"I am Turok!...No More"

Something I've been interested in during my time as a gamer is the story within a game. Years back playing on my Sega Megadrive (Genesis for any in the US) I used to love reading the tiny blurb in the game manual describing what Dr Robotnic had done this time for Sonic to go after him.

One of the strongest stories I ever found was whilst playing Turok 2: Seeds of Evil for the N64, there was something about the world, the characters...its was somewhat immersible, so I researched it and discovered the wonder that was Turok. The concept's first inception was in comic format back in 1956. Numerous reimaginings of the story that sometimes crossed over from one generation to the next, sometimes put a spin on things led to the creation of a computer game we came to know as 'Turok: Dinosaur Hunter'.

Accomanying the games manual was a short comic featuring the character Joshua Fireseed (main character from the second game), and although short showed a connection to Turoks roots in comic-book format. The numerous sequels to follow (Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion being my personal faveourite) went on to carry somewhat of a story in game enhancing the gameplay in my opinion as I was no longer shooting mindless baddies in a bid to save the world but act out a character in a story. Even the multiplayer based Turok: Rage Wars carried somewhat of a connection to the Turok universe.

Present day. Transmedia/Cross Platform galore! Heroes is still strong, Buffy season 8's in print and we're talking convergence of media platforms. A new Turok game emerges from the shadows, an Animated 70 min feature retelling the original comic book story too! But whats this...the game's not really connected to the Turok universe. They've gone for graphics, gore and a title that's been selling for the past 60 years.

This could have been a great Transmedia springboard, instead its Buena Vista's rape child. As a fan of the Turok universe I feel let down somewhat that the story's been killed and I can hear a Native American in my head shouting "I am Turok!...No More".

Thoughts and Theories of a Rambler

OK kids today's post is going to be quite different, its going to be personal, reflective and a bid to save whatever sanity I have left!

Just finished the first year of a post-graduate in 'Transmedia Storytelling', "Ooooh" I hear you say...well I'm now faced with being back at my parents house and looking for work whilst finishing of the previously mentioned post-grad during my next two years of write-up. To say the least I’m a little bit confuzzled.

Where am I going, what am I doing, what am I eating...OK the last bits hardly relevant but seeing as I posted that I'm considering cooking enchilada's tonight for myself and bros (2). I'm trying to get into video editing, contacting various post-production companies here in sweet old Cardiff and seeing if they'll take me in on a paid work placement so I can beef up my CV, gain some contacts instead of ending up in McDonald's serving chips. My bait is that Go Wales will offer the company a £90 contribution to my wage per week giving them cheap labor on a short-term contract.

Siiiiiimultaneously wanting to explore script writing which I'm more passionate about than editing but have a bit less practical experience with. I'm at a bit of a loss however as I'm not sure where I'm supposed to be going and every time I ask for directions I find myself a little further out at sea with no land in sight.

So what do I know so far?

• Post-Production/Editing companies don't seem to want to reply to me - I'll bug them on the phone next week!
• 'Script Reading' sounds like an avenue if I could only find something more local than London's Script Factory courses and perhaps some way to afford the fee!
• Script Writing is going to require me to actually write something and then find somebody who wants it. (Just found UK On Screen's Writing Forum that's listing requests for scripts)

I guess for now I'll keep up with the applications, keep on researching and try to remember I'm still doing a postgraduate. TTFN

No Tragedy in Games?

“How do we express the irreparable losses of life with appropriate solemnity within a shape-shifting world?...I mean a story of a single worthy individual’s fall from a worthy life to a desperate ending through some choice or flaw of his own, a story that focuses on this irretrievable loss, arousing our feelings of pity and terror and leaving us at the end in a state of purged emotion and heightened understanding.”

Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck:
The future of Narrative in Cyberspace,
(New York: The Free Press, 1997), p.175

Whilst reading Janet Murray's chapter entitled 'Transformation' (sub heading: ‘Tragedy in Electronic Narrative’) it's struck me somewhat that no matter the ethical alignment of a character, be it good/evil/in-between, played in a computer game you'll always end up 'winning'.

What separates the gamer from the reader of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the viewer of James Cameron's Titanic; well aware they won’t find a happy ending? Would losing be so bad if the game's story was compelling enough to continue or is the gamer to stubborn to play on?

Perhaps the closest thing to such a game is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's deleted ending where after following the dark path of the Sith you redeem yourself under the advice of a lover by remaining on board a Space Station with him as it's destroyed. (video below) It's interesting such a narrative turn point was removed from the game.

Will we see the emergence of tragedy based games in the future or find this is the one media form this narrative cannot exist in? I feel I wouldn't mind playing such a game myself as for me its not about winning as much as its about the experiences I play through.

An example for me is Sid Meiers Civilization IV. I play though constantly and have a great time building up an empire but rarely find myself playing through the whole of the game. The game's narrative is more user generated than a storyline so a tragic game isn't exactly comparable to an RPG such as KOTOR but the idea of enjoying without needing a happy ending still remains somewhat. In this sense I feel I wouldn't mind playing through a game with a narrative deemed to be tragic. Would you?

Don't Cross The Streams

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a direct sequel to the first two films and includes the voices of the original cast. Now when GB3 was being talked about semi recently it was said Bill Murry wouldn't be interested in another film, studio's wouldn't make it unless he signed up and who can blame them I know I want to see Venkman and his banter.

Dan Aykroyd had a script featuring the Ghostbusters and some sort of Manhatan/Hell type Manhatan parallel thing going which sounded pretty sweet but as time went on he was talking about the next film going CGI. This was supposedly all in the pipeline but then got scraped for what is now a new script written by Dan Aykroyd/Harold Ramis. Such a script is bound to be worthy of your time, take a look at Ramis's co-writing on Groundhog Day or Bedazzled (remake) and you'll know you're in safe hands.

Crossing the Ghostbusters storyline over to a video game could work out well, games and their narratives are stronger now and ever so why shouldn't a cult story such as Ghostbusters continue to live on?

Definitely something to look forward to. So until it's release: Who you guna call?