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Videogames have no heart, claims Andy Serkis photo

Andy Serkis -- who became a household name after bringing The Lord of the Rings' Gollum to life -- has criticized games for having no heart. Serkis feels that with games becoming such a huge medium, their storytelling aspects aren't doing enough justice to the ever-expanding audience that is embracing interactive entertainment.

"Games -- there's no heart in them," explains Serkis, who was involved in the motion-capture for PS3 game Heavenly Sword. "They're not about anything that is lasting. We put so much into the writing of film scripts and plays, but not into games. And games are where the audience is going to be.

"In the next generation of kids, you're going to see a lot of storytelling in games. And I think it's important to invest in that. I absolutely think that gaming is a massive storytelling arena in the making and now the technology has arrived to do that. It's a fascinating time."

While I think that tarring all games with the same brush does a disservice to some of the truly engaging and thought-provoking titles that already exist, Serkis does have a great point. All creative industries are about making money, but videogames put so much more focus and attention on profit over creativity that it's become blatant just how little publishers care about storytelling and providing a truly memorable experience. 

So very few videogames these days are made out of love, and very much like Serkis, I hope that changes. However, much of the blame also lies with the consumer. Until a publisher can put heart into games without worrying about bankruptcy, I'm sure we'll see a lot more of the games that Andy Serkis wants to see.


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34 comments | showing # 1 to 34

garison's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:46
garison
bias
KaL YoshiKa's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:48
KaL YoshiKa
Man wait till the Shadow of Collosus guys turn up...they're going to be pissed off.
Solgrim's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:50
Solgrim
It is sad when it is a risky move to make a high quality experience.
Diverse's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:52
Diverse
I believe that storytelling does have a long way to go in video games. Sure there are a few examples where the storyline is very captivating and a lot of thought has been put into it, but as a whole I think many developers just don't invest in this aspect of games as much as they should. Mirror's Edge is one game that comes to mind where no thought whatsoever was put into the story.
TewDee's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:52
TewDee
I agree. While I can't blame him not naming games that do have great story telling and making a blanket statement, a lot of games just...don't.
fadecy's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:54
fadecy
Has this guy played Bioshock?
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:54
deiga-the-semivaliant
It's hard to find games that combine both good storytelling with good gameplay. Often times you'll find games that have one or the other, but never good amounts of both.
killias2's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 18:56
killias2
A lot of the current marketplace is a result of the continued demographic grip of male Tweens/Teens/Twens on the market. As the original generation of gamers continues to age (taking the median with them), we'll see more and more incentives for games to go beyond what they've done in the past. This is still a very young medium with a fairly young audience.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:06
Jonathan Holmes
But Andy, what about games like Loco Roco 2 which are filled with heart and creativity, but don't need to use the almighty art of "Storytelling" to make you think and feel a variety of emotions?

Must everything become a story in order to become valid in your (and Hollywood's) eyes?

In short, Loco Roco 2 > King Kong.
Clance's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:11
Clance
He was on my plane back from Florence last summer.

I told him to say this. I'm sorry.
monosylabik's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:17
monosylabik
but he's got no problem claiming the checks from the games he participates in....way to go andy with all that heart and soul you got.
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:19
Necros
He's really right, for the most part. With a few exceptions, the writing in games is mostly abysmal compared to film's maturity, but I am confident that this will become a larger priority moving forwards. I love the feelings I got while playing Gears of War and wandering around ruined environments, but it would have been a lot more interesting if the characters and plot didn't suck.
GamingGoddess's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:20
GamingGoddess
I'm not sure if that's fair-- sure the majority of games do not have "heart", but isn't that true of media in general? Most Hollywood movies are crap designed to make a buck, and then every once and a while they put out one they care about.
darkwhitehair's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:21
darkwhitehair
I remember watching half an hour worth of "behind the scenes" making of heavenly sword on a TV show called gamerTV...

you piss me off Andy... Heavenly Sword is too short... who wants to pay $60 for a 5 hour 3rd person slasher... I got it for only $20 and havent even played it..

still... I hate you :'(
Shirley Temple's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 19:56
Shirley Temple
Heavenly Sword actually did have some of the most amazing story telling and acting. Specially acting. I've never seen better character performances in any game. Unfortunately the gameplay itself wasn't that great. Still. I'd like to play it again just to watch it as a movie.
dirtymik's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 20:09
dirtymik
He makes a good point but story telling is going to improve as the industry continues to mature. It would be a good idea to avoid Hollywood type scripts as video game storytelling evolves. The game industry isn't the movie industry and shouldn't even compare itself like that. Smegal should be a little more honest that the majority of movies don't have heart either.
TheCleaningGuy's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 20:09
TheCleaningGuy
I really liked Heavenly Sword, shame a sequel is NEVER HAPPENING.
DarkTower06's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 20:14
DarkTower06
The only game that has delivered on telling a story well is Prince of Persia: SOT. How many games have moments where your character just talks? Not because there's a cutscene or because it's needed to propel an important plot point, but just for the sake of making a more believable character?

On the whole though, I think games are a rather inefficient method of telling a story. It takes too much effort on the part of the person who's being told, there's too much time where the action is out of the storyteller's hands, and neither of those are conducive to effectively telling a story.
grafkhun's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 20:26
grafkhun
Man you guy's just have to chew up anybody who doesn't praise video games right? I do agree with him, because look at it, majority of games out nowadays do not have the love or the story they once had.
XanderSan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 20:30
XanderSan
Kinda pisses me off that he sounds like he's trying to speak for the industry. If you're going to make an arguement like this you should at least acknowledge the games with a heart that do already exist, from ICO/SOTC and MGS to We Love Katamari (Tell me that isn't a game with heart).
CallMeRotten's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 20:52
CallMeRotten
The article title is pretty misleading. What I got from it after reading was that Serkis isn't too impressed with the stories in games today, and feels that developers could do a lot better.

Who knows what he's actually basing his opinion on, but if it's only based on his time on Heavenly Sword I think somebody needs to sit him down and show him better examples of quality games throughout the years.
stevesan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 21:13
stevesan
over-generalizations aside, he's got a good point. and i agree.
Timstuff's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 21:40
Timstuff
Although there are certainly games out now that have good storytelling, these are wise words from Serkis none the less. Heavenly Sword was a great example of storytelling in a game, because even though the narrative certainly wasn't as riveting as Lord of the Rings, it was still a good story with interesting characters. I certainly hope that we get to see Serkis have more involvement in games in the future, because his contributions to HS are part of what made me love that game as much as I did.
SWE3tMadness's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 21:43
SWE3tMadness
It's not like other mediums don't have this problem as well. For every Gone With the Wind in movies, there's a The Transporter rip-off. For every Lord of the Rings series in literature, there's a Twilight.

There's a time for deep, engaging, thought-provoking stories, and then there's a time for cheesy popcorn flicks, just like there's room enough in an industry for both games like Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, and Final Fantasy (insert number of preference here), alongside Halo, Super Smash Brothers, and Katamari Damacy.

But if all the entertainment industries actually got together and started singing "Kumbaya" around a campfire, then we wouldn't have anything to talk about here on Destructoid. >.>
Toadofsky's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 21:58
Toadofsky
I generally agree with Serkis.

But not every game needs to be epic. But it's not like he's abhorring video games.

And why does everybody get so worked up about a differing opinion? Constantly reminds me of politics when people act like that.
pascuz46's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 22:50
pascuz46
I think what Andy Serkis is saying is that theres no heart that gets put into the story. He worked on a game, he knows how a developer gives there heart to working on the game. The story for Serkis is important because he comes from a filmic background and Hollywood films NEED to tell stories, they need to be well written. I think Video games are coming along but yes most games lack a very good story. However it doesn't help when you have the ESRB rating system breathing down your neck and will easily take out any sort of 'questionable' scenes. Video game stories are not allowed to fully develop because there are restrictions and Publishers like Activision and EA do not help either.
Qraze's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/11/2009 22:54
Qraze
i love me sum hev sword and he is awesome in it but i can think of at least 10 games that actually put a tear in my eye. hint, 3 of em are final fantasies and one is chrono trigger. i love a great story and that why rpg's have gripped me so well, because they are so long and well written. not all but alot are.
mistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/12/2009 01:09
mistic
He obviously never, ever played a decent game...

some games with heart: FFVII, FFVIII, Lost Odyssey... and that's just from the JRPG-genre...

idiot...
MatCD's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/12/2009 02:06
MatCD
Pro Tip Serkis, Video Games are NOT Movies. And Halo is NOT the only Video Game.
JustLikeBuck's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/12/2009 03:23
JustLikeBuck
He's not wrong.

The reason some of us fight for Games to be recognissed as Art, is because they aren't by the majority. Ask the common man to sum up gaming, you'll get Mario, Sonic, Halo, Gears of War, COD.

Not Beyond Good & Evil, Outcast, Psychonauts, Monkey Island, or even Uncharted. Why? Maybe we're not the mature audience we all assume the rest of us to be.

Whilst we all like to think of gaming as quite a mature activity considering the themes, but to the rest of the world, they just see their children playing mario.
silvain's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/12/2009 09:46
silvain
Games have a heart... it's just the heart of a 12 year old.
The White Light's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/12/2009 12:45
The White Light
He's not wrong. He is referring to a completely different ballpark that games are not usually put in. Let me put it this way:

No game out there now has a script/story that could ever compete with some of the best films or books. They would never be nominated for an Oscar or a Pulitzer. Some may have stories that are fun, interesting, or even have a lot of heart, but none of them speak to the human condition in a way that's mature, restrained, and crafted with a deep and personal talent.
KMCC's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/12/2009 13:30
KMCC
He isn't wrong, and I like what he said, in general. It's just that, like most people, he hasn't played the games that already represent what he envisions.
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