Well, folks, it’s official. Some delegates at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent have begun to consider extending the reach of “International Humanitarian Law” – the breach of which can constitute war crimes – into its most daring and unexplored realm: video games. “While the Movement works vigorously to promote
This week’s column is dealing with a topic that everyone is currently being exposed to thanks to our position as being in the middle of holiday release season. The sheer amount of hype being pushed by PR representatives, by avid fans of the games, or just the word of mouth passed from one gamer to another is enough to flush any thought of anything but upcoming releases out of my mind. This week, of November 7th, is one particularly laden with the lavish praise for new releases as it carries both Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim to the eager hands of gamers. These two titles are probably familiar to you as they have been floating on the collective consciousness of gamers for a long time now, though perhaps Skyrim more than MW3.
Expectations for new games can either be a blessing or a curse when the community actually begins to play the games and talk about them. Ive seen many a game be praised and said to have gone above and beyond what people thought the game would be like; while on the flip side there have been games that while touted to be “game of the year for all years” turn out to be less than exciting or evening failing to present a redeemable quality. Usually when a new game comes down the line with a mix of both compliment and criticism alike gamers are more likely to have a well balanced or more realistic idea of what the game will be whereas if a game receives nothing but 15 out of 10 star reviews the game has nowhere to go but down.
If any of you have lived in Colorado, you should know that there is an interesting mix of military and hippie culture going on in this state. One only needs to visit Boulder and Colorado Springs in the same day to get a taste of the difference. It doesn’t surprise me that Coloradans were excited
I’m not the largest Call of Duty fan out there, I don’t buy all the dlc packs, I don’t particularly enjoy Black Ops, and I find myself growing ever more cynical about the lack of cooperation amongst teammates when playing the more recent titles in the Call of Duty franchise.
That being said, I still play Modern Warfare 2 like a fiend. Its as if I have an addiction to the game which wouldn’t be a total surprise as I often ride passenger to my addictive personality. I hit the prestige cap long ago and I can clearly remember numerous nights of playing round after round of the fast paced and twitchy shooter. Most likely, after I finish this column I will proceed directly to my PlayStation 3 and fire up Modern Warfare 2 and play a few rounds.
Just what is it that draws me back to playing the Call of Duty games time after time? Why do Call of Duty games persistently outsell equally good, if not better, other first person shooters? What does Call of Duty have that other games don’t?
French film director Francois Truffaut argued there was no such thing as an anti-war movie, because the violence was invariably exciting on screen. A game’s narrative is more constrained still by the demands of its genre; an anti-violence message and an exciting combat system are uneasy bedfellows. No matter how taxing and traumatic the message