Katamari Damacy - A Critique 89
Beth A. Dillon writes "In this Game Career Guide feature, Katamari Damacy — A Critique: Part One, Ryan Stancl argues for game criticism in part one of a three part series on Katamari Damacy, this week featuring Biographical and New Critical forms of analysis." From the article: "Video games now, more than ever, need to be not just reviewed, but critiqued, because of their negative image in the press, in politics, in the general public, and quite simply because they are so ripe for critiquing. Games aren't just for kids anymore, and it's not because of the sex and violence. Over the next few weeks I will be introducing you to eight schools of criticism - Biographical, New Critical, Marxist, Structural, Jungian, Psychoanalytical, Feminist, and Post-Colonial - giving a little history behind each, and showing how they can be used to critique the video game Katamari Damacy for the PlayStation 2."
Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
The gaming audience isn't really interested in anything but a straight review. Your politicians aren't interested in anything beyond general conversation about the negative effects of games.
Maybe your soc or psych professor wants to hear about it, but I doubt there's anything to say that hasn't been said before about games.
I don't mean to be down on this, but it just seems like an utter waste of time and effort. There just doesn't seem to be a payoff here.
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Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)
"When you roll over items and get bigger, that's like how capitalism squashes the little guy and gets bigger and more powerful..."
"Deep stuff, man."
Where's the Beef? (Score:2)
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Hmm... You work like crazy to keep from being squashed like a bug, and if you work really hard, your reward is to get to work even harder. Yeah, sounds like capitalism (or at least the Marxist view of it) to me.
Oh, and see how the King of the Cosmos is a direct reference to both monarchy and r
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Shigeru Miyamoto's masterwork Super Mario Brothers is truly a classic work of modern literature; borrowing heavily from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and an obvious inspiration for Trainspotting, SMB shows the initial joy but the eventual mental and moral decline due to drugs.
Like in classic Greek drama, much of the story is implied. Because the setting is not a part of our common mythos, however, it comes with a small supplemental text which fills in the history for the reader: the evil dragon Bowser Ko
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I have a feeling Jeremy Bentham would see it my way.
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I think you're looking at it in the wrong way. While I think that "critiquing" is complete bullshit, there are intellectual types who enjoy looking at "art" "poetry" and "music" only because of the "critiquing" While I don't mean to portray them in a negative light, but they are the same types of people who will exclude some things as art poetry or music simply because it "isn't intellectual enough", meaning that it hasn't gone through the critiquing, so it must not be "high level art."
You get the same kin
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people do care about stuff beyond simply what comes out of the black box company. it'd be nice to know more about the background and production. for example, if i would be much more willing to buy game X from a company who treated its programmers well. i would pass on game Y that treats their programmers like dirt. it might be a little more expensive, but i'd think of it as worth it.
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The "gaming audience" and politicians may not be interested in this sort of criticism, but there are people who want to make games, or want to think about them on other levels besides "GAMEPLAY: 8/10 GRAPHICS: 10/10 MUSIC:3/10 OVERALL SCORE: 95%!!!".
Insightful criticism can help reveal ways of approaching the medium that are not immediately obvious from a simple viewing. Some creators will take inspiration from this sort o
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I was once very apprehensive about the validity and utility of critiquing literature myself(it didn't help that I had an extremely arrogant roommate who seemed to think that studying literature was the only truly "hard"
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I saw this argument every day in college: I can see the intellectual exercise of critiquing a book according to any number of schools of thought. What I don't get is for whom is such critique necessary? The reading audience isn't really interested in anything but a straight review. Politicians aren't interested in anything beyond general conversation about the negative effects of books. Maybe your professor wants to hear about it, but I doubt there's anything to say that hasn't been said before about books.
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While it very well may be nothing than metal masterbation, most reviews are little more than press releases. Who is to say one is more or less worthwhile than the other? I think that is a question we each have to answer for
Why Else? (Score:2)
In the immortal words of the King of All Cosmos... (Score:3, Funny)
Katamari damacy...critique...easy.... (Score:3, Funny)
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It's a video game. It doesn't need to have any hidden social contexts or vast theologies or anything else of the sort behind it. If the creator said that he wanted to make it because he thought it would be insane amounts of fun to do exactly what is done in his game, that's enough of an explanation for me. If
Umm....what's the difference? (Score:2)
(Maybe the last one is performed by a French guy?)
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"There is a clear distinction between a review of a work - a movie, a book, a piece of art, or even a video game - and a critique of one. Movies, literary works, and pieces of art all have critiques written about them all of the time, so why not video games?
It may have to do with the fact that a lot of people still view video games as for children, that games don't really have anything to say, any depth to them.
But whatever the reason (I'm not exploring that issue here), video games are made b
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See Mom? (Score:4, Funny)
great idea (Score:2)
Yes. Subjecting Far Cry to deconstructionist critique is the sure way to gain widespread public acceptance.
Let's all talk about fracturing Katamari Damacy along it's natural fault lines and reading the subtext underneath it! It'll be so much fun!
The author has clearly either run out of reasonable things to think about, or is still in or has ju
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Don't take video games for granted. They're pretty amazing when you think
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The ONLY critique that matters... (Score:3, Interesting)
If a game doesn't have that, it doesn't matter what philosophical, political, biological, cultural viewpoints it presents.
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Game Design is about the unholy trinity: Abstraction, Logicalness/Consistency, Convenience
Unfortunately, far too mamy players are argueing about the wrong thing, usually the red herring of realism. If you favor realism over abstraction, you have a simulator, not a game.
Bang Bang (Score:3, Interesting)
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Unfortunately, far too mamy players are argueing about the wrong thing, usually the red herring of realism. If you favor realism over abstraction, you have a simulator, not a game.
Although it's easy to point to the "fun" litmus test to determine whether or not a game is reviewed, fun is a subjective and abstract concept. For some folks, realism IS fun... there are many hobbies which take pride in the details (model ships, amateur rocketry, etc.) and gaming is broad enough to encompass the realism and att
Worthy of Critique (Score:1)
The point of videogames is almost solely as entertainment, and there's very few games that go beyond that. A game like Shadow of the Colos
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And Katamari doesn't?
Okay, maybe heroism doesn't play a large role, but KD is as unique a work of art as anything on the market. It has a visual and music style all it's own, and a gameplay mechanic that focuses on actual playing rather than military simulation or violent conflict. These factors alone make it worthy of e
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Only one review necessary: Profit (Score:2)
All soci-whatever-isms are taken up by the market behavior.
End consumer, store positioning and "culture reaction" are all taken in by the final sales.
Wether the game feeds violence, care-bear-ishness or whatever.
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You've accurately pinpointed the relevance of video games and given your own opinion on the matter. You've critiqued video games. Therefore you've disproved your own argument.
I'd like more of this (Score:5, Insightful)
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Take Pacman for example. He eats dots and gets chased, or if he's lucky he eats a big dot and temporarily chases his persecutors. In the end, he is chased again and must run for his life, eating what he can in the mean time. Why does he do this? Because he must! Maybe Pacman is representative of a proletariat activist - he forages in his daily life while dodging his oppressors, but now and then he strategically sticks it to
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A game like that might have taught Bush a thing or two.
Hopefully the evolution of your strategy could help you understand existentialism or perhaps just consider the perspective of your adversary.
Really literature doesn't give answers it asks questions (Unlike the parent poster's game).
I am a Comp Sci, English double major (Read Sad a
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Sadly, very few people drew much in the way of insight from that film, beyond "it's a cool adventure story about a computer hacker." And it's a shame too, because it actually has a LOT to say about humanity and our curious habits. It really is a MUCH better film than people give it credit for.
-Eric
I do not approve. (Score:2)
If the artist claims there is nothing else going on and the viewer insists that there is something else going on is it not possible that the viewer is creating hidden meanings to fulfill their own desires? Making something of nothing?
-- The critic then misses all
Hidden meanings (Score:2)
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If the artist claims there is nothing else going on and the viewer insists that there is something else going on is it not possible that the viewer is creating hidden meanings to fulfill their own desires? Making something of nothing?
Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings in chapters that he mailed to his children in the army and RAF during WWII. The story is full of war and genocide, yet Tolkien claims his b
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Tolkien may have hated allegory, but I've yet to be convinced that Lord of the Rings isn't full of it regardless of what he "meant."
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You seem to have said the same thing I did, but you did it more clearly and concisely.
It looks like you win our little game of one-upsmanship.
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If you want to get high-falutin', you can think of it sort of like the old proverb, "no man crosses the same stream twice. The second time, it
Game theory (Score:2)
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Glad to hear it's new, they won't mind changing their name to something that isn't taken already then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory [wikipedia.org]
> That's pretty much genius right there.
That's pretty trite right there, actually. I think pretty much every stoned high school student has thought the same thing at one time or another.
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So you're telling me that the interesting thing about this is that it's recasting 2000 year old ideas into a modern context? You'll forgive me if I'm not immediately bowled over.
"Game theory" is already taken by economics... (Score:2)
"Gameology" ( http://www.gameology.org/ [gameology.org] ) seems to be about on the same level as "assology" ( http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ass ology [urbandictionary.com] ).
We Live Katamari (Score:4, Interesting)
One of my favourite aspects of video games is the representation of the real world. Many people are enthusiastic about this aspect of gaming but most don't share my take on the subject. I wouldn't be a Slashdotter if I wasn't wowed by pixel shaders and bump mapping and advanced AI, but what really fascinates me is the artistic representation of reality - the statement made about our world facilitated by creative use of limited resources.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is one of the greatest contenders in this field as its depiction of a fictional California-esque state [generationmp3.com] is totally astounding, replete with buildings, streets, varied geography, natural wonders, rolling landscapes, and all juxtaposed by a pissed-off populace. There's a great scene in Lucasarts' Grim Fandango where Manny Calavera, protagonist and reaper, travels to the realm of the living to collect the souls of recently poisoned fast food patrons, and the real world is quite a ridiculous caricature [gamespy.com] that is completely alien through the eyes of residents of the land of the dead.
Katamari Damacy is unique in that the protagonists are not human at all, but permanent residents of deep space. To The King of All Cosmos and The Prince, Earth is one planet of millions, but it is not just any planet. The Earth is populated by excitable little people who have absolutely littered their entire planet with stuff [yimg.com], and it is this stuff that makes Earth a suitable place to collect materials to repopulate space with stars.
Stuff here, stuff there, stuff everywhere! Not only can anything smaller than your katamari be rolled-up and added to the clump, but every collected item can later be examined replete with a concise but innocently baffling description in the limited omniscient of the space-faring royal family. Some such descriptions of the hundreds upon hundreds of ordinary objects and creatures include:
Coconut Crab -- "A crab with strong claws. It doesn't look anything like a coconut at all..."
Peach -- "A butt-shaped fruit that is more tasty than butts."
Faucet -- "Hot and cold water comes out of the same place. We are amazed."
Loud Momma -- "Her voice is loud and when she laughs, babies start screaming."
This is why the game is deserving of critique - because the game itself is a critique of urban civilization. It patently points out how much more complex and frivolous and ludicrous our lifestyle is compared to the orderly motion of the galactic ocean.
Furthermore, this analysis goes to show how effective the game is at alleviating stress! Consider all the things you worry about in a day - the cost of living, pollution, rush hour traffic, long lines, crime, the environment, the fact that you'll never visit all the places you want to see, etc. All these things become insignificant in Katamari Damacy. You needn't worry about any issues - any objects - larger than your katamari until later on because for now they are simply obstacles, and anything smaller is all but an insignificant bump. To The Prince, ignorance is bliss. All that matters is to keep on rolling. Put your frustrations aside, block out all unneccesary data, and just keep on rolling. Just push and push, your katamari grows and grows, and before you know it you're towering over people and cars and buildings and mountains until the very curvature of the planet is a minute detail of the great cosmic tapestry.
There are a million possible interpretations of this depiction of reality. One could argue that the game is an advocate of Buddhism, declaring earthly luxuries as mere white noise. Or pe
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Your insight is interesting. What you point to in Grim Fandango and in Katamari is similar to what is called in literary criticism "estrangement" or "de-automatization". Estrangement ha
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A couple years late... (Score:2)
The author should probably start focusing attention on the new "inn
An old game had to have been a deliberate choice. (Score:2)
Incidentally, did anyone else read the New Criticism section and realize that they now had a name for all those hated, pretentious, fluffy critiques that make up nonsense from symbolic manipulation like so
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Dear god. This is... (Score:2)
Honestly you can critique any game this way and find absurd things, but the fact is most games arn't art. People don't labor over every line of code and such these "critiques" are more about the player or critiquer's own opinions on the game. When designing a game there's a vision, but most of the time the vision is "roll stuff up, have fun" "Kill large groups of
I think he forgot a form of critique... (Score:2)
Come on people... they're video games. Escapes from reality. An interactive entertainment medium.
We don't need those types of critiques for games. Sure, there are literary critiques and movie critiques... but I find that more often than not, critiquing pieces of art can become over the top and obsessed with their own virtuoso. Additionally, what the critics may think is a masterpiece may be trash to me, and vice versa.
Wow, there are lots of forms of critique (Score:2)
Rob
False advertising (Score:2)