Ghostwire: Tokyo- Videogames As Art

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a stunning survival-action horror game, which doesn’t lean too much into the gore or scares. The game follows a man who is possessed by a spirit after a Rapture-like event wipes out the population of Tokyo. Instead, yokai and malevolent spirits roam the land and impede your mission to rescue your ill sister who is taken by an evil man in a mask looking to break the walls between the human and spirit world. The game is okay but the fighting does get samey and drags on after while but the animations and rain effects are incredibly beautiful. I finished the game at about 8 hours so it doesn’t overstay its welcome but it does feel like a typical Tango Studios game, great ideas that don’t fulfill their potential.

Anyways, enjoy the screenshots of my playthrough!

The Evil Within 2- Video Games As Art

The Evil Within was an intense and exhilarating survival horror video game which was released 3 years ago. The game by legendary game director Shinji Mikami wasn't without its faults but as a whole it was a fun experience and was artistically pleasing. The game cast you as protagonist Sebastian Castellanos, a ex-cop who was pulled through a distorted world full of nightmarish locations and horrid creatures. This sequel finds Castellanos trapped in an otherworldly American every-town of Union that exists on an alternate reality only accessible through a matrix-type machine. So far so video gamey. But what sets the game apart is the artistic stylings of the game as the antagonist is a wannabe artist who creates art installation from hell. Walls adorned with close up pictures of eyeballs, beautiful waif like figures contorted in strange ways whilst covered in barbed wire and bodies projecting spectacular showers of blood. The game is disturbing and well deserving of its 18 age rating but the art style is often spectacular and twisted, like the television series Hannibal. The Evil Within 2 is a striking game and well worth a look.

The video game is an 18 rated game and so some of the images may be unsuitable for those under the age.

Time Flies When Gaming

Time flies in gaming, Tempus Fugit for those in the know with a little Latin (or who have seen that X Files episode). The concept is an old one of losing track of time, like when you are 'lost in a good book' or 'losing track of time'. We've all done it, been in a moment and enjoyed it only to realise that what only seemed like a few minutes has actually been several hours. Simon Parkin has labelled this 'chronoslip' in a fascinating article (linked below) and it got me thinking about my gaming habits and those of the current generation.

As a teacher who recently become a father, time is a premium. I have put aside the 6 week holidays as a chance to catch up on my gaming pile of shame, games that I have bought with the intention of completing but have yet to play . I've got Assassins Creed Black Flag, The Evil Within, Alien Isolation and about another 15 games, all of which I bought months and even years ago but haven't had a chance to play. I started off my 6 weeks by playing The Evil Within, a game by Shinji Mikami, creator of the seminal Resident Evil 4.

There is plenty of tension and gore in The Evil Within

For 5 nights I played the game whilst my wife and baby were asleep, which was usually from around 9:30pm. I really got into the game and loved the mood that it has created, playing with the lights off. On my 3rd day I made good progress completing 5 levels but looked at the time and it was 1:45 am!  Whilst I had been playing it didn't seem like much time had passed let alone 4 hours.

The atmosphere created is amazing, it really gets under your skin

Everyone knows that games are addictive and sometimes you need a lot of self control to turn the machine off. Nintendo recognised this with the reminder set every 45 mins into the Wii, an image of an open window with fluttering curtains enticing you outside. At the time of playing games on the Wii I'd always quickly skip past it, finding it an annoyance and continuing on but now I'm a lot more aware of chronoslip.

In my youth spending 4/5 hours gaming was not a problem, in fact I'd occasionally pull all-nighters with my friends, getting our University work done during the afternoon and playing classic games like Mario Kart until the next day. These 12/ 13 hour binges were fine back then but now I have priorities so 4/5 hours of my time is a big deal.

 The reason I'm writing this article is because I was reading about gaming related deaths, y'know, the ones you hear about occasionally in the media and normally from South East Asia where someone has died whilst gaming due to not eating or going to the toilet for 3 days etc.

I'm not that hardcore anymore due to time and family constraints but it does get you thinking that with the addictive nature of gaming and MMO games which you could potentially play forever, does something need to be done to promote healthy gaming?

In South Korea they have passed the 'Cinderella Law' which prohibits people under the age of 18 from being in an internet cafe after midnight (internet cafes being the way most people in South Korea play games due to the fact it is cheap and convenient). In England I worry about how much time the children I teach spend playing video games. Don't get me wrong, when I was their age I spent hours and hours playing video games but I also went outside a lot to the park and hung out with my friends, going to the cinema, playing on our bikes etc. As society becomes more afraid of letting their children play outside are we going to have a generation of unfit children who succumb to chronoslip? Time will tell... As for me I'm off to plough more hours into Dark Souls, only 8 hours in and I've barely made progress.

LINK- Simon Parkin's Article 'The Sometimes Fatal Attraction of Video Games'