Change We Can Believe In

Change can be a scary thing, no? The argument on maintaining the status quo or changing things up in hopes of creating a better experience for those affected has been taking up much of the airwaves recently (for those of you who might still watch that thing called the news). Whether the debate centers on government, car insurance, the rug in your living room, the sour milk in the fridge, the watered down hand soap in the bathroom, or those pants you’ve been wearing for awhile, there tends to be two highly opinionated sides on the issue.

This issue is can also be applied to the entertainment, with all the remakes, director’s cuts, and remastering going on in both movies and video games. Should the company/developer/some-random-guy have the rights to touch a work that in most circles is considered a work of art already? This topic is still quite relevant to lovers of film with the advancements of digital transfer of classic movies that are originally shot on grainy film. I mean just look at this shot from Predator! PREDATOR TRANSFER Arnold’s wax figure stand-in

On left: Arnold; On right: Arnold's wax figure stand-in

So history should repeat itself with game remakes/updates, yeah? WRONG! Or at least not really. As discussed on the previous post “Poopy Polygons,” an updated graphics engine for gaming classics is usually welcomed with open arms—and legs, if you’re into that. So why do video games prove to be the exception to the rule?

Well, there has been quite an advancement in graphics since the origination of playing in a 3D environment. Developers used the highest end technology of the time to be on the cutting edge of the gaming industry so that gamers could explore a world in glorious three dimensions instead of the 2D side scrollers that many were used to. This argument that older products should be upgraded with the latest and greatest that technology has to offer does not apply to other fields because of the nature/purpose of video games is (as I have said quite a few times now) to create as much of an immersive, interactive experience as possible. With film, the goal is to create a world interesting enough for passive viewing that the narrative easily fits into the events that play out before the audience, and hopefully it will custom fit the attention spans of most film goers. It's difficult to get absorbed in a game when it looks like the fuzzy porn channel that was all the rage in middle school.

Typically when you touch something that is valued by legions of fans and is considered culturally (and maybe even artistically) important, history shows public outcry that an original work of art is being decimated by companies trying to draw what they believe to be sure profit. For example, take Ted Turner who has committed what many film buffs consider to be a cardinal sin. He took black and white films and made them into the way they were “meant” to be seen: in bright, saturated, filthy looking color!

Guess the movie

Sure, colorization might not be as harmful for all movies, but it was essential for a good majority of them, like the brooding tone and high-contrast, noir look of Casablanca. Just because it wasn’t filmed in color in the first place, doesn’t mean it was meant to be done that way. On the video game end of things, I just cannot imagine any game developer in today’s world intentionally creating a game with the 3D graphics from the late 90s and early 2000s. It’s like installing dirty, cracked windshield in a car. It’s stupid! God knows how many times I died playing those Playstation or N64 games because I could not tell what the ^&*# was going on (Metal Gear Solid definitely comes to mind). An update in a graphics engine is always welcomed for this particular reason. So one way you can look at an original classic like MGS or Resident Evil is not to think of them as an original work that should go untouched, but rather a rough draft, filled with not so great graphics, and sometimes not so great controls too. Colorization for film is more like changing the 3D graphics of Resident Evil into a cell-shaded environment, or changing the physics engine. Now that $#!t wouldn’t fly. You might as well just change the gameplay at that point. And while you’re at it, just make it a sequel.

I’m all down for advancements in more realistic, or at least a more uncluttered and sharp, gaming environment. The God of War I and II update for PS3 won me over; I also look forward to playing update of Goldeneye (one of my favorites) for the Wii.

Ten years from now you might even see this argument being made to update games from today, and that’s okay in my book.