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  • Go West! Red Dead Redemption and How to Get Cowboys and Indians Right



    By the time videogames had evolved beyond batting a ball back and forth across a digital net, the Western had already lost much of its cultural currency. The Lone Ranger’s audience had ridden off into the sunset, replaced by minds and eyes hungry for space instead of the frontier. That’s why we have Spacewar! in 1961 and not Stagecoach!. The last quarter of the 20th century’s appetite for science fiction is most certainly why Bald Space Marine is the icon he is in 2009’s gaming landscape, but I don’t think it fully explains why games have yet to produce a spectacular Western. Why is it that after decades of creation, there isn’t a game about cowboys sitting on Top One Hundred Games of All Time lists? Why is Oregon Trail the entire canon of frontier gaming?

    Rockstar’s Red Dead Revolver seemed like a contender before it released in 2004. The game certainly sold well, one and a half million copies according to publisher Take-Two, but its critical reception was lukewarm. Despite Red Dead’s grand narrative ambitions — bounty hunting protagonist Red Harlow and his quest for revenge are Louis L’Amour vintage — and seemingly fitting open world play, it wasn’t the defining videogame Western it could have been. Now, it could have been the game’s troubled development that kept it from greatness. It started as a Capcom game in 2000, stalled out, and was sold to Rockstar, where it apparently became a Frankenstein’s monster of legacy code and newer features. I think the real problem is that the Grand Theft Auto-styled open world is not the foundation for a great Western.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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