S2E2 - What's Up With Dying

We take a closer look at video game death and vulnerability.

S2E2 - What's Up With Dying: Summary

With some inspiration from Ngai Croal and Brandon Sheffield this week we examine death in video games.

Being Vulnerable (Edge Magazine - Ngai Croal)

http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/being-vulnerable

• The Superhero Conundrum: We must connect to our hero/avatar, but his very (Invincible) nature makes this nearly impossible to achieve via gameplay.
  
  
• (Regenerating health) has become a convention of the medium rather than an expression of the (game) universe’s logic.
  
  
• Where does this sensation of vulnerability truly come from?
  
  
• How much time did you ‘lose’ or ‘waste’ when you got killed?
  
  
• When gamers criticize (a game for being too easy) what they were really complaining about was their belief that these mechanics failed to provide enough of a time penalty for their mistakes.
  
  
• Using downed-but-not-out states to keep players on the precipice between life (time well spent) and death (time wasted) for longer, thereby dragging out that feeling of vulnerability.

To Be Continued: Rethinking Player Death (Game Developer Magazine - Brandon Sheffield)

• In a scenario in which death essentially means nothing, why have death at all?
  
  
• The game is basically testing your ability to complete the same actions again and again, rather than your skill. Considering the fact that games are meant to be won, except in outlying cases, it’s testing your willingness to persevere, and not to adapt.
  
  
• Death is still not so much a punishment as it is a setback—you simply lose a few minutes’ playing time, and probably learn some strategies in the meantime. So why represent this as “death,” why not try to create a game that contains similar challenges to standard games, but completely avoids death?
  
  
• Almost any time not playing the game is time waiting to play the game—and that’s generally time wasted.
  
  
• So many games employ outlandish sci-fi or fantasy scenarios that it seems death could be explained away in simple terms—or even better, with some entertaining gameplay. It seems high time that more developers start to confront their own (ingame) mortality.

Justin's Theory of Game Death & Vulnerability

Dimensions of Death

• Justification
• What caused the player to die? Is it clear? Is it the players fault or is it the games?
  
  
• Feedback
• Can the player easily tell why they died? Is there sufficient information for them to adjust for it?
  
  
• Time Loss
• How much is a player setback when they die? Is it enough that the player can re-approach the situation or is it too much to where it is tedious to get back to where one died (feedback).
  
  
• Penalty
• What is the cost of dying?

Dimensions of Vulnerability

• The Weight of Death
• Is the player scared of dying? Is the penalty and loss high?
  
  
• Comfortableness
  
• What is the players state of mind? Has the player been through this area before? Do they know when they are in danger and when they are not?
  
  
• Risk
• Are there fail safes? If the player takes a chance can they recover if things go wrong?
  
  
• Threat
• If the player faces adversity what are the chances of dying? Can the player gauge the danger?

S2E1 - Coming Up January

January releases, Bayonetta, Darksiders, Dark Void, MAG, No More Heroes 2, Mass Effect 2, and more.

S2E1 - Coming Up January: Summary

We have finally returned from our holiday movings about and sat down to discuss the new releases for January. As usual we have still not settled out the kinks with our format, our general ability to make sense, and be entertaining and/or interesting.

We hope you enjoy our sidebars on board games in Vienna, Austria, our experiments with un-funny humor, Carver's love for Excite Truck, and Anime that you've probably never heard of (but damn well should have).

UP COMING RELEASES (Some of which are out already)

05 Jan - Bayonetta [Xbox 360, PS3]
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-hd-bayonetta/58920

05 Jan - Darksiders: Wrath of War [PS3, Xbox 360]
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-darksiders/59081?type=flv
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/105/1057234p1.html

05 Jan - Divinity 2: Ego Draconis [PC, Xbox 360]
http://kotaku.com/5380929/divinity-ii-ego-draconis-impressions-morality-is-for-lesser-mortals
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/divinity-ii-ego-draconis/10203
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/divinity2egodraconis/news.html?sid=6233248&mode=previews

12 Jan - Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces [Wii]
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/sky-crawlers/6522
http://www.gamespot.com/wii/sim/skycrawler/news.html?sid=6199281&mode=previews

12 Jan - Silent Hill: Shattered Memories [PSP,PS2]
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3174711&p=7&sec=PREVIEWS
http://psp.ign.com/articles/105/1056366p1.html

12 Jan - Army of Two: The 40th Day [Xbox 360, PS3,PSP]
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-army-of-two/60203

12 Jan - Lunar: Silver Star Harmony [PSP]
http://www.gamespot.com/psp/rpg/lunarharmonyofsilverstar/news.html?sid=6230390&mode=previews
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/lunar-harmony-of-silver-star/12090

13 Jan - Serious Sam: The First Encounter HD [Xbox 360]
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/serious-sam-hd/11710
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/serioussamthefirstencounterhd/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review

19 Jan - Korg DS-10 Plus [Nintendo DS]
http://ds.ign.com/articles/103/1036834p1.html

19 Jan - Dark Void [Xbox 360, PS3, PC]
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-hd-dark-void/58700

26 Jan - Shadow of Destiny [PSP]
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/adventure/shadowofdestiny/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review

26 Jan - MAG [PS3]
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3173981&p=37&sec=PREVIEWS

26 Jan - Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars [Wii]
http://wii.ign.com/articles/105/1053203p1.html

26 Jan - No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle [Wii]
http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/nomoreheroesdesperatestruggle/news.html?sid=6243410&mode=previews

26 Jan - Mass Effect 2 [Xbox 360, PC]
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3177363&p=1&sec=PREVIEWS

Holiday Break

In case anyone is wondering where we are. Carver is in the process of moving to Vienna so we are going to take a break until he settles in. We should be back in a few weeks, so until then happy holidays everyone!

S1E1 - Mature Warfare

New Releases, Modern Warfare 2, Six Days in Fallujah, Serious Storytelling in Video Games.

S1E1 - Mature Warfare: Summary

Here our second installment presented for your enjoyment. There are definitely still some kinks we have to work out with the recording and editing, but it's improving one step at a time.

This episode we added a new releases section that we hope you find useful. Mostly we discuss Modern Warfare 2, Six Days in fallujah, and our topic, Serious Storytelling in Video Games.

NEW RELEASES
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (X360 DLC)

Last Week
New Super Mario Bros. (Wii) Platformer
Assassin's Creed II (X360) Action Adventure
Left 4 Dead 2 (PC) Horror Shooter
LittleBigPlanet (PSP) Platformer
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines (PSP) Action Platformer
King's Bounty: Armored Princess (PC) Turn Based Strategy RPG

MODERN WARFARE 2 (PC, X360, PS3)


The Upside

• Same Triple A Mechanics & Production
  
• Fully Realized Single Player, Coop, and Multiplayer Modes
  
• Refined and Expanded Achivements/Leveling Up
• Variable Gameplay
  

The Downside

• Disrespectful Treatment of Subject Matter
  
• Single Player Has Poor Pacing
  
• Plot Makes Little Sense 
• Action Movie Mentality is Disappointing
  

EPISODE LINKS
Six Days in Fallujah
Newsweek Article - http://www.newsweek.com/id/200861/page/1
Kotaku Post - http://kotaku.com/5284266/fallujah-game-still-alive-being-shopped-to-publishers
Fox Interview - http://kotaku.com/5287076/fox-and-friends-finally-addresses-fallujah-game

Modern Warfare 2
Infinity Ward Interview - http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/310?ch=1