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Something has happened to the games industry over the past few years. Whereas, it used to be that gamers were stereotyped as greasy, bespectacled geeks with no friends, nowadays it’s surprising if you *don’t* own a console. Gaming has been brought very much into the mainstream. The consequences of this are strange ones that I could go on and list but that’s not what I’m interested in doing. I’d like to bring to your attention a phenomena that has occurred in the gaming world over the last couple of years…
Something *has* changed in gaming, and it was something I simply couldn’t put my finger on until the other night.
I was lying on the sofa on Friday night watching the usual line up of mindless rubbish that emanates from the TV, when some adverts came on. First up was Nintendo’s advert for Metroid Prime, if you’ve seen it you’ll know that it’s quite strange, not actually offering any view of the gameplay and that the only idea that you were given of the game was a brief plot synopsis on the voiceover, I thought that there must be a reason for that but at that moment I didn’t know what it was. All was revealed however by the next advert. It was an ad for the Sunday night screening of The Perfect Storm. The ad’s voice over boasted about the special effects, and the on-screen graphics told us the big-name actors who starred in it. And that’s when it hit me. That’s when Nintendo’s seemingly secret reason for not wanting to show any part of Metroid and only give a brief description of the plot became apparent: They were pitching it like a film!
That’s when everything started falling into place. I thought back to all the games adverts I’d seen recently and then thought of the ads you usually see for the release of a DVD or the promotional stuff for a new film. The games were all being sold as films. Then I thought of the voiceovers for the games adverts. They all boasted about the games graphics (films special FX) and give a pithy insight as to the plot of the game. And then two things hit me, firstly a mini-football lobbed at me by my sister and secondly at how an emphasis is now always put on the plot of games. Back when I first started gaming (early 90’s) games were simplistic. The basic plot of a game was that an evil guy had done something and you had to stop him. That was it. Now think of Eternal Darkness (great and involving game, I’m not doubting that). Do you remember how the point of its storyline spanning 2000 years was a big selling point for it? Now think through ED. The storyline has twists just like a films, there *is* a main character but the narrative follows the deeds of many different characters just like a films, and, at the end the plot comes to a climax, there is a revelation and all the subplots suddenly coincide just like a film.
The whole of the gaming and film worlds are beginning to coincide. The most successful games recently have all had elaborate story arcs, mind-blowing graphics and are advertised just like movies. In fact most games nowadays have little surprises, like access to the games concept art, character models, interviews with designers/developers and even ‘the making of…’ documentaries (SSX Tricky), does that not remind you of the ‘Easter Eggs’ you get on DVD’s?
Whether this is a good or bad thing I can’t yet decide, but as far as I can see this trend is set to continue: Ever since Sony brought games into the more public domain with the Playstation, games have been becoming more and more mainstream. And with every new console that’s released, with every new advance in graphics and sound technology that means movie-like graphics and effects can be replicated and with every advert that brings games to the forefront of the publics attention, the two most commercial forms of entertainment that there are, films and games, will continue to merge. Maybe one day they’ll become one with interactive films controlled by the viewer becoming available to the public, or maybe, eventually the two worlds will begin to drift apart again.
Who knows?
Cheers for reading
RBS
Something *has* changed in gaming, and it was something I simply couldn’t put my finger on until the other night.
I was lying on the sofa on Friday night watching the usual line up of mindless rubbish that emanates from the TV, when some adverts came on. First up was Nintendo’s advert for Metroid Prime, if you’ve seen it you’ll know that it’s quite strange, not actually offering any view of the gameplay and that the only idea that you were given of the game was a brief plot synopsis on the voiceover, I thought that there must be a reason for that but at that moment I didn’t know what it was. All was revealed however by the next advert. It was an ad for the Sunday night screening of The Perfect Storm. The ad’s voice over boasted about the special effects, and the on-screen graphics told us the big-name actors who starred in it. And that’s when it hit me. That’s when Nintendo’s seemingly secret reason for not wanting to show any part of Metroid and only give a brief description of the plot became apparent: They were pitching it like a film!
That’s when everything started falling into place. I thought back to all the games adverts I’d seen recently and then thought of the ads you usually see for the release of a DVD or the promotional stuff for a new film. The games were all being sold as films. Then I thought of the voiceovers for the games adverts. They all boasted about the games graphics (films special FX) and give a pithy insight as to the plot of the game. And then two things hit me, firstly a mini-football lobbed at me by my sister and secondly at how an emphasis is now always put on the plot of games. Back when I first started gaming (early 90’s) games were simplistic. The basic plot of a game was that an evil guy had done something and you had to stop him. That was it. Now think of Eternal Darkness (great and involving game, I’m not doubting that). Do you remember how the point of its storyline spanning 2000 years was a big selling point for it? Now think through ED. The storyline has twists just like a films, there *is* a main character but the narrative follows the deeds of many different characters just like a films, and, at the end the plot comes to a climax, there is a revelation and all the subplots suddenly coincide just like a film.
The whole of the gaming and film worlds are beginning to coincide. The most successful games recently have all had elaborate story arcs, mind-blowing graphics and are advertised just like movies. In fact most games nowadays have little surprises, like access to the games concept art, character models, interviews with designers/developers and even ‘the making of…’ documentaries (SSX Tricky), does that not remind you of the ‘Easter Eggs’ you get on DVD’s?
Whether this is a good or bad thing I can’t yet decide, but as far as I can see this trend is set to continue: Ever since Sony brought games into the more public domain with the Playstation, games have been becoming more and more mainstream. And with every new console that’s released, with every new advance in graphics and sound technology that means movie-like graphics and effects can be replicated and with every advert that brings games to the forefront of the publics attention, the two most commercial forms of entertainment that there are, films and games, will continue to merge. Maybe one day they’ll become one with interactive films controlled by the viewer becoming available to the public, or maybe, eventually the two worlds will begin to drift apart again.
Who knows?
Cheers for reading
RBS
Great post, well written and a good read.
:D
I think you're onto something with regards to the closer links between films and games - I suppose the most recent, and perhaps closest, link between film and game is that of collaboration on the Matrix, films and games that intertwine and make up a bigger story. Will it be a sign of things to come? If positive, I hope so. But I'd hate to see it dilute the enjoyment or effect of either.
:D
I think you're onto something with regards to the closer links between films and games - I suppose the most recent, and perhaps closest, link between film and game is that of collaboration on the Matrix, films and games that intertwine and make up a bigger story. Will it be a sign of things to come? If positive, I hope so. But I'd hate to see it dilute the enjoyment or effect of either.
Something has happened to the games industry over the past few years. Whereas, it used to be that gamers were stereotyped as greasy, bespectacled geeks with no friends, nowadays it’s surprising if you *don’t* own a console. Gaming has been brought very much into the mainstream. The consequences of this are strange ones that I could go on and list but that’s not what I’m interested in doing. I’d like to bring to your attention a phenomena that has occurred in the gaming world over the last couple of years…
Something *has* changed in gaming, and it was something I simply couldn’t put my finger on until the other night.
I was lying on the sofa on Friday night watching the usual line up of mindless rubbish that emanates from the TV, when some adverts came on. First up was Nintendo’s advert for Metroid Prime, if you’ve seen it you’ll know that it’s quite strange, not actually offering any view of the gameplay and that the only idea that you were given of the game was a brief plot synopsis on the voiceover, I thought that there must be a reason for that but at that moment I didn’t know what it was. All was revealed however by the next advert. It was an ad for the Sunday night screening of The Perfect Storm. The ad’s voice over boasted about the special effects, and the on-screen graphics told us the big-name actors who starred in it. And that’s when it hit me. That’s when Nintendo’s seemingly secret reason for not wanting to show any part of Metroid and only give a brief description of the plot became apparent: They were pitching it like a film!
That’s when everything started falling into place. I thought back to all the games adverts I’d seen recently and then thought of the ads you usually see for the release of a DVD or the promotional stuff for a new film. The games were all being sold as films. Then I thought of the voiceovers for the games adverts. They all boasted about the games graphics (films special FX) and give a pithy insight as to the plot of the game. And then two things hit me, firstly a mini-football lobbed at me by my sister and secondly at how an emphasis is now always put on the plot of games. Back when I first started gaming (early 90’s) games were simplistic. The basic plot of a game was that an evil guy had done something and you had to stop him. That was it. Now think of Eternal Darkness (great and involving game, I’m not doubting that). Do you remember how the point of its storyline spanning 2000 years was a big selling point for it? Now think through ED. The storyline has twists just like a films, there *is* a main character but the narrative follows the deeds of many different characters just like a films, and, at the end the plot comes to a climax, there is a revelation and all the subplots suddenly coincide just like a film.
The whole of the gaming and film worlds are beginning to coincide. The most successful games recently have all had elaborate story arcs, mind-blowing graphics and are advertised just like movies. In fact most games nowadays have little surprises, like access to the games concept art, character models, interviews with designers/developers and even ‘the making of…’ documentaries (SSX Tricky), does that not remind you of the ‘Easter Eggs’ you get on DVD’s?
Whether this is a good or bad thing I can’t yet decide, but as far as I can see this trend is set to continue: Ever since Sony brought games into the more public domain with the Playstation, games have been becoming more and more mainstream. And with every new console that’s released, with every new advance in graphics and sound technology that means movie-like graphics and effects can be replicated and with every advert that brings games to the forefront of the publics attention, the two most commercial forms of entertainment that there are, films and games, will continue to merge. Maybe one day they’ll become one with interactive films controlled by the viewer becoming available to the public, or maybe, eventually the two worlds will begin to drift apart again.
Who knows?
Cheers for reading
RBS
Something *has* changed in gaming, and it was something I simply couldn’t put my finger on until the other night.
I was lying on the sofa on Friday night watching the usual line up of mindless rubbish that emanates from the TV, when some adverts came on. First up was Nintendo’s advert for Metroid Prime, if you’ve seen it you’ll know that it’s quite strange, not actually offering any view of the gameplay and that the only idea that you were given of the game was a brief plot synopsis on the voiceover, I thought that there must be a reason for that but at that moment I didn’t know what it was. All was revealed however by the next advert. It was an ad for the Sunday night screening of The Perfect Storm. The ad’s voice over boasted about the special effects, and the on-screen graphics told us the big-name actors who starred in it. And that’s when it hit me. That’s when Nintendo’s seemingly secret reason for not wanting to show any part of Metroid and only give a brief description of the plot became apparent: They were pitching it like a film!
That’s when everything started falling into place. I thought back to all the games adverts I’d seen recently and then thought of the ads you usually see for the release of a DVD or the promotional stuff for a new film. The games were all being sold as films. Then I thought of the voiceovers for the games adverts. They all boasted about the games graphics (films special FX) and give a pithy insight as to the plot of the game. And then two things hit me, firstly a mini-football lobbed at me by my sister and secondly at how an emphasis is now always put on the plot of games. Back when I first started gaming (early 90’s) games were simplistic. The basic plot of a game was that an evil guy had done something and you had to stop him. That was it. Now think of Eternal Darkness (great and involving game, I’m not doubting that). Do you remember how the point of its storyline spanning 2000 years was a big selling point for it? Now think through ED. The storyline has twists just like a films, there *is* a main character but the narrative follows the deeds of many different characters just like a films, and, at the end the plot comes to a climax, there is a revelation and all the subplots suddenly coincide just like a film.
The whole of the gaming and film worlds are beginning to coincide. The most successful games recently have all had elaborate story arcs, mind-blowing graphics and are advertised just like movies. In fact most games nowadays have little surprises, like access to the games concept art, character models, interviews with designers/developers and even ‘the making of…’ documentaries (SSX Tricky), does that not remind you of the ‘Easter Eggs’ you get on DVD’s?
Whether this is a good or bad thing I can’t yet decide, but as far as I can see this trend is set to continue: Ever since Sony brought games into the more public domain with the Playstation, games have been becoming more and more mainstream. And with every new console that’s released, with every new advance in graphics and sound technology that means movie-like graphics and effects can be replicated and with every advert that brings games to the forefront of the publics attention, the two most commercial forms of entertainment that there are, films and games, will continue to merge. Maybe one day they’ll become one with interactive films controlled by the viewer becoming available to the public, or maybe, eventually the two worlds will begin to drift apart again.
Who knows?
Cheers for reading
RBS