Brainy Gamer comments on MGS4 cutscenes

[jman8]

Those are some interesting ideas, Ghost, especially this part:

"I think Pajitnov, Miyamoto, and Wright have each developed a language of gaming that doesn't rely on film or even storytelling at all, and they are all different languages, one of fast-paced puzzle solving, one of character movement, and one of world-creating. I think these are all very valid and very important to gaming, and I'd say they're all more important than storytelling in games whatsoever."

I think you bring up great examples that truly showcase what the videogames are capable of as a medium. However, it seems you think storytelling and gaming don't mix. You seem to be leaning in the direction that gaming shouldn't be borrowing from cinema. The problem is that I think you're leaving out a huge segment of what videogames are. It has become such a diverse medium that has so many more "languages" than that. However, some manifestations of gaming are less mature than others.

One of the advantages Sim City had in its development was that there really wasn't a model in another medium Wright could look to in order to borrow from. Therefore, Wright wasn't shackled to that hypothetical medium. Kojima, on the other hand, was trying to create a game that tells a story. What better model is there to look to than film? That's the medium that most would agree is one of the best for telling stories. So Kojima (and all other game designers in his vane) are all heavily influenced and therefore shackled to cinema just as Griffith was shackled to theater. That's what the Brainy Gamer is getting at. It's not that storytelling is not a part of the "language" of gaming. Kojima's Metal Gear games have ensured that story and games will forever be intertwined. It's just that story-telling in games is an immature mechanic (or "language") that hasn't quite broken free from cinema because of that medium's high degree of influence.