Video games as an art form

Video games are one of my favorite hobbies. They are fun, engaging, and challenging all at once. Video games have become popular hobbies for like-minded people, including myself. Today, thousands of people play video games. There are several different issues in games that stand but today I’d like to focus on one: are video games art?

Dragon Age and its sequel use a dialogue tree system, in which the player character can say (almost) anything they want. |Source|

 Video games, like films, are visually stimulating. Both have pretty colors and flashing light but that’s not the only thing to their presentation. Films challenge artists to tell their stories and messages through what the viewer will see. Video games do the same, but the approach is more direct and interactive. When you watch a movie, you can’t control what’s going to happen. The good guy will save the world in the exact way that the directors want. With video games, however, players are part of the story telling process, where what they do has some sort of effect on the present situation. Games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect have taken the player’s interaction into consideration and let them make their own decisions that affect the story of the game on major levels. The developers of these games make you feel like you were part of a writing process and that’s what makes them enriching, in my opinion.

The Last of Us is one of the most memorable games of the past generation. |Source|

On the other hand, a common complaint among gamers today is that video games are becoming too much like movies. While I personally think that it’s only a small hand full of developers who are making games too similar to movies, those developers do indeed make film-like games. Games like The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls are good examples in recent memory. The way I see it, the reason why gamers don’t want games to be too much like movies is because they want a strong balance of storytelling and action. They don’t want to play a story game that doesn’t have any interaction at all, nor do they want to play an action game that doesn’t at least attempt to have a plot behind it. Gamers don’t want to watch a boss fight; they want to actually fight the boss. Although I’m a writer who enjoys the stories of the video games I play, I do think that action and gameplay is important. If a game isn’t fun to play or hardly playable at all no one will play it. The games they seem too much like movies do have some gameplay in them, but there usually isn’t much to the gameplay.

Final Fantasy is considered to be a mainstay within the video game community, among Mario and Legend of Zelda, and is known for its Active Time Battle System, one I personally find boring. |Source|

"I don't think I have what I takes to make a good action game. I think I'm better at telling a story." - Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy.

 

So, why do these kinds of developers choose to make their stories into video games instead of films? That’s a difficult question to answer. Everyone’s motivation is different, but I feel that the reason is simply because the developers enjoy video games as a medium of art. The developers are just that; video game developers. That’s their job. They could choose to make a film instead and, arguably, achieve what they are trying to accomplish better than they could in their game. Yet, the developers chose to make a game. I think that video games will eventually become an accepted and respected medium for adaptations of novels or many even comic books. The Batman: Arkham series of games are a prime example of pop culture icon adaptation.

Overall, I would say that, yes, video games are art and that we shouldn’t worry about the unique qualities of gaming going away, for I think that developers and franchise owners will find that video games are a good medium for adaptation of other stories.

Toei Animation: A History Review on Quality Anime

The anime industry, while still relatively niche, has been growing since the early nineties. Much like Japanese monster and horror films, anime has quite the following, with merchandise and various conventions all across the globe. There are several companies that all produce different kind of anime for fans to watch. However, while anime is a niche market, it does have a reasonably large market and some figure heads are more well-known than others. One of those companies, Toei Animation, is a perfect example of one of the juggernauts of the anime industry

Toei's logo is donned with an image of Pero, the company mascot. |Source|

 Toei is an animation company that produces various anime in Japan. The company was formed in January of 1948. According to their history timeline on the official Toei website, Toei Animation was originally located in Shinjuku, Tokyo but has also set up various studios and departments located in Nerima, Tokyo, the Philippines, and Los Angeles ("Toei animation corporate,") Their very first film, The White Snake, premiered in Japanese theaters on October of 1958 ("Toei animation history,") The company is best known for producing various TV shows, generally targeted towards kids. Toei is one of the oldest anime production companies, as well as one of the most renowned. Any hardcore anime fan will have seen at least one Toei show and are likely watching one of their latest anime. Not that it means anything from a comparison stand point, because the general public has as well, without even realizing it.

DragonBall Z is one of the most popular anime out there, and for good reason! |Source|

 To both the Asian and Western public, Toei Animation is perhaps best known for producing the hit anime series DragonBall Z. Despite having what has appeared to be major quality control issues, DragonBall Z garnered a huge following internationally. The success of DragonBall Z led to many forms of merchandise, such as action figures, movies, music, cards, video games, and clothing. Even today, DragonBall Z is fondly remembered as a masterpiece of fiction worthy of standing next to cult icons such as Superman or Batman, and is considered to be one of the classic anime that any fan should see.

Fighting for a Greek goddess has never been so awesome! |Source|

Although none as stellar of a hit as DragonBall Z, Toei has produced other titles that many hardcore anime fans consider fantastic, if not a little overhyped. One of my favorite anime, along DBZ, is a slightly obscure series called Saint Seiya. While it never made as big of an impact as DBZ, Saint Seiya did air edited in English under the title Knights of the Zodiac on Cartoon Network, the same station that aired DragonBall Z in English. Saint Seiya was popular in Japan and did get some attention in North America, but never caught wind like DragonBall Z. Since its cancelation after the first thirty episodes, Saint Seiya quietly died down, but not without a release on DVD and a separate translation done to be more accurate to the original Japanese. There has been some attempt to bring the series back, but only time will tell whether or not Saint Seiya will become the next DragonBall Z.

Admit it, you watched it too. |Source|

While most of Toei’s shows were targeted towards young boys, they do have at least two major franchises targeted towards girls. Around the same time as when DragonBall Z started airing in English, Sailor Moon also began its run. Sailor Moon, much like DBZ, is considered a classic among the fans that remember it. When it aired on television, Sailor Moon garnered almost as much praise as DBZ and practically split the anime niche in half. Unfortunately, the series has long since finished, with DVDs out of print and merchandise hard to find. Recently, Sailor Moon has seemingly had resurgence. The original comic books have been finally released in English and talks of a new TV series arise as well as the English voice cast reuniting after twenty years from the series original debut on North American TV. Ah, Sailor Moon, you’ve been missed!

Pretty Cure is kind of like a mix between Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya. |Source|

 Toei’s other female-oriented show is a franchise called Pretty Cure. While primarily popular in Japan, Pretty Cure could be considered one of Toei’s “safe-guards”, meaning it keeps Toei afloat when they are in trouble. Unlike the other series mentioned earlier, Pretty Cure is a long going series will a new season being produced almost bi-yearly. Due to its popularity, Toei has released a plethora of Pretty Cure merchandise including toys and movies. There was a short lived attempt to market the series in North America, but not only did it hardly ever see the light of day, there has also been no further attempt to bring the series into the English speaking market.

One Piece is too big for one TV. |Source|

 Currently, Toei Animation has been producing and airing the hit series One Piece on Japanese television. One Piece has essentially taken the past two generations of fans by storm and may have even surpassed DragonBall Z as the series that fans needed to watch. One Piece has been ongoing for roughly 600+ episodes and has quite the following internationally as well. Most anime fans, if not all, love One Piece and Toei is proud to be the one helming the anime adaption of it. One Piece has garnered films, video games, toys, clothes, and even food merchandise, all of which are happily consumed by fans. One Piece is currently considered to be the best selling anime franchise of all time.

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 Despite all this success, Toei is apparently struggling. According to Toei's second quarter of 2014 report, their TV ratings have been on the low side ("Toei animation data," 2013) I’m not sure if I agree with that statement, but I can see evidence of its truthfulness. The way I see it, for the past five years, Toei has been switching out franchises, going from DragonBall Z Kai to Saint Seiya Omega to back to Kai. From an analytical perspective, Toei’s primary goal is to make money, as opposed to creating content for their fans while making money. To some, this may make Toei appear as if they don’t care about the consumer, but I see it differently. In my opinion, Toei is taking these ratings in as a sign that the fans aren’t enjoying their content anymore. Thus, Toei is trying their best to give fans what they want. Plus, with a juggernaut franchise like One Piece under their belt, Toei shouldn’t have to struggle with other franchises in order to make money. From my point of view, Toei is trying to please the fans that aren’t necessarily interest in One Piece (like me.)

Toei's next big project. |Source|

 With that in mind, Toei doesn’t seem like that bad of a company to me. While they may in fact be struggling a little, I don’t think that they are in danger of going bankrupt. Toei has plans for other shows in the future, such as one based on Marvel’s The Avengers franchise, according to Anime News Network. Clearly, Toei Animation has no plans to stop creating awesome shows that fans of any age and gender can enjoy.

Bibliography

Toei animation corporate. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/english/corporate/coporate.html

Toei animation data sheet from the second qaurter of fiscal year 2014. (2013, October 10). Retrieved from http://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/ir/201403_2Q_keisu.pdf

Toei animation history. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/english/history/history.html

Where can the media take us?

As I stated in my introductory post, the media plays a big part in my life. When I'm not playing some game, reading a comic, or watching a show, I'm researching news about my media. I recently got an iPhone, which is useful when I want to check for news while on the go. With this in mind, my media intake is relatively large. It makes me think about the kinds of media I enjoy and how it affects me. I'm not one to believe that the media has major, life changing effects on us, but I do think it makes an impression.

Tycho is pretty level headed and stable. Gabe, on the other hand... |Source|

As a gamer, the rich humor of the comic above makes clear sense to me. For at least a couple of decades, various new sites and the government has been constantly trying to link video games with violence and the acts of several teens across the world. Personal feelings aside, the article Tycho is referring to does have some merit. I do feel that violent video games and movies desensitize us to violence, but I don't think that they are the cause of violent behavior. The people who harm others in these kinds of stories are, to be frank, mentally unstable. These people don't necessarily need to be banned from gaming, but should be getting some attention to make sure they are well enough to play violent video games. If I were to point a finger at a cause, I would say the parents of these certain kids are to blame. From my point of view, if a child commits a violent act, they are clearly mentally elsewhere, but they didn't get that way from nothing. While we look at our parents as role models, we also have to remember that they are human; they can make mistakes. The children who cause violence are simply a product of their environment, which I believe a parent has some control over. I can understand that no parents wants to be told that they are doing a bad job, but I feel that trying to cover up parental mistakes by blaming media isn't going to fix anything. I suppose it's just easier for media to be blamed for affecting us in a bad way.

Nothing's more relaxing than sitting in from of the TV and being worthless for several hours. |Source|

With the media's effects on our view of violence in mind, the media can also be very helpful. Television, in particular, can be very soothing. Millions of people all across the world come home after a long day of work or school ready to take a load off and watch some TV. While some may argue that TV shows aren't as good as they used to be, and perhaps they aren't, but the content that's currently on air is still a very much welcomed escape from reality. Those who detest video games can look at TV as a safe alternative. On the other hand, TV can also desensitize us to violence. However, I think that video games and TV are two completely different entities. With video games, there is interaction. Most of the actions that happen are controlled by the player. The viewer doesn't control anything that happens on the TV. Like a book, TV has no interaction at all. It's up to the viewer to become immersed in the world of his or her favorite show. TV is like an antidepressant or a nice big box of chocolate; it makes you feel better.

Cutting through the web of privacy

In contrast to my previous entry, people enjoy their privacy. While more bloggers and broadcast are making their lives public over the internet, most people still prefer to stay in their shell. I don't blame them, as I'm a more introverted person. However, I believe in balance, so I do try to have some public notoriety while keeping a low profile. That being said, has people's private lives changed?

 

 

 

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I think it has. Before the internet was around, people's lives were more private and the only people who lived public lives were celebrities. These days, even the most underground parties can and usually do make themselves public over the internet. I think the internet has changed the way we see private life. It also blurrs the lines on what should and shouldn't be made public.

The Truman Breakdown

These days, the lives of people are not as private as they used to be. People write blogs and video logs about their lives that they can, and often will, post online. I find it amazing how much we can learn about someone we've never met through their blogs or whatever kind of content that person creates. With that said, the boundary in which one can take privacy too far has been blurred, but what happens when someone goes over the boundary? The Truman Show, a film from 1998 starring comedian Jim Carrey, asks that very question. For those who have never seen it, the film is essentially about a man who's live is broadcasted live as a reality TV show, complete with actors filling in the roles of Truman's neighbors and random product placement.  The Truman Show, in some ways, acts as a thesis statement towards how public people make their lives on the internet. In this entry, I'd like to breakdown what I personally think that thesis would be.

In case I don't see you: good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

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One of the biggest points that the film tries to express is that we care too way too much about the people we see on television. The entire premise of the film is based around the fact that Truman unknowingly starts in a reality show that millions of people watch across America. These millions of people sit in front of their T. V.  and watch the latest episode of Truman's show, regardless of what he's doing. Today, people all over the states watch reality shows about various people that probably don't have any meaning in their viewer's lives. As I stated before, it's amazing to me how so many people basically watch the lives of people they don't even know, both on the internet and on television. A classic example is the show Keeping up with the Kardashians. Most, if not all, of the Kardashians' fans do not know them personally, yet they know so much about their lives and what they do with themselves on a day to day basis. While The Truman Show is a more extreme case, Keeping up with the Kardashians is a similar premise. Even if we don't see every waking moment of the Kardashians, not only do we see a heck of a lot of their daily lives, but the focus is on an entire family instead of one person. The Truman Show represents our strange interest in the lives of strangers.

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Another point I'd like to bring up is the character Christof, played by Ed Harris. Christof is the director of the reality show in the film. From a general viewing perspective, you might say that Christof is the antagonist. In my opinion, Christof represents not only creative passion but also creative cruelty. Christof is clearly very passionate about this project. The project itself is quite ambitious as well. One would need a lot of time and money in order to create a reality show from one man's life from the very beginning of his life. However, such a project also requires closing off that one person from the outside world. If a person were to start a project like this, that person would have to make the moral decision to essentially control someone's life. In this sense, Christoff is showing his passion and how he is willing to step on the necessary people to achieve his goals.

In my opinion, the focus in The Truman Show is more on the people watching Truman rather than Truman himself. The film represents our interest in the media we take in. For some of us, it is a cartoon or sports. For others, it is cooking shows or home improvement programming. For an entire nation, it was The Truman Show.

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Good morning, world!

Howdy! My name is Ryan Burton. I identify as your average nerd. I love video games, cartoons, anime, comic books, action figures, and anything else that would fall under said title. I'm a junior at Reinhardt University working on a creative writing major. What do I hope to do with that major, you might ask? Well, I plan to do exactly what it sounds like: write. Writing is my passion. I feel like I was put on this earth to write and tell stories. I've never published anything before, but I am working on a samurai story that I hope to turn into a novel as well as plenty of ideas in my head waiting to be written down. With that said, I'd like to consider writing to be one of my better skills.

Picture of me with a national hero. Also, despite the name of this blog, my beard is a little more than slightly trimmed.

Media plays a huge role in my life. As I stated above, I identify as a nerd. I love all kinds of nerdy stuff and I make a point to check various news websites for information on the latest video game, comic, or whatever is the next big thing happens to be. Outside of creative writing, I've been considering a minor is journalism. Needless to say, I love nerdy news. I try to stay on top of the latest happenings in the nerd world. Each week, I host a podcast where I get to express my love to both media and the news regarding it. I would love to make writing about the media my career path while I work on writing stories.