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A link to this trailer for the game “Night Journey” was sent to Ectomo a few days ago, by faithful Ectomite, kid icarus. Paraphrasing his email would castrate its enthusiasm, so I include it here:
I heard a rumor this weirdness was coming to PS3. Reminds me of Ico, so for the monstertrucking* sake of the elder gods, I hope it's true. Regardless, enjoy the possibility.
p.s. I love you freaks!
kid icarus
Thanks, kid. But I must admit to a certain dubiousness. After watching as much of the above trailer as I could stand, I was no closer to understanding exactly what about it excited you, and drove you to the bizarre comparison with the prestigious Ico. Ico was indeed an artful game, but it was not purely purposed with being an artwork, as Night Journey seems to be.
To be fair, I have not played Night Journey, and there are plenty of instances of horrible trailers doing their products a disservice. But come on.
Hit the jump to hear more chin-stroking speculation about the nature of art and video games. Again.
This brings up the troubled marriage between art, games, artists, and gamers: if a game is meant to be artful, it almost always ends up boring, aggravating, or both. Why? The exceptions to this are famous: Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, blah blah blah. You don’t need to read that list ever again; I know you know it by heart and rattle it off at cocktail parties to skeptical non-gamers, sweet readers.
I get the impression that the artists who work in the embryonic medium of art-games fear that the presence of Fun Itself will invalidate the statement they’re attempting to make. The act of play is considered non-serious and non-educational. This is a baffling error in judgment, and can be demonstrated as such by simple observation: kittens practice hunting and fighting by stalking and tussling with their littermates. The US Army trains soldiers for combat by putting them on a well-designed first-person shooter. Children create games of the things they want to learn and aspire to become: astronaut, artist, unicorn queen, video game blogger. These things are the very definition of “serious games”, and they act as marathon training for the brain.
Need I remind you that the brain is a muscle? Video games are a targeted workout.
So I maintain that triggering Fun Itself should be considered an artform. If it were easy to make a fun game, we’d never have to deal with games like Lair**. I touched on this issue briefly before, in "Games are not supposed to be fun", and I’m going to keep saying it until the day I see public opinion shift, or I’m able to buy a stately pleasure dome on Mars. Whatever comes first.
* Cussin’ removed, because if Dtoid gets an AO rating I’m out of a job.
since when did cussing become an issue on the dtoid??
Fuckery, that's Poo; if such a transgression resulted in an AO rating for the Destructoid, nobody would care.
From the trailer and description it seems more like semi-interactive video art than an actual game. Still, I think it looks interesting, and I might be willing to download it (as long as it doesn't cost more than $10--art or not, I'm on a budget).
I pla... experienced this at SIGGRAPH, both the talk at Sandbox and the demo in the Art Gallery.
It was... nice. Relaxing. Yeah, I wasn't in constant fear of getting sniped or attacked (though my Silent Hill senses were completely tingling). It is definitely more an experience than it is a game, 'cause there's not really much in terms of competition. Goal, sure, but not competition. Not everyone's thing, but what is? I was a big fan of Cloud and Flow, which are from the same academic program as this.
More info (the paper presented at Sandbox) at http://tinyurl.com/3bp6dk
Might I point to Sturgeon's Revelation? (paraphrased)
Science Fiction Critic: "90 percent of all Science fiction seems to be complete crap. What do you have to say about that?"
Theodore Sturgeon: "Well, of course 90 percent of it is crap. 90 percent of EVERYTHING is crap."
Alright. So most artsy games tend to be boring pieces of malicious tripe with the exception of Rezco of the Okamilossus. Well of course, but those types of games are very few and very far between and as you said making a good game is hard enough on it's own. Just because a couple of those games decide to take a nice leisurely stroll up their own ass, it doesn't invalidate the idea of the medium being more than reward-reinforcement itch scratch.
Fuck it. Bring on the cell shading, the moral ambiguity and the arbitrary bullshit allusions to Kant, I'd rather stroke my chin any day of the week than play a game that didn't try. I don't care if it don't say nuffin', just make it memorable.
Maybe it was about how in the darkness (of the soul), all things are perceived differently and more darkly. And near the end, all the same things are shown in the light, which is a path closer to nature. But at the end, all life is mortal? Or something.
Looked more boring than Tarkovsky's most boring films, and those actually were pretty insightful. I don't think this slow meditating method works for games. I just want to play through them, not standing still and contemplating the impact of what I just saw. I guess stuff like this falls more in the digital art arena than really being a game.
Oops, I'm a little late for the dubious chin-stroking. To answer your questions, I was primarily intrigued by this trailer because I saw a potential for a new form of play. No HUD, no shooting, no hand-holding tutorials... no fun? That's precisley what I loved most about the Ico experience -- being dropped into an alien world with no direction or explanation, no language, just instinct. That's the same feeling I get from Night Journey. Puzzling out the (admittedly) arty images and video loops, how do they connect, where do they lead... sounds like fun to me. I also believe that more risks need to be taken in the industry -- stagnation abounds. New concepts are greatly appreciated.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
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Contest:
11:40 PM on 09.03.2007
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Fuckery, that's Poo; if such a transgression resulted in an AO rating for the Destructoid, nobody would care.
Oh, and nocturnal omissions: HAHA!
Wet dream puns FTW
Whats next, morning wood ones as well??
LAWL
"Renowned video artist Bill Viola’s first foray into games is a sublime and meditative journey into the soul that explores the path to enlightenment."
Does this mean at the end of the game large text appears saying "You're Enlightened!"?
[i]a sublime and meditative journey into the soul that explores the path to enlightenment,[/]
yeah thats exactly how it was...
a sublime and meditative journey into the soul that explores the path to enlightenment,
yeah thats exactly how it was...
It was... nice. Relaxing. Yeah, I wasn't in constant fear of getting sniped or attacked (though my Silent Hill senses were completely tingling). It is definitely more an experience than it is a game, 'cause there's not really much in terms of competition. Goal, sure, but not competition. Not everyone's thing, but what is? I was a big fan of Cloud and Flow, which are from the same academic program as this.
More info (the paper presented at Sandbox) at http://tinyurl.com/3bp6dk
Science Fiction Critic: "90 percent of all Science fiction seems to be complete crap. What do you have to say about that?"
Theodore Sturgeon: "Well, of course 90 percent of it is crap. 90 percent of EVERYTHING is crap."
Alright. So most artsy games tend to be boring pieces of malicious tripe with the exception of Rezco of the Okamilossus. Well of course, but those types of games are very few and very far between and as you said making a good game is hard enough on it's own. Just because a couple of those games decide to take a nice leisurely stroll up their own ass, it doesn't invalidate the idea of the medium being more than reward-reinforcement itch scratch.
Fuck it. Bring on the cell shading, the moral ambiguity and the arbitrary bullshit allusions to Kant, I'd rather stroke my chin any day of the week than play a game that didn't try. I don't care if it don't say nuffin', just make it memorable.
Looked more boring than Tarkovsky's most boring films, and those actually were pretty insightful. I don't think this slow meditating method works for games. I just want to play through them, not standing still and contemplating the impact of what I just saw. I guess stuff like this falls more in the digital art arena than really being a game.
Video is broke for me. :(