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More 'Torchwood' Hitting Blu-ray this September
Fri May 08, 2009 at 01:00 PM ETTags: Disc Announcements, TV on High-Def, BBC (all tags)
BBC Video has announced its latest round of 'Torchwood' on Blu-ray, setting a mid-September arrival for 'Children of Earth.'
The latest series in the popular sci-fi saga, 'Torchwood: Children of Earth' will feature the complete 300-minute episode arc as a two-disc set, due to hit stores on Blu-ray (day-and-date with the standard DVD) on September 15.
The release follows 'Torchwood: The Complete First Season' (which hit Blu-ray last year) and 'Torchwood: The Complete Second Season,' due this July.
Tech specs will see 1080p/VC-1 video (1.78:1) and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround audio.
There's no word yet on supplements, but we'll keep you posted.
Suggested retail price for the Blu-ray has been set at $39.99.
You'll find the latest specs for 'Torchwood: Children of Earth' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under September 15.
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- Discs mentioned in this article: (Click for specs and reviews)
- Torchwood: Children of Earth (Blu-ray)
- Torchwood: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)
- Torchwood: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)
Warner Unveils Red2Blue Program: Trade Eligible HD-DVDs for Blu-rays!
Wed Apr 22, 2009 at 02:15 PM ETTags: Warner, High-def Deals (all tags)
Warner Home Video has announced a trade-in program to convert your WB HD DVD titles to Blu-rays.
For a small fee ($4.95 per disc) plus shipping and handling, HD DVD owners can trade-in their Warner titles and receive Blu-ray versions of them in 4-6 weeks.
Complete details on this offer are available at http://www.red2blu.com/.
Kudos to Warner for offering this program, and hopefully the other studios will follow with a similar deal.
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Review of the Harmony 720
Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 03:35 PM ETTags: HD Gear (all tags)
Tom Landy give's us a detailed review of the Harmony 720.
Reviewed By Tom LandyUp until a couple of years ago, I had one hell of a time trying to find a decent universal remote to control my home theatre system. I must have gone through three or four different brands and without fail there’d always be at least one device in my setup that those remote codes just couldn’t recognize. I suppose having a remote that controls most devices isn’t entirely bad, but it kind of defeats the purpose of being universal then, doesn’t it?
I had nearly given up on my quest to find the ideal universal remote control that suited my needs when I came across Logitech’s family of Harmony remotes. Logitech has quite a few different models available ranging from about $60 to several hundred, and each one looks and functions a little differently depending on what kind of features you’re looking for. The best part about them, though, is that they are all so easy to use they’re virtually foolproof.
The first Harmony remote I ended up purchasing was the Harmony 890. It’s one of the more expensive models, because it doesn’t just have infrared (or IR) functionality like most remotes, it also has the ability to use radio frequencies (RF). This enables the remote to control devices hidden from view, perhaps tucked away inside a cabinet or closet. This was perfect for me, since at the time I had an awkward setup with my stereo (and receiver) in a different area than my TV.
However, shortly afterwards I ended up buying a new flat screen LCD with a multi-level stand, which completely changed the entire layout of my system. Now I was able to put all of my components together in one place so I didn’t really need the RF ability any longer. I was a bit bummed that I spent so much money on a remote for a feature I was never going to use, but at the same time I still loved that remote. It was easy to program and use, it controlled every single one of my devices, and most importantly, made life much simpler.
Anyway, to make a long story short, tragedy struck one day and my beloved Harmony 890 passed away. Luckily for me, it was still under extended warranty, and instead of the store fixing it or giving me a new one, they just gave me a gift card for the full value of the remote. Rather than upgrading to a higher model, I actually decided to downgrade to one with less features since I wouldn’t require RF anymore. I even saved myself a ton of cash, as for about ¼ of the cost I paid for the 890, I purchased the Harmony 720 – and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time.
First, as you’ll notice (in the image above) the Harmony 720 has a sleek black design. It also comes with a full color LCD screen for the buttons owners can customize to their liking. Like most of the Harmony remotes, the 720 has a rechargeable battery and is packaged with its own cradle for charging. The battery lasts approximately a week or so before needing recharging, and the screen displays when the battery is running low.
Set-up:Most of the Harmony remotes include software for programming and customizing them on a PC. First install the CD program onto a computer and follow the instructions. One thing that does get a little bit tricky with the program is that an account must be created first, and a separate account should be created for each remote and/or setup. For example, if you have a home theatre upstairs and another downstairs made up of different devices, you should create an account for each one. The screen should look like this:
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After creating an account, the very first thing to do is to add all of the necessary devices you wish to control with the remote. The Harmony database already has thousands of brand names and model numbers, and it’s continuously growing all the time. Simply click the DEVICES tab, then ADD DEVICE, and follow the instructions. Once you have all of your devices added to your account, it should look something like this:
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This is just a screenshot from my account. As you can see, I’ve added a TV, DVD Player, Blu-ray Player, PVR (satellite receiver), and my receiver. A little below is my cable box, radio, and CD player for my stereo, but those aren’t really important for the purpose this review.
The next step is to create activities for your devices. This is what makes the Harmony remotes so great, because you can set the remote up to turn multiple devices on and/or off simultaneously with a simple click of one button. For example, if I wanted to watch a Blu-ray movie, I can create an activity called WATCH A BLU-RAY, and all that is required is to add the devices for this activity (Blu-ray player, TV, and AV receiver). Then, when I press that button on the remote, the 720 will turn on my Blu-ray player, the TV as well as the receiver, and even put them on the appropriate inputs (if any). Once you’ve created all of the activities you want, the screen should look something similar to mine below:
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Each activity is very clear listing what the activity is for, what devices are used, and there are a few different buttons to modify settings, troubleshooting, and even customizing buttons. This allows the remote to be tweaked just the way you want it.
The final tab is for REMOTE SETTINGS. This area is pretty straightforward, and allows a user to change remote settings such as the clock and screen glow time, upload wallpaper for the screen background, and modify button themes.
Once all the devices are added, activities have been created, and settings have been customized, the final step is to update the remote. All that is required is to plug the remote to the provided USB cable and hook it up to the PC, and then click UPDATE REMOTE (in yellow). This takes a few minutes, and once it’s done the screen will ask that the user test out the remote to see if everything is working properly. If it is, you don’t need to do anything else. If not, just simply go into the program and change whatever is off and then try updating again.
Ease of Use:The entire purpose of the Harmony 720 (and other models) is to do away with all of the remotes for every device and just have one remote that does everything. As previously mentioned in the setup area, the activities a user can set up have the convenience of one-push access and it just doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Users can also go into remote settings and change what the buttons do, and even make new buttons that are displayed on the screen. This is great for original remotes that may have a certain button on them that the Harmony doesn’t (such as PVR for personal video recorders). It can learn from the old remote itself if you have it handy, and if that doesn’t work there’s always the option to call tech-support. Just to show how good their customer service is, I had to call about that PVR button I mentioned since I have a Canadian satellite service provider and couldn’t get the Harmony to learn it, but the representative had it working for me within a couple of minutes. That was the only real hiccup I encountered.
Another cool thing is that when my 890 died, I just changed my account status from 890 to 720 within the program. All of my devices and all of my activities remained the same, and all I had to do was update my new remote. I didn’t have to do anything else, and it worked like a charm.
The Downsides:Even though I truly love virtually everything about my Harmony 720, there are a few minor downsides to these kinds of universal remotes. The big one is if you own a PlayStation 3, the 720 won’t be able to control it since the PlayStation 3 is Bluetooth. I don’t believe any Harmony models currently have this capability, but this is more of an issue with the PlayStation 3 than Logitech as most remotes are IR anyways.
Another issue some may experience is that when using activity buttons, the devices are turned on in sequence so it takes 2-3 seconds for everything to activate. Impatient people who press the button and set the remote down quickly may find that not every device is turned on properly. Again, this really shouldn’t be much of a problem since it still does it much faster than if you had to control each device separately.
The Bottom Line:While I wholeheartedly recommend the Harmony 720 and even the 890, I still strongly suggest doing a little bit of research to find the right model number for you. If you don’t have very many devices or a PVR, you might opt for the cheaper 510 model. Likewise, if you want a really spiffy high-end remote, you could always spring for the Harmony 1100 with a touch screen display that looks like something out of Star Trek. But as someone who has owned two different models from their line-up, I can tell you that Logitech delivers quality products and you’ll be easily be ecstatic with whatever model you choose.
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New Twitter Feature: Editor's Pick of the Day
Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 12:25 PM ET
Starting today on Twitter, High-Def Digest's Managing Editor, Mike Attebery, selects the Editor's Pick of the Day.
The guidelines will be pretty informal on this as I get things up and running. I'll mostly be selecting these titles on a whim, or based on current events. If anything big happens in the entertainment industry, or if a new title comes out that makes me think of an older release I want to make sure everyone has checked out, I'll highlight it on the HDD Twitter page.
Anyway, nothing too serious, just for fun. Hope you guys enjoy the daily picks.
~Mike
Check out the HDD Editor's Pick of the Day on the HDD Twitter page.
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HDD Twitter Announcement Results in Twitter Post Leading Back to Twitter Announcement Story - 'Back to the Future'-Style Craziness Continues Indefinitely
Mon Mar 16, 2009 at 06:10 PM ETTags: High-Def Digest Announcements (all tags)
High-Def Digest is now on Twitter. It's what all the cool kids are doing these days!
For those of you out there busy Twittering to your aching thumbs' content, please add HDD to your list of must-read Twitterers!
You can check us out here! Click "Follow" to be the first in the know when it comes to all things high-def!
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
- Related links:
- High-Def Digest: Now on Twitter [twitter.com]
Have Any High-Def Questions You Need Answered?
Fri Jan 30, 2009 at 04:00 PM ET
Have any technical questions about your HD home theater gear? Send em our way! Starting next week our HD Guru will be answering your questions in a new weekly feature.
To submit a question for consideration, send an email to HDanswers@gmail.com and we'll see if we can help you out.
Be sure to watch for our new HD Q&A feature starting next week.
Frys and Blockbuster Offer HD DVD Bargains
Tue Dec 30, 2008 at 01:30 PM ETTags: High-Def Retailing (all tags)
Reminiscent of the Ghost of Christmas Past, HD DVD deals continue to materialize almost a year after the end of the format war.
In what looks to be a one day sale, Frys is offering a special on the XBOX 360 HD DVD player, that comes bundled with HD DVD box sets of Heroes: Season One and Battlestar Galactica: Season One.
Meanwhile, Blockbuster is offering its collection of previously viewed HD DVD titles for $7.99 a piece. With over 350 titles to choose from, this offer could prove tempting for many high-def fans (Editor's Note - I for one am tempted! Then again, I still rummage through LaserDiscs at second hand stores and garage sales).
If you're looking for a backup HD DVD add-on for your XBOX, or interested in nabbing some high-def titles that have yet to hit Blu-ray, these offers could be right up your alley.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
- Related links:
- Frys offering XBOX 360 HD DVD Player and 'Heroes'/'Battlstar Galactica' Bundle [Frys.com]
- Blockbuster Selling HD DVDs for $7.99 [Blockbuster.com]
Neil Young's 'Archives' Gets Date, Specs
Thu Dec 11, 2008 at 11:00 AM ETTags: Music on High-Def, Warner (all tags)
The first confirmed details have emerged for Neil Young's 'Archives Volume One,' which is shaping up to be a landmark Blu-ray music release against which all others will be judged.
As previously reported, the rock legend announced ambitious plans earlier this year to release his entire back catalog on Blu-ray in multiple, extensive special edition box sets, though there were no street date or specs.
Now the first official word has come in, with 'Neil Young: Archives Volume One (1963-1972)' tentatively set for a February 24 street date through Warner Music Group.
Spanning ten discs, the set will boast no less than 128 tracks, among them 43 unreleased songs and 13 never-before-heard by the public.
Also included are two complete live albums, "Live At The Fillmore East" and "Live At Massey Hall 1971."
Video extras feature the full-length documentary "Journey Through the Past."
Rounding out this impressive Blu-ray release is a 236-page hardcover book, plus lyrics written by Neil Young, newspaper articles, letters and a Young timeline.
Suggested retail price for the box set has been set at $431.99.
You'll find the latest specs for 'Neil Young: Archives Volume One (1963-1972)' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under February 24.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
- Discs mentioned in this article: (Click for specs and reviews)
- Neil Young: Archives Volume One - (1963-!972) (Blu-ray)
- Earlier on High-Def Digest:
- Neil Young Planning Multi-Disc Archive Series for Blu-ray (May 07, 2008)
More 'Dragon Ball Z' Headed to Blu-ray
Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 09:00 AM ETTags: Disc Announcements, High-Def Anime, FUNimation (all tags)
FUNimation has announced its next round of Dragon Ball Z, with a double-header of 'Return of the Cooler' and 'Cooler's Revenge' planned for Blu-ray this November.
Like the company's previous Dragon Ball Z double-feature releases, 'Dragon Ball Z: Return of the Cooler/Cooler's Revenge' will present both full-length animes on a single BD-50 dual-layer disc. FUNimation has set a November 11 street date for 'Return of the Cooler/Cooler's Revenge.'
There were no tech specs or supplemental details available for the release at press time, but we'll keep you posted.
As with past 'Dragon Ball Z' releases, suggested list price for the Blu-ray has been set at $34.95.
You'll find preliminary specs for 'Dragon Ball Z: Return of the Cooler/Cooler's Revenge' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under November 11.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
- Discs mentioned in this article: (Click for specs and reviews)
- Dragon Ball Z: Return of the Cooler/Cooler's Revenge (Blu-ray)
Feature Article: Artful High Definition Games
Thu Jun 12, 2008 at 01:00 PM ETTags: Wayne Santos, High-Def Gaming (all tags)
Editor's Note: Columnist Wayne Santos is a dedicated gamer from the infancy of the medium. He is a contributor at IGN and associate editor of Southeast Asian gaming publication GameAxis. His columns for High-Def Digest examine the world of High-Def Gaming. |
By Wayne Santos
In my previous article, I discussed games as a medium and an emerging art form and cited, very briefly, a few titles I felt were good examples of games being an artistic venture. Now if you think of games as a medium, like film, literature, or paint, then many elements factor in to what constitutes an artistic work. In the same way a movie can be hailed for ingenious art direction but not necessarily be considered thematically or narratively important, the same can be said for games. Various elements of a game can be considered to have made some kind of artistic contribution, while others may not. On rare occasions, every aspect of a game may be considered artful.
While games may have a long way to go before they can be considered full blown works of art, that doesn’t mean the groundwork isn’t being laid out. Ask certain observers of the medium and they’ll tell you that the groundwork has been in the process of being built up for quite some time, but it’s only in recent years that public scrutiny has grown outside of the world of gaming enthusiasts. Reasons for this range from the mainstream proliferation of games in greater numbers to the inevitable march of technology finally getting to the point where imagination is quickly becoming more important than technical prowess. After all, it’s one thing to have a graphics engine that presents awe-inspiring visuals, but it’s quite another thing entirely to have a vision and a team sufficiently talented enough to actually create visuals that can inspire awe purely beyond the number of polygons composing a single character model. In the same way, sound in games has been steadily evolving beyond basic beeps to MIDI compositions and now to full blown streaming of pre-recorded orchestral scores off the disc or hard drive. Even more forcefully than visuals, sound is now limited by only one thing; the talents of the musicians and audio engineers. If games still share an appreciable weakness with older more established mediums, they can be fairly criticized for the lack of depth in narrative and themes, but these are concepts from older mediums that are wrestling with the one thing games bring to the table that is entirely new; interactivity.
So for this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the games currently available on the current generation of home consoles that, in one way or another, make a fair attempt at advancing the notion of games as viable works of art. The games may have a distinct visual or thematic characteristic that puts them above the norm, much as some argue that movies such as 'Dark City' rise above mere popcorn conventions because of the visual feast at play, or how the animated adaptation of 'Watership Down' transcends the normal perception of animated features being “just for kids.” These games in some way go beyond mere commercial entertainment to provide gamers with something they can mull over beyond the simple act of being fun to play.
Beautiful Katamari
Xbox 360
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While Beautiful Katamari is actually the fourth title in this bizarre series, it’s the only title available on the current generation of consoles, with the previous three having been available on the PS2 and PSP respectively. This first game is also possibly the weirdest one to appear on the list. For those unfamiliar with the series, the philosophy of the game is very simple; you roll stuff up. As the ball of matter you roll gets bigger, it attracts bigger and bigger objects until what began as a collection of paperclips and staples on a table, is now engulfing entire buildings, and eventually landmasses.
The Katamari series is the brainchild of Keita Takahashi, himself a developer who doesn’t even think of himself as a developer and who cites various sculptors, painters and authors of the Japanese arts as his primary influences. In interviews, Takahashi has gone so far as to admit that he doesn’t even like the gaming industry in its current state, and ultimately would like to go on to design playgrounds for children. The Katamari series is his response to what he viewed as an increasingly dark, serious atmosphere in the world of gaming, that seemed to have abandoned the possibilities for a more innocent, childlike form of fun and enjoyment. The Katamari series certainly lives up to his ideology, lacking any kind of conventional violence and having a simple, blocky, cartoony art direction that stresses the surreal, unreality of the entire situation Takahashi has created.
The basic story of Beautiful Katamari is simple. There is an incredibly muscular (think bodybuilder proportions) “King of All Cosmos” that invariably causes a hideous accident that removes the stars from the sky. In this case, the accident is a powerful serve during a tennis game that rips a hole in the fabric of the universe, creates a black hole and sucks away all the stars, leaving Earth alone in a black, empty void. As usual, it is up the miniscule Prince of All Cosmos to clean up his father’s mess, by going to Earth, rolling things up and creating spheres of sufficient mass that the King can use them to create new stars with which to populate the sky.
What makes Beautiful Katamari so difficult to describe as a Game That Is Artful is almost as troublesome as trying to describe art itself. It has one of the most bizarre concepts ever seen in a game, with an even more surreal storyline. While on paper the idea of simply rolling objects up to make a giant ball might not seem like much fun at all, there is a moment when an unsuspecting gamer first gets a ball big enough to roll up an elephant (and said elephant lets off a very surprised roar) that some how compels people to smile, laugh and keep going. It’s an anomaly in the medium of games in that there really hasn’t been anything quite like it. There are conditions for “winning” in that Takahashi has incorporated things like time limits and minimal size requirements to have considered “clearing” a level, but where the game really shines is the ability to create a crazed sense of whimsy out of its ridiculous conceit, making victory an afterthought in the face of the constantly rolling mass of matter that just gets bigger and bigger. In theory this is a game that should not work, and yet it has endeared itself to a devoted fanbase who, contrary to Takahashi’s own wishes for originality, continue to demand more and more of the same old Katamari fun.
Okami
Wii
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There was a reason I used the term “this generation of home consoles” at the beginning of the article and this is it. Although not an HD game, the Wii must be included in the current generation of hardware, and this title in particular is one that should not be missed, but most likely will be.
This is actually the second time that Okami debuts on a console. The first time was during the previous generation, with the Playstation 2. Then, as now, Capcom was the publisher and developer, but sadly the original Capcom team that created the game, Clover, is no more. That is a direct result of the financial failure of Okami and Clover’s other concurrent title Godhand with the gamers. Okami seems to be the sad victim of that occasionally baffling occurrence in gaming where a product debuts to massive critical acclaim and praise, is strongly recommended by everyone in the industry and yet the public ignores it. Released in 2006 by a team comprising the original creators of Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe and Resident Evil the game had all the makings of a giant critical hit. And it was. But few people bought it and the game was considered a commercial failure.
The game itself is an action-adventure in the style of the famed Legend of Zelda games on the Nintendo consoles. It’s set in a fairytale version of old Japan, centering on the exploits of the earthly avatar of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, manifesting as a white wolf with incredible powers. An ancient evil defeated by Amaterasu during her last incarnation has been foolishly reawakened by humans that no longer believe in the legends of old, and Amaterasu must walk the Earth once more, restoring the world from the corruption of her nemesis the Orochi, and using the Celestial Brush technique to literally re-paint the world into order or combat the foes lined up against her. The Celestial Brush was a brilliant innovation in that players would literally draw bridges where they needed one to cross rivers, draw bombs to bring real bombs into existence, or pause the world and slash at enemies with a brush stroke to erase them from existence. On top of that, the world was huge, with plenty of things to do, and the story itself was uncharacteristically positive and optimistic, stressing friendship, love for nature, and the greater good over the usual vengeance motivated stories so common in games.
Where the game truly steps into the direction of the artistic is the art design itself. Eschewing the usual “photorealism=beautiful graphics” mantra that dominates the majority of game design philosophy in the industry, Okami went decidedly old school. Old school in this case means simulating the effect of the ink brush aesthetic that was so prevalent in Asia in earlier eras. As a result, Okami is a game that looks nothing like any other game on the market. The screen itself has been textured to resemble paper, and the graphics are then “laid on top” of this effect so that every screenshot looks like something illustrated for an old book. The resulting combination of brush work and highly stylized character design is so incredibly original by gaming standards that more traditional gamers, insisting on realistic art design may find themselves disgusted with this choice. For gamers that are willing to accept that there is a world of graphical fidelity beyond photorealism, Okami offers an incredibly rich world to marvel at. On top of its beautiful sense of art design, the narrative of the game itself is, like a fairy tale, a hearkening back to simpler times. The Japanese have always had a respectful relationship with nature, and this is clearly evident in Okami where the Orochi’s corruption leaves the world smoky and almost devoid of color. Whenever Amaterasu restores a region to its former glory, a gorgeous transformation occurs, showing the vibrant color wash across the world as flowers, trees and life itself are restored to the area, accompanied by traditional Japanese string instruments in a rising crescendo. Okami is a uniquely beautiful game that stresses positive values and embraces friendship. It’s the kind of game that has the potential to make a very positive impact on younger gamers, or even remind older gamers of the more idealistic side that lurks within their jaded, modern sensibilities. Even though the game is on the Wii and not actually an HD game, its rewarding gameplay, gorgeous art design, and more innocent themes make it a game well worth owning, and in this generation, gamers now get a second chance to see what they missed two years ago.
Everyday Shooter
Playstation 3
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It should come as no surprise that if an original ideas are going to come from anywhere, they’re going to come from outside the established machinery of the industry. Everyday Shooter is the perfect example of this, as the game is the sole work of one man. Jonathan Mak created the game purely as a labor of love, and eventually won awards at Indie Game Development shows before getting noticed – and picked up – by Sony Santa Monica to have his game first appear as a PS3 exclusive before debuting on Valve’s Steam Digital Distribution network just a few weeks ago.
Like Okami, Everyday Shooter has its gameplay roots firmly planted in a very familiar genre, that of the shooter, specifically the top-down shooter. There have already been many games released in this genre since the advent of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and, like Everyday Shooter, they are largely games available as downloadable content available on the respective console’s online store. The genre is nearly as old as the medium of games itself, hearkening back to Asteroids where the mechanics were as simple as “move around the screen and shoot anything that moves.” The simple fire and turn buttons have been replaced by the more contemporary and elegant twin analog stick control system where one stick handles movement and the other lets you fire in whatever direction you’re pushing towards. This should, in theory, be a simple, almost IQ-free exercise in reflexes that appeals to that reptilian hindbrain in our skull that responds to movement. Surprisingly, while Everyday Shooter can meet this requirement quite handedly, it does a good bit more, although in the most surprising of ways.
Everyday Shooter has no story, and, perhaps more intriguingly, has no consistent gameplay. Yes, you shoot everything that moves, that much is true, but Jonathan Mak thinks of his game as an “album,” in that the rules – like music of the game – change from level to level. While the first level teaches you how to shoot certain enemies to create an explosion which, when other enemies make contact, causes another explosion, encouraging chain reactions, another level dispenses with these rules entirely and has you simply avoiding a giant central eye and spits out dozens of tiny eyes out to get you. On top of this is the unique audioscape of the game, which is partially a programmed melody of simple electric guitar riffs, and partially created by the player him or herself as every action and explosion is actually another guitar riff which counterpoints the basic melody. In effect by playing the game, the gamer is creating part of the score, and no game session will ever sound exactly like the previous one.
Everyday Shooter is, one sense, easy to think of as art, because like some works of art, it leaves the audience baffled and unable to easily explain away what they’ve just experienced. Of course, the game isn’t for everyone and some will find the constantly changing game mechanics to be repelling, while others will ignore it simply because its functional, colorful -- and yes, even psychedelic – graphics will bore them because of the lack of photorealism. But for people willing to give the game a chance, Everyday Shooter offers an experience at once familiar and at the same time quite original. The simple mechanics of gameplay are challenged by a sense of discovery with every new level as gamers must puzzle out what the new rules of this “song in the album” are. The visuals, bold, colorful and largely randomized, react violently to the player’s actions with sudden changes in color and massive “explosions” that could be interpreted as rays of light or streaks of paint. Much to Mak’s own dismay, while he finds the actual gameplay to be tense and still very twitch-based, many critics have hailed Everyday Shooter as one of the most original, and strangely relaxing shooters they’ve ever played. The game is probably the closest thing that gamers have right now to being able to “play” an abstract painting in that the collision of sound and colors often resembles something out of the collection of a modern artist. At the same time, even when all the levels have been conquered there is still replay value here as points acquired during a session – even a failed one – can be spent on unlocking additional features or even buying extra lives to make the next game a little easier. Even though it’s easy to get caught up in the almost hypnotic visuals, music and simple movement of “move, shoot, kill or be killed,” there is still a sense of fair play in Everyday Shooter, and it never forgets that first and foremost, it is a game that should be fun.
Bioshock
Xbox 360, Playstation 3
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Once again, Bioshock makes an appearance on High-Def Digest, with its first appearance being the second article for 5 HD Games, and a brief mention in that previous article, and now, for obvious reasons here. The most recent game out of all the titles mentioned so far, it’s also the only one mentioned capable of being played on both consoles, or will eventually be, as the Playstation 3 version has been slated for release in winter with hinted at “new content” including all the previous add-on content included in the earlier Xbox 360 version. Bioshock is the biggest game on the this list in more ways than one, not only is it the most critically acclaimed, widely covered game in this article, it’s also the most commercially successful, pulling in numerous awards and making its creators, 2K Games Boston extremely visible amongst both the fans and the industry right now. It’s the kind of game that is that most rare of convergences, a mix of mainstream first person shooter gameplay with enough thematic and narrative material that it actually gives academics something to chew over.
The story itself starts out similarly to most games. You play Jack, a seemingly innocent traveler in the year 1960 who is caught in a plane crash over the Atlantic. Swimming through wreckage of your former transport, you spy a lone lighthouse out in the middle of the water. Upon exploring the lighthouse Jack finds a bathysphere – basically an elevator designed to work underwater – and entering, descends to an underwater city called Rapture, originally conceived as a secluded utopia for the great thinkers, artists ,and scientists of the world to work free from the constraints of authority or popular opinion. What Jack finds, however, is a ruin of buildings inhabited largely by hideously mutated people that are violently out of their minds. Paradise, in this case, has already been lost, and Jack must fight to survive the experience.
This initial set-up may sound typical of an FPS plot in that there’s mystery, atmospheric environments to explore, and plenty of things out to kill the player. But where Bioshock takes such a massive step away from established convention in the FPS is its commitment to exploring WHY Rapture failed and constantly challenging the player with questions about its inhabitants and their motivations. For students of contemporary literature, it doesn’t take very long to recognize that Andrew Ryan and his philosophy is a dead ringer for Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. But where Ayn Rand proposed a similar fictional utopia in her novel Atlas Shrugged which showed the slow decay of society without great people tied down to it make it prosper, Levine shows the flipside. Here the great people who are theoretically the intellectual, moral, and emotional superiors of the people back on the surface have gotten away from the blandness and restrictions of political/religious authority… and they have still succumbed to ambition, corruption, war, and ultimately, ruin.
From an art perspective, Bioshock is obviously the most ‘literary” of the games presented here. Beautiful Katamari is like pop or performance art, Okami is an exercise in classical, painterly art, Everyday Shooter is very modernist in its geometric style and execution, while Bioshock handles narratives and themes, the province of novels and film. It is one of the few games on the market that was not afraid to make the basic conflict at its heart a philosophical one, forcing gamers to see the possible consequences that come with greatness and striving for greater things. While some players may simply get an atmospheric, perhaps even frightening FPS experience out of the game, others willing to listen to the audio recordings scattered throughout will get a wealth of detail about the basics of Objectivism. They can then decide for themselves whether the game’s exploration of a failed Objectivist paradise is an interesting criticism, or an unjustified attack on the philosophy. The game itself doesn’t make any deliberate declarations one way or the other. Like a novel or a movie, Bioshock is meant to provoke thought by presenting the question, and then leaving it up to the individuals themselves to find an answer. This is a very far cry from the usual good/bad dichotomy of most game plots that leave little doubt as to right, wrong and who should die. In the end, Bioshock is a bizarre fusion that somehow works. The FPS is often considered the “brainless” genre of gaming and yet here very complex concepts and questions about philosophy and humanity’s purpose (self-determined or not) are presented to players while they attempt to survive everything from crazed genetically mutated lunatics to gigantic men in armored diving suits out to prevent the execution of little girls that run about the ruins salvaging bodies. It is a strange world with very familiar ideas, and for those willing to seek it out, it provides challenging questions.
Unfortunately, for the scope of this article, we can only limit the games presented here to the ones that are appearing on the current generation of consoles. There are many more titles equally deserving of attention for the steps they’ve taken in advancing the medium artistically. Shadow of the Colossus is still probably the closest that games have come to approaching art, and the PC has seen the birth of many kinds of artistic games, particularly adventure games like The Longest Journey which was so far ahead of its time in terms of narrative and thematic complexity that to this day it’s still ahead of the curve for storytelling in games. The current generation is still pretty young, and there is plenty of time for more statements to be made, but for now, these are the games that – if you own the appropriate console – you can go out, buy, and enjoy right now.
Wayne Santos's opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of this site, its owners or employees.
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