BA6 2000 Words Prep & Research

Right, now that I have a strong foothold on my studio project it is time to get started on my CS project.
After reading the brief, I have come to the understanding that I am able to write a plausible argument about the positive influences in video games.

Violence in video games have always been known to be one of the main causes of violent shootings, dangerous driving and crime. This is due to the fact that this particular person or group has been engaged in violent games so long, they forget the rights and wrongs of the virtual game world to the right, lawful real world. That's not a generalization, that's fact. In the past, games have been used as a scapegoat for some peoples disturbed lives and general stupid behavior, being the real reason behind such crimes, that stand out to be the cause from influence in violent video games.

Below are a number of articles I have found regarding the effects violence in video games have had on some people and why it used as a generalization or an excuse. Not an initial reason why the crimes were committed.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/video-game-violence.htm
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game-violence2.htm

I have taken the quote below from a livescience.com article about video games violence:

http://www.livescience.com/3955-reality-check-video-game-violence.html

'Has the video violence resulted in an increase in violent crime? No; on Oct. 17, 2005, the FBI released figures showing that the U.S. violent crime rate declined again last year. In fact, violent crime has dropped significantly over the past twenty years'

A writer known as Richard Rhodes stated the following statement in an article for the 'New York Times'

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/opinion/hollow-claims-about-fantasy-violence.html

'In fact, no direct, causal link between exposure to mock violence in the media and subsequent violent behavior has ever been demonstrated, and the few claims of modest correlation have been contradicted by other findings, sometimes in the same studies.'

This particular argument is a pro and con debate about the influences of violence in video games:

http://www.debate.org/debates/Video-Games-do-not-increase-or-perpetuate-juvenile-violence/1/

'A 2004 US Secret Service review of previous school-based attacks found that one-eighth of attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games, less than the rate of interest attackers showed in violent books, movies, and writings. The report did not show any link between video games and school based violence.'

The debate continues on until the voted guest 'con' debater urges people to stand by the 'pros' side of the debate.

Although video games encourage a lot of negativity as I have stated. But, they also create a positive, enjoyable, relaxing environment for many others such as myself.
Video games target a vast audience of any age and gender, be it action/shooters and pick up and play puzzle games.

I aim to focus my 2000 word essay on how games can be used further for educational purpose, and serve a better use for people in the public community, be it a school, community home, youth group and even prisons. The idea is to give people of all ages the opportunity to engage with either one another or on their own to challenge themselves in a virtual, educational environment.

Below are a series of links providing current educational games amongst a variety of different subjects.

http://www.wateraid.org/uk/audience/schools?gclid=CMrJ-obQx7YCFc3HtAodqVUAvA#/fun-and-games

Water Aid is a company trying to change the world, giving people across the world clean, sustainable water. They rely on donations from the general public to sustain their work in suffering countries such as parts of Africa.

The site also includes a couple of mini games targeting young children. The games allow children to be aware of the value of using and saving water.
In the game the player creates a virtual family and is given a number of regular household tasks to complete using as little water as possible. If the player is able to save a certain amount of water and complete a series of small mini puzzles, they can be entitled to win an eco washing machine.

'To transform lives, we deliver taps and toilets, campaign for change and build the skills of local people.' - http://www.wateraid.org/uk/what-we-do/our-approach

http://www.tenement.org/education_lessonplans.html
'We tell the stories of 97 Orchard Street. Built on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1863, this tenement apartment building was home to nearly 7000 working class immigrants.'

The site represents a museum, which teaches people about immigration. They hold a number of weekly activities and also include some of them online to get people involved. One of the games is playing the role of one of the many immigrants in many countries, emigrating to America. The game follows the challenges they follow, until they made it.

http://www.educationarcade.org/

'The Education Arcade explores games that promote learning through authentic and engaging play'

http://www.theesa.com/games-improving-what-matters/education.asp

'Educators increasingly recognize the impact of entertainment software and utilize games as a teaching device in a growing number of classrooms and business settings.'

This site talks about how games will be part of the future in the world of education. Results have proven that young students learn far more when engaging in educational entertainment software than a regular class room setting.

'Dr. James Paul Gee concluded that video games intermix instruction and demonstration, a more effective learning technique than the style currently found in most classrooms.'

http://www.lumosity.com/landing_pages/188?gclid=CLa1xNiKz7YCFYXMtAodKFsAPQ

This site provides a series of selected exercises to help keep your mind functioning at its maximum capacity. The site gives you a series of options in what areas of your brain you would like to exercise, such as reaction time, decision making, mental arithmetic and multi-tasking skills. It then asks for your email address to send you an exercise program personalised to how you want it.

Games like this are ideal examples of where educational gaming can go. 
'Brain Training' for the 'Nintendo DS' is another similar example to this site. 'Brain Training'  gives players of all ages a series of exercises, similar to the website above, but in the form of a portable video game. Players are able to plug in and play where ever they want. 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/141413/reviews/dr-kawashimas-brain-training-how-old-is-your-brain-review/

'In fact, that's probably the game's greatest strength - presenting you with tangible goals to reach in terms of self-improvement and giving you enough incentive, through new unlockable games and features, to keep at it.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo_Pum6a6ko

'Brain Training' was commercialised on a massive scale, including all kinds of celebrities, engaging in the game, making it the ideal promotional campaign. The link above is an example of one of the many adverts that were broadcasted. This particular one is starring Ant and Dec, competing with some taxi drivers in a local networked (see BA5 Blog '2000 word essay') 'Brain Training'  competition. The advert ends by requesting people to visit 'Nintendo's' website, to view more information and find out who won the competition. Such marketing strategies like this is a good way to get people engaged in the game, as they feel that they are a celebrity too if they play 'Brain Training' . Like Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Ant, Dec and Steven Fry.

I have made a start on my first draft of my essay. I will be talking about how educational games could become a sustainable tool to teach people over teachers.

I have split my essay up into a series of questions I intend to answer, giving evidence of my findings and giving quotations from articles, which talk about the pros and cons of educational games.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_invented_the_first_educational_video_game

In 1986, a developer named Johnny Durango made a game called Jumpstart, was the first educational video game.
The only gameplay video I could find for this game was this short youtube video. However, there was another Jumpstart game released in 1994, called Jumpstart kindergarten.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anymore information on Johnny Durango, but I have some screenshots and gameplay video links of his Jumpstart games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHt8hZv6U7E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWI2s-2NeAw

Jumpstart kindergarten, introduces the player to a virtual classroom, in which they can engage in all sorts of activities and interact with everything in the classroom. Each item the player can see opens up additional information for them to expand their knowledge. for example. If the player moves the mouse cursor over the alphabet wallpaper a song is activated, singing the alphabet song. This is a great way for children to engage in learning theie ABC, as use of effective music is key to teach children at a young age, as the song creates a rhythmatic background melody. The child then remembers the melody and is able to sing their ABC's in co-ordination with the melody.

Another effective way of learning in this game is matching pictures, which represent key words in a sentence. The teacher gives you a sentence and the player has to select the images displayed, which best match the key words in the sentence to create a mental picture of what the words represent. For example; 'Mum tickles a hairy dog in a tree'. The player then selects a picture of a mother, a feather, a man with a hairy beard, a dog and a tree.

A third example is an activity to learn about numbers. In front of the player is a grid, filled with different numbers of items, such as flowers, teddy bears and pencils. the teacher gives you a number, and you have to select the square that fits the matching number of objects to the number given.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/pax-east-2013-steve-swink-says-video-games-can-save-education/


Release dates for games mentioned in essay:

http://uk.gamespot.com/uncharted-drakes-fortune/ - Uncharted: Drakes fortune
http://uk.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/ - Tomb Raider
http://www.jumpstart.com/ - Jumpstart
http://uk.gamespot.com/portal/ - Portal

I have been frantically searching the web for information on 1986's Jumpstart game, but the only information I could find on it was on Wiki. Sadly it is not recommended to mention Wiki links and references in my essay so I am unable to provide anymore proof than Wiki in my essay.

I found this really interesting essay written about education in games. It is written by Simon Egenfeld T Nelson 

http://egenfeldt.eu/papers/third_generation_JEM_egenfeldt-nielsen.pdf

The link above shows a PDF of the essay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UTgoPUTLQ

TED talk by John Hunter in 2011, about a world peace game he set ups in his classroom to allow 4th grade students to gain personal awareness of the state the world is in today. He leaves them the task to fix the crisis  set up before them on the board.

Hunters aim for this game was to let the children take control of the classroom and solve world issues in their way. He was present in the classroom simply as an advisor.

This plays vital relevance to my essay because I believe that when playing an educational video game, the games setting should be something unique, replacing the boring setting of the classroom. This is so the child feels that they have a sense of freedom, not being surrounded by a school themed environment.

John Hunter however proved that the important thing is the activity the child is partaking in, and not the setting. The World Peace Game was setup in Hunters classroom. Even though this was the case, the children still managed to engage and enjoy taking part in the activity, fully unaware that they were in school and learning at the same time.

I went to a feedback session with a draft of my essay. I was able to pick up some really interesting points in what to include. Sophie also had a read through of my essay and gave me some articles, books and links to check out.

I looked into a number of TED talks relevant to my essay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Sir Ken Robinson does a TED talk back in 2006, about how schools aren't flexible in the learning system to please every child's future aspirations. He talks about how subjects such as art, dance and drama aren't highly known subjects compared to maths and English language. His theory is that public schools simply prepare students to be university professors, and nothing else. Anything aside from becoming a professor after education would have to learn it in their own time.

BA6 Anonymous Personal Statement

As a task over Easter I was assigned to write an anonymous personal statement, specifically not giving any information it was about me:

I am very passionate about video games and aim to pursue a career based around bringing them to life.

During my three years studying games art at university, I was given a variety of paths to follow towards my future. Through this I found my passion was in 3D Level Design. My aim is to take it further to build the future worlds of games for a professional video games company. I believe that video game characters dominate the narrative world of games. But what I intend to do, is create a virtual game worlds that speak for the games narrative and connotations as much as a game character does.

 In my spare time, while playing and analysing games I enjoy experimenting on Maya, using all of the different tools, learning new features to create and develop new skills. I read a lot of games magazines and online forums and video games reviewing sites to keep in good knowledge about the industry and its games.

Being a massive fan of video games and learning to make them myself, I am always open to new ideas, feedback and criticism. It is the only way to move forward and any feedback be it good or bad in any format, I feel must be respected and treated professionally. 

CS: 2000 Word Side Project

As something to keep me busy over Easter, I have been assigned to write an anonymous personal statement, including no name or any details referring back to me, and analyse selected content in three selected games:

• Dear Esther (2012) Thechineseroom
• Spore (2008) EA
• LA Noire (2011) Rockstar Games

The following text below has been taken from a presentation performed during one of my lectures that I unfortunately missed. The task has been split up into sections of questions in which I will answer in full sentence form to complete the task.

As a sum up I have to look at each of these games and think about 'what potentials do they point to?' 

I will answer this question by pulling apart each game and analyze them by answering another series of questions, further breaking it down.

Structural Framework

• How do the rules and conditions of the game create conflict?
• Are players struggling against each other or the game or both?
• What are the interactive experiences provided for players in the game?
• Does interaction create meaningful play?

Aesthetic Framework

• What does the game look like?
• What are the possible visual influences?
• Does the game offer intertextual references?
• What other aesthetic qualities does the game present - movement, sound? 

Contextual Framework

Consider the game in terms of context:

• Origin
• Year of manufacture
• company (do they have a 'house style')?
• Target audience
• Does the game have persuasive purpose?
• What would make the game more effective?
• What potentials does the game point to

Dear Esther

'Dear Esther' is a first person, exploratory, interactive story, adventure game. 

It was originally released in 2008 as a free Source Engine Mod, but then was remade in 2009 as a retail release in 2012. 

The game itself is unique in its style, involving minimal interaction with characters and environment. The game fundamentally focuses on the narrative, which is told through scripted letters written to someone called 'Esther'. From episode to episode the letters progress, developing the games story.

Structural Framework

'Dear Esther' has no initial conflict in which the player is challenged physically. The initial conflict is with the environment itself, when exploring. As the game features little to no interaction the player just needs to travel from place to place to develop the story. 

'Dear Esther' technically follows set rules, other wise the game literally has no real 'game' title to it. The rule is that the player must move forward to the next episode in order to progress and finish the game. Despite the games all out free roam capabilities rules still apply.

In 'Dear Esther', players only struggle against the game and its vast, open environment, figuring out which path to follow and what is the right way to go to progress in the story.

The game was originally made as a source for Modding, re-inventing the games environments into something which the player desired.

When the game was re-made and released for commercial sale, the source modding style was easily noticed and remained, meaning that the game still has no initial player to environment interaction. The only interactions that is generically accountable is activating a new segment in the story when the narrator reads the player another passage in the letters or walking into a wall, knowing it has a collision mesh added to it, stopping players from crashing or glitching the game.

Dear Esther creates meaningful play through its open world exploration and simplicity, not through its interaction. It gives the player no sense of boundaries in the world they are exploring and provides them with game full of peace and tranquility. A unique change to other adventure games such as 'Tomb Raider', 'Uncharted' and 'Fallout 3', which require strong interaction and action alongside the adventure genre. The game is a psychological escape from action, guns, puzzles, racing and horror.

Another creation of meaningful play in Dear Esther is playing the game because you want to, not because you have to. In terms of aesthetics, unique game play and the story, the game it self gives the player the means to feel no pressure in rushing around to complete it.   

Aesthetic Framework

Dear Esther is a visual masterpiece. It is realistic, beautiful and vibrant. It shows the world for what it is, be it from natural wonders (rock formations, forests etc...) or man made (shipwrecks, buildings, fences etc...).

Dear Esther has a number of guaranteed visual influences; the aesthetics of the games environment being so realistic is the primary one, the graphics, the sounds and the psychological feeling of peace when playing it.

Intertextual: Relating to or deriving meaning from the interdependent ways in which texts stand in relation to each other.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/intertextual

I do not believe that 'Dear Esther' offers deriving meaning from anything realistically political or religiously, but culturally Dear Esther's setting is realistic in the real aesthetics of the land and the local traditions the islands follow. The islands are known as the Hebrides, north west of Scotland. The island is strong with Celtic and Norse influences, depicting the local tongue and the where about of the prehistoric names of the islands.

http://www.virtualhebrides.com/

Dear Esther features simple, realistic sounds, ranging from the seaside breeze, the sounds of crashing waves or the sound of the characters feet trudging through mud, splashing through water, the hard knock or walking on pavement or the hollow thud of stepping on wooded piers, jetties etc...

Contextual Framework

'Dear Esther's' origins goes back to 2008 when the game was originally made as a mod for 'Half Life 2'. In 2009 the game was taken in for a complete overhaul by a game artist called Robert Briscoe in the games level design and visuals. Brisoe's aim was to reveal the games true potential. By 2010 the games potential shined when the games company Valve; known for 'Portal' and 'Half Life' were granted a license to market the game as an official release on their online game site; Steam. This gave everyone who had access to the internet the chance to experience the game themselves.

'Dear Esther' targets people of all ages, but from a personal perspective I believe it targets people over the age of 18. 'Dear Esther' is simple, but it has an in depth, mature and sophisticated message saying that games don't have to have renowned character's with detailed back stories, visually astonishing action and mindless violence that is found in most popular mainstream games to be a big hit. It remains simple through creating a vast, peaceful and mysterious environment, full of potential for players to explore in their own time.
'Dear Esther' persuasive purpose is to move away from the mainstream popular shooter and racing games of today's society, such as 'Call of Duty', 'Gran Theft Auto' and 'Need For Speed' and go in another direction with the adventure genre. Dear Esther has achieved this by creating a game world that anyone who plays it can see it how they want and believe what ever they want to with no one telling them what exactly is going on.

'Dear Esther' is a game which represents a new revolution in adventure games. I do not think that anything should be added or removed from the game to improve it. 'Dear Esther' is aesthetically pleasing, its simple, peaceful and there are literally no boundaries for the player.
In terms of making the game more effective, would be to involve some form of political or religious influenced narrative, but keeping the simplistic exploration characteristics.

http://dear-esther.com/?page_id=2

Image Sources

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&gs_rn=7&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=mFsTSE0CSLB9zh157aNU3Q&cp=6&gs_id=m&xhr=t&q=dear+esther&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.d2k&biw=1625&bih=912&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=xRZOUY-BL4eX1AXDjoGQBw#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=dear+esther+in+game&oq=dear+esther+in+game&gs_l=img.3...17047.18962.0.19314.8.8.0.0.0.0.60.417.8.8.0...0.0...1c.1.7.img.3gd6t76XXPI&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.d2k&fp=419aabb7ed9010b8&biw=1625&bih=912

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&gs_rn=7&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=mFsTSE0CSLB9zh157aNU3Q&cp=6&gs_id=m&xhr=t&q=dear+esther&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.d2k&biw=1625&bih=912&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=xRZOUY-BL4eX1AXDjoGQBw

Spore

'Spore' is a multi-genre, sing player game when the player literally plays god. The game was developed by 'Maxis' ('Sims') and designed by Will Wright. the game was released for Mac and PC in 2008.

Spore allows a player to create and control the growth and development of a species from microscopic birth to a galactic supremacy over other players creatures. 

Structural Framework

'Spore' has  many rules that create conflict both between players, AI (computer players) and the environment. 

Throughout the stages of the players creatures development, they are faced with conflict against more evolved species trying to eat/kill/dominate them, gathering resources off the lay of the land, even including having to fight other players for it. Player conflict is a much higher rule to Spore, followed by environmental conflict. the risk of the surrounding land running out of resources, forcing the player to move on or even die out if they do not maintain a sustainable lifestyle throughout different stages of the game. As players develop their species the conflict increases as players all over the world grow to the same level as you are.

Stage 1: Bacteria

Stage 2: Land based

Stage 3: Base building

Stage 4: Planet, space dominance

'Spore' is full of interactive experiences throughout. Interaction consists of communicating or engaging in conflict with other players, gathering resources from plants, ground etc and being able to control either one or many of the player's creatures in the real time strategy mode or the early 3rd person mode, when you control only one of your creatures, expanding your territory further and dominating other players, either AI players or human players over the Internet.

'Spore's' interaction creates meaningful play in the simple sorts. The fact that all of the gameplay is conflict with other players. There isn't much detailed significance to it other than the need to dominate other players and rule the land, or from a realistic perspective understanding how animals in the real world have to defend their territory from strange invaders, or attack their territory to breed, gain access to better resources etc... Its a variation of realistic and fantasy meaningful play and can mean either or both to some players.
I played it when I was still getting into games and I didn't find any true meaning behind it. I just wanted to wipe all the other players out and win. Once I got to the space age I got bored and left the game all together, so I can't give any more personal input than that.

Aesthetic Framework

'Spore' looks like a computer generated simulation of planet Earth in a parallel universe, if humans had the option in how they can create the animals.
From a graphical perspective the game is lacking, minimizing the games initial aesthetic sophistication, but for 2008 it is visually modern.
The level of detail on the creatures is significantly higher than the environment, as 'Maxis' wanted the focus point to be the creatures, not the environment.

I can clearly see two visual influences that 'Spore' has taken on. The creatures have a similar visual style to 'Sims'. The environment; plants, land etc... is very much like 'World of Warcraft' (WOW). When players are in the third person stage of evolution the gameplay for combat and gathering resources is just like WOW.

'Spore' offers one massive intertextual reference. Darwin's theory of evolution. His theory is that all living things started from a microscopic form of bacteria. Some managed to survive, engaging other organisms, growing bigger and bigger. Over time, the organisms grew a variety of different features such as wings and feathers for flying, gills and fins for swimming and legs for walking etc... the list can go on. It all became apparent when the evolved creatures were able to walk on land, growing accustomed to their new environment and further evolving to adapt to the land be it hot, cold, wet, dry, windy, low oxygen or underground.
'Spore' gave the players that option and power to bring Darwin's theory to life and play god with nature themselves.

'Spore's' moment and sound aesthetic qualities are pretty basic and found in all video games. Developers focus on the quality of the characters animation the most, with their sounds that the player chooses to support them. Sounds vary whether they are communicating with other creatures to make, or engaging in combat, with sounds of struggling, death, victory and pain.
Environmental movement is pretty much on the same wavelength as a real time strategy game. A number of good examples would be 'Cossack's', 'Stronghold' and 'Supreme Commander 2', where the trees and plants move in motion to the velocity of the wind or rain ('Supreme Commander 2' only).
Creating a realistic surrounding environment for the player and their character/s.

Contextual Framework

'Spore' was originally going to be called 'SimEverything' but the creator didn't want all of 'Maxis's' games to be 'Sims' this 'Sims' that, instead the name, 'Spore' popped up and it stuck. The name originated from a comic in 2006.

As a promotional campaign, 'Spore' was given to go for a documentary on 'National Geographic' and a Youtube page was made, with updated trailers, with the games progress.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Spore

'Spore' was manufactured in 2006 and was released worldwide in 2008. Maxis's particular style is creating a realistic, animalistic (in this case) simulator, to give the player a realistic, immersive experience.

'Spore' targets a very young audience (3+) having a comic like aesthetic design. But the big picture of the game is much easier to understand if someone much older like 15+ was playing. The game initially wants to entertain and teach the player, slightly going off the realistic course when creatures begin to fly through space and build huge settlements.
I believe the games purpose was to create a virtual world with educational aspects, teaching young people about the theory of evolution and replacing generic humans evolving with creatures, created by the players.

The game is pretty dated now. From my past experience playing it, the first few stages of evolution in the game were very rushed and didn't get their fair share of play time compared to the space age. I think if the games different stages had an equal amount of screen time, or perhaps a larger expanse of environment to explore. Improving the games graphics, and modernising it would make a big difference.

Spore points to a number of great potentials. It is able to entertain and educate people at the same time, as well as give the 'Sims' franchise a new name.


LA Noire

'LA Noire' is an investigation, crime thriller game. It was released by Rockstar in 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The follows the life of Cole Phelps.
Rockstar was the same company who made 'Gran Theft Auto' and 'Red Dead Redemption'. All the games share a similar aesthetic quality and a wide open camera third person perpective, giving the player full all round visibility and an immersive amount of freedom. All their games feature a crisp realistic graphical style, making their games usually 18+ rated, as they contain graphical violence, bad language and strong drug and sexual references.
A unique new addition to 'LA Noire' is the player witnessing graphical deaths and grotesque psychological and violent flashbacks before a victim was murdered. These recreational flashbacks are a key stage in solving cases to launch the game forward.

'LA Noire' has conflict primarily based around the life and job role of the character. This a unique characteristic, that lets the player understand how a real life job in the detective business could function.

Influences:

http://uk.gamespot.com/features/the-influences-of-la-noire-6313180/

The Movies

Sweet Smell of Success
This late-'50s noir inspired L.A. Noire with its stunning views of a city at night.

The Naked City
Any case-based police procedural, whether film, TV, or video game, owes a debt to this influential film.

Chinatown
A defining moment in film for its take on corruption and the form it took in the San Fernando Valley.

Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns
This incredible PBS documentary charts the history of jazz, from its birth in the early years of the 20th century through to modern times, and gave us a guide to the kind of musical atmosphere we wanted to create inside the game.

Out of the Past
Famous for its twists and turns, the epilogue-as-a-prologue at the start of the film is one of the great moments in cinema.

The Asphalt Jungle
A stunning heist movie in the noir style, this reminds me of an Ellroy novel where each character is fatally flawed and there is a sense of impending doom from the first scene.

The Third Man
The beautiful setting (postwar Vienna) and the powerful musical motifs were a huge inspiration, as well as the incredible lighting and staging.

Television Series

Badge 714 A radio series and TV show from actor and writer Jack Webb, the TV show (also known as Dragnet) chronicled real life on the force and re-created the image of the LAPD. I have an old copy of the novel on my desk.

Naked City The show spawned by the movie, which created the model for Law & Order and other similar shows.

The Music

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
The best jazz record ever made, and it presages the Cool West Coast movement that is the period for our game.

Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain
Put it on, have a listen, and you'll soon be transported miles away.

Dexter Gordon: One Flight Up
A great exile recording made in Paris that I listened to a lot while writing the script.

Chet Baker: Witch Doctor (Live at the Lighthouse)
The Lighthouse was a jazz club along the seafront in Santa Monica. We used to use this track in our early presentations for the game.

Oscar Petersen: On the Town With the Oscar Peterson Trio
I listened to this a lot when writing the overall plot for the game.

The Authors

Raymond Chandler: The High Window, The Long Goodbye, and famously The Big Sleep
Subtle nods to these books can be found throughout the game.

Dashiell Hammett: The Dain Curse, Red Harvest, and The Maltese Falcon 
One of the greatest writers in crime fiction.

James Ellroy: L.A. Confidential, The Big Nowhere
It's hard not to recommend that you buy everything Ellroy has ever written. Ellroy creates complex, human, deeply flawed characters that you come to love--a genius.

James Lee Burke: A Stained White Radiance
For someone who can't write prose, reading his novels is very humbling.

James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (screenplay for the film by Chandler)
Funnily enough, this and The Postman Always Ring Twice are the two defining novels of an everyman being manipulated by a beautiful woman.

Nathanael West: The Day of the Locust
It's still the definitive novel of the hope and despair of the early Hollywood process.

The Locations

The Mocambo Club
A famous LA night spot on the Sunset Strip, the Mocambo was a hangout for the rich and famous and was renowned for the nefarious events that would take place there.

Brown Derby
Another 1940s LA landmark with caricatures of Hollywood stars covering the walls.

Hall of Records
We wanted to do a Chinatown moment where a character is searching the files, so we had to re-create the original Hall of Records, which was demolished long ago.

Egyptian Theatre
I've always loved the Egyptian Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre, but I had never seen a film there, so we made sure to use them as interior locations during cases in the game.

Central Police Station
Like much of the Bunker Hill side of downtown LA, it has now all but disappeared, but it was fun researching what the building was like, including the attached Central Receiving Hospital.

The game is whole with its use of 1940s type music, as well as its realistic sounds. The use of speech is similar to this time period and and the sounds of cars etc make you feel like you are in this city. The persuasive purposes of this game are to make the player think into the subtle facial expressions of people, and to doubt others truths. It makes the player really observe their surroundings to find all the evidence.

The effectiveness of this game is almost absolute. The amount of detail put into making this game incredibly interactive shines throughout, and the classic 1940s feel to the game puts you right in the midst of the action. 

LA Noire Gameplay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF47oVUxJXI

will wright

http://www.will-wright.com/

images

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1625&bih=912&q=spore&oq=spore&gs_l=img.3..0l10.1753.2374.0.2495.5.5.0.0.0.0.78.298.5.5.0...0.0...1ac.1.7.img.5A4yvoPKRbY#imgrc=paXTwfoypy0qeM%3A%3BhmwSY-FmTA04ZM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fen%252F7%252F77%252FSporebox.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FSpore_(2008_video_game)%3B256%3B355

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1625&bih=912&q=spore+space&oq=spore+space&gs_l=img.3.1.0l4j0i24l6.1180.2882.0.5659.11.9.0.2.2.0.54.454.9.9.0...0.0...1ac.1.7.img.P6ZnrBhugCU#imgrc=c1iz0j0oAGH8wM%3A%3BkMrI4ijDN0JGqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fguidesmedia.ign.com%252Fguides%252F735340%252Fimages%252F590%252Fspore_space_137.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpc.gamespy.com%252Fpc%252Fspore%252Fguide%252Fpage_30.html%3B590%3B443

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1625&bih=912&q=spore+space&oq=spore+space&gs_l=img.3.1.0l4j0i24l6.1180.2882.0.5659.11.9.0.2.2.0.54.454.9.9.0...0.0...1ac.1.7.img.P6ZnrBhugCU#hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=spore+stages&oq=spore+stages&gs_l=img.3..0i24l2.9978.14911.0.15319.6.5.0.1.1.0.79.289.5.5.0...0.0...1c.1.7.img.9Xck1nNiYSs&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.d2k&fp=419aabb7ed9010b8&biw=1625&bih=912&imgrc=9nSr5Nk8uSs8hM%3A%3B3wF1X4XG00j90M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimages2.wikia.nocookie.net%252F__cb20120715125703%252Fspore%252Fimages%252F0%252F0f%252FRedPuffish.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fspore.wikia.com%252Fwiki%252FPuffish%3B500%3B313

I have been set an additional task. Study a game listed or one of your choice meeting the expectations of procedural rhetoric and answer the following questions:

What are the rules of the system?

• What is the significance of these rules (over other

rules)?

• What claims about the world do these rules make?

• How do I respond to those claims?

I chose to play a recommended game by my lecturer called 'Save the Whale'

The games objectives are simple; link the water pipes together to add up to 10 to raise the water level and free the whale into the sea.

The game has been made by Green Peace, targeting children, to create personal awareness on the death of whales from being washed ashore or being hunted by whalers, making them an endangered species.

http://www.ictgames.com/save_the_whale_v4.html

The aim of the game is literally to 'save the whale'. The aim of the game is to connect pipes adding up to 10. It gives children the chance to learn and know that saving whales is a good thing, and they must respect them.
The game has no subliminal messages as far as I can see, and Green Peace are not hypnotizing children with polictical messages.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=grand-theft-auto-is-good