The "Happily Ever After"

Todorov brings up a good thought with the idea of "once upon a time." In most stories you read, hear, see, play you start off in a world that is normal (or at least normal for the characters) but eventually a shift happens that causes some sort of adventure to return the world to normal.
I like to think of stories in "worlds." For example, Aladin is my favortie disney movie and Agrabah is a very distinct world. Although the details of the world haven't been fleshed out in terms of its past and its inhabitants I like to imagine one anyways.

Bioshock is my favorite video game and story of all time. It just so happens Tuesday marks the release of Bioshock 2 and my return to the fictional world of Rapture. Without going into too much detail, the main story of the game takes place 10 years after the events of the first game. The multiplayer component actually takes place before the events of the first game when the world of Rapture was just on the brink of destruction. I love the idea of being able to hear the walls of Rapture speak about the past, present and future!

Anyways, the point of this entire post is that sometimes a story world that we are introduced to does not have that state of equilibrium, although it did at one point and that is the direction in which stories move, back to normality (no matter what that is.)

LOST: Season 6

I am a big LOST fan. I am completely in love with the story, characters, twists and turns. If you have never seen it I HIGHLY recommend it. Anyways, this blog is going to be about retention rates. You see, I never could watch a show week to week. No matter how compelling I would get bored with it. However, I have instant netflix which streams movies and tv shows directly to my tv. I love this feature. LOST seasons 1-5 became availble last summer and I managed to watch them all in the matter of a few days. and yes, I do know how sad that is.

I used to be a big Heroes fan. The first season was awesome. After that season I had to wait to see more Heroes episodes as they weren't availble on Netflix instantly. Eventually the show came on instant netflix and I tried to give it a chance but I had just lost interest and couldn't get it back.

Anyways, what I wanted to get across but also wanted to hear from you guys was how good is your retention rate when you are watching shows? Is there anyone out there who can keep interest on a week-to-week basis? Also, any shows you want to recommend?

Video Games! Almost as good as movies!

I have issues with game developers. Specfically, the game developers at Quantic Dream. In a few short weeks the developers are going to release the long awaited game, Heavy Rain. Game director David Cage has constantly been quoted saying that Heavy Rain is an "interactive drama," and is more like a movie than a video game. Do you see the problem here?

Quantic Dream is not in the movie buisness, they are in the game buisness. I think it is insulting for a game maker to compare their work to that of a different medium. A video game should not aspire to have movie quality standards. it should aspire to have AAA video game standards. By promoting Heavy Rain using film as a comparison you set the gamer up to not have an interactive experience but to have a cinematic one.

As you may have figured out, I believe video games are by far the best medium for sharing experiences. I certainly like other mediums such as TV, Movies, Books, Radio, etc. but none of these ever make you feel like you have control. I'll be the first to admit, video games have had some horrible plots. Any video game movie you have ever seen was probably horrible and the main reason for that is because this industry is not meant to merge with any other. Games are designed to be interactive. Some games however, have the best moments I can ever remember experiencing in any medium.

Bioshock (My favorite game of all time) has a story that is so creative and so original that it has won over 50 game of the year awards. Bioshock is currently being made into a movie. I refuse to go see that movie because I believe that the experience is best had with a controller in hand. That's how it was made and that is how it is meant to be.