lowspec

Over the last few days an interesting idea has been popping up in various places. Not a new idea, but it seems more refined and widely circulated of late. It’s in Ken Levine’s GDC presentation, via Gamasutra, and I heard it articulated in a recent 1up podcast in which N’Gai Croal was a guest. I can’t remember where else I’ve heard/read it, but here it is, in a sort of nutshell:

Games are lousy vehicles for traditional narratives, but they’re still excellent vehicles for emotional storytelling, provided that the story is shown, rather than told.

Here are a couple of quotes from a summary of Levine’s presentation (via Gamasutra) that illustrate this point:

Levine showed a short demo of the prototype for BioShock — it looked very much like a game that could be released on the 360 right now; a convincing corridor-crawler with creepy monsters to shoot and smashed crates. Levine’s take? “The world is not saying very much to us.”

I read that and then considered the finished product. In Bioshock, every corner of every room tells a story. A tragic, horrific, amazing story. Exploring Rapture, the player is a sort of archaeologist, continually piecing the story of the broken world together through its found remains, aided by careful, emotionally powerful art direction. Portal is another example of a game that does the same thing, to great effect.

More Levine:

“What is mise en scene? Literally, to present or make a scene. Film does this. How did BioShock use this? To tell a story without words.” Rapture was designed to sell the story, and this was accomplished via mise en scene.

Bioshock also told its story via other means, of course, including through found audiotapes which provided plenty of more traditional exposition. But those materials were supplementary. They’re an adjunct to the much more visceral, emotionally compelling story delivered via the presentation of Rapture’s environs.

Shadow of the Colossus and Ico are also perfect illustrations of of how games can effectively show, rather than tell, incredible stories.

Gamasutra has the rundown of a GDC presentation by game industry attorney Larence G. Walters, and it’s an interesting read. Walters notes that despite the steady shutdown of game-regulation laws on First Amendment grounds, the industry isn’t out of the woods yet. Of particular concern are the ongoing “junk science” attacks on gaming from pro-regulation groups. Walters argues for a more proactive, research-based approach from the industry, and says it should be in the business of advancing scientifically valid counterclaims:

The video game industry needs to clearly and overwhelmingly debunk these theories with its own extensive research on the subject. To the extent that the industry can develop a research bank and debunk this junk science and addiction theory, it should do so before it needs it and not at the 11th hour.

And, he argues, it’s a PR battle as much as it is a legal battle, for “the hearts and minds of consumers.”

Before I forget, Colleen Hannon recently wrote an excellent article on the subject of the unsettling relationship between junk science practitioners and media regulation groups over at Gamers With Jobs.

LevelUp has the dirt on WiiWare, the now officially dated (May 12th!) downloadable game channel for the Wii. N’Gai’s also got an interview with Frontier’s David Braben, who provides some details about his upcoming game for the service, LostWinds:

The main character is a guy called Toku, a young boy who’s discovered this wind spirit that’s trapped in a stone. You control both Toku using the device called the nunchuck. He’s actually quite vulnerable, in terms of where he can go–also there are things in the world that are threatening–but you also control the wind spirit that he’s able to release which is called Enril. And the wind spirit is controlled by the Wiimote.

By moving the Wiimote around, in different shapes, you can create gentle breezes of wind or strong gusts, or even by twisting it around, little sort of water sticks. The game overall is designed to be a really sort of graceful, beautiful experience where you’re using these essentially two separate characters in combination, and that brings us all sorts of possibilities in the way the game works, which makes it feel very fresh.

That actually sounds very cool.

From the Nintendo press release, their vision of WiiWare:

Through WiiWare, Nintendo hopes to offer developers a virtual laboratory that serves as a breeding ground for new games, which encourages great ideas that creators always wanted to develop. The combination of low development barriers and unique game experiences found only on Wii should enable developers to try new ideas with lower risk in a quicker, more creative and affordable way. Meanwhile Wii owners can download a multitude of cool new games from different genres, including some that are unprecedented, which can be purchased from home at a dynamic price range.

Though it lacks the democratized aspects that Micorosft claims their XNA Creators Content will have, WiiWare still sounds very cool. I think I’d spend a lot more time with the Wii if it had an ever-growing library of modern casual games, specifically designed to compliment its unique hardware.

N’Gai also pushed Nintendo on the subject of demos for the new services’ games. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

It’s Game Developers Conference time again, and in this day and age of instantaneous online coverage there’s sure to be more convention-related content produced this week than I’ll be able to process. There’s a lot of intriguing stuff on tap, and with E3 a whole five months away, it’ll be a long while before we get another close look at where the industry’s headed. If only I could ditch my day job for the week and follow the convention more closely.

For the HD-DVD format.

…

With Toshiba officially conceding defeat, it’s over.

For Sony, who with the PS3 now have the most desirable video playback device on the market, this is huge. The 360’s lower price, online features, and exclusives won’t be enough anymore.

If Microsoft wants to stay competitive, a substantial 360 price cut better be on the way. Or a new 360 that matches the PS3’s hardware features, to include a Blu-Ray drive, built-in wireless, and a sizable hard drive, for a lower price.

Veteran Flash designer Florian Himsl and artist Edmund McMillen recently released Coil, one of the more fascinating and disturbing Flash games I’ve played. Like a twisted version of Nova’s Life’s Greatest Miracle, it begins with the player piloting a sperm into an ovum and just gets weirder from there. It’s beautifully done, and employs some brilliant programming. But it might give you nightmares.