Dreamfall Chapters Dev Disputes George Lucas' Gaming Views

[Fanghawk]

Dreamfall Chapters Dev Disputes George Lucas' Gaming Views

Ragnar Tornquist believes that gaming already has its own equivalents to Titanic.

Earlier this month, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg took time during a USC panel <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124965-Spielberg-Lucas-Opine-On-Video-Games-Future>to discuss the future of videogames. While both directors expressed high hopes for the medium, neither seemed to believe that games have a great deal of emotional depth. Lucas even suggested that when players pick up a controller, "something turns off in the heart, and it becomes a sport", predicting that it will take another five years for gaming discover its own Titanic. These comments have rather annoyed Ragnar Tornquist, director of Dreamfall Chapters and an industry veteran of nearly 20 years. <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Lb30OFld-s>At a Rezzed 2013 panel on game storytelling, Tornquist explained that mainstream titles like Journey and The Last of Us already deliver emotional experiences, and should be recognized alongside mainstream film.

"Games are where storytelling is being experimented on the most," Tornquist explains. "Take Journey, one of the best games I've ever played - it tells an amazing story through pictures and sound that you just wouldn't see in a TV show.

"It made me so angry because I'm currently playing The Last of Us... I'm not going to spoil anything - but the beginning of the game sets up this great emotional connection... The controller turns on and your heart does not turn off. You feel desperate."

While I don't think Lucas meant to disparage gaming, Tornquist isn't wrong. In the past year alone, we've seen several mainstream games succeed as both critical hits and emotional experiences. Sure, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10362-Remember-Me-Review-Sadly-Forgettable>we have flops, but between The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, and even BioShock Infinite, games are quickly becoming as capable of connecting with audiences as film. And personally, I enjoyed those games a lot more than sitting through Titanic.

Source: <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-06-23-dreamfall-chapters-dev-responds-to-george-lucas-view-that-games-are-still-waiting-for-a-titanic-style-storytelling-success>Eurogamer

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[Fappy]

Why would any game aspire to emulate Titanic's level of storytelling? It was an excellent film in terms of special effects, but the story was a cliched bore-fest.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

Oh look, someone old thinks games aren't art.

Spoiler: Deploying countermeasures.

Now, can we please just ignore these guys opinons on a medium they've barely acknowleged?

 

[AldUK]

Yeah, film directors really aren't the best people to turn to when talking about games and where they stand on deep stories. We have a lot of quality games with stellar stories that evoke real emotion and we're getting more every week.

 

[BrotherRool]

Lucas' comments seemed well-intentioned but without a great depth of knowledge about games and the sort of things games do. Apart from anything else, he's clearly got an outsiders perespective, because he has the lack of familiarity with controllers that is a real challenge for newcomers to the medium. For the people who've been playing games their whole lives, we know that when we're playing a game we forget about the controller completely and become completely engrossed in the game.

 

[Alfador_VII]

Just ignore them Ragnar, and keep doing what you do. WE know that videogame storytelling can be great, I don't give a toss about what George Lucas says, or even a good film maker.

 

[lacktheknack]

Ragnar Tornquist is certainly allowed to say that. He directed Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, after all, which was more or less a less-successful game version of Titanic (in mood and execution, I mean, not in content).

I'm really not sure what Spielberg and Lucas are expecting, frankly. I can't even sympathize with them, because I get way more into games than sorts. Hell, even Uplink, which was an arcadey hacker sim, is one of the most immersive things ever. Every time I get the letter from the bad guy telling me to send them the program I just stole, I yelp and my heart beats faster, and I've played the game ten times (never actually won, tragically). It's not a "sport", by any means... it's a story.

 

[Abomination]

It almost sounds like the only games these directors have been playing were Madden or Bulletstorm.

Didn't George Lucas ever play Knights of the Old Republic or the Dark Forces series? Then again I can understand why not, given how someone was able to take his universe and weave a better story than he ever could via a medium he disreguards.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I'd also have to disagree with Lucas, *cough* one trick hack *cough* it makes me sad every time I play portal 2 and watch Wheatly go mad with power at its midpoint. If feeling sorry for poor delusional Wheatly doesn't count as emotion then I don't know what does.

I think Lucas *cough* hack *cough* is under the impression that the entire gaming industry is made up of CoD clones and Madden releases. Of course I doubt he'd know a good story if it bit him in the ass, judging by the prequels.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Didn't George Lucas ever play Knights of the Old Republic or the Dark Forces series? Then again I can understand why not, given how someone was able to take his universe and weave a better story than he ever could via a medium he disreguards.

Given their ages and that Spielberg's last game was Boom Blox, his current involvement is in Halo and Lucas well, was never overly enthused with Lucasarts, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that neither had ever played games in more than a cursory manner.

Spielberg got involved quite heavily in Medal of Honor, but it's fifteen years since he sold that to EA, I doubt he's even heard of Thomas was alone or Metro 2033, so games with serious emotional responses probably elude him.

 

[synobal]

I cried 3 times during Mass Effect 3 alone. RIP Mordin, and Legion.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I haven't played The Last of Us or Journey, and considering that they're PS3 exclusives it's unlikely I'll do it anytime soon. However, I agree with him. The Walking Dead was pretty good. It was easy for me to get emotionally involved in the ME games. The best JRPGs, like Persona 4 and Suikoden almost had me at tears at points. Suikoden V may have succeeded even. Xenosaga has a silly amount of cutscenes, which I doubt would work in a game if it hadn't already managed to make me care about the majority of the characters, and I'm only at the start of Episode 1.

 

[Imre Csete]

I guess Planescape Torment is being regarded by many as the best RPG ever because it has flashy and long spell cast animations. The unique setting which allows us to explore thoughtful and emotional themes has nothing to do with it!

 

[Imp_Emissary]

I'd also have to disagree with Lucas, *cough* one trick hack *cough* it makes me sad every time I play portal 2 and watch Wheatly go mad with power at its midpoint. If feeling sorry for poor delusional Wheatly doesn't count as emotion then I don't know what does.

I think Lucas *cough* hack *cough* is under the impression that the entire gaming industry is made up of CoD clones and Madden releases. Of course I doubt he'd know a good story if it bit him in the ass, judging by the prequels.

I would argue that even games like COD and Madden can be "emotional". For example: when they first showed off the Dog that's going to be in the next game, one of the first things people thought was; "OH! What a cute doggie! :3", then they thought; "x( Crap. They're going to make us love that dog, and then kill it, aren't they?"

As for the "it becomes a sport" thing. Has Lucas ever watched someone who does like sports, watching sports?! They go F@#King crazy! I don't like sports that much, but if the reactions they(and the games about them) get aren't emotional, well then I don't know what is then.

As people have said, there are games that will give you an emotional gut shot like The Last of Us, but even games that aren't made to be "emotional games"(usually meaning sad), I think one could argue that any game you really get into can be emotional.

Heck, even really bad games can at least make someone sad, or mad.

 

[ritchards]

I thought everyone was aiming for Citizen Kane?

http://thecitizenkaneofvideogames.tumblr.com/

 

[Evil Smurf]

Why would you want to emulate an overrated film?

 

[cwmdulais]

yeah ive got to agree with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg here. ive been playing games all my life, but the most emotional game hasn't compared to the most emotional movie (or book for that matter) i think it might have something to do with seeing your character repeatedly die in a lot of games that makes the emotional connection less engaging

 

[WWmelb]

yeah ive got to agree with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg here. ive been playing games all my life, but the most emotional game hasn't compared to the most emotional movie (or book for that matter) i think it might have something to do with seeing your character repeatedly die in a lot of games that makes the emotional connection less engaging

I almost would have agreed with you, until The Walking Dead.

I always could get emotionally engaged in games, but i didn't ever experience and didn't know if a video game COULD engage me on the same level as a brilliant book or movie in an emotional sense.

Then The Walking Dead came along and it is THE most emotionally engaging piece of art across all platforms that i have ever experienced. More-so than any book or film i have loved.

So yeah, we are getting better at making games engaging on a different level now, and it's wonderful.

Can't wait to get my hands on the last of us and delve into it.

 

[l3o2828]

George Lucas the untalented one trick pony hack and Spielberg a relic of the past have NO PLACE talking about new mediums they aren't actively engaging in, nor even comprehend all that well.
They're old and their vision is as wrinkled as they are.

Meanwhile i have to say that they're wrong, because Dreamfall and The Longest Journey touched me in a much more personal way than shitty film Titanic, that really had to add an incredibly inconsequential love story to an already tragic moment to create petty stupid drama to please the lowest common denominator of filmgoers who can't appreciate quality writting if it slapped them on the face.
I...God. Sorry, but Titanic is shit.