Fox News attacks again... but what can WE do about it?

The only thing surprising about Fox New's most recent attack against Duke Nukem Forever and the game industry in general is that it took so long. I think the gentlemen at Penny Arcade said it best in this comic from last week. Here's the thing, as much as Fox News and people like Jack Thompson just plain don't get it or us, we, as an industry and a culture, invite this sort of contrevorsy that art(paintings and sculpture to clarify), books, music, and movies have long since shrugged off.

Why is it okay to have a naked woman or man sculpted to perfection in public viewing, or an Alien vs. Predator movie that is PG-13, or a rap beat with more racial slurs in it than otheres, but we can't have a simulated slap by an admited chauvinist by design to a submissive woman? It's because video games are afraid to tackle difficult issues in a mature fashion.

To end the Duke Nukem debate I don't think there is a single rational adult who would play through Duke Nukem Forever and not see it as an ironic commentary rather than an attitude to aspire to.South Park always manages to tackle very sensitive and difficult issues in fun and (duh) cartoon-ey ways, but video games still don't have any mature, grotesque art in our culture (that is relevant).

I have obviously bitched about it before, but we are an industry where the primary consumer base is males 25 to 40and the second largest consumer base is women similarly aged. We are mostly adults who, more often than not, have jobs, spouses, own property, pay taxes, and who are generally contributing, mature (debatably) members of society. We also read, have social groups, watch movies (it's always the comic book movies and Sci Fi that make the most money), and some of us even have children. I am 28 and the panel at PAX East 2011 that the most of my friends were most excited about was the Geek Parenting panel. So why is it all games that get the M+ or AO rating are so immature and blatantly trying to offend?

Now let me be perfectly clear; I am not saying that Duke Nukem is bad (I think the reviews will say that) or that it shouldn't exist, or that Fox News is or is ever remotely close to being correct on the issue. Hell anyone who plays the game and decides that it is then okay to objectify and/or batter women is just stupid. To think that a video game, or any other piece of art can perform inception or do anything else than inspire is just plain ignorant. With that said the video game industry is all cartoons and no Shakespeare. There needs to be, and I would argue there would be a lot of profit in finding a middle ground between ironic and mistivous comentary and "mature" drama.

There is room in my heart for the movie Dumb and Dumber, Love Actually, Gattaca, Pan's Labyrinth, and Sin City. Why can't we have a game industry that represents those same broad subject matter as fiction, art, movies, and music? When our industry is so one note, are we really suprised that's what the harpy's will dwell on?

Time for our industry to grow up

The buzz right now is all about Bulletstorm and it has really got me thinking. You may or may not have noticed that I have written a lot of thoughts about it in the last week. The game is getting pretty strong reviews and rightly so in my opinion, but still; is it really something to be proud of? Isn't it maybe time to start going out in new directions? Stay with me on this and brace for the epic wall of text!

Videogames, as an artistic medium (yes this again and by me), are still in their infancy. Very smart and creative people are really pushing the boundaries of what a videogame is, how it can be used, how to tell a story, how to get people involved, and how to illicit a reaction. The big thing is though is that no one really has been able to really tackle a hard, sensitive issue or really push the bounds of relationships or human emotion. We have come really close and made strides, but in all, games are still seen as toys for children and ways to enact adolescent fantasies. PG-13 movies constantly feature sexual acts, but Mass Effect adds in a tasteful and mature sex scene and there is a ridiculous outcry. Videogames are and can be very violent, but they always are seen as more psychologically damaging than movies. Hell, film can get away with a lot more than games can, but why is that? Because film, during it's development as an artistic media, had the balls to expand their subject matter and continually push the envelope.

One of my favorite movies both recently and all time would be District 9. The movie works very well because it hits on a lot of fantastic levels. It has some amazing super weapons, some fantastic and suspenseful fights, and great use of limited special effects that really provide a visual spectacle. It also is an allegory for Apartheid South Africa and has a huge focus on racism, oppression, and justification of dehumanization (or desalinization?). The abuse in the film can be very difficult to watch and it touches on a lot of very sensitive subjects. Would this ever be allowed to work as a game?

The last time really edgy, and I mean a relative, sensitive, provocative topic tried to be handled by a videogame people folded to pressure and things feel apart. Extra Credits said it better than I could.

I really would love to see some brave developer really tackle a complex issue or emotion in a videogame. I'm talking racism, relationships, the human condition, difficult decisions, something other than shooting Nazi's, aliens, zombies, or all of the above. I want to see a brilliant story that doesn't have shoehorned adolescent sex appeal. I want to see a mature, sophisticated story written and told in a way where it works best as an interactive medium, and not a book, movie, or serial television show. I really want an experience that causes us to really think and be uncomfortable in a way that only mature and difficult subject matter can.

I have a feeling its an Indie developer who will have the chutzpah to do it because the major publishers just don't want to risk a little PR to advance our medium forward (and prolly make a ton of cash). We need the Pan's Labyrinth's and Up's to balance out the Kill Bill's and Die Hards.

Now I would never say there isn't room for games like Bulletstorm and Duke Nukem. I'm playing through Dead Space 2 right and thoroughly enjoying using future mining equipment to dismember creepy alien, zombie things. Granted it is a ton of fun, and isn't that the point after all? My only problem is I also want more! There is so much more possibility with videogames that hasn't been tapped into yet out of fear of controversy and fear of the unknown.

We need someone to bet on other than Duke. We need to listen and think with skill, not just kill with it. It's time to grow up a little.

I played the Bulletstorm Demo and I still haven't Sexually Assulted anyone....

There has been a lot of buzz about Epic Game's shooter title Bulletstorm developed by People Can Fly, so I figured I would lower myself to the disgusting prospect of playing through the demo recently released. Despite the assertion by experts that violent videogames such as bullet storm turn seemingly normal people in to deranged rapists, I have not committed any sexual assaults as of yet. Granted the demo was only approximately 10 minutes of game play and I have no hard scientific data to back up the fact that playing the full retail release won't turn me in to such a deviant sociopath, but so far so good.

Now I'm not usually one who enjoys such games. By my disdain for the way shooter and action titles tend to be marketed to us, video game's core demographic, you would probably assume I would loathe and abhor the mere fact this game has been generating the excitement it has, but you know what; the demo was really fun.

From the beginning of the short tutorial video until the demo is over the game is driping with a campy, over the top gratuitous bravado that is very reminecent of Serious Sam. There was some plot about space pirates flying around but I didn't pay much attention and I really didn't need to. What's important is that this game has a brutal and childish flair for just running around murdering aliens.

This game seems to be going for what I call the "Die Hard Effect." You can do the same thing that has been done a million times as long as you do it better and with more style than everyone else. I didn't see anything new here, but what I did see was a fast paced, immature guilty pleasure shooter that looks amazing and seems to be fun where it counts. Let's see how this game does when it releases on February 22nd.