Today I was catching up on the “Extra Credits” video series, and I saw two things that really made me go “WTF!” about gaming.
Extra Credits is a really neat show about game design. Sometimes they go way off the mark (do yourself a favor and skip their episodes on religion), but in general it is well worth a watch. It is pretty short too.
Anyway, while I was watching the previous 6 or 7 shows that I missed, I noticed two scenes that disturbed me a little. The scenes were not from the show themselves, but rather small clips of games that were being talked about.
1- The Big Ass — I have no idea what this game is. They were talking about dialogue in games, and showing short images of dialogue choices. In this one, there is giant ass in the first plane, while the charater being talked about and the text were really small, really in the back.
Nothing against fan service, but this seemed a bit… excessive. Reminded me of those “What if male superheroes were drawn as female are” comics.
2- Kill the Drunk! — In this episode they were talking about how a game can increase interest by making differences in kind instead of quantity. They were following the “call of duty” game. In CoD, the player is supposed to play the role of an elite military unit. They were invading a what looked to be a criminal ship. All is fine, until they go around a corridor, find an unarmed, drunken sailor… and shoot him to pieces…
Uhhh, yeah, very military and heroic action you got there sir. (just to make clear, this is not about the video show, but about the games themselves)