Category: Critiques

Can Streaming give us a sense of culture to the West

Streaming services can safely be said to be the most popular way to watch tv shows and movies now. Broadcast services are largely in a state of decay while Cable is struggling to stay afloat in this era. Movies on the silver screen are still important but the ease of streaming is eating into those profits. What can streaming do for our cultures in this global age? In my opinion, this question has already been answered in a sense. Streaming gives us more of the same.

Streaming was supposed to be revolutionary. Yet what did it give us? More reality tv shows?

Netflix used to be innovative in its earlier years but is not longer interested in giving us such stories. They are more interested in replicating what has come before rather than attempting to be something new and innovative to see.

When companies such as Netflix begin, they are filled with idealism about their products.

However, now we can clearly see that they do not care anymore.

This shows that even in cyberspace, money can transcend the boundaries of HTML and code on the computers.

Video Games need to stop emulating movies

The video game industry has generally been a place that has been trying to get respect from older mediums. In the beginning of the industry, when graphics were not as sophisticated, and video games were relying on much more interpretation than a literal representation of reality. Video games have been increasing in graphical fidelity and become popular in the consciousness of the public. Because of this rise in popularity, video games have been focusing more on receiving legitimacy with the mainstream mediums, most specifically movies. There is a question why they wanted to have this legitimacy anyway, considering that video games are their own medium.

Video Games are games not movies. We should embrace interactivity and not making a linear narrative here. The choices are what make video games, simply unique as games.

Why the Video Game Reviewers need to stop proping up bad or mediocre games

There is general idea among regular gamers that professional reviewers are basically being bribed to push game sales. While we cannot say that this is the truth in every instance, it is clear that there many journalists are no longer able to review games without trying to use them to prop up their factions in culture wars.

It seems to me that the video game reviewers have become more like political activists rather than people who are actually trying to play the games and show their thoughts on it.

Some of it is a cultural change in our culture. The video game industry was seen as a not serious industry by many governments. It was simply part of the entertainment industry, which in the highly technocratic era of the Post-World War 2, was not seen it as a threat to their power. However, more recently, people have started to take a closer look at video games.

Politics and video games do not really mix as video games unlike movies, were truly seen as diversions not were taken up by the avant-garde. This means that video games have been more a product of middle-class values and concepts

However, more recently, people who tend to be more political have been getting more interested into video games. With this attention, they are bringing along the baggage which has been hurting the industry and its ability to make games.

What we need to is to return to when Video Games were made for people playing games.

We do not need activists in our games. Neither should they be in any form of media. Activism in this age seems more of a way to help one’s side of an oligarchical system in America.

Video games should return to being about entertainment and telling an inspiring story that matters to people of all ages, races and abilities.

When the video game industry and its critics manage to stop being so elitist, then the industry will be able to make great games that people will purchase and cherish.