I didn't like the style, I don't like the ad poking my eyes out every time I want to watch a video and I'm somewhat bored by the topic of "Should video games be movies?".
No, they shouldn't, because, y'know, then, they would be called movies, not video games. An interactive adventure game, taking several elements of movies and adding some amount of gameplay to them like Heavy Rain is great, I think, and so do many others. This doesn't make us right, but nor does raging about how this is "wrong" make anyone right. Why can't they do that? Isn't Heavy Rain an enjoyable experience? Don't we like well made cutscenes, captivating landscapes and and immersive atmosphere in a game?
It would be terrible if all games would be like Heavy Rain, because gameplay-heavy games are good too. In fact, balancing gameplay and narrative/story in a game is crucial, but it's not like there is some fixed ratio that governs wether something can still be called a game or not.
This might not have been the point of the show, so let's continue on to the other topic: wether movies are superior to games. The question one should naturally ask here is: "What aspects should be compared here?" Obviously not gameplay, obviously not interactivity. Why would anyone think that. Yes, the two mediums are different, everyone knows. In what sense they can be compared? Narrative, cutscenes, how to build up atmosphere, etc. The two "genres" (though they are not genres at all) are very similar in respect of visuality, especially now, when graphics are about to move out of the uncanny valley. Video games are not all that old, while films have been around for quite some time now. Is it not a good idea to try and use the accumulated knowledge and experience of movies in certain elements of video game design? It's a very good start imho. In due time, I'm sure several branches of video gaming will diverge from the path movies have made in the past. But for now, in terms of visual expression, movies are superior.
That is why claiming that a game has movie quality narrative is not degradatory for games in general and probably doesn't refer to movies with a bad narrative. That is why game designers comparing their work to those of movie directors are not advocating the overal inferiority of game to movies but just pay respect to the great masters of film making, the ones they probably learned a great deal from.
I realize being angry and judgemental on a video is kinda cool nowadays, but seriously, I don't really feel the need for having more of them.
All that said, there were some good points, and this earns the show some credit. I will probably watch the next episode, hope it will be a tad less aggressive.
