I don’t really know what to title this.
It’s blog time again. This time I’m LIVE in the good old Anglia Ruskin University Library, drawn here by the smell of a free wireless internet connection. That’s right everyone, I’m back in Cambridge, if you didn’t already know. So what to write, what to write… I haven’t written anything creative since I last blogged, so this is going to be one of those posts where I write about a subject that regularly passes through my head. In fact, I think I’m going to write about a subject which I muse on fairly regularly, if only to stop wasting time thinking about it – and that subject is video games.
I could actually write for hours about video games without stopping, but my laptop only has a limited battery, and eventually I’d be pulled out of the library in need of food and drink and so on. So never fear.
One day, attempting to not sound too much like some kind of soapbox evangelist, I hope to see video games in the place that they deserve. I honestly believe that video games have the potential to be perfectly accepted forms of art in the same vein as films and TV shows. When both of these advances appeared in the world, people discarded them as just momentary distractions, toys which would be forgotten about eventually. And now look. So basically, I’m jumping ahead of the game, and saying ahead of time how great I think video games are.
Not that I’m exactly treading new ground here; I’m certain there’s a lot of people who have already made all the points I’m about to make, but I’m a very busy man (no I’m not), I don’t have time to do anything as strenuous as research.
Now, I’m fully aware that not ALL games are even intended to be artistic in anyway, some are in fact designed intentionally to be momentary distractions, but the same could be said of the majority of TV shows, and films too. And to be honest, the fact that video games are still relatively new to the world means that they haven’t gotten stale yet, and that’s something that I’m afraid can’t honestly be said of the other two mediums I just mentioned.
Obviously I’d never say that all films and all TV shows are now stale, but… think about the last… say ten, films you saw, if you can remember them. How many were either sequels, or remakes, or adaptations of a book, comic, TV show or video game? I bet it’s quite a large proportion. I know most of the films I’ve seen recently fall into that category, and its just too many. I can’t believe that filmmakers are running out of ideas, it can only be that the industry, the people picking what gets made and what doesn’t, this is what’s grown stale and stagnant.
I’m beginning to think that this is just rambling here, so I’m going to give a couple of plugs and move on to something else.
There are so many games out there that are doing it right, and deserve to be held as examples for all the rest to follow.
Final Fantasy, for all its faults in certain incarnations, still manages to do what they set out to do every time; to tell a good story (except maybe XII, but maybe thats just a matter of taste). Because they change the entire world each time, it gives them heaps of creative scope, and because of that they can actually produce something great each time. I still feel moved when I hear the theme song and think of the ending to FFX, it genuinely has one of the best paced and well narrated stories I’ve ever been aware of.
Can’t wait to see how XIII turns out either, apparently they’re taking Advent Children as the artistic basis so I don’t think they can go too far wrong there 
Off on that tangient, Kingdom Hearts deserves props for taking something that wasn’t their own and making a really great story out of it. Both games (soon to be three or even four I read) are essentially some kind of bizarre high-profile fan fiction, but if all fan fiction was this good, the internet would be a much better place. The art style and animations are just friggin’ beautiful as well.
Metal Gear Solid. Just… just fantastic. I hear a lot of people bitch about it – “Oh its just like watching a movie” is the usual criticism, to which I say here: “What’s wrong with watching movies? Watching movies is great, surely a game that combines the two should be great too. Or are you just afraid of innovation?” Seriously. Metal Gear Solid – I won’t hear a word against it.
Apparently there’s a new Jak game coming out soon too. It’s been a while since we were last favoured with one, which gives me hope that its being made because they wanted to make it, rather than just churning out as many sequels as they can get away with. This one’s not actually by Naughty Dog as such, I believe its their sister company, but I’m interested to see where it goes, the ending to the last one was actually pretty interesting.
Nintendo, that giant lumbering behemoth of a games company, I’m kind of in two minds about. Now you may scoff at their ridiculously named console and their silly waggling controllers, but Nintendo are the only ones who are actually thinking about the technology, and at least trying to innovate in ways beyond your standard graphical improvements and so on. Games like Phoenix Wright and Trauma centre are the way they need to go in my opinion, and it looks like they’ve been porting some kinda visual novel type games like Hotel Dusk and this other one I saw for the Wii (see what I mean about research?) The only problem is that they’re too reliant on their old stable of characters. Zelda, Mario, Metroid, even cute little Kirby – in my opinion they all need to be axed. Seriously, did you play Twilight Princess? So much wasted opportunity. Just thinking about that game makes me cross.
Well, that’s my two cents on the whole thing. By next time I should have something creative which you can read, if that kind of thing is your bag. If not, expect some other kind of ramble in the near future, I’m never that far away from a rant, although maybe the next one will be a bit less nerdy. (Speaking of which, I’ve got a new review up on UKA – take a look)
See you later.
