Video Games

[The New Nonsense]

My Xbox 360 was stricken with the dreaded "Red Ring of Death" last night. In the middle of a game it glitched up. No! I screamed. But there it was, staring at me; the three-lobed burning eye! *sigh*

For those unfamiliar with Xbox lore, if you get a display of 'three red lights in a ring' it means your console is toast. Fortunately mine is still under warranty. But it will take about a month to get repaired. Still, it blows.



Welcome to video game hell.

[Sam]

Ouch, my condolences. Warranty or not, a month for a repair blows. I am still drooling over the PS3, but briefly considered a 360 as an interim measure... I have heard Xbox 360s are prone to high rates of failure, and that is one of the reasons I haven't picked one up. Is this your first mishap?

I have had two PS2 consoles since 2001. My current one was bought about 4 years ago and is still plugging away. I give Sony that, they make some high-quality gear. My sister has some Sony audio components she bought almost 20 years ago that still sound great.

Anyway, good luck on a speedy recovery!

[paeng]

http://masseffect.bioware.com/

The price for Part 1 at Steam has been lowered.

Part 2 will be out in a few days, which can use what you gained from Part 1 plus various bonuses.

Also,

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote Originally Posted by Sam

I am still drooling over the PS3, but briefly considered a 360 as an interim measure.

We took the plunge and gifted the family with a PS3 for Christmas, combined with a Mitsubishi 65-Inch DLP Home Theater. I purchased both from Amazon. The PS3 was snagged as a special bundle for $349 which included the 250GB PS3, one free game and two free Blu-Ray movies. The television was $1,199 (delivered) and the picture size and quality more than makes up for what I consider to be minor concessions of physical depth dimensions (non-wall mount) and viewing angle limitations. It looks like we may have just have overspent our tax return, but we could not be happier with both purchases. Since we were upgrading from a 27" conventional set, the experience is both overwhelming and surreal. Blu-Ray on the combo is flawless and the games are spectacular! Isolation from reality is nearly complete.

[paeng]

The games they make nowadays now resemble movies. Here's one mentioned earlier:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/mass-effect-2/10875

The dialogue, voice acting, graphics, soundtrack, and other features are all well-done, and the same goes for Part 1.

And this company is on a roll, because their fantasy game is also fantastic:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/dra...e-origins/9022

Check out the video reviews for both games.

[With Strength I Burn]

Quote Originally Posted by paeng

The games they make nowadays now resemble movies.

I personally think this is the wrong direction for the medium. There is actually a field devoted to discussing the theory behind games called "Ludology" (check out these links in relevant resources) or "Game Studies". It's a complicated field, just like literary theory, due to the relatively young medium; when comics started becoming popular, scholars questioned its literary authenticity. Now, graphic novels are considered a viable form of literature due to Will Eisner's A Contract with God, Spiegelman's Maus, Gaiman's Sandman, Moore's Watchmen, Urasawa's Monster, and so forth. However, the literary merit in video games is still disputed (e.g., Ebert vs Barker). Are video games able to convey thematic depth while retaining good gameplay and player agency? In other words, does a game need a lot of cinematics, such as Metal Gear Solid, in order to express a deep story?

Video games are a relatively new, innovative medium; never has the “viewer” been involved in the actual story. As Maher Sagrillo explains, “Rather than a movie/comic/book/etc where the viewer juxtaposes himself empathically to draw an opinion, you are the focal point of the art, and thus your actions radically effect the meaning of the art. It is much different to watch a war movie than to be an SS general and execute a jew, knowing you would not want to do that. It says something about you when and how you play a video game that is art.” Many implications arise from these ideas, as previously enumerated.

[paeng]

Thanks for sharing that! I wish I had more time to read up on game studies (I first acted as reader for a senior thesis on the Fallout series and artificial intelligence around a decade ago and am currently waiting for a grad paper about an archetypal analysis of a Japanese CRPG) but I've not been enthusiastic lately regarding critical or cultural theories because of the current economic crisis.

However, ever since I purchased what my nephew calls a "gaming rig" around two years ago I've been going hog wild over a few of these new games. I can't say that I noticed anything profound in them but I did get lost playing them and was attracted to the stunning graphics and sound for several. In a way, they remind me of movies, but by that I mean recent blockbuster Hollywood movies.