Mass Effect

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/masseffect/news.html?sid=6166898&om_act=convert&om_clk=newlyadded

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/m/masseffect/

I am not sure how many of you have seen this, and I meant to post it earlier but was tied up with midterms. These links are articles, pictures and trailers for the new RPG Mass Effect, which is coming out for Xbox360. The graphics, game play, and even paratextuality of this game are all important as far as what we have been discussing in class as of late.

The characters and set in this game are inching closer to that idea of responsive AI and realistic situations as the player can interact with characters on a level that exceeds most regular voice acted peripheral characters in other games. As the article mentions, for instance, you can interrupt them which affects how they and others see you! Their facial expressions and even the matte and features of the skin on these characters is so realistic that it is impossible not to impacted by them. The setting in this game is also very realistic as the objects and the landscape react to the characters within them, such as being able to move or hide behind crates. This feature is not original of course, but it adds to the experience.

Considering that one can gather more information about the game through the internet and by experiencing some scene from the game itself, this game further proves as an example of the paratextuality of video games, however I do not think that it compares to the timeline of Resistance: Fall of Man for the PS3. But Mass Effect does exist and does have fan base that creates a certain text for the game (before it is even available to the public) that illustrates the paratextuality of the game.

Overall, this game demonstrates the length to which developers and producers are willing and desire to go in order to create a game that is so life-like that the audience will be absorbed in the story as well as their avatar. It was interesting that they decided the player could not rename Shepherd (the main character) and that the article writer speculates that it has to do with all the voice acting. I think then that this game will engross players not as if they were in the game themselves but as masters of a universe that just happens to follow the story of one particular man. This can have just as much impact as the first person point of view that makes the player feel as if he is in the game as Mass Effect gives the player almost entire control over Shepherd that one is almost forced to play out the story and not simply run through the game shooting bad guys (which is probably why this game is an RPG instead of a first-person shooter).

On a side note I think it is interesting that the developers decided to use sci-fi story lines and aliens as characters in order to show off their talents as realistic game designers, instead of working on an all-human cast. This is good for someone like me because I prefer the sci-fi aspect of shooting games to those where the avatar must kill humans. As far as game violence goes it is less realistic and I have an easier time pulling the trigger. I am not averse to game violence, but killing other people just never struck my interest. I wonder if game developers then choose the sci-fi backdrop versus killing other people when they consider game ratings and marketing. It would show then that there is an important connection between the paratextuality of games and their development that exceeds the glowing reviews and fan fiction of gamers and actually enters a separate sphere of politics.