L.A. Noire and the technology of the future gaming

     This past week in gaming I’ve been playing Rockstar’s Games L.A. Noire. I haven’t finished the game yet, but I have played enough to have a pretty good opinion about it. The element that stuck out to me the most was the animation. A new form of technology was used to capture facial emotions and movement. 32 camera were set up around the actors to capture all of their scene.  It is so interesting to see the actor in the game and then see what they look like in real life. They look the exact same!

The technology used gives the characters much more depth and feeling as if they were real and they are real people. It is extremely interesting and adds so much more to the game play experience. Check out this behind the scenes video of the facial capture…

Yeah, I’ve heard of that.

Today while I was shopping for new video games, I stopped by one of the most popular video game retail stores, GameStop. I went into the store with a specific game on mind, L.A. Noire. I walked into the store where I was greeted by a very friendly employee. He welcomed me, asked what I was looking for, and asked what kind of games I like to play. I told him that I was a fan of survival horror even though I was well aware of L.A. Noire not being of that genre. The employee then began to tell me about various survival horror games that were going to be released soon. Of the games he listed, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and the re-release of Resident Evil 4 for the Xbox 360. I informed him that I was already well aware of those games since I was subscriber to GameInformer Magazine. But once I told him that I already knew the details of the game he proceeded to tell me what the games where about. So I was stuck there not knowing what to tell the guy, and had to suffer through a long explanation of something I was already aware of. After he gave was done talking the only thing I could respond with was, “Yeah, I’ve heard of that.” I ended up leaving the store without buying anything. Not because of the employee. I had discovered that this particular store was selling L.A. Noire for a higher price is all. I have noticed that whenever I go into these stores the employees are always so anxious to tell me about new games that are coming out, and despite the fact that I told them I was already aware of the game. It would seem as if the reasoning for it is because they WANT you to buy something from the store. Now I’m not saying that this is a bad marketing scheme. I’ve actually had quite a few good conversations with employees of the store. It’s just amusing to me that they always do that. But when I think about it, it has to be pretty fun getting to tell people all about the new games that are coming out, so I can’t really blame them for wanting to stop me and talk to me.

Video Games as Art – Paintings and Exhibits

Aside from what is actually on the screen when playing and game, and gaming tattoos, paintings and drawings are also a big portion of the side of video games as art. Check out some of these amazing pieces from artists on deviantART.com…

Video games in art form is popular among pop culture. It’s on our tee shirts, in our books, and now it’s in museums. The Smithsonian American Art Museum will be displaying many pieces of video game related art in their gallery. The exhibition is called The Art of Video Games and it will begin showcasing on March 16, 2012 and last until September 30, 2012. There will be 80 games on display including Tomb Raider, Okami, Bioshock, DOOM II, Pac-Man, and many more. Chris Melissinos is the man in charge for the exhibit.

Video Games as Art – Tattoos

This week in blogging I’d like to focus on video games as more than just a game, but as art. People all over the world go to different lengths to create an artistic representation of games. Today the focus will be on video game tattoos in honor of receiving my first game based tattoo this past Monday.

This is my Organization XIII tattoo based of the video game, Kingdom Hearts (pardon my odd posture. It’s hard to take a photograph of your own ankle!).

Here are some other popular gaming tattoos…

So what do people think about the concept of video game tattoo? Some people think it’s lame. Some people think it’s awesome. People who find the idea of gaming tattoos to be ridiculous are usually not gamers themselves. They might not play video games at all, and think it’s “geeky”.  But what about that person’s tattoo of say, a unicorn? As with all tattoos it is up to the person getting it. What does it mean to them? To me, my tattoo is a representation of one of my favorite games. And there is a more personal underlying meaning behind why I favor the characters in the game. If someone wants to know, they should just ask me and I would happily tell the story.

WhatCulture! did a piece on the art of video gaming in tattoo form. They said in their article, “…each tattoo shows the players love for gaming and demonstrates the mediums power to communicate as an art form.”

Kotaku.com offers a few tips on committing to video game based tattoo:

1. Make sure the art is exactly what you want so that you’re favorite character isn’t inaccurately depicted.
2. Try it out first. There is such a thing as temporary inkjet tattoo paper so that you can make your own tattoos at home!
3. As with all tattoos, go somewhere that you trust. You don’t want your Mario tattoo to look like a stick figure mess.
4. It IS a tattoo and it is going to be there forever. Make SURE it’s what you want to see when you’re 50 years old. Personally I look forward to seeing my XIII tattoo when I’m old and have grandkids.

Is Changing a Video Game a Smart Idea?

That is a question that has boggled many gamers for a long time now. Now when I say changing people can interpret that many different ways. Some people might see it as updating the video game and giving it better higher quality graphics. That’s okay. But what I mean by changing is really changing it. Almost to the point of being unrecognizable and it upsets many gamers. Let’s look at an example…

This is Spyro the Dragon:

Spyro the Dragon debuted in September of 1998 and was developed by Insomniac and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. He was a small, cute purple dragon who was sent on an adventure to save the dragons from a spell cast by Gnasty Gnorc. Spyro was in the homes of many children during the late 90’s and early 2000’s. He had two more successful sequels released on the Playstation; Spyro the Dragon: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon. In 2002, Insomniac decided to let go of Spryo and develop more new games while Universal Interactive continued with the series. 10 games and too many publishers and developers later, Spyro the Dragon was a destroyed series. He seemed to have lost his touch after Insomniac gave him up.

This year it was announced that Spyro would come back to the more recent consoles in a brand new game, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. This video game introduces a new way of gaming. Players will have to buy different action figures of the characters, “Skylanders”, they want to play (there are 32 in all). Players will place the skylander on a dock and that character will show up on the screen and play.

Along with a brand new of playing comes brand new character design! Meet the new Spyro the Dragon:

So many people were upset with the new design. This new Spyro looks so much more ferocious than what 90’s kids grew up with. So why change the game? Why change something when it is already a known fact that the original worked? Perhaps it’s because developers and publishers want to try a new demographic. In the 90’s people that were playing this game were probably young, around the age of maybe 7-10. As the game went on further the original fans went along with it. When developers saw that the fans were not taking to the newer games for the PS2 and GBA, they decided a new tactic. Let’s add toys to our game. By adding collectible figures that are needed to get through the game it focuses it’s appeal on younger kids of this generation. Perhaps the developers are expecting to gain a whole new following of fans this way and there games will sell once again. I am 21 years old and a die hard Spyro fan. I am not impressed with the new concept. My brother, who is 8 years old, is super excited about this game because of the new action figures. See, it’s already working. This is just a theory. It has not been proven or researched even. There isn’t any article online where this comes from. This is just my straightforward opinion and observation. I guess for children of the 90’s it is time to let go of Spyro the Dragon. We had our fun with him and it’s time to let others have their turn.

There have been plenty of other video games that have went through a major character change. Not all have upset fans. Some were for the better (Cloud Strife), but some were for the worst. Examples include:

Dante from Devil May Cry

Ethan Thomas from the Condemned series

Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII

Lara Croft from Tomb Raider

A quick note about Lara Croft’s change. The one on the left is supposed to be her at a younger age therefore the game is set a bit of time before any of the other games. However, in the trailer Lara has a smartphone as well as Beats by Dr. Dre earbuds which were not sold until 2009. In this game Lara is supposed to be 21 years old. She was born in 1968 meaning that the year is at least 1989 when she is supposed to be in this game however she has a smartphone and technologically advanced earbuds. So this timeline has now been severely shattered.  If you’re going to change a game, at least try to do it in the right span of time…

Sony’s New “Michael” Ad Has Gamers Amazed

Several days ago Sony released a new ad that had tons of diehard PS3 fans in awe. A quick summary of the ad shows several different video game characters in an old tavern saluting a person by the name of “Michael”. It’s a great way of showing how much Sony appreciates their loyal customers. I have been a Sony user since I was 7 with my first video game console, the Playstation. Even with the recent PSN hacking Sony has kept millions of people using their products. Despite the fact that Sony offers the Playstation Network for free to millions of people they gave away a ton of freebies in a Welcome Back Program after the hacking was resolved. Seeing this ad is almost like a personal thank you to the players. It’s also fun to see how many video game characters you can spot? Go on ahead and give it a try. See this amazing ad below:

Extra Life gives lives to those who need it

Gamers will be happy to know that they can help the people around them by doing what they do best- playing video games. “Play Games. Heal Kids.” That is the tag like for Extra Life a website that every year in October hosts an event where people pledge to play games for 24 hours straight and others donate money during that time. Extra Life has raised money for 170 different children’s hospitals and in total has raised $440,000. Earlier this month, Xbox 360 held an event called Gaming and Giving for Good on Xbox Live to help raise money for Extra Life as well.

This year’s Extra Life event will be held on Saturday, October 15th beginning at 9 a.m. To register for the event is simple. You can register for free by signing up under the Extra Life Classic and your goal will be to raise $100. You must enter in your PSN, or Xbox LIVE Gamertag in order to participate. Participants will then be asked to recruit 4 sponsors who will donate $1 an hour during the marathon ($24 total). Participants will also be given a link to a page where they can ask for donations and a goal tracker will be displayed showing how much they’ve raised.

This year I will be trying my hand at raising money for this charity event. It only makes sense, right? The most I’ve played in a day was 15 hours. Can I make it to 24? If you’d like to help please visit my page to donate! I will be helping raise money for University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina. The gaming begins October 15th!!!

Guy Cihi and other former Silent Hill 2 voiceovers sign waiver to release original work in the new HD collection

In 2001 Silent Hill 2 was released and Silent Hill 3 was released in 2003. They were both very successful with fans of survival horror. With the constant update of gaming consoles Konami decided to re-release Silent Hill 2 and 3 in HD for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. While fans were excited to hear of a visually updated version of their favorite game, they were not happy to discover that the original voice overs were going to be re-recorded.

Silent Hill 2 was originally released on the PS2, but later was released for the Xbox and PC as well. The mocap and voice actors were not given residuals for those releases. Konami did not state in their contracts that they were to use their mocap footage and voice over work in other releases of the game. Guy Cihi said this:

To tell you the truth, I had no idea they were releasing a ‘making of’ video. They never told me. I found out later when a fan asked me about it… I hope that some day Konami management learns how to do right by the people who contribute so much to making their products… Konami has reused my performances without my permission.

So with the HD collection coming out that produces even more of a problem. Guy Cihi along with the other actors signed a contract for ONLY the PS2 release. Not for the Xbox, PC or HD collection. Konami had been refusing to pay the actors what was owed to them and instead thought it would be easier to record new voiceovers.However, Guy Cihi owns the rights to the mocap used in the HD collection and he can sue Konami for those rights.

After much debate between the original actors and Konami, a waiver was finally signed releasing the rights to the mocap and voice work for the HD collection release. It has not been said what the final agreement was but most likely Konami will be paying what is owed to the actors for their original work along with residuals for the new release, and the original voice work will remain in the new release. A win-win situation and great news for us Silent Hill fans! While there is no release date yet fans are expecting for it to be released around the same time as the new addition to the series, Silent Hill: Downpour.

Sexualization in Video Game Characters

For many years now there has been a constant controversy with the sexualization of characters, and those characters that get caught in the fire are typically female characters. So how much sex is too much in a video game? There are many people that believe it fits in right with the story and gameplay, and then there are many people that find it to be completely pointless and degrading. Some of the earliest video games have introduced sexuality into gaming such as Duke Nukem and Tomb Raider. As time went on more games were developed that took it to a whole new level such as beach volleyball.

In 2008, Fox News did a report on how the popular video game, Mass Effect, depicted pornography. Talk show host, Cooper Lawrence said that it gave young boys the wrong idea about women and that it was, and that the video game showed full on nudity. Spike TV’s Geoff Keighly rebutted saying that it was nothing like that. Lawrence admitted that she had never played the game, but rather based her information off what someone told her just minutes before the show. Mass Effect in fact is not full of nudity and sex. There is barely any nudity at all and sex is just a small 30 second deal out of the whole game, and you can choose to not have your character engage in it.

Let’s look at a character that is widely criticized for her appearance: Lara Croft.

She has always wore the same style of outfit throughout her whole career; small shorts, a tank top, hiking boots, and her hair in a long, neat braid or ponytail. A lot of people feel that her outfit is a bit too revealing and that she is a disgrace to women. Because women don’t really climb mountains with no rope looking for treasure, and wield guns all while wearing comfortable clothing for such an occasion. The thing about Lara Croft is that she was never made to be over sexualized. She was created and portrayed to be a strong woman. How is it wrong for a woman to be able to defend herself while searching for the next big archeological find? She has always been one of my favorite female characters to play because she is so strong and smart. She doesn’t use her sexuality to get what she wants.

In 2007, a game came out with a female character that gave some women a small glimmer of hope for the portrayal of women in games. That game was Mirror’s Edge and the character was Faith Connors.

She wears a simple black tanktop with white pants that go to her ankles and red sneakers. People have described her as not being very attractive, but that was a positive. Then they compare her with Lara Croft and say that she is a much stronger character because she doesn’t dress like Lara. But look at these two characters; both are strong women fighting for what is right. Neither of them use sex in any way to advance in the game.

And then there are the bad game characters that do portray women incorrectly.

Personally I don’t judge these characters for looking this way. Mileena is my favorite fighter in the Mortal Kombat series. In Hollywood sex sells and gaming is no exception. Creators feel that they must create busty attractive characters in order to gain a profit by appealing the public masses. Since 60% of gamers are males then attractive female characters are going to be a high selling feature. It’s not wrong to give characters a strong role and if they are wearing a tank top and shorts what is the big deal? It’s probably hard to climb a mountain in jeans. But it is wrong to make them appear as submissive and not having minds of their own like most video games (Mileena is an exception of this since she is one of the top fighters).

So which side are you on?

Some Interesting Statistics

Ever wondered what the actual truth is behind video games? Well here are some interesting facts.

According to OnlineEducation.net :

• 65% of US households play video games.
• 49% of gamers are ages 18-49 and the average gamer is 32 years old. That’s an interesting fact since when it comes to marketing advertisements always seem directed to a more younger crowd. Also whenever there is a crisis that likes to point the finger at video games, such as the Columbine shooting, it always seems to involve teenagers.

The ESRB did their own study and found some more interesting statistics:

• 40% of gamers are indeed females. If you’ve ever been online to the many different gaming websites, such as Gamespot.com, a lot of the users will not be afraid to admit that they don’t believe that girls play video games. Why, when I was on that website for a few years so many of the people told me that they didn’t believe I was a girl since apparently girls don’t play video games….
• The average adult gamer has been playing for 12 years. I’ve been playing for 14 years. It’s not the average, but remember, the average gamer is a 32 year old male and I’m a 21 year old female so I’ve got room to stretch.
• 93% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented AND 97% of parents report always or sometimes monitoring the games their child plays. So what is the deal with all the parents freaking out about their children playing bad games? How does the old saying go? A few bad apples ruin the bunch.

So there are some great facts about the real world of gaming. Video gaming has some of the most bizarre myths and I hope that this brings light to what some people may think.