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82.

Re: Scottish Martial Arts & Beamer = ...

Feb 2, 2005, 13:53

Scottish Martial Arts

The fact that you are trying to liken that idiotic mishmash posing as a storyline in HL2 to a "higher class" of reading is equally laughable. Go read a nice poem, and contemplate yet another menage-a-un as you watch reruns of Frasier. You sound like the Simpsons' "Comic book guy" after a year of english lit. A fair criticism. In all honesty I was trying desperately not to come off that way, but then said "fuck it, there's no diplomatic way to say this so I'll just be an asshole". Bottom line: someone like Tom Clancy or John Grisham produces pulp, like you said, and it may be popular, it may be enjoyable and it may sell millions but that doesn't make it good writing or good literature. Look at how we on the bluesnews boards respond to your average EA game: we deride it as being something for the mass market, that stupid console kiddies lap up, something that has whizbang production values but is ultimately poorly designed. Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, etc. are the EA of the book world. They (EA and the above authors) produce mass market shit, that is well marketed. People buy it not because it is especially good but because they simply arn't in to the medium enough to appreciate the mediums better offerings. I'm not particularly well read but I know enough about literature not to waste my time with someone like Clancy, just like how I know enough about video games not to waste my time with the next EA Bond game or the next EA LotR game. To go back to the film example of Collateral, it got pretty much universal critical acclaim despite the fact that it's plot was "Taxi Driver drives assasin around LA". The plot never develops past that other than that the hits get linked back to a character that is present at the very beginning of the film. The reason why Collateral is acclaimed as a good story because the characters are believable and Mann takes the time to really develop the world to the point that you don't need to suspend your disbelief, your simply lost in the lives of the people on screen. HL2 does not have the greatest story ever, like Collateral. HL2 didn't have the same caliber of storytelling that you see in a well made film or a well written book. What makes HL2 special was it didn't have Van Helsing-level storytelling, the standard for "story-driven" video games. If video games are going to be accepted as art the same way film and literature is, it is absolutely vital that video game storytelling moves past the level of artistic merit in movies like Van Helsing or your average Clancy novel. HL2 isn't perfect by a long shot but at the very least it's a step in the right direction. This comment was edited on Feb 2, 13:59.

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