http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/07/08/bioshock-infinite-e3-2011-demo-video
Just like Portal, this game looks like it's going to push the envelope as far as compelling storytelling and action. granted, I did just stay up all night. But I need to get the first Bioshock now, that's for sure.*
Coolest shit I've seen in a long time.
Good storytelling is all about connecting you with the characters, and the potential in video games to connect you with a character is HUGE, because you can actually control the actions of the character. This causes big problems for the writers- usually they are the sole arbiters of cause and effect- so they have to work around it, strike a balance. Now that people have been exploring the medium for a while, they're starting to get down to what works- and it shows.
For me, the coolest things ever are things I see in films and tv shows- people like Indiana Jones, doing cool shit. And ever since video games started being a reality, people have been looking for a game that makes you feel like you're Indiana Jones, or Spike Spiegel, or Sherlock Holmes, etc. This video I think gets right down to the core of that, at least on the action hero level.
The reason I think storytelling is so important is that it does more than entertain, it changes the participants in a way that affects their real life- by revealing a truth or awakening a memory or feeling. Video games have just as much potential in this aspect as any other artistic medium. the term "video game" is too broad, it encompasses a HUGE range of virtual experiences- from manipulating small shapes as they fall, to city simulations, to competing with virtual avatars of your real life friends. When narrative (that is, "story") is applied, and if the player engages in it, it has the same potential as other narrative forms like film and theatre and fiction.
That is not to say that narrative is the only way to make video games relevant to real life, there are a plethora of other things, from studies that show improvement in cognitive and manipulative skills in people who play video games, to video games that allow scientists to "crowdsource" complex problems such as protein knots, and other possible benefits... this lady Jane McGonigal discusses.
When games first came out, they were defined not by their content, but by the fact that they were interactive, while other forms of entertainment like movies and books were almost entirely passive. Lately we've seen that games have branched out, the number of people who play games has dramatically increased, and there are whole generations of people that see them as a fact of life.
As always, when taken to excess, something can be detrimental, and I think it certainly applies to video games. Especially when games are beginning to be designed to not be fun, but addictive, because in the end, all the developers want is your money.**
But overall, I am very excited*** for the compelling stories that have yet to be told in this form.
P.S. shout out to Killian for inspiring this footnote format. I just don't know how to format it all cool like she does.
* Especially that I am now (as of last week) mentally and emotionally healthy enough to have video games without doing stuff like flipping my desk over, thundering the worst expletives I can think of at 2 AM, and forgetting to eat.
** I have a bone to pick with the way that the free market can blur priorities- money becoming an end in itself, causing products and services to be designed for no other reason than to make money, even if it harms the people who buy it.
***Part of my excitement is about the fact that you can ACTUALLY MAKE A LIVING in games, and as much as I love theatre, I would like to make a living at what I do, and don't tell anyone but I sometimes get this urge to be involved with a form of storytelling that is more in vogue than theatre. I have celebrity fantasies. Then AGAIN, I hear that being in game development is a rather hellish experience in itself, so maybe it's best to leave well enough alone.
FOOTNOOOOOTES. Holler!
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