I began the week by imploring my Twitter followers to play Paper Moon (pictured above), a free flash game that I praised for its creative and exceptionally fun ‘pop-up book’ game mechanic, attractive black and white art style, and absolutely gorgeous musical score. Of course, most people (myself included) spent the week playing and reacting to Quantic Dream’s much anticipated Heavy Rain. Seth Schiesel extolled the game’s mature themes and non-linear interactive storytelling, declaring that “no single-player experience has made me as genuinely nervous, unsettled, surprised, emotionally riven and altogether involved as Heavy Rain.” Meanwhile, Phill Cameron wrote an exceptionally thoughtful and equally positive review in which he compares Heavy Rain to the Talking Heads’s Once in a Lifetime (the comparison itself is on page four of the article, but you absolutely must read the entire thing for it to make sense). At the other end of the spectrum was Michael Abbott, the self-proclaimed “target audience” of Heavy Rain, who expressed disappointment by the way in which the game negotiates the relationship between drama and interactivity: “Ultimately, playing marionette with an on-screen character distances me from the inner life of that character and forces me to focus on activities that have very little to do with drama.” In other Brainy Gamer developments, Abbott wrote an eloquent and uncharacteristically aggressive plea on behalf of the recently finished and ostensibly controversial Six Days in Fallujah.
Of course, one could not review (or parody) Heavy Rain without first playing it, something that was made difficult following the Great Playstation Network Meltdown of 2010. Suffices to say that people got more than a little upset by the 24 hour gap in service. But the brunt of gamer outrage this week was directed at Activision CEO and part time Machiavellian Sith Lord Bobby Kotick. Only a couple of weeks after his charm offensive at DICE, Patrick Klepek broke news “that a ‘bunch of bouncer-types” just showed up outside of the Infinity Ward offices unannounced. When approached by employees, the non-uniformed “bouncers” were unwilling to disclose why they were there.’” Hmmm….is that not scary enough for you? Then try this: Klepek also reported in the same story that “Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West reportedly met with Activision this morning and have not been seen by Infinity Ward staff members since.” As it turned out, they were fired and accused of “insubordination” by Activision. In response, Zampella and West filed a lawsuit accusing Activision of engaging in an “Orwellian” conspiracy. Oh, and did I mention that there were also reports that Activision had yet to pay any royalties to the studio for Modern Warfare 2? Well now you know. This story is still developing so I won’t jump to any conclusions. Instead, let me leave you with a quote from revered developer Tim Schaffer, who commented on the situation through his Twitter feed: “Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It’s just how the beast communicates.”
In slightly happier news, this week also saw Microsoft overturn the ban of gay gamertags on Xbox Live. I hesitate to celebrate this bit of news only because Microsoft should not have banned gay and lesbian expression in the first place. The fact that it took them so long to overturn this ban is an embarrassment to the company and an insult to every gamer who yearns for the day when videogames reflect the diversity of those who play them. That day has yet to arrive (in games as well as many other mediums of artistic expression), but at least this is one positive step in the right direction.
This is just a sample of the many articles and stories discussed on my twitter feed this week. You’re gonna have to look for the rest yourself. By subscribing. To my twitter feed.
