But it's just a zombie's head! - Over the weekend I was thumbing through a video game magazine titled, GameInformer. Long time out of this culture, I still try to keep abreast of new developments and patterns of game play because I feel it greatly influences our society not unlike the influence of books in the past. One of the key reasons games are so popular is because at their core, games are about a story.
However, games I think are far greater in their impact today then books because there is the new element of immediate interaction not found in books. Also, video games condition responses and desensitize by removing players from real consequences.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we should get rid of video games. But I am saying we need to be vary aware of the influence games hold over players, young and old alike.
Anyway, GameInformer ran an pictorial roundup of their choices for the top video games that were on display at the E3 convention this year. E3, for those who don't know, is a huge electronics/video game/computer showcase of technologies.
One game in the line up stood out to me for two reasons. First, because of the image displayed:
The image shows the player blasting the head off the body of what is supposed to be an attacking zombie. That cloud of black and red particles is what used to be the zombie's head, now scattered and splattered across the virtual ether.
The game is of course the newest edition to the Resident Evil franchise. Good title huh?
The second thing that caught my attention was that it's a title forthcoming on Nintendo's GameCube. Why that's so interesting is the fact that Nintendo long ago had a set of rules that precluded such visually violent games from being played on their systems. They strove to keep their system geared toward kids with family safe games. The company itself has stuck pretty close to those guidelines when producing their own games, but it is increasingly evident that licensees are getting greater freedom in producing games for the Nintendo systems that go against those forgotten guidelines.
Money no doubt is the key.
Of course Resident Evil 4 isn't the first title on any of the Nintendo systems to go over the line. There are other violent fighting games, shooting games, and even some that are rather erotic in content for the Nintendo GameCube. One just needs to be vigilant in screening these games for our children and for ourselves.
