Kino Maravillas and Daniel Sperling examine Battlefield 4, a critically-acclaimed first person shooter game from Swedish developer DICE. Battlefield combines high quality graphics, directional audio, and realistic gameplay elements to deliver an immersive shooter experience. We used two chapters from Bogost’s book, “Empathy” and “Drill,” to describe how the game conveys these themes and thus supports Bogost’s assertions.
In this episode, students David Golden and Ian Heaven discuss Dark Souls and how it’s mechanics, presentation and lore force players to work together to make progress fostering a gaming community unlike any other.
This reddit post is a perfect example of that community.
In this episode, Brian Fan and Mike James explore the graphic design of Halo 4, a game revolving around an epic galactic conflict. To what extent does art function in a game that is primarily a first-person shooter? How do the designs for weaponry and starships evolve as the identity of the game solidifies? Most importantly, however, what role does art play in the creation of a community and culture for the game?
Eric and Emma explore Minecraft by Mojang. Minecraft is known as a “sandbox game” where players can roam freely through an open world and complete missions as they feel fit. Aesthetically, despite its block-shaped obsession, can Minecraft be considered an art game? What makes any game an art game? What even is art???
Background Music: “Night Owl” by Broke for Free
Jordan and Mady explore Wii Sports, by Nintendo. Wii Sports is an interactive, exercise simulation game. Its purpose is to promote active lifestyle through alternative methods to conventional exercise, such as video games. We examined Wii Sports and incorporated Ian Bogost’s analysis of exercise through video games.
Background Music: Wii Sports Theme by Wii Sports
Lucy Ye and Kiara Ye explore The Sims by EA Maxis. Sims is a life simulation video game and a largely sandbox game. The players create fictional characters and place them into a virtual world, deciding and taking actions to direct their moods and satisfy their desires.
Nick and Jay explore FIFA by EA Sports. FIFA is an interactive soccer game simulation. Because FIFA is one of the famous games around the globe, its soundtracks attract people’s attention from a wide array of backgrounds. Though FIFA’s soundtracks make users elated and pumped to play the game, they mean more than that. Ian Bogost believes music in video games no longer carry themes and messages with them, however, FIFA is the perfect counter example. Let’s find out why.
Stephen Black and Max Faass explore The Binding of Isaac by Edmund McMillan. The Binding of Isaac is a 2011 Indie 2D dungeon crawler that portrays a modified version of the the biblical story of the same name. After Isaac’s mother hears a message from God commanding her to sacrifice her son as proof of her faith, Isaac flees into the horror-ridden basement to survive.
Background Music: The Binding of Isaac Menu Music (recorded by ourselves)
Laura Franco and Billie Solomon explore Cibele, by Nina Freeman. Cibele, like many of Nina Freeman’s other games, is orientated towards the female player. Because of this, we thought it would be interesting to see how male and female players react to the game and how empathy plays a part in these reactions. Included are an interview with a male and our personal opinions of the game, as well as an analysis of empathy.
Rohan Gupta and Zachary Lembesky explore Grand Theft Auto 5. They also composed and performed the song “GTA Yourself” and a version of the Mario theme music on guitar.
Other music:
“Modulation of the Spirit” by Little Glass Men on the Free Music Archive
“Adolescentno (Funky)” by Zli jezici on the Free Music Archive