More PR Struggle for Games Industry... also, btw, RE5 comes out tomorrow.

In a bout of responsible advertising, a British ad depicting a child holding a video game controller with the giant text "RISK AN EARLY DEATH, JUST DO NOTHING" was released by the Change4Life campaign.

The ad is one of many, both in print and other media, released by the group, including an television ad showing a child playing video games and getting fatter over the course of the ad.

According to a cnet article on the media blitz, major companies have said nothing on ad-attacks. Whether this means that they are not threatened, have not otherwise been affected, or simply agree with the ads is left unsaid.

The column also points out other attacks made against the games industry with little complaint from them.

This, of course, at a time when gaming is hitting its largest and widest audience in history thanks to the likes of non-gamers taking part in the gaming world (woo who, Wii and Brain Age). But Don Reisinger raises a great point, when will the video game industry start fighting back? Countless studies (JUST CHECK THIS BLOG ROFFLECOPTERS) show that video games aren't all bad news and obviously anything taken to excess will have a detrimental effect. Why should a mud-slinging campaign be allowed to fly when all it does is show the extreme (and not even an accurate portrayal of the extreme side of things, thanks MMORPGS) effects of prolonged, uninterrupted video game use? Why this when there are so many more harmful first-party pressures that can have detrimental effects on a child's life, do we need to first cast blame at what may even serve as an escape from these problems?

Also, in case you're still reading, Resident Evil 5 comes out tomorrow. I won't have a copy because I didn't pre-order the game, but I hope reviews point in either direction for quality- either that it's over the top awesome or a simple rehash of RE4 but in Africa and now you have some spicy ethnic chick as your partner. I'd hope for the former, as this past year and some months have suffered deeply from "Rehashing or Poor-quality Sequel-itis."

Fears for RE:5 and the anti-cipation.

In my last post I made my off the cuff remark about my fears for the coming year of video gaming, partially summed up by my wanting to respond to the moviebob video in my first entry (a lot more detail to come in part 2 of that).
After Comic Con day 1, I had some hands-on time and got to watch other people demo what looks to be a healthy selection and quality of games. My real issue has been with the games I've been waiting for.
This video is probably one of the general summaries of what infuriates me about the recent mire of video gaming (and shut up, I know there have been some awesome SHOOTAN titles as of late, I could care less). Up to about 3 minutes in, you have almost a copy-paste of RE4 with some new "does nothing" partner, your enemies do the "sprint at you and then lurch closer when they're in pouncing range" and at that three minute mark... the voice acting... "PAHTNAH!" ffffffffff. Seriously? I know RE isn't a series backboned by dialog, but at least try not me make some... well, I don't know where your partner's from, but it isn't the deep south. Let's not emulate that.
In case you're missing it, it's rehashing the same old stuff that gaming has grown past. I'm not asking for the game to crush you, especially not in the demo, but there's a sense of terror that existed in the RE franchise before RE4, and a lot of it had to do with how the enemies around you acted. Prince of Persia had so much going for its first reiteration with Sands of Time, the story, just everything... it may be my (as it is for a number of others) favorite game of all time. The new game doesn't copy that. You're playing Dante in a PoP game with less stylized combat and doing now more off-the-wall, over-the-top acrobatics. In Sands of Time, you had that "I WANT TO DO THAT!" feel happening. You could do that. You could run along a wall and jump off using momentum. Cool. Now you're flying around, wall-running upside down and other malarky... it goes from fantastic to just fantasy.

Ok, those are two totally different gripes, a third of which can be said for Mirror's Edge. Needless to say, these gulches in in games people were supposed to be excited for, along with a list of titles I don't have anything to base expectations off of lead me to fear the impending implosion of popular gaming. Some of my fears have been hacked into, at least for 2009, thanks to Comic Con. But there's still a lot to be said about the current state of gaming.