Crystal Dynamics’ new game Tomb Raider (2013) adopts the strategy of the film Star Trek (2009) in using a prequel-cum-reboot to revitalize a franchise that had run out of steam: You play the game as a version of Lara Croft far younger and less experienced than in her previous 10 iterations, whose experiences in the game are meant to be her “formative” experiences…
video games
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Ron Gilbert’s The Cave further blurs the line between video games and art
Once upon a time, media were supposed to be mediums, agents for revelation. Aristotle defined classic tragedy as a way to trigger catharsis, while Plato believed in poetry as a pedagogical tool that would lead people to virtue. Now there is an attitude that some media are only vehicles for cheap entertainment and alienation, especially TV and video games. But, while I can’t speak to television, video games can in fact be a path to epiphany and enlightenment—the way every art form should be.
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Screenshot: Saving Private Rohrer
At the 2009 Game Developers’ eXchange (GDX), indie developer Jason Rohrer gave a unique talk that you should definitely check out on YouTube, whether you are into video games or you think they are just stupid entertainment for teen boys and young adults, called “‘Game’ and Other Four-Letter Words.” Rohrer is mostly known for Passage, […]
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Screenshot: Welcome to the New Dungeon
Repeat after me: Gary Gygax. Again: Gary Gygax. If you know who Gygax is, you’re probably smiling; if not, here’s a clue: Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the fantasy role-playing game that rocked the gaming scene in the 1970s and ’80s. You know, best board game e-v-e-r: nerds impersonating elves and dwarves stranded in a dungeon […]
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Screenshot: Level Up
1981 was the year of the cyborg. Three year’s before Gibson’s Neuromancer, at that moment, the word “cyberpunk” didn’t exist and most people knew the “mouse” only as a puffy mammal, but the explosion of arcade games was accelerating the blend of man and machine through increasingly intimate human-machine experiences. Still, at the end of […]
