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You've got to love comedy. Rush Hour, Baseketball, Orange County. They all give their kicks from laughs. That's why comedy is a very large genre, recognisable. I mean, everybody has seen a comedy, right?
Well, where IS comedy in gaming? Sure, there are the wisecrack jokes from the likes of Jak and Daxter, and the laughs that come from four player multiplayer bouts in games such as Mario Party, but where do the proper laughs come in? Well, I'm afraid the answer is they don't. Comedy isn't recognisable in gaming, and I don't think I've ever played a game which doesn't take itself seriously. Sarkey characters who are going through that transgressional pubic stage are in abundance (supposedly cool (!)?), but if you were to say that's gaming comedy wrapped up then you'd be pretty much correct.
In fact, the only 'jokes' in games are ones which make you laugh through being so lame, so ironic or just plain inappropriate. Things like 'Big 'n' Veiny' in GTA3 which just make you laugh for being what it is - toilet humour. And the classic (at least in my mind) quote '"Wow - you have a massager" "That's... not a massager"'. Even then they're just sexual references/toilet humour trying to get at us in the same way that is used by advertising companies and what not.
I think a game like Rush Hour would be great. Not necessarily because of its pseudo-kung fu fighting, but if you could waltz around pulling off smart-***e comments to passers by it would be a riot. Of course, things wear thin pretty quickly, but given the innovational skills of companies like Sega and Nintendo, I don't doubt its possible. Who could have predicted Super Monkey Ball?
So hows about that then? Comedy in games. Oddworld games have kind of infused a comedy aspect into the gameplay - you can fart. Toilet humour asied, comedy is pretty much untouched in the gaming stakes, and I reckon that it could give the industry a much needed boost if a brave - or foolhardy developer hit at making a game where comedy was in the essence. Not toilet humour, sarcasm of witless puns, but actual jokes. And for the love of god, nothing like Friends...
Well, where IS comedy in gaming? Sure, there are the wisecrack jokes from the likes of Jak and Daxter, and the laughs that come from four player multiplayer bouts in games such as Mario Party, but where do the proper laughs come in? Well, I'm afraid the answer is they don't. Comedy isn't recognisable in gaming, and I don't think I've ever played a game which doesn't take itself seriously. Sarkey characters who are going through that transgressional pubic stage are in abundance (supposedly cool (!)?), but if you were to say that's gaming comedy wrapped up then you'd be pretty much correct.
In fact, the only 'jokes' in games are ones which make you laugh through being so lame, so ironic or just plain inappropriate. Things like 'Big 'n' Veiny' in GTA3 which just make you laugh for being what it is - toilet humour. And the classic (at least in my mind) quote '"Wow - you have a massager" "That's... not a massager"'. Even then they're just sexual references/toilet humour trying to get at us in the same way that is used by advertising companies and what not.
I think a game like Rush Hour would be great. Not necessarily because of its pseudo-kung fu fighting, but if you could waltz around pulling off smart-***e comments to passers by it would be a riot. Of course, things wear thin pretty quickly, but given the innovational skills of companies like Sega and Nintendo, I don't doubt its possible. Who could have predicted Super Monkey Ball?
So hows about that then? Comedy in games. Oddworld games have kind of infused a comedy aspect into the gameplay - you can fart. Toilet humour asied, comedy is pretty much untouched in the gaming stakes, and I reckon that it could give the industry a much needed boost if a brave - or foolhardy developer hit at making a game where comedy was in the essence. Not toilet humour, sarcasm of witless puns, but actual jokes. And for the love of god, nothing like Friends...
C.B.D.F. admittedly toilet humor, but hardly a game, more of an interactive comedy show.
Well, whether it just be in pre-scripted dialogue or just wise cracks the main character pulls, comedy could work. It would mean having to script every single NPC's dialogue, and also give it a lot of variability in what is said, but games like Monkey Island did manage it beautifully - even if a lot of the comedy came through as sarcasm. Little things, like the (in my opinion) hilarious "Goodbye, cruel world. Ahhh, forget it" (correct me if I'm wrong.
Check some of the responses I got on the EDGE forums:
http://forum.edge-online.com/viewtopic.php?t=6445
Check some of the responses I got on the EDGE forums:
http://forum.edge-online.com/viewtopic.php?t=6445
I see what you mean, but it must be so hard to fit in comedy that YOU can pull off in a game - how can it happen?
You could do it in cut-scenes and FMV sequences, but when you're actually playing??
I dunno how it'll happen.
You could do it in cut-scenes and FMV sequences, but when you're actually playing??
I dunno how it'll happen.
Yeah, and Escape from Monkey Island was pretty funny as well. I really like that game. :D
George Stobbart (from Broken Sword) is quite a witty fellow - more subtle observation humour than out-and-out jokes though.
You've got to love comedy. Rush Hour, Baseketball, Orange County. They all give their kicks from laughs. That's why comedy is a very large genre, recognisable. I mean, everybody has seen a comedy, right?
Well, where IS comedy in gaming? Sure, there are the wisecrack jokes from the likes of Jak and Daxter, and the laughs that come from four player multiplayer bouts in games such as Mario Party, but where do the proper laughs come in? Well, I'm afraid the answer is they don't. Comedy isn't recognisable in gaming, and I don't think I've ever played a game which doesn't take itself seriously. Sarkey characters who are going through that transgressional pubic stage are in abundance (supposedly cool (!)?), but if you were to say that's gaming comedy wrapped up then you'd be pretty much correct.
In fact, the only 'jokes' in games are ones which make you laugh through being so lame, so ironic or just plain inappropriate. Things like 'Big 'n' Veiny' in GTA3 which just make you laugh for being what it is - toilet humour. And the classic (at least in my mind) quote '"Wow - you have a massager" "That's... not a massager"'. Even then they're just sexual references/toilet humour trying to get at us in the same way that is used by advertising companies and what not.
I think a game like Rush Hour would be great. Not necessarily because of its pseudo-kung fu fighting, but if you could waltz around pulling off smart-***e comments to passers by it would be a riot. Of course, things wear thin pretty quickly, but given the innovational skills of companies like Sega and Nintendo, I don't doubt its possible. Who could have predicted Super Monkey Ball?
So hows about that then? Comedy in games. Oddworld games have kind of infused a comedy aspect into the gameplay - you can fart. Toilet humour asied, comedy is pretty much untouched in the gaming stakes, and I reckon that it could give the industry a much needed boost if a brave - or foolhardy developer hit at making a game where comedy was in the essence. Not toilet humour, sarcasm of witless puns, but actual jokes. And for the love of god, nothing like Friends...
Well, where IS comedy in gaming? Sure, there are the wisecrack jokes from the likes of Jak and Daxter, and the laughs that come from four player multiplayer bouts in games such as Mario Party, but where do the proper laughs come in? Well, I'm afraid the answer is they don't. Comedy isn't recognisable in gaming, and I don't think I've ever played a game which doesn't take itself seriously. Sarkey characters who are going through that transgressional pubic stage are in abundance (supposedly cool (!)?), but if you were to say that's gaming comedy wrapped up then you'd be pretty much correct.
In fact, the only 'jokes' in games are ones which make you laugh through being so lame, so ironic or just plain inappropriate. Things like 'Big 'n' Veiny' in GTA3 which just make you laugh for being what it is - toilet humour. And the classic (at least in my mind) quote '"Wow - you have a massager" "That's... not a massager"'. Even then they're just sexual references/toilet humour trying to get at us in the same way that is used by advertising companies and what not.
I think a game like Rush Hour would be great. Not necessarily because of its pseudo-kung fu fighting, but if you could waltz around pulling off smart-***e comments to passers by it would be a riot. Of course, things wear thin pretty quickly, but given the innovational skills of companies like Sega and Nintendo, I don't doubt its possible. Who could have predicted Super Monkey Ball?
So hows about that then? Comedy in games. Oddworld games have kind of infused a comedy aspect into the gameplay - you can fart. Toilet humour asied, comedy is pretty much untouched in the gaming stakes, and I reckon that it could give the industry a much needed boost if a brave - or foolhardy developer hit at making a game where comedy was in the essence. Not toilet humour, sarcasm of witless puns, but actual jokes. And for the love of god, nothing like Friends...