Final index
Monday 18 December 2023
Thursday 14 December 2023
Horizon Forbidden West: Audience and Industry
Audience and Industry
Audience
Look at this YouGov blog on the console gaming audience and answer the following questions:
1) What statistics can you find for the number of male / female players for the major consoles?
PlayStation 5 (68% male; 29% female) and Xbox Series X|S (68% vs. 32%) have the highest proportion of male compared to female gamers.
2) What is the difference between 'hardcore' and 'casual' gamers - and which do you think would play Horizon Forbidden West?
- the “hardcore” – those who say they take video games seriously, or play competitively – are a minority, and one with the highest representation on the PS5 (19%) and Xbox Series X|S (20%).
- Casual gamers are most common on the Nintendo Switch (45%), and the PC, where half of players identify as casual (51%).
3) What are the different reasons YouGov researched for why players play games? Which of these would apply to Horizon Forbidden West?
Most gamers across every system say relaxing and winding down is a key motivation for playing video games – but especially for PC (77%) and Switch (78%) gamers compared to Xbox (56%) and PS5 (63%). This group are also more likely to say they play games “to pass the time” or “to escape from reality for a while”. Switch gamers are also especially likely to be creatively motivated: three in ten say they play games to “make a world of their own” (29%), next to a quarter of PC gamers (26%) and a fifth of PS5 (21%) and Xbox gamers (22%).
For their part, PS5 and Xbox gamers are more likely to say they play video games for social purposes: around a quarter of the former (24%) and nearly three in ten of the latter (28%) say they play video games “to interact with gamers from around the world”, next to just 16% of both Switch gamers and PC gamers. The greater multiplayer emphases of these consoles next to the Switch may partially account for this.
The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight ravage the scattered remnants of humanity, while fearsome new machines prowl their borders. Life on Earth is hurtling towards another extinction, and no one knows why.
It's up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions and unravel the legacy of the ancient past – all the while trying to stay one step ahead of a seemingly undefeatable new enemy.
Brave an expansive open world
A majestic frontier
Confront new dangers
Unravel startling mysteries
- Complete edition
- Standard edition
- Horizon Forbidden West cosplay guides
- Horizon Forbidden West papercraft guides
1) Why did the writer enjoy Horizon Forbidden West?
3) Why does the writer feel HFW created a more successful open world game than The Witcher 3?
This kind of action stands in stark contrast to an open-world game like The Witcher 3, which, while expansive, is also just too overwhelming. A few days into the game, I threw down my controller in frustration when I arrived at a massive city and realized it would take hours to traverse all of its streets, talk to all of its NPCs, and finish the quests. I still enjoyed the game somewhat, but it failed to lure me in the way Horizon Forbidden West did.
Industries
Industry research
1) What studios are part of Sony PlayStation Studios?
- Team Asobi
- Bend Studio
- Buepoint Games
- Firesprite
- Firewalk Studios
- Guerrilla Games
- Haven Studios
- Housemarque
- Insomaniac Games
- London Studios
- Media Molecule
- Naughty Dog
- Nixxes
- Polyphony Digital
- San Diego Studio
- Santa Monica Studio
- Sucker Punch
- Valkyrie Entertainment
2) What notable games have they produced?
Guerrilla Games - Horizon Forbidden West
3) Now research Guerrilla Games. Look at the 'Explore' page in particular. Who owns Guerrilla Games and how does it reflect the modern videogames industry?
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe.
4) Choose one of the 'Guerrilla Spotlight' features and write three things you learn about the videogames industry and/or Guerrilla Games from the interview.
- spend some time investigating existing tools to see what I can build out of that
- write proposals to leads and teams to see what route to take
- talk about stuff we share interest in and we often do team outings.
Read this USA Today feature on Guerrilla Games. Answer the following questions:
1) Which three companies merged to become Guerrilla Games?
Formed by Orange Games, Digital Infinity, and Formula Game Development.
2) What other games and franchises were created by Guerrilla Games?
Nijmegen Adventure, by Wim Couwenberg, released in 1980
3) How did Guerrilla maximise the Killzone franchise?
Killzone was earmarked as a Sony-published title, Shellshock was made under Eidos’ stewardship. One took the FPS format to a new, whole cloth sci-fi setting, while the other gathered together all of pop culture’s favorite Vietnam War movie tropes and threw them into a shooter. In the end, neither game hit the mark with critics. Shellshock was criticized for its sensationalist depiction of the conflict and slipped out of public consciousness fairly soon after it arrived. Killzone, on the other hand, faced criticism more technical in nature. Graphics glitches, bugs and performance issues put a hurdle between players and an enjoyable, challenging and dark shooter.
4) What did Sony sign with Guerrilla in 2004?
2004 onwards all the titles Guerrilla developed would appear only on PlayStation consoles.
5) How is Horizon Forbidden West described in the article and what is the next stage for the franchise?
Horizon, on the other hand, has a different atmosphere entirely. It’s a world bearing the scars of a mysterious lost civilization, a far future that looks like a distant past, and it’s just about hospitable that you can exhale and take in the scenery now and then. This was never the case in Killzone. Nor were the latter’s characters especially memorable, despite some convoluted double-crossings and a series-long penchant for surprise protagonist killings that would have made the Call of Duty writers’ room proud. Aloy’s journey through Horizon showed a different side to Guerrilla – soft-touch storytellers and exceptional world-builders, as well as masters of squeezing the most out of PlayStation hardware and making a headshot feel just right.
Horizon: Forbidden West will be only the studio’s eighth game as Guerrilla Games, and only its third outside the Killzone franchise. Its next announced project, a VR title co-developed with Firesprite called Horizon: Call of the Mountain, is in many ways the perfect example of what the studio’s about: a deepening of a universe it created itself, making fortuitous use of a Sony hardware platform. Meanwhile, anyone waiting for that Shellshock sequel might have to be patient.
Regulation and PEGI
1) What is HFW's PEGI rating and what age rating do you feel would be appropriate? Why?
Rated PEGI 16
I would have yo agree with the age rating because this rating is applied once the depiction of violence
(or sexual activity) reaches a stage that looks the
same as would be expected in real life. The use of
bad language in games with a PEGI 16 rating can
be more extreme, while games of chance, and the use of tobacco, alcohol
or illegal drugs can also be present
2) Why is regulating videogames difficult in the digital age?
- With the rise of digital platforms, games can be easily distributed online without physical copies. This makes it harder to monitor and control the distribution of games compared to traditional methods.
- The gaming industry has diverse monetization models, including free-to-play with in-game purchases, subscription services, and traditional one-time purchases. Regulating these models to protect consumers and prevent exploitative practices requires adapting to new business models.
3) Are attitudes towards media content and regulation changing as a result of the internet? Explain your answer.
- Diversity of Platforms:
The rise of various online platforms for content distribution, including social media, streaming services, and user-generated content sites, has diversified the landscape. This diversity poses challenges for regulators trying to monitor and control content across different platforms.
- Real-Time Interaction:
Social media and live streaming have introduced real-time interaction, making it difficult to regulate content before it reaches an audience. This challenges traditional regulatory models that relied on pre-approval processes.
- Cultural Sensitivity and Diversity:
The internet has facilitated the sharing of content across diverse cultures and perspectives. This has led to a greater awareness of cultural nuances and sensitivities, influencing discussions around the need for more culturally informed and inclusive regulations.
Friday 8 December 2023
Horizon Forbidden West: Language and Representation
Language and Representation
2) What is the narrative for the original game Horizon Zero Dawn?
3) How is the central character Aloy described?
4) What is the narrative and setting for sequel Horizon Forbidden West?
- 'breathtakingly beautiful' - link to future of the environment
- immersive nature
- theatrical performance
- cinematic
- smooth, linear pattern
- different landscapes - different sound
- other worldly sound
- Aloy - rich and interesting
- Delver - complex, smart, psychologically
- Kotalo - warrior, life upside down, champion his cheif's cause
- Tilda - manipulative, dynamic, mystery
- Carl - evolving, developing, assertive, willing to challenge Aloy
- Erend - loyal supporter
- open world
- vivid facial expressions
- sound - adventurous
- futuristic element
- clear narration of journey
- range of different settings
- birds eye view
- strong, female lead
- 'no thing I can't overcome'
- set design - realism
- visual spectacle
- cinematic element shows scale
There have been people (including fans of the original game) who have spent the five years since Zero Dawn’s release asking for changes. While some of those changes amounted to little more than relatively minor QOL improvements (we’ll get to those in a bit), others hoped an eventual Zero Dawn sequel might break free of its checklist-based, Ubisoft-style open-world shackles and fully embrace some of the concepts that set it apart (such as its hunting systems, unique mythology, and wonderful characters). There was an idea that Horizon Zero Dawn may be a kind of test run for the new franchise and that Forbidden West would really lean into what really makes this series stand out.
That expectation is certainly part of the reason why some of Forbidden West’s most notable shortcomings feel as significant as they sometimes do.
Aloy’s ability to dive underwater, glide, climb more surfaces more efficiently, utilize a hook shot and, yes, eventually fly mean that getting from one place to another no longer feels like this laborious task meant to kill time between the moments that really matter. Being able to find your way around this world in so many more ways is one of the things that helps you appreciate it that much more.
Mind you, there are still gameplay aspects of Forbidden West that simply do not work as well as they should, and some of those problems are “borrowed” from the original game. On-the-fly inventory management is still a cumbersome process that requires you to learn to love a series of menus and hotkeys, too many platforming sequences make it too obvious where you can and can’t go (even if you choose the “minimal UI” experience), and Aloy’s expanded skill tree features a few too many filler abilities that don’t always make leveling up feel like the rewarding experience it should be. Interestingly, many of those flaws bring us back to the idea that Forbidden West sometimes feels burdened by the expectations for it to be a bigger open-world game whether or not its developers were really ready to expand the original game in a way that made it feel like significantly more than more of the same.
However, there are other, much more important aspects of Forbidden West’s open-world design that make it easy to appreciate that Guerrilla Games knew exactly what they were doing with this game.
Orientalism is embedded at the core of Forbidden West’s narrative of exploring exotic lands. Protagonist Aloy’s Orient is the “Forbidden West” itself: the present-day southwestern U.S. and California, filled as they are with foreign tribes, religions, and customs. In this morass, Aloy is both an explorer and a (white) savior. Only she understands what is at stake in the world, and she has to spend time in the petty politics of a bunch of tribes in order to convince them that the problems she’s facing are more severe than theirs.
As far as I can tell, the pagoda doesn’t actually exist in present-day Las Vegas. However, it could be named and designed after a famous restaurant in Los Angeles’ old Chinatown, which was once called the Golden Pagoda. The whole mission brings you face to face with a gratuitous smattering of imagery that you might find in an American Chinese restaurant. There is, particularly, a lot of red: a red dragon hanging from the ceiling, red lanterns, and red decorative knots. The mission concludes with a gigantic light show, and a neon dragon flying at Aloy and the three white male excavators she had previously helped.Orientalism is also strewn throughout Forbidden West’s world-building. Take the “Golden Pagoda” that Aloy discovers in “The Sea of Sands” quest in the main campaign. When she’s rebuilding GAIA’s system, she must recover several sub-AIs that have fled and hidden across the Western U.S. Aloy explores the ruins of the Las Vegas Strip, complete with the remnants of the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, and, strangely, a pagoda.
The quest itself is Orientalist in nature — the excavators recover “embers” to put on strobe light shows, with the intention of making the ruins of Las Vegas into a 31st-century tourist attraction. Here, the captivating aesthetics of neon and dragons represent inspiration for the excavators, and fertile ground to start a business.
Later in the game, Aloy discovers the final resting place of Ted Faro (the first game’s main antagonist) below San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid. He’s the ruler of the “pyramid,” a survival bunker that he named Thebes, and his name is Faro. It’s a bit on the nose.
The basement of the pyramid contains a multistory metallic statue of Faro, and you find out that back during the 21st-century plague that he caused, he actually tried to prolong his life and became a monster — a mummy, if you will. Egyptian mythological imagery, including an Eye of Horus, is peppered throughout the quest, reducing religiously significant images and rituals to mere aesthetic texture for the game’s villain.
That brings us to the war elephant. When Aloy first meets a rebel Tenakth faction led by Regalla (voiced by Angela Bassett), Aloy is surprised that they have the ability to override machines. She’s even more concerned when she stumbles upon the rebels riding a Tremortusk, a massive mechanical elephant.
The industry has massive, massive problems with retaining women employees and treating them well within gamedev. And there have indeed been female characters created entirely within a male gaze. But the presentation here, that Aloy is the gold standard, both discounts decades of beloved women in games and simultaneously demonizes “attractiveness” in characters that everyone, even women (often especially women) love in their games. And this debate is not doing anything to solve the real issues these companies face (PlayStation itself is currently facing gender discrimination claims, which the article doesn’t mention).
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