"Wait...wait...that's not how it happened. Shall I begin again?"

By -
The above is a quote from Prince of Persia, a remake of a classic 1980s video game. In the most recent iteration - as I understand it - the narrative elements are foregrounded throughout the game and the quote above occurs when one dies in the game.

This got me thinking about consequences in video games. Recently I was talking to J.P. about a series of games wherein the goal is no less lofty than averting the apocalypse but the characters traipse toward their grim fate gingerly, languidly moving at the player's behest as if time was made of molasses.

Video game worlds are fraught with this kind of unaccountability. In the Street Fighter series, people all over the world gather around to watch super-powered weirdos throw fireballs at each other with no thought that an errant fireball (they often miss) will plow through the crowd and toast the school girls hanging out (curiously) in a construction yard.

Thankfully developers are starting to unpack this historical curiosity of video games. Today's assignment is to dive into the world of video games and approach whatever your subject is with a kind of philosophical awareness. Not interested in video games? Fake it. Even pac-man has a fucked up credo when you take it seriously (or ridiculously) enough.

DEADLINE: Halloween.
INCENTIVE: Points. The usual.
DOUBLE-PLUS INCENTIVE: I'll personally send a gift to each rodder who completes this task by the deadline. The earlier you complete it, the better the gift.


Chop chop, folks.

-B.

Comments

  1. JonOctober 20, 2009 at 6:28 PM

    Oh man I'm excited. I actually sorta did this once before with Colossal Panther Mechanism (Shadows of the Colossus), but never this specific. Great assignment brother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JonOctober 21, 2009 at 8:15 PM

    -Hadouken-

    Japanese schoolgirls on fire
    Red bean squid pork bun
    into the yawning inferno.

    ~

    Run a finger along it -
    Those green turgid abs,
    The shock of coarse red hair.

    ~

    Helicopter kick
    The shit out of onlookers
    With misplaced white thigh.

    ~

    You never hear about those
    Boxes of heartburn
    Drugs - fireballs fuck up sphincters.

    ~

    Of course, the American
    is called Guile – we’re liars,
    Japan. But who’s Pearl Harbor?

    ReplyDelete

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