Bully Game

I just got news from several gaming blogs that Rockstar just announce a new game: Bully. This is the description of this game, taken from Aerospace: http://www.aeropause.com/archives/2006/08/rockstars_bully.php

The premise for Rockstar’s Bully, a school-experience meets sandbox game is a 15-year-old boy named Jimmy Hopkins, who must defend himself against school bullies at a ficticious U.S. boarding school named Bullworth Academy. Befitting title, that. Some weapons of choice will include bats, stink bombs and bags of marbles to name a few. The game won’t contain blood or characters dying, so they say…

And if you want to see the trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfbyfPI9rC0

The thing that crossed my mind was: What The Heck :evil:

I mean, why the heck someone releases another violence game while there are still hot discussions in about to ban that kind of game? And even worse, this game is about violence in school environment.  Isn’t that silly, just like when you ask someone not to smoke in front of you but what that person does is ignoring you and even blowing the smoke directly to your face :evil:

Sure that this game will trigger more video-game-ban actions. I am not surprised if anti-videogame regulation will be legalised someday :twisted:

Although it is about someone who stand against the bullying and corrupt school system but it promotes violence act in order to solve problem. Forget about negotiation, diplomacy acts, political movements, and forget about using your brain. Just  use your weapon, or anything that you can grab and just beat up your enemies :|

Kotaku, a gamer’s blog, did a good interview with John Carnell, a founder at Bullying Online, an anti-bullies foundation. You can check full interview at http://kotaku.com/gaming/top/feature–talking-with-the-antibullies-193472.php.  I found this one interesting:

John Carnell: “The world just doesn’t need a game that glorifies bullying as fun even if it is as Rockstar are spinning it one where a child stands up to the bullies. In most cases standing up to the aggressor or fighting back gets the victim into trouble and the bully gets away with it. This is a message that we just don’t need in education right now”

Ah, just forget what I’ve just said. Forget about arguing this topic. Most gamers won’t listen. It’s just useless :?

3D or 2D Game?

If someone ask me which game visualization I like, then I will say I still prefer the 2D one.

Why 2D?

Game visualization in 2D game is more artistic while in 3D everything just look realistic.  It’s not that realistic visualization is bad, but I just prefer the artistic one :)

Using 2D, the artist can render the game background beautifully using painting effect, draw the characters in cartoon or anime style, or put more colors on the game effects.  You can see more styles and effects, like minimalistic, cartoon, anime, pixilated (like retro games), or even photo realistic.

I still remember that Saga Frontier 2 on PSX used watercolor for their background. Or wonderful background images from Seiken Densetsu 3 (SNES). Or the latest Zelda The Minish Cap for GBA. They all are rich in colors and I like their artworks.

 Saga Frontier 2 

  Saga Frontier 2

Saga Frontier 2

Beautiful backgrounds in Saga Frontier 2

What’s wrong with 3D?

What I don’t like about 3D games is that sometimes they don’t have any interesting style except try to look more realistic. Okay, even if someday they could make everything look 100% realistic so that we cannot differentiate computer-generated human and the real human, I don’t find a dude-in-a-space-suit-with-a-plasma-gun interesting. Or a dude with his rocket launcher/gravity gun :?

It’s not a secret that Sony America rejects almost every 2D games on PS2. Only 3D games are allowed. Even if they have awful gameplay, as long as they have eye-popping visualization, Sony might approve the game :shock:  This make the situation worse.

But lately we can see several styles in 3D games. Cel shading, which is extensively used in many games, is one of them. Some guy on Internet said that Katamari Damacy is the laziest artwork for a 3D game because everything is blocky. But I think that’s the creator’s style, to make it blocky, like LEGO world.

However, sometimes it is more expressive to visualize the character in 2D. For example, the artist can put several line strokes and change the character expression to angry. But not in 3D. You have to do many things in 3D and sadly, most of them end up with an expressionless puppet face.

2D facial expression

3D facial expression

3D and 2D facial expressions

That’s why some Japanese game developer still use 2D for their character design, like Disgaea, or Guilty Gear. In some game they even combine 3D and 2D: They use 3D character (which is not so detail) but during the close-up or dialog, they show the high quality 2D picture of the character. A little bit tricky but it works ;)  

YS 6: Ark of Naphistim

3D background but with 2D close-up

My First Love in Video Game

I think it was very long time ago, when I was 5 or 6 years old. It was this ‘water game’, my first gaming device :)

Water Game

I don’t know why but I was just fascinated to see how those plastic gems (or rings) move around when I pushed the button. And I had five or six of this water game.

Then I fell in love with Game & Watch, the LCD handheld games from Nintendo, just immediately after my uncle showed me his new Nintendo FIRE. Since then, everytime I went to my friend’s house, I always asked whether they had any LCD games. Sometimes we exchanged our games for several days. My parents and grandparents always gave me LCD games for my birthday presents.

Snoopy Panorama Screen,my favourite one

Snoopy Panorama Screen, my favourite one

When browsing some websites, I realized that I actually owned 20 games and had played 50-60 titles :shock:  Most of my games were Casio and I don’t have them anymore. Some are gone or break :(

Check out these websites and see what games you have played:
http://www.gameandwatch.com/
http://www.handheldmuseum.com/

Neutralizing the Effect from Violent Video Games

This is a sequel of my previous post about violence in video games. I mentioned that nowadays games are more realistic so they can simulate violence. Not only the visualization but some games even expose too much violence.

So, should we ban all violence games?

Well, maybe not. But this does not mean that I support those violent games. What we can do is to neutralize the effect of those violent games by avoiding fanatic or obsession on such games.

The shooting case in Colombine High School in 1999 is a tragic example about someone who really got obsessed with video games. On their lately published diaries, Harris and Klebold were kind of obsessed with Doom and Duke Nukem 3D :shock:

 

Diary from Harris and Klebold

 

A page from Harris & Kobold’s Diary. They were obsessed with Doom (taken from http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/320331.html).

How can I neutralize this negative effect?

Well, let’s start from your game shelf.

Open it and see what games you have. Doom, Quake, GTA, Call of Duty, Manhunt, Bio Hazard, or the latest game Prey? If those are the only games or the only genres that you have/play, then try to add other kind of game. Try to add puzzle, adventure, 3d platformer, or shooting games (I mean 2D shooters like shoot’em up/shmups, not the 3D FPS game). Browsing some best reviewed games from Gamespot is a good start.

What we are trying to do here is to widen your game vocabulary.

If you only interested in war-theme game or FPS and you don’t want to play any other stuff, then fine! But let’s open your movie or DVD shelf. Hmm, only action movies? Maybe you can add other ‘spices’ like drama, comedy, documentary, art or indie movies, or even chick flick :)

What? Chick Flick?

No, you don’t have to but I think it’s nice to watch a different kind of movie. I mean, a VERY different one ;)

And the last one, don’t forget to have a look on your bookshelf. What? You don’t read books? Only programming books or comics? Well, there’s nothing wrong with comic book but try to add other books, like novel, romance, or some motivational books. Even chick lit is not a bad choice too.

You see, people are influenced by the things around them: video games, movies, music, books, TV, or even friends. Some of the gamers only play one kind of game and they become obsessed with that type of game. If it’s Dance Dance Revolution then it’s OK, you’ll get fit and look cool. If it’s FPS game or crime-based game where only guns can solve all problems, then better be careful :|

Video game is only video game but don’t forget: You are what you consume!

Violence in Video Game

This is a very hot topic which has been discussed since a very long time ago. And it’s still hot until now. What’s my opinion about it?

I really think that violence in game COULD cause negative effect for gamers :evil:

What? You’re a GAMER. A gamer is not supposed to say that

Yes, I am a gamer but I am just saying something which is true. Most of gamers will deny this fact and start cursing to people who against or blame the violent video game. They’ll judge me as a video game blamer :roll:

I think nowadays games are simulating violence. Because of the realistic visualization and game engine, a console or PC game could simulate how a human head explode when get shot, people being cut by a chainsaw, or how to use a real machine gun in a war. Compare to ten years ago, some games could be categorized as cartoon violence (according to current categorization method). But now, some video games are more like murder simulator.

Not only the visualization, but also the game play exposed too much violence. For example, when you beat a bad guy, the game system allows you not only to kick him in the ass, but you can beat him to the death, shoot him, cut him into two or do other unthinkable actions :shock:

Silence Of the LambsI am not surprised if one day someone will produce a game where you play as Dr. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of The Lambs (1991) and Hannibal (2001). All you do in game is capturing people, torturing them to death, slicing and finishing all stuff by eating them :shock: :shock:

Those all violence from video game can make gamers become more tolerant to violence. It is bad when people is getting used to violence. Maybe they will not commit any murder ever but they will not care if someone gets killed as long as it is not them. Gamers will become more heartless or aggressive in negative way.

There are only a few video-game-inspired crimes, but people never forget the Columbine High School Massacre. Just like the Chernobyl disaster. It is a very rare case, but once it’s happened, the impact will be unbearable.