Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
television commercials that focused on showing image sequences from the
game matched with breathless voiceovers laden with ef usive praise like
“they said it couldn't be done in a major motion picture, they were right”
and that “the most anticipated epic adventure of the year will never come
to a theater near you.” These television ads were matched with a print
ef ort featuring the image of a massive cannon from the game spread over
two pages and the text “Someone please get the guys who make cartridge
games a cigarette and a blindfold” splashed across the top with “Possibly
the greatest game ever made is available only on PlayStation. Good thing. If
it were available on cartridge, it'd retail for around $ 1,200.” 12 Video games
were no longer just competitive with sports and reality; their representa-
tions surpassed the best in entertainment. Final Fantasy VII promised a tale
more fantastic than those that could be found in motion pictures, a fi delity
made possible through the new CD-ROM technology that could only be
experienced on a PlayStation. Gamers should get a PlayStation because the
design and play it of ered were more dynamic than a cartridge system could
ever match. Taking an argument made by Intellivision and amplifying it,
Sony refi ned the appeal that accuracy and representation are a key part of
video games. Sony's contention was that their system was better precisely
because it could create more interesting design, a better story, and a better
game than could be found on cartridge systems, like the NES.
Although this kind of rhetorical positioning still infuses the words,
design, and play surrounding consoles, video games have become estab-
lished enough that fractures are appearing in the argument that a realistic
portrayal is the best way in which to represent video games. From the
brief period where cell-shaded graphics were all the rage to the carica-
tures common in the graphics on the Nintendo Wii, alternate lines of
argument are being presented as to what should drive acquisition of a
game console. At the same time, consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlaySta-
tion 3 used a traditional line of appeal based on better graphics and more
processing power to promote their of erings. Although the Wii won the
early phase of the console war between the three companies, sales of that
console dropped substantially as Microsoft and Sony cut prices and the
Wii reached a point of greater market saturation. In spite of dif usion in
appeals about why to buy a console, the battle over representation in the
context of the discourse of video games is unlikely to go anywhere; espe-
cially as consoles continue to incorporate new technologies and manufac-
turers seek to beat out their rivals.
WHAT WE DO
One of the emerging pieces of the discourse of consoles is the changing
dynamic of how we view what consoles should do. Considering that the
introduction of the home console was as a seasonal toy, the context of these
 
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