The resident evil issue

Resident evil series has now reached its 5th edition and is due for release in March. But an interesting issue about this game at the moment isn't anything to do with gameplay, but the politically incorrect points that has been raised by a few critics, that the game is racist. Now just because the game is set in africa and that the protagonist in the game happens to be white does not necessarily mean that the game is racist.

I have managed to play the demo of the game and you do play as the protagonist Chris Redfield having to kill mainly black zombies, however in the demo there are still a variety of different race of zombies to kill. An example of what one critic wrote was that black people in the game were depicted as inhuman savages and that the protagonist was attacking these zombies in military clothing, which implies to me that this critic believes that the whole idea of the game is the slaughter and genocide of an ethnic group.

The funny thing is that issues like this wasn't raised during the production of the 4th Resident evil game when an american is roaming around Europe killing Spanish zombies. If roaming around africa killing zombies is racist then isn't killing spanish zombies just as racist?

Issues have even been raised about Sheva who assists the protagonist through out the game, as even though she is of black origin, the character has been criticised for having a lighter skin tone by another critic.

Its a shame that this has all become a big issue and i hope that the end product of the game is designed exactly how the developers want it to be. Because at the end of the day i wouldn't want the developers to change or cut parts of the game and make the game not as good as it was originally intended. As this game is intended for entertainment purposes so in reality all the designers should worry about is to make the game as most entertaining and realistic as possible.

Critic's links:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/resident-evil-5-hands-on-chapter1to3?page=3

http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/07/resident_evil_5.html

films as lectures

At first i wasnt too sure about showing films in lectures, considering that i work in a cinema when i go back to my home town, means that i see quite alot of films anyway. I usually enjoy when outside lectures are brought in to give their input about the industry. so it was quite a change when we suddenly started watching films almost every week. I even thought about bringing in my own drink and popcorn then relax.

but then after a while i forgot how we are all influenced, by films and how they can inspire us to produce interesting pieces of work. I can relate to this as i realised that watching films like city of lost children and dark city which are films that have more vibrant colours in, that kinda breach the reality of the sort of colours that you would normally see. Films help us artists in many other ways aswell like for example camera angles and the way in which these films create atmospheres and perspectives.

However this has now lead me to think about other ways in which films have influenced us and our lives. I admit at times i do steal phrases from films and imitate them in general conversations at times, wheather its phrases that express philosophys on life that i relate to or even if its just silly little phrases that you can relate to with friends. It just reminds me how much our environment determine the way we grow and help to shape us into the people we are, as it effects all our sense to inspire us and evove different emotion.

week 24 assignment

I feel that this year has been a great learning experience for me, as i think that Criss's classes have been especially helpful as alot of the things taught have magnified my drawing ability.

However there are always ways of improving my work. I really like the idea of introducing a medical artist to the course, as it will help to break down the anatomy of the body, making it easier to draw in perspective. I have recently found that this type of process is very useful in creating something in perspective, as it really makes you think about the object observed in a more three dimensional manner.

I think it has been great to learn about art in a scientific perspective, like for instance with colour theory. I feel that this process gives a greater understanding of how we see colour. I would therefore like to see a scientific explaination on other subjects like on lighting and how light moves over the body or objects.

I would just like to note a little bit of critisism that when thinking about spatial foreshortening that there should be a mentioning of perspective as well. As anyone who is finding it difficult to understand this concept may find it easier if they use lines of perspective as well, just as a method of breaking down the figure. I generally feel that the use of perspective lines when applied to a character is something ive only just discovered through a book i bought.

But all in all i think ive learnt alot this year with drawing and the use of new programs like 3d max and photoshop.

Week 23 assignment

sweet i like the sound of no blogging this week. just means that i can focus more on my drawing studies!

week 22 assignment

the expansion of businesses has always been an interesting topic to me, the most interesting part of expanding companies is the way in which they try to get ahead of the competition by identifying niches in the market. its this original idea that helps the business grow and if it is successful this one idea can propel the business to a new frontier resulting in high profits. A great example of this is with the inventor James Dyson, who created his own business because of his revolutionary idea of removing the bag in a vacuum cleaner. This one idea made the Dyson a home brand name that became leader of the market in the UK alone.

It is this ability to reach these new frontiers and the competing businesses to adapt to the change that helps the market to increase further. These are factors that are present in most industries, this includes the gaming industry. Examples of this currently in the market comes in the form of the Wii with its interactive qualities and in the case of PS3 and XBOX 360 with its technological advancements.

I therefore find it interesting to wonder what will be the next new frontier for gaming be, as potentially there are multiple ways in which the gaming industry could advance, but not all ideas are feasible or even successful, which means any idea has its risks.

Therefore the new idea put forth at the GDC by Michel Guillemot that games will now be a firm presence in the mobile industry is a little sceptical. Games on mobiles have been around for quite some time now, I remember playing the game snake on my mobile when i was a school, which was a popular game at the time. It will therefore be interesting to know how Guillemot will attempt to exploit this new territory. I am aware that currently Games like Sonic the hedgehog are available on mobiles. But with technology advancing further could games that are PSP standard be placed on mobiles?

The main advantage for games on a mobile is that firstly everybody in the 21st Century has a mobile phone. Mobile phones are now a necessity of life and even have a wide range of diverse tools. Mobile phones can now access the internet, used as a calculator, used as a camera and may now be used for games.

However there are still risks that need to be considered. Games that can be accessible on mobiles, will still be available on other platforms like the PSP. Like the mobile I know that i can put the PSP in my pocket, so therefore if a mobile reaches the standard of games which is of PSP quality, why should I get a mobile that is primarily a gaming device, when i already have a PSP and a (non gaming) mobile already?

There are many different frontiers that the gaming industry could approach to increase the already growing market. However I am unsure as to whether the mobile industry is the correct route, but only time will tell if gaming will be common among mobiles. Who knows they may even introduce multiplayer gaming over Bluetooth or the internet!

week 21 assignment

I find that reflection is a general necessity in life even in situations that life places us, you find that if you think about the event that sometimes revelations can appear to you. Even if its just a simple result like learning from your mistakes. A great example of something like this is in the case of my brother. When he was younger he would make friends with a kid whose personality would clash and would therefore inevitably lead to arguments and fighting. However after a while my brother would then become friends with the kid again and the result would be exactly the same. It still amazes me that there are people like this in everyday life and all they have to do is think about what they are doing.

In my case I find that sometimes I reflect too much at least when applied to general situations of life. Usually when a problem is at hand I will assess the situation and think of outcomes that range from the optimistic to the most pessimistic of results.

However when considering my work i must admit that at times I wont do too much reflection. As I would usually just create a design and move on to my next subject instead of attempting to improve the previous design. Nowadays though there seems to be a lot more reflection especially at least from Chris's class. I believe that the tutorials that Chris gives to us is a form of reflection and even the tasks set like the layout project, aided me to think in more of a reflective manner.

One of the main reasons I came to university was to grow and evolve as a person. I know that most people think of university as a place where you party and lounge around, but you find that in life the things we enjoy the most are usually bad for you. Even when you just consider food, you find that chocolate, takeaways and fatty foods all taste great. but the food that’s actually good for us like salads and vegetables don't excite the taste buds like the other foods.

There is a quote from the film 'Weather man' which relates to my general concept of life 'Do you know that the harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing? Nothing that has meaning is easy. "Easy" doesn't enter into grown-up life'. When you look around you at wildlife in general, life for them is survival of the fittest. But when i look at the human lifestyle you can see that many of us aren't thinking of life and death situations consistently. I think that the hardship of the human lifestyle is to keep challenging ourselves and gaining more knowledge.

I believe that if the potential is there that you can do anything. That is why I’m here to challenge my own artistic abilities and attempt to make them stronger!

week 20 assignment

When the word creativity springs to mind i would define the word as a constructive process that doesn't necessarily have to be an original idea, which would contribute to a finished result. Therefore i believe that anyone has the capacity to be creative. It is therefore interesting to me that the definition for creativity has changed over the years and that there still is varying views on the meaning of creativity.

I also believed that creativity is something that people are usually born with, however according to Jeffrey Baumgartner there are 10 steps to increasing creativity. which would include steps like listening to Bach, writing ideas in notebook, don't watch TV, exercise, reading etc. Whether or not any of these conclusions are true or not i cannot say, however when it comes to steps like writing ideas in notebooks i think that this concept is more about maintaining your creativity ability and collecting your ideas. Along with steps like reading i believe that this doesn't necessarily boost creativity, but rather fuels creativity with the production of new ideas.

Even when considering technical constraints in games, there are still ways of being creative. For instance lets think about old games like sonic and compare them to games like Halo. both games are popular and have their creative differences. whereas one game relies more on its gameplay for creativity like sonic reliance on speed, then you have games like halo which also has a creative gameplay by its use of equal effect of damage by use of weapons, melee combat and grenades. but Halo is also creative by taking advantage of the console that it was designed for making the game more visually effective, at least when considering its latest instalment. So even though one game has one technological advancement over another they are still both creative for different reasons.

it is also interesting to find that creativity has a close relation to mental disorders like schizotypal, which shows that even though some people can't function properly in society that they make up for it through their creativity, proving that people with mental disabilities are just as valuable to society as well as everyone else.

However i'm starting to think that for one to be creative the ideas that they generate have to be original. Beforehand my thoughts on creativity would lead me to believe that a child playing with coloured brick creating interesting shapes and patterns as a creative process, even though any child can create interesting patterns with coloured bricks but the question of, is this process creative still eludes me. So i started to think about this question from points of perspective.

I know that anyone can place coloured bricks in the same pattern as a child would and from an adult perspective this wouldn't really be considered as creative, as many people have witnessed children playing with coloured bricks creating shapes and forms that they may have seen before. I’m starting to believe that because adults have gained more knowledge and been influenced by their surrounding environments, that some of the processes they witnessed aren't original from their perspective. Whereas with a child their knowledge and influences are very limited and the shapes and patterns generated may be a new concept from their perspective may be an original idea.

so therefore creativity may just depend on perspective and thinking of an original idea that you personally never thought of and exploring that concept further down other avenues.