The Next Generation of Stories

Greetings Gamers!

What a marvelous time it is for games. Or to be a gamer, for that matter, for it is only we who are aware of the storytelling renaissance that is taking over the video game industry.

No, not industry…

Art form.

But I don’t need to convince you it’s art, not if you’re reading this blog. What I am compelled to shout to the masses about is the evolution of the video game story. A few weeks ago, I attended a special seminar at my school, the University of Oregon. In this colloquium, videogames were discussed as potential academic study tools. Amid all the discussions regarding video game culture and the collective desire to see Braid in classrooms, Annie Zeidman-Karpinski, an associate professor and librarian at the U of O science library (which rents out games) asked us all a simple question.

“What are video games other than the next generation of stories?”

That summed it all up perfectly for me. Especially in the midst of this outrageous lineup of story-driven games. In the past few months we have experienced some of the most outstanding narratives in games (or in any visual media) that I have ever seen.

I have seen Nathan Drake suffer a perilous and cinematic journey full of high production action scenes and betrayals that were both surprising and numerous, though never trite. As Commander Shepard, I have forgone the opportunity to go to bed with the attractive and reasonable woman because I resonated more with the character growth of the vicious-looking convict. And right now I am still checking my pulse after barely surviving a bloodcurdling, no-do-over car chase on the freeway as a desperate father. I can’t wait to see how that story ends, especially because this particular one will be my own.

As I sit here, listening to the orchestral magnificence of Final Fantasy X and sorting through these different experiences from the past few weeks and from my life as a gamer, I remain convinced that the rest of the world is on the verge of discovering the potential games have to change our lives as music, literature, and film have done for so long. Add to this the advent of exciting new interfaces that don’t require a high gaming-IQ like Project Natal on the horizon, and I have never been more excited to be a gamer.

What a marvelous time it is for storytelling.

I can’t to see what Naughty Dog or BioWare or Qauntic Dream come up with next, or better yet, to see the next masterpiece from a brand new and unheard-of developer. It’s their time. Games are ready to explode.

The next generation of stories? Not for long.