Generally I enjoy Yahtzee’s rants about video games and misguided design decisions but I have to be honest and say that I have never taken anything that he has said to seriously.
However that was changed during this weeks review of Ghostbusters, alongside the generally enjoyable review of Ghostbusters he raises a point about the artistic merit and skill required to create games compared to movies.
A movie just needs to keep someone entertained for 120 minutes without any interaction from the viewer while a game is expected to last on average 10 hours with constant interaction and close up inspection by a user.
As such it is logical to assume that creating a good game is a lot harder than creating a blockbuster movie and the media’s fascination with Spielberg directing a game or real movie stars lending their voice to a game seems a little hollow.
Granted a voice in a game compared to a voice in an animated cartoon is the same thing, but directing the theatric direction of a fully interactive piece of entertainment is vastly different to taking someone on a ride through a movie.
I think we are all pretty well aware that we are going to enjoy Uncharted 2 way more than an Uncharted movie, now we just need the industry to be given the same respect.
Last Updated: July 9, 2009
Banana Hammock
July 9, 2009 at 14:06
Ghostbusters is excellent, i loved every minute of it. It’s great to finally have some well written, funny and well acted dialog in a game.