Katamari Damacy 2

Some thoughts that I'd like to expand on in class:

-Dr. Jones said in his chapter that he sees Katamari Damacy as a witty parody of the collecting culture surrounding video games, and that Katamari Damacy's ultimate meaning is this parody.

-He also says that it is like the campy gigantic monsters in Japanese sci-fi movies, rampaging through the streets. As well as the fight clouds and rolling snowballs from early cartoons.

I can see the resemblance between the fight clouds and out-of-control snowballs, but what the creator says later is that he wanted to make a game that was simply fun. This does not mean that Takahashi wanted Katamari Damacy to be devoid of meaning, but that the meaning is of little consiquence when compared with the pure enjoyment derived from physically playing the game. I don't think that Takahashi was downplaying any meaning that Katamari Damacy may have, but whatever meaning we can see in the game isn't necessarilly the meaning that Takahashi intended. And what's wrong with just accepting the fact that fun can be meaningful? Maybe that was Takahashi's goal, to present the world with a game that has nothing say, nothing to contribute to society at large or the gamer culture in particular, but just to be, and that could be precisely why we love it so much. It presents us with a blank slate that we build on, that we give meaning to ourselves. I don't think Takahashi's trying to pull a fast one on us, or that meaning within games isn't important. I think he's simply trying to offer up something fun and pleasant and colorful and happy.

I found this picture and the one below it on google images. This game inspires.

Legos, advertisements, cakes, knitted hats...

Ya, I know, every Harry Potter fan has at one point made or bought a hand-crochetted Hogwart's scarf, so fan manifestation of their favorite games isn't new, but doesn't something like that picture of Lego men running in stop-motion terror put a smile on your face?

-Katamari Damacy as a text.

I can see how the type of stuff collected on the Katamri can be read, or made more interesting by just focusing on umbrellas, or objects of Japanese culture. BUt once again, the player is in control of what he or she rolls over, thereby creating the text of images that slowly accumlates on the surface of the ball. From my limited experience playing Katamari Damacy, it didn't occur to me that there were levels in which you could only pick up items in significant groups. In other words, there isn't a stage that only has umbrellas, if I wanted my Katamari to only have umbrellas, I would have to be really careful and avoid everything else. I guess I'm getting back to my point about how we as the players give meaning to the game based on our choices while playing. The meaning that the advertiser of this poster gave to Katamari Damasi was one of popular media culture, you can only see audio-visual media related material on the ball of stuff (rolling through the streets of Dublin).

Speaking of rolling, on page 12, Dr. Jones says that "katamari rolling is less an allegory of labor and more a parody of labor." I liked that a lot.

On page 15, Dr. Jones says that Katamari Damacy's meaning lies within its parody, or the ability to parody...I wasn't sure because there were more than one instance where the game parodies something (subsurface)?

I also liked the description of the katamari as having the look and feeling of database arrays. clever But as I would see it, those data base arrays are meaningful, but only because they were intentionally constructed by the player. Is Dr. Jones making this implicit in his statements? That the player is ultimately the all-powerful meaning giver? Maybe he is making that implicit and I'm just not getting it.

This is one scene from Lost in Translation where Charlotte (Scarlette Johansen) is walking around in an arcade center in Tokyo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GYe8-NQc0

I completely agree that Katamari Damacy is related to the Japanese aracade culture of collecting game related objects. It is normal within that culture to find cows with snacks with toys because that is what you'd find in any UFO catcher in Japan, and it certainly makes sense that we as Americans would find that a little funny (absurd-funny). But wasn't Katamari Damacy made specifically for that culture, and then, like all other popular Japanese games, it was translated to English and shipped off to America for us to enjoy. So any possible meaning we as Americans could give Katamari Damacy, although valid, would be essentially flawed because we are not apart of the culture for which this game was intended. And any meaning it would have initially had for the Japanese arcade culture would be probably be Lost in Translation.

Katamari Damacy

Katamari Damacy

Once again, I found myself at the weekly LOST party when one of my friends popped in a video game before the show started, and this week it was Katamari Damacy. Wow. I love this game, it's so unique and simple and addictive. I was confused at first about how to operate the the ball, and my friend said "Don't worry about it, it's just like driving a tank." This, I think is a testament to the level in which video games have influenced our culture...not only has my friend never driven a tank, but he can safely assume how to operate one and can assume that I knew how to operate one as well...which I did, of course.
I have to get this game for PS2. I was playing FF12 for a while, but the adventure aspect of it was getting a little dull, what I now realize I needed was some good old destructive fun. Can you even say that it's a puzzle game? No, I don't think so. It's not really an adventure game either because it's purely a one-way interaction.
The only thing that bothered me about this game was the limited field of vision. You can't look up or down, just ahead and behind if you push down on the joysticks. I kept getting warning signals that other larger things were on their way, but I could never see where they were coming from and before I knew it I'd lost a turnip.
I'll expand on these thoughts after reading chapter 2.

God of War II

I was at friend's house the other day for our weekly LOST party, and for about an hour before the show started I watched him play God of War for Playstation 2. I was very impressed by this game, and surprised that such a sophisticated single player adventure game existed for the PS2. Then I was even more shocked when I learned that God of War II had been released for the PS2 as well, instead of for PS3 or XBox360. Seriously, this game is awesome.

And to emphasize just how awesome, here's the link to the New York Times article about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/arts/16Game.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The author of the article, Seth Schiesel, talks about God of War's extrodinary balance, and that the game is unique because you never get bored while playing. Being an adventure game, God of War incorporates battles, puzzles, and fun accrobatics in an even distribution. So instead of getting tired or frustrated with one level because of all the redundant puzzles (Myst, wink wink) your constant movement from one area to the next keeps your interest rapt to the screen, and never do you feel that you need to take a break from the game.

The article was published in today's (March, 16th 2007) paper, but it wasn't clear when the video game was released. The picture in the Times says it's been on the shelves since 2000, so that would make the article a tad belated, but it also proves how some games are so good that they can stand the test of time. It's really amazing that a game this good isn't brand new.

Here's the link for the God of War official website, and it's spectacular as well, at least artistically speaking.

http://www.us.playstation.com/Content/Sites/192/Info/default.html (site for both)

http://www.us.playstation.com/GodofWar2/ (site only for GoWII)

If I could go back to the beginning of the semester, I would try to convince my play group to cover God of War instead of racing. Oh well, maybe I'll change my final project topic.

Mario and Luigi go to Vice City

I was watching an episode of "Robot Chicken" the other night when I saw this skit about Mario and Luigi riding along in their cart down a cute cartoon road. They take a right turn towards a city, that the viewer finds out is actually Vice City, from Grand Theft Auto. Mario and Luigi run into a little bit of trouble, as you can imagine. It's hilarious because the creator of this cartoon used satire to meld the prominent characteristics of both popular games into one event.

watch it here on youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHd5b3Mb2eQ

I know it sounds silly, but each game really does have its own universe. And no matter how far the paratextual elements of video games extend, they very rarely extend to the universes of other video games.

One example I can think of where a video game incorporated many characters from several games into one is _____________ (fill in the blank cause I can't find the title). Anyway, it was a game that incorporated characters from Mario Brothers, Final Fantasy, Zelda etc...all the uber-popular video games, and their characters, got together for a battle in a completely separate universe. None of the worlds in which they fought (Mortal Kombat style) were interactive, you as the player only interacted with your opponent. So my point is that games' universes are separate. You can pull the characters out and put them together with other video game characters, but you can't take the video game worlds and put them together, and if you did you'd have something a-kin to the "Robot Chicken" Mario in Vice City episode; nonsense.

This hillarious cartoon shows that Mario and Luigi don't belong in a place like Vice City.

Aha! I just found something else on youtube.com about Mario in Vice City that might have been the inspiration for the cartoon creators of "Robot Chicken."

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Super Mario Mod 2 by:jessrocked

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EANBQDrm

Burnout websites

XBox360's website features Burnout Revenge as one of their most promising racing games because of its realism.

These games provide chills that we could never survive in real life. Xbox 360 has brought this thrill-a-minute battle racing game into a whole new realm. Criterion and Electronic Arts, developer and publisher respectively, have dubbed this release their showcase version and have worked hard to live up to their own goals. The experience does not approach reality; it transcends reality. The graphics take Burnout Revenge on Xbox 360 up, up, and over the top. Realism in lighting effects, textures, and reflections bridges the gap between what might have been just a nice bit of fun and what has instead turned out to be an adrenaline-releasing crash-o-rama.

The controls match what you see on the screen so smoothly, there's no disconnect between what you're seeing and what you're doing.

And my personal favorite quote:

The Big Crash

Why are we here if not to crash? For Burnout Revenge, Xbox 360 opened a portal into the realm of possibility, the possibility of more detailed damage. Improved shader technology, for example, adds depth and dimension to vehicle damage.
Designed for realistic effect, the complexity of the damage modeling has increased. Every scratch removes paint. Every ding leaves a mark that affects the reflections in it. Pieces fall off the cars, in small bits as well as large chunks. Bumpers hang askew. Engines and other interior elements become exposed. Glass flies. Tires burn. Pile-ups explode.

Of course they do. :)

The folks at Criterion have put a big fat spotlight on the fact that you can capture highlights from your replays (up to 30 seconds for the clips) and share them with friends.

The immortalized, glamorized car crash; you can relive the excitement over and over again.

Video Games in Museums

I went to see the new Body Works exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry on Tuesday because I mistakenly thought it was a free day. TIP! There are no free days at the Museum of Science and Industry. Anyway, I was wandering around after the Body Works exhibit, when me and my friend spotted a small room with an arcade-style racing game.
We got kind of excited, and went to the racing chairs and started the game, but much to our dismay these were old racing games from the mid 90s and it wasn't fun at all. Well, maybe a little.
The point is that I'd already played this version of arcade racing in hotel lobbies all across the Midwest, and I was surprised that the Museum of Science and Industry would have them in one of their own exhibits. The purpose for the exhibit was to show how simulations work, but it was a very poor (and outdated) example of video game simulation.
Then again, museums aren't known for their up-to-date technology, in fact that is what museums mainly showcase; out-dated technology in all its ancient glory. Maybe I expected more from the Museum of Science and Industry, but I was very disappointed with that lame exhibit.

For my final project, I'd like to concentrate on the use of video games within libraries and other public places where people can game together without having to invest in game consoles and overpriced games.
For the past 15 years, most public libraries have been lending PC games to kids, and educational interactive PC programs to adults, but the video game itself has generally been scoffed at by public librarians as a poor way to spend your time. However, more demand by patrons is what's allowing the video game stigma to slowly disappear within libraries. Personally, most librarians I know play video games, so even if the demand were to stay low, video games would eventually be integrated into libraries simply because the people who run them are the ones who decide what the library is going to offer its patrons.
The same goes for museums. The curator of a museum is the one who decides out of all the materials the museum owns, which are to be the ones on display. The Field Museum has an enormous collection of artifacts from New Guinea, but none of that material is on display because the current curator prefers to showcase the artifacts from the Native American collection. Plus, that curator may have a feeling that artifacts from New Guinea wouldn't be as popular and thus the patronage will fall if he removes the actually popular Native American displays.
The Head Librarian has to make these same choices when determining what he or she will offer to the public. Perhaps in fifty years libraries across America will lend video games as often as they lend books, but that all depends on the patron demand and who is in charge. Until that day comes, museums need to stop showcasing "new" technology in their exhibits, because within 5 years it's already old and nobody cares. You would think though, that the Museum of Science and Industry could afford to update their exhibits every five years or so to reflect the current "new" technology especially considering that they never have a free day.

I just checked The Museum of Science and Industry's website for a clue as to why they have an old racing arcade game in their exhibit space and I found and old exhibit in their archives list that is all about the history of video games. http://www.msichicago.org/scrapbook/scrapbook_exhibits/gameon2/index.html
CLick on tour and you'll get the list of different games and genres featured in the old exhibit. The latest games listed were from 2002, or 2003. Like most things you'll find in museums, this exhibit was designed with kids in mind and there's not much to it. The website's kind of cute though.

Reality in racing

"Burnout" for XBox360 has a side game where you have to drive your car up a ramp at high speeds and plunge it into oncoming traffic in order to create the biggest explosion. You rack up more points if the explosion causes other cars to crash and explode. This is like an elaborate, player-controlled, cut-scene which, if done properly, can last for several minutes.
Watching the massive pile-up grow in size as other cars on the road plowed into the huge wreck, I felt a sense of pride in my accomplishment because in the bottom of the screen the points kept adding up like arbitrary dollar amounts awarded to pinball players whenever the ball happens to hit anything on the board. This side game of "Burnout" is like a cause and effect experiment in chaos. The cut-scene of exploding cars and trucks is quite spectacular, and it reminds me of the quote, again, from "White Noise" where Murray exclaims that the car crash in the entertainment business is a form of art, beauty in destruction, and all that.
It's undeniable that there is a huge emphasis on the crash, not only in racing games like "Burnout" but within all forms of entertainment as well, at least within America.
There was also another side race in "Burnout" that pits you against a fellow player, or you can play it alone. The object is to cause other (specially designated) cars on the road to flip over and crash/explode. The first to destroy 10 cars wins. Recklessness is the only skill you need for these games, and an enthusiasm for destruction. You gotta really want it in order to win!
The racing game itself relies heavilly on minor crashes to gain boost points that will eventually get you over the finish line. It's a catch 22. You have to waste time crashing in order to get the power of a boost so that you can go faster and take first place. "But why should you waste time crashing into other cars?" you say. Well, it's just so much fun. Plus, you get to watch you car's paint chip a little more every time you crash and if you get into a big enough accident, your bumper will fall off. The realism that the creators of "Burnout" attempt is significant, but realism in the game and actual reality are still very much separated in the players mind. Although it is a sim game, it's not at all realistic...but it is... I think that Burnout's realism has more to do with the fakeness of its ancestral racing games than any actual physical realities to racing.
Part of its realism comes from the background art of the race tracks. They mostly take place in real cities, for example, one of the race tracks is titled "The Eternal City" which is Rome. When Betty and I played Burnout for the first time we chose this track without really thinking about it, but when the game loaded we were very surprised to feel a sense of nostalgia, because last semester Betty and I studied in the eternal city, and the game was very true to the look and feel of those crazy bendy Roman streets and alleyways.
Just a fun fact: before I left for Rome there was a news report about a high-speed chase and gun fight (by the passengers) of two sports cars in the streets of Rome. The Italian government wanted a apology from the U.S. stating that it was our fault because the Italians had reason to believe that one of the shooters was an agent for the CIA. The U.S. denied any involvement.
SO, as for the believability of Burnout, it kind of depends on how often you read the news?

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/399354