You can take the game out of the movie, but you can’t take the movie out of the game
There is a moment towards the tail end of Rockstar Games’ epic western Red Dead Redemption when, after a long campaign filled with violence, you are finally allowed to return home to your wife and child. As you ride across the plains the soundtrack swells. It feels triumphant, sentimental and incredibly cinematic. Red Dead is not alone. … Continue reading
Two quick thoughts
I’ve been working on a column about backwards compatibility in video game systems, and it’s exploded a bit (in a good way). So while I’m sorting out the pieces, I wanted to put out the one thing that I know for sure. I’m deeply interested in backwards compatibility, and right now to me it’s an important sign of a good system. I find, however, that I do not tend to use backwards compatibility to play the same games again and again. There are some exceptions to this—I’ve played at least three different versions of Final Fantasy IV—but for the most part I don’t find it fun to pick up old NES games. Most of them aren’t very good, and I’m immediately reminded that I was never very good at them.
Writing through the pain
Playing a new game is like a first date. You’re interested but tentative. Something about the game is attractive, and you want to get to know it better. Most of the time, you’ve even shelled out a dinner-worthy $20-60, but you’re still figuring out whether the game is worth a more substantial, long-term relationship.
And sometimes you go on a lot of first dates before you get a second date.
Red Dead Resolution
I bought Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption the day it came out, May 18, 2010, and I just finished it this past weekend. Of course, I say that I finished the game. The game itself seems to think that I’m only 85.4% done. Red Dead Redemption doesn’t end when the credits roll. You can just keep going if you want, playing poker, hunting, gathering rare herbs, helping or assaulting people as your wont may be. I will admit to having done a little of all of these things.
