Bulletstorm and the gaming industry's immature obsessions

I found an article the other day that I thought rather brilliantly summed up the movie industry’s current creativity drought. Put simply, the entire industry is aimed at immature teenagers with no taste. Why? Because focusing their efforts on this group makes a butt-load of money and it’s an easy sell. Said immature teenagers are in no danger of developing better taste, so movie studios have found a comfortable rut to lie in.

Now, I’m no expert on the film industry, so I’m not capable of a detailed critique of this argument. Generally, I feel it’s right on the money for the most part but perhaps exaggerates just a tad as to the implications and side effects of the issue. 

More important to my own interests is the parallel I see between where the movie industry is now and where the game industry is quickly heading.

A little game called Bulletstorm was released on February 22. This title has managed to generate quite a lot of controversy due to various misguided articles by poorly-informed Fox News writers and the intelligent responses to these ridiculous accusations. Whether or not Bulletstorm’s dialog will, in fact, cause an increase in rape is not my concern right now though. 

You see, Bulletstorm is the perfect gaming equivalent of the immature movies bringing down the film industry right now. You simply couldn’t ask for a better example. 

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Best of the Decade: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2

Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows

Release Date: January 26, 2010

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Bioware

Mass Effect was a terrifically ambitious experiment. Mixing RPG elements with other genres of gameplay has become commonplace, but with this epic title, Bioware approached the gameplay from the other direction, choosing to mix an action game into an RPG. The end result was imperfect, but fascinating on a number of levels. 

It wasn’t until early this year when the potential for the series truly became apparent. Mass Effect introduced many of the concepts its sequel would polish into a fine sheen, but Mass Effect 2 sold me on why this series could be one of the most important and influential the industry has seen. 

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Best of the Decade: Infinity Blade

Infinity Blade

Platform: iOS (iPhone and iPad)

Release Date: December 9, 2010

Publisher: N/A

Developer: Chair Entertainment, Epic Games

Let me admit right off the bat that this entry is more ceremonial than any other I’ve allowed myself to make so far. I picked Geometry Wars with a similar goal, to celebrate what the game represented as much as the game itself, but Infinity Blade is an even stronger case of this.

I’ve been avoiding picks like this on purpose. Adding items like these to a list is kind of cheap and, for whatever little it’s worth, I didn’t want to devalue my list with cheating entries like concepts, entire series of games, and that sort of thing.

That said, even though this is a last-minute entry and clearly hasn’t had the time to mature like others on this list, I truly feel it is deserving of its spot. Let me explain. 

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