PixlBit

I'm not surprised. Studies show that American's don't read much any more, not literature, and I think gamers especially don't read much beyond geek-centric genres like sci-fi and fantasy, spending most of their free time on the video game hobby.  Literature has covered this ground before, as have films (most gamers probably only watch "fun" Hollywood escapism).  This is why video games will continue to be culturally behind, no matter how much money the industry pulls in.  They don't explore human nature. And I mean real human nature, not archetypes and dramatic tropes ripped from cinematic thrillers and pulp novels.

I have to check this out some time. Here's an interview with Moore about the book. Doesn't seem so creepy to me. The intentions are sound, imo.

http://www.avclub.com/article/alan-moore-14006

In the 90s and early 2000s there was a significant difference in visual quality between PC exclusives and console games. Not so much now because of the insane costs of developing a game that would make full use of the hardware. The days of having to upgrade a PC for a new Ultima or FPS release are long gone. Star Citizen is the only game on the horizon that looks to capitalize on the capabilities of high end machines (Pillars of Eternity is shaping up to be the finest looking isometric game in years, but that hardly requires a lot of power). I'm fine with that, I mostly play indies, old classics, and mid budget strategy games on PC.  Papers Please! was one of the best games I played this year, and it looks like something from the Amiga days.

I would say the story driven games I consider to be the best written or best told are less obvious about their influences. You could draw comparisons between the Silent Hill series and Jacob's Ladder, but it's really it's own beast, and imo at its best has excelled the horror genre in films for the past decade and a half. Planescape: Torment has tons of literary and genre influences, but it is also it's own thing. And if people don't understand why Super Metroid is a brillianty told video game narrative, without having a conventionally told plot, then they know nothing about the subject.

I played TR on a PC that was $700 4-5 years ago, 60fps, no TressFX. It looked fine, significantly better than the console versions. And from what I've seen of the Definitive version, the Lara model looks aesthetically worse, like a department store mannequin with a bad wig. But since most people don't understand aesthetics or artistic rendering, they think it's an improvement because they see individual strands of hair and unquestioningly believe that more (insignificant) detail equals better visuals. 

What I'm saying is that people judge and complain about issues and ideas they don't understand. Another example is the 6v6 announcement for Titanfall. Rush to judgment based on status quo and comparison to games that aren't Titanfall, no consideration for what design dictates. It's not PC vs. console, its experienced and knowledgable enthusiasts vs. noobs who don't know shit. Consoles, because of their mass market nature and ease of use (even though that is going bye-bye), just happen to be bought by a lot of newbs.

Nowhere did I say the writing was awful or that I hated the film (which is the exact opposite of truth). Pointing out some elements of a script as not good craft (according to academic theory) is not synonymous with saying the writing is "awful" in general. It's careless to project that upon me, and it's also careless to assume I don't see below the surface, which I do because I am not careless. It's not a very deep or complex film. I don't need 5 scenes of drug use/sex/partying to convey information about characters and themes that I already knew by the second one.

The most apt comparison I can make is that this game is a more polished version of Manhunt, which is an underrated urban stealth game.  It has a similar brawny art style and hard hitting violence. So yeah, a more refined Manhunt, which is a good thing mechanics wise. Too bad about the played out disaster theme, pointless planks and ladders interactivity, and too-easy human enemies. The plot I couldn't give two shits about; it's stuff I've seen done more concisely in 28 Days Later and The Road, but with more false Hollywood-style emotionality.  The game industry needs to either learn cinematic nuance and subtlety, or develop a narrative language of its own (it has before, but modern developers seem to ignore anything that predates Xbox360).

Yeah, if this game doesn't have  flaws, than no games have  flaws, they're just "not for everyone." But that's not how critique works. 

And trust me Blaine,people did complain about The Wolf of Wall Street's length. Every other review I read mentioned it. Too many scenes that provided no deeper insight than similar scenes before them. This is not good writing craft.  Repetitive scenes of debauchery, in which we learn nothing new about the characters we didn't know before. No new insights, no plot progression, no fleshing out of a theme. 

That's a mistake on Rockstar's part then. Either go all the way and make them hardened criminals and convey the gulf that lies between them and the average person/player, or don't have them getting into those situations. See, making characters "sympathetic" does not mean you have to make them good people. It just means they are well developed enough to be believable and recognizable as complex individuals. Even Tarantino got that right in Reservoir Dogs (and notice that the most sociopathic character is the only one to get killed by the hero). In the DVD commentary for Heat, the director Michael Mann points out that DeNiro's character is a sociopath. Rockstar still has a few things they need to learn about writing and narrative consistency. And people wonder why I'm such a harsh critic of video game stories. It's because they get praise even though they miss some of the most basic fundamentals of writing and characterization.

Good topic, good discussion dude.

Explore this idea for your class: Military are generally more respected because A. The general public has little interaction with them while they are on duty B. They have a higher level of martial skill, which earns respect. I've had this discussion with various civilian and criminal elements. People put up with police brutality because they are afriad of the severe charges that comes with "resisting arrest" and "assaulting an officer," Otherwise they reckon they could "put them in their place." It's an interesting dynamic, all of this.  Shit's going to get real one day. Everyone needs to cool out.