New York...?

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah New York city is a common setting to used in a video game to say the least.


In saying so many other media used New York as the setting too due to being a vast and interesting place to be in.

Beside games still give us the fantasy and sci fi and etc setting you want, just that New York is one of them.

 

[shootthebandit]

I think we can all relate to new york. Its so culturally iconic i feel as if ive been there even though i havent and i live thousands of miles away in a different continent

Directors like to play up on the whole 9/11 thing to. which is sometimes actually quite distasteful. A lot of films seem to use a lot of symbology that relates to 9/11

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

How about setting it in York in the UK.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I love NYC. I was born there and I lived there until I was 19. It's one of the reasons I hate seeing it in so many video games and movies. Especially in disaster movies. It never feels good seeing your hometown decimated. Even if it is just CGI. Funny thing though. It didn't bother me nearly as much when I was there. But now it's creeping me out.

I get that feeling. I live in London, and loved that PS2 GTA type game that was set in London. Mostly because i could drive to places without looking at the map. Just from memory. I remember there was a shoot out in a bar i go to, was awesome. An to pull up out side your work and kill people. Loved it.

But i think alot of games use NY as a basis for their game. I think different parts of america will be good for other games. Maybe Boston as last time i went there it was in the middle of that big dig thing and just looked like a building site.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I can imagine it would be weird to see your home endlessly being destroyed in media. Though as mine is in devon, England...there is not much chance for that experience happening to me

You want them to make a game that takes place in Devon? I don't think that's going to happen.
....
However you could always make a mod for Fallout or something like that.

The NYC thing in games is a bit tiresome, mostly because they leave out a lot of the most interesting parts.

New York is the cultural & financial center of this side of the planet. There's a reason it's called the "melting pot", because there truly is a mixture of nearly every nationality on the world here, and literally everything that you can imagine in terms of environment. We have 5 whole boros (Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island & Queens) that are like cities within a city, the most advanced transportation system on the eastern hemisphere...I could go on, but it's one of those things where you wouldn't know unless you were here...if even to visit.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani once called NYC the "Capitol of the World". Arrogant as the statement was, there really is no other city in the world that has so much influence from all corners of the planet as NYC does. There is no better urban setting for any story, be it a game, a movie, a comic, whatever the case maybe...with all due respect to places like LA or Miami or any other city that's considered a "major city". They just don't have the character that NYC does...and that's what you should take out of my diatribe more than anything else. NYC has character that gives any story a little something extra to it that other cities can't.

EDIT: Born, raised and residing in NYC by the way...and I've lived in LA for over a year as well, definitely not the same.

As someone who's lived in NYC for his whole life(traveled extensively but never moved anywhere), NYC has been losing its character for a while now. Local government gives anything requested to the developers & land/slum lords (anyone willing to give them enough money really) who gouge the real estate enough so only they own it and only big chains can afford it. Manhattan itself is basically one big mall now. The only other thing I would argue is the transportation system here is Horrible. You want to see fast and efficient, try London's tubes.

 

[Thr33X]

I can imagine it would be weird to see your home endlessly being destroyed in media. Though as mine is in devon, England...there is not much chance for that experience happening to me

You want them to make a game that takes place in Devon? I don't think that's going to happen.
....
However you could always make a mod for Fallout or something like that.

The NYC thing in games is a bit tiresome, mostly because they leave out a lot of the most interesting parts.

New York is the cultural & financial center of this side of the planet. There's a reason it's called the "melting pot", because there truly is a mixture of nearly every nationality on the world here, and literally everything that you can imagine in terms of environment. We have 5 whole boros (Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island & Queens) that are like cities within a city, the most advanced transportation system on the eastern hemisphere...I could go on, but it's one of those things where you wouldn't know unless you were here...if even to visit.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani once called NYC the "Capitol of the World". Arrogant as the statement was, there really is no other city in the world that has so much influence from all corners of the planet as NYC does. There is no better urban setting for any story, be it a game, a movie, a comic, whatever the case maybe...with all due respect to places like LA or Miami or any other city that's considered a "major city". They just don't have the character that NYC does...and that's what you should take out of my diatribe more than anything else. NYC has character that gives any story a little something extra to it that other cities can't.

EDIT: Born, raised and residing in NYC by the way...and I've lived in LA for over a year as well, definitely not the same.

As someone who's lived in NYC for his whole life(traveled extensively but never moved anywhere), NYC has been losing its character for a while now. Local government gives anything requested to the developers & land/slum lords (anyone willing to give them enough money really) who gouge the real estate enough so only they own it and only big chains can afford it. Manhattan itself is basically one big mall now. The only other thing I would argue is the transportation system here is Horrible. You want to see fast and efficient, try London's tubes.

To partially correct myself, I meant our transportation is the best in WESTERN hemisphere. London is in the eastern hemisphere, so I bore no comparison to the NYC Subway and the London tubes, the bullet trains of Japan, etc.

Another thing, when a lot of people say NYC, they're actually talking about the borough of Manhattan. There are 4 other boroughs as I mentioned before, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx, which are rarely even touched in games.

Off Topic: This might or might not be common knowledge, but neither of the movies "Rumble In the Bronx" or "A Bronx Tale" were actually filmed in The Bronx.

 

[Spygon]

To partially correct myself, I meant our transportation is the best in WESTERN hemisphere. London is in the eastern hemisphere, so I bore no comparison to the NYC Subway and the London tubes, the bullet trains of Japan, etc.

That is the problem because the western hemisphere line actually goes through London as the British made the city the center of the world.So some of the London tubes are in the Western hemisphere i know that is a technicality.But I have always thought the British Isles as being a western hemisphere country is interesting to see that isn't thought as one over in the states .

 

[GonzoGamer]

To partially correct myself, I meant our transportation is the best in WESTERN hemisphere. London is in the eastern hemisphere, so I bore no comparison to the NYC Subway and the London tubes, the bullet trains of Japan, etc.

Another thing, when a lot of people say NYC, they're actually talking about the borough of Manhattan. There are 4 other boroughs as I mentioned before, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx, which are rarely even touched in games.

Off Topic: This might or might not be common knowledge, but neither of the movies "Rumble In the Bronx" or "A Bronx Tale" were actually filmed in The Bronx.

I think you can tell, even if you don't live here.

I would hate to play a game that included Staten Island but yes the boroughs are hardly ever represented and at this point they're (most of them) the most interesting thing about NYC. Queens itself has a greater variety of cultures than any place on earth. But even when they are represented in games you only get a few landmarks.
GTA 4 did Forest Hills station very well and I like how they included the 5ptz building but their version of Queens seemed culturally bland.

 

[Me55enger]

It's quite simply because Gaming still takes a majority of its cues from the Film industry and it's structures surrounding genres such as Action.

Independance Day.

Godzilla.

Cloverfield.

Avengers.

Batman.

To name but a few. This was why Fallout 3 was so refreshing to me and why people are beginning to appreciate how stale it is.

 

[Thr33X]

It's quite simply because Gaming still takes a majority of its cues from the Film industry and it's structures surrounding genres such as Action.

Independance Day.

Godzilla.

Cloverfield.

Avengers.

Batman.

To name but a few. This was why Fallout 3 was so refreshing to me and why people are beginning to appreciate how stale it is.

Well that's all just a matter of game being put into more unique settings. There's always going to be a need/want for expansive urban metropolises in certain games however...call it a trope if you will. NYC will remain the archetype for that need. Even in the case of fictional cities, Manhattan's landscape is always in some way or form apparent in it's design.

 

[neoontime]

Yeah New Tork city...

Hory Sheet that sounds like such an awesome parodied version of New York.
OT: IDK, I feel like I understand why so many video games take place in New York. If you want a setting where you can witness lots of destruction, what better place to place it where the buildings are enormous and all over the place, same goes for Tokyo.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I share your feelings. There are only two games left I want to see in New York:

- Fallout

Yes, I know. But y'know, I want to see a ruined city properly for once, neither the cut-into-bits New Vegas or the let's-close-it-all-off DC, and I think New York is a good contender. Why? There's so much variety you can get in a rather small space.

Imagine Wall Street being a decked-out trading hub, Broadway one big cesspool of hedonism, a completely overgrown Central Park, Brooklyn taken over by raiders, the list and possibilities goes on. New York could look really, really cool.

- Assassin's Creed

My reasons for that one can be summarised in one picture:

That movie right there. Imagine climbing not only on but through those raggedy buildings, imagine the combat, imagine the city.

Gods I want it.

 

[Thr33X]

*Snip*

Gangs of New York + Assassin's Creed=all kiiiiiiiiiiiiiinds of awesome (to paraphrase The Hodge Twins). You sir, need to be hired by Ubisoft immediately.

 

[TehCookie]

Whenever I hear things like that I always wonder, why don't you play games that take place somewhere else? Like the imaginative worlds from the depths of many creative minds you seem to like?

I can imagine it would be weird to see your home endlessly being destroyed in media. Though as mine is in devon, England...there is not much chance for that experience happening to me

That made me wonder what it would be like for my city to be destroyed in media... then I remembered I live by Detroit so there wouldn't be a difference.

 

[Cabisco]

Well call my biased but until a game is set in 'ull I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Anyway I thought London was the go to place for destroying nowadays?

 

[shootthebandit]

Perhaps it was just me but i really enjoyed liberty city in GTA IV. It wasnt the best GTA but it was great nonetheless

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Admittedly, i really enjoyed GTA4. It was the in depth characterization that pulled me in. At first, the NYC setting put me off, but as soon as you get to see the characters do their thing, it matters so much less.
Which is exactly the problem with the other NY centered games. As i said earlier... i love being able to play a superhero in a game. But knowing that it will pretty much always be in NYC without such magnetic characteristics and story to fuel the interest, really is off-putting.

Wasn't crysis 3 set in post destruction NYC? I didn't seem to notice much. Films are not really bad when set in NYC due to (hopefully) the emphasis on the actual story and characters. Its just that games require some exploration, it's just that it isn't really exploration when you have already explored it a hundred times before with a different character

 

[FoolKiller]

It takes place in NY because many of the superhero stuff (from Marvel) take place in NY.