Christopher Vance

There are certainly some terrible offenders, but we’re also reaching a technologically impressive state where games like Minecraft can exist, and more interested level-editor style inclusions such as the one in Little Big Planet give the player a crafting-like experience with nearly unlimited potential. In short, it all really depends on the developer.

Thank you for the read!

Fascinating. “Performance art” was always a largely meaningless term to me, since the west seems to care so little for it, and have so little appreciation. While I’m a cringing and disgusted by these performances, I also can understand and appreciate how they developed from the swing of Chinese development in recent decades, and perhaps even a little of the good they do for observers and critics alike. They certainly start conversations! Great article, thank you!

I’d argue that doing them well is the difficulty. I agree with the author that, while CoD isn’t great, it is delivering what it promises each year. That makes them “done well” in my opinion and, despite being bored with the MW and Black Ops series, I picked up AW and had a blast. But even large developers are struggling to do well at this pace, as Ubisoft showcases. Let’s not forget, Ubisoft wasn’t a bad development studio. For most of the late 90s and early 2000s, I remember seeing the Ubisoft logo and being thrilled. So I have to say that there is nothing wrong with them, if the annual releases are done well. But doing them well at this pace really requires a compounded amount of effort at resources, making “well” a rare thing.

Plus, as the author said, most of these games are basically mediocre. Sure, AW was fun. Will I brag about it to my friends like Bioshock Infinite or Dark Souls II? Not a chance. It’s not inspiring. It’s not even particularly challenging or outstandingly enjoyable. It’s just a couple-hour time waster, and then I’m off to find something else.

So that’s really the difference, and the danger of annual releases. It’s just the same-old quantity vs. quality, really.

While I understand your argument that these games are a new development, I’m of a slightly different interpretation. The “visual novel” style games (popularized in Japan, but with a few shining gems in the western world, like 999) really tends to meet much of the criteria placed here. I’d say these sorts of games likely originated around the N64 or Gamecube/PS1 era, specifically because the processing capabilities of the machines then reached a point where extended animations or soundtracks could be inserted. Of course, you’re right to differentiate these sorts of games from anything in that era, because an N64 could never support the complexity and design of something like The Standley Parable, but I imagine that a dedicated researcher would be able to trace some sort of line back. Unfortunately, I’m not that researcher.

Nonetheless, good read!

Good analysis. My conjecture would be that past forms of horror are simply no longer adequate. We live in a world which has explored and catalogued the vast majority of touchable existence, creating a barrier between our understandings and the acceptance of things such as vampires or werewolves. But this barrier cannot protect us from unknowable things, or from unstoppable concepts. Madness, the unknown, and our own loss of free will are all embodied in the Cthulu Mythos, and ring true to modern ears.

Great job!

Any conversation I enter in regarding “artistic” video games eventually must come back to the Souls series, on par with such gems as MegaMan X. I think the real talent here comes from addressing more than just the bottom line, but instead taking a specific, intentional idea and making it central. “Struggle” would be my imprecise, top-of-my-head word choice. It pervades the music, the art, the gameplay, and more; even more importantly, this word exists in such a way that could not be replicated in any other artform. You are not witnessing the struggle, you are not examining the struggle, you’re not even feeling the struggle. You /experience/ the struggle. From Software took this idea and ran with it. While they’re not the first to catch on to this idea of the experiences available in video games but nowhere else, they’re bringing that discussion to the forefront, and that is absolutely key to the advancement of the industry to art.

Lost Kingdoms had it’s own sort of magic that can’t be discredited. Although you’re right; they certainly weren’t leaders of any packs, but I think “mediocre” might be a little strong.