The Sims

The Sims. Ive had very little experience playing the game. But I know plenty of what it's about. The article makes a good point about the player feeling god-like as the wife controls her sims characters. Of course that could either be a good thing or bad. What had me thinking is the influence the game had to cause the wife to vent out to her husband because of what his sims character did in her world. Video game and reality can almost easily blend together depending how deep the bond between the player and avatar is. The things you can do in the game is unbelievable but more incredible how it affects the player.

Star Trek

This episode of Star Trek was strong and effective in relations to race. It made it more intriguing to watch two beings of the same race hostile to one another and have the viewer wonder if they would establish peace by the end of the episode. Lokai, symbolized as a leader of freedom with a tortured past, is black on his left side and white on the right. Belle, Commissioner who views Lokai as a loathsome pig responsible for countless deaths, is black on his right side and white on the left. It's interesting how this episode is a reflection how blacks and white treated eachother in the past and how racism is still lingers today. But it's the end of the episode that made me think more of the relations to race. As the enterprise reaches their planet, Cheron, Lokai and Belle fight over their hate for one another once they hear reports their species have been annihalated to extinction because of their strong hostility over race. This ignites rage and hatred among both men. Lokai transports himself back to his planet with Belle behind him. Captain Kirk tells his crew all that is left of them is hate. With so much loath filled into their heart and mind, not even the most provocative speech of peace could eliminate such strong emotion among both men.

Batman Arkam Asylum

When I first heard about this game, I was not so thrilled. Actually, I cared less about it because I thought it was just another ordinary batman game. But after reader the reviews and watching gameplay videos, I paid more attention to it. Other gamers would talk about how amazing and unique its refreshing storyline is. The combat system is fluid and cohesive and the graphics are realistic. Another thing that makes the game stand out is its brillian voice acting. What I like about the game is as you progress through the story, batman's suit gets damaged and clearly shows cuts and bruises. It makes batman appear more human. Another thing is how smooth the combat animation is when batman perform counter attacks. With a strong plot, great gameplay and incredible graphics, Batman Arkam Asylum is worth your money

Video Game as a Medium

It took quite some time for video games to attain the status of an artistic medium. It has been around for 40 years with 30 years as a commerical industry. With early simple graphics, it video games were not widespread on pop culture until the latter half of the 1970s. According to Wolf, the elements of a game are defined as conflict, rules, player abilityy and valued outcome. In the 21st century, society has given video games more attention to its potential and impact on gamers. Tvs have come a long way from cathode-ray tube (CRT) that produce raster-based imagery to high definition flat screen tvs that deliver clear, sharp 720 and 1080p resolution that heightens the realism of the gaming worlds and characters. Computer games have been mostly seen as a subset of video games because of shared technologies such as the microprocessor and the cathode-ray tube. Today, computer games share the same high definition resolution as console games, yet they are not given as much recognition. Imaging technology has developed from the use of floppy disks, compact disc and DVD-ROM to Blu rays that provides more than double the data than a DVD. Games created on a giant mainframe computer of the 1960s were the earliest versions of video games and were only found in laboratories and research centers. These games were niether sole commerically nor available to the public. Today, video games has become a huge factor in our culture of entertainment where the majority of families own a game console in their living room. With todays technology, game consoles as become the main entertainment system the not only provides gaming but also delivers best visual quality to watch movies and browse the internet.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is a stunning, remarkable masterpiece. With sharp visuals, fluid gameplay, gripping plot and cinematic focus, it rivals hollywood blockbusters. The game centers on Nathan Drake who ventures off to find the truth behind the lost fleet of Marco Polo and the hidden path to Shambhala. Along the way, he runs into old friends, love interests and new characters. Gaming vet, Nolan North did a brilliant job to voice Nathan. With snappy dialogue, the comic timing is spot on, often bringing big laughs. What I found striking is the refreshing mix of ethnic background not commonly seen in video game history: English, Australian and Serbian. Uncharted 2 has become the first exclusive blockbuster Playstation 3 title to rival the behemoth multiplatform game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Hollywood is currently working with writers to bring a satisfying script of Uncharted to the big screen to please the fan base. This game truly blurs the line between video games and film with incredible voice acting, character performance, strong plot and cinematic visuals that propels the game to a thrilling adventure.

Hyperidentities

MMORG- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. The most incredible phenomena to appear in recent years of interactive entertainment. In MMORG, there's no need for strict diets, exhausting exercise programs or cosmetic surgeries. The article elaborates on EverQuest where the action takes places in a land called Norrath. The game allows you to customize your avatar's appearance, class and personality traits. Throughout the game, you interact with other gamers' avatars and level up your character so he/she can become stronger and explore more of the game's environment. It's easy to notice that the MMORPG user situation is an idealized image of the situation of the postmodern human creature, in which the user can freely shape his own "self." According to Edward Castronova, the process of developing avatar capital seems to invoke the same risk and reward structures in the brain that are invoked by personal development in real life. The article accurately states that role-playing is one of the social life's rudimentary elements, and used in our everyday functioning.

The author mentions that identity is described as a rhizome. This model is a centerless universe that rejects any form of hierarchy and centralization while tending toward anarchy. Current games such as Final Fantasy 11 have continued to evolve MMORPGS by presenting detailed avatars with specific personalities, ethnicity, class, interaction with other characters and the amount of sidequest to icrease their combat stats. Other games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have perfected FPS with MMORPG by allowing players to interact with one another in numerous maps, level up by killing other players to earn points to unlock and customize weapons and perks, earning trophies for acting out specific things in the game and countless hours of competition.

Archtypes on Acid

This article discusses the evolution of video games and its effect on players'. The author, Rebecca Tews, points out that the home market has outstripped the arcade market. Men and women feel more comfortable playing video games in their home rather than wait in line to put quarters in the machine just to enjoy the game for several minutes. Gamers dont have to feel rushed to reach the end when playing a game at home. Early research in the 1980s observed video games as a youth phenomenon. At the time, this may have been true but many adults play video games and share the experience with their children as a family fun interactive entertainment. B.F. Skinner demonstrated that most organisms will perform repetitive behaviors for little reinforcement. This theory parallels with gaming because the game environments reinforce the player for improving responses with additional points or to move up on a higher level. With violent, aggressive or antisocial games, we are reinforced for aggressive, quick thinking, blood thirsty behavior. Nowadays, games have reached new levels to bring out strong reactions from gamers that play violent, thrilling scary games.

Carl Jung argues that all societies share primitive and basic understanding of the world through archtypes that appear in our arts, dreams, and metaphors. Video games bring out particular behaviors from the player that reflects how engaged the player is to game environment. These behaviors include cursing at a failure, berating their poor choice of solutions, praising themselves for their success or acting out frustration on the equipment when progress is slow. This is common for players whom have broken their controllers or directed their frustration to people around them. Games that date back from the 1980s continue to present the same archtype where the conflict between the "good" characters seek fulfillment from the environment and avoiding evil characters.

Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances

Upon reading the article, it helped me notice several things about FF9 and The Sims that I never paid attention too. I owned FF9 back when it first came out and it was a good game but it never occurred to me at the time that Zidane was animated with feminine features. According to Mia Consalvo, Zidane is represented as feminized by his long hair, phsycially small in stature, clothes with lace and a lack of muscles. Not to mention having a tail which didnt help him either. However, Zidane is persistent in maintaining his hetersexuality by acting girl crazy and pursuing his love interest, Princess Garnet. This act makes him still worthy of being a normal (heterosexual and male) hero. The article points out the erotic triangle theory. According to the theory, two men in a buddy action movie compete over a woman who is either single or the girlfriend of one of the males. Both men suddendly try to compete for the woman and their interactions become more intense as they vie for dominance. But ultimately they are not as interested in the relationship with the woman as they are intheir relationship with each other. Both guys displace their feelings for each other into the safe area of friendly competition over a woman.

But Mia Consalvo points out that if a gay male or heterosexual female plays FF9, their identity with the character, Zidane, becomes more difficult as they are forced to flirt with another woman (Garnet). In regards to the Sims, it's said that players have an option to only have heterosexual sims characters. Although heterosexual couples in the sims have the privledge to get married and have a baby, a gay couple is retricted from marriage and must wait for the game to decide when they can go to an adoption agency to adopt a child. I've never played The Sims but I found that a bit shocking and interesting that a popular game like that actually did that.

Surrogates

After watching Surrogates, it really made me think about how far technology has evolved. Watching this movie was like seeing a reflection of our world. Instead of robots, society is addicted to the internet. Almost everything is done electronically. The movie centers around Tom (Bruce Willis) who is a cop that sets out to find a killer who murders the son of the surrogates creator. He accomplishes this by using a powerful gun made by the company that builds Surrogates that fries the robot and its operater. The movie says that with your surrogate, you can be anyone, do anything and live the life you always wanted. What I found disturbing is every operator except for Bruce Willis lay on their seat plugged in to their surrogates for most of their days. Their surrogates would do all their work while they lay on that seat plugged in. That was very strange and it showed the strong addiction they had with technology. Of course, this movie also parallels with Existenz in the aspect of plugging in to your avatar. Several scenes looked out of this world with how advanced technology was and the surrogates were lifelike. It's a movie that is worth your money.

Art Form for the Digital Age

Dr. Jenkins quotes "So are video games a massive drain on our income, time and energy? A new form of "cultural pollution," as one U.S. senator described them? The "nightmare before Christmas?" As I read through the first page, I found those questions amusing and funny at the same time for the public's narrowminded mentality of video games. It's interesting to acknowldge the parallel Dr. Jenkins address about video games and cinema. He states that critics were suspicious of cinema's commercial motivations and technological origins, concerned about Hollywood's appeals to violence and eroticism, and insistent that cinema had not yet produced works of lasting value. What critics were not aware of during the rise of cinema is that actor's work restricted to release their names and show more emotion than needed through silent films because Hollywood companies didn't want the actor's to gain power.

He mentions that games represent a new art, one as appropriate for the digital age as those earlier media were for the machine age. Video games open up new aesthetic experiences and transform the computer screen into a realm of experimentations and innovation that is broadly accessibly. I fully support this because throughout the past decade we have seen game characters evolve from pixelated shapes to actual animated human beings with emotional expressions. We have seen other genres emerge that introduces peripherals that helps the player feel more involved; hence Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band. We have seen games with incredible storyline and graphics that has shocked the gaming world to its core. An evolution to multiplayer that once was accessible in E3 cafes and now available in your own living room.

What is true about this article is that games help children spark their imaginations, taking them to new worlds. No longer can they go outside and play because of the constant fear parents have of their children killed in a drive-by shootout or kidnapping. Appropriate video games gives children to opportunity to explore a fun world and solve puzzles. It's nice to see that video games are beginning to be viewed as more than just a "waste of time."

It's a Video Game, Certainly, but Is It Art?

This article left me amazed after reading it. It's a relief that a professional like Dr. Jenkins perceives video game as an art form. According to Dr. Jenkins, in 1999, the domestic box office revenues totaled $7.3 billion, while video game software sales brought in $6.2 billion. He believes that this digital age of video games will soon shake off its label as a diversion for adolescent boys. For a long time, video games has a waste of time that drains away a kid's opportunity to be productive. But now the media is paying much more attention to games by adapting them to film such as Hitman, Resident Evil series, the upcoming Prince of Persia, Doom, etc. Dr. Jenkins states that video games still have yet to reach the same artistic level of movies. That is human emotion. He quotes "I rarely play a video game that makes me cry." I have been told by others that the only game that has achieved that type of emotion from the player is Final Fantasy 7. Simply do to the strong story line. I have seen parts of the game and I can say there is strong human relationship among the characters.

Dr. Jenkins mentions that 10 yrs ago his students wanted to direct films but now they are more interested in being game designers than movie makers. That says a lot about video game's history of achievement. Since the 1980s, games have continuously pushed the boundaries to make the player feel more engaged in the gameplay and story itself. To feel lost in the fantasy created by the developers. Over time, games and movies are beginning to parallel with eachother. However, the only term that sticks to peoples mind about video games is "violence." The majority of games have to do with killing. Although developers have managed to soften that concept by justifying that it's ok for players to kill nazis, zombies, mercenaries, etc., game developers such as Infinitry Ward are attempting a move to make players feel uncomfortable about killing. But that is yet to be seen.

What the Bleep Do We Know?

What the Bleep Do We Know turned out to be an interesting documentary that links with the laws of physics. Everything that was discussed was applied to the story of a deaf female photographer whose husband cheated on her causing her view herself and the world in a pessimistic perspective. Eventually, she began to experience strange interesting things in her life which helped her love herself and the world around her. The video states that human thoughts can shape the image of water which was quite intriguing. The documentary had scenes of animated characters and their interaction inside the human body. I found the scenes of the wedding somewhat entertaining. The experts also spoke about how our eyes are like projectors that captures an image. As we close our eyes, we can still view the image as if we were staring at it with our eyes open. This documentary is not something I would watch on my own time but it was nonetheless education.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl & Wii Sports

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is one fun crazy game. Once I began to play, it was difficult to keep up with the fight and keep track of where my character was. Next thing I know I lost the match not realizing what happened. Its the type of game that you need some practice if you wanna be good at it. I did like that the control was fairly simple. I found it interesting the characters consisted a mix of male and females and non-humans. Princess Peach put up a good fight considering how girly she looked. On the other hand, theres Wii Sports. I found that game to be very entertaining. I admit I wanted to continue playing that game after the class ended. My two favorite games were tennis and cow racing. In regards to cow racing, I thought the motion control gameplay was pretty cool. It's intriguing how diverse the avatars were. Being able to customize a male or female avatar to your taste is real neat. It shows the developers were open to diversity.

Violence and Pop Culture

Finally! I have to thank the author for sharing with everyone that media is not to blame for the teen's violent actions. The attention should be focused with what children are doing with the media. Why has it taken so long to acknowledge this? From time to time, browsing through ign.com, gamespot or gamepro, there would be an article about a teenager who killed his sister over a wrestling move he saw in a game or random shooting because the kid thought it was cool to see that in a video game. Rockstar company has dealt with this situation several times with one lawsuit after another being the blame for the kids violent actions from their GTA games. Stories like these upset me because society needs someone to blame and they point fingers at game developers. Hey genius! Point the fingers at the kid and their parents. I have worked at Gamestop myself and you have no idea how often I would have an underage kid ask me to sell him an "M" rated game or parents purchasing a game that is not appropriate for this child. And I would inform them exactly what the game contains and how it's not suited for young children. Yet, seeing their lack of knowledge to potential consequences left me surprised.

The article states that students draw into their world the darkest, most brutal, antisocial images available to them and turn those symbols into vehicles for their personal demons, their self-destructive impulses, their desires to hurt those who have hurt them. This statement is almost genius because THIS is what children, who go out commiting stupid crimes, are doing with the media. This is how they interpret the games they interact with. It's not the game developers fault. They have a clear targeted audience for their product. They have no control as to who plays their game. The parents need to have a better disciplinary system for their child and video games. Game designers dont advertise their violent game to children with signs that say "Shooting people is cool. It's fun commiting crimes in video games so go out and apply it to the real world!"

Society needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

GTA: Vice City

Ok, I've played the game before back when it first came out and I was amazed by the graphics. Despite being one of the most controversial and stereotypical game of GTA series, lets face it: Rockstar is very balsy. I give them credit for sticking their necks out there. You beat up a hooker on the street to get money and you kill cops, haitans and cubans just for fun. In regards to the story, a drug deal goes wrong and Tommy tries to solve the situation. The series blows me away of how violence is so significant to the story and becomes justified by rewarding the player. Good thing there is consequence having the cops chase you down. Personally, I found Vice City boring and it reminded me that I never beat the game when I first played it. I'm sure the game becomes more intriguing after the first couple of mission but it never held my attention enough to ride through the whole thing. Yet, GTA 4,the game that raised the bar for GTA series was the first one I beat. Yea, you have the same stereotypical elements from the previous games but the game is so much more in depth. You can even meet game characters from online in the game world. Crazy, cool and weird at the same time. If you never played part 4, give it a try, you'll be taken back by just how much you can do.

Fair Play

After reading this article, I was kinda surprised at what the pie graphs revealed and all the percentile facts about violence, gender and race to video games. The author points out the male characters were most likley to be portrayed as competitors (47%), while female characters were most likely to be portrayed as props or bystanders (50%). However, given the nature of today's video games, I have to object to this fact. I'm not saying it is not true because 5-10 yrs ago that was the case, but gender, race and its relation to violence in video games is drastically changing now. Take for example the game Infamous. The main character, Cole, is a male and the supporting female is his girlfriend. While Cole is trying to adapt to his newfound powers and making critical choices to either save or destroy New York City, his girlfriend appears to make her own contribution to save what is left of the city. Ontop of that, Cole is forced to make a deal and work under a mysterious woman working for the government. The game developers have integrated the roles of these woman to the plot of the story. What is more interesting about this game is how your act of violence can either help or destroy New York City. Society will either praise your character, looking up to him as a hero or villain.

Another example is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Aside from being a masterpiece, throughout its campaign, the story makes it clear that the women in the game can do just about anything the main character can. Yes, the main character, Drake, is a white male, but the women show they can hold their own during a gun fight. One thing the article mentioned that caught my attention is that females in rated "E" games show more skin than what is considered appropriate for kids to play. Further revealing that its violent content is significant to the plot. But in regards to race, it is true that the only genre that shows a variety of race is sports genre whereas action/adventure games always have a white male as the competitor.

EA Sports Active!

EA Sports has delivered a game that seems to promise huge results in sports and fitness. After reading the review and video review from ign.com, I found myself wanting to try this game out myself. Unfortunately I dont have a Wii, so thats out of the question. This game is similar to Wii Fit. You start off by creating your own profile and fill out a daily journal that calculated your daily amount of food and exercise. The fitness program can even last for 30 days. Talk about consistency! Based on the videos, it was pretty cool how players interacted with the controllers, resistant band and leg strap that detects your body movements that corresponds with your avatar.

Now, a few things to point out about this game:
1. The game includes a real-life certified personal trainer, Bob Greene.
2. The game does not offer much information about Bob Greene.
3. The game's clearly targeted audience is women.

It was intriguing that the review itself pointed out that this game mainly targets women. The video demos on the website only showed one man interacting with the game. Although the game has a male personal trainer who certified the 30 day program in the game, the videos never show a male avatar, only female avatars. Again, it further indicates the game is targeted for women and will not appeal to the male audience. As I watched the videos, I took mental note that only a white and asian women appeared to interact with the game. There were no african-american or hispanic women playing the game. The game itself didnt show avatars of different race either. Only white female avatars. Keep in mind, it does have an option for male avatar.
Supposedly a sequel will be released soon, we'll see how different that one will be.

Fair Play?

While reading this article, I found myself surprised how educational the context is. It actually broadened my perspective how I view video games. It's intriguing how the article points out the lack of ESRBs accuracy to give appropriate ratings on video games. Experts found that 32% of games rated E (Everyone) was inappropriate for 3-7 yr olds, 13% of E-rated games were inappropriate for 8-12 yr olds and 57% of the T (Teen) rated games were questionable for 12-17 yr olds. Now that is huge!
Also, there is the issue of gender. After reading this section, looking back at countless video games I've played, I realized there is a lack of women as player-controlled characters. Sure, theres the Tomb Raider series, the recently released WET game, the female sidekick in Resident Evil 5, and several others. But the majority of player-controlled characters are male, particularly white males. The article does have a point in saying there are few Hispanic and Asian characters whom usually appear in sport genres than any other genres. There is not one video game I have seen that reveals female characters without portraying them as hyper sexualized. Every female game character has a "perfect" body and showing a good amount of skin. Unfortunately all of this sends out the wrong messages to kids about what the norm is in society.

Character Investigation

In the entertainment media, stereotypes are most effective in three ways: Limited exposure, the range of characters portrayed and projected through simple characters. One thing that caught my attention about this article is their statement about Asian Americans. It is stated that very few Asian Americans portray simple or complex characters on prime time television. Now to educate you a bit, simple characters are one-dimensional and unrealistic whereas complex characters are multilayered, contradictory, and nearly a reflection of real people. In regards to Asian Americans, it's interesting the article points out their lack in numbers of appears on TV. To my knowledge, there is not one show on TV that stars an Asian American. Sure, every other show might have one has an intelligent supporting character, but never has the leading role. Stereotype!
Another thing I liked about this section of the article is the differentiation between major and minor characters. As an experienced actor, I am no stranger to these two terms. Major characters are the center of the plot. If they are abscent, the plot makes no sense. On the other hand, minor characters are other characters that have speaking parts. Yet, going back to Asian Americans, not one show I have seen portrays them as a major character. They always appear as minor character. Stereotype!
Characters in Entertainment Media are seen as four types:
1. Mimetic: Complex characters that demonstrate depth, contradictions, and ambiguity.
2. Ironic: A character who may not appear intelligent, may be more like a caricature person.
3. Romantic: Does not necessarily involve love and affection but rather appear real in personality.
4. Superhero: Self explanatory. Characters that possess superhuman powers. Superman, Batman, Bionic Woman. Duh!

The Fabric of Oppression

This theory focuses on the system of creating groups that are dominant or privileged by it and other groups that are targeted. However, keep in mind it is possible for members of the dominant group that benefit from it not to be prejudice or hateful. Furthermore, being in the dominant group does not garuntee power, wealth and success but rather increases their chances of obtaining such gains. A prime example are the grand theft auto games. The games focus on a character who starts at the bottom of social hierarchy, doing dirty deeds for others to gain access in the dominant group where money, women, hot cars and penthouse and great connections are the benefits of being at the top of the hierarchy. The article discusses 3 different types of oppression: Institutional oppression, internalized oppression and hegemony. According to this theory, the majority who have access to social power in the U.S. are white men percieved as heterosexual and part of the Owning class. Based on the context, the Owning class refers to those who are so wealthy, they have no financial need to work. In contrast, working class individuals need to work to survive.

Gamer!

Intriguing reflection of next generation gaming. Blood. Gore. High-octane action. All the ingrediants for an action flick. Some scenes of this movie that centered on the social world of gaming represented the current Playstation Home where gamers all over the world use their 3D avatars to interact with one another, get updated on mainstream media for movies and games and design their own house. In reality, the gaming industry is constantly pushing the envelope of realism. How far can we go to have the player fully engaged into the gaming world? This movie envision's the future that eventually we might use real life people as avatars to replace 3D animation. Honestly? I cannot fathom the idea of that becoming the future of gaming. To have your body fully plugged into a game and have no control or having full control of another person is trully horrifying. But in the direction we are going as society, we're getting close. The plot of this movie might not be an Oscar winner but it is definitely accurate in today's world of gaming. Nevertheless, several scenes from this movie had me awestruck by its technological advancements. So yea, it was really cool to see how far we can go to interact with games. Scary and yet awesome.

Race and Ethnicity

If you're an educated person, then you are aware that racism and discrimination is still at large. May not be as severe during the black vs. white days but these issues are still present. People unfortunately still classify race in different groups based on the individuals charactericts. If you look at the big picture, there is only one race, the human race. It should not be the color of your skin or any other bodily features that defines who you are or what category you should be placed based on human perception. We should all be treated equally. I recently saw on CNN that some Americans are not pleased how Obama is running our country and they are balsy enough to address the color of his skin as part of the problem. It's shocking to see that racism is still around and will continue to be for as long as the human race is around. One thing that caught my attention in the article is the "one-drop" rule. It states that any degree of African ancestry is enough to classify an individual as black. It is very sad to see how black people have been viewed as bad. As if it's almost a sin to be a black person. It is wrong to have that kind of perception and not everyone sees that even now in the 21st century. Current films such as District 9 and The Final Destination address the issue. Yes, I know I included Final Destination and for those who havent seen it, watch it and you will see what I'm talking about. In regards to video games, it's clear that majority of video game characters are white. Solid snake, Drake from Uncharted, Prototype, Infamous and many others. If there is an asian, black or hispanic character in a game, they are protrayed as gangsters or criminals and are killed off shortly during the story line. None are given the lead role in a video game story. Nevertheless, we play these games because they entertain us.

In regards to my game of choice, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the story centers around Nathan Drake, an white American treasure hunter. There are only two females in the game, Chloe and Elena. But keep in mind Elena was in the first Uncharted game and was just as agile as Nathan throughout his adventure. What I found interesting is there are two old characters in the entire game. One is named Sully. To be honest, that old man can not only hold his own during a gunfight but he can run, climb and do almost anything Nathan can. But there are scenes in the game that he reference his age as an excuse for not wanting to continue in Drake's journey. I did find very few black characters in the game who happen to be villains. What surprised me the most is the developers actually had Nepalese villagers of Tibet speak their language. I'm not sure if the language is accurate but it definitely had you guessing what the villagers were saying. Even the main character was clueless as to what the Nepalese village was saying. Talk about diversity! During the cutscenes of Nepalese village, I was surprised to see that the second old game character, village elder, was a westerner who claimed to be in an identical situation as Drake seven years ago. It comes to no surprise that the elder is later killed in the game and Sully survives the journey because he is one of the main supporting characters in the story.

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia. Clever control. Incredible atmosphere. Smooth animation. Stunning visuals and interesting plot. All of these and more was attempted to bring in a breath of fresh air into the action/adventure genre of 2003. And they did just that. The main character, prince, shows his eagerness to be praised by his father, King Sharahman. The prince stops at nothing to obtain the Dagger of Time to see honor and glory. Despite being a great game, it clearly shows it is overrun by men. During the gameplay, we all saw a glimpse of a mysterious woman. That woman happens to be Princess Farah. Given her animated physique, it's clear their intention is to make her look stunningly visual for the male audience. The power of culture address the means for King Sharahman and his son to conquer Maharajah of India. In this fantasy world, men control the future of India. Pride and glory is what drives these significant characters to slash their way through countless soldiers to accomplish their mission. Nevertheless, Prince of Persia, a feat of wonder that added a new formula to the genre never failed to keep gamers awstruck. Yet, one does question the game's accurate protrayal of India, weaponry and their way of thinking.

The Culture of Power

The article states that when we are inside a culture of power, we expect to have things our way. Those members on the margins are limited to participate in an event, situation, organization, contributing to decisions made or having their voices heard. This issue parallels with video gaming on how gamers are recognized by society. Although the video game industry constantly pushes the envelope to deliver crisp realism in gaming to players all around the world, society does not give the necessary attention it deserves to be in the "in" group rather than the margins. Video gaming is often blamed for the crimes of violence because a teenager was inspired from grand theft auto or other related games to think its acceptable to pick up a gun and shoot innocent civilians. Issues like that hurt the gaming world from being accepted as a culture of power and have the respect to be recognized as a branch of entertainment that can be reached to a wide audience to deliver a fun level of interaction that brings people together. Those inside the gaming world know how far and unique video games have gone since the era of atari but some may fail to acknowledge its struggle to be credited as not only revolutionary but also having their voices heard for respect that video games is not a waste of time and money.

ExistenZ

What does Existenze say about our social fears of video game and reality?

After watching the movie, I came to a realization of how disturbing the film is. Our social fear is not being able to differentiate between reality and video games. To acknowledge both worlds crossing over is frightening. It shows that real life is not so far off from what is shown on film. Take for example Project Natal from Microsoft. A console peripheral with motion detecting camera and built-in microphone with strong potential of motion control that utilizes the human body as the controller. It interprets the player's body movements with incredible accuracy in the game. Society is constantly pushing the boundaries of video game realism and the level of interaction. Existenze also shows that if society continues to revolutionize the capacity of video games, there may be a day where we can no longer tell the difference between what is real and fake. Another social fear is the addiction and pleasure we get from gaming. The character, Allegra, is a prime example of individuals that prefer to live in fantasy and be lost in the world the human mind has created. The idea of plugging in bioports in the spine raises concerns of how the human body will be affected once fully connected to the game. We acknowledge the excitement and pleasure we get from the latest video games and consoles but the most terrifying idea is seeing the future video games cross over to the real world and possibly turning against us. The thought is farfetched but nonetheless it could happen.