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Garcian Smith on 28 April 2008
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Onyxmeth said:
Garcian Smith said:
Words Of Wisdom said:
I sometimes think I'll be the only one happy when all the GTA4 hype dies.

You definitely won't be the only one. I've never understood the "ZOMG WORLD SIMULATOR" hype. I play games to escape from the real world for a little while, not to have a second virtual life.

Oh how I long for the days when people actually liked artsy games...

They painstakingly recreated an alternate version of New York City in this game, with individual building architectures and unique neighborhoods with a city that reviewers have said looks completely lived in. Why's that not artsy, because it's not cel shaded or looks like a living painting?

 


 I was referring to "artsy" as distinguished from "realistic." Artists haven't aimed for realism, for the most part, for the last century or so, mostly because the invention of cameras enabled completely photorealistic art. One can therefore compare "artsy" games to modern or post-modern art, and realistic games to photographs. In other words, "artsy" games have a certain degree of abstraction or artistic interpretation to them, while realistic games aim to emulate the real world as closely as possible.

Therefore, when I compare GTA4 to an "artsy" game, consider this example: A contemporary artist and a photographer each attempt to capture a model in their chosen medium. GTA4 is like the high-resolution photograph that the photographer will produce: extremely detailed and realistic, but it's just representing what's there. An "artsy" game is like the painting the contemporary artist will produce: imperfect, highly abstracted, but showing the artist's unique vision of what he or she sees.

 Now, put the painting and the photograph side by side. I guarantee you that the painting will be much more interesting to look at.

You will understand, therefore, when I say that artsy games are far more interesting than realistic games, because they show something beyond simply what's there.



"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."

 -Sean Malstrom