Mary Jane Irwin is a Chronological Liar

May
13th

Kyle Gabler—grizzled and haggard but still managing a boyish smirk—approaches a podium set up in a suite at San Francisco’s Clift Hotel. He hasn’t slept recently and fumbles while hooking his laptop up to the video system.

He’s debuting his baby, the videogame “World of Goo,” before a horde of critical journalists who have packed the room for a look at an upcoming series of games that will run on Nintendo’s Wii platform. Gabler plays the trailer, which he spent all night editing, and starts “Goo”—delving straight into a grassy world filled with cute blobs aching to reach a mysterious black pipe.

That first run goes smoothly, but Gabler spends the rest of the day praying the prototype of his game won’t crash as the journalists try it out. “I was terrified the whole time,” he recalls. The future of his two-person studio, 2D Boy, rides on the success of “World of Goo.”

— Wee Games, Big Ambitions - Forbes.com

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Apr
30th

The sad truth of GTA IV: You’re the monster

Grand Theft Auto IV is actually a tragedy, said John Davison, president of parental unit videogame guide What They Like and (more famously known as) a veteran of Ziff Davis. Niko Bellic, the protagonist, is a really tragic figure full of self-loathing for the acts he commits, he explained.

Last night he was filling in the gaping gaps in my GTA history. See, I’ve never actually played a Grand Theft Auto game — I blame the series for appearing to go out of its way to alienate women. Although I haven’t logged any time behind the wheel, I’ve certainly been exposed to the game and, frankly, have never been able to wrap my head around the cathartic joy of wanton destruction. I’m the one who spent hours playing Crackdown literally just jumping around.

As we discussed the series (well, as John told me about his GTA IV play time), it struck us: In GTA IV, the monster is you. You never have to engage in deprave acts outside of assassinating folks, which puts all the hooker beating squarely on your shoulders.

The series has always been about freedom to do anything, but its new-found gravitas highlights the fact that you’re running around steamrolling cops and innocent civilians because, well, you’re expected to, right?

Thinking about the franchise in this manner, I keep drawing the same conclusion: The Houser brothers have created the videogame equivalent of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Sure it’s a tongue-in-cheek satire of America’s obsession with violence, but GTA IV’s more subtle “big stick” is the message: We should all be disgusted with ourselves.

Of course, I still haven’t played the game, so I can’t vouch that this comparison is, you know, actually true.

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	Go Home Archives Chronological Photos Chronological Liar RSS Let's be friends: iam [at] thechronliar [dot] com Navigate culture business musings shameless videogames Beautiful People Chewing Pixels Collision Detection Infinite Lives Sexy Videogameland The Brainy Gamer Level Up Rock, Paper, Shotgun MTV Multiplayer	May 13th Tumblr Quote Kyle Gabler—grizzled and haggard but still managing a boyish smirk—approaches a podium set up in a suite at San Francisco’s Clift Hotel. He hasn’t slept recently and fumbles while hooking his laptop up to the video system. He’s debuting his baby, the videogame “World of Goo,” before a horde of critical journalists who have packed the room for a look at an upcoming series of games that will run on Nintendo’s Wii platform. Gabler plays the trailer, which he spent all night editing, and starts “Goo”—delving straight into a grassy world filled with cute blobs aching to reach a mysterious black pipe. That first run goes smoothly, but Gabler spends the rest of the day praying the prototype of his game won’t crash as the journalists try it out. “I was terrified the whole time,” he recalls. The future of his two-person studio, 2D Boy, rides on the success of “World of Goo.” — Wee Games, Big Ambitions - Forbes.com Comments Apr 30th The sad truth of GTA IV: You’re the monster Grand Theft Auto IV is actually a tragedy, said John Davison, president of parental unit videogame guide What They Like and (more famously known as) a veteran of Ziff Davis. Niko Bellic, the protagonist, is a really tragic figure full of self-loathing for the acts he commits, he explained. Last night he was filling in the gaping gaps in my GTA history. See, I’ve never actually played a Grand Theft Auto game — I blame the series for appearing to go out of its way to alienate women. Although I haven’t logged any time behind the wheel, I’ve certainly been exposed to the game and, frankly, have never been able to wrap my head around the cathartic joy of wanton destruction. I’m the one who spent hours playing Crackdown literally just jumping around. As we discussed the series (well, as John told me about his GTA IV play time), it struck us: In GTA IV, the monster is you. You never have to engage in deprave acts outside of assassinating folks, which puts all the hooker beating squarely on your shoulders. The series has always been about freedom to do anything, but its new-found gravitas highlights the fact that you’re running around steamrolling cops and innocent civilians because, well, you’re expected to, right? Thinking about the franchise in this manner, I keep drawing the same conclusion: The Houser brothers have created the videogame equivalent of Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. Sure it’s a tongue-in-cheek satire of America’s obsession with violence, but GTA IV’s more subtle “big stick” is the message: We should all be disgusted with ourselves. Of course, I still haven’t played the game, so I can’t vouch that this comparison is, you know, actually true. Comments « Previous Powered by Tumblr

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