Playing for Keeps

In response to “Uwe Boll and the German Tax Code” form The Escapist Forum: While that may sound weird it’s old news. Uwe Boll promotes this concept since day 1 and has never made it a secret.

I may not appreciate his films but I have to say that I like the guy in a “Ed Wood”-esque sense. I’ve seen several interviews with Uwe Boll and I think he loves films and does what he thinks “he does best”.

Also financially his movies prove very successful when released on dvd/vhs.

– retronaut

In response to “The Sincerest Form of Imitation” from The Escapist Forum: While I don’t think anyone can dispute games being derivative works, it seems like [the author] painted with some pretty broad strokes claiming that almost all games are Hollywood gone interactive. We all know that fantasy games are inspired by D&D/Tolkien and sports games are based on, well, sports, but claiming that all the others are beholden to movies for inspiration doesn’t seem fair to some of the extremely creative games we’ve seen over the years.

It’s hard to attribute simulation games like SimCity or Black & White to any particular genre of film (thankfully! “Urban Planning: The Movie” doesn’t sound like a blockbuster). And while the genre is nearly dead, graphical adventures often demonstrated narratives and storytelling that outstrip that vast majority of box office offerings. There are few films that have been as resonant or personal as the story of April Ryan in The Longest Journey. The aesthetic, art direction and sheer creativity of the Lucasarts graphic adventures, especially Grim Fandango, is at a level most Hollywood films can’t even aspire to. Does Super Mario Sunshine have a cinematic analog? Psychonauts? (probably one of the most underrated games of the last 2 or 3 years) Pikmin? Amplitude? There are a host of titles who take creativity to levels that most films can’t even imagine. I suppose the real tragedy is that there are so many more than don’t.

If [the author’s] claims are that most action-based games, especially those of the FPS and RTS milieu, are more or less lockstep with cinema, I’m perfectly inclined to agree. His classification was dead-on and the list (especially Aliens) was excellent. But saying that all games, except for fantasy RPGs and sports, are derived from film seems to be selling short the creativity of Sid Meyer, Will Wright, Shigeru Miyamoto and countless others. I think they deserve more credit than that.

– Nelsormensch

In response to ‘read any Good Games Lately” from The Escapist Forum: I’m one of the other 5 that enjoyed Hudson Hawk! Although last time I watched the DVD, I began noticing more of its shortcomings..

– Lord Twilight

In response to “The Addiciton of Purpose” from The Escapist Daily: Somehow it does not surprise me that fun is an “irrelevant” motivational factor for gamers. We are in the age of leaderboards, leveling, and achievements. Having fun and reveling in good gameplay is somehow not enough for gamers today. I enjoy competition as much as the next guy, but posting up superior numbers does not seem like a very rewarding experience to me. I want my rewards to come in the from enjoyable gameplay moments.

Maybe this is the reason innovation in game design is so slow to develop. If giving us these little “carrots” taps into some universal psychological process that keeps us playing, despite not having any fun, when will enjoyable, complex, and interesting gameplay ever take center stage in game design? Why waste the time and money when you can just tack on some stat tracking, achievements, and a leaderboard?

Maybe the games industry needs more hippies and less nerds. Every developer, at least, should have someone to constantly repeat the mantra, “it is not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game that matters!”

– heavyfeul

In response to “Skateboarding is not a Trial” from The Escapist Daily: I don’t think I could disagree with you more.

Extreme sports titles have always been boring except for the challenges that they set you.

It’s simply matter of the fact that pushing buttons on a controller is not nearly as challenging, or as interesting as doing the actual activity itself. There is no adrenaline rush and no sense of achievement for doing something crazy and coming out unscathed. No risk. If, however, you are introduced with a challenge to, say, perform a difficult trick over a large gap then you find yourself striving to complete to goal and the more you fail, the better the feeling of satisfaction when you finally get it. I reckon I probably spent 100 hours playing THPS3 just to have completed every task with every character. Had they simply thrown me into a game with no goals and said skate, I would have barely given it an hour before getting bored and never going back.

– Goofonian