I wrote out a venemous screed about a little indie game, only to find that my esteemed editor John Constantine beat me to the punch. However, in the interest of diversity of opinion, I will go ahead and post parts of it anyway. John and I are on the same page for the most part, but I think he went a little too easy on it.
Go ahead and read John's post.
Now then. Jason Nelson, creator of game, game, game and again game has a new "art game" (ugh, right?) called enemy6. I'm not sure though, because the site is purposefully dense. I wouldn't be surprised if Jason finally felt alive when he paged through the liner notes of Radiohead's OK Computer. The game might actually be called "i made this. you play this. we are enemies." Yes, Jason, we are. The last thing that the medium needs is your "tampon in a teacup" nonsense.
Let the record show that we at 61FPS believe games can like, really mean something, man. This post is not about whether games can be art, because Lord knows that's been covered a thousand times over elsewhere. Rather, the point of this post is to highlight a game that tried so hard to be art that it failed at being a game, rendering the discussion moot.
I think that the philosophy behind "imt/ypt/wae" is inherently effed because the most we can expect from a Game is to be fun and challenging. Yes, it's nice if a good story is tacked on, but that's not really the Game, is it? Some games are better at hiding this than others (Half Life vs. Metal Gear Solid 4). I think a good way to illustrate this is to simplify things. Think of basketball. Is the Game of basketball improved by John Tesh's NBA on NBC theme? No.
I appreciate when developers put good music/interesting visuals/etc. in their games. To be fair, I think he's got some great ideas here. I love games that try to mess with my head, such as Max Payne, Earthbound, and Eternal Darkness. But the thing of it is, when the Game isn't there, don't waste my ten minutes.
To see this sort of thing done right, check out donniedarkofilm.com a really cool ARG that accompanied the theatrical release of one of my favorite films, Donnie Darko. This was back in 2001, way before the Halo and Nine Inch Nails jumped on the bandwagon.
A pig. In a cage. On antibiotics.
Related Links:
Indie Dev Moment: i made this. you play this. we are enemies.
The Eternal Question: Why Is Super Mario Bros. Fun?
Ceci N'Est Pas Une 1-Up: The Surrealist Future of Postpunk Gaming