Politicians in Video Games: Part 2!
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If you haven't been keeping up with current events in the gaming sphere, you've probably missed the Ocean Marketing scandal that's currently blowing up the internet. Essentially, a PR guy acted like an asshole, performed poor customer service, and threatened Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade publicized the event and the loyal troops rallied to harass and embarass this guy for his misdeeds. Here's a pretty decent layout of the situation.
This morning, another email thread went viral, with Paul (the PR prick) asking for the Penny Arcade crew to stop the onslaught of vitriol that had kept him up all night. Gabe from Penny Arcade wrote this about it, saying that he caught a bully being a bully, and that this internet justice was, essentially, teaching a bully a great lesson.
And I've followed it pretty closely this whole time. Being on Twitter, on Facebook, and having to stay privy to the gaming culture's buzz, I've been watching it since it started. And I am totally appalled by this culture I consider myself a part of.
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