Posts Tagged ‘video games’
Let me be honest and upfront: I haven’t been super excited about a big budget AAA video game in years. This does not mean I don’t like and enjoy such games, because I get them and I do like them and play them and have a good time. But… they don’t move me like some indie games have in the last few years. Maybe that’s because the AAA hype machine is usually reserved for sequels and “safe” new IPs with PR campaigns that cost nearly as much as the game development itself. I was in the room when MGSV was officially announced, and I didn’t get excited for it until about 6 weeks before the game came out (truly, for the best). I will admit, E3 2015 has made me hype for the return of The Last Guardian, the new IP Horizon, and a few others, and with E3 2016 having happened relatively recently, I’m excited about more things, but I digress. That’s for another time. Here… I want to talk about game that while small, have huge expectations and bigger ambitions. Two games, one on the precipice of release, that have made me feel things about video games I don’t feel often. These games are thatgamecompany’s Journey, and Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky.
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“I CAN’T BELIEVE THE WITNESS IS $40. AND HOW DARE HELLO GAMES CHARGE $60 FOR NO MAN’S SKY. AND UGH THOSE INDIE DEVS WHO REFUSE TO PUT THEIR GAME ON SALE AND EXPECT ME TO PAY MORE THAN $15 FOR THEIR GAMES. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE!?” Well, they think they are people creating a product who believe in that product’s value and don’t want to conform to some arbitrary pricing standard you believe in. I hate what we as a community have done to devalue games. And don’t think big publishers and indie devs haven’t taken notice. In a world of free-to-play and mobile games, massive Steam sales, and the always popular “I’ll wait for a price drop”, it’s hard to convince people to pay full price for a game, and even harder to get them to pay a bigger price then they assume a game is worth.
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Video games are a powerful thing. I don’t really care what is or isn’t a game, nor if a game should make you feel. Let’s face it, is Call of Duty really that much more of a game than Tetris or Papers, Please? Does the budget or the story or the platform truly make that big of a difference if you end up enjoying it at the end of the day? But I digress. No, today I want to tell you about what some games mean to me, and what some games can mean to others, especially during times of loss.
Today I want to talk about games and that inescapable monster, death.
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(Formerly on a different site)
If you don’t know, I hate Phil Fish. I hate his mutton chops. I hate his glasses. I hate his smug “better than you, more important you, now and forever” god complex he has going on. I have had several chances to just deck him at events and parties I’ve been at, and well, I should have. I disagreed with his opinions on just about everything. I hated the fact that he released Fez on Steam after talking smack all day about how PCs were glorified spreadsheet machines. I hated every section of Indie Game: The Movie he’s in, as if he reminded me of his self-centered “you’re not worthy of my works” attitude with every second of film.
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I originally had this up on Gamasutra, and wrote it during GDC2013. It’s made it’s way around the internet, and here it is, on my own site.
I’ve spent the last few days at GDC13, networking, making contacts, seeing cool things, attending sessions, and learning more about the industry I’m so very passionate about. I’m all set to graduate in May from college with two degrees, a Bachelor of Science focusing on game programming, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts dealing with game art and animation. Also, I’m a woman. Does that last bit of information change your perspective on me? And more importantly, should it? Should I be forever prefacing “game developer” with “female” when I talk about what I do as a career? Should that even matter? Read the rest of this entry »
