No, I'm not talking about the quiet bikini snoipah.
Let's talk about Kojima and metal gear.
The auteur theory of film is true, watch 10 Kubrick films and 10 Hitchcock films back to back, I defy and dare you to tell me it isn't. And for every medium there's a certain manifestation of auteur theory.
Compare Clutch to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there's two distinct and separate and wonderful worlds of music there. Compare Rembrandt to Michelangelo, there's obvious differences in their stylistic choices. Compare Stephen King to Tolkein, there's distinctions there that run far deeper than their cadence.
Now, if you were to point to video games and go "Find me the auteurs of this genre" who would I be able to point to beyond Kojima and maybe David Cage on a good day where I don't feel pissed off by David Cage?
Fuckin' nobody. When I pick up a Kojima game I know I'm playing a Kojima game, he knows what people think while they play games, he knows how to get into a players head (which is, to an extent, why I'm most disappointed he didn't get to finish Silent Hills) and he knows how to deliver an artistic message through game mechanics alone which sadly, a lot of developers don't understand.
Here's the discussion I want to have: which developers, beyond Kojima, are capable of delivering artistic messages solely through their game's mechanics?
I can think of Ed McMillain with Fingered, that's about it and thatgamecompany with Journey. There has to be more than two.
Let's talk about Kojima and metal gear.
The auteur theory of film is true, watch 10 Kubrick films and 10 Hitchcock films back to back, I defy and dare you to tell me it isn't. And for every medium there's a certain manifestation of auteur theory.
Compare Clutch to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there's two distinct and separate and wonderful worlds of music there. Compare Rembrandt to Michelangelo, there's obvious differences in their stylistic choices. Compare Stephen King to Tolkein, there's distinctions there that run far deeper than their cadence.
Now, if you were to point to video games and go "Find me the auteurs of this genre" who would I be able to point to beyond Kojima and maybe David Cage on a good day where I don't feel pissed off by David Cage?
Fuckin' nobody. When I pick up a Kojima game I know I'm playing a Kojima game, he knows what people think while they play games, he knows how to get into a players head (which is, to an extent, why I'm most disappointed he didn't get to finish Silent Hills) and he knows how to deliver an artistic message through game mechanics alone which sadly, a lot of developers don't understand.
Here's the discussion I want to have: which developers, beyond Kojima, are capable of delivering artistic messages solely through their game's mechanics?
I can think of Ed McMillain with Fingered, that's about it and thatgamecompany with Journey. There has to be more than two.