Modern (Machinima) Warfare 2

What kind of game is this?

The Call of Duty franchise is published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward. This is a first person shooter type game. The game is about an elite counter-terrorist unit that’s on a mission to stop a Russian ultra-nationalist. The unit travels through Afghanistan, Moscow and Washington D.C. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was probably my favorite game of all time because of the gaming dynamics such as perks, game objectives and the experience of feeling like you were there. The perks are 3 different skills added to your class that allow you to do things like reload faster or be undiscoverable from radar. While writing this I knew what GIF I wanted to use, the one that exaggerates the long range of the command pro perk.  Which I feel is pretty damn accurate.

The game objectives are the different type games you can play online/ For example one objective is capture the flag and another is search and destroy. This objective is more skill based because you are on a small team that has to plant a bomb, but if you die you die for the whole round. The experience of the game is very realistic and detailed. My favorite experience of the game is being in control of the AC-130 which is a cargo plane fitted which different weapons. The HUD and tele metrics are very detailed when flying. Another thing I like about the experience is the option to bleed out. When you get shot you fall to the ground and have an opportunity to kill the person who tried to kill you. It is clear to see the Call of Duty is not in the grey zone and can definitely be defined as a game. That being defined as an activity that is a structured form of play. The online is my favorite part of the game because of how fun it can be to play with other people and feel extremely challenged. The designs of the maps are very well thought out as they have obstructions, sniping spots and hiding spots in all the right areas. Not only that but they brought the right schemas to online maps. What I mean by that is they took right parts of the game to make maps out of, like Terminal, Karachi and Favela. The guns in the game are all ones that you would be able to find in real life which makes the game a little more realistic, thus making way more fun and immersive. As we started to dive into Machinima I automatically connected it back to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. That is because this is the game where I was first introduced into the whole machinima concept. With the help of YouTube machinima really exploded into a new form of art making within the gaming community. One of my favorite videos is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-My1FlTW9-Y and that is because it displays the actual meaning of machinima. That being defined as making films within a game or virtual environment which is then edited to display fluency. The authors create an edit where the player goes to plant an air strike but the classic “Rick Roll” video starts playing instead of the marker.

What kind of art is this?

Art is defined as a range of human activities that create visual or preforming arts that express the authors imaginative or technical skill. I love this definition because it classifies a broad amount of artworks that some may argue are not. In the article Understanding Machinima by Larrisa Hjorth, she states

“As a genre once evolving from gaming cultures, machine has grown to become its own “art-form”. Fusing art, cinema, new media, and games, machinimas genealogy echoes that of other misunderstood genres like net”

Larissa Hjorth

I feel that the art in this game can go hand in hand with the pro game definitions we have discussed in class. The perspective that Hjorth has agrees with progression of arts.  As an art piece I believe Modern Warfare 2 does a great job of illustrating the authors imaginative and technical skill. The IW 4.0 engine does a great job of rendering images to make them look so realistic. Though it is the hands of the designers that we see the true forms of art, everything that is created within the game. The designs of the buildings in the map Favela closely resemble those of an actual Favela in Brazil. The rundown look of the buildings adds to the how closely they resemble the real thing. This all done with the imagination of the designers and author.  This is how games are able to parallel definitions of art because art is defined as a human activity that uses the authors unique imaginative and technical skills to provide some visual stimulation. Then comes the concept of machinima that allows players to make their own movies within the game. Though one way I believe that games differ from art is that with games you can get creative and make something. With art it is more solid and hard to change. I believe if you have not played this game yet you should definitely do so and maybe vision the type of machinima you could create. If you do not have the resources to play the game then you can watch the gameplay of the full story and get an idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0WFGMU4VDs.

Citations:

Ng, Jenna, and Larrisa Hjorth. Understanding Machinima. New York: Bloomsburry, 2013. Print.

Kazunori Picasso

For this week’s game, I started playing Gran Turismo 6 on the PlayStation 3. For those of you that have never heard of this game let me introduce you. This is one of the original driving simulators to ever hit the consoles dating back to the nineties. The team behind this franchise is Polyphony Digital as the developers, Sony Computer Entertainment as the publishers and Kazunori Yamauchi as the director and producer. It is clear that Kazunori is the artist in this game because of the way he has pieced this masterpiece of a game together from his own imagination. This game takes every car you could imagine and gives the player the opportunity to feel like an actual race car driver by the realistic sense of the cars, tracks and customizations to the car. Kazunori had the vision for this aesthetic which is very important because this is what has an influence on the player. The amount of detail that is presented while racing was all painted by Kazunori so that the player can get a better understanding of the object. That object being driving a car on a track with the goal of getting the fastest time. The game in a sense is an interactive painting by Kazunori that indulges the player by for the forms of interaction by what the controls are defined as and what telemetry info is shown. The player takes in all of the objects Kazunori wanted at every moment in the game to bring together the ultimate driving simulator.

In regard to Simon Niedenthal he states that “Greater descriptive detail fleshes out emotional response…climbing tall towers into the rarified atmosphere of Damascus establish quite different tones and play experiences”. I connect this back to playing Assassins Creed with the amount of detail and vivid colors really does bring an emotion out that indulges the player into the game to really feel like the character. While playing Gran Turismo I feel the same emotion that puts me into the seat of the car I am racing and rushes the adrenaline through my body. Our understanding of the game is definitely influenced by Kazunori’s vision for this game as he takes his own experiences of driving on race tracks into an art form so that others may see what he saw. Every aspect of this game has been a recreated through Kazunori’s sense of imagination which is why he is so important being the artist of the game. Other than Kazunori there really is not anyone else that could be a great influence on the aesthetic foundation of this game and its components. With the screen shot below we can understand how the player feels so immersed because how it real it feels. All important aspects of racing a car on a track are present and aesthetically pleasing .

I would like to consider Kanzunori as the Pablo Picasso of driving simulators because of what he has been able to accomplish with the Gran Turismo franchise. Many others like Forza have tried to replicate Gran Turismo but I do not think they come close because of the different dynamics they have had to use like the cars, tracks and telemetry so that they are differentiated from the original Gran Turismo. If you have a moment check out this interview with Kazunori http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-29-kazunori-yamauchi-profile. It really sheds some light on the inspiration and vision that he had for developing this game.

How Can This Be Art?

For this weeks game I choose to play Grand Theft Auto V by Rockstar Games on the PS3. There are various definitions for art, though the one I thought was most appropriate was “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects”. Like there are many definitions of art there are also many types of art and one of those being video games. Grand Theft Auto is one of the most controversial games ever created and that is because it has taken our free reality and put it in a virtual one. With that being said I am free to do every explicit or violent act known to man and run around like a mad man. Now comes the question, can this really be a form of art? I believe yes and that is because it fits the definition I found to be best for all forms of art. The developers and designers at Rockstar all used their conscious unique skills and creative imagination to create something so aesthetically pleasing. Starting from the first Grand Theft Auto the aesthetics of the game have significantly improved from poor to very vivid.

 

As we break down the game to its artistic roots we really get to see how this game can be classified as art. The whole foundation of the game and everything in it can be considered art because all objects are an object of an artist’s imagination and creativity. All the color schemes and details have been a concept of an artist’s mind and cannot validly be regarded as non-art just because it is in a game. It seems to be irrelevant to define art with a definition that preexists to the advancement of technology today. Something Becker would agree with is that video games are a type of art based off his concept “collective activity”. Becker makes the point that the development of most major forms of “arts we know, like all the human activities we know, involve the cooperation of others” (Becker). The development of this video perfectly falls into this concept as there are different people brainstorming and designing the game. I am going to link the book Art Worlds and if you’re not convinced I suggest you read this and be enlightened: https://books.google.com/books?id=tPAWsKySzocC&lpg=PP1&dq=becker%20art%20worlds&pg=PA1%23v=onepage&q&f=false#v=onepage&q=becker%20art%20worlds&f=false .  It would be fair to say that the posters that were released when the game out can be a piece of art. That is because it is something brought to life by one’s creativity and provides a sense of visual stimulation.

When you play a game that is filled with so much detail and objects are so realistic it is hard to not assume of it all as a piece of art. While playing the game you feel so immersed in the game as if you were really there. I felt this because I could connect everything I saw in the game back to my own reality because of how the designers replicated objects. For example, the cars are very similar to ones in real life. There is a car called the Elegy RH8 which is a replica of the Nissan GTR. Another detail is how realistic they made Los Santos to exactly like Los Angeles. The colors used to imitate the sky and water are very life like not to mention the small detail they have that creates an illusion of reality. What I thought was cool was that at times in game I could feel like an artist with the amount of freedom I had. For example, when you take a car into the chop shop you are free to paint your own car and have a personal design that suits your creativity. You can also paint your own character in the sense that you can change their clothes, hair styles and add accessories. I believe the developing and designing teams at RockStar collectively created an art piece that can definitely be classified as art and has been enjoyed by millions of people around the world.

 

The Kim Crapashian Game

For blog number two, I choose the Kim Kardashian game by Glu Games, though I wish I would have picked another one. Those of you that were in class when this game was demonstrated can understand why I say that. This video game to some people may not even be classified as one because of the structure of the game. That’s because the feel of the game is very repetitive and forced, not very stimulating at all. Though the argument we face is whether this game can be considered an actual “game”. In the scheme of things, I do personally believe that the Kim Kardashian game is considered a game because a player can make free choices, it is very unproductive and it works upon make-believe. These factors come from Caillois, The Definition of Play and Classification of Games. It may not be a very fun-exciting game but it does consist of the factors that permit the action of playing a game. The first day that I started to play this game I was immediately not impressed by the format and design of the game. It is very clear that Kim made this crappy game to get people who adore her to spend even more money on her. The game consists of tapping on the screen to get around places and do actions which you are supposed to. For example, to move cities you just slide the screen to the bus stop and select where you need to go. This requires very little interaction or through which makes it boring. Once you get to the place you need to be let’s say in this case a photo shoot the “playing” is just pressing a button multiple times. Then once you have pressed it the x amount of times then money and power tokens appear and then you press on them to collect. That’s about it, there is no other form interaction within. Though I believe this must do with the fact that this game is based off mimicry which Caillois refers to as becoming an illusory character as oneself behaves of which ever manifestation. Though after a couple days of playing I got sick of the game. This being that the game is designed to make you want to spend money to get additional items and power ups. You are literally bamboozled with countless pop up at all times of playing the game to buy some new clothes or power tokens. At this point I was getting less and less encouraged to play the game because it was not fun and I was getting annoyed about getting asked to buy something. I would not recommend this game to anyone who wants to have some sort fun on their phone. Towards the end of my time playing this game I did not feel challenged or engaged with what was going on. I think if this game was designed to have the player experience fun then it could be as fun as any game should be.

I read a great article by Paul Mooney on venture beat.com that explains how horrible the game is and how it got the opportunity to make so much money despise being a pretty bad game. Its perspective of the game seems to align very well with mine.

http://venturebeat.com/community/2014/08/26/kim-kardashian-hollywood-game-app-sucks-up-money-and-your-phones-battery-life/

Fun MAN-PAC

Pac man was originally created back in the 1980s when the rise of video games had begun. This extremely popular game was the foundation for many games to come after and established this sense of challenging fun. The words PAC-MAN when heard through one’s ears rushes nostalgia of when there were mediocre graphics and a few limited buttons. I can remember the first time I got my hands on a PAC-MAN console as a young child and experiencing this sense of fun as if I were immersed in the game being chased around by blue ghosts. As I played this game consistently for a few days this past week I realized how such a simple game could bring out tons of excitement and mystery because of how the game is formed. I started to see as I got better and better I became more competitive and inclined to strategically plan my route of execution. This all comes down to the fact that “fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. In other words, with games, learning is the drug” (Koster). Mastering a game as you get better increases the amount of fun one has while playing some sort of game because you do not suck so hard. Then comes from being able to comprehend how the game is laid out and objectives of what you need to do. Being able to solve this one big puzzle is what brings satisfaction to the brain thus resulting in fun. This being a puzzle that does not involve one’s work life which creates this temporary get away.

Playing the game is quite entertaining because of how you are putting yourself to the test to win. For me the fun came out of the simple gaming experience it brings. It is pretty easy to understand the game’s objectives right when you start playing it. The game’s design is very simple as well as in the layout of barriers and home base for the ghosts. The simplicity decreases the amount of frustration one might have while playing the game because of the lack of video game cognitive action. Since the game is so short I found a nice fun get away from my school work by taking quick five to ten minute breaks playing a quick round of PAC-MAN and then getting back to work after I lost. I experienced a great amount of relief after playing the game while stressing about the amount of work that I needed to do. This is because I was experiencing fun as I was deviating away from work which comes naturally to any human. I feel after playing this game for a week I understood that fun can come out of the simplest things because they provide this continuous flow of fun and happiness. One thing I did seem to realize that towards the end of the week I felt less and less inclined to play the game. This was due to the fact that I really started to master the game and that I felt less challenged which did not make it as fun anymore. Though at an overall experience I would have to say that PAC-MAN is truly a fun game that anybody looking for a quick escape will enjoy.

Works Cited:

Koster, Raph. A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Scottsdale, AZ: Paraglyph Press, 2005.