Welcome back to The Hot Sheet, G4tv.com's light-hearted look at the industry. As always, data and analysis is unscientific, and facts may be slightly altered for comedic purposes. Let's get in touch with our feelings, shall we? (Oh, and happy 4th of July!)
What People Can't Wait To Get Their Hands On
People have got summer fun on the mind, which explains Wii Sports Resort being on top of this week's Amazon.com snapshot of top pre-orders. Nancy Drew is an odd one, from our core perspective at least. And in the distance, the faint sounds of tuba, trombone, and creative student cheers can be heard...
Amazon.com's Top 10 Pre-ordered video game items, as of 1:43PM, Saturday July 4, 2009
1) Wii Sports Resort
2) Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships
3) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
4) Dissidia Final Fantasy
5) Metroid Prime Trilogy: Collectors Edition
6) NCAA Football 10 (360)
7) Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)
8) NCAA Football 10 (PS3)
9) Madden NFL 10 (360)
10) Madden NFL 10 (PS3)
Emotions That Games Need To Better Get In Touch With
Can a game make us cry? Who cares -- can a game make me feel really bad about my life choices, friends, and the way I dress? Because sometimes, maybe they should.
1) Revulsion
Lots of games have blood and guts, but very few of them actually tap into the part of the brain that says "enough!" It's kind of hard to do with computer graphics, but God of War 3 seems to be on the right path. (Oh, also Postal.)
2) Disappointment in Others
More than just getting into our line of fire, our NPC friends need to have more relatable failings as virtual human beings. They need to not come through for us at the end, they need to drop more fly balls, they need to choose not to hang out with us in Liberty City. Then they can make it up to us.
3) Guilt
GTAIV flirted briefly with this idea with the whole Dwayne/PlayboyX scenario, but if there's a game that could go way deeper into the bad things you do in videogames, it's Grand Theft Auto. There need to be more reprecussions than just a lower score.
4) Shame
Or: "Where's Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball 3?" Which leads into...
5) Sexual Confusion
It's weird enough being expected to oogle digital ladies, let's make it more awkward by having them oogle back. How about following Gordon and Alyx on a first-person date? Every time Alyx says "You..." and reaches for "your" hand, it gets a little creepier. Should be especially disturbing with Natal involved.
6) Disgrace
You just team-killed your buddy. "Haha, oops!", right? Nope. After the mission is complete, the MPs arrive and haul you off to your court-martial. America's Army did something like this, but more games should put you in situations where if you legitimately foul-up, you have to clear your good name.
7) Depression
It would be the opposite of Flower, where over an extended amount of playtime the world around you starts getting grayer and more lifeless, your efforts doing little to stop the march toward inevitable defeat. Why we'd play this, I don't know. I'm depressed just writing about it.
8) Abandonment
Teammates are way too supportive these days, offering tactical information and extra ammo, sometimes even sacrificing themselves so that you can fight on. What would happen if you got separated from your squad, and instead of forming a rescue party, they just bugged out and chalked you up as an acceptable loss?
9) Humiliation
Most games want to build you up, and most gamers want to be the unstoppable hero. Let's play with this some more, like when Tomonobu Itagaki did it with Ninja Gaiden Black's easy "Ninja Dog" mode by giving you pink ribbons. Another alternative: judging people's 360 avatars...just like high school!
10) Mortal Peril
Ever see the scene in that semi-official "Thunderball" remake "Never Say Never Again" where Bond is playing Domination, the tabletop video game that gives electric shocks to the loser? Come on, Wii Vitality Sensor!
Comments
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ProxyVirus
whatisthisidonteven...
hybrid_theory
You have some very interesting points with some of these. inFamous sort of implemented guilt with choosing whether or not to allow a person to be killed. Some of these couldn't be realistically placed within video games such as if you were court marshaled and received a life sentence, game over forever. You do raise some very thought provoking points though.
frankyjr
Very interesting. I am trying to think of one game, cry? No, not cry and I know, you would think there would be a game out for me, LOL!! But boy, what game I can think of.
First game I can think of is Resident Evil, oh yeah, that game scarred the s--- out of me! For some reason, I do believe horror games have a better argument and reinforce it better BUT with todays horror games, you can open it to debate.
Do you know why I think? Cause we know what to expect from a game, in the end, the ending is good or not which boom! Brings to my next point. All the lil things work but first, you need a story, old-school! Final Fantasy was good because of many factors but the story makes it live forever, same as Mario. Oh and don't forget Halo, God of War, to name a few.
It is a story, it is. After all, what good is a story, if you always get what you want? Oh yeah, I'm feeling the shots all right, LOL!! :)
w00ly82
I like the idea of there one day being a game that incorporates a story so engaging and so moving that it causes players to become emotionally invested. Although it is a difficult medium in which to get that effect on players, I think it is still very possible to reach that point. As far as inducing the other emotions you have listed, some of those could possibly come along as well but as far as sexual confusion, shame, and depression go . . .
theplaga
shed a tear killin a big daddy...
cried when i harvested the little sister
stilllife
I don't know about you, but when I was little I got emotional about videogames. It was a childlike wonder for me. When I was 6, and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time came out my parents got it for me. I really grew a bond with my 3d link, and the first time he died in the Duku Tree I didn't want to play the game for a month, in mourning for my little elf friend.
Since then I've grown up, and don't feel emotions nearly as strongly anymore. Survival Horror games don't scare me, torture porn films like Hostile don't revolt me, and I kind of miss the childlike wonder, and the emotional range I felt when I was little.
Maybe it's just a natural part of growing up to feel these things less strongly, especially in relation to fictional characters. Indecently, when was the last time you cried during a movie? I haven't cried (during a movie or otherwise) since the first time I saw Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and the ant died. It reminded me of how my dog had died the previous year T.T
jhoe45
ok i'll be the one who says it..... aeries gets a sword through the back ... we all shed a tear
d33boy
It's really funny, after completing Infamous as a hero, I kinda felt bad at the beggining of my evil campaign. But the end result was friggin' awesome!!! Yeah!!!
Sandrock323
5) Sexual Confusion
Any body else waiting to see if there is a Sexy Beach game released with Natal support?
neonchez
the only two games i have pre-ordered are Scribblenauts and Batman.
blasphemous
wow,one minute I was reading about preorders and the next I was getting intouch with my feelings.
Really creepy mashup, andrew
Andrew Pfister
@blasphemous
That's why they hired me.
Xero_Wing
Am I a bad person for having always thought domination was a cool idea for a video game?
I don't care i'm just curious
AngelsandDemons
Wow...there's some interesting thoughts shared hear. It really paints a unique picture of the readers of this site beyond the whole PS3 vs 360 crap. Personally, Mass Effect was the only game that really had me sitting with my controller in my hand thinking when you had to decide whether people or alien races died. I wasn't sure if my decision would effect the stroy line but I imagined what I would do in this real situation. I popped one guy because I needed to take control of the situation and another because of hearsay.
AngelsandDemons
Mass Effect had me thinking about deciding when certain people lived or died. The scenarios were never simple and wer constructed with genius because no person was ever truly evil. Most of the situations involed variables that would make the average moral person choose life. However, sometimes having to make the decison after a boss fight or intense combat made me more inclined to pop the guy. It made me think about situations with law enforcement and military combat. I bet it's hard to take POW's and simply arrest and individual after a fire fight.
silent_jedi
yeah I got super upset when Aries died in FF7. First game I ever played that killed off a main story line character. Should have more of that, kind of throws you because you really never think they will kill off main characters like that. Mass Effect was good at that too, you had to decide to who was gonna die on a mission. Can't wait to play the next Mass Effect.
strangeboi63
This happens to be one of the most intellectual comments section I've ever read on this site...
Don't worry I won't tell any body.
Awesome job there Mr.Andrew. Hope to more like it.
jamie543
YA i had never cared as much as idid 9n FFIV which i played for the first time like 2 weeks ago (for shame) Some times i'm like ...wow but that was only in Cod4 when you die (SPOIL- er too late)
Ashen117
Hmm...revulsion huh? If you want me to feel revulsion about a game, you better start convincing the companies to allow more mature stuff. The last time I felt really revolted was the rape scene in Hills Have Eyes. Revolted and very very angry. So it's doubtful a video game will evoke those kind emotions in me. Though I was suitably disturbed with the conspiracy-theorist plots in Prototype and the question of how much we really don't know about our government.
Arguello
One game had all of this... True Crime:SoNY
1)people could be eaten by aligatorsss2)cops would help you out if they saw you needed help but if you shot one or two cops you got f'ed up.3)you could totally be like aww its a grandma lets not do that or you could be like screw grannie i needs arrests.Like eveything in this game was a choice.4)it was GTAs bastard child.5)sometimes you would be like look at that chick...with the large....adam's apple.6)Do too much bad cop stuff and they would take your undercover badge away and you had to walk around as a plain clothes cop until you did the cops didnt care about you i've been one too many cop's speed bump. 9)like most openworld games the AI talks mad trash. 10)so many glitches in this game you often thought about taking way too many sleeping pills while playing it
your move g4
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