To Infinity and Beyond: What I Would Like in Bioshock Infinite’s DLC

To begin, I would like to say that this post will contain a fair amount of spoilers so read at your own risk. 

Bioshock is not just a game. It is a masterpiece in storytelling, as you have likely heard from many other critics and review sites, such as our own. This is not to be debated; it is a fact set in stone no matter what reality tear you are in.  As I write this my mouth is still agape from the ending events and how complex and astounding they are. With the concluding events now behind me and the intrigue of forthcoming DLC on the horizon, I became curious as to what Irrational Games could possibly do. While I would like to obviously see new vigor’s and weapons, I am far more curious with the story and where it could place players within the floating skylines of Columbia, and with whom they would come to interact with. Following are a few hopeful wishes for the DLC and how it will further come to shape Booker, Columbia, and all of its inhabitants.

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What’s a Game?

twd2

In the wake of the release of last year’s The Walking Dead from Telltale Games, a lot of discussion began over whether or not it was a “game”. There were a variety of reasons for this, many argue, but the most common is that the mechanics of The Walking Dead simply aren’t “deep” enough. These sort of discussions have popped up a lot in the past, but the question is still worth examining: exactly what constitutes a game?

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My Two Cents: God of War’s Trophy

Note: Minor spoilers will follow for God of War Ascension’s story.

Recently in the gaming industry, God of War Ascension has been getting a lot of buzz for one of its trophies that you receive after a boss battle against two of the Furies. This trophy, “Bros before Hos,” was patched the first day of the games release to the public to now read “Bros before Foes.” I have heard many reasons for people to be against the naming of this trophy, such as it advocating violence against women, or it being a more broad representation of the more tasteless and juvenile aspects of the gaming industry. I figured I would like to voice my opinion on this matter, and what better place to do it than in an editorial.

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Tomb Raider: On Ludonarrative Dissonance

Don't worry, she'll walk it off.

Don’t worry, she’ll walk it off.

In lieu of doing my typical editorial, this week fellow editor Clint Prentice and I have a letter-based discussion about ludonarrative dissonance in Tomb Raider. In functions as a complementary piece to his review, which you can find here

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Why Can’t My Friends Be As Cool As Those Characters In Persona 4?

Persona 4I very rarely feel connected to characters in video games, or if I am, generally it’s only at the surface level. I can count on my hand the number of times a game’s narrative has drawn me in – specifically to its characters – and made me experience genuine emotions for them. Persona 4 is probably the title to best describe a game like this. It pulls me into a world not so different from my own. It gives me characters I can relate to, laugh at, protect, and even love.

[Spoilers for Persona 4, read at your own risk. They're not super big, but if you're a member of the Personathon then it might be beneficial not to read this. Mainly just the next two paragraphs are super spoiler-y. The rest isn't too explicit.] [Read more...]

Binary Morality and Choice in Games

bioshock2_2

It is hardly uncommon to hear discussions about choice in games today. From The Walking Dead to Mass Effect, the idea of games adapting themselves, even in preset ways, to your choices has become quite a prolific one. And why not? Nothing says immersion like being given the ability (or at least an illusion) of freedom in an otherwise static narrative. So why is it that the most commonly implemented “moral choice” system is still that of binary moral choices?

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8-Bit Pitchfork: Duck Hunt/Super Mario Bros.

Untitled

In an odd turn of events, my regularly scheduled editorial will be replaced by a special feature. I’ve reached out to a staff writer at Pitchfork (who wishes to remain nameless), and he expressed interest in writing a review. We’re honored to have such an infamous site lend us some of its unique flavor. 

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Sisyphean Design: The Problem with Nintendo’s Core Franchises

NP_Link-Mario

In an Iwata Asks on Paper Mario: Sticker Star, the designers were talking about story. It was said that Miyamoto didn’t like the idea of a story in a Mario game, “It’s fine without a story, so do we really need one?” And that got me thinking about all of the Mario games’ stories. Each one creates a similar base-line plot and that hasn’t changed in over 25 years: Bowser kidnaps Peach and Mario saves her. It isn’t interesting, exciting, different, or groundbreaking; it’s just a series of levels to get you to the end of the game.

This week, Nintendo announced another slew of upcoming titles including a Mario, Zelda, and Yoshi game. You can almost guarantee in that Mario game you’ll be saving Princess Peach from Bowser, and that Zelda game will have you save the Princess from the evil Ganon, and that Yoshi game will have you eat apples. But video games are unique story-telling devices, and it doesn’t have to be just that flat archetypal narrative. It can be as simple as giving the enemy a reason to fight, rather than just being evil. [Read more...]

Photorealism: Problematic and a Waste of Potential

2013-01-09_00009Right around the time that the fifth generation of consoles rolled around, it seems that the gaming industry as a whole has become more and more obsessed with the concept of “Photorealism”.  The idea that one day we could be playing games that look as realistic as modern cinema is indeed intriguing, but ultimately more of a misguided dream than anything else. [Read more...]

Evan’s Top 10 Games of 2012

EvanGOTY

Hey, look! It’s an arbitrary list! Let’s all be angry about it, okay?

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Disclaimer

Error! Not Found has many articles of opinion. Every editor has different tastes and beliefs, and one point of view does not necessarily reflect the group as a whole.

(c) Evan Tognotti, Editor-In-Chief. 2011

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