The Art of Video Games: South Florida's First Video Game Exhibition

This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting the Boca Raton Museum of Art, mostly to see its newest exhibition and the Smithsonian's travelling exhibit, The Art of Video Games. I was excited, as giddy as a school girl. Just could not wait!

Unfortunately, we got there an hour early, but at 12PM sharp, we were at the doors, advancing towards the first video game exhibition to ever visit South Florida. Needless to say--excited. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a sign that said "No Photography." Ouch. My ego was hurt quite a good bit, being that I had already perused the website about this particular topic and found nothing that would deny me my hobby. But alas! It seems photography was not in the cards for me today...

JK. I have pictures from the museum anyway, taken on a camera phone, but it wasn't me. I swear.

Near the entrance of the exhibit, we found these awesome people
wearing awesomely appropriate shirts.

At the very entrance of the exhibit, a projection, playing a short video that rotated the most popular and well known video games: Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, etc. Further on, the walls were lined with kiosks that each contained a game console, starting with the Atari 2600, home of Combat and the personal version of Pac-Man, and ending with the Playstation 3. These kiosks concentrated on four main genres: target, adventure, action, and tactics, while also concentrated on the 8-Bit, Bit Wars, Transition, and Next Generation eras. Smack dab in the middle of the exhibit were inviting cubicles that allowed guests to stand and play some of the games. The cubicles had tiny cameras with feeds that were connected to three televisions hooked up side-by-side in the middle of the room. These televisions showed the faces of guests, young and old, disgruntled or amazed by the games in front of them.

People playing games.

The kiosks were the main attraction of the exhibit. Featured games included The Legend of Zelda, Pitfall, Spy Vs. Spy, Gunstar Heroes, Star Fox, Sonic, Shenmue, and Heavy Rain to name a few. They were interactive and informative, each with buttons reflecting one of the four genres. Listeners enjoyed a short lesson on each of the games presented. It was educational, but certainly not boring.

"Original" Sonic in Character Development

Besides the kiosks and cubicles, there were also a few sketches here and there that seemed to be enlarged copies of original artist renderings:


Now, there wasn't really much art, so to say. The exhibit relied heavily on its interactive electronic kiosks as well as its informative looping 5 minute videos and the whole space was small, and not necessarily well designed to match with the entrance to the next exhibit. Even though I had a good time, I was still moderately disappointed. The title of the exhibit displays, perhaps, some kind of art, of which there was relatively few of. It felt more like a history lesson, and for me and my friends, a trip down memory lane. However, the set up and pieces of the exhibit are perfect for a crowd that knows very little about video games. In that aspect, it works very well.

This one was definitely original art.
A troll from Wow!

Later on, at a restaurant, my friends and I were discussing why we felt disappointed, and in hindsight, once we dug each other out of our nostalgic holes, the answer was simple--so much about video games was just not there.At the start of the exhibit, we saw the home edition of Pac-Man, which falls behind the pixelated beauty of its arcade version.And what many video game authorities consider, even in part, as the beginning of video games, Pong, was nowhere to be seen. Now, had this been actually about video game art, this would make sense. Pong might be zen, but it's not really graphic heavy...but this exhibit depended heavily on teaching the audience about the eras of gaming and the history. So where was Pong?

Even more disconcerting was the complete disregard for handheld devices like the PSP, with its sharp graphics, and the GameBoy. The GameBoy! Father of all handheld devices, with games that encouraged immense art collections and fan art, such as Pokemon. And in the Next Generation section, no mention of mobile gaming, which to me, is as much a part of next generation gaming as an Xbox 360. It has reached out to and made gaming accessible for countless people, and yet, no mention.

And no Tetris. Nope. Let me not even go there.

Perhaps it was a lack of space. Perhaps it was a ploy to sell coffee table books. Perhaps just a shameless commercial plug, but most likely a misnomer of an exhibit. Would I recommend this exhibit to an art student? No. A video game fan? For the discounted student price, yes. For the young child or aspiring gamer? Absolutely. The exhibit in itself is a learning experience, I hope, for both viewer and curator.  And if you're looking for a fast ticket to Memory Lane, you'll find it here, but for a price.

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Posted in: art,art of video games,boca raton,culture,exhibit,Florida,games,gaming,museum,video games

The DLC Debate: Part 1

Recently, I asked readers over at the Facebook page if they'd pay $70 dollars for a game that included Day-1 DLC, kind of like Game of the Year Editions. Out of 11 votes, no one answered yes. A lot of people purchase and enjoy downloadable content (DLC), and then some complain about it. The debate around DLC encompasses more than just pricing, however.

For certain games, like Call of Duty or Battlefield, preordering a game means gaining an edge over other players. This means guns or stats that other players will never be able to obtain. In competitive play, this is the difference between being on top and being average. There's quite a bit of outrage over preorder bonuses in general that offer advantages, simply because it makes the game less enjoyable for those who don't or can't preorder, and adds a whole class of "elite" players. But it all comes down to one thing.

"DLC is just another way for game companies to make more cash." Well, you can't argue there. When Borderlands 2 was released, it offered Day-1 DLC, another 10 bucks for Gearbox Software and 2k Games. And then, magically, all other kinds of DLC were "leaked" or announced. Next Tuesday marks the arrival of even more DLC, and since most range from $10 up, that's somewhere near $30 or $40 dollars over a base price of $60, for a whopping $90/$100! And it's pretty unlikely that developers just pulled these out of their ovens. It's quite probable that this DLC has been ready to go since the game came out, which means most of this content could have easily been included at initial release.

So my question, then, is why won't we pay $70 or so dollars for a game plus all current DLC from the day its released? Well, since there's no intrinsic value for games, we can't say $60 is too high or too low--just the minimum amount most gamers are ready to pay. It all comes down to the psychology behind 3 x $10 over a small span of time and $70 dollars right then and there. One looks like it'll burn a hole in your pocket.

Of course, this isn't to say that DLC is bad. It can expand the longevity of a game, refreshing it's replay-ability and making it more current over a span of time. If you release all the DLC within the first two months of a game coming out, what good does that do for replay-ability? And since most of this content is available at the time of release, why NOT bundle it? Even if it costs a bit more? The gaming industry has already been pushing the boundaries of customers--what will they pay,what will they not--with collector's editions and GOTY editions and rereleases and super secret give-us-more-money editions.

What do you think about DLC?

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Posted in: borderlands 2,DLC,gamers,games,gaming,money

Nintendo's Strange Intentions

Urban Dictionary defines the gamer as:

1.)Someone who plays video games when bored...usually very good at it 2.) Someone who plays video games as a hobby

However, in the recent Nintendo commercials, you can play video games but not be a gamer. The two commercials showcase two women happily tapping away at their Nintendo DS, either as an artist or as a coin collector but surprisingly, not as a gamer. Now, something tells me that Nintendo was just trying to reach a wider audience and this was just one attempt at influencing those of the non-gaming variety, but they way it came across...

...Not nice, Nintendo.

The term "gamer" has been attributed over the years to those serious and hardcore players, or even those who play occasionally. But as the years pass, the term gamer is growing to encompass more than what used to be the average momma's boy sitting in the basement until the wee hours of the morning. A gamer can be a social gamer, a mobile gamer, an online gamer, and so on. Well then, why are we so afraid of being classified as one?

What about this babe? Hawt.

It would seem that Nintendo is grasping at the concept of the gamer as a lazy, unfulfilled, procrastinating member of society. They took the stereotype and amplified three more times by having the commercial star an attractive woman and a young female athlete. God knows there aren't any beautiful female gamers! Right?

Wrong. Two out of five gamers are female, and they can't all be ugly. 

So now we have these commercials that are being played on channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that are only proliferating the stereotype by telling little girls "If you want to be successful, don't be a gamer. Just play Nintendo DS games instead."

This furthers that already innate schism between boys and girls and perpetuates the notion that the video game industry is a boy's world. If girls play video games, it's for a completely different reason--probably because they're giving in to their artistic side or mindlessly chasing coins.

Ultimately, Nintendo is trying to appeal to that audience that dislikes the "gamer," the sexist, hateful, 4chan lurking, lazy mostly male no-gooder. Except that in doing so, they're saying you can play video games and not be a "gamer." In the world of gamers, if you play a video game and you do it often, you're a gamer. Sure, the opinion varies here to there, but someone will classify you as a gamer, however horrible that may be.

I save pricesses. Others draw ice cream.

There were so  many different ways to go with this. I get it. With video games, you can be anything. When I'm playing L.A. Noire, I'm a hard-ass cop who can't drive. If I'm Commander Shepard, I'm saving the known universe. And sometimes, I'm a Princess-saving hero. But I can't be any of these things if I'm not a gamer.



And that's why you should join the dark side.
We have Doritos.
And Mountain Dew.

Image Source: The Frisky

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Posted in: children,commercials,gamer,gaming,mario,mountain dew,nintendo,stereotypes,women