Why wasn't Bioshock our Watchman?

[Continuity]

Besides the Wii, the biggest change in the industry that came out of 2007 was CoD 4. Bioshock in comparison was barely a blip on the radar. So, I ask you my fellow Escapists, why wasn't Bioshock our Watchman?

Simply because people outside the gaming community, i.e. those that need convincing, don't game. So it doesn't matter if a game ticks all these boxes, if the non-gaming critics don't play the game and don't have anything to compare it to even if they do (because they don't game) then they're not going to latch on to the importance of a title like this.

Put simply, computer games are not at all accessible to those outside the gaming community.

 

[Vonnis]

Because Bioshock's story, whilst interesting, wasn't that deep, and it didn't do dick to the FPS genre. We must not have played the same game or something.

 

[Thespian]

Possibly because Watchmen was as good as it was only in it's comic form, whereas, to be honest, Bioshock would have made as good a movie or book as it did a game.

If anything could be "Our Watchmen" it should be Minecraft - something hugely successful that only works as a game. Try to make a movie about Minecraft. It would suck. Balls.

The difference between Bioshock and Watchmen is that Watchmen took a good comic and transformed it into a more accepted form, while Bioshock was a game that remained a game. The people who didn't like comics saw the movies and said "huh, maybe comics aren't so bad", while the people who don't like video games didn't even give Bioshock a second look because it was still a video game.

I think that this could be proven by saying that Watchmen only became popular after it was turned into a movie (a more accepted form of media).

I believe he is talking about the comic watchmen, not the movie, and the comic was hugely popular before the movie Where did you get that idea? The movie was made like, twenty years after the popular comic. Are you saying it wasn't popular for those twenty years?

 

[V8 Ninja]

Because Bioshock really played it safe the whole way through. It didn't add anything new to the genre or video games as a whole except for giving the player some neat-o powers that probably could have been done four years earlier. True, everything was above par and done quite well, but just being good at something won't change the entire playing field.

 

[Akirai]

Watchman (and to a lesser degree the Dark Night Returns) was the turning point for comics, finally they were accepted as an ART FORM by the general public.

Comics aren't accepted as an art form by the general public.

 

[thenoblitt]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAHAHA, because it was good, but it did by no means change the world, or a whole medium, or even a genre

 

[Thaius]

This is a perfect example of why it is important for video games to be culturally recognized as an art form. Bioshock could have had a huge, awesome cultural impact, but it did not because of the exclusivity of those who enjoyed it and appreciated its depth. Because video games are seen as nothing more than a pastime for the select few who enjoy it.

People say the "games as art" movement and argument is useless, but things like this are the reasons they are absolutely wrong.

 

[Nomanslander]

I don't know if comics are now accepted as mainstream/ an art form yet but hey I'll bite.

I think it's because Bioshock did not get a large amount of publicity outside the gaming world.

I don't think Watchmen did either until the movie came out. I mean in the 90s I was a comic book geek, and I never heard of it until the movie.

Of course I also sorta lived under a rock at the times.

 

[Woodsey]

I very much doubt anyone in the "general public" knew about the Watchmen. I don't read comics, but obviously I'm a part of the whole comics-films-games circle, and I didn't have a clue about what it was until the film was announced.

Also, BioShock has some gaping flaws (bad pacing, weak shooting, lacklustre story - man cannot survive on audio tapes and visual cues alone) that don't put it at the top of its own genre, let alone gaming as a whole.

Discussing politic themes doesn't grant you an instawin. Even then, you could argue the only real point it makes is an ironic one about the player's role in a game.

 

[RastaBadger]

If I can be blunt, because System Shock 2 did it all better.
It was a great game yeh but it wasn't really world changing and so (for reasons previously mentioned) it didn't change the world.

 

[YawningAngel]

Planescape: Torment was atmospheric and well-told. Deus Ex was insightful and intelligent on a level a lot of genuine 'art' never achieves. Heavy Rain is basically an interactive film. Minecraft and Little Big Planet aren't just showcases of creativity in and of themselves: they also provide the people using them the same opportunity. There are myriad examples of artistic games, they just happen to go unnoticed because people refuse to consider them.

 

[Uber Waddles]

I have to ask, what is it about BioShock that made it stand out as 'unique'. Watchmen had a certain appeal to people, a twist on standard conventions.

Watchmen also had a deeper meaning than just super heroes. Morality and patriotism were explored, along with governmental issues.

BioShock is just spiritual successor to a SystemShock, and didnt offer anything new in the gameplay, plot, etc. It didnt warp the standard conentions of games, it WAS a standard convention of games.

It didnt explore social or ethical issues. It had a "good" and "bad" system, which was not only done before, but just involved killing or setting girls free. Fable 3 had a better morality twist than BioShock.

FABLE. FUCKING. 3. If you get blown out of the water by THAT game, you arent art.

 

[Chanerd]

there's a whole bunch of people who seem to have no idea what is meant by "The Dark Knight Returns."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Returns

And if you want the book that "The Dark Knight" was based on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Halloween

edit: typooo

 

[Sexbad]

As someone who dislikes Bioshock (see [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJUJXOxztE] this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olAbSQW14Vo] five [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSbSI3QhH1w]-part [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Gxz8Tn3yM] review [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8k3_OEsJzQ]), I don't think it should be seen as the medium's greatest achievement. But that doesn't mean it's not art. All games are, because all games have some sort of creative spark put into them, regardless of its visual style, gameplay quality, etc.

 

[TeeBs]

Lets see.

Watchmen was a movie based on a comic.

Bioshock was a game, and doesn't leave its medium to prove a point.

 

[Axolotl]

Watchmen was a movie based on a comic.

Why do you assume the OP is talking about the film? Seriously why?

 

[Alexnader]

snip

I don't think Watchmen did either until the movie came out. I mean in the 90s I was a comic book geek, and I never heard of it until the movie.

Of course I also sorta lived under a rock at the times.

Yeah but where's the Bioshock movie? Until that happens it won't get enough publicity to do what the watchmen movie theoretically did for comic books.

 

[ultratog1028]

I consider it the Watchman so far. I think the problem is that the mass media can't tell games apart.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

Argh again with the art thing.

"Art" is stupid. Love what you love and screw everyone who doesn't agree. Not even Fumito Ueda thinks his medium is the high art so many here and everywhere else like to be so boisterous about.* I mean, the maker of the posterchild for The Highest Art Games doesn't think games are any more art than Naruto and Van Wilder. Does that change what SotC made you feel?

I've seen people here mention that the reason we should care is because of censorship. True, it may be harder to ban "art" than "entertainment," but does anyone really think the public would take such a prospect lying down, even if gaming wasn't considered "art" by Joe Schmo? Can anyone even make an argument good enough to damn gaming forever in the US? People tried not too long ago in California, but does anyone truly think they're gonna win?

Sounds to me like the issue isn't that the industry needs to "mature," so much as it's governments of less accepting countries needing to get their heads out of their asses. There's so much room in the world for an infinite amount of CoD sequels, as well as an infinite amount of pretentious arty indie platformers.


OT: Because Bioshock, like most videogames, is placing more of its focus on its fun, arcade gameplay than anything else.

* Source: http://kotaku.com/#!5773242/ico-creator-thinks-video-games-are-art-sometimes

Okay, I'm going to make this as plain as possible: I want games to be considered an art form so that it may enjoy all of the legal protections and responsibilities of one; just as painting, photography, film/television, music and literature enjoy. It is far harder to censure art.

Not every game will be something artistic of course, but this kind of protections is better to have and not need, than to need it and not have it.

I totally understand that. But you said it: it's merely harder to censor "art." It's not impossible. And maybe it's just me but video games don't seem to be any harder to censor than other forms of art. Again, does anyone truly think California has a case? But more importantly, governments are still banning literature. If they're still doing THAT, then what's the true worth of the label?

My point is that art will never go unchallenged, and the opposition will even win sometimes because it's just so subjective. The best anyone can do is defend their art whenever it's challenged.

Maybe the reason I'm so mad about people looking for the "Watchmen" and the "Citizen Kane" of gaming is because universal recognition is inevitable. It's the biggest entertainment industry as it is. All that's left is for the generation who doesn't see the art in games to either change its mind with the times or die off and make way for the ones who do. I don't particularly care about the idea personally, but I know with 100% certainty that it'll happen someday.

 

[Rayne870]

I never said it was a positive effect, I just said the impact it had on the industry was much greater, putting the FPS the biggest genre to be developed by soulless exsecutives who think a step forward is to have 3 more guns then last time.

Totally agreed here.