Donkey Kong Country

Woohoo (if you are in the UK), the UK’s first major exhibition about a video games company – launches and it’s free!
Fans of video games can find out what goes into making a hit that attracts four million players at an exhibition in Coventry.

Entitled Rare: From 8-bit to Xbox One, this is the first ever exhibition dedicated to a video games company, tracking the 33-year life of Twycross-based Rare. It runs alongside Play: An Exploration of Toys, Games & Fun, a broader celebration of the history of play which features more than 200 items. Both will be running at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum until September 23.

Rare gives visitors the chance to try their hand at some of the company’s international gaming hits – such as Donkey Kong Country – and also find out more about the planning and creation of a new video game.

Further to that, there is also an opportunity to discover what it takes to work in an industry which is proving to be a major success story for the region. James Thomas, Lead Engineer at Rare, said the exhibition provided the perfect platform for the company to raise its profile in the local area and highlight how gaming is the latest form of play.

He said: “The company has been operating for more than 30 years and is a great success story for the area and for the industry. It began as an independent gaming business – set up by the Stamper brothers – creating and selling games for the ZX Spectrum.

“Rare, which was later bought by Nintendo and, subsequently, Microsoft, has produced some ground-breaking games over the years such as GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie and Viva Piñata.

“Our latest release, Sea of Thieves, has attracted more than four million players to date and has more than 200 people working on the game. “So this is a great time to be able to share our story with people from the area because this is a really positive period for gaming in the region.

“I think many people see a distinction between traditional play and gaming but my view is that this is just the next generation and, more and more, games are becoming social activities when friends play together rather than in isolation. “It is cementing ‘real life’ friendships rather than detracting from them which, again, isn’t something that is always appreciated or understood.

“The fact that Play is running at the Herbert meant this is a great opportunity to showcase Rare and its games, to show people what goes into making a global hit and, also, to give them an insight into careers in the industry.”
The Play and Rare exhibitions are kindly supported by Rare and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Francis Ranford, Cultural and Creative Director of Culture Coventry, said it had been a positive start to the exhibition.

Francis said: “The partnership with Rare has been incredibly positive for the Herbert and has added another exciting dimension to the exhibition. This collaboration has enabled us to showcase aspects of play which we would have otherwise been unable to and will ensure more visitors can relate and connect with the exhibition.

“We’ve had fantastic feedback so far and are looking forward to welcoming many more visitors over the course of the summer.”

To potentially feature in the exhibition, you can donate photos of your own toys to the Virtual Museum by using #playattheherbert on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

source: Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry

‘Press X to Jason’ the screen reads, as you play through Heavy Rain. ‘Press X to pay respects’ the screen offers, as you begin Call of Duty Advanced Warfare’s campaign. These scripted moments are something that try and engage the gamer but often feel as though they are awkward moments, much like when a parent says to ‘Make sure you send grandma a thank you card for the $5 she gave you for your birthday!’ You sigh; “But, why?” is the silent question, grandma knows you love her, after all.

In games, being prompted to perform an action is something that is here to stay. Be it through a quick time event or something that is set to move the plot, being told how to play a game is a break of immersion that is unfortunately commonplace. To say that all prompts shouldn’t exist is completely foolish as well. In the Batman Arkham series, an enemy can be countered as the prompt flashes over their head. In the Metal Gear Solid series, stealth is achieved best by being aware of what the enemies are doing or how they are reacting to the player movements – if they are curious, we know, if they know we are there, we know. Past this, games that offer tips to playing the game, such as Uncharted, can be a welcome addition, prompting the player to look in a certain place, even with the prompted option of ‘Hint’ appearing on screen when a puzzle takes a player too long to crack.

source: The Turbulence

How then, did we get here? When we say that moving narrative through a button press may not be the best choice, what does the alternative look like? The answer I have found is in Minecraft. This argument is not built on Minecraft alone, but rather, the use of its crafting system and completely wonky puzzles. Do you want to build a pickaxe? Boards in a row on top, then sticks underneath, which, is the only logical way to form a pickaxe. This type of crafting and puzzle solving works because it falls onto something that was all but forgotten in games – the intelligence of the player.

source: Xombit Games

I have a collection of Super Nintendo games, which I consider to be the height of gaming history. That opinion was formed due to playing games as a child and then replaying them as an adult. In assembling the collection, I swore to myself very early on that I would play each cartridge as much as I could. I did this to ensure the games still worked and to also understand the system better. I would also refrain looking up about the game. If I was to play them, it would be without the help of the internet, just like it would have been while growing up. My approach led to moments of utter frustration (trying to use the special skills and moves in Batman Forever) and fantastic exploration (shooting accidental fireballs in Mortal Kombat) but the thing that was never questioned was my ability to progress, built out of desire, I pushed myself into the games devices and was rewarded by being able to play the game.

source: alphacoders

Games used to be taken on their own terms and merits. Donkey Kong Country was about saving a giant banana and using an array of jungle animals to do so. The original Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat arcade games did not have character bios built into the game for players – none of that was the focus. If it feels out of place to give advice or to try and add context, it’s because it probably is. None of the old games needed reason to have the player do what they did (looking at you, James Pond) but they presented common ideas, and then let the player go.

source: The Escapist

As I continue to play games, now on the Xbox and Playstation, I wonder about this time. The time when games handed us pieces and nothing more and if it is truly fading away, and if it is, what do I do? I am playing Darkest Dungeon at the moment which has the same incredible thought tucked into it – “What if I pour holy water onto an altar?”, I thought to myself late one night. I poured it and moments later I was texting a friend with complete thrill that it worked! These moments continued as these thoughts, now written here, wrote themselves in my head. How much of the player’s intelligence will you remove from the game, before you realise that the desire to learn and struggle until success, starved until the sensation of winning, will always be tied to human nature just as much as story telling or visual appeal?

Press X to pay respect to the player’s intelligence.

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Matthew Squaire
Matthew hosts the Matturday Podcasts with amazing people in video games. He can also be found on Twitter