Don't Get Me Wrong, But...

There's that familiar old adage again. The one we, who find ourselves in the crossfire of popular opinion, must employ as we dane to approach a more meaningful discussion about this young, developing medium.

Don't get me wrong, I love all platforms.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not biased.
Don't get me wrong, but I see no benefit in swinging such an empty disclaimer ahead of our insights as though we were hacking our way through a thicket of sacred beliefs.

...But if you do find yourself questioning my faith in the house that Miyamoto built, you can always equip the above title ahead of any statement I make, and fill in the blanks for your own reading pleasure :)

Addicted though we are to this unique and interactive substance, it's as much our responsibility to hold it to a greater degree of scrutiny if we should ever expect the medium to develop a more elevated level of maturity and artistry and how can we do that if we don't hold our own tastes to a higher standard.

For example, we as an audience were so charmed by Far Cry 3's Vaas as the most engaging video game villain of it's year, yet he only came to life when the interactivity of our experience was disengaged? As the performance capture magic would cast it's spell, the gameplay rabbit would hop back into it's hat and so the overall experience's illusions alternated.

On the one hand it's even fitting that the, almost by definition, one dimensional character cliché of bad guy monologues was given greater depth in video games by such an enabling technology. On the other hand it still became popular in spite of a design deficit as opposed to without it.

It's far too easy to rip apart what's considered popular without ever challenging what's considered progressive and when you do it's hard not to be shrugged off as a fanboy by your fellow gamers or an entitled gamer by the industry in general. Killzone has twice been the harbinger of next gen for Sony, but never once brought a strong design influence to the entire FPS genre. Developers struggle to communicate the concept of 'next gen design' as easily as 'next gen polycount' but the onus is just as much on our perceptiveness and willingness to embrace what matters most.

Don't get me wrong, though...