Press play doesn’t mean what it used to. In the last decade the gaming industry has developed at such momentum it can now attract actors of the calibre of Kevin Spacey, Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page to lend their voice and likeness to games. What’s more with games like Metal Gear Solid becoming increasingly famous – or infamous – for their captivating story lines and beautiful camera angles, it seems that things that we used to associate with the film industry don’t solely belong to them anymore. We will soon be playing interactive movies. Or have we been playing them all along?
A quick internet search of the term ‘Interactive Movie’ will provide you with a list of games that contains the likes of Heavy Rain and The Walking Dead. These are games that focus on narrative rather than game mechanics and many other games have begun to follow suit, which has lead to a boosted cinematic feel overall and has caused an ever more present overlap between the two industries. Although some could argue a game is game, and just because it has conventions of a film, such as a director or thought-out camera angles, doesn’t make it a film. After all a game is meant to be played, and a film is meant to be simply watched. There is such a large plethora of games available, and very few have this highly cinematic feel. It is mostly only an element of the AAA games, no doubt why they are called blockbusters.
The rise of the cinematic in the gaming industry is far from the death of game mechanics, with so many indie developers rehashing the way we game, there still remains a clear distinction between the two medias. Ultimately, with such a booming film industry, it was only a matter of time before games mimicked the film formula in attempt to create ‘crowd pleasers’. The new tactic has payed off, and has proved to be the new money maker in the video game industry; for example Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 making $1 billion in the first 15 days of its release.
However, perhaps this is a end of an era for the gaming industry, especially in light of the recent ‘Gamergate’ controversy. Perhaps corruption has finally got to what once was a young and innocent industry, unaffected by what would ‘sell big’ rather than what was just fun. It’s not all doom though. Perhaps it’s a good thing so much money is being pumped into our favourite blockbuster games, as films and games have always lent to each other; just think of Tron and Scott Pilgrim. Industries will always overlap, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s not to say they are becoming same thing. One thing is for certain pressing play doesn’t just apply to the remote but also the console controller too.
Lauren Natalie and Emina-Bougaard
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