Pan's Labyrinth

I just got the chance to watch Pan's Labirynth and I was impressed by several features of this film. For those who havent seen it, it is based in the 1940s and tells the story of a little girl who moves to the countryside with her mother who is due to be married to the Captain of an army of Franco's. The little girl is highly imaginative and from the start it is clear she loves fantasy stories. On the journey there she discovers a "fairy". This film is bizzare in the sence that half of it is ultra realistic and the otherhalf appears to be the fantasy of the little girl and it is not ever really clear whether it is or not.

The characters impressed me also. The little girl meets a "fawn" which is very different to the classic depiction. He creaks and groans like a tree would in the wind and seems very organic as if he is made of the elements.

Week 9- An introduction to game technology

The hardware for games and the interface which we use to interact with them is rapidly changing. In the early days of the Atari and simple arcade games, a single dial or joystick could do everything needed in order to complete a set of actions. As games have become more and more complex, we have had to learn to use increasing amounts of buttons and dials. Not only this but the appearance of consoles has also had a considerable evolution.

Taking a look at early console controllers such as the ones for the Atari and the NES there are very few things needed in order for them to complete their purpose. A couple of buttons on a very square chunk of plastic. During the age of the Playstation and the N64, analogue sticks allowed for joystick-like control and ergonomics were starting to be considered with the playstation adopting "handles" and the N64 taking a three pronged approach to its controller to seperate the different types of interface. Since then many new ways of playing have been explored such as tilt technology along with things like Eye Toy.

In the current generation of consoles, there seem to be 2 different paths that controllers are taking. The Nintendo Wii is at one end of the spectrum. focusing on simplistic control and movement based technology. On the other hand, is the Xbox 360, which is continuing the "traditional" control system of analogue sticks, triggers and buttons. The PS3 seems to hang in the middle in a kind of personality crisis, not sure whether it wants to conform to the seemingly crazy new ideas of motion sensitivity or play it safe.

There are advantages to both motion sensitivity and traditional controls. It feels frustrating to play a game on the Wii that doesn't utilise many movement sensitive controls as you expect an alternative experience and its equally as frustrating when it's done badly. I believe that traditional controls work very well but are becoming a bit stale and that very little can be done to change them for the better. It seems that improvement has been mainly focused on power and graphical capabilities and that now the control systems have to catch up in order to complete this experience.

Consoles themselves are looking more and more stylised. Nintendo is trying to make it's consoles more a part of a technology filled home like a DVD player or surround sound system while PS3 and 360 are trying to look like powerful stylish additions to a home.

Week 8- Storytelling in Games

Games are essentially another media in which we can express ourselves or become immersed in a world. There are many ways that we have told storys in the past such as passing them through familys orally or through the written word, or film. Fundamentally, game storylines are generally structured much like a film or book: characters are introduced and their personality introduced to you and then an interesting situation arises that you can then feel like you are a part of or a spectator of.

I beleive that storyline helps to rescue a game once you become uninterested in its mechanics. It acts as a way of motivating you, or even inspiring you to carry on playing. In a sence, it makes the game have purpose therefore giving you an ambition to fulfil and secrets to be unlocked.

However, I don't beleive that the storyline has to be spoon fed in order for the player to become immersed in the story. Half-Life 2 is a game which I have played a couple of times, and although I am not 100% sure what is going on all the time and the political reasoning for the battle between the alien forces and the rebels, I am drawn in to the game by the fantastic use of character.

One of the writers for Half-Life 2 said in an interview that he wished to create characters that people care about. To quote an interview with Gamasutra in relation to characters "We want to convey their sense of humor, their fears and vulnerabilities, and create a sense that they have an interior life and an existence that continues when they’re offscreen."
My personal opinion is that it is the curiosity that a player experiences through storyline which magnifies the experience. As human beings, we are curious to hear new things, or have the answers to questions: what storys in games do, is ask us questions and then give us the means in which to find the answer, if we are good enough!
Ultimately I think that games can be enjoyable without storyline but that it drastically shortens the experience when a game is lacking any narrative direction. For example, having bought Brain Training for the Nintendo DS, how many of us are still playing that today? Or willing to go back to it for it's gameplay? Although a great idea and a useful tool, as a game it fails when it becomes boring and stale due to lack of direction and goals beyond having a "brain age" of 21... whatever that means! As a fan of story telling, (a human) I think that storytelling in games is just as important as storytelling in films or indeed any other media.