Blog Post 6 (Mid Term)

For my sixth and final post, I would like to examine many of the aspects of the media themselves. In this post, I plan to focus on the video gaming medium, while making references to all types of media in general.

My idea for this last post came to me earlier today while I was watching my roommate play the new Call of Duty game. My roommate, Mike, is a junior, and he is also in the army reserves. In the game, you play as a soldier deployed in Afghanistan and you start out walking around in a military base. As Mike walked around the virtual world, he stopped to comment on what life was like for soldier in Afghanistan and kept commenting on how real the situations were and how the brilliant graphics only enhanced the experience.

"These graphics are so f***** real, I can't even take it. They get better and better."
-Mike Maltese

All of a sudden I had this burst of inspiration and I had to write a specialized post as an ode to the evolution of graphics in video gaming. As with the evolution of media, video games started out very unrealistic and are slowly becoming more and more realistic, both in terms of the situations and graphics. In fact, I think I'll begin by comparing video games to early film. In the beginning of film, there were only short, black and white images with no sound. However, slowly, film evolved and became more and more like reality. The process began with the addition of sound to the films, and years later came the addition of real color to film. With each evolution, the medium came closer and closer to reflecting reality.

The exact same situation is occurring in video gaming. In fact, let me get some visual representation so that you can see the change for yourselves!

The following is gameplay footage taken from the "Goldeneye" game for the Nintendo 64:
(Keep in mind that this game was released only 12 years ago in 1997)


The following is gameplay footage taken from the newly released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game:


Now, if you watched both videos or even part of them you should notice an immediate difference. The second video is much more realistic looking than the first. If this doesn't demonstrate the evolution of graphics in the video game world, then I don't know what to say.

At any rate, my point in all of this, is that media has and always will strive to be more and more like reality. It does this to appeal to the users of that particular type of media. Radio is evolving to sound crystal clear so it almost seems like the DJ is next to you when he/she talks. Television has evolved so much that you can actually see each individual blade of grass on the football field, as if you were actually standing on the sidelines next to the coach! Film is following suit of TV, but the evolution is slower because going to the movies has a particular standard, and although movies are becoming more realistic, their growth is limited because of the fact that people expect the movie to be played on a screen and not necessarily on a gigantic television.

Each of these different mediums are evolving, some faster than others, but each keeps creeping closer and closer to reality. What is next on the horizon for different mediums? Virtual reality?

We'll just have to wait and find out...


I'm on my PC and Mike's Playing Call of Duty

Tuesday, November 10, 2009