Like many gamers these days, I have quite an extensive backlog of video games. The amount of games I have installed on my computer but not beaten is discouraging. And that is not even taking into account the tons of games I have never even bothered installing yet. For this reason, I tend to be more and more selective in deciding which games I purchase. As such, I only bought a handful of titles during last summer's Steam sales; games that I knew I would enjoy. Of course, there were still plenty of cases where I pondered for a long time over whether I should by a certain game or not. The air combat title Wings of Prey also fell into this category. The promotional footage featured on the game's Steam page made it seem good, but my minimal experience with flight games in general made me unsure whether I would enjoy the experience to the fullest extent. I eventually resolved the matter in a way that many would perceive as dubious, if not absurd. I looked up who the developer was (Gaijin Entertainment), and when I found out they were based in Russia, that convinced me to buy the game. I've enjoyed a lot of Eastern European games this generation, many of which stood out due to their uncompromising ambition and depth at the cost of polish and production value - a philosophy I can fully get behind. So why pass up on this Russian effort?



After having decided my purchase based on the geographical location of the developer, it made me consider the relevance of nationality in the video game industry. I know very well that video game development is an international process that could not take place if it were confined to the borders of a single country. For any serious developer, the target audience is an international one by definition, and the presence of foreign publishers, foreign investors, foreign technology, foreign employees and foreign inspiration makes it more or less impossible to come up with the game that isn't the result of a large melting pot of international cooperation. But, at the same time, it is hard to deny that some regions tend to have a specific developing culture, occasionally making for very characteristic and distinctive titles that you feel could not have been produced somewhere else.

It's not without reason that I used Wings of Prey and its Russian developer as an example, because apart from maybe Japan, Eastern-Europe currently has, in my view, the most distinctive video game design culture in the industry. From the moment I played my first Eastern-European game, the fantastic S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (Ukraine), I noticed there was something very peculiar about this title. It's difficult to point out one specific aspect that evoked this sensation, but in the starting area alone there were many details that grabbed my attention because they dissonated with what I was used to from my experience with Japanese and American games. So many things stood out in my first playthrough: the dreary, yet original aesthetic of the art direction; the unforgiving realism, and, most importantly, the way in which the atmosphere was presented. The player was not immersed through witty dialogue and/or fancy scripted events in the background, but through a deep connection between the player and the game world. [1]



Subsequent experiences with games from the same region all confirmed that these peculiarities didn't end up showing their face in a Ukrainian game by pure chance. For instance, Metro 2033 (Ukraine) had an atmosphere that may have differed from Shadow of Chernobyl, but relied on similar mechanics: the player's main relationship in the game was with the environment, instead of an NPC of some sort. ArmA 2 (Czech Republic) displayed a similar, yet even more extreme desire for realism. And like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., it took pride in its overambition, making for a totally unrefined but uncannily deep and expansive video game that knows no equal. Yet another fine is example of the peculiarity of the distinct character of Eastern European game development is Cryostasis (Ukraine), an atmospherically rich first person shooter/horror blend that is known for both a notorious lack of optimisation and an engrossing plot that far exceeds the current standards of video game storytelling. There are a lot more examples of games that are unmistakably Eastern European in their design and presentation, and while, naturally, not every game developed by companies situated in Eastern Europe will distinguish itself as such, the simple fact that you can often tell without prior knowledge that a game is from that part of the world, is enough to confirm the hypothesis of a distinct Eastern-European video game tradition existing.

An interesting question is whether the existence of a certain game design culture in a specific region has any cultural implications, or is rather the result of socio-economic factors. A lot can be said for the latter, as the production of a so-called AAA (read: big budget) game requires resources, connections and general know-how that almost none of the developers in Eastern Europe possess (yet). While the days of the Cold War are long behind us and the Iron Curtain fell over two decades ago, Eastern Europe is still the less wealthy half of the continent, so it is not a far stretch to conclude that, on the whole, companies from that region are less likely to rely on the same amount of financial resources as their Western European counterparts. This means they have to be more creative in offering worthwhile gaming experiences without the need for whizz-bang cinematic presentation. And diving into an obscure niche can be an effective way of attracting gamers without having to delve into the same audience as the oversaturated AAA market. Another important factor is the current state of the video games market in Eastern Europe. Particularly in Russia, both PC gaming and piracy are still very prevalent, so developers with a share in this market are often forced to develop low-budget titles to be able to offer their products at a fee that won't price them out of the market.



However, it is too easy to attribute the huge differences in game design choices between Eastern Europe and, for example, North America to a mere lack of money on the former's behalf. It should come as no surprise to anyone that people from different cultures set different priorities, so why should video games be an exception? To put it more simply, it is no coincidence that Michael Bay's films are produced in America, and not in, say, Spain. Similarly, the recent decline of the share of Japanese video game industry in the global market can be partially blamed on the fact that Western gamers tend to look for different things in video games than their Japanese counterparts. And if these cultural differences manifest themselves in the video game audiences, this implies that the developers themselves also owe part of their philosophy to their cultural background. The art direction of the aforementioned games ArmA 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. clearly draws inspiration from local architecture and environments, making for a distinct aesthetic that may, in its turn, influence the atmosphere and even the very structure of the game in question. In other words, the fact that many Eastern European video games tend to evoke a rather somber vibe may have more to do with the region's turbulent history than we realise.

As stated previously, video game development is by its very definition an international process that cannot be reduced to an isolated, monocultural endeavour. It is not without reason that I talk of an Eastern European video game culture instead of distinct Ukrainian, Russian, Czech or Belarusian cultures. And even at a continental scale, you still cannot ignore the fact that many of these games were supervised by Western-European or American publishers, and that these games may employ technology and ideas that were conceived at the other side of the globe. On the other hand, it is also difficult to deny that games from a specific region often share certain traits that distinguish them from titles from other parts of the globe. Whether these differences are grounded culturally or the mere result of socio-economic factors cannot be said with absolute certainty, but this doesn't prevent us from making - and I stress this - very general and vague outlines of game design cultures based on geography. These models would by no means be obligatory - who would claim that Dark Souls is a typically Japanese game? - but you could certainly identify certain trends and tendencies. With this in mind, being convinced to buy a game because it is from Russia may not be as ridiculous as it sounds at first. In any case, Wings of Prey turned out the ambitious and rich game I expected it to be, and I just may have Mother Russia to thank for that.




Notes:
[1] Read more on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s atmosphere in this magnificent article on Tap Repeatedly.

Ive had it world. Somewhere out there, in every neighborhood there's some closet bro sitting on his little 'tocks typing drivel about how:

• "Japanese developers need to catch up to the rest of the world."
• "Japanese games are stuck in the past, they have no innovation!"
• "I remember when Japanese games were good back in the day!"

Since when did Japan need help with their game design? Try never.

Factually the best game ever made. Unless we're talking about Symphony of the Night.

There's a certain fondness associated with older Japanese games where masterpieces like Chrono Trigger were unleashed upon the world and the genuine shock at discovering an inverted castle in Symphony of the Night still has people talking about it over a decade later. The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy let gamers embark on grand adventures for the first time and Super Mario was always fun (people tend to play 2D Mario better after a few beers, just an FYI). Maybe Japan wasn't part of the revolution that changed gaming in 2001 when Grand Theft Auto III and Halo: Combat Evolved changed what people expected from videogames and made the West more relevant than ever. But the simple fact remains that many Japanese developers have taken the biggest risks imaginable this gen, and their games show it in every way that matters.

Factually the best game ever made. Unless we're talking about Chrono Trigger.

It's not any Japanese person's fault that the bros associate Japanese games with feminine males carrying giant swords. The broad generalizations that Japan needs help with game design need to stop. Look at what's popular these days: Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin's Creed. These aren't games that take chances (granted, they all did when they first started, but now that they're established don't expect any of them to switch things up aside from setting), with each game you have a good idea about what to expect from it. But the fact that people aren't supporting Japanese games as fervently as they did ten, fifteen or twenty years ago is sad when we are seeing some of the most creative games ever coming out of that tiny country.

Changing the setting of your game is a big deal. Like your review scores REALLY go up and people forget they played this game last year.

Take The World Ends With You for instance. Its one of the funkiest games ever, set in a twisted version of the country everyone loves to bash on. A less successful game that took a huge risk was Nier and even that earned a decent cult following. And what about Final Fantasy? It is easily the biggest risk-taking series out of Japan. The game looks and plays nothing like its previous entries. When you stop and think about it, each game is completely different from one another. Final Fantasy XIII may have been a polarizing entry in the series, but the decision to have players control the greater flow of battle rather than the minor details like in most RPGs was a breath of fresh air and most fans will defend that amazing battle system, dubious mishandling of unneeded sequels aside. And while we're at it, leave it to the Japanese to actually get the Kinect to work, because there's nothing else quite like Child of Eden. Unless you're a Rez fan, which makes you a good person.

This is what innovation looks like. Deal with it.

Or what about the Shin Megami Tensei games? Whether its the JRPG meets dating sim Persona titles to the handheld masterpieces like Devil Survivor or the shocking look at love and relationships through a puzzle game in Catherine, the SMT team has always tried something new and daring. Or what about From Software deciding that gamers are a bunch of whiny pansies and just casually dropping Dark Souls on the world? And for those more interested in quirk, theres always Recettear, which is an RPG about running an item shop. But those aren't the only innovations, from Super Mario Galaxy's planetoid-based level design and gravity defying gameplay to Eternal Sonata's dive into the dying dream of Chopin to the Metal Gear series' sheer insanity, Japanese games have been innovating and trying new things this entire gen.

All I want for Valentine's Day is a new pair of undies! Just to get me ready.

The very idea that Japan somehow needs to change the way they make games is absolutely preposterous. In Japan, Bayonetta was created and sits as the greatest action game ever released. In Japan, Vanquish turned the concept of a cover-based shooter on its head by emphasizing constant movement and skillful play over hunkering behind a piece of rock. In Japan, Super Mario Galaxy redefined the entire concept of level design. In Japan, Final Fantasy has dropped everything the previous game did and started from scratch. In Japan, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is breaking the limits of graphical power. In Japan, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance just made half of a nation crap their pants. In Japan, Chaos Rings made mobile gaming relevant. In Japan, Dark Souls made grown men cry. In Japan, fresh, exciting and innovative games have been created this entire generation on every platform imaginable. You should play one. Theyre really fun.

Way before Square was SquEnix, it was known as SquOft. Uh, that doesn't sound very good. Let's just keep it pure and say SquareSoft. SquareSoft was Nintendo's best buddy back in the days of gaming when games were not on optical discs, but rather bulky grey cartridges. Life was good. Nintendo was on top. The role-playing game franchise was huge, and Nintendo had it covered, thanks in part to SquareSoft. After all, SquareSoft - who will heretofore be referred to as Square - owed Nintendo everything. Had it not been for Final Fantasy and the Nintendo Entertainment System, we would not have been laughing while cringing at 2001's classic Titus and Yuna pool scene.

So when we think of Japanese role-playing game developers, a lot of names spring to mind. We have Atlus. There's Nippon Ichi Software, commonly known as NIS. Even Konami and SCE have made countless JRPGs, but no JRPG developer and publisher is more well known than Square. In fact, JRPG and Square are synonymous.

Enter 1996. Nintendo has now released their 64-bit machine simply called Nintendo 64. While its competitors Sega and Sony have gone with optical media-based systems, Nintendo has stubbornly adhered to the cartridge. This would prove to be one of the largest mistakes Nintendo would ever make. Cartidges were not only more expensive to produce, they also held considerably less information than CD-ROMs, a complaint that Square was quick to make known to Nintendo; Nintendo wouldn't budge.

So it was that dreadful year of 1996, when in conjunction with a myriad of other partnership qualms, Square left Nintendo and took their largest if not the largest game of all time with them: Final Fantasy VII. It was insult to injury, as just a couple years before, Nintendo ended a partnership with Sony for a CD-ROM add-on to the SNES. Sony would later move on to make the PlayStation, which just so happend to be the new home Final Fantasy VII moved into. Whether you think it's a classic or an overhyped pile of garbage, one fact remains: its influence is monumental. You can put your subjective opinions of quality aside for a moment, because for now, the numbers speak.

Final Fantasy VII for the Sony PlayStation sold an estimated 2.3 MILLION copies within the first THREE days of its release. Nintendo on the other hand is choking on their shoelaces. 2.3 million copies is not to be sneezed at, even by today's standards where the industry has grown massively. 2.3 million gamers playing a Square title NOT on a Nintendo system. A four letter word was uttered that day in Nintendo offices. No no, not that word. This word: "Ouch."

It wasn't just the loss of one JRPG that hurt Nintendo, but it was the first domino to fall. Final Fantasy VII defecting to a Sony console proved very good for business, and also proved thanks to CD-ROMs just how big you could truly have your game. Run out of space? Add another disc. Can't do that with cartridges. And so other companies, not just RPG developers, began to jump ship. They wanted the optical media Sony offered, and as the PlayStation continued to grow, so did their army of third-party developers.

Final Fantasy VII could also be considered the first true blockbuster in the world of video games by not only costing an absurb 45 million dollars to make, but selling more than 10 million copies to date. It brought to the table a higher standard of epic storytelling, full of in-game and CG cutscenes and paved the way not just for larger RPGs, but larger action titles in general. Final Fantasy VII in every shape, form and fashion, was epic.

What was Nintendo 64's RPG scene like back then?

Another four letter word. "Ooof."

It's one thing to influence another title. It's another to influence an entire genre. It's something else entirely to leave a gaping hole where you used to be and watch as the echoes of your departure are still felt more than 15 years later. Nintendo's fall can be traced back to this point, and while Final Fantasy VII wasn't the final nail in their coffin, it was the largest.

Nintendo has thus since struggled with third-party support. The GameCube faired better, but it was nowhere near where they used to be. Sony and Microsoft, both companies who never made video game consoles before their 1995 and 2001 debuts respectively, were pulling the rug from out beneath Nintendo. Developers were tired of putting up with them, and they wanted to work with companies that had a larger appeal and with less restrictions. The PS2 was booming. The Xbox was making a phenomenal first impression, and Nintendo was still Squareless.

Now Nintendo for the first time was put into a corner. The Xbox 360 was coming with the PS3 just a year away. How can they possibly compete? The answer: don't. Don't try to reclaim the lost marketshare Sony and MS took from you. Instead, invent an entirely new market. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Make a new one altogether. Don't go after gamers you lost. Make new ones. Thus, the Wii was born. The Wii was born out of necessity, changing Nintendo indefinitely, allowing them to survive. Nintendo is yet again changing themselves with the Wii U. Blu-Ray format. Native 1080p resolution. Will it be enough to win back Square's heart? Only time will tell.

Chaos theory. The butterfly effect. The pebble that drops in a pond sending ripples of water to shore; it happens all around us. It can be seen most evidently in the video game universe as one simple decision to stick to cartridge based media cost Nintendo millions in both lost revenue and gamers. Final Fantasy VII was a major cause of Nintendo's ruin, but could its lingering effect be the cause of their rebirth? Will we see a day where Nintendo regains their marketshare out of the delicate balance of innovating and appealing to the core gamer? With the Wii U, they're looking to be in much better shape than they were in 2006.

We'll close with a final thought. Imagine Nintendo repairs their relationship with Square. To celebrate this reunion, they decide to rerelease Final Fantasy VII on the Virtual Console. Imagine playing the game you loved in 1997 on that glorious HD tablet controller while your little brother plays Final Fantasy XVI for the PS4 on the big screen. Think of all the new gamers who pick up a Wii U and get to experience Final Fantasy VII for the first time. That would be a perfect world, Nintendo and Square together again; an example of the video game Circle of Life with everything coming to pass.

Video games are fairly violent, I think that is a statement all gamers can agree with, if not totally then at least partially. The medium was built upon games that had you destroying enemies in order to win. When games were first around, this was mainly due to a level of technology that allowed for only a few things to be on screen at once, and an understanding of basic gameplay tropes.

Well its 2012, and games are starting to mature, and along with that comes high tech consoles and PC's that can deliver almost photo realistic visuals. The same tropes exist today, and killing enemies as a means of progress is so engrained in the medium that games that dont have it are relegated to the indie scene, the problem I have, though, is that no one is taking a risk with the violence in games.

This might be a controversial stance, but the whole world, and especially game critics such as the fine folks at Gamespot, are talking about how games need to move forward, to mature and grow as gamers mature and grow, and find it's own niche as entertainment, instead of trying to copy movies. The thing about that argument is that only AAA blockbuster games try to copy movies, and even then it is action movies with tons of inconsequential violence.

The movies that deal with the cost of violence, what actually happens to victims, their families and the emotional trauma of the ordeal they are put through are never, or rarely, given a video game make over. Take the movie Irreversible, for example, there is no game version of that. If you dont know the movie, look it up on IMDB (dont watch it, unless over 18 and have a strong stomach), done? Good, as you can see, there will never be a game about the same themes, but there should be.

When all the controversy over the new Tomb Raider reboot occurred earlier this year, I think I must have been the only one on earth who thought that Crystal Dynamicsshouldhave put the supposed 'rape' scene in the game. This is not because I condone the act, of course I don't, but I would have applauded the developers for having the stones to put something so brutal into a 'gritty' reboot of a title led by a female protagonist. At the end of the day, in that situation, that act of violence would have been a very real threat for a young women alone on a island full of gun toting criminals.

People talk about how video games need to mature, but no one seems to have the stones to do it properly, to take the risk and say "Our game deals with this stuff". The Last of Us, another game where such themes and acts of violence would make sense given the world around the characters, wont push this envelope either, despite high praise for how meaningful the combat in the game is right now.

This all stems from the fact that games are still considered as a past time for kids, and as such, developers and publishers are unwilling to put extreme violence into their game worlds because they know that kids will play those games because their parents refuse to pay attention to content warnings on game boxes. It will be those same parents that go crazy and say games are the devil when they discover what is actually in the game and what they are letting their kids play, despite clear warnings that only those over 18 should play them.

Game creators need to take risks with the violence in games, there is room for it. The medium is growing so fast and so many people are wanting more mature stories within the titles being created that by necessity the violence must also mature. I am not saying women should get assaulted in every game from this point onward, but if it makes sense in the context of the world the developers are trying to create, then why shouldn't it be a thing that they can put into their creation?

This is a controversial subject at the best of times, and it is true that not every game needs violence of any form in it, let alone highly sensitive and mature acts of brutality. However, creating titles that create highly violent worlds, but leave out the more brutal acts is not helping the medium, and is keeping it back from reaching the same level as movies or books.

I am fully aware that this post is the same as putting a crosshairs on my back, but no one else seems to asking why such acts of violence are left out of 'mature' games, so I guess I had better do it. If you think I am wrong, agree with me or are unsure, feel free to let me know.

Why are video games so fixated on violence? Why is violence an infallible theme in gaming and other mediums of entertainment? The concept of violence in entertainment is to exhilarate, dramatising situations to extremities and therefore provoking a reaction. Often the reaction to violence in it's most gruelling form is negative but either way it is a prospect that we, as human beings, cannot prie our attention from. It shocks us, envigorates our emotions and propels the adrenaline. These reasons alone are the cause of recurring violent themes in the movies we watch, the music we listen to and more recently the games we play. What then is the affect of all this violence we are subscribed to and how does it manipulate our actions in society? The ongoing debate surrounding the affect of violence on young people still echoes to this day. Before video games were brought into the equation it was television that suffered the blame, now it's video games that are falling under the scrutiny.

There have been around 130 studies on violence in video games since their release. 130 000 participants from around the world have been psychologically tested to show that violent games increase violent thought. Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman, researchers from Iowa State University, developed a system of analysing the affects of violent exposure in video games called the General Aggression Model (GAM). With this they determined that people exposed to excessive aggression in video games were more likely to react and think in an aggressive manner. Moreover playing violent video games causes the formation of aggressive beliefs and attitudes, while also desensitising gamers to violent behaviour. With this evidence in mind it is conceivable that playing violent games can lead to acts of criminality and more drastically inspire the most salient of sins such as murder or robbery. In Leicester, England in 2004, Warren Blanc (a 17 year old boy) murdered his thirteen year old friend, Stefan Pakeerah, with a knife and a hammer. It was later revealed that Warren was "Obsessed" with the video game manhunt and as the attack was representative of the game in question it took much of the blame for the young boys actions. The Daily Mail newspaper covered the headline "Murder by Playstation" and the mother of Stefan was quoted saying "I can't believe that this sort of material is allowed in a society where anarchy is not that far removed". As a result of this the game itself was banned as it was seen to corrupt young minds in a sinister and hazardous fashion. In cases such as this it is evident that video games could be the influence on young minds that lead them to these terrible ends.

Contrary to this hyperbollic and arguably fallacious assumption of causes, no long term effects of playing violent video games have been discovered. Furthermore there are no direct links from the increased aggressive attitudes violent games produce and acting upon them. It's possible that modern audiences deserve a little more credit. Viewers and gamers alike are not entirely predisposed to the media in a way that blurs the line between what is morally acceptable in fantasy and what is acceptable in reality. By subjection to murdering and pillaging on the screen, video game fans don't assume that this passificity towards sin carries over into their every day lives. Conclusively, sophisticated consumers have more intuition than Pavlov's dogs and are not wholly overcome by media influence devoid of moral sentiment. A kid doesn't go around shooting people with a sawn off shotgun after playing an FPS because he believes they will respawn in a few seconds. It is ill founded scaremongering to jab the finger in the chest of video games every time a sociopath butchers his school mates. Most kids in contemporary society play video games as a pastime but the hobby never manages to be attributed to acts of heroism or exceptional behaviour. These ignorant, derogatory pre dispositions of video games seem to fixate on the affects of it's violent distribution on young people as though no other vessel for aggressive behaviour is apparent in their lives. Of course before video games and television were invented everyone just skipped around hugging and offering to wipe each other's arses all day. It's preposterous extremism in regards to something these finger pointers know nothing about, although it's not surprising considering the despicable human nature to fear and consequently hate the unknown.

It could be argued that violence used in the making of video games is a form of artistic expression and more often than not representative of social themes such as war and street gang mentality. Besides the aestetic values of graphic vehemence, the advantages of involving violence in a video game makes the story telling aspect more compelling. It can be used as a method for narration, portray realism and grasp a gamer's attention more vividly than a more passive approach. An example of dureness being used a method for narration can be seen in Silent Hill 2. At one point in the game "Triangle head man", as i fondly remember him, is cramming leg people into a kitchen sink while you look on helplessly from inside a cupboard. Through the slats you can see him twisting limbs in a sex frenzy, trying to fit them all in the sink. Why he wanted those leg people in that sink i'll never know but it's a harrowing image that resonates in my thoughts whenever it's my turn to do the dishes. This inexplicable display of brutality shaped the character of "Triangle Head Man" in an unforgettable way. It taught me at the time that this guy with a triangular head was an evil sadist who took pleasure in the torturing of (whom i could only assume were) his colleagues in the task of halting my progress. With this as my newly attained synopsis for his character, i made it a point to avoid him and possibly use his memory as a scare factor in the disciplining of my future children. If this scene was devoid of erotic masochism and "triangle head man" wasn't forcebly inserting his friends into a kitchen sink, if instead he was just doing a crossword or baking a cake, then the fear it planted in me wouldn't exist and the tension I felt would melt away. In this sense then it can be debated that violence in video games has a purpose. It is used as a tool for character development and tension building.

One of the major issues of violence in video games as a deviation of it's affects stemming from television, is the fact that when playing a game the player is actively involved in the aggression taking place. This is where gaming differs from all other vessels of violence in the media. As a player actively takes on the role of the aggressor the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist are more profoundly channeled. With this in mind it's no surprise that Hitman 2 on the Playstation 2 was recalled and re written as one of the missions imitated the real-life 1984 Golden Temple massacre in Amritsar, where thousands of Sikhs were killed in an attack by Indian troops. The political and religious agenda harboured by this mission irked many religous figures and it was deemed insensitive to have it recreated for the gaming pleasure of the masses. It is supposable that the game's political edge, in relevence to real life events, could inflict the antisocial beliefs and agendas of the character on the people taking on the role. This being said, to see a video game as a projection for political or religous propoganda is short sighted and an underdeveloped accusation in it's entirety. When considering the nature of video games in that the killing of others is rewarded and not punished, the concern regarding the shaping of moral structure is somewhat understandable. In recent video games players earn accheivements and score points when killing other players online. This competative arena of heartless slaughter, where a sense of right and wrong is turned upside down, could have a serious affect on the people actively involved.

Undoubtably the Godfather of gaming controversy is Grand Theft Auto. In GTA: Vice City it is common practice to pick up a hooker, give her the time in a dark alley somewhere and then murder her to get your money back. It defies sense to suggest that this is the best way for a human being to spend their time but are people taking these games too seriously? With an unrelenting view of abjectivity towards video games, people are blinded to the "tongue in cheek" element that most titles employ. To see GTA as a portal through which psychos can express their sinister desires by whatever means is absurd. Video games, as is in any media from, do have the power to influence aggressive thought but they cannot turn a law abiding person into a rampaging murderer. I think a sense of humour is required to understand the violence in video games. Your actions as the player have no bearing on your actions as a human being because you can distinguish the difference. Studies showing that mature video games enhance aggressive thought are not a basis on which to restrict and censor. To try and censor a person's thoughts is borderline dystopian oppression. What a person thinks, be it aggressive or passive, is entirely up to them and we have no right to condemn the media as a figurehead for the promotion of these thoughts. Simply put the attempts to try and shape society by inflicting rules and regulations obstructing the abstract and the violent are ironically the very reason why we play video games as an escape. With everyone trying endlessly to better themselves by denying exposure to the antisocial, we have developed an artistic thirst for the taboo. This excitement we feel when under the glow of violence is present because it is frowned upon. It's a rebellious function to exercise the forbidden without the consequences the action would result in outside of the fictional bracket that we indulge in. Should video games make an attempt to be less violent and should the more violent games be censored? It's a question that i couldn't possibly answer without extreme bias but let us secure in the knowledge the notion that violent exposure, although encouraging in thought and formations of aggressive attitudes, cannot be the direct cause of anti-social pursuits.

Oh, Sonic... Many of my childhood memories revolve around you and your (usually) awesome games. But lately, you've had me worried.

Yes, we all love Sonic the Hedgehog--well, maybe not all of us. Sega did manage to make a few good Sonic games, but after that, they started being quiet. Yes, we have the sequel to Sonic and Sega: All-Stars Racing coming up, but that's not enough to keep the Blue Blur alive. Many of us loved the last few Sonic games, but I still have some bones to pick with them...

I thoroughly enjoyed Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, but there are some things about them that didn't settle well with me. I loved the sense of speed in these games, but a sense of speed is only half of what Sonic is about. The speed has to be mingled with solid platforming. With Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, it mostly felt like the process was running, screeching to a holt to do some long sections of platforming, then running again. The games didn't seem to blend those elements together very well, but rather treated them like they couldn't be blended. Also, the whole time I played these games, the 3D platforming sections felt extremely awkward because it felt like the game was trying to get me to run fast, even though I was stopping to do something else. This was a major problem for me. I understand the old games had sections where you did nothing but precise platforming, but the didn't dominate a large part of the game.

I don't want you to think that I didn't enjoy these games. I really did enjoy them. They were miles better than, say, Sonic Unleashed or Sonic and the Secret Rings. They were good enough for Sonic to make a comeback, but to me, they showed that Sonic isn't quite there yet. He's close, though. All the materials are there for him to be back on top, but they just haven't meshed together all the way just yet.

If there's one game that really seemed to mix speed and platforming fairly well was Sonic Adventure 2. This game is by no means the best 3D Sonic game. I'll just throw that out there right now. This is a very flawed game that had too little focus on the Blue Blur, but I still love it. The best parts of the game were the levels where you played as Sonic or Shadow. Those levels blended speed and platforming really well, and they were truly 3D. Sonic Generations also did strictly 3D, but platforming sections still felt awkward. A lot of people disregard the Sonic Adventure games because of how the majority of those games consisted of doing something other than running, such as walking around in a giant robot suit and collecting jewels. Sonic Adventure 2 really captured what 3D Sonic levels should feel like, though. Sonic Heroes also did a pretty decent job of doing that, too. It's just too bad that each team had the same levels. Otherwise, that game could've been one of the better 3D Sonic games.

I don't want everyone to think that I hate Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. I really don't hate them. They're fun games that are a good step in the right direction, but there were some things about them that didn't settle well with me. If you're wondering what the point of this editorial is, it's that I don't Sonic is back in top form just yet. He's getting there, but he has an unstable status right now. The next real Sonic game will ultimately decide the fate of the franchise. If it's more of what we've seen in Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, then the franchise will fizzle out. Sega needs to try something a little different. That's mainly the point I'm trying to make. If the next Sonic game is crap, the franchise will die. That's why the next Sonic game has to be spectacular, or else the franchise will die. Sega needs to use something other than the "Unleashed daytime levels" formula to keep the franchise going. We need something different. Sonic can't rely on that formula forever. It's time for a change.

No doubt I'll incur some wrath regarding this blog's title. To those who I have no doubt infuriated I respectfully admonish you to sit back and relax. It's not a condemnation of the system as much as it is an overt way of me saying Nintendo is late to the party.

I just finished watching the Wii U presentation. Unfortunately I woke up late the morning it was streamed live so I had to wait until I could catch up with the archived version.

What I saw--and the impressions I gathered from the full fifty-six minute presentation--was a company offering an enhanced console seemingly marketed directly at those individuals that never bought a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 this generation, and who may have been holding out for the rumored "Wii HD." Well, those folks can now rejoice because their patience has essentially (and finally) been rewarded with the Wii U.

Unfortunately, for the vast majority of gamers that bought a 360 or PS3, the Wii U doesn't seem to offer much in way of features that those gamers can't already access now through their respective consoles. So this got me thinking: Who, then, is the intended audience for the Wii U? And the answer almost smacked me in the face: Current Wii owners.

Even down to the third-party support which, in Nintendo's defense is a lot better this time, is late offering big titles such as Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Mass Effect 3, Darksiders II and Assassin's Creed III--big name games for sure but all are available on the 360 or PS3 way in advance. The latter which releases October 30th but which will still have been available to other gamers for a staggering thirty-four days before future Wii U owners can buy their copy. And unless current 360 and PS3 gamers love the thought of dishing out another $60 for a game they already own and more than likely finished months ago, who does that leave? You see my point.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to dissuade anyone or bash on Nintendo with this blog. If the Wii U tickles your fancy, then more power to you! My point is timing is everything. And in an industry where everyone lives by deadlines and release schedules, releasing a "next gen" console that will essentially become obsolete whenever the next Xbox and PlayStation launch just seems like two steps forward and one step back.

I know the game rating system was made to ensure certain video games were appropriate for each age group and all, but so far these rules are robbing the fun out of buying or playing them. I mean before you weren't asked for your I.D. or birthday to make sure you were old enough to purchase M-Rated titles. Don't you think it's embarrassing the gamer to recite their birthday and show that they are old enough? It's bad enough people think gamers are weird for wanting to be inside rather than outside and the fact that no one wants to be judged by what they play. I really hate it when they ask me these things and they're like 'really you must a disturbed person since you're buying this violent game. Even though these rules are here, kids still find ways to buy them even if they aren't old enough to purchase them. Also it sucks when a game is changed because one person didn't like which explains my image for this editorial. Primal Rage was a fighting game popular in the ninties which had you control one of different prehistoric dinosaurs and tear each other apart. It was like Mortal Kombat, but with dinosaurs and one stupid lady ruined it.

This woman bought the game and the strategy guide for her 12 year old son. He performed a fatality called Golden Shower in which Chaos urinated on his opponent and left their bones for the victory. When she saw this, she started a petition and it made the company issue a recall of the games and basically made them with no blood and the fatalities locked unless you cracked the safety placed on the game. Also people shouldn't be blaming the games for their children's actions, they should blame the parents for not monitoring what their children are playing. I mean making it harder for underage kids to buy them ticks off those who are old enough and ruins the experience if they change it to be family friendly.

People forget that THESE ARE GAMES, THE VIOLENCE IS NOT REAL! It's just an animated depiction of what could happen in real life, it's just a fantasy with blood, explosions and most of us play them for stress release and to escape reality. I play them because I like violent video games and they help me vent my frustrations and take a break from the world. Banning them is not going to stop the violence, there's already violence before video games started adding violence to them. By editing the violent game, you are ruining someone's masterpiece and hard work making them less likely to create more. I could argue until my jaw locks up and I stand up to those who think violent video games make children and people become violent and commit murders. Those people who do those things were already disturbed before the video game and also the parents not paying attention is another factor, but they won't admit they made a mistake

"As you my Know my use of Celtic music is extremely simple and short. however there is something about it that will remain in your mind for a long, long time" Nobuo Uematsu

Music is definitely one of the most sublime forms of language and art; it is the language of feelings, which are transmitted from the simplest sounds -like the birdsong at dawn- to more complex compositions such as today´s bigger symphony concerts.

Its power is huge. When I say this, I do not mean that it will make us fly through the skies like a comet (Well maybe it will! but not literally) Music has enormous power because it produces a series of irreplaceable emotions.

Music can move us, motivate us, join us, teach us, shock us, rejoice us, sadden us... it is capable to make us live unique moments of tension, such as the sounds produced when seeing an horror movie, or intense moments of happiness and nostalgia, when transporting us to the time of our lives when we fell in love with that special person.

And its because music, unlike other art forms, accompanies us at all times. While working, while we are driving the car or while walking down the street, and what to say about parties!

Given its importance to our lives, there is no doubt about the importance of including it in other forms of art such as films or video games. However, although the music in films managed to adopt a parallel level of importance after its incorporation by the year 1890, the role of music in videogames would take a little longer to emerge, starting with a secondary role, restricted and subject to the power and costs of the hardware of each generation.

From Computer Chip Music to Original Soundtracks

"Beep!"

In the 70's when the videogame began to flourish as entertainment, music was stored on physical media such as cassettes and vinyl discs analogically. These components were expensive and prone to failure under constant use, making them unsuitable for use in the arcades of that time. For this reason, a more economical method of having music in a video game was sought, hence replacing it through the use of digital media, using a microprocessor to generate specific digital codes converting analog waves into electrical impulses sent to a loudspeaker, thus generating sound effects.

Despite that, the sounds resulting from this method were monophonic, cyclical and therefore quite limited, for example, when Nolan Bushnell created Pong in 1972, the sound was reduced to a peculiar "beep" that accompanied every bounce of the "ball" on the vertical lines. Even In this case though, the sound was just an accessory and the hardware of that time did not allow to dream of something like music.

However, as microprocessors improved and its costs fell, these would be incorporated to new generations of arcades and home consoles, like the Famicom (known as the NES in America and Europe) in 1983. These facts, in conjunction with the development of the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) would result in the launch of a wave of games with a highly remarkable quality of music compositions by the middle 80s, standing out among the composers of that era figures like Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda), Hirokazu Tanaka (Metroid), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), among others of equal importance.

However, the biggest jump would not come until the introduction of the optical media, which has allowed incorporating completely pre-recorded music, high quality sound and allowed the reduction of storage costs that had previously been a concern, thus allowing developing musical compositions using different instruments, resulting in the outstanding soundtracks of today.

Music, a cornerstone in videogames

"Child of Eden takes the rythm games concept to a differebt level "

In this way, music has been gaining leadership in videogames, way beyond its support functions. Thus, even some music compositions become more famous than the same title for which they were designed, since they enjoy a quality comparable even to that of any commercial album released for sale publicly.In fact, it is possible to distinguish an entire musical genre derived from it, as significant as any we are used to hearing on the radio, and that becomes more important with each day, due to the widely growth of video games as a form of entertainment.

This fact has expanded so much that the music is arguably one of the most important aspects when valuing a video game, even at the level of the story, the gameplay, the graphics, and others.

More important in the recent years, videogames -known in its general form as rythm games- in which music has become the most important and central theme have been developed. Exponents such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central, Child of Eden, Final Fantasy Theatryhtm, to name a few, are key signs of the expansion in terms of the importance of music in a videogame, creating even an specific gender for this purpose.

And it is that today more than ever, the music is no longer a filler for a game that seems to be empty, but a connection point for all that a videogame tries to create. Music not only gives you something to listen to while you play, but when expressed correctly, it is capable of creating an emotional connection to the game that cannot be replicated through any other way.

The music Transports you - Invites you

Who doesnt remember the moments of his/her childhood jumping and stomping goombas when hearing to the current (or past) remixes of the Koji Kondo song of Mario Bros? Or perhaps, the frustration felt at the simple sound heard when Pac-Man was eaten by one of those creepy colored ghosts! Or even more, the sadness felt at the moment of Aeriths dead in Final Fantasy VII. This is mainly because one of the music´s main features is its ability to transport our subconscious to a place within our deepest memories, our dreams and our deepest fears or even to places beyond our imagination.

The dissonant chords and rapid rise and fall of music tones in games like Dead Space, Resident Evil or Silent Hill put our nerves to the edge; while the sound of the gentle breeze of air mixed with the sound of people whispering, make us feel as if we were walking alongside Ezio Auditore in Venice.

Even games like those developed by Rockstar, have imposed a standard for open world games set in the twentieth century, implementing songs related to each particular time throughout the journey . For example, in GTA Vice City, which had as its main inspiration Scarface" from Brian De Palma, we enjoy of a great collection of the 80s; in Mafia II, based in epics gangster film like The Godfather, it was classic blues and rock'n'roll of the 50s; for LA Noire, which was inspired in the novels of James Ellroy and the classic and modern black cinema (from The Maltese Falcon to LA Confidential trough Chinatown ') we have a fine selection of classic jazz. Listening to the radio in any of the game´s cars makes you drench of the musical culture of those years, helping to get further into the story you are told.

There are in other examples, melodies so pure and refined that from the very opening screen invite you to listen to the song completely. Games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, among others, are clear examples of games where the music takes you to dream and experience emotions, without even starting the game.

Furthermore, its the power that the music has to stay in our subconscious long after we turned off the console or computer, which today gives us an extra incentive to continue playing a videogame. This creates a greater need and a bigger responsibility for developers to create a good soundtrack to accompany a video game, knowing that as opposed to a film in which the music should support along the 2 hours (more or less) that a movie a lasts, the music for a video game should be able to attract us for the 10, 20 or 100 hours that our adventure lasts. This is a very hard challenge because while music can bring complacent memories about a game and give it an extended re-playability, it may in the same way; take us away from a video game, despite its excellent graphics or story.

In the same way, music too must adjust to the different genres and different eras to which we are to be taken, thus creating different and more complex needs to fulfill. For example, a melodic composition could not fit very well in an FPS game set in a war background such as Call of Duty or Battlefield, while at the same time, an action soundtrack joined by the sounds of explosions and gunfire could not engage much with a game like Pikmin.

Music trascends

The impact and popularity of the videogame music in the last 30 years has been such that today it has a strong representation of followers and composers, even in the absence of video games. Even melodies and themes from 20 years ago are still reused in the new generation of video games (for example the main theme of The Legend of Zelda).This has generated a growing popularity that has been translated in videogame soundtracks being sold in physical and (now) in digital formats, outside from the video game itself.

In the same way, the popularity of videogames music has allowed the development of live concerts, performed by acclaimed composers in the world of video games such as: Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest) Yoko Kanno (Nobunaga's Ambition), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy ), Keiichi Suzuki (EarthBound), Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill), among others. The success of these performances in Japan was such that in August of 2003 and for the first time outside of Japan, a video game music concert was performed by a live orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra at the Symphonic Game Music Concert held in Germany. This event was held as as the official opening of one of the largest videogame conventions in Europe, the GC Games Convention.

This would open the possibility for other initiatives such as the "Video Games Live" or "Play! A Video Game Symphony to embark in tours around the world including a wide variety of videogame music, which ranged from classics like Pong to titles like Metal Gear Solid and Halo.

In Perfect Harmony (Conclusion).

"Music should fit the game one hundred percent, it must respond to the emotional and physical needs of the player, of course, take the immersion to new heights, to another level." (Steve Schnur - Worldwide Executive, Music and Music Marketing for EA)

Upon reaching this point, we can agree that music is one of the most important aspects when developing a game. From its earliest beginnings with simple sound effects to the amazing soundtracks that are developed today, the videogame music has evolved alongside the technology of consoles and computers and videogames themselves and despite having been created as an complement to visual images and gameplay, today its an essential aspect for creating lasting bonds between gamers and videogames.

As in a film, the music in a video game has the important task to help in highlighting the different emotions that the developers want to create in us and thus when the music and the sound effects are well developed, the soundtrack can greatly improve the overall experience in a videogame.

However, the true harmony of a game will come from knowing how to use music as a form of connection between each of the components involved in a videogame. It should be able to make us spend moments of tension when investigating a deserted mansion, motivate us to run as fast as possible when we are racing in car competition and invite us to dream and continue our adventure in a fantasy world, even after having spent hundreds of hours on it.