Game Culture Assignment #1

Quote of the Assigned Reading: "When you read, you are always reading something in some way." -James Gee, page 1

I find Gee's decision to play a more "Adult" game called "The New Adventures of the Time Machine" hilarious. Considering I've never heard of the game, and that Deus Ex was out at the same time.

My impressions of the reading were tainted, at first, from a comment made by a girl in class that the book was "terrible...awful" etc, etc, ad infinitum. That's a powerful statement. Things like that tend to sit unfavorably on me because it

means no matter how hard I try I will already have just the thinest of opinions impressed on me as I enter the book. Well I'm happy to report she was right.

The book was written by James Gee. James Gee, although not openly admitting it at the beginning of the book, was not and probably still is not a gamer. I can walk onto a race track, pick out a car and drive it, and write a book about driving a racecar but I am not a racer. I am a person writing about being a racer, with language I have gleened is language racers use. These are foreign words like apex and drop shifting, drafting and cylinder heads. Sure I know the definitions of them all, why not. I know what they mean and how they apply. But I'm not a racer. I don't have one very, VERY crucial facet to my being that represents true understanding: instinct.

Gamers have gamer instinct. Here above is a screen capture of the game "The New Adventures of The Time Machine" that Gee played back in 2000 (Gamespot gave the game a 3.1, the press average was 5.3, and the developer no longer exists). After reading this, and talking to my roommate who also read this book, we both agreed that despite Gee not having gamer instincts, MOST critical writers lack the instinct of their subject. I digress. Gee didn't impress me, and hasn't so far. I guess we will see what is going on in his mind the more I read this book.

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The game I have chosen to play for my study is Tales of Vesperia. Now why did I choose this game? Good question. Here's a detailed list of reasons.

1. I do not really like the Tales series of games. I was never really good at them and I got stuck in Tales of Symphonia and became embittered to the series. I think this game is a chance to open my eyes a tad and feel that freshness wash through. I am pretty excited to be playing it.
2. It's new. I like old games, but in being critical thinkers I feel it just as important to look forward at what's being played now as to look back. Tales is new, came out last week. It's Xbox 360, it's pretty, it's co-op...it's a forward thinking game. I want to be at the front of something.
3. I want to test myself. I don't want to write a plot point-by-point. A lot of game journals are just that. My journal will not be. I will try weekly to come up with some way to tie an experience of playing the game into gaming theory itself, in order to generate some interesting articles and not diary entries.

So...here I go journeying deep into the world of Tales of Vesperia. We'll see what happens when I come out the other side. The game is critically acclaimed. My friends can play it with me, and so far (Of the two hours I've played), the game itself is pretty much a blast. Gotta keep on keepin' on.









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Fallout 3 kicks its drug habit

So, Fallout 3 has been making waves. Personal waves thanks to it being Fallout 3 (I just reinstalled Fallout 1 and 2 in honor), and global waves thanks to its mentions of drug use. The game has been falling apart in the hands of international censors thanks to the inculsion of ingame drug use, and its portrayal. Australia specifically was going to ban the game all-together from its shores, but before they could Bethesda Softworks cleaned the game up. There are no more references to real world drugs in any build of Fallout 3.

Good idea? Probably. A case of unfair censorship? Nope. Countries can do what they like. Citizens will still get the content they seek. If Australia doesn't want players shooting up with real world drugs that makes perfect sense to me. It's rough to admit that media has to still fall victim to censorships but this is specifically INTERACTIVE media. Someone playing the game, someone profoundly stupid, may very well indeed assume that a drug in the game that cures what ails you is perfectly reasonable to use IRL, so to speak. They will likely die, and Bethesda Softworks will likely be sued. So I can perfectly understand the reasoning behind it, Bethesda. But I applaud you for trying. Too many tight hands on the creative process of games stifle world elements like that. I am not condoning drug use, but we didn't need it for the updated (and terrible) NARC, and we didn't need the graphical blurs of Manhunt 2.

Then again, turning on the news...I guess we do.