video games Archives - Rhymes With Asia

December 17, 2012 Peter Spezia

Uncharted 2 and the Customized Video Game Experience

If you want to read about how gamers customize their own visual experience in a video game context, using Uncharted 2: Among Thieves as an example, there’s 26 pages of it here. Below is the paper’s introduction, followed by a link to the full paper. It may be called a toy at times, but video games have clearly become a media force to be reckoned with. With every passing year, games become a bigger part of the worldwide media culture. While the industry hits its high points in the cultural landscape during the holiday shopping frenzy, followed by the Electronic

October 31, 2011 Peter Spezia

Gaming Violence and Guilt

When one studies communities that are forged as a result of competitive video games, the content of those games are an important variable. Not only that, but a critical portion of how those communities are structured is the way the game affects the player and his interpersonal relationships is. Hartmann, Toz, and Brandon analyze how a game may do this in their article “Just a Game? Unjustified Virtual Violence Produces Guilt in Empathetic Players” (2010). Since most competitive video games today employ an inherent level of violence, the factor of guilt can prove to be essential in affecting the player

April 8, 2009 Peter Spezia

This is Snake: Narrative in Metal Gear Solid 3

“What a thrill…” – not only are these the first lyrics of the theme song to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, but it is also the way most fans of the popular video game succinctly summarize the experience it has to offer. Released in 2004 by Konami and directed by gaming auteur Hideo Kojima, MGS3 was a groundbreaking title that reached the limits of what Sony’s Playstation 2 console was capable of. At the same time, however, the title was critically acclaimed for what it brought to the table in terms of its cinematic and gameplay experience, especially regarding

January 29, 2009 Peter Spezia

Your Quest Awaits: Dragon’s Lair

Do something different and you’ll get noticed. It is an idea that has been repeated time and time again with great success in business, and it was no different in 1983 with arcade game developer Cinematronics. In a time where heavily-pixilated art made up the majority of the graphics in games, Dragon’s Lair stood out significantly for all the things it did differently. While several things lead to the game’s lack of success, both gaming enthusiasts and game developers praise Dragon’s Lair for the steps it took in a growing industry. When video game industry was still trying to establish