Friday, May 19, 2006
Games, History and Context - Synopsis
From the outset, we have been taught to be very objective in terms of the games we see, either actually playing them or even something as little as watching an advert for a new game. The coices we make about the games we buy are generally based on their content, but it helps to know a little more than just 'whether it's any good'.
Initially, we were encouraged to backtrack on specific games (of our choice), to look at its predecessors and link them in terms of inspiration and style. These different genres have mostly got fairly deep roots in the annals of computer games history, which is something often taken for granted by your average casual gamer. This aspect of the course encouraged me to look for patterns in games development, and I noticed, through this, that their were many different 'fads' in computer games history. These fads, be it Survival Horror in the late 90's to early 2000's or even the 2d beat-em-up years made famous by Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, have shaped the way we buy and play games now.
As well as the history of a game itself, we also looked into the developers behind them, and to see if their are any common themes there. The article I wrote earlier on Peter Moline really did emphasise the fact that certain people are good at certain types of games, and looking through Milieu’s history it seems apparent that you can sometimes tell who made a game by its style. This is something that I had never really thought of before, so it was good to be able to consider games more than in terms of the machine they are on of the company behind them.
The way computer games are developed and sold has also changed largely since the birth of mainstream gaming, and it is surprising how unpredictably the household-name computer company started. To use the word 'simple' would be unfair, but the most surprising part for me was the fact that Atari tested Pong in a pub using a cardboard and wooden box containing a TV set! When coupled with the troubles involved in licensing Tetris from the Soviet Union, it seems the more popular gaming becomes, the more closely guarded the new innovations are.
As well as touching on the attitudes of gamers themselves, our studies moved also towards the topic of games in the media, more particularly the increase in the number of violent computer games. There have been many publicised reports of how games can help, or hinder the progress of society and it was interesting to see how the two sides of the argument come to blows, its a Catch 22 point as both sides have a logical argument. Whilst I feel me as unable to solve the riddle of right or wrong, it certainly opened my eyes to the either eventuality. Perhaps the most astounding thing is not whether it’s right or wrong, but more the fact that a computer game can cause that much uproar. The onset of violence and gore in games shows how games are now marketed as much towards adult gamers as they were at first marketed to children, and poignantly shows the consequences that merging two different generations can cause.
We were also educated on specific history in terms of older gaming and one of my earlier posts will show a review of the PC Engine - I pioneer of sorts from the early nineties. This, I felt, encouraged me to explore older avenues of games and since that particular post I have been playing on FlashBack and Chrono Trigger more than any of my other more modern games. We definitely learned to be more objective as to possible reasons for the failure of systems such as the aforementioned PC Engine.
We did review a fair few games as well, and as we were educated on what to look for I felt that my reviewing abilities became much more sophisticated and informed. As part of this structure I was required to highlight the nouns, verbs and gaming 'rules' or 'conventions' that are mentioned in reviews and this served the highlight just how involved computer gaming is, at least in terms of the way they are described. I reviewed two genres, Resident Evil in Survival Horror and Blood/FarCry for the First Person Shooter genre.
I also reviewed various online gaming networks, most recently being MUSH games. This I feel shows how the increasing functionality and overall popularity of the internet is going to impact the future of gaming trends. The games I looked at were so basic they could have been written 20 years ago, but are still popular today and are paving the way for the most recent gaming trend - online access.
Overall, Games History and Context has taught me about how computer games have risen to fame, and how they have changed in the process. Through applying the trends and attitudes of past development companies, and their markets, we can see how development of the industry is likely to change in the future too. Fashion repeats itself more in the world of gaming that its patrons would like to think. We are in an age where mobile phone games like Snake 2 and companies like 3 mobile phones focus heavily on games for their products. This trend is similar to the way games were marketed in the early 80's, basic ideas for (comparatively) basic technology.
The industry is looking for inspiration in its 'elite' section i.e. the major console companies and these innovations can only get better as technology increases with it. However it can be argued that sophisticated technology can make developers lose sight of the overall reason people play their games - for fun. Rise of the Robots was one of the most widely publicised games of its time, and I read a review of it at the time that gave it 9%. There are countless other examples, and there is a lot more technology available now than then.
Only by looking into the past, can we see the future.
