Right In The Killzone

There's a video of Killzone 3 that's dedicated to the highest res version of brutal melee kills they can program, linked below and I thought, the hole time I was watching it, aside from marveling at the details in the graphics and the clarity of the presentation that, Man: you want to know why videogames are ghettoized? This is why.

I was fashionably disgusted. I say fashionably because there's a part of me which much admit, damn, that looked cool. But, that moment didn't interest me as much as I felt like it pushed me away. I understand that somewhere, there is a check being cut to a developer to make a more convincing, more shocking melee kill. It is a large check. Irrational (the guys who made Bioshock), bemoan the fact that there's not a market for a mid-level game anymore. You're either indie or you're a 20+, 30+ million dollar investment.

There's so much technology being spent on choking, slicing and stabbing a digital foe, to make it looks as gruesomely awesome as possible, so it appeals to a certain demographic that wants it gritty. Make no mistake, Killzone 3 is a game for the hardcore. And what is the hardcore? Dudes. Dudes my age who want a real experience. I am the target demographic. (I want to make that the title of a record.) Being that target demographic makes me feel hyper-aware of my purchasing power.

Speaking of my purchasing power, I bought the first Killzone and really enjoyed it. It's a very well polished shooter with its own ideas about weight and movement with exceptional level design.

But that's not what I want in a videogame, at least any more. I mean, if I want gory brutality, I can always read 2666. HEY-O! Okay, but seriously. It's millions of dollars spent to make a minor distinction between it and hundreds of games in the genre. And maybe the rest of entertainment is like that, but on a smaller scale, but it's the scale, here, that gets to me. Not that the money could be better spent elsewhere (it could, very easily, but that's a point that's been beaten to death) but that it's so much money spent on a so particular demographic that I feel connected to, whether it's apocryphal or not.

We're appealed to via millions of dollars spent on a throat slicing animation that will feel real, but anyone who'se done it will know its inauthentic. It's disappointing. But I enjoyed it when I saw it and responded to the thrill.

Enough pathos.

Luckily, Emmy Dee is going to be back and (hopefully) talking about videogames, from the perspective of a girl that's trying to live with a Warcraft kid. Hopefully, I'll get the opportunity to pick her brain about what she thinks of when she thinks of the hardcore videogames., given that she's a party to them in an adversarial way. Apparently, she really likes Plants Vs. Zombies, as I do.

In short: How an uninterested party look at the shootydudes genre? This is all if I can talk her into it, of course.

In summation! Killzone 3 will probably be an immaculately produced game that will have value to the hardcore gamer by virtue of well designed levels, guns and challenges. It will satisfy the need to be exciting by shooting evil people. Cheap thrills, right? At millions of dollars? I guess those thrills aren't so cheap anymore.



Anyway. Here's one person's songs, interpreted by somebody else. Diplo, a guy I have heard of, doing Sleigh Bells' Tell Em, another band I heard of. It feels huge but not heavy. Anyway. Crank loud and smile.