(Fatal) Frame of Reference

I hope that this blog will someday in the not-too-distant future become a forum for people to say interesting and original things about video games. But before that can happen, I feel obligated to set some ground rules, so my faithful readers will know what to expect here at Neely’s. To that end, I’ll put up a post letting you know a bit about myself and my tastes in gaming.

I’m a 24-year-old professional who has been playing video games as a hobby since kindergarten. My first console was a Sega Genesis, which still works and is currently stored safely in my parents’ basement. Har har.

Since that time, I’ve owned a Super NES and each generation of the Playstation. I have significant experience with the N64 and Xbox, but less so with the Gamecube, Wii and Xbox 360. I’m not a pc gamer, and I have never pretended to be. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.

In college, I once missed several days worth of classes because I'd just gotten a Sega Genesis emulator installed on my laptop, and I couldn't tear myself away from ToeJam & Earl.

My tastes trend toward action games, RPGs and shooters with the occasional strategy game mixed in for variety. I don’t have much time for fighting, racing or sports games. There was a time around 5^th grade during which I played sports games almost exclusively, but that era has long ended.

I have degrees in political science and journalism, and I have real-world (even award-winning) experience in the newspaper industry covering government and breaking news.

I intend for this blog to contain real journalism that will require interviews, research and competent writing on my part. As a strong supporter of the First Amendment, I encourage any and all of my faithful readers to please post feedback and make suggestions for story ideas going forward. However, I stress that I’m getting paid for none of this. It’s just something I enjoy doing.

So, I’ve come to the part of this post I suspect you will find most interesting. Here’s my own personal Top-10 all-time video games list. Please feel to disagree and debate. I look forward to it.

1. Silent Hill 2 – The game that proved to me that video games are art. Gripping atmosphere, tragic characters and a powerful plot that took on mature themes and did them justice. A life-changing experience.
2. Metal Gear Solid – Stunning production for the time. A huge step forward in cinematic gaming. Plus the coolest hero ever to grace a game console.
3. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – Incredibly fast and incredibly fun. Mario never had a side-scroller as good as this. Boom, I said it!
4. Grand Theft Auto III – A whole city of possibilities. Plus hookers!
5. 007 Goldeneye – The only FPS on my list (Sorry, Halo). Wide variety of weapons and great multi-player. Also, I have a man-crush on Pierce Brosnan.
6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – With the possible exception of the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3, Cyrodil is the most impressive and beautifully rendered gaming environment I’ve ever encountered. It’s fun just to ride around on Shadowmere and go sightseeing.
7. Syphon Filter – Ballsy and over-the-top with some fantastic level design. Personal favorites: The expo center and Rhoemer’s base.
8. Final Fantasy III – Technically groundbreaking with a story that still resonates.
9. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Another huge step toward blurring the lines between game and cinema. Great characters and tight gameplay.
10. Mortal Kombat II – The only fighter on the list. A lot of people look back on MK as a slightly embarrassing relic of the 1990s, but what can I say? I was a sucker for fatalities and Raiden. This franchise was also the inspiration for the best game-to-film adaptation in the history of cinema.

So that's it. I hope that this was informative for my faithful readers. Maybe it will kick off a discussion or two. If nothing else, I think it helps you understand where I'm coming from as a gamer.

The Color of Television: What is Gamer Culture?

In the book Neuromancer by William Gibson, the reader is introduced to a bleak and high-tech future in which a subculture of cyberpunk computer hackers plug into a reality generated completely by computers. Published in 1984, the novel largely prefigured the age of the information superhighway, where flesh-and-bone human beings could access data anywhere in the world from their own computer terminals. And certainly the Internet has spawned its own subculture in the form of memes, viral videos and its own vocabulary (lolcats, anyone?)

The kneejerk reaction when looking back at the significance of Gibson’s seminal sci-fi work is to make comparisons with the age of the Internet. But I’d like to train our focus on a slightly different comparison that can be drawn between the world of Neuromancer and an analogue in today’s world, a comparison that also involves technology and the way we trade information and human experience.

Indeed, faithful readers, let’s talk about video games.

A year before Neuromancer hit the presses, the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System was hitting shelves. In the decades that followed, Nintendo and other companies like it would bring console video gaming into the living rooms, rec rooms and basements of millions of households. The hackers of Neuromancer shared a culture and a set of almost communal experiences, and, likewise, I don’t think we have to look too far to find something similar that has emerged among video game enthusiasts (referred to as gamers from here on out). We share a language and a growing body of experiences that are pretty nearly universal among the hardcore. Quick: Sing the theme song to Super Mario Bros., or recall the first time you tried to wrap your hands around an Xbox controller, or name your favorite character in Street Fighter II. (The correct answer is E. Honda, by the way.)

With this blog, I intend to explore, define and chart the future of gamer culture, to the extent that one exists. Additionally, it’ll give me the chance to do some serious journalism again, to the extent that I ever was a serious journalist. I intend to confront a range of questions on gaming: What do video games say about the people who play them? What do they say about our culture? Are video games art? Is the medium here to stay? How will it change in the years ahead?

I’ll try to take on some meaty topics with sociological ramifications, but I’ll also strike a balance with some levity and humor. Also, expect the odd rant or review, depending on my mood and how much time I have on my hands. We’ll see.

Among science fiction novels, Neuromancer has always had my favorite opening line, and I’ll quote it here: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” It’s a bit noir and a bit pulp. But mostly, it reminds me of how my own TV used to look right after I flipped the power switch on my old Sega Genesis. A dead screen soon to give life to limitless pixilated possibilities.