gewgaw

Just shy of 2 months from the Global Game Jam!

To all you passionate, sleep-avoiding developers, students and game hobbyists: get out there and Jam!

Great piece in the Guardian on innovation & contemporary game reviews- focused on Mirror’s Edge (Thanks, Checker).

While EA DICE’s wonderful Mirror’s Edge has been garnering mostly positive reviews, it looks like the title won’t be up there in the Metacritic rankings challenging the likes of Gears of War 2 or even Call of Duty: World at War. Many reviewers have criticised the combat, the repetition, a smattering of trial-and-error moments. There has been a general compulsion to counter the sequences of innovative genius with niggling doubts about core mechanics.

This is frustrating and I think it highlights one of the key issues of contemporary gaming – what exactly is a videogame and what are the fundamental elements every game must provide? Because, if it were a movie, Mirror’s Edge would be critically lauded by the specialist film press – it would be considered a forward-thinking masterpiece. Sure, it’s dangerous to compare two such different media, but there are key similarities – one is the way in which critics should be able to deconstruct the experience on offer and draw from it undeniable values that outweigh concerns about basic construction.

For example, no-one complains that, say, Pan’s Labyrinth or Eraser Head lack the formal, easily recognisable narrative structure of a conventional movie. Their aspirations exempt them from that requirement. So should we really be marking Mirror’s Edge down for control issues – a game that aspires to re-interpret the very interface between player, screen and character? Yes, I know, it’s a clumsy comparison, but the underlying point is – should reviewers just accept that sometimes incredibly new experiences will lack some of the formal substance we expect from traditional games? That’s what innovation is, it’s leaping out into the unknown.

I found the IGN review particularly depressing. Not only does the writer suggest that the combat system could have done with an extra button (wha? Why?! Why add extra layers of complexity? Since when was that an artful response to anything?), but he ends with:

The ideas are there for a very cool experience, and I truly hope that a sequel is spawned, but this first attempt falls just a bit short.

Can you imagine, for a second, critics emerging from the press screening of Apocalypse Now, or The Magnificent Ambersons, or Bladerunner and proclaiming, ‘yeah, it had some good ideas, but it wasn’t perfect – I’ll look forward to the sequel’. I suppose there’s an argument that, as films are only ninety minutes long, we’ll accept a more flawed experience, but are notions of quality really so tightly governed by longevity? I hope not.

The ‘better sequel’ mentality is damaging both to the games industry and to the quality of games journalism. It is a deferral of critical responsibility, a patronising pat on the head for the developer who dared to dream and fell short in some mythically vital way. I don’t want to be frustrated by dodgy controls either, but then I’m willing to blunder through if I’m going to get an experience I never had before. I felt the same about Killer 7 and Shenmue and the mobile game, Nom – flawed every one of them, but I don’t begrudge the creators a single second of the time I spent toiling with imperfections.

What are we really saying about innovation when we require a sequel to prove the concept was valid in the first place? What are we saying about the artistry of games? And ultimately, what does it mean for games criticism, if we can’t appreciate visionary moments, because of these weird little checklists of gameplay qualities, constructed and adhered to with near-autistic fervour?

We’ve been playing Mirror’s Edge at the house – and while I do think the first-person platformer presents unique design challenges (some answered, some not) – I also think this is a successful push in a new direction. Moments when you execute, where you’re confident that you know where to go and are just working hard to get there with body and body alone – it feels new.

Check it out over the hols if you haven’t already (if you’re pressed for time – play it on easy). Definitely punishing at parts – but worth it!

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On to the meta part of this post: The article compares innovation in games to innovation in film – premise being that “real” critics recognize something new and appreciate it even if “niggling” issues with the core mechanics are visible. While I agree that it’s the critic’s job to recognize new & encourage readers to support it (where agreeable) – I’m not sure how I feel about the comparison beyond that point.

I’ve seen a lot of really difficult films – some I would even categorize as “cinemasochism”… things that really tested my understanding of narrative consistency, visual clarity and filmic logic. These films pushed the boundary with dialog, camera, cuts… content…. All of them left me pondering the language & tools of the medium itself.

How often can games challenge players on that level – and succeed at creating new feelings? When controls, level designs or even just jump animations work in counter-intuitive ways – the result is one of overwhelming frustration. To go back to film: those kinds of glitches equate to the film refusing to thread through the projector. Mechanical error…

While I think the article makes a good point about the role of critics in our medium, I also feel that the film anaolgy is a weak one. Restuarant/Food criticism seems like a better place to go.

When the mechanics are broken there – no matter what great ingredients or designs you had – the dish disappoints. Execution is very much part of the analysis there – as is service, mis-en-scene. Food is never evluated (in the Guide Micheline sense) out of context… but the mechanics are fundamental to everything else.

I would love to see a food and games blog that interweaves terms and techniques for evaluation. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

If you have called me in the last week or two, it’s not that I don’t love you. It’s that my phone no longer registers missed calls or marks incoming calls. Text also seems spotty – mail no longer updating unless I force the sync. POOPIE!

Damn you, Seattle! It’s been busted since GDW and I am finally giving up and finding a replacement. May finally end up with a *gulp* Crackberry.

The digital youth ethnography project that Mimi, Matteo, danah and others have been working on at Berkeley has begun to publish its findings! The brief summary focuses on the role of technology in self-directed learning & social connection…. longer pieces on technology’s impact on the youth experience of today can be found on the project’s site. Very interesting and important work by some of our favorite digital scholars that relates to any work you may do that reaches out to kids and teens. Check it!

Not to make light – but how California is this photo?

Hope none of you are suffering as a result of the fires. Here in Venice I woke up with ash on my car – 2 days running.

:(

Thanks to Lauren for posting this link regarding the murder of Duanna Johnson up on her Facebook – a sad and compelling read for anyone interested in the politics and law surrounding gender & race here in this country.

How terrible to think that many of the same voters who turned out to in support of Obama were instrumental in the passing of Prop 8 – another blow to the movement that seeks to recognize all people, regardless of age, gender or sexual preference – as equal and deserving of all the same civil rights.

When will the cycle of discrimination stop?

Still can’t believe it’s true!

Watching the election results roll in on BET was probably one of the most moving moments of my life. So many people, looking to this family for inspiration, hope and a sense of direction. So many challenges behind – and so many ahead. Yes – I really cried!!

And then? A toast the new president-elect – complete with bubbly in my favorite long-stem, House on the Rock champagne flutes. Celebration, Midwest-style!

:)

Change can happen – and we can make a difference! Congrats to everyone who worked so hard to bring it to the White House – from the campaign all the way down to each individual vote. You did it!!

Boo. I am tired of layoffs.

To all our friends across the globe who are being affected by the changes within EA, THQ and other studios & publishers – best wishes and sympathy.