I've had this thought recently about gaming and how it's perceived.
Over the past couple of years, gaming has become as mainstream as film, books and most other art forms. As it has become more accessible and another alternative for evenings in, I'm wondering on how it affects the women in a relationship, or the female gamer.
I don't know many avid female gamers. I know one or two who will casually play games, or have their own specific games or game types they stick to rigidly.
If any women would like to take the time to comment with the answers to the following questions, I'd be most grateful:
What is your favourite character from a game, or gaming series?
Which console(s) do you own?
What game, or gaming series do you enjoy most?
Which type of game do you enjoy most? (E.g. Racing, Sports, RPG, FPS etc)
Do you play games more than your partner or male friends?
Have any games given you an emotional reaction? If yes, which one one(s), and what happened?
Do you believe women in games are undervalued or just sexualised?
Are there enough avenues for women to get into the gaming community?
Do you have a idea for a game which you think would sell really well?
Feel free to add anything I may have missed.
I'm hoping to find some interesting results to my questions.
April 07, 2011
March 23, 2011
Bioshock (2008) - Review
A man smoking on a plane, stares at a photograph lovingly.
Next moment, he's in the water with oil slick flames surrounding him, swimming to escape a wrecked plane. Finding refuge on a rocky outcrop, he enters a door slightly ajar and within comes face to face with a face set in bronze. Descending steps into a circular room with a spherical pod seemingly sat on the water, the only way to escape is to enter the pod and see where it goes. Upon entering and pulling the lever, he descends over 20 fathoms into the sea, with a voiceover from a man who describes a vision of life unburdened by rules of the government or faith. The pod enters open water and a city sprawls in front of your eyes, set at the bottom of the ocean. This is where obsession and ambition create the incredible and the perverse. This is Rapture.
From this opening sequence the scope of the game set before you as a player seems immense and to truly understand the whole story of Rapture, the gamer has to take this First Person Shooter at a slower and more deliberate pace than most FPS's. It presents a variety of moral choices and showcases the fragile nature of the mind, of what power can do; even in the right hands and how far people will go for the sake of it.
Story:
The story starts with you, the faceless and voiceless main character, being guided through Rapture by a man going by the name of Atlas. He wants you alive so that he can save his wife and child and somehow put a stop to Andrew Ryan's rule over Rapture. As you progress throughout the game, a moral choice is put to you about how to deal with the major piece in the society of Rapture: Little Sisters. They are young girls who have been implanted with a sea slug which cultivates ADAM, a genetic material with the ability to transform anyones DNA and create abilities which seem impossible. Little Sisters are protected by giants in diving suits, incredibly strong, violent and fiercly protective of the Little Sisters called Big Daddys. Once seperated from a Big Daddy, you have the option to either harvest or rescue the Little Sister. Harvesting kills the girl, giving you the optimum amount of ADAM to procure new abilities. Rescuing the girl, kills the sea slug and reverts them to normal young girls, but at the expense of less ADAM to use. To progress, you will have to make this choice often and often with consequence.
The story as a whole is broken into sections of Rapture, each with several sub-missions to both help you progress and ease you into the way of playing the game. The most notable of these sections is when you reach Fort Frolic and meet Sander Cohen for the first time. This section is by far the most amusing and disturbing in equal measure, partly dues to Sander Cohens morbid obsession and his brilliantly scripted pieces which bring levity into a place so full of death.
As with any good story, there are twists and turns throughout, making you question why all the while. Not just about the character and why he is brought here, but to all the choices that the people in Rapture had, where it all went wrong and how brilliance became a sadistic power struggle.
Overall, the story is a triumph. Fully realised into a place that more than likely have existed, or possibly still does. The characters throughout create an experience which you will still be thinking about, and wondering whether it should've turned out different.
Next moment, he's in the water with oil slick flames surrounding him, swimming to escape a wrecked plane. Finding refuge on a rocky outcrop, he enters a door slightly ajar and within comes face to face with a face set in bronze. Descending steps into a circular room with a spherical pod seemingly sat on the water, the only way to escape is to enter the pod and see where it goes. Upon entering and pulling the lever, he descends over 20 fathoms into the sea, with a voiceover from a man who describes a vision of life unburdened by rules of the government or faith. The pod enters open water and a city sprawls in front of your eyes, set at the bottom of the ocean. This is where obsession and ambition create the incredible and the perverse. This is Rapture.
From this opening sequence the scope of the game set before you as a player seems immense and to truly understand the whole story of Rapture, the gamer has to take this First Person Shooter at a slower and more deliberate pace than most FPS's. It presents a variety of moral choices and showcases the fragile nature of the mind, of what power can do; even in the right hands and how far people will go for the sake of it.
Story:
The story starts with you, the faceless and voiceless main character, being guided through Rapture by a man going by the name of Atlas. He wants you alive so that he can save his wife and child and somehow put a stop to Andrew Ryan's rule over Rapture. As you progress throughout the game, a moral choice is put to you about how to deal with the major piece in the society of Rapture: Little Sisters. They are young girls who have been implanted with a sea slug which cultivates ADAM, a genetic material with the ability to transform anyones DNA and create abilities which seem impossible. Little Sisters are protected by giants in diving suits, incredibly strong, violent and fiercly protective of the Little Sisters called Big Daddys. Once seperated from a Big Daddy, you have the option to either harvest or rescue the Little Sister. Harvesting kills the girl, giving you the optimum amount of ADAM to procure new abilities. Rescuing the girl, kills the sea slug and reverts them to normal young girls, but at the expense of less ADAM to use. To progress, you will have to make this choice often and often with consequence.
The story as a whole is broken into sections of Rapture, each with several sub-missions to both help you progress and ease you into the way of playing the game. The most notable of these sections is when you reach Fort Frolic and meet Sander Cohen for the first time. This section is by far the most amusing and disturbing in equal measure, partly dues to Sander Cohens morbid obsession and his brilliantly scripted pieces which bring levity into a place so full of death.
As with any good story, there are twists and turns throughout, making you question why all the while. Not just about the character and why he is brought here, but to all the choices that the people in Rapture had, where it all went wrong and how brilliance became a sadistic power struggle.
Overall, the story is a triumph. Fully realised into a place that more than likely have existed, or possibly still does. The characters throughout create an experience which you will still be thinking about, and wondering whether it should've turned out different.
February 03, 2011
In a Galaxy, not so very far away...
...there was a man who had decided to tell stories.
Stories about what he loved and stories which could be better.
Stories with passion, disbelief, humour and unsurpassed ideas and ideals.
Within these pages, I hope to explore the meanings and thoughts behind some of the greatest (and not so great) games we know and love (or not in some cases).
Come join in, help me out, or just sit back and enjoy what is to follow.
Stories about what he loved and stories which could be better.
Stories with passion, disbelief, humour and unsurpassed ideas and ideals.
Within these pages, I hope to explore the meanings and thoughts behind some of the greatest (and not so great) games we know and love (or not in some cases).
Come join in, help me out, or just sit back and enjoy what is to follow.
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